New Releases: May 19th-25th, 2022

This week, The Future You’ve Been Dreaming Of (pictured), Cotton Fantasy, and Snow Bros. Special arrive on Switch. Meanwhile, beautiful boys are prevalent on PC, between the weapon-lads of Touken Ranbu Warriors and the cross-dressing hotties in Otoko Cross: Pretty Boys Mahjong Solitaire.

PlayStation 4 and 5
Blow & Fly (digital, $4.99)
Cotton Fantasy (digital, $39.99)
Deadcraft (digital, $22.49, Deluxe Edition $33.49)
Dolmen (physical & digital, $39.99)
Eternal Threads (digital, $TBA)
They Always Run (digital, $19.99)
Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong (digital, $49.99)

Switch
Accident (digital, $14.99)
Amazing Superhero Squad (digital, $5.59)
Ampersat (digital, $9.99)
Blow & Fly (digital, $4.99)
Cotton Fantasy (digital, $39.99)
Deadcraft (digital, $22.49, Deluxe Edition $33.49)
Egg Runner (digital, $2.99)
Galacticon (digital, $4.99)
Goetia 2 (digital, $9.99)
Guild of Dungeoneering Ultimate Edition (digital, $19.99)
Isekai Bride Hunting (digital, $19.90)
PigShip and the Giant Wolf (digital, $7.99)
Puzzle Collection (digital, $1.99)
Snow Bros. Special (digital, $19.99)
Snow Bros. Special- Monster Challenge Mode (DLC, $9.99)
The Future You’ve Been Dreaming Of (digital, $17.99)
The Legend of the Dragonflame Highschool Collection (digital, $4.99)
There Will Be No Turkey This Christmas (digital, $2.99)
They Always Run (digital, $19.99)
Touken Ranbu Warriors (digital, $59.99, Deluxe Edition $109.99)
Touken Ranbu Warriors (various DLC, $1.99-2.99)
Will Die Alone (digital, $4.99)

Xbox One and Series S/X
Amazing Superhero Squad (digital, $5.59)
Blow & Fly (digital, $4.99)
Deadcraft (digital, $22.49, Deluxe Edition $33.49)
Dolmen (physical & digital, $39.99)
Eternal Threads (digital, $TBA)
Floppy Knights (digital, $19.99)
Injection Pi 23 ‘Ars regia’ (digital, $11.99)
They Always Run (digital, $19.99)
Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong (digital, $49.99)

PC
Apico ($TBA)
Contract Killer ($11.99)
Crossfire: Legion ($TBA)
Deadcraft ($22.49, Deluxe Edition $33.99)
Decision: Red Daze ($TBA)
Dolmen ($39.99)
Eternal Threads ($TBA)
Floppy Knight ($19.99)
Golf Gang ($8.99)
Old World ($35.99)
Otoko Cross: Pretty Boys Mahjong Solitaire ($5.59)
Repulsor ($4.97)
Romance in Space ($TBA)
Soda Crisis ($TBA)
Sonority ($TBA)
Space Turbo ($TBA)
Touken Ranbu Warriors ($59.99)

Rob’s Pick: You probably expect me to advocate for qureate’s The Future You’ve Been Dreaming Of, where you play as a zashiki-warashi who shares an apartment with Sachi. As a house spirit, you can’t be seen, which is perfect for ogling the nubile young lead when she’s cooking in nothing more than an apron and panties. Fortunately, you’re a benevolent soul hoping to assist Sachi, so it’s less Haunting Starring Polterguy (nod if you remember that one) and more like a pervy Casper the Friendly Ghost. Hopefully, this one won’t get pulled from the store, like qureate’s DuelPrincess.

Woefully, I’m not familiar with DMM’s Touken Ranbu series, a free-to-play card-based game where famous swords are brought back to life as bishounen. But I am experienced with musou titles, having played more than different ones at last count. My favorites tend to either offer encyclopedic collections of characters or inversely, focus on the stories of specific clans, like Samurai Warriors: Spirit of Sanada. While Touken Ranbu Warriors looks to do neither of these things, it does offer slow-motion shots of young swordsmen shedding their clothes. I can appreciate a bit of equal-opportunity fan-service. I wish I could share Matt’s enthusiasm for Snow Bros. as I always seem to appreciate the sibling-based action platformers. But $10 DLC out the gate is coldhearted policy.

Ryan’s Pick: My pick this week goes to the 2.5D sidescroller Soda Crisis which releases on Steam this week. The thing that originally drew me into this game is the detail in the models and backgrounds, mixed with the vfx of the weapons and attacks. At first glance I had thought this was a metroidvania type game, however it appears to be a linear sidescroller instead. This said, I am guessing that the overall length of the game may be slightly shorter for this reason, however I still think it looks like a blast so I’m going to suggest a look at this one.

One other shooter that I’d like to give a shot is Cotton Fantasy which is a new installment in the popular series. The series dating back to the early 90’s is known for being a fast and fun arcade-style shooter, so I think this could definitely be a good one to add to your cute-em-up collection on Switch. With six playable characters and different abilities it looks like it should help with its replayability, so I think it’s time to throw caution to the wind and really just indulge in that Willow addiction.

Matt S’ pick (Editor, DigitallyDownloaded): Dut dut dut dut… duuuh dut dut dut dut dut. Dut dut dut dut dut dut duuuuuh dut dut dut. Dut dut dut dut, dut dut dut dut dut dut, DUT dut, duuuh dut dut duh.

Snow Bros. is back! Snow Bros.! Snow Bros.! After SO MANY YEARS where I just assumed Snow Bros. was gone forever, we’re actually getting a new Snow Bros. game! A game that I played and loved so much that I can “dut” and “duh” my way through the soundtrack just off pure memory, no matter how long it’s been since I last played. It’s no exaggeration that as much as I love Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Q*Bert and Mario Bros., Snow Bros. is my favourite of all and now, against all odds, it’s finally back.

Of course, the developers may well mess it up, but if they don’t, I’m going to be so over the moon. Snow Bros. is, basically, a clone of Bubble Bobble, but it has some unique quirks (turning enemies into snowballs for one thing), that do give it a personality of its own.

Otherwise, I’m also going to recommend Touken Ranbu Musou, which is not just a bunch of pretty boys being pretty, but it’s actually a story about how those pretty boys go back in time to fight against historical revisionists that are ruining the future by messing with how people remember the past. No, really, that’s the core concept, and if you don’t see how that’s poignant in our really real world today, you’ve not being paying attention. Touken Ranbu is much more than a pretty face.