New Releases: September 8th-14th, 2022

Prepare for another storm of squid ink, as Splatoon 3 (pictured) arrives on Switch. If the vibrant colors and in-game news segments are too light-hearted for your tastes, White Day: A Labyrinth Named School offers plenty of frights in portable form. One of the other notable titles is The Beasts of Burden, the third entry in the Voice of Cards series. Meanwhile, Alice Gear Aegis CS: Concerto of Simulatrix arrives this week in Japan.

PlayStation 4
Arcade Archives: Champion Wrestler (digital, $7.99)
Catmaze (digital, $9.99)
DEEEER Simulator: Your Average Everyday Deer Game (physical, $29.99)
Isonzo (physical & digital, $39.99)
Little Orpheus (digital, $12.99)
NBA 2K23 (physical & digital, $59.99-$99.99)
Nobody Saves the World – Frozen Hearth (DLC, $4.99)
Q.U.B.E. 10th Anniversary (digital, $TBA)
Steelrising (physical & digital, $49.99)
Tower Princess (digital, $17.99)
Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden (digital, $29.99-$37.99)
Windstorm: Start of a Great Friendship (physical & digital, $29.99)

PlayStation 5
NBA 2K23 (physical & digital, $69.99-$99.99)
Puzzle Bobble 3D Vacation Odyssey (physical, $29.99)
Steelrising (physical & digital, $49.99)
White Day: A Labyrinth Named School ((physical, $39.99)

Switch
BPM: Bullets Per Minute (digital, $22.49)
Catmaze (digital, $9.99)
Dead Invaders: Modern War 3D (digital, $6.99)
DEEEER Simulator: Your Average Everyday Deer Game (physical, $34.99)
Family Man (digital, $9.99)
Food Truck Tycoon Premium Edition (digital, $5.99)
Game Type DX (digital, $5.99)
Haiku, the Robot (digital, $19.99)
Justice Sucks (digital, $17.99)
Little Orpheus (digital, $12.99)
NBA 2K23 (physical & digital, $59.99-$99.99)
Nobody Saves the World – Frozen Hearth (DLC, $4.99)
Pandaty (digital, $8.99)
Radical Rex (digital, $7.99)
Skycadia (digital, $19.99)
Splatoon 3 (physical & digital, $59.99)
Svoboda 1945: Liberation
The Gallery (digital, $14.99)
The Hand of Glory (digital, $18.99)
To Leave (digital, $19.99)
Tower Princess (digital, $17.99)
Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden (digital, $29.99-$37.99)
White Day: A Labyrinth Named School (digital, $26.99)
Wind of Shuriken (digital, $7.99)
Zumba Blitz (digital, $2.99)

Xbox One
Catmaze (digital, $9.99)
Game Type DX (digital, $5.99)
Isonzo (physical & digital, $39.99)
Justice Sucks (digital, $17.99)
Last Beat Enhanced (digital, $8.99)
Little Orpheus (digital, $12.99)
NBA 2K23 (physical & digital, $59.99-$99.99)
Nobody Saves the World – Frozen Hearth (DLC, $4.99)
Q.U.B.E. 10th Anniversary (digital, $TBA)
Steelrising (physical & digital, $49.99)
Tower Princess (digital, $17.99)
White Day: A Labyrinth Named School (digital, $26.99)
You Suck at Parking (digital, $15.99)

Xbox Series S/X
Arcadegeddon (physical, $29.99)
NBA 2K23 (physical & digital, $59.99-$99.99)

PC
Block’Em! ($5.24)
Demon Go! ($4.79)
Food Truck Simulator ($TBA)
Freedom Planet 2 ($TBA)
Garden Simulator ($11.99)
Isonzo ($39.99)
Isle of Arrows ($11.69)
Jack Move ($17.99)
Justice Sucks ($17.99)
Linked Mask ($8.79)
Lovecraft’s Untold Stories 2 ($TBA)
NBA 2K23 ($59.99)
On the Dragon Wings – Birth of a Hero ($8.99)
One Dreamer ($TBA)
Steelrising ($49.99)
Super Alloy Ranger ($TBA)
Sunday Gold ($TBA)
The Wandering Village
Tower Princess ($17.99)
Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden ($29.99-$37.99)
You Suck at Parking ($15.99)

Rob’s Pick: If there’s one recent franchise that I regret overlooking, it’s undoubtedly Voice of Cards. Conceived by the wonderfully eccentric Yoko Taro (Nier series), famed composer Keiichi Okabe (Tekken 2-7), and artist extraordinaire Kimihiko Fujisaka (Fire Emblem: Awakening), it’s the type of work that’s created when brilliant minds intermingle. The franchise’s concept is exceedingly straightforward: Voice of Cards’ entries re-imagine console role-playing games constructed by decks of opulent playing cards. Sure, there’s many of the same purposeful decisions as traditional RPGs, but it’s rendered in faux organic elegance.

Building on the foundations laid out by previous entries, The Isle Dragon Roars and The Forsaken Maiden, this week sees the release of Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden. This time out, gameplay centers around monster trapping. Here, capturing a monster card allows you to harness their skills in battle, offering a host of strategic possibilities. But the real draw is the gamemaster’s commentary that’s made to sound like an actual person, who occasionally misspeaks or clears their throat. Often games can feel exceedingly sterile, so I appreciate the direction developer Alim is taking. Oh, and that bossa nova-tinged duet in the trailer is pure gold.

Elsewhere, Splatoon is such an inspired action shooter. While I don’t always have an internet connection for competitive play, I relish the franchise single-player components. This week, I’m eager to see if the third entry has enough substance for solitary squidlings like myself.

Ryan’s pick: This week’s pick for me goes to the Steam RPG Jack Move which releases today on September 8. The battle sequences for this game drew me in, as I really liked the unique perspective as well as some of the animations. I also noticed that certain special character attacks have a small QTE sequence as well, which should help keep things a bit more exciting. QTE in JRPGs will always remind me of Final Fantasy VIII, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s a skill you just get inherently good at after performing it over and over again. In general, the game looks like an engaging polished RPG mixed with some 80s aesthetics, so count me in.

The other game that I am considering this week is Splatoon 3. I am going to be honest and here that I’m far from the seasoned player in this series, but it feels like they continue to add things to the series to keep players coming back as well as to entice younger generations. The single player campaign is going to be probably my first step, as typically single-player has helped introduce me to some of the necessary skills and pointers that will be requisite to fully enjoy the multiplayer experience and not embarrass myself. I’ve always personally really liked the visual effects in the game as they have helped set this game apart from others, so I’m confident it will be an equally enjoyable experience if you prefer a bit more action over a turn-based RPG.

Matt S’ pick (editor, DigitallyDownloaded): First up, if you haven’t played White Day yet, then don’t miss this newest round of re-releases of it, on to Switch, Xbox Series, and PlayStation 5. This might be an older horror game at this point, but it’s one of the finest Korean horror experiences of all, a rightful classic, and while it’s not the most refined game mechanically, its horror qualities are timeless. I haven’t hesitated in diving back into it, and I’m loving it all over again. It also helps that all the swimsuit DLC is included in these new releases by default, and these girls look great in their swimmers – the best example of that kind of fan service this side of Project Zero.

Of the properly new games, I rather like the look of Alice Gear Aegis CS: Concerto of Simulatrix – I’ve only really seen screenshots, but it’s a pretty girls robot game? By MAGES (so seems like it has some VN stuff in there too)? That’s promising a good time to me.

And then, finally for my recommendations this week, we’ve got Steelrising. The development team at Spiders might not have the resources to produce an Elden Ring, but what they lack in resourcing they make up for with raw creative vision, because this game, which tracks a steampunk nightmare alternative history French Revolution, is immediately appealing for many of the same reasons that the original Nioh was – the context that the alternative history gives it deepens and enrichens the game, and I couldn’t put it down as a result.