February 20 - 26

  Felix “Marine Resolution” Threepaper

Welcome folks, and happy “551st Anniversary of Orkney and Shetland becoming part of Scotland” week!

Orkney and Shetland are clusters of islands north of Scotland, on the way to (or from) Norway. They were originally Norse, but in 1469 the King of Scotland agreed to marry the daughter of the King of Norway and the island clusters were offered up by Norway as security for the dowry. The King of Norway never came up with the cash, so in 1472 the islands were officially ceded instead, and they have been part of Scotland ever since. You may all celebrate by playing a game with a robust barter system.

PlayStation VR 2 is not on the list, but Sony’s fancy new VR kit comes out this week. It’s the biggest week in VR since Half-Life Alyx.

The tech looks impressive: a more comfortable headset with a built-in cooling fan. The new Sense controllers wrap the core wand in a lightweight, circular bracelet thingy with extra sensors and lights in it.

There’s 37 launch titles, with 13 new releases and the rest being ports of existing VR titles...but no Half-Life Alyx. The tentpole new release is Horizon: Call of the Mountain. There’s some upgraded versions of PlayStation VR games, like Gran Turismo 7, but it’s not backwards compatible with PlayStation VR.

I’m not the best person to ask about all this because I’ve never VRed. You can find discussion by folks who actually do VR at the PlayStation VR Catch-all thread.

Company of Heroes 3 is finally out, after years of previews and demos. It’s a WW2 RTS set in the Mediterranean theatre. There’s a Total War-ish strategic overlay to the campaign. The single-player battles also borrow a feature from Total War: a tactical pause, making it easier to direct operations with lots of working parts. The single player campaign looks solid and friendly to newcomers to the series, while the new multiplayer maps and modes will probably be enough to make longtime fans happy.

Haulin’ Oats wins the Dad Joke name of the week. It’s a digital board game about competitive truckers. Pick your driver, co-pilot, and pet, then try to get your cargo around the board while the other 3 drivers race, ram, and sabotage you.

Atomic Heart is a Soviet-themed Bioshock that talks like an immersive sim but walks more like a straight-up action shooter, where combat is the way through, using a combination of guns, melee, and magic.

Kerbal Space Program 2 enters Early Access this week. After the first game took players to the moon and other planets, this sequel takes you to other star systems. On top of the interstellar travel, there’s colony-building and a multiplayer mode. Can Kerbal make the jump from science to science fiction?

Like a Dragon: Ishin! is a port of a Yakuza spin-off that was originally released only in Japan in 2014. It’s that old-school Yakuza gameplay template stamped onto a historical backdrop: 1860s Japan, with a plot connected to the events leading to the Meiji restoration in 1868. All the key Yakuza ingredients are here and familiar characters appear as real-life historical characters. Plus, there’s chicken racing.

On the turn-based tactical side, Blood Bowl III is a long-awaited sequel in this renowned footbrawler series. It introduces season passes and microtransactions, like all the other sports games have these days. Redemption Reapers is a fantasy tactical RPG with a combat system that encourage cooperation between its brooding, famously-voiced protagonists.

CATAN: Console Edition looks like a well-rendered version of the venerable board game. The tiles come alive with little Civ-like animations. It’s got single and multiplayer, and for local co-op, players can sync their phones to the game to hide their cards from the other players.

Octopath Traveler II is a retro JRPG where the hook is that you move between 8 separate protagonists and their stories. This sequel doesn’t follow on from the story of the first—it’s 8 new characters in a new, early-industrial fantasy setting, which maybe involves steam power..

It’s also a good week for the Switch. There’s Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe, and the port of Digimon World: Next Order.

It’s another bumper week. Kirby looks like pure platforming escapism. Like a Dragon: Ishin! looks like a great Yakuza game. With chicken racing. But Company of Heroes 3 takes the biscuit this week for being the most noob-friendly grognard RTS for a long time.

Here's the list, in release-date AND alphabetical order!

PC

• 02-20

• 11 Years Ago
• Cargo Truck Simulator 2023
• Dead eat dead
• Draw the Road
• Echoes of Mayhem
• Ex Natura: Nature Corrupted
• Fiery Rivaz
• Fight in the Arena
• Flashback (Renka)
• Gatedelvers
• Golgotha
• GRADIENT
• Hidden Post-Apocalyptic 2 Top-Down 3D
• Hidden World 3 Top-Down 3D
• Horror Adventure
• How long can you survive
• IN THE BUILDING: HAMSTERS
• Magnetik
• My Dream Setup
• Notes of the Young Lady: In Turbulent Times
• Nuke Survivors
• Phylakterion
• Shadow of the Night
• Striving for Light: Survival
• SUPER 56
• The Hero's Journey through Time
• The Test: Secrets of the Soul
• Traveler - The AI Story
• Turtle Racer
• Vanessa
• XXX_CYBERRAT_XXX
• Your Turn To Die -Death Game By Majority-

• 02-21

• Akka Arrh
• Animal Academy
• Apollo: A Co-Op Game
• Atomic Heart
• Bad Hop Baseball
• Classic Car Simulator: Car Driving
• CRAZY GUY
• Cyclo Chambers
• Doomed Survivors
• Dream Bright
• Dusk of the cage
• KitBashers 2
• Like a Dragon: Ishin!
• ReverseRoom
• SmartSoules
• Speedonauts
• Spellarium 9 Match 3 Puzzle
• SpiderAttack
• Tempo Trigger
• Unknown Pyramid
• ZOMBIE HUNTER -CRIMSON HANBOK-

• 02-22

• Alchemia Story
• Arcade Party
• Boot & Shoot
• Classy Train
• Cruise Ship Manager: Prologue - Maiden Voyage
• Digimon World: Next Order
• Dragon Survivors
• Drone Delivery
• DYSCHRONIA: Chronos Alternate
• Halves
• Hiyoku no Tori
• Lord of the Other World
• Luckily, My Arm Is A Shotgun
• Magic Tower Maidens
• Metal Mutation
• NOT ME
• Offroad Jeep 4x4: Car Driving Simulator
• Poly Jigsaw: Cats
• PROTOCOL 11
• Redemption Reapers
• Retired Waves
• RUSHAWAY
• Saint Maker - Horror Visual Novel
• Sky traveler
• The Light Brigade
• The Senex Bird
• Three Defilements

• 02-23

• Aces and Adventures
• Against All Odds ( Anima Games)
• Architect
• Ball Animals
• Blood Bowl III
• Boom
• Castle Warriors
• Chef Life: A Restaurant Simulator
• Company of Heroes 3
• Dino V. Xeno
• East Trade Tycoon
• Farming Tractor Simulator: Big Farm
• GHOST: AC-130 Close Air Support
• Grim Guardians: Demon Purge
• Haulin' Oats
• Logic - Keypad
• LOUD: My Road to Fame
• Nearly Dead - Live and Let Die
• Pan'orama: Prologue
• Planet Cube: Edge
• Polyturned
• Red List Girls. -Andean Flamingo-
• Sons of the Forest
• Super Trunko Go
• The Signifier VR
• Trained by a Succubus
• WAR ON THE STREET

• 02-24

• Artificiality
• Blade-Shift Fury
• Caroline's Fantasies
• Cat Boy Creator
• Clive 'N' Wrench
• Dracula Defense!
• Elong Plug
• FaceValue
• Finger Football: Goal in One
• Free Kick Football: 3D Soccer
• Kerbal Space Program 2
• Kobold | Steam Edition
• Mimics the bots
• Octopath Traveler II
• PigShip and the Giant Wolf
• Pocky & Rocky Reshrined
• Puss in Combat Boots
• Shong
• Somerholm
• Sun Down
• The Nightmare Journey
• The Pale Beyond
• The Survivors
• Video Game Trivia

• 02-25

• Autumn-Time Trade-Up
• Scrappage

• 02-26

• Helmetman
• Limbus Company
• Mr. Mat Hematic
• Partum Artifex
• Path-Reverse
• The Guard
• Vengeful Castle

Xbox Series X

• 02-21

• Akka Arrh
• Atomic Heart
• Seven Doors

• 02-22

• Remoteness

• 02-23

• Blood Bowl III
• CATAN: Console Edition
• Chef Life: A Restaurant Simulator
• Grim Guardians: Demon Purge
• Remorse: The List

• 02-24

• Lootbox Lyfe+
• Truck Driver: Premium Edition

Xbox One

• 02-21

• Akka Arrh
• Atomic Heart
• Seven Doors

• 02-22

• Remoteness

• 02-23

• Blood Bowl III
• CATAN: Console Edition
• Chef Life: A Restaurant Simulator
• Grim Guardians: Demon Purge

PlayStation 5

• 02-21

• Akka Arrh
• Atomic Heart
• Like a Dragon: Ishin!
• Seven Doors

• 02-22

• After the Fall
• Altair Breaker
• Cities VR: Enhanced Edition
• Cosmonious High
• Demeo
• Drums Rock
• DYSCHRONIA: Chronos Alternate
• Fantavision 202X
• Hello Neighbor: Search & Rescue
• Horizon Call of the Mountain
• Job Simulator
• Jurassic World Aftermath Collection
• Kayak VR: Mirage
• Kizuna AI - Touch the Beat!
• Moss
• Moss: Book II
• NFL PRO ERA
• Pavlov
• Pistol Whip
• Puzzling Places
• Resident Evil Village VR
• Rez Infinite
• Song in the Smoke: Rekindled
• Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy's Edge - Enhanced Edition
• Synth Riders: Remastered Edition
• Tentacular
• Tetris Effect: Connected
• The Last Clockwinder
• The Light Brigade
• The Tale of Onogoro
• Thumper
• Townsmen VR
• Vacation Simulator
• What The Bat?
• Zenith: The Last City
• Zombieland: Headshot Fever Reloaded

• 02-23

• Blood Bowl III
• CATAN: Console Edition
• Chef Life: A Restaurant Simulator
• Grim Guardians: Demon Purge

• 02-24

• Lootbox Lyfe+
• Octopath Traveler II
• Truck Driver: Premium Edition

PlayStation 4

• 02-21

• Akka Arrh
• Atomic Heart
• Like a Dragon: Ishin!
• Ninja JaJaMaru: The Great Yokai Battle - Deluxe Edition
• Seven Doors

• 02-22

• Redemption Reapers

• 02-23

• Blood Bowl III
• CATAN: Console Edition
• Chef Life: A Restaurant Simulator
• Grim Guardians: Demon Purge

• 02-24

• Lootbox Lyfe
• Octopath Traveler II

Switch

• 02-21

• Akka Arrh
• Ninja JaJaMaru: The Great Yokai Battle + Hell
• Ninja JaJaMaru: The Great Yokai Battle - Deluxe Edition
• Ninja JaJaMaru: The Lost RPGs
• Seven Doors

• 02-22

• Animal Lover
• Digimon World: Next Order
• Hike Isle
• Piczle Lines 2: Into the Puzzleverse
• Redemption Reapers
• Twice Reborn: A Vampire Visual Novel

• 02-23

• Chef Life: A Restaurant Simulator
• Dyadic
• Grim Guardians: Demon Purge
• Horror Tale 1: Kidnapper
• Loot Box Simulator: Crimson Fire
• Midnight is Lost
• Planet Cube: Edge
• Remorse: The List
• Rumble Sus
• Sakura Magical Girls
• Snake Core
• The Crimson Flower that Divides: Lunar Coupling
• Tyrant's Blessing
• YONESAWARA HOSPITAL

• 02-24

• Clive 'N' Wrench
• Grisaia Phantom Trigger 08
• Ink & Paper: DoodleCut
• Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe
• Lootbox Lyfe+
• Neodori Forever
• Octopath Traveler II
• Remains
• Roniu's Tale