New Releases: August 8th-14th, 2024

This week, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime ISEKAI Chronicles (pictured) arrives on console, while Prince of Persia The Lost Crown makes its way onto Steam. Meanwhile, SteamWorld Heist II delivers absorbing turn-based strategy, as the series moves from space to the high seas. Here’s the complete list of what’s arriving this week:

PlayStation 4

Cat Quest III (digital, $19.99)
Cultist Simulator (digital, $19.99)
Gravitators (digital, $9.99)
Princess Maker 2 Regeneration (digital, $39.99)
Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse (digital, $17.99)
SteamWorld Heist II (digital, $26.99)
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime ISEKAI Chronicles (digital, $49.99)

PlayStation 5

Arcade Paradise VR (digital, $19.99)
Dead Age 2 (digital, $19.99)
Deathbound (digital, $29.99)
Green Hell (digital, $24.99)
Hidden Through Time 2: Discovery (digital, $10.99)
Shoulders of Giants: Ultimate (digital, $19.99)

Switch

Anime Dance-Off – Party Total (digital, $1.99)
Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians (digital, $12.99)
Bid Battle: Auction War Simulator Storage Hunter (digital, $12.99)
Billy Bumbum: A Cheeky Puzzler (digital, $12.99)
Boom Robots (digital, $4.99)
Bullet Time (digital, $0.99)
Cat Quest III (digital, $19.99)
Cat’s Request (digital, $7.99)
Cats Hidden in Magic Places (digital, $3.99)
Delirium (digital, $12.99)
Demon Go! (digital, $2.69)
Drone Pilot: Extreme Flight Simulator (digital, $4.99)
EGGCONSOLE Arguice no Tsubasa PC-8801mkIISR (digital, $6.49)
Escape from the Pharaoh’s Tomb (digital, $4.99)
Gray Dawn (digital, $19.99)
Hidden Through Time 2: Discovery (digital, $10.99)
Kanna Maze (digital, $3.99)
Love is All Around (digital, $12.99)
Moonshot (digital, $2.99)
Omochapon (digital, $14.99)
PumPum (digital, $14.99)
Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse (digital, $17.99)
Shikon-X Astro Defense Fortress (digital, $9.99)
Slot & Learn Hiragana (digital, $2.99)
Sokomage (digital, $4.99)
Spin & Match Puzzle Learn at Once 3 Languages (digital, $2.99)
SteamWorld Heist II (digital, $26.99)
SteamWorld Heist Complete Bundle (digital, $33.99)
Sushi Drop (digital, $7.00)
The Books Tale: A Hop Adventure! (digital, $4.99)
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime ISEKAI Chronicles (digital, $49.99)
Tiny Pixels Vol. 1 – Ninpo Blast (digital, $4.99)
Train Your Brain! Spot the Difference with Japanese Landscapes (digital, $2.99)
Vividlope (digital, $9.99)

Xbox One

Cat’s Request (digital, $7.99)
Cultist Simulator (digital, $19.99)
Gravitators (digital, $9.99)
SteamWorld Heist II (digital, $26.99)
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime ISEKAI Chronicles (digital, $49.99)

PC

Cat Quest III ($17.99)
Crime Scene Cleaner ($TBA)
Deathbound ($26.99)
Demonsomnia ($TBA)
Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers ($13.49)
JDM: Rise of the Scorpion (free)
Knock on the Coffin Lid ($24.99)
Level Zero: Extraction ($TBA)
Leximan ($TBA)
Moonless Moon ($8.49)
Preserve ($9.99)
Prince of Persia The Lost Crown ($23.99)
Ratten Reich ($TBA)
Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse ($17.99)
Shoulders of Giants: Ultimate ($19.99)
SteamWorld Heist II ($26.99)

Rob’s Pick: As much as I love a delightfully complex strategy game, lately I’ve been drawn to accessible tactics titles where I can finish an encounter in ten or fifteen minutes. For the past week or so, SteamWorld Heist II has been squeezing into my schedule quite smoothly. Occasionally, it’s been hooking me for longer sessions as I oversee Captain Leeway and his crew of bots across a 2D role-playing adventure.

If you missed the first game, Heist and the sequel play similarly. Turn-based combat is split into movement and action phases, with the latter providing the opportunity to use different weapons. Ricochets play an important role here, allowing you to headshot foes behind cover, or aim at a boss’ armor. Until Team17 gives us a Worms role-playing game, SteamWorld Heist II is getting a permanent spot on my Steam Deck. Also, if Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers ever gets a tutorial, it will get a full recommendation. Much like how Balatro injected roguelike elements into poker, Gamblers does the same with blackjack.

Ryan’s pick: With the launch of Diablo IV’s Season 5 this week I admittedly will be spending a considerable amount of time leveling up, as last season I honestly had a lot more fun than I thought I would after taking over a year-long break. There is one new release this week that I think is worth a brief mention, which is Leximan. It’s a sprite-based 2D puzzle game that employs a word-based encounter system. I’m a bit curious how the game will react to incorrect and/or creative new spellings for things as I mash words together, so the experimental part of my brain is interested. It certainly seems pretty quirky and light-hearted – just what I need after endlessly whirlwinding through Sanctuary.

Level Zero: Extraction also caught my eye as I’ve recently been enjoying a bit of spectating extraction PvPvE games. Developer Doghowl Games self-describes this title as an extraction horror game, building upon the standard extraction-type 1st-person genre by including another facet which is the ability to play as aliens that can hunt the mercenary players in the levels. It’s a given that I’ll be pretty terrible at it, but I think playing as the alien could be hilarious and a much easier way at least for me to get acquainted with the genre.

Matt S’ pick (editor, DigitallyDownloaded): I know it sits slightly outside of this week’s releases, but Fate/Stay Night surprise dropped on us all this week and I have been so excited to finally play that, and so that’s my big project for this week. And it is apparently a very big experience indeed.

Of the actual games releasing this week, I am looking forward to SteamWorld Heist 2 a lot. I really enjoyed the first as a simple, clean, 2D XCOM like, but was left thinking that there was a lot that could be done to build on that foundation. With any luck the developers were somehow able to read my mind, and this game will be the full realisation of what the original promised.

Finally, to pick something quirky, Moonless Moon looks like something that I’ll love. It’s a “text adventure” game, but for something that promises a lot of reading the art sure is lovely. The developers also promise an excellent soundtrack and, if they get that right, then this could be a wonderfully ambient little experience.