February 27 – March 5

Section: 

Well, it’s here! The week! The week where some percentage of the people who want a Switch will actually be able to buy one! Dust off your rooftops! Polish up those night-time basketballs! Walk that dog! Because there are … a couple of new games for it, and a bunch of stuff that came out on other platforms several years ago!

I kid, I kid! Nintendo fans take a lot of abuse (or worse: neglect) around these parts, so I’m going to come right out and say it: I’m on your side for this one. I’m not even going to mention Horizon Zero Dawn, which early reports suggest has out-Ubisofted Ubisoft in the genre of “open world games where where you climb towers.” Not even a little! Nope. I’m all about the Switch right now. I’m even optimistic that our preorder will actually come when it’s supposed to!

This week is all about the Zelda at my house. Like the Game King, I’ve never played a Zelda game. Breath of the Wild probably won’t change that, but we’re getting it anyway, because my wife has played nearly every Zelda game there is, with the exception of those CD-I ones, and she’s champing at the proverbial bit to get started on the first open-world Zelda game to call itself Open World. And who knows? Maybe this will be the one to hook me. I hadn’t played a Metal Gear Solid game until Kojima went open-world. Zelda might finally have struck a formula that works for me.

Breath of the Wild is my, and my wife’s, pick of the week. Now let’s go walk to that mountain we can see over there!

Chris "C" Cesarano

The Nintendo Switch itself is pretty much my pick of the week. I've taken two days off of work just so I can spend as much time with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild as I can. However, I'm not just excited to spend hours spelunking every corner of Hyrule as far as the draw distance can draw. The portability means I'll finally get a chance to try out Shovel Knight, probably double-dip on I Am Setsuna – currently gathering digital dust on my PS4 hard drive – and bring titles like Snipperclips and, yes, even 1-2 Switch to my sister's or friend's house. What's that? Small list of launch titles? Let's be realistic. I'm hardly lacking other platforms to spend money on, and neither is anyone that would diss the launch list.

Case in point, Horizon: Zero Dawn rides in on a thundering tyranobot with bloody roaringly good reviews and impressions. I wouldn't bet money on it being Sony's intention, but releasing the review embargo so early was a wise decision. Let people get hyped and excited before the torrent of positive Breath of the Wild feedback, where some are already claiming Horizon has been outclassed. Still, I can think of more than a few folks that would rather explore a colorful robo-pocalypse as a ginger-headed warrior tribeswoman than play a pointy-eared mute-dude for the umpteenth time.

If that weren't enough, PC players get Torment: Tides of Numenara heating up their Steam accounts. 3DS players can roll up their sleeves and dig into some good ol' crop soil with Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns (which you may not realize is the actual successor to what is known as the Harvest Moon series in America). Kickstarter backers are now rewarded for their support with River City Ransom: Underground.

It's a huge, jam-packed week filled with games. So even if you are skipping out on the Nintendo Switch because your heart is colder than the deepest depths of the Marianas Trench, there's still something to light up the darkness of your soul like the head bobbly of an angler fish.

Felix “Blank Slate” Threepaper

The Switch is out this week? But I’m only halfway through my first Civ 6 game as Australia. Then I gotta get back to Witcher 3 on PS4. I don’t have time for any more open worlds, but I am getting used to squinting at text boxes. That’s why this week I’m voting for Torment: Tides of Numenera, another isometric product of the happy marriage between InXile Entertainment and Kickstarter.

This week:

PC

  • Big City War
  • Blast-off
  • Blowhards
  • BUCK
  • Chaos Drift
  • Constellation Distantia
  • DESYNC
  • Dying Star
  • Einlanzer
  • Energia
  • Flix and Chill
  • For the King
  • From Shadows
  • HOUND
  • Langoth
  • Mastema: Out of Hell
  • Otome Romance Jigsaws: Midnight Cinderella & Destined to Love
  • Ra2
  • RC-AirSim: RC Model Airplane Flight Simulator
  • River City Ransom: Underground
  • Sin Castle
  • Stories Untold
  • Super Blackjack Battle II Turbo Edition: The Card Warriors
  • The Last Weekend
  • Ticket
  • Torment: Tides of Numenera
  • Turn Around
  • VThree
  • Water Heroes: A Game for Change

PS4

  • Ghost Blade HD
  • Horizon: Zero Dawn
  • The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series - A New Frontier
  • Torment: Tides of Numenera
  • Valhalla Hills: Definitive Edition
  • A King's Tale: Final Fantasy XV
  • ACA NeoGeo Nam-1975
  • Dying Reborn
  • forma.8
  • Grim Legends: The Forsaken Bride
  • The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing
  • WRC 6
  • Dying Reborn

Xbox One

  • Ghost Blade HD
  • Torment: Tides of Numenera
  • Valhalla Hills: Definitive Edition

Switch

  • 1, 2, Switch
  • Fast RMX
  • Human Resource Machine
  • I Am Setsuna
  • Just Dance 2017
  • Little Inferno
  • Shovel Knight
  • Skylanders Imaginators
  • Super Bomberman R
  • The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
  • World of Goo

Wii U

  • Ghost Blade HD
  • The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

3DS

  • Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns

Vita

  • forma.8
  • Stranger of Sword City Revisited

PS3

  • Suikoden 4 (PS2 Classic)

RIFT

  • Evolution Pinball VR: The Summoning
  • Housekeeping VR
  • Journey: Benjamin's Adventures
  • Locomancer
  • Marble Land
  • Radioactive
  • Stage Presence

Vive

  • Evolution Pinball VR: The Summoning
  • Fort Awesome
  • Locomancer
  • Pavlov
  • Radioactive
  • Stage Presence

Comments

It's all about Breath of the Wild and Snipperclips this week.

I'll be interested to see what people make of River City Ransom Underground. I gave the beta a try for a couple minutes over the weekend and coming off of River City Tokyo Rumble I'm not 100% sure if I'm on board with something that feels a little more Konami arcade brawler. On the other hand, Arc System Works seems pretty hell-bent on sticking with the NES stylings with the old Technos properties. Maybe meeting somewhere in the middle would be good?

Now this is a cool list of games. Good week.

I'm buying none of it though. At least not now. New baby is a huge part, but I'm curious if Zelda Wii U will be worth getting or wait until I get a Switch.

Torment: Tides of Numenera will be had, but probably once I have time to focus on PC RPGs again. I still haven't gone through Wasteland 2 and Pillars.

And Horizon: Zero Dawn will also be had, but because I have such a love/hate relationship with Ubi open worlds I'm not sure how I'll feel about Horizon, so it's a wait and see. Wait for a sale that is.

SWITCH WEEK!

Torment: Tides of Numenera, Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Nier: Automata all releasing so close to each other is nuts.

#Q1IsTheNewHoliday

We will see how much I crack under the new hardware spell. Right now I only plan on picking up Zelda for the Switch but I can imagine it ballooning into Zelda, Bomberman and Fast RMX.

This was going to be Torment week for me, but given how sluggish my laptop is and how quickly my passing interest in Horizon: Zero Dawn escalated to full-blown hype it'll probably Horizon: Torment Tides of Dawn week instead!

(Assuming that Torment actually releases on the Mac this week, which I can't seem to find any confirmation of anywhere.)

Of course, I'm in rehearsal for a play and working a full time job so...

Sick days will be taken.

garion333 wrote:

Now this is a cool list of games. Good week.

I'm buying none of it though. At least not now. New baby is a huge part, but I'm curious if Zelda Wii U will be worth getting or wait until I get a Switch.

I'll let you know. I'm not getting a Switch at launch, but I decided to go ahead and get Zelda on Wii U.

shoptroll wrote:

It's all about Breath of the Wild and Snipperclips this week.

Yup, it's Zelda time.

I feel bad for Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns. It sounds like a solid Harvest Moon entry, and yet... why do I need it when I have Stardew? Man did they get their thunder stolen badly.

Demyx wrote:

I feel bad for Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns. It sounds like a solid Harvest Moon entry, and yet... why do I need it when I have Stardew?

Platform. Stardew isn't portable yet.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
Demyx wrote:

I feel bad for Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns. It sounds like a solid Harvest Moon entry, and yet... why do I need it when I have Stardew?

Platform. Stardew isn't portable yet.

Oh, true. Although it's coming for Switch.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Torment: Tides of Numenera are getting all my love this week. Two of the most highly anticipated games for me in years. It's going to be hard dividing my time among both titles and finding a way to actually do things in real life...

Yeah, part of me wants to try a new Harvest Moon, the other part of me just wants to wait for Stardew Valley on Switch.

Though RGNinja gifted it me on Steam so once I'm done with Hollow Knight I suppose I can give it a whirl there.

Demyx wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:
Demyx wrote:

I feel bad for Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns. It sounds like a solid Harvest Moon entry, and yet... why do I need it when I have Stardew?

Platform. Stardew isn't portable yet.

Oh, true. Although it's coming for Switch.

So, still not portable.

It would appear a couple of releases have gone under the radar; Suikoden IV is getting released on PS3 as a PS2 Classic, and Van Helsing drops n PS4 (this according to the US Blog).

doubtingthomas396 wrote:
Demyx wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:
Demyx wrote:

I feel bad for Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns. It sounds like a solid Harvest Moon entry, and yet... why do I need it when I have Stardew?

Platform. Stardew isn't portable yet.

Oh, true. Although it's coming for Switch.

So, still not portable. :)

I mean, I mentally consider it portable because I play it on my laptop, so...

IMAGE(http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/558420/header.jpg?t=1488211219)

All about Stories Untold for me this week.

Game looks amazing.

Just over $8 too.

brokenclavicle wrote:

It would appear a couple of releases have gone under the radar; Suikoden IV is getting released on PS3 as a PS2 Classic, and Van Helsing drops n PS4 (this according to the US Blog).

Not just a couple releases. Here's the more complete list of missed things from playstation platforms. GWJ is never complete when it comes to PS releases.

PS4:
A King's Tale: Final Fantasy XV
ACA NeoGeo Nam-1975
Dying Reborn
forma.8
Grim Legends: The Forsaken Bride
The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing
WRC 6

PSVR:
Dying Reborn

Vita:
forma.8
Stranger of Sword City Revisited

PS3:
Suikoden 4 (PS2 Classic)

kazriko wrote:
brokenclavicle wrote:

It would appear a couple of releases have gone under the radar; Suikoden IV is getting released on PS3 as a PS2 Classic, and Van Helsing drops n PS4 (this according to the US Blog).

Not just a couple releases. Here's the more complete list of missed things from playstation platforms. GWJ is never complete when it comes to PS releases.

PS4:
A King's Tale: Final Fantasy XV
ACA NeoGeo Nam-1975
Dying Reborn
forma.8
Grim Legends: The Forsaken Bride
The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing
WRC 6

PSVR:
Dying Reborn

Vita:
forma.8
Stranger of Sword City Revisited

PS3:
Suikoden 4 (PS2 Classic)

I'll add the above.

If you have games that didn't make the list but should be on there, shoot me a PM And I'll correct the oversight.

What time of day does that blog update?

Aaron D. wrote:

IMAGE(http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/558420/header.jpg?t=1488211219)

All about Stories Untold for me this week.

Game looks amazing.

Just over $8 too.

Just played through "The House Abandon" (which i believe is also available as a free stand alone game) and GOOD GRIEF. I did not know what to expect going in but it's probably one of the creepiest things I've played in a while D: which is a weird thing to discover about a text adventure with a terrible parser.

...also very much going for the Stranger Things vibe, of which I approve.

doubtingthomas396 wrote:
Demyx wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:
Demyx wrote:

I feel bad for Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns. It sounds like a solid Harvest Moon entry, and yet... why do I need it when I have Stardew?

Platform. Stardew isn't portable yet.

Oh, true. Although it's coming for Switch.

So, still not portable. :)

IMAGE(http://i0.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/015/652/230114_908223010.png)

So much games. Tides and Nier have been ordered already but Breath is on its way too... Can anybody pretend to me at work so I can play games?

The picture for this post is oddly creepy...

Rahmen wrote:

The picture for this post is oddly creepy...

Thanks!

pyxistyx wrote:

Just played through "The House Abandon" (which i believe is also available as a free stand alone game) and GOOD GRIEF. I did not know what to expect going in but it's probably one of the creepiest things I've played in a while D: which is a weird thing to discover about a text adventure with a terrible parser.

...also very much going for the Stranger Things vibe, of which I approve.

As a quick compliment to this, I just finished the 2nd chapter last night and Wow.

There's some REALLY creative stuff going on here with what looks on the surface like a simple text adventure.

Man this thing has style.

Creepy as hell too.

yeah I just played through chapter 2 just now as well... cool stuff! I was worried all four chapters were going to be too similar to each other but clearly that's not the case!

*in fact - I went ahead and played the other two chapters as well.

REALLY cool! But I daren't say anything more than that...best to go in as blind as possible.

ccesarano wrote:

Yeah, part of me wants to try a new Harvest Moon, the other part of me just wants to wait for Stardew Valley on Switch.

There is literally nothing stopping me from playing Stardew Valley on my PC.

But I want to play it on my Switch.

I have no idea why.

jrralls wrote:

I have no idea why.

Nintendo nostalgia goes a long ways. That's the reason. Yeah, I can't wait.