New Releases: June 29th-July 5th, 2023

This week sees the revival of a number of notable titles. 2003’s Enclave was a notable third-person, action-adventure game with a strong sense of weight. Meanwhile, 2010’s Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective offers an adventure split between the living and spiritual world- where time is stopped. Elsewhere, RayStorm X RayCrisis HD Collection brings a trio of Taito’s beloved shooters to PlayStation 4 and Switch.

Header image: Grisia Phantom Trigger 5.5 to 08, Switch

PlayStation 4
AEW: Fight Forever (physical & digital, $59.99)
EchoBlade (digital, $9.99)
Embers of Mirrim (physical, $29.99)
Enclave HD (digital, $19.99)
Front Mission 1st Remake (digital, $34.99)
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (digital, $29.99)
Goodbye World (physical & digital, $34.99)
Inner Ashes (digital, $14.99)
Moonscars (physical, $29.99)
Noob – The Factionless (digital, $35.99)
RayStorm X RayCrisis HD Collection (physical & digital, $39.99)

PlayStation 5
Moonscars (physical, $29.99)

Switch
11111Game (digital, $9.99)
A Tale For Anna (digital, $10.99)
ACL Pro Cornhole (digital, $29.99)
AEW: Fight Forever (physical & digital, $59.99)
Athanasy (digital, $24.99)
Boo Party (digital, $9.99)
Bruxa (digital, $9.99)
Burnhouse Lane (digital, $19.99)
Bus Tycoon Night and Day (digital, $13.99)
ChronoBreach Ultra (digital, $4.99)
Classic Racers Elite (digital, $29.99)
Crime O’Clock (digital, $16.99)
EchoBlade (digital, $9.99)
Embers of Mirrim (physical, $29.99)
Enclave HD (digital, $19.99)
Everybody 1-2-Switch! (physical & digital, $29.99)
Forever Lost: Episode 3 (digital, $7.99)
Hamster on Rails (digital, $14.99)
Inner Ashes (digital, $14.99)
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (digital, $29.99)
Grisaia Phantom Trigger 5.5 to 08 (digital, $59.99)
Master Detective Archives: RAIN CODE (digital, $59.99)
Medieval Royal Chess: Classic Board Game (digital, $9.99)
Moving Blocks Puzzles (digital, $1.99)
Noob – The Factionless (digital, $35.99)
Picontier (digital, $24.99)
Quick Race (digital, $5.49)
RayStorm X RayCrisis HD Collection (physical & digital, $39.99)
Ray’z Arcade Chronology (digital, $49.99)
Shootvaders: The Beginning (digital, $6.29)
Silent Paws (digital, $4.99)
Sokoball Dreams (digital, $5.99)
Suicide Guy: The Lost Dreams (digital, $7.99)
The Bunker (physical, $29.99)
The Lara Croft Collection (digital, $24.99)
The Lost and The Wicked (digital, $9.99)
The Shapeshifting Detective (physical, $29.99)
Tower Up (digital, $2.99)
Vision Soft Reset (digital, $9.99)
Volleyball Heaven (digital, $17.99)
WW2: Bunker Simulator (digital, $12.74)
Your Computer Might Be At Risk (digital, $11.99)

Xbox One
AEW: Fight Forever (physical & digital, $59.99)
Arkanoid – Eternal Battle (digital, $29.99)
Doom & Destiny Worlds
EchoBlade  (digital, $9.99)
Enclave HD (digital, $19.99)
Front Mission 1st Remake (digital, $34.99)
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (digital, $29.99)
Goodbye World (physical & digital, $34.99)
Inner Ashes (digital, $14.99)
Noob – The Factionless (digital, $35.99)
Toadomination (digital, $4.99)

PC
AEW: Fight Forever ($59.99)
Brick Exorcist ($TBA)
F/A-18E Super Hornet ($TBA)
Front Mission 1st Remake ($34.99)
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective ($29.99)
Inner Ashes ($14.99)
Wish Us Luck ($TBA)
Martian Panic
Neonscape (free-to-play)

Rob’s Pick: In 1994, fighting games continued to conquer arcades. As Street Fighter II’s sustained its reign, newcomers like King of Fighters ’94, Dark Stalkers: The Night Warriors, and Killer Instinct offering new opportunities for digital pugilism. But oddly, the most salient memory I had of the era was playing RayForce in San Francisco for the first time. Sure, Taito’s G-Darius series has always flirted with futurism (especially with that triple-monitor display). But RayForce’s combination of traditional forward-firing lasers along with a lock-on system was enthralling. Over the years, that appreciation would grow, especially for Zuntata’s (Taito’s in-house sound team) souring soundtrack.

This week, RayStorm X RayCrisis HD Collection brings RayForce alongside STG heavyweights RayStorm and RayCrisis into a filler-free collection. Luckily, M2 is at the helm, so these ports have none of that horrible slowdown that plagued previous adaptations of Layer Section/Galactic Attack. It even has all the play options you’d expect, so you can map the missile launch to a bumper. But sadly, there are no ancillary materials or interviews. That’s a shame because director Tatsuo Nakamura repeatedly disagreed with management during the game’s development process. Sometimes the suits make the worst decision, because nearly 30 years later, RayForce and its sequels remain riveting.

Ryan’s pick: Tier 20 Nightmare dungeons in Diablo IV have been taking up a lot of my gaming time as of late, so RayStorm X RayCrisis HD Collection will provide the much-needed change of pace. While shmups have never been my favorite genre for long sit-down sessions, I still enjoy the games in short bursts. I am a bit torn on the console of choice for this game, as I can see how it’d be fun to play the games on the Switch, but at the same time my eyes will probably appreciate seeing the cavalcade of bullets being spewed at me on a larger screen with my PS5. I’m not sure if I’m an oddball for saying this, but I always find myself drawn to the backgrounds in shmups, at times even more so than the foreground. I think that if you can appreciate finer details in shmup backgrounds you should give these a try. The lock-on system will hopefully help a little bit if you find your eyes gravitating to the sprawling cities scrolling by like me.

One game that was released last year on Steam that is now coming to PS5 that is also worth mentioning is Moonscars. While I’ve suggested countless side-scrolling metroidvanias in my past picks, this one really stands out for its animations and overall polish. The game is quite brutal however, with copious amounts of blood and gothic enemies, so it may not be for those that don’t enjoy horror games. But, if you’re like me, I can see this game being one where I can invest a lot of time into it. I may even write notes to myself about where certain things are so that it’s easier to remember where they are once you get the right power-up. Just kidding, I don’t do that, but I sure wish I did once I finally find the powerup usually. Especially when I aimlessly traverse that one hallway full of the most irksome zako countless times until I remember where I need to actually go.

Matt S’ pick (editor, DigitallyDownloaded): Master Detective Archives: RAIN CODE is Danganronpa. It has the same creative team, the same wicked sense of humour, the same aesthetics and a very similar approach to gameplay. If you liked Danganronpa, then you’re going to like this. I like Dangaronpa. A lot. RAIN CODE is one of my favourite games of 2023. Also you all are going to absolutely love the fan service in this one. Dialed that right up, they did.

Also, would you believe that I’ve never really played Ghost Trick? I’ve seen bits and pieces of it, and my wife loved it, but I’ve never actually sat down to it myself. I do know the fearsome reputation that it has for being an absolutely incredible time, of course, so I am expecting to be blown away when I do finally cross it off my backlog.