Games

New Game Releases 03/05/24 – 03/11/24

We’ve got a bit of a light week ahead of us, folks. While WWE 2K24 is probably the biggest release of the week, the one we’re all probably the most excited for is the new Vanillaware title Unicorn Overlord. Check out this video I made to celebrate it:

Unicorn Overlord is a tactical RPG that, according to the developers, is supposed to mimic the style of tactics games released in the 1990’s, but without drawing any specific inspiration from any particular one. I really love tactics games so this has been on my radar ever since it was announced. Will it be enough to pull me away from Final Fantasy VII Rebirth? Who knows!

Unicorn Overlord (PS4/PS5/Switch/Series X|S) – Releases Mar. 8th

Developed by: Vanillaware
Published by: Sega

Even though Unicorn Overlord is my most anticipated game of the week, if anything can pull me away from Final Fantasy then it’s WWE. The latest entry, 2K24 is arriving this week, featuring three modern cover stars, Cody Rhodes, Bianca Belair, and Rhea Ripley, as well as a special edition cover that contains multiple wrestlers from WWE’s past. The game features a heavy emphasis on WrestleMania in celebration of its 40th anniversary. It’s been a year of highs and (very low) lows for the company, and it may be hard for some fans to reconcile the behavior of former CEO Vince McMahon and a game that will undoubtedly celebrate him or, at the very least, his legacy. While my feelings are mixed, I am very excited to pick this up and play as my favorite WWE SuperStar, Chelsea Green.

WWE 2K24 (PC/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Mar. 8th

Developed by: Visual Concepts
Published by: 2K

After spending the last few months in early access, The Outlast Trials is finally moving to full launch, no doubt optimizing the best way to display player’s severed body parts after they die. Trials is a prequel to the main series of games, taking place during the Cold War, and has players taking on the role of a test subject who is trapped in a terrifying experiment.

The Outlast Trials (PC/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Mar. 5th

Developed by: Red Barrels
Published by: Red Barrels

Next we have REVEIL, another scary game for all you horror fans. Hey, it might not be October, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be scared, right? REVEIL is a first person narrative game in which players must solve the mystery of a man named Walter Thompson, and just what his connection is to…the circus?

REVEIL (PC/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Mar. 6th

Developed by: Pixelspit
Published by: Daedlic Entertainment

Finally, we’ve got a couple of smaller titles that look interesting. First is Ancient Weapon Holly a rouge-like dungeon crawler from ACQUIRE Corp., the same developer that gave us Octopath Traveller. Second is the indie title Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley, which looks relaxing as fuck, despite being developed by a company called Hyper Games and published by a company called Raw Fury.

Ancient Weapon Holly (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch) – Releases Mar. 7th

Developed by: ACQUIRE Corp.
Published by: ACQUIRE Corp.

Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley (PC/Switch) – Releases Mar. 7th

Developed by: Hyper Games
Published by: Raw Fury

Everything else:

This is one of those weeks where the big titles aren’t that big, which usually means we get a TON of smaller games who don’t want to get overshadowed by a possible GOTY contendor. Which of these smaller titles are YOU going to check out? I’ve got my eye on the Metroidvania Berserk Boy.

Notable Releases from 10, 20, and 30 years ago:

With the new games out of the way let us now journey into the past and see what we were playing this week, 10, 20 and 30 years ago!

First up is From Software’s Dark Souls II. One of the most anticipated games of 2014 when it came out, Dark Souls II had a lot to live up to after the runaway success of Dark Souls and, according to the critical and commercial success, it did; but did it? While it certainly garnered its fair share of praise, earning spots on multiple “Best of 2014” lists and nominations for GOTY, Dark Souls II didn’t quite pack the same punch as its predecessor.

Critics were quick to point out that a lot of the mystery and ambiguity was missing from Dark Souls II, either by virtue of players now being familiar with how the game works, or due to a change in tone. Another major complaint was the difficulty level, with some critics and players not being too keen on the hollowing mechanic, which decreases player health each time they die, only for it to be given back when consuming an incredibly rare item called a Human Effigy.

Still, despite any criticisms, Dark Souls II enthralled millions of players around the world, pushing them to their limits and showing that From Software had found their calling. A PC port would arrive in April, followed by the Scholar of the First Sin edition in 2015, which contained DLC and ports to the PS4 and Xbox One. I wish I had more to say about Dark Souls II, but I never played it! Bizarrely, I’ve played Dark Souls and Dark Souls III, but never got around to playing the second entry. Guess I know what I’m doing this week.

Moving to 2004, we have the stealth game Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven, a game series that was created by ACQUIRE Corp. and occasionally published (and sometimes developed) by From Software. The third entry in the series (it was even called Tenchu 3 in Japan), Wrath of Heaven is actually a sequel to the first Tenchu, as part 2 was a prequel. The story picks up shortly after the events of the first game, with Rikimaru thought dead, but he’s not…or so it would seem. A year later, Rikimaru appears and claims that the details of his death have been greatly exaggerated, but it’s not really Rikimaru, for the real one is trapped in the 20th century!!

I was not expecting that turn of events as, again, this is not a game I played when it came out, but it sounds just bonkers enough that I’m ready to jump in head first. While ACQUIRE created the series, Wrath of Heaven was developed by another Japanese company , K2, who were best known at the time as the creators of the forgotten survival horror game Countdown Vampires. Keeping with the themes of the first two Tenchu games, stealth is a HUGE part of the gameplay here, with players shown a route with enemies to take down as silently and quickly as possible.

Critics were mostly pleased with Wrath of Heaven, gaining above average scores and being seen as a welcome throwback to how we played games in the mid to late 90’s (you know, like, 5-10 years earlier). My favorite review comes from Maxim magazine, with critic Ryan Boyce saying “If you’re the kind of guy who likes to chop his prey into Sizzlean before he gets a whiff of your bad man musk, then the ninjas of Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven are right up your dojo“. It’s just so PERFECTLY written for the Maxim reader. While the game would receive ports to the PSP and mobile devices over the years, those would only arrive in Europe and Japan. The PS2 and Xbox versions are all we have here in North America and, without backwards compatibility on the Series X, Wrath of Heaven has been lost to time.

From 1994 we have the PC classic X-COM: UFO Defense. It’s interesting how all three games this week are known for their high level of difficulty, and are praised for it. Originally conceived as a sequel to the 1988 PC game Laser Squad (which sounds like the name of an early 2000’s improv group), X-COM would eventually start to become fully formed after its developer, Mythos Games, struck a deal with MicroProse. MicroProse was initially concerned about X-COM, fearing that the initial demo didn’t live up to the standard set by their recent mega hit Civilization, and suggested that the Mythos Games team increase the scope of their game.

To do this, the Mythos team just kind of started taking ideas already present in Civilization, including adding in their own encyclopedia, dubbed the UFOpaedia, and incorporating a research & technology tree. While in development, X-COM was almost cancelled, twice. The first instance came when MicroProse ran into money trouble and had to tighten belts around the company. The second instance came when MicroProse was purchased by Spectrum Holobyte, who didn’t find anything about X-COM appealing, that is until play testers came back with overwhelmingly positive feedback about the game, demanding to know when it was coming out so that they could buy it.

For those that don’t know anything about X-COM, this is a tactical strategy game in which players move their units around a map on a grid made up of squares. As the human strike force X-COM, platers must exterminate aliens who have come to invade Earth. There are various elements of strategy involved as well, with players needing to train and arm their units, research new technology to increase their firepower and defenses, construct new X-COM bases, and deal with the political and commercial turmoil that an alien invasion can cause.

When X-COM: UFO Defense (known as UFO: Enemy Unknown in Europe and Australia) released in March of 1994 it was an immediate critical and commercial success, selling over half a million units (a very large number for both the era and the platform). Some of the game’s success can be attributed to the public’s increasing fascination with aliens thanks to the film Fire in the Sky and the breakout, smash television program The X-Files (it probably isn’t a coincidence that the game uses an “X” in its name). By 1997, sales of X-COM and its sequel, Terror from the Deep, had surpassed 1 million units sold, a major achievement on PC.

Critics couldn’t get enough of X-COM, with multiple outlets giving it perfect, or near perfect, scores. The game’s extreme difficulty didn’t seem to detract from its enjoyment. In fact, that difficulty was part of the game’s charm and addictiveness. Players and critics found themselves continually drawn to the game, starting over, retrying levels again with different strategies, playing for hours on end. X-COM is considered to be a highly influential title in the “war game” genre, and helped bring that style of play to the mainstream. For several years, X-COM would receive multiple sequels, spiritual sequels, and rip-off’s. Then, in 2012, Firaxis would put out a remake of the game, titled XCOM: Enemy Unknown to massive critical and commercial success.

X-COM: UFO Defense is spectacular and, while you might get more enjoyment out of the 2012 remake, the game is well worth your time. Easily available on Steam and GOG, it’s just as much fun to play today as it was in 1994, if you can get past the archaic controls and unforgiving enemy AI.

Those were some great games, folks, did the movies and albums follow suit? Starting with 2014’s notable film, we have Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel. This is, so far, Anderson’s one and only film to receive Oscar nominations for both Best Picture and Best Director (he would lose both to Alejandro González Iñárritu’s film Birdman). I love this movie to pieces, it’s one of my all-time favorites. I remember seeing this at the local art house theatre on opening night in a packed theatre, and in the scene where Adrian Brody exclaims, “This fucking f****t!” a woman in the audience gasped the loudest I think I’ve ever heard anyone gasp in their life.

2004 saw the release of Todd Phillips movie Starsky & Hutch, a spoof remake of the 1970’s TV show of the same name. His earlier films Road Trip and Old School had made Phillips one of the new kings of comedy, but Starsky & Hutch was a critical and commercial failure, kind of putting Phillips out of the Hollywood eye for a few years until 2009’s The Hangover, which went on to become the highest-grossing R-rated comedy of all time in the US.

1994 also gave us an Oscar nominee for Best Picture, Mike Newell’s Four Weddings and a Funeral (where it lost to Forrest Gump). This cheeky, silly, romantic comedy is responsible for making Hugh Grant a massive international star. His career after this film went into hyperdrive, getting a starring role in the 1995 film Nine Months, and leading to a decades long career that was almost derailed when he got caught with a prostitute. The movie is cute and Andie MacDowell is a gem.

In music, 2014 saw the release of Dan Croll’s debut album Sweet Disarray. While I have never listened to it, I know the song “From Nowhere” very well. Hmm, actually I know the Baardsen remix from Grand Theft Auto V WAY more, but it’s still a Dan Croll song, so, yeah. Moving on, from 2004 we have TV on the Radio’s full-length debut Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes. Having cut their teeth on the New York underground music scene, TV on the Radio exploded in 2003 with their song “Staring at the Sun”. If I ever had the chance to make a movie, I think I’d get TV on the Radio to write the music. Someone help me make that happen.

1994’s notable album is, like last week’s Mellow Gold by Beck, is a 1990’s classic; The Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails. When talking about the “sound” of a decade, you can usually pick a handful of songs and genres that define it. In the 1990’s, the industrial genre is one of those, and NIN’s song “Closer” has got to be one of the most iconic and recognizable of the entire decade. It’s bizarre, freak show music video was played ad nauseum on MTV and gave us the iconic lyric “I wanna fuck you like an animal“. The success of The Downward Spiral set up Trent Reznor for life, allowing him to explore every avenue of creativity possible.

While not really a “goth” band, in my opinion, NIN’s fashion sense and art direction were certainly a big inspiration on every high school kid who painted their fingernails black. In the wake of The Downward Spiral you started to see other industrial/goth bands hit the mainstream, most notably Marilyn Manson who would make NIN’s shock value look tame in comparison. This really has been a great week for notable games, films, and music, with many of the entries I consider to be all-time favorites. Is it a coincidence that my birthday happens to fall in March and, thus, perhaps I have a soft spot for things that remind me of my birthday? I don’t know, maybe? Perhaps, in some cosmic way, when we are born, our souls are imprinted with the same kind of energy that flows through everything, even the art that is released. Ponder on that, today, and let me know what you think.

Dark Souls II (PS3/Xbox 360) – Released Mar. 11th, 2014: Wiki Link

dark souls ii

Notable Film Release: The Grand Budapest Hotel – Starring Ralph Fiennes, Tony Revolori, Saoirse Ronan, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Tilda Swinton, Edward Norton, Harvey Keitel, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Murray, Jude Law, Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman, and F. Murray Abraham
*Click here to watch the trailer*
Notable Album Release: Dan Croll – Sweet Disarray
*Click here to listen to the album*

Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven (PS2/Xbox) – Released Mar. 4th, 2004: Wiki Link

tenchu wrath of heaven

Notable Film Release: Starsky & Hutch – Starring Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman, Juliette Lewis, and Snoop Dogg
*Click here to watch the trailer*
Notable Album Release: TV on the Radio – Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes
*Click here to listen to the album*

X-COM: UFO Defense (PC) – Released Mar. 1994: Wiki Link

xcom 94

Notable Film Release: Four Weddings and a Funeral – Starring Hugh Grant and Andie MacDowell
*Click here to watch the trailer*
Notable Album Release: Nine Inch Nails – The Downward Spiral
*Click here to listen to album*

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