New Releases: August 29th-September 4th, 2024

This week, Bakeru visits Japan’s prefectures, Gundam Breaker 4 strides onto consoles, while Everlasting Flow (pictured) offers another serving of Suzumori’s enchanting artistry. Here’s the complete list of what’s arriving on console and PC this week:

PlayStation 4

Gori: Cuddly Carnage (digital, $21.99)
Gundam Breaker 4 (digital, $59.99)
Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions (digital, $29.99)
Monster Jam Showdown (digital, $49.99)
My Time at Sandrock (digital, $39.99)
Shadow of the Ninja – Reborn (digital, $19.99)
Umamusume: Pretty Derby – Party Dash (digital, $44.99)
Visions of Mana (digital, $59.99)

PlayStation 5

Akimbot (digital, $17.99)
Leo: The Firefighter Cat (digital, $24.99)
Parcel Corps (digital, $TBA)
Prison Architect 2 (digital, $39.99)
Star Wars Outlaws (digital, $69.99)
The Casting of Frank Stone (digital, $39.99)

Switch

Bakeru (digital, $35.99)
Bedrotting (digital, $14.99)
Billy’s Game Show (digital, $7.99)
Bubble Blaster DX (digital, $1.99)
Can of Wormholes (digital, $19.99)
Date Z (digital, $14.99)
Depths of Sanity (digital, $16.99)
Dice Make 10! (digital, $3.99)
EGGCONSOLE Xanadu Scenario II PC-8801mkIISR (digital, $6.49)
Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club (digital, $49.99)
Find Room 96 (digital, $17.25)
Forests, Fields and Fortresses (digital, $4.99)
Fruit Attack!! (digital, $3.39)
Gori: Cuddly Carnage (digital, $21.99)
Gundam Breaker 4 (digital, $59.99)
Hole io & Helix Jump (digital, $7.99)
Holyhunt (digital, $4.99)
Island Survival: Craft, Build, Grow (digital, $11.99)
Koi-Koi Japan (digital, $9.99)
Leo: The Firefighter Cat (digital, $24.99)
Marble Abduction! Patti Hattu (digital, $11.79)
MFC – Midnight Fight Club (digital, $9.99)
Mining Mechs (digital, $4.99)
Monster Jam Showdown (digital, $49.99)
Ninja I & II (digital, $9.99)
Nour: Play With Your Food
Purrfect Rescue (digital, $2.99)
Ruthless Carnage Hotline (digital, $7.99)
Shadow of the Ninja – Reborn (digital, $19.99)
Shashingo: Learn Japanese with Photography (digital, $20.00)
Super Dark Deception (digital, $17.99)
Survivor Heroes (digital, $4.99)
The Backrooms: Survival (digital, $10.99)
The Knight’s Path (digital, $4.99)
Uboat Attack (digital, $7.99)
Umamusume: Pretty Derby – Party Dash (digital, $44.99)
Valfaris: Mecha Therion (digital, $19.99)
Voltaire: The Vegan Vampire (digital, $19.99)
WitchSpring R (digital, $39.99)

Xbox One

3XTINCTION (digital, $9.99)
Akimbot (digital, $17.99)
Billy’s Game Show (digital, $7.99)
Elon and the Divine Proof  (digital, $4.99)
Forklift Simulator (digital, $19.99)
Gori: Cuddly Carnage (digital, $21.99)
Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions (digital, $29.99)
Monster Jam Showdown (digital, $49.99)
Parcel Corps (digital, $TBA)
Prison Architect 2 (digital, $39.99)
Raging Loop (digital, $29.99)
Shadow of the Ninja – Reborn (digital, $19.99)
Visions of Mana (digital, $59.99)

Xbox Series S/X

Star Trucker (digital, $TBA)
Star Wars Outlaws (digital, $69.99)
The Casting of Frank Stone (digital, $39.99)

PC

Akimbot ($17.99)
Bakeru ($TBA)
Bloodless ($TBA)
CarX Street ($19.99)
Dale & Dawson Stationery Supplies ($TBA)
Everlasting Flowers ($TBA)
Gori: Cuddly Carnage ($21.99)
Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions ($29.99)
Necroking ($TBA)
Parcel Corps ($TBA)
Pneumata ($TBA)
Squirrel with a Gun ($17.99)
Star Trucker ($TBA)
The Abandoned Planet ($13.49)
The Casting of Frank Stone ($39.99)
Umamusume: Pretty Derby – Party Dash ($44.99)
Visions of Mana ($59.99)
Yarimono ($TBA)

Rob’s pick: If you like quirky platformers, Bakeru shouldn’t be missed. Undoubtedly, the platforming, exploration, and combat, and all appealing. But it’s the title’s love for Japanese culture that’s the real selling point. Filled with trivia, tengu, and taiko drumming, it’s difficult to not be charmed by the sense of pride found in enemy and level design. Which reminds me of that Parodius stage where Stars and Stripes Forever is playing, fireworks are filling the background, and the Americanness is cranked to absurd levels.

As Ryan mentioned last week, Gundam Breaker 4 might satiate the yearning for Gunpla on the go. And since my Switch habitually accompanies me everywhere, I’ll likely be picking it up so I can get a bit of painting, weathering, and decal placement on the train into work. Between the Steam Deck, Switch, and a shelfful of Anbernic devices, I actually look forward to commuting.

Ryan’s pick: Traversing through various cities always reminds me of the original Rampage on NES and how if you had the time and patience, you could make your way with a friend through all the U.S. states. Bakeru builds on that idea and lets you travel through all 47 prefectures as you make your way through a fairy tale version of Japan. The game’s 50 stages seem pretty varied and embody the same traditional Japanese flair and silliness that the Goemon games had.

I can’t quite put my finger on it, but the 2D side-scrolling game Bloodless on Steam looks like it’s a bunch of fun. I think it’s the thematic palette choices plus a bit of the slowdown effects that makes it seem pretty unique, plus the use of ‘non-lethal combat’ is a bit of a new take. It’s tagged as a souls-like, and with some of the main mechanics requiring you to use counters, I get the feeling it’s probably going to be challenging. It’ll be the perfect distraction as I continue to grind to wring out every last ounce of dps in my bash barbarian build in Diablo IV Season 5.

Matt S’ pick (editor, DigitallyDownloaded): Visions of Mana might just be my favourite game of 2024. Not only is this a return to form for a series that I’ve been a long-suffering fan of, but it is also elevated well beyond being “just” a Mana game. This is a colourful, classic, and yet also hugely engaging and modern JRPG. It’s something for the nostalgic, being reminiscent of the SNES glory years for the genre. And yet it’s also very modern and something that newer players can enjoy in its own right. Basically, it’s just a very, very good game.

I also must echo my esteemed colleagues with Bakeru too. Platformers aren’t normally my jive, but the contest of Bakeru, as a journey across the prefectures of Japan, enjoying all the little local qualities that make it a unique place, is such a quintessential part of the Japanese culture. This game is essentially the equivalent of The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō and other such works, and what the developers have decided to put into each “prefecture” level is actually very interesting to any students of Japan.