New Releases: March 31st-April 6th, 2022

This week, MLB The Show 22 steps up to the plate, offering baseball across a trio of platforms. LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga adapts all nine films into interactive form. But Star Wars obsessives might want to put some money aside for DLC, with Warner Bros. Interactive announcing no fewer than seven paid DLC packages. Even those with little interest in the ubiquitous Disney property will be pleased to know there are plenty of those notable options this week, such as Cosplay Love! Enchanted Princess (pictured), which also recently arrived on Steam.

PlayStation 4
Arcade Archives: Wonder Momo (digital, $7.99)
Flat Kingdom: Paper’s Cut Edition (digital, $7.99)
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (physical & digital, $59.99-$69.99)
MLB The Show 22 (physical & digital, $59.99-$99.99)
Moss: Book II (digital, $39.99, PS VR)
Weird West (digital, $39.99)

Switch
9 Clues: The Secret of Serpent Creek (digital, $14.99)
Aaron – The Little Detective (digital, $9.99)
Arcade Archives: Wonder Momo (digital, $7.99)
Broken Pipe (digital, $3.59)
Chubby Cat (digital, $9.99)
Cosplay Love! Enchanted Princess (digital, $11.99)
Dashing Dodgems (digital, $11.99)
Dieselpunk Wars (digital, $14.99)
Dysmantle (digital, $19.99)
Flat Kingdom: Paper’s Cut Edition (digital, $7.99)
Floogen (digital, $3.74)
Food Truck Tycoon Complete (digital, $6.99)
Glitchhikers: The Spaces Between (digital, $11.69)
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (physical & digital, $59.99-$69.99)
Love Colors – Everyday Pixels (digital, $2.49)
Love Colors – Pixel Seasons (digital, $2.49)
MLB The Show 22 (physical & digital, $59.99-$99.99)
My Coloring Book 2 (digital, $4.99)
Outbreak: Contagious Memories (digital, $29.99)
Red Wings: American Aces (digital, $9.59)
Super Clown: Lost Diamonds (digital, $14.50)
Super Cyborg (digital, $6.99)
Terrorbane (digital, $15.99)
The Card Perfect Collection (digital, $11.99)
Worm Run (digital, $2.99)
Z-Warp (digital, $6.99)

Xbox One
Flat Kingdom: Paper’s Cut Edition (digital, $7.99)
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (physical & digital, $59.99-$69.99)
MLB The Show 22 (physical & digital, $59.99-$99.99)
Outbreak: Contagious Memories (digital, $29.99)
Princess Farmer (digital, $14.99)
Real Heroes: Firefighter HD (digital, $14.99)
Super Cyborg (digital, $6.99)
Weird West (digital, $39.99)
Whisper Trip (digital, $4.99)

PC
Chill Panda ($11.99)
Coromon ($15.99)
Dungeon Alchemist ($44.99)
Ed-0: Zombie Uprising ($TBA)
Glitchhikers: The Spaces Between ($11.69)
Indies’ Lies ($13.49)
Midnight Ghost Hunt ($19.99)
Princess Farmer 9$14.99)
Terrorbane ($15.99)
Weird West ($39.99)

Rob’s Pick: Sumo wrestlers don’t always have the best secondary careers in gaming. Rival Schools’ Gan Isurugi is a decent enough combatant, but he’s probably a middle-aged high schooler. Even Tekken’s Ganryu spends his time outside of the ring running a humble restaurant. But this week Ed-0: Zombie Uprising offers redemption for rikishi. Should you overlook the samurai, or ninja classes, being a sumo lets you strongarm your way through this campy, roguelike with a strong b-movie vibe.

As the name implies, Zombie Uprising is about plowing through legions of the undead, using newfound skills like poisonous vomit or using deep apology to decimate the stumbling masses. Given the game’s Early Access state, I expect the things to be short, storming, and intermittently frustrating. So, if you like getting an early look at an unpolished but prospective gem, consider giving it a go.

Matt S’ pick (Editor, DigitallyDownloaded): I do wish that MLB The Show recognised that baseball is played outside of the US. I realise that the US itself doesn’t recognise that (“World Series?” Really? How do Australian, Japanese, Cuban and Korean teams qualify for it then, huh?) but even if the international teams mode was just some competition option off on one of the site menus, it would be nice for the game to recognise the global nature of the sport.

Putting that aside I do always look forward to the MLB The Show releases each year. They are of a consistently high quality and represent a genuinely good sport. It’s no cricket, but baseball is a good sport. With the series now coming to Nintendo Switch, too, I’m even happier as I’ll be able to play it on the go.

I’ll also give Wonder Momo a spin. Arcade Archives remains one of my favourite projects in video games, because it’s preserving so many arcade games that I would never have heard about, much less played. Wonder Momo is a good example of that. It looks like a brawler with a risque edge, and that combination will forever hold my attention.

Matt R’s pick (editor, Shindig): “It’s no cricket, but baseball is a good sport.” I’m going to have to stop you there, other Matt. Baseball is what you get when you take the basic idea of cricket, remove all the nonsense, and turn something dreary into something exciting. Anyway.

I too look forward to each new MLB The Show release (though I think sports games in general could stand to move from annual releases to periodic updates with new major versions only every couple of years). They rarely miss, and even though off-years, in terms of new features and whatnot, still always deliver a baseball sim that’s authentic, deep, and still easy enough to just dive into. Of particular note this year is The Show’s Nintendo Switch debut, filling one of the few major gaps in the Switch library. I assume performance and fidelity will take a hit, but The Show on the go should be a good time.

I’d never heard of Princess Farmer before reading through the list above, but the name caught my attention—I see “farm” and jump to assumptions of Story of Seasons-type jams. Princess Farmer isn’t that, but it looks interesting all the same: a match-three puzzle game that claims to put more emphasis on strategy and reactions, mixed with a romance-themed visual novel and cute pixel-art presentation.  “Make combos! Smash rocks! Win hearts!”

Ryan’s Pick: Ed-0: Zombie Uprising will receive my recommendation this week as at face-value it appears to be a Nioh-esque roguelike adventure game featuring a sumo, ninja, and samurai that are tasked with slaying zombies. It’s a decent enough premise for some fun, but I am not going to go into this one expecting the same level of combat and polish that I really appreciated with Nioh 2. There’s a balance in this genre that needs to be found for the game to still feel fair, but challenging, so I’m curious how this developer tackles or completely ignores this problem. This said, I feel like this one could be really fun, or really frustrating, and I suppose it’s that curiosity leading me to this game. I feel like the sumo playable character is definitely the clear winner for me, and I hope to offer more than an ample helping of dosukois to those zombies. That or I’ll just die over and over again. Both are okay.

If you’ve already had your fill of being slain by countless enemies that are designed to induce agita, then let me suggest one other Steam title. tERRORbane has me asking a lot of questions, and I feel like the only way that I can begin to understand how the game plays is by actually experiencing it. Utilizing game bugs that appear as you play to help your character progress seems like a really interesting approach, so I’m curious as to exactly what the user experience will be when it’s constantly throwing commentary and completely different game mechanics at you. It seems like it’s going to be a very tough game to follow exactly what is going on, but perhaps it’s just the randomness that I need right now.