The Entertainment Software Ratings Board decided to rejoice its thirtieth anniversary this week — and that is how I discover I’m older than the organization that tells me what games are appropriate for my age. I do not know how that tidbit of knowledge slipped my mind, but it’s a great technique to feel your age, I let you know. Not to say that the ESRB rubbed salt into the wound by releasing a song to commemorate the occasion, which, to be honest, is a pretty good hit.
It’s been a weird week – Valve has officially confirmed Deadlockits open secret, to the closure of Blue Protocol before most of us had a likelihood to play it. Remedy has revealed that it plans to work with Annapurna not only on Control 2, but also on expanding the lore of its universe into the realm of television and movies. I wish them luck — I used to be quite skeptical when they tried a similar experiment with Quantum Break.
One of the other highlights of my week was the Nintendo Direct, which showcased not only a handful of indie games but also a handful of partner titles. I never thought Yakuza Kiwami would make it to Switch, but here Sega proves my shortsighted. However, the game that caught (pun intended) the most of my attention was Date Everything, a cheeky visual novel/romance sim from Sassy Chap Games. I’m undecided which household item will develop into my favorite, but I appreciate the boldness and wish to encourage more of it.
On a personal note, as a Star Wars fan, I feel compelled to envision out Star Wars Outlaws — I actually couldn’t wait! That’ll have to attend though, because there’s one other game coming out this week that I’m much more wanting to try: Emio — The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club. I can’t resist a detective story, and I enjoyed the remastered Famicom Detective Club trilogy, so this one’s a sure thing for me.
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What to play this week
What’s latest:
- Star Wars: Outlaws
- Visions of Mana
- World of Warcraft: The War Within
- Emio – Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club
- Gundam Breaker 4
- Gori: Cozy Massacre
- Castlevania Dominus Collection
- Monster Jam Showdown
- Shadow of the Ninja – Reborn
- Keeper of the Crypt
- Peglin
- Bloodless
- Akimbot
- Squirrel with a gun
- Point field 2
What’s latest in subscription services:
- Core Keeper (Xbox Game Pass)
- Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Prime Gaming)
- LEGO: The Lord of the Rings (Prime Gaming)
- Middle-earth: Shadow of War (Prime Gaming)
- Arcade Paradise (Prime Gaming)
- Industry (Prime Gaming)
- Collage Atlas (Prime Gaming)
- Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (GeForce Now)
- Cat Quest III (GeForce Now)
- Cooking Simulator (GeForce Now)
- Crown Trick (GeForce Now)
- Darksiders Genesis (GeForce Now)
- Expeditions: Rome (GeForce Now)
- Let’s Go (GeForce Now)
- Into the Breach (GeForce Now)
- Iron Harvest (GeForce Now)
- Witch Knight (GeForce Now)
- Lightyear Frontier (GeForce Now)
- Memoriapolis (GeForce Now)
- Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition (GeForce Now)
- Outlast 2 (GeForce Now)
- Saturnalia (GeForce Now)
- SteamWorld Heist II (GeForce Now)
- This War of Mine (GeForce Now)
- We Were Here Too (GeForce Now)
- Yoku’s Island Express (GeForce Now)
- Crumble Castle (Apple Arcade)