New Releases: June 30th-July 6th, 2022

It’s time to bring out the fancy dishware. This week, Cuphead – The Delicious Last Course attempts to revitalize the property following the unveiling of the lackluster Netflix series.  But if insanely challenging action platforming isn’t your thing, fear not. Yurukill: The Calumniation Games melds an assortment of different genres together, while F1 22 captures the significant changes made to Formula One this year. Others might find enjoyment in the salaciously titled Phantom Tentacle (pictured).

PlayStation 4
Arcade Archives: Thunder Ceptor (digital, $7.99)
Cuphead – The Delicious Last Course (digital, $7.99)
F1 22 (physical & digital, $59.99)
Outriders Worldslayer with base game (digital, $59.99)
Outriders Worldslayer upgrade (digital, $39.99)
Rabbids: Party of Legends (digital, $39.99)
Yurukill: The Calumniation Games (physical $49.99, digital, $39.99)

PlayStation 5
F1 22 (physical & digital, $69.99)
Yurukill: The Calumniation Games (physical $49.99, digital, $39.99)

Switch
Almost My Floor (digital, $7.99)
Beasties (digital, $14.99)
Black Wolf (digital, $2.99)
Color Breakers (digital, $11.99)
Cuphead – The Delicious Last Course (digital, $7.99)
Dark Minute: Kira’s Adventure (digital, $9.99)
Dino Tales (digital, $9.59)
Fillit (digital, $7.99)
Gamedec (digital, $29.99)
Ground Divers! (digital, $14.99)
Hourglass (digital, $12.49)
Illumina (digital, $1.00)
Instant Sports All-Stars (digital, $24.99)
Jetboy (digital, $5.99)
Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak (digital, $39.99-$49.99)
Monster Hunter Rise + Sunbreak (digital, $69.99-$79.99)
Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak Deluxe Kit (digital, $14.99)
My Universe – Green Adventure: Farmer’s Friends (digital, $29.99)
Nakana Bundle 1-3 (digital, $5.59-$15.99)
Nincat (digital, $9.99)
Parasite Pack (digital, $7.99)
Quintus and the Absent Truth (digital, $9.99)
Rabbids: Party of Legends (digital, $39.99)
Rainbow Laser Disco Dungeon (digital, $9.99)
Red White Yellow Cruising (digital, $12.00)
Salaryman Shi (digital, $4.99)
Sine (digital, $2.99)
Timber Story (digital, $4.99)
Yurukill: The Calumniation Games (physical $49.99, digital, $39.99)

Xbox One
Almost My Floor (digital, $7.99)
Arcadegeddon (digital, $19.99)
Cuphead – The Delicious Last Course (digital, $7.99)
Hourglass (digital, $12.49)
Outriders Worldslayer with base game (digital, $59.99)
Outriders Worldslayer upgrade (digital, $39.99)
Rabbids: Party of Legends (digital, $39.99)
Rush Rally Origins (digital, $14.49)
Renzo Racer (digital, $24.99)

PC
Alaloth – Champions of The Four Kingdoms ($19.99)
Cafeteria Nipponica ($TBA)
Cuphead – The Delicious Last Course ($7.99)
F1 22 (Steam & Origin, $59.99)
FireSquad ($TBA)
Hook 2 ($1.79)
Horrid Henry’s Krazy Karts ($11.99)
Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak (DLC, $39.99-$51.13)
My Universe: Green Adventure – Farmer Friends ($26.99)
Outriders Worldslayer with base game ($59.99)
Outriders Worldslayer upgrade ($39.99)
Phantom Tentacle ($TBA)
Salaryman Shi ($4.99)
The Galactic Junkers ($15.29)
The Jackbox Party Starter ($17.99)
Yurukill: The Calumniation Games ($49.99)

Rob’s Pick: Yurukill: The Calumniation Games is the kind of outrageousness I relish. A mashup of Danganronpa-style survivalism, shoot ‘em up segments, puzzles, and even a dash of Stanford Prison Experiment depravity are the key ingredients in Yurukill. With scenarios from Kakegurui – Compulsive Gambler creator Homura Kawamoto and STG segments from Under Defeat developer G.rev, the game’s got quite a pedigree.

Fortunately, it habitually lives up to those potentials with stressful rapid-fire cross examinations and bits where you’ll fly into different positions to answer quiz questions. When was the last time the set-up for a shooter was navigating the labyrinthine recesses of a person’s mind, complete with defense mechanisms?  To build on Ryan’s mention of voice acting, Yū Kobayashi delivers the performance of the year here. Binko’s intense shifts in tone are wonderfully unnerving.

Lastly, here’s my hot take of the week- It’s great to see a development team specialize; that’s when finesse happens. But I miss the days when Codemasters would tackle other genres, like the Operation Flashpoint tactical shooters, single-player FPS campaigns like Bodycount, or even the early Overlord games. But I might give F1 22 a go as recent efforts have all been pretty decent.

Ryan’s Pick: I can openly say that I haven’t played an F1 race game since Super Monaco GP on the Genesis. It was my first 16-bit racing game, and while it was fun, we spent most of the time trying to hit the flag carrier guy at the right spot which would make him fly upwards and outwards into the horizon if you got it right. Since then, I’ve slightly matured, and this week I’m opting to enjoy the uniqueness of F1 racing with F1 22. Aside from standard F1 racing, the F1 Life mode also seems pretty interesting, as it allows you to drive a few different licensed super cars and customization options for your home base and character.

I too am interested in trying out Yurukill: The Calumniation Games as I found out that the writer for the game is Homura Kawamoto who wrote Kakegurui. At times the writing for that series definitely reminded me a bit of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure so I am a bit curious to see what the story for the game will be like. My only reservation for this one is it feels like they are trying to mix a lot of very different mechanics together, so I am curious to see how the pacing of the game will feel if you’re trying to have a mental battle of wits with someone one moment, and then jump into a bullet-hell scene the next. One other note is that the female protagonist Rina’s voice actress is Saori Hayami who is the VA for Ayaka in Genshin Impact and Yor Forger in Spy x Family, so if you are a seiyuu fan please give it a look.

Matt R’s pick (editor, Shindig): Yurukill: The Calumniation Games sure is an odd concept: part killing game, part escape room puzzle, part… shoot ‘em up? With criminals and their victims partnered up to try surviving a series of grim trials in a particularly morbid theme park? But if anyone can do such an inventive concept justice, it’s the combination of developer G.Rev, writer Homura Kawamoto, and Izanagi Games, the publisher behind the likes of Death Come True and World’s End Club.

And boy, does Yurukill hit the mark. The shooting and puzzle segments are more closely intertwined than you might expect, both in how they’re narratively woven together and in some clever interplay between different mechanics. Add to that a particularly captivating crime drama that drifts effortlessly between tension, black humour, and a scathing indictment of Japan’s justice system, with one of the most electric villains since Monokuma, and you get something truly remarkable.

Matt S’ pick (Editor, DigitallyDownloaded): Gamedec has blown me away. A non-combat-focused isometric cyberpunk game? Disco Elysium or Planescape Torment, but with brain hacking and stuff? A game in which you dynamically level up based on personality and conversations rather than shooting things? A cyberpunk game that’s genuinely willing to go the adults-only places (and, unlike that CD Projekt Red travesty, not behave like a teenager that’s play-acting as an adult)? Yes to all of these. I knew nothing about this game before I started playing it and while it has some minor technical issues on Switch (them loading times are brutal), this game is exceptional.

I’m also looking forward to F1 a great deal. From what racing fans have told me, Codemasters has taken EA’s money and used it to lift this year’s F1 to another level entirely. As a big enough fan of F1 that I buy the annual instalments, this does sound like it’ll be the first one in a while to forge new ground and given that we’re all expecting EA to eventually ruin Codemasters, we should enjoy the high they’re on while they’re on it.