New Releases: June 2nd-8th, 2022

This week, titles like Souldiers, Gravitar: Recharged, and Tokoyo: The Tower of Perpetuity will put your navigational skills to the test, whether you’re exploring hand-drawn fantasy worlds, faux vector graphics space, or a bit mapped that changes form.  If you’re merely looking for a game of chance, Card Shark or Pretty Girls Speed (pictured) will indulge.

PlayStation 4
Arcade Archives: The Tower of Druaga (digital, $7.99)
Behind the Frame: The Finest Scenery (digital, $12.99)
Dead by Daylight: Roots of Dredge (DLC, $6.99)
Gigapocalypse (digital, $9.99)
Gravitar: Recharged (digital, $9.99)
Noel the Mortal Fate (digital, $24.99)
Souldiers (digital, $19.99)
SpellForce III Reforced (physical & digital, $39.99)
Surface Rush (digital, $4.99)
Wonder Boy Collection (digital, $29.99)

Switch
Arcade Archives: The Tower of Druaga (digital, $7.99)
Behind the Frame: The Finest Scenery (digital, $12.99)
Boxerpunk Stories (digital, $9.99)
Card Shark (digital, $16.99)
Clan O’Conall and the Crown of the Stag (digital, $7.49)
Dead by Daylight: Roots of Dredge (DLC, $6.99)
Deadcraft: It Came from the Junkyard (DLC, $7.99)
Dungeon Village 2 (digital, $12.00)
EleMetals: Death Metal Death Match! (digital, $12.99)
Fishing Paradiso (digital, $13.49)
Food Truck Tycoon – Asian Cuisine Deluxe Edition (digital, $5.99)
Gigapocalypse (digital, $9.99)
Gravitar: Recharged (digital, $9.99)
Jigsaw Fun 3-in-1 Collection (digital, $26.99)
KnightOut (digital, $14.99)
Lamplight City (digital, $14.99)
Loopers (digital, $24.99)
Moonrise Fall (digital, $9.99)
Mr. Prepper (digital, $15.49)
My Lovely Wife (digital, $14.99)
Ocean Animals Puzzle – Preschool Animal Learning Puzzles Game for Kids & Toddlers (digital, $14.99)
Pretty Girls Speed (digital, $5.99)
QUByte Classics – Jim Power: The Lost Dimension by PIKO (digital, $9.99)
Repentant (digital, $9.99)
Secrets of Magic 3: Happy Halloween (digital, $9.99)
Souldiers (digital, $19.99)
Spacewing War (digital, $6.99)
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II – The Sith Lords (digital, $15.00)
Super Perils of Baking (digital, $9.99)
Surface Rush (digital, $4.99)
Ten (digital, $4.99)
Tokoyo: The Tower of Perpetuity (digital, $9.59)
Wonder Boy Collection (digital, $29.99)

Xbox One
Dead by Daylight: Roots of Dredge (DLC, $6.99)
Gigapocalypse (digital, $9.99)
Gravitar: Recharged (digital, $9.99)
Nummels (digital, $9.99)
Souldiers (digital, $19.99)
SpellForce III Reforced (physical & digital, $39.99)
Super Impossible Road (digital, $16.99)
Super Perils of Baking (digital, $9.99)
Surface Rush (digital, $4.99)
True Fear: Forsaken Souls – Part 2 (digital, $8.99)
Unexplored 2: The Wayfarer’s Legacy (digital, $22.49)

PC
20 Minutes Till Dawn ($TBA)
Card Shark ($16.99)
Caterpillar ($3.99)
Fishing Paradiso ($13.49)
Gravitar: Recharged ($9.99)
My Lovely Wife ($14.99)
MythBusters: The Game – Crazy Experiments Simulator ($TBA)
Souldiers ($19.99)
Surface Rush ($4.24)
The Elder Scrolls Online: High Isle (Expansion, $39.99)
Yakiniku Simulation ($TBA)

Rob’s Pick: Just when I thought I was fatigued with metroidvanias, several of this week’s titles renewed my interests. Souldiers’ appeal is rooted in developer Retro Forge’s sense of craftsmanship. Flaunting fluidly animated 2D visuals and a taut control scheme, the game feels like a modern take on Capcom’s Black Tiger. For those worried about the reference to the Soulslike genre in the title, know that the game is tough but fair. Yes, subordinate enemies will wear you down while bosses will test your skills. But health recovery nodes and save posts are frequent, and you can always grind to stock up on potions.

When Tokoyo: The Tower of Perpetuity was released on PC, I became instantly enamored. As you navigate through the game’s persistently transforming stronghold, you’ll forgo any kind of traditional melee attack. Instead, you have a powerful special that takes about a half-minute to recharge. As such, each run is built around the tension of waiting until the moment of maximum tension before releasing your ‘offenses’. It might not be completely orgasmic, but it’s a whole lot of fun.

Finally, I’m pretty enraptured by Card Shark. If you ever feel yourself fatigued by gaming, give this a shot. It transports you to 18^th Century France, where you play as a hustler climbing the ranks of society. Beyond the well written dialog, woodblock-esque art, the feeling of being a devious cheat feels quite distinctive.

Ryan’s Pick: I’ll never shy from a metroidvania game, so this week my pick goes to Souldiers. The thing I immediately like about this game is the fact that you can choose the class of your player instead of having only one player type. While in terms of scope it certainly makes sense to have only one type of character for the protagonist, I still think this is a nice feature and may provide players with options. I never go for the caster type characters, so maybe this is my chance. One other reason I feel this game is worth a try are the visuals. There’s a lot of detail in the backgrounds and animations, and the final bits of polish on top of core mechanics in games really help to tie everything together. One concern I have is whenever I hear the word ‘Souls-like’ it’s hard to not draw parallels to inflated difficulty, so I hope that they manage to strike a balance between fair and punishing encounters.

Many genres apart from sidescrolling adventures, there is a small niche of modestly priced card-based games. Pretty Girls Speed also managed to grab a glance from me this week with the 2D anime inspired art and a fairly clean and easy to understand game UI. At this point I’m not quite sure how the card game ‘Speed’ is played, but I do appreciate all of the character art and included Japanese voicing. The game was originally released on Steam a few months ago, but I feel like it would be a good game to try on a handheld. Maybe the true reason I chose this game is I want Yamatano Orochi to talk down to me while we’re having a card battle. I am pretty sure she will not disappoint.

Matt S’ pick (Editor, DigitallyDownloaded): Firstly, when we did our picks last week, I had no idea that Hatsune Miku: Project Diva Megamix+ was releasing on PC. I feel absolutely horrible that I had a chance to rave about my girl and so I’m making up for it this week. My pick of the week (and year) is Megamix+. God I love Hatsune Miku.

Of the games releasing in the coming week, I’m most keen on SpellForce III Reforced. I’ve always been interested in the series, but generally adverse to PC gaming (except when it’s Miku). I don’t know if the game will work well on console, but if it does, I could see myself spending a lot of time playing this game.

I’m also very keen on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II – The Sith Lords. I’ve actually never played it, as much as I loved the original KOTOR, so this will be a great opportunity to catch up. I used to be a big fan of Star Wars, and this will hopefully remind me of why amidst all the content-driven Star Wars we get these days.

Matt R’s pick (editor, Shindig): Anyone who likes adventure games, detective fiction, or just good storytelling more generally, and hasn’t played Lamplight City on PC absolutely has to pick it up on Switch. Francisco Gonzalez (the creator of Wadjet Eye’s Shardlight and The Golden Wake) has a knack for crafting both fascinating worlds and rich characters, and he’s managed to kick both those things up a notch here.

The lightly Steampunk-ish alt-history 19th century setting is the perfect backdrop for a series of intriguing mysteries for a jaded PI and the ghost of his former partner to try to solve, while also examining the social fabric of the time in a nuanced, thoughtful way. It’s also a detective game where you’re allowed to fail: rather than a clear solution that you have no choice but to eventually find (or hit a game over screen), solving cases in Lamplight City requires actually solving them, with the outcome of each case influencing the direction of the story.

I’m also glad to see Souldiers finally arriving, after following its development for what seems like forever. I love a good metroidvania (I’m still not even burnt out on them, somehow!), and this one looks like a particularly accomplished one, from its pristine pixel art to a variety of different design influences that should come together nicely. The choice of character classes is a particularly nice touch, and I’m curious to see how that works in practice, given how closely progress in this genre is tied to character abilities.