Games

New Game Releases 06/17/25 – 06/23/25

Top Releases:

  • Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Switch 2/Series X|S) – Releases Jun. 19th
  • FBC: Firebreak (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Jun. 17th
  • Date Everything! (PC/PS5/Switch/Series X|S) – Releases Jun. 17th
  • Lost in Random: The Eternal Die (PC/PS5/Switch/Series X|S) – Releases Jun. 17th
  • TRON: Catalyst (PC/PS5/Switch/Series X|S) – Releases Jun. 17th
  • Re/Match (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Jun. 19th

After a slow week, things are picking right back up. Typically the Summer is a slow period for new games, however, the Switch 2 seems to be changing that trend in 2025, perhaps at the expense of a slower than usual Fall release schedule (we’ll see).

Our top game of the week is the Atlus action RPG Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army, part of the Devil Summoner series, a Shin Megami Tensei spin-off, that originally released on the PS2 back in 2006. Set in Tokyo, Japan in the year 1931, players must use their combat skills, as well as their demon summoning ability, to save the world from total destruction. Unlike a typical, tunr-based Megami Tensei RPG, Raidou’s battles take place in real time, like Ys or Final Fantasy XVI. I hope this does well because I’d like a chance to play its sequel and not have to pay the ridiculously high price it goes for online.

Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Switch 2/Series X|S) – Releases Jun. 19th

Developed by: Atlus
Published by: Sega

FBC: Firebreak (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Jun. 17th

Developed by: Remedy Entertainment
Published by: Remedy Entertainment

Fan of the game Control may, or may not, be interested in our next game, FBC: Firebreak. Set after the events of Control, Firebreak finds players taking on the role of a containment team employee who has been tasked with eliminating any remaining threats in the Oldest House. While Control was a tightly paced, tense, and moody single player experience, Firebreak is a fast-paced, in your face, garish, multiplayer squad shooter. The look & feel of Firebreak seems to be more in line with Fortnite than with Control, which begs the question; who is this for?

Next up is Date Everything!, a dating simulator where you can romance everyday, household objects who become David Cronenberg-esque hybrid human/object entities. It’s a truly bizarre concept, though I’m sure there’s some kind of message in there about loneliness in a post-pandemic world, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, if you’ve ever felt the intense desire to fuck your microwave, seek professional help, and, I guess, play Date Everything!

Date Everything! (PC/PS5/Switch/Series X|S) – Releases Jun. 17th

Developed by: Sassy Chap Games
Published by: Team17

From developer Stormteller Games, we’ve got Lost in Random: The Eternal Die, sequel to 2021’s Lost in Random. While the first game was set in a linear world, The Eternal Die goes the rouge-like route, with players taking on the role of Queen Aleksandra, the first game’s antagonist. Early previews have called this game “Tim Burton’s Hades II“; if that does anything for you then I would recommend checking it out.

Lost in Random: The Eternal Die (PC/PS5/Switch/Series X|S) – Releases Jun. 17th

Developed by: Stormteller Games
Published by: Thunderful Publishing

Closing out the top titles, we’ve got TRON: Catalyst, a hack & slash game set in Disney’s TRON universe. There is a glitch in the system that causes time to move backwards, a glitch that only YOU can see & exploit, adding a nice layer to the gameplay. For you footballer’s out there, we’ve got Re/Match (or is it REMATCH), an intense, arcade style soccer game from the developer of SIFU. In Re/Match, you will control only one player on the pitch (as opposed to switching players like you might expect in a traditional soccer game), adding a new layer of complexity to the game. I’m not huge into sports simulators, but Re/Match has just enough arcade appeal to pique my interest. How about you?

TRON: Catalyst (PC/PS5/Switch/Series X|S) – Releases Jun. 17th

Developed by: Bithell Games
Published by: Big Fan Games/Devolver Digital

Re/Match (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Jun. 19th

Developed by: Sloclap
Published by: Sloclap/Kepler Interactive

Ports and Expansions:

In the land of ports and expansions, PlayStation+ subscribers will get access to the PS2 version of Deus Ex, FOR FREE, a game that critics found surprisingly good, for a console port, back in 2002. I’m a little fuzzy on how PlayStation classics work, but I believe anyone can buy them, you don’t need to be a PS+ subscriber (Sony is doing a bang-up job on communicating this).

Over on Switch, you’ll be able to get four Oddworld games in one package with The Unlikely Heroes Collection; New’N’Tasty, Munch’s Oddysee, Stranger’s Wrath, and Soulstorm. For you Tomb Raider fans out there, the Pinball FX platform is getting two tables based on the popular franchise, Adventure of Lara Croft, which which retells many of Lara’s greatest stories from across multiple games in the series, and Secrets of Croft Manor, where you can explore Lara’s palatial estate, uncovering secrets and shit.

  • Deus Ex – PS2 Classic (PS5) – Releases Jun. 17th
  • Oddworld Anthology: The Unlikely Heroes Collection (Switch) – Releases Jun. 19th
  • Pinball FX – Tomb Raider Pinball (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Jun. 19th

Everything else:

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

Are you as excited to talk about old games, movie, and music as I am? What? Why not?

Games:

From 2015, we’ve got the game Batman: Arkham Knight, the final game in the Arkham trilogy from developer Rocksteady Studios. You know, this is the third week in a row with some kind of Batman property as a notable release. Each has been from a different decade, as well, which is astonishing both in how popular the character is and how few original ideas we have in our media.

Anyway, with Arkham Knight, Rocksteady continued the open world gameplay from Arkham City (it was also present in Asylum, to an extent), allowing players to traverse Gotham City by gliding with your cape and/or using your grappling gun to reach high, out of the way places. However, Knight also introduced the Batmobile as a means of travel as well, helping players get around much more quickly than on foot or in the air. The famed “freeflow” combat also carried over from the previous games, with players chaining their attacks to defeat multiple enemies in one fell swoop. Honestly, this is probably the most fun aspect of the Arkham games, making players feel like total badasses.

While critics had a mostly positive assessment of Arkham Knight, it’s 87 score on Metacritic failed to match the 92 of Asylum and the 94 of City (though it easily trounced spin-off Arkham Origins‘ 74). The best parts of Knight were the same things critics loved about the first two; tight, satisfying combat, moody atmosphere, exciting story telling, and great performances. What really bogged the game down was the Batmobile, which many critics found unnecessary, almost as if it was added as a way to say “hey look, we did something new“.

Some critics also took offense to the fact that, despite Batman’s strict “no killing” policy, the Batmobile, fully stocked with guns and missiles, was clearly killing many of the enemies you shot at. Some critics also felt that the identity of the titular Arkham Knight was far too obvious for most hardcore Batman fans; meh. Arkham Knight was a massive commercial success, becoming the second best selling game of 2015, and has sold almost 7 million units since launch. While impressive, it trailed Arkham City, which sold almost 13 million copies.

Multiple outlets put Arkham Knight on their “Best of…” lists for 2015, received two nominations at The Game Awards (Best Art Direction & Best Action/Adventure Game), and three at the DICE Awards (Adventure Game of the Year, Outstanding Achievement in Animation, and Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition). While this would be the last Arkham game from Rocksteady, the company would release a spin-off, the much maligned Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, in 2024. As far as I can tell, no further Arkham games are in the pipeline, but with as much money as the series has made, I can’t imagine that will stay true for much longer.

Moving on to 2005, we’ve got another open world action game, Destroy All Humans! Developed by the studio Pandemic, Destroy All Humans! finds players taking on the role of a stereotypical gray alien named Cryptospordium-136, or Crypto, for short. His goal is to harvest DNA from humans in order to keep his species alive, which is done so through cloning (due to their lack of genitalia). Set in the 1950’s, Destroy All Humans! is a parody of classic sci-fi films and mid-century Americana.

Destroy All Humans! was positively received by critics, generally speaking, with praise given to the game’s graphics, story, and overall fun. It was, however, knocked for its short main story campaign, some half-baked gameplay concepts (such as the stealth mechanic), and tedious missions. Sales of the game surpassed 1 million copies, with over 950k of those on PS2 (meaning only about 50k copies were sold on Xbox; womp womp). Following the success of the game, a direct sequel would arrive in 2006, followed by a third entry on the Wii, a fourth entry on the PS3 & 360, and remakes of the first two games for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox consoles, and Switch.

Our 1995 notable title is the Super Nintendo action game Hagane: The Final Conflict. In this game, players take on the role of a cyborg ninja (of course) who is taking his revenge on the clan of ninjas that left him for dead. Oh, and the Holy Grail is somehow tied to the game’s plot as well. Hagane was developed by a company called CAProductions Inc., who most recently worked on Nintendo’s Clubhouse Games, and was published by Hudson Soft. Despite the high profile publisher, Hagane was not a big seller.

Critics had a mostly positive reception to the game, calling it a competent Ninja Gaiden style action game. In a funny way, Hagane was seen as something of a throwback title, with some critics saying it felt like an “old school” NES game, and had graphics that were about as good. It felt like a game made for the true, hardcore gamer and some pundits believed that the game’s poor sales had a lot to do with this extreme difficulty and (more likely) a waning interest in 16-bit games & 2D games in general. Hagane, like many poorly selling video games of its era, has largely been forgotten, with no remakes or re-releases; I doubt we’ll ever see one either.

Movies:

In notable films, 2015 saw the release of the Disney/Pixar film Inside Out, a brilliant, heartwarming story about growing up and how our emotions change as we get older. Amy Poehler and Phyllis Smith shine as Joy and Sadness, and Richard Kind gives an heartbreaking performance as an imaginary friend named Bing Bong. If you didn’t cry during Inside Out then you probably don’t have a heart and should get that looked at. One of the most critically acclaimed films of 2015, Inside Out won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and was nominated for Best Original Screenplay (losing to Best Picture winner, Spotlight).

From 2005, we’ve got the film War of the Worlds from director Steven Spielberg. Huh, I just realized that War of the Worlds and Destroy All Humans! came out the same week and both are about aliens harvesting humans. That had to have been intentional on publisher THQ’s part, right? Anyway, War of the Worlds is the second major film adaptation of H.G. Wells’ novel from the 1890’s, with Spielberg’s version taking place in modern times and set in New York and New Jersey instead of Southern England.

Shrouded in secrecy, much of the film was a mystery to audiences and critics before it hit theatres (including what the aliens looked like). While the film was produced by Amblin and Dreamworks, the film was distributed by Paramount Pictures and not Universal. However, the real life 747 used for filming was moved, piece by piece, to Universal Studios Hollywood, where visitors on the tram tour can see the wreckage for themselves (fun fact, if you attend Halloween Horror Nights, you can practically walk right up to the plane, just don’t stay too long or someone with a chainsaw will come running towards you).

While the film was liked, but not loved, by critics (holding 76% on Rotted Tomatoes), audiences LOVED the film, grossing over $600 million worldwide. War of the Worlds was Spielberg’s fastest film to reach $100 million, and was Tom Cruise’s highest grossing film until 2011’s Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. The film was nominated for 30 major awards, including a Razzie for Worst Actor (Tom Cruise), and three Academy Awards (Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Visual Effects), losing to Peter Jackson’s King Kong for all three (in a funny twist, Spielberg and Jackson would later team up on The Adventures of Tintin).

Our last notable film, from 1995, is another Disney animated film, Pocahontas. Loosely based on the real life Pocahontas who, allegedly, saved the life of British explorer John Smith when she was ten years old. In the Disney film, Pocahontas is around 18 or 19 years old; she still saves Smith from death but, i classic Disney fashion, falls in love with the rugged Englishman and they begin a romantic relationship.

Filled with the requisite songs you would expect from a 90’s Disney film (earning the film its only Oscar nods, winning both Best Original Song & Best Musical or Comedy Score), as well as a bevy of cute animals with human-like mannerisms, and a mystic guide to help Pocahontas “find her way”, there was very little in this film that resembled the true story of the titular heroine.

The simplification of Pocahontas’ life was especially egregious to critic Roger Ebert who felt that a woman with such an interesting and fascinating life was turned into a token symbol, one that oversimplified the Native American experience in the early days of British colonization in North America (if you’d like a more authentic Pocahontas movie, check out the 2005 Terrence Malick film The New World). Some at Disney pushed back on this, stating that they made great efforts to portray the Virginian Algonquins.

While the film certainly had its share of marketing tie-in’s back in the 90’s, including a video game, Disney hasn’t really kept the film in the public eye over the last couple of decades. Rumors abound that the company is particularly sensitive to how the film is viewed by today’s modern audience and that any kind of live action remake, or acknowledgement, would only stir the ire of “woke” progressives. Is that true? Who knows, but I’m sure there’s a white guy on YouTube who’s livestreaming about it right now.

Albums:

In notable albums, 2015 gave us Pageant Material, the second album from singer/songwriter Kacey Musgraves. Hailed as one of the best albums of the year, Pageant Material was a commercial success as well, debuting at #3 on the Billboard Top 200 and, like her first album, debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. Neither of her singles, “Biscuits” and “Dime Store Cowgirl” were able to crack the Billboard Hot 100 chart, perhaps that is why it didn’t garner many Grammy nominations, only receiving one for Best Country Album (losing to Chris Stapleton).

From 2005, we’ve got the album Charge!! by The Aquabats. After seeing a decline in record sales and overall popularity in the years since their 1997 career high, The Aquabats were dropped by their label in 2000 and it led to a prolonged period of inactivity for the group. The release of an independent EP called Yo! Check Out This Ride! led to interest from punk label Nitro Records, leading to the release of Charge!!

It has been somewhat known by fans of The Aquabats that the future of the band hinged on the reception to Charge!! and, thankfully, the album was a big success. Critics praised the band’s genre transition, moving away from the ska/surf punk sound of their first two albums (and the bizarre stylings of The Aquabats vs. the Floating Eye of Death, though I personally love the album), into a more pop rock/new wave sound.

Charge!! was full of catchy tunes that didn’t betray the style of The Aquabats, it just tweaked the formula to make the songs feel more modern (there would be time later to wax nostalgic about ska). While Charge!! wouldn’t make it onto the Billboard Top 200, it would peak at #21 on the Heatseekers chart, and #30 on the Independent Albums chart. The albums lone single, “Fashion Zombies”, wouldn’t chart either, but has since become a staple of their live shows. The success of Charge!! would lead to multiple world tours and, eventually, a deal with The Hub network to produce The Aquabats Super Show!, propelling the band to even greater success in the 2010’s.

Finally, from 1995, we’ve got the album HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I, from alleged pedophile Michael Jackson. Released as a double album, Disc 1 contained a collection of Jackson’s greatest hits, including “Thriller”, “Rock With You”, “Beat It”, “Bad” and other songs that we now feel kind of weird listening to (I bet Jackson would have loved the new game Date Everything!; do you think he tried to fuck the E.T. puppet?).

Disc 2 was, essentially, a brand new album, featuring a slew of hits itself, including “Scream”, a duet with his sister Janet, “Childhood”, a song about his intense & traumatic upbringing (and the theme song to Free Willy 2), and “You Are Not Alone”, a weepy ballad that was written by, let’s see…R. Kelly?! Jesus. Three other singles also came out, “Earth Song”, “They Don’t Care About Us”, and “Stranger in Moscow”, all sung by a guy who (allegedly) gave children wine, which he (allegedly) called “Jesus Juice” so that they would get drunk and he could (allegedly) have sex with them.

HIStory was, as you might have expected, a massive hit, debuting at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 with nearly 400k copies sold in the first week (for perspective, Kacey Musgraves Pageant Material sold 165k in its lifetime). While the album would eventually go on to sell over 1 million copies and, as of 2018, has gone eight time platinum, HIStory was not the success t was predicted to be. The allegations against Jackson, R. Kelly’s plagiarism accusation, and anti-Semitic lyrics in the song “They Don’t Care About Us” likely hurt initial sales and kept the record’s long tail shorter than it probably could have been.

The U.S. be damned, though, as the album was received far better around the world where it currently sits at over 20 million copies sold. A single disc version, containing only the greatest hits, was released in 2001 and it has also gone multi-platinum. HIStory was nominated for six Grammy awards across 1996 & 1997, but only won one, Best Music Video – Short Form for “Scream”. MTV was more kind, nominating “Scream” for ten nominations and winning three of them. Man, I mean, Michael Jackson is, without a doubt, one of the greatest artists of all-time; there’s no denying it. For me, having grown up with his music, it’s really hard to separate the man from the art. All I and anyone can do is try to remember that there is a really bad, sick person behind the voice when we hear these songs; allegedly.

Batman: Arkham Knight (PC/PS4/Xbox One) – Released Jun. 23rd, 2015

Notable Film Release: Inside Out – Starring Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Bill Hader, Lewis Black, Mindy Kaling, and Richard Kind
Click here to watch the trailer
Notable Album Release: Kacey Musgraves – Pageant Material
Click here to listen to the album

Destroy All Humans! (PS2/Xbox) – Released Jun. 21st, 2005

Notable Film Release: War of the Worlds – Starring Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Justin Chatwin, Miranda Otto, and Tim Robbins
Click here to watch the trailer
Notable Album Release: The Aquabats – Charge!!
Click here to listen to the album

Hagane: The Final Conflict (SNES) – Released Jun. 1995

Notable Film Release: Pocahontas – Starring Irene Bedard, Mel Gibson, David Ogden Stiers, and Christian Bale
Click here to watch the trailer
Notable Album Release: Michael Jackson – HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I
Click here to listen to album

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