New Releases: June 16th-22nd, 2022

It’s time to revisit the SNES-era as Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, Raphael team up again in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge, while cyberpunk-fantasy series Shadowrun is re-launching on consoles. If nostalgia isn’t your thing, don’t worry. Tsuki ni Yorisou Otome no Sahou (pictured) tells the story of a protagonist living a double life at a prestigious female fashion school, while The Harem Life of Peerless Swordsmen offers tome risqué role-playing action.

PlayStation 4
Arcade Archives: Space Seeker (digital, $7.99)
Deadcraft: Jessie’s Wasteland Wares (DLC, $7.99)
Firegirl: Hack ‘n Splash Rescue DX (digital, $17.99)
Gearshifters Collector’s Edition (physical, $49.99)
Hero Must Die. Again (physical, $39.99)
Omori (physical & digital, $34.99)
Redout 2 (digital, $TBA)
Shadowrun Trilogy (digital, $29.99)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge (digital, $22.49)
The Elder Scrolls Online: High Isle (digital, $59.99)
The Elder Scrolls Online: High Isle Upgrade (digital, $39.99)
Treasures of the Aegean: Collector’s Edition (physical, $49.99)

PlayStation 5
Treasures of the Aegean: Collector’s Edition (physical, $49.99)

Switch
Arcade Archives: Space Seeker (digital, $7.99)
Around the World (digital, $9.99)
Autonauts (digital, $19.99)
Barn Finders (digital, $19.99)
Broken Mind (digital, $9.99)
Cloud Gardens (digital, $17.99)
Crazy Chicken Xtreme (digital, $18.74)
Deadcraft: Jessie’s Wasteland Wares (DLC, $7.99)
Doodle Devil: 3volution – Puzzles & Quests (DLC, $1.99)
Drunken fist 2: Zombie Hangover (digital, $7.99)
Fall Guys (digital, free to play)
Final Vendetta (digital, $21.20)
Firegirl: Hack ‘n Splash Rescue DX (digital, $17.99)
Gearshifters Collector’s Edition (physical, $49.99)
Hero Must Die. Again (physical, $39.99)
Horgihugh and Friends (physical & digital, $29.99)
Lines Universe (digital, $1.99)
Neko Secret Room (digital, $6.99)
Neon White (digital, $22.49)
Omori (digital, $TBA)
Overlord: Escape from Nazarick (digital, $26.99)
Oxide Room 104 (digital, $19.99)
Perfect Gold (digital, $7.99)
Plunder Dungeons (digital, $3.99)
Redo! (digital, $9.99)
Shadowrun: Dragonfall Director’s Cut (digital, $19.99)
Shadowrun: Hong Kong Extended Edition (digital, $19.99)
Shadowrun Returns (digital, $19.99)
Shadowrun Trilogy (digital, $29.99)
Tales of Aravorn: Seasons of the Wolf (digital, $19.99)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge (digital, $22.49)
The Bass Fishing (digital, $11.99)
Time Rift (digital, $9.99)
Treasures of the Aegean: Collector’s Edition (physical, $49.99)
Why Pizza? (digital, $3.99)
Wreckfest (physical & digital, $39.99)
Zorro The Chronicles (digital, $34.99)

Xbox One
Deadcraft: Jessie’s Wasteland Wares (DLC, $7.99)
Deep Diving Adventures (digital, $17.99)
Fall Guys (digital, free to play)
Final Vendetta (digital, $21.20)
Firegirl: Hack ‘n Splash Rescue DX (digital, $17.99)
Oxide Room 104 (digital, $19.99)
Redout 2 (digital, $TBA)
Shadowrun: Dragonfall Director’s Cut (digital, $19.99)
Shadowrun: Hong Kong Extended Edition (digital, $19.99)
Shadowrun Returns (digital, $19.99)
Shadowrun Trilogy (digital, $29.99)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge (digital, $22.49)
The Elder Scrolls Online: High Isle (digital, $59.99)
The Elder Scrolls Online: High Isle Upgrade (digital, $39.99)
Why Pizza? (digital, $3.99)

PC
Anvil Saga ($TBA)
Demon Sword: Incubus ($TBA)
European Air War ($TBA)
Mago ($TBA)
Neon White ($22.49)
Overlord: Escape from Nazarick ($26.99)
Redout 2 ($TBA)
Skeleton Crew ($TBA)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge (digital, $22.49)
The Harem Life of Peerless Swordsmen ($TBA)
Tsuki ni Yorisou Otome no Sahou ($TBA)

Rob’s Pick: Some of you might be old enough to remember Wipeout’s 1995 debut, which laid the foundations for the anti-grav racing genre. Thirty years on, we’re almost halfway to the game’s 2053 setting, with little hope of the 3600 AG Racing League becoming a reality. Even worse, the possibility of a proper follow-up in the Wipeout series looks grim after Sony shuttered Psygnosis/Studio Liverpool a decade ago.

While 2016’s Redout wasn’t as good as its inspiration, it was a solid anti-grav racer. Unfortunately, the game’s merits got overshadowed by a number of blemishes, from the sub-par Xbox One X performance to the requirement of signing into the Epic Game Store to play multiplayer on the Steam version (at least there’s cross-play). This week, Redout 2 is poised to help the series forge its own identity. It’s weaponless, and you’ll use both control sticks to careen across the game’s decidedly narrow tracks. This time out the sense of tautness has been tightened, so you’re less likely to be banging your ship on the walls. Sorry, Donatello, but this week I need exhilaration and a thumping electric soundtrack.

Ryan’s Pick: There was something special about the arcade experience of being able to play Konami’s TMNT with all four members as a kid, so I am going to suggest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge this week. I think the allure for this particular game is being able to play with not only the normal gang, but also with April, Casey Jones, and Master Splinter. 6 players in co-op on the screen must be quite chaotic, so I am eager to partake. Equally the game exudes nostalgia through a lot of in-game references and is exactly the beat-em-up I’m looking for this week. It would have been cool to see Usagi Yojimbo being a playable character as well, but here’s hoping.

I shall not let this week go by without mentioning two other games on Steam I noticed. The first being The Harem Life of Peerless Swordsman with some light JRPG mechanics and semi-spicy 2D stills. I don’t have high expectations for anything too riveting for this one, but I think it will check some boxes if you want a fairly simple JPRG with ecchi moments. One other game that caught my eye was Demon Sword: Incubus. My mind immediately began to draw parallels with Altered Beast in that it’s a side scrolling action game, but with the main hero being female. I do like the fact that the game also uses full 3D models instead of sticking to 2D sprites and introduces the ability to dodge/parry. While not as outright fan-service oriented as the previous game I mentioned, I am curious to see how this one plays as well.

Matt S’ pick (Editor, DigitallyDownloaded): I’m quite looking forward to the Shadowrun Trilogy! I played the first one back when it was a new thing (at least, I think that was the cyberpunk RPG I played), but I never did play the other two, and now is a good excuse to revisit them. I like when cyberpunk is genuine in its cyberpunk position and theory, and unlike a certain blockbuster I did always get the sense that Shadowrun was genuine.

Otherwise, I’m very keen to check out Tales of Aravorn: Seasons of the Wolf. It has been a long time since I played a Winter Wolves game (a long time – I think Loren might have been the last one I loaded up), but I’ve always liked what I’ve seen come from that developer and its blend of a serious kind of fan service, indie RPG mechanics, and visual novel qualities. We don’t get many Winter Wolves titles on console, so this one will be a treat. And then for a very different experience, I’m also keen on checking out Omori. It looks surreal and is probably going to be dark/evocative, just given the vague impression I get from a few of the massive number of overwhelmingly positive reviews the game has on Steam. I’ll be going into that one pretty much blind, and I do suspect that this is the ideal way to do it, so it can hit me like a 10-tonne truck.

Matt R’s pick (editor, Shindig): From horror to comedy to romance, Yangyang Mobile have sure shown their range over the last few years. They just announced another religious-themed horror in the form of Saint Maker, but for now, let’s keep things sweet and cheerful. Perfect Gold a short, beautiful coming-of-age yuri visual novel about two students at a magical academy—an heiress and a black sheep—who find love and friendship when they break out of detention together. It’s a fun, heartfelt story full of beautiful artwork, with two main routes showing each character’s perspective (and various branches within those). And at a few hours long, it’s refreshingly brief in the scheme of visual novels.

I’m also more than a little intrigued by Neon White, in part because I know so little about it. It’s a card-based first-person shooter that’s also a puzzle platformer, revolving around an assassin in a feud between heaven and hell, that’s simply oozing with style… how all that fits together I’m not sure, but it’s definitely caught my attention.