New Releases: August 17th-23rd, 2023

This week, WrestleQuest makes its arena entrance, Let’s Build a Zoo gets an aquarium add-on, while The Texas Chain Saw Massacre brutalizes players with asymmetrical confrontations. Alternatively, Clover Day’s Plus (pictured) offers the heartfelt tale of a British orphan raised in Japan.

PlayStation 4
Hello Engineer (digital, $14.99)
Let’s Build a Zoo: Aquarium Odyssey (DLC, $9.99)
Madden NFL 24 (physical & digital, $69.99)
Marble It Up! Ultra (digital, $26.99)
Neko Journey (digital, $9.99)
Quantum: Recharged (digital, $9.99)
Red Dead Redemption and Undead Nightmare (digital, $49.99)
Shinobi Non Grata (digital, $14.99)
Smurfs Kart (physical & digital, $29.99)
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (physical & digital, $39.99)
Two Point Campus: Medical School (DLC, $9.99)
Virgo Versus the Zodiac (digital, $19.99)
WrestleQuest (digital, $29.99)

PlayStation 5
Endzone: A World Apart (physical, $29.99)
Gord (physical, digital $39.99)
Immortals of Aveum (physical, digital $39.99)
Madden NFL 24 (physical & digital, $69.99)
Ride 5 (physical & digital, $59.99)
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (physical & digital, $39.99)

Switch
A Castle Full of Cats (digital, $3.99)
Aery – Flow of Time (digital, $9.99)
Airplane Race Simulator (digital, $7.99)
Bomb Rush Cyberfunk (digital, $TBA)
Brave Bow Archer: Princess Rescue Simulator! (digital, $9.99)
Cat’s Cosmic Atlas (digital, $19.99)
Chrome Wolf (digital, $13.49)
Crypto Miner Tycoon Simulator (digital, $19.99)
Die After Sunset (digital, $19.99)
Duck Race (digital, $2.99)
Embraced By Autumn (digital, $18.99)
Forklift 2024 – The Simulation (digital, $14.99)
FRMaster – Formula Racing Simulator (digital, $6.99)
Hidden Shapes: Cat Realm + Trick or Cats (digital, $4.99)
Human: Fall Flat Dream Collection (physical, $34.99)
Gauntler (digital, $4.99)
Lost Forest (digital, $4.99)
Marble It Up! Ultra (digital, $26.99)
Neko Journey (digital, $9.99)
Quantum: Recharged (digital, $9.99)
Red Dead Redemption and Undead Nightmare (digital, $49.99)
Rescue Team 911 Simulator – Ambulance, Police, Firefighter (digital, $11.99)
Sable’s Grimoire: Man And Elf (digital, $5.99)
Satay Shop Tycoon (digital, $11.99)
Shinobi Non Grata (digital, $14.99)
Skateboard Drifting with Maxwell Cat: The Game Simulator (digital, $9.99)
Vampire Survivors (digital, $4.49)
Virgo Versus The Zodiac (digital, $19.99)

Xbox One
Aery – Flow of Time (digital, $9.99)
Chrome Wolf (digital, $13.49)
Hello Engineer (digital, $14.99)
Let’s Build a Zoo: Aquarium Odyssey (DLC, $9.99)
Madden NFL 24 (physical & digital, $69.99)
Marble It Up! Ultra (digital, $26.99)
Quantum: Recharged (digital, $9.99)
RIDE 5 (digital, $59,99, $89.99)
Shinobi Non Grata (digital, $14.99)
Smurfs Kart (physical $29.99, digital 26.99)
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (physical & digital, $39.99)
Two Point Campus: Medical School (DLC, $9.99)
Virgo Versus The Zodiac (digital, $19.99)
WrestleQuest (digital, $29.99)

Xbox Series S/X
Gord (physical, digital $39.99)

PC
Age of Reforging: The Freelands ($TBA)
An Ankou ($4.49)
Bomb Rush Cyberfunk ($TBA)
Book of Hours ($TBA)
Clover Day’s Plus ($TBA)
Die After Sunset ($19.99)
Dragon Princess is Hungry ($TBA)
Dwarves: Glory, Death and Loot ($9.59)
Gord ($34.99)
Hello Engineer: Scrap Machines Constructor ($9.74)
Immortals of Aveum ($59.99)
Kill The Crows ($TBA)
Let’s Build a Zoo: Aquarium Odyssey (DLC, $8.99)
Madden NFL 23 (digital, $69.99)
Mist Slayer ($10.99)
No Creeps Were Harmed TD ($TBA)
Quantum Recharged ($9.99)
Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew ($35.99)
Smurfs Kart ($29.99)
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre ($35.99)
Two Point Campus: Medical School (DLC, $8.99)
Voidborn ($TBA)
Wayfinder ($TBA)
Whisker Squadron: Survivor ($TBA)
WrestleQuest ($29.99)
Xenotilt: Hostile Pinball Action ($TBA)
Yarashii Hotel ($3.59)

Rob’s pick: I’m a big fan of the Vampire Survivors formula. Naturally, I appreciate the endless rewards of roguelike power-ups that cater to different play styles. I also love the pacing; each game is stress-free at first but gradually moves toward bullet hell-style chaos. But best of all, I don’t need hours to feel fulfilled. I can play for ten minutes, earning a few unlockable in the process before moving onto to daily duties. So, while clones like Soulstone Survivors might dazzle with showers of particle effects and Halls of Torment might have a really good meta-game progression, it would be disgraceful to not recommend the father of all auto-attackers. Vampire Survivors arrives on Switch this week at a sub-five-dollar price point. If you’re the type of player who cares about value-to-dollar ratios, this is one of the best proportions around.

As a big fan of TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine pinball titles like Alien Crush and Devil’s Crush, I’m also looking forward to Xenotilt: Hostile Pinball Action. Thirty years on, Compile’s games still entertain but Ralph Barbagallo’s spiritual successors add all the fancy visual effects that modern hardware can provide. Lastly, No Creeps Were Harmed TD’s roller coaster-esque level designs have me curious. Nine years on, I’m still waiting for a tower defense game to top DG2: Defense Grid 2.

Ryan’s pick: Top-down shooters can be unforgiving, especially when it has one-shot kill mechanics. For me however the punishing nature of the shooters is what makes it fun, and Kill the Crows caught my eye as its mechanics were reminding me a bit of Hotline Miami. The ability to use the mouse to paint targets and then shoot them systematically also reminds me a little of Red Dead Redemption. While the game describes itself as a top-down shooter, the view is a bit more isometric but in general I think it works pretty well to help give the game’s dreary western world a little bit of depth.

Immortals of Aveum could also be worth a look this week as the visuals are pretty polished and I can’t remember the last time I played a single-player FPS that involves the use of magic over firearms. I’m also still just scratching the surface of Fontaine in Genshin Impact this week, so I’ll be balancing exploration in the brand-new area with remote raids this weekend with the Pokemon Go Fest that’s taking place in New York.

Matt S’ pick (editor, DigitallyDownloaded): I won’t be playing much at all this week, on account of moving home and DEAR LORD that is a process after eight years. I’m so tired. So, so tired.

If I do find even a second to play something new, I am looking at Smurf Kart with curiosity. Do I think it will be a Mario Kart beater? Of course not. But I love the kart racing genre, and I’ve had a good laugh at the likes of Garfield Kart and that that Family Guy & Co one that got a release on Apple Arcade. I suspect I’ll have fun with this one, because I do like the Smurfs, and the pick-up-and-play quality of it might be all I can handle right now.