New Releases: August 1st-7th, 2024

For those who appreciate otome like HameFura, The Villainess Is Adored by the Prince of the Neighbor Kingdom (pictured) might be worth a look. Meanwhile, isekai addicts might welcome the interactive adaption That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, which arrives on Steam this week and on consoles on August 8th. For the rest of us, Tomba! Special Edition, Volgarr the Viking II, and Cygni: All Guns Blazing will give controllers a vigorous workout.

PlayStation 4
Aero the Acro-Bat (digital, $5.99)
Cattie (digital, $4.99)
Eden Genesis (digital, $24.99)
Mars 2120 (digital, $19.99)
Pepper Grinder (digital, $14.99)
Star Wars: Bounty Hunter (digital, $17.99)
Thank Goodness You’re Here! (digital, $19.99)
The Mortuary Assistant (digital, $24.99)
Tomba! Special Edition (digital, $19.99)
Volgarr the Viking II (digital, $15.99)

PlayStation 5
Cygni: All Guns Blazing (digital, $29.99)

Switch
Aero the Acro-Bat (digital, $5.99)
Animal Hunting 3D (digital, $7.99)
Babba Yagga: Woodboy (digital, $15.99)
Bare Butt Boxing (digital, $14.99)
Bot Shot (digital, $0.99)
Cattie (digital, $4.99)
Chef Chen (digital, $19.19)
Cilla (digital, $6.99)
EvoMon (digital, $9.99)
Farlands Journey (digital, $7.99)
Find the Cat (digital, $2.99)
Galaxy Mania (digital, $4.99)
Hakuoki: Chronicles of Wind and Blossom (digital, $44.99)
I Want To Go To Mars (digital, $3.99)
King ‘n Knight (digital, $11.99)
Landnama (digital, $13.99)
Mars 2120 (digital, $19.99)
Metroplex Zero Sci-Fi Card Battler (digital, $9.99)
Operation: Tango (digital, $19.99)
Rejoinder – Procedural Roguelite (digital, $4.99)
Same Break Game (digital, $3.59)
Shopping Mall Girl (digital, $7.99)
Star Wars: Bounty Hunter (digital, $17.99)
Super Kawaii! Finding Mistakes in Panda Photos (digital, $2.99)
Synaxarion Christian Stories: Holy Martyr Savvas the Goth (digital, $0.99)
Tensei (digital, $2.99)
Thank Goodness You’re Here! (digital, $19.99)
The Lullaby of Life (digital, $14.99)
The Villainess Is Adored by the Prince of the Neighbor Kingdom (digital, $39.99)
Tomba! Special Edition (digital, $19.99)
Toy Car Extreme Racing: RC Driver Simulator (digital, $4.99)
Train Your Brain! Spot the Difference with Animal Kids Photos
Treasure Hunt on a World Trip (digital, $6.99)
Trinity Fusion (digital, $19.99)
Untitled Goose Game & Thank Goodness You’re Here! Bundle (digital, $35.90)
Volgarr the Viking II (digital, $15.99)
Werewolf Goldfish (digital, $5.00)
Yatsumeguri (digital, $2.90)
Zumba Marble Blast (digital, $4.99)

Xbox One
Aero the Acro-Bat (digital, $5.99)
Beastie Bay DX (digital, $10.79)
Cattie (digital, $4.99)
Cilla (digital, $6.99)
Eden Genesis (digital, $22.49)
Forest Camp Story (digital, $10.79)
I Want To Go To Mars (digital, $3.99)
Mars 2120 (digital, $19.99)
Pepper Grinder (digital, $14.99)
Quriocity (digital, $15.99)
Seed of Life (digital, $39.99)
Star Wars: Bounty Hunter (digital, $17.99)
Sugar Tanks 2 (digital, $9.99)
Tensei (digital, $2.99)
The Lullaby of Life (digital, $14.99)
The Mortuary Assistant (digital, $24.99)
Volgarr the Viking II (digital, $15.99)

Xbox Series S/X
Cygni: All Guns Blazing (digital, $29.99)

PC
Aero GPX ($TBA)
Car Manufacture ($17.99)
Closer the Distance ($TBA)
CYGNI: All Guns Blazing ($26.99)
Desert Island in Summer? ($TBA)
Deviator ($TBA)
Eden Genesis ($TBA)
Fields of Mistria ($TBA)
Hero Emblems II ($TBA)
Kitsune Tails ($17.99)
Motordoom ($TBA)
Sift Heads – Cartels 4 ($TBA)
Star Wars: Bounty Hunter ($19.99)
Thalassa: Edge of the Abyss ($19.99)
Thank Goodness You’re Here! ($16.99)
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime ISEKAI Chronicles ($49.99)
Tomb Explorer VR ($TBA)
Tomba! Special Edition ($19.99)
Unrooted ($TBA)
Volgarr the Viking II ($15.99)

Rob’s pick: I remember looking forward to Tomba!’s 1998 release when I was younger. But I must have been expecting a more straightforward platformer like director Tokuro Fujiwara had made when he was at Capcom. And while the visuals were on par with Bionic Commando and Ghouls ‘n Ghosts, the non-linear structure threw me off. Dozens of metroidvanias later, I’m ready for a reassessment.

Speaking of saturated genres, Eden Genesis is a rather interesting roguelike platformer. You’ve got to give credit to Toledo, Spain-based developer Aeternum Game Studios. Their inaugural entry, Aeterna Noctis was messy, with plenty of frustrating difficulty spikes and uneven voice acting. But the team gradually improved the title and refused to quit, releasing their sophomore effort, Summum Aeterna two years later. With Genesis, Aeternum continues to become more experienced. While the game isn’t perfect, it’s the first title I can actually recommend, thanks to the involving combat-driven platforming and competent storytelling. Lastly, I’d like to welcome a new generation to the absolute mediocrity of Aero the Acro-bat and Zumba.

Ryan’s pick: The shmup CYGNI: All Guns Blazing looks pretty impressive, so this one is going to be my pick this week. The visuals and VFX were the first things that drew me in for this game, and in general I think retro shoot-em-up fans and current-gen console gamers will come to a silent nod agreement that this one looks good. The genre is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me in that I’m really bad at them, with my eye often looking at the wrong things all the time. As long as they don’t spawn enemies directly behind you (I’m looking at you Truxton) then I think this one could be a good pick up for your Steam Deck or on consoles.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime is an anime series that has continued to grow in popularity over the years as the isekai genre continues to be extremely popular. The thing that stands out the most to me with the series is the sheer number of characters and how much time they spent in the series character building for each of them. This said That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime ISEKAI Chronicles gets a quick mention here because I imagine there’s plenty of fans out there that are eager to experience new content featuring memorable characters like Remuru, Benimaru, or Shion. True to the series there’s a bit of battling which lets you play as some of the series most famous characters, and it also contains some city-building elements. I don’t think there are too many prerequisites for being able to enjoy the game, but being that it’s based on an isekai anime it may be helpful to understand some of the typical tropes from the genre prior to jumping in.

Matt S’ pick (editor, DigitallyDownloaded): I know it’s an old game that has been re-released many times at this point, but Hakuouki is such a wonderful visual novel and iconic for what the otome genre can do at its best. It’s a beautiful game (and looks absolutely pristine on a Switch OLED screen in particular), offers a rich historical fiction narrative set during one of the most dynamic and dramatic periods of Japanese history, and has just the right touch of supernatural chills and thrills too. It’s a true “page turner” and if you’ve never actually played an otome visual novel before, this is an excellent place to start.

Also, I know that Robert said that Zuma was mediocre, and it is, but it’s also a type of puzzle game that can be oddly moreish. You sit down, start matching up little rows of marbles, and then you find, hours and hours later, that you’re still playing. Or at least I do. So as much as it will be total shovelware… I can’t help myself. I’ll be buying that thing.