New Releases: April 18th-24th, 2024

This week, the long-awaited spiritual successor to the Suikoden franchise arrives, as Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes (pictured) sends players on a character recruitment expedition. Meanwhile, Megaton Musashi W: Wired’s hack-and-slash action tasks you with repelling aliens with mecha built from assorted parts. If neither of those interest you, Lunar Lander Beyond builds on the foundations of the classic Atari coin-op, injecting space madness into the struggle for fuel conservation.

PlayStation 4
ArcRunner (digital, $19.99)
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes (physical & digital, $49.99)
Hammerwatch II (digital, $24.99)
Lunar Lander Beyond (digital, $29.99)
Pretty Girls Escape PLUS (digital, $5.99)
Ratyrinth (digital, $4.99)
Ready, Steady, Ship! (digital, $14.99)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants (physical & digital, $29.99)
Umurangi Generation (digital, $24.99)

PlayStation 5
MX vs ATV Legends: 2024 Monster Energy Supercross Edition (physical & digital, $29.99)
Richman 11 (digital, $18.99)
Sker Ritual (digital, $24.99)
Soul Covenant (digital, $49.99, $44.99 PS+)
Tales of Kenzera: ZAU Standard Edition (digital, $17.99)
Whisker Waters (physical & digital, $34.99)

Switch
4 in a Row (digital, $13.99)
A Tale of Paper: Refolded (digital, $14.99)
Aery – Cyber City (digital, $6.99)
Archer 3D: Bow Shooting Range (digital, $4.99)
Breakfast Bar Tycoon Ultimate Edition
Bunny Garden (digital, $20.69)
Corn Kidz 64 (digital, $6.99)
Dadish 3D (digital, $14.99)
Drawing Carnival: Horror Edition
EGGCONSOLE HYDLIDE II PC-8801 (digital, $6.49)
Epic Dumpster Bear 1.5 DX: Dumpster Fire Rebirth (digital, $4.99)
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes (digital, $49.99)
False Dream (digital, $2.99)
Ikki Unite (digital, $14.99)
Insurmountable (digital, $24.99)
Lunar Axe (digital, $4.99)
Lunar Lander Beyond (digital, $29.99)
Magical Girl Dash (digital, $4.99)
Megaton Musashi W: Wired (digital, $49.99)
Multi Maze 3D: Complete Edition
Odd Hue Out! (digital, $3.99)
Picross -LogiartGrimoire- (digital, $12.99)
Pretty Girls Escape PLUS (digital, $5.99)
Puss in Boots: Purrfect Adventures (digital, $4.99)
Ratyrinth (digital, $4.99)
Ready, Steady, Ship! (digital, $14.99)
Risky Chronicles and the Course of Destiny (digital, $9.99)
Scheming Through The Zombie Apocalypse Ep2: Caged (digital, $4.99)
Sokobalien (digital, $4.99)
Sokobond Express (digital, $14.99)
Stone Age: Digital Edition (digital, $11.99)
Tales of Kenzera: ZAU Standard Edition (digital, $17.99)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants (digital, $25.49)
Trackline Express (digital, $12.99)
Train Traffic Manager Deluxe Edition
Trash Punk Extended Edition
Unboxing – Idle Factory Simulator (digital, $9.99)
Where is Drake? (digital, $9.99)
Which Country Is Larger? (digital, $2.29)

Xbox One
ArcRunner (digital, $19.99)
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes (digital, $49.99)
Lunar Lander Beyond (digital, $29.99)
Pocket League Story (digital, $10.79)
Ratyrinth (digital, $4.99)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants  (physical & digital, $29.99)

PC
Ants Took My Eyeball ($TBA)
Dead Island 2 ($TBA)
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes ($49.99)
Jawbreaker ($TBA)
Internet Cafe Evolution ($TBA)
Last Hope ($15.99)
Megaton Musashi W: Wired ($49.99)
Phantom Fury ($TBA)
No Rest for the Wicked ($35.99)
Ready, Steady, Ship! ($14.99)
Rumble Club (free)
Shadow of the Depth ($TBA)
Sker Ritual ($17.99)
Tales of Kenzera: ZAU Standard Edition ($17.99)
The Crew Motorfest ($34.99)
The Shell Part II: Purgatorio ($TBA)
Trackline Express ($12.99)
Vivat Slovakia ($TBA)

Rob’s pick: Despite an autosave system that’s destined to aggravate, I’m thoroughly enjoying my time with Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes. Sure, some might argue that the main cast leans toward the formulaic, with its plucky orphan, gravelly-voiced veteran Garr, and requisite ‘little sister’ type, Lian. But there are plenty of payoffs when characters interact, delivering plenty of pulpy foreshadowing or just feel-good banter.

Meanwhile, Hundred Heroes’ combat is remarkably versatile. You can micromanage if you’d like but laying down different strategies for auto-battling is surprisingly effective, as well. Coupled with Michiko Naruke and Motoi Sakuraba’s gorgeous soundtrack, an HD-2D visual style, and the pleasures of character recruitment, JRPG fans won’t want to miss this. Also, No Rest for the Wicked’s animations look amazingly fluid. Given Moon Studios’s track record with the Oni titles, I’ll definitely be giving the game a try, despite the early criticisms. And like Ryan, I’m hyped for Megaton Musashi W: Wired. 

Ryan’s pick: Action RPG’s are my go-to lately, as both Genshin Impact and Tower of Fantasy have continued to keep me busy with the recent content, especially with the Neon Genesis Evangelion collab in ToF. Sticking with the action RPG motif, Megaton Musashi W: Wired gets my official nod this week. The combat and variation of the mecha seems pretty well thought out, and the ability to customize your Rogue parts and weapons sounds like it could help add some replay value. One final thing I found out is that some of the famous classic Japanese super robots have been included in the game via a collaboration, so if you are into mechas this could be one to put on the radar.

I’ll always give a TMNT game a try, as that series has so much nostalgia from all of the Konami games in the late 80s. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants is a port of the 2017 arcade game made by Raw Thrills. While I don’t think this one will be an equal comparison to the highly polished more recent TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge, I think it’s a pretty solid choice if you’re looking for a fun multiplayer game to play with friends. One final note goes to the FPS game Phantom Fury published by 3D Realms. It’s a spin-off of Ion Fury and I think it will definitely resonate with fans of FPS games from the 90s.

Matt S’ pick (editor, DigitallyDownloaded): Clearly the big game release this week is Which Country Is Larger?. I mean, who hasn’t wanted to test their mettle and take on the challenge of deciding whether Romania or Belarus is the biggest country? I have it on good authority that the final boss is Kiribati Vs. Marshall Islands… yeah I bet you don’t actually know now, do you?

Ahem. I do of course mean that Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is the big one this week. Did you know that my favourite classical Chinese novel is actually Water Margin and not Romance of the Three Kingdoms or Journey to the West, and I discovered Water Margin because of Suikoden? Probably not. It’s one of those facts about me that even my wife probably doesn’t know, but it’s the truth. If Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes can capture even some of what made Suikoden so special, then I’ll be a happy person indeed.

Finally, I’m quite keen to check out The Shell Part II: Purgatorio. I hear it’s… well, rather intense. And that interests me a great deal. The art is darkly beautiful, too.