This week, Metaphor: ReFantazio brings its race for the throne to Switch 2, while Moomin: Midsummer Madness offers another dose of storybook charm. Elsewhere, Pikmin 4 rallies its tiny helpers for a big rescue mission, and the two Nekomimi Sweet Housemates titles (pictured) offer a double helping of catgirl companionship. Here’s the full list of what’s arriving on PC and consoles:
PlayStation 4
Fakin’ It XL (digital, $8.99)
Ski Jumping World Cup (digital, $8.99)
PlayStation 5
Dark Rail (digital, TBA)
DERELIKT (digital, TBA)
Duck Side of the Moon (digital, TBA)
Hazard Levels (digital, TBA)
Leaf Blower Co. (digital, TBA)
Moonlight Peaks (digital, $34.99)
POPUCOM (digital, $19.99)
Ranger’s Path: National Park Simulator (digital, $24.99)
Sonic Pico Park (digital, $9.99)
Nintendo Switch
a pet shop after dark (digital, $9.99)
Beat Tokyo with Jimotoism (digital, $7.99)
Boxing – MotionPlay (digital, $9.99)
Combat Kart (digital, $14.90)
Cupiclaw (digital, $9.99)
EGGCONSOLE Mr.Bump PC-8801mkIISR (digital, $6.49)
Ex-Master, Zombie (digital, $9.99)
Moomin: Midsummer Madness (digital, $19.99)
MyRummy 2 (digital, $15.99)
Nekomimi Sweet Housemates (digital, $15.99)
Nekomimi Sweet Housemates2 (digital, $15.99)
Ski Jumping World Cup (digital, $8.99)
Sonic Pico Park (digital, $9.99)
Spirit Crossing (digital, $26.99)
TYPE-NOISE: Shonen Shojo (digital, $19.99)
UKKARIANS (digital, $6.50)
Unicorn Academy: Island of Magic (physical & digital, $39.99)
Nintendo Switch 2
Adorable Adventures (digital, $19.99)
Harold Halibut (digital, $34.99)
Metaphor: ReFantazio (digital, $39.99)
Moomin: Midsummer Madness (digital, $19.99)
Pikmin 4 + Dandori Academy (physical & digital, $69.99)
Sonic Pico Park (digital, $9.99)
Spirit Crossing (digital, $26.99)
Supermarket Simulator (digital, $19.99)
Xbox One
Croc’s World 5 (digital, $6.99)
Ski Jumping World Cup (digital, $8.99)
Sonic Pico Park (digital, $9.99)
Xbox Series S|X
Dark Rail (digital, $9.99)
DONGDA Gangster (digital, $19.99)
Fakin’ It XL (digital, $8.99)
Hazard Levels (digital, TBA)
Leaf Blower Co. (digital, $19.99)
Ranger’s Path: National Park Simulator (digital, $24.99)
Weed Supermarket Simulator (digital, $14.99)
Steam
Barbie Rewind ($29.99)
Blood Sword (TBA)
Burning Sword: Death Sun ($19.99)
Dawn of Defense (TBA)
DERELIKT (TBA)
Drawquarium (TBA)
Explosiovania (TBA)
Fat Goblins ($14.99)
Flea Madness ($14.99)
Green Again (TBA)
HARMA (TBA)
Iron Frontier (TBA)
Keepsake County ($24.99)
Littlelands (TBA)
Main Sequence ($24.99)
Melvor Idle 2 ($14.99)
Monkeys!¡ (TBA)
Moomin: Midsummer Madness ($19.99)
Pelikeeper: A TD Adventure (TBA)
Pool of Madness (TBA)
Rock and Found (TBA)
Satelital ($18.00)
ScopeCreep (TBA)
Ski-E-O! Ski Resort Tycoon ($19.99)
Sloppy Forgeries ($15.00)
SONIC PICO PARK ($9.99)
Spirit Crossing ($29.99)
STEEL GULLET (TBA)
Trees Hate You (TBA)
UnderMire (TBA)
Rob’s pick: Metaphor: ReFantazio took Persona’s calendar juggling and relationship cultivation into a fantasy realm where prejudice and a fight for the throne offer some role-playing distinction. The flexible archetypes allow for some experimentation while the turn-based battles can be wonderfully ruthless. Unfortunately, Atlus’ Switch 2 ports aren’t the best, so be prepared for some sputtering frame rates or loss to image quality. Despite these blemishes, ReFantazio is role-playing greatness.
A goth take on Story of Season wasn’t on my list of expectations, but Moonlight Peaks’ PS5 debut layers feuding monster families and personal troubles over your nightly agricultural duties. It’s been a good year for dark gardening with Village in the Shade blending yokai and yardwork. Peak’s witches, werewolves, and vampires provide another cast of shadowy secondaries to interact with. Until the Deathsmiles’ gals tend to plants in their frilly petticoats, these two titles will have to tide me over.
Matt S’ pick (editor, DigitallyDownloaded): If you haven’t happened to have played Metaphor, then you really do owe it to yourself to remedy that. It ended up being much more than a straightforward “Persona, but fantasy”, despite sharing the same obvious roots thanks to the sharply intelligent narrative. One of the very rare times we’ve had an 80-hour game with a story that didn’t feel padded in places.
I’m also quite interested in checking out the Moomin game. I do love the Moomins, and I found that the previous couple of games did a great job of capturing the unique aesthetics and tone of Tove Jansson’s whimsy.
