The games news keeps coming thick and fast, so we’re doing an extra news drop just to make room in our inbox. We’ve got new games, old games, physical releases and everything else and with the Tokyo Games Show making things even busier, let’s get these reported on.
- NISA Showcase
- Batora: Lost Haven
- Like a Dragon: Ishin!
- The Chant
- Saturnalia
- Evil West
- The Rumble Fish 2
- Stray (Physical)
NISA Showcase 2022 (GrimGrimoire OnceMore, Monster Menu: The Scavenger’s Cookbook, Process of Elimination, Void Terrarium 2)
Our friends at NIS America are going to be very busy for the foreseeable future. They’ve announced the following games, all of which will be released in Spring 2023.
Void Terrarium 2 – enter a dystopian world where you play as a robot tasked with watching over the last surviving human. This is looking like a survival-based dungeon crawler. But we’re not sure as the announcement trailer doesn’t give much away.
Monster Menu: The Scavenger’s Cookbook – this also looks to be a dungeon-crawling survival adventure but now with additional cooking-based mechanics where you fight monsters and then loot them for ingredients which in turn give you a boost for the next dungeon. We like the concept and the isometric, turn-based gameplay could be well worth checking out. Just like this trailer.
Process of Elimination – this is a murder mystery game with a difference as you join a team of detectives who are trying to identify a serial killer known as The Quartering Duke. However, things go from bad to worse when you realise that the killer may be one of you. There’s an announcement trailer but it tells you nothing so you’ll have to wait for more information to be released in the next few months.
GrimGrimoir OnceMore – fans of the original GrimGrimoire, a real-time strategy game for PS2, will be pleased to know that a remaster is coming and it promises better visuals, an improved interface, a whole new skill tree and much more. Check out the trailer below.
Batora: Lost Haven
Our hopes are high for this galactic adventure game from Team17. An action-RPG with loads of planets to explore, moral choices to make, puzzles to solve and intergalactic bastards to kill. It’s looking like a cross between Bastion and Diablo but don’t take our word for it, check out the trailer below. Or look it up when it releases on October 20th.
Like a Dragon: Ishin!
Fans of the Yakuza games may already know about Like a Dragon: Ishin! But the game was never released in the West but that’s all about to change as the game is dropping on these shores on Feb 21st, 2023. Set in 1860s Kyo, this game sees you playing as a samurai whose fight for justice stands to change the course of Japan’s history forever. However, if it lives up to its promise with various combat styles to master, a roster of varied weaponry and upgradable skills to unlock then we’ll be all over this. And to boot we get all-new content, remastered visuals and localisation support.
The Chant
This horror title looks to be coming correct when it comes to scares and we’re pretty excited about it especially because of Paul Ruskay’s involvement as sound director as he’s looking to add a big John Carpenter influence to the game’s creepy 1970s horror vibe. It looks like Alone in the Dark but with a bit of cult-ish, cosmic horror.
Check out this interview with Ruskay and look forward to getting creeped the hell out on November 3rd when it comes out. We can’t wait!
Saturnalia
And if that’s not enough creepy horror for you then check out the trailer for Saturnalia below. With its remarkable graphics style and unique gameplay where you can run or hide but if the creature catches you, the game’s layout resets, we’re banking on Saturnalia being something of a hit for Halloween. It comes out just in time on October 27th.
Evil West
The scares continue with Evil West which sounds achingly cool thanks to its mix of vampire hunting gameplay and Wild West setting. It sounds like it could tap into our love of Near Deark as well as our fondness for chaotic, explosive action. There’s an extended gameplay trailer out, so check that out below. Not going to lie, this looks fantastic. But we’ll know for sure when it lands on November 22nd. Please don’t suck! (intended)
The Rumble Fish 2
This is an odd one! The Rumble Fish 2 was a pretty cool 1v1 fighting game that we only managed to experience via emulation, Atomiswave emulation at that. We’re not sure why it never got a Dreamcast port but that doesn’t matter now as it’s getting ported to PS4 and PS5. The Rumble Fish 2 is very much a ’90s fist-flinger and so fans of classic coin-op combat should enjoy it but if you shell out for the physical Collector’s Edition you also get the original Rumble Fish game included, some DLC characters, an art book, a strategy guide and a soundtrack CD.
And you can get your hands on all that on November 8th.
Stray (Physical Edition)
Everyone’s favourite cat ’em up, Stray, has been wooing audience since last month’s release and now it’s getting a retail physical edition which includes the game (obviously) and six full-colour art cards. But if you want even more cat-based goodness, you can go for the iam8bit Exclusive Edition which comes with a double LP black vinyl soundtrack. Isn’t black already the default vinyl colour? Who knows. But the retail version ships on Sept 20th (PS4 version comes later on November 8th) while the exclusive will be a little later and the vinyl won’t be shipping until Q1 2023.