Games

New Game Releases 06/24/25 – 06/30/25

Top Releases:

  • Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (PS5) – Releases Jun. 26th
  • Tamagotchi Plaza (Switch/Switch 2) – Releases Jun. 27th
  • Persona 5: The Phantom X (iOS/PC) – Releases Jun. 26th
  • How 2 Escape: Lost Submarine (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Jun. 24th
  • Front Mission 3: Remake (Switch) – Releases Jun. 26th

Welcome to New Game Releases, your guide to all of the new video games coming out each week; well, most of them, at least. Our top game of the week is Hideo Kojima’s latest magnum opus, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. Set almost a year after the events of the first Death Stranding, Sam Porter Bridges, and some other familiar faces, head to Australia in an effort to connect the continent to the chiral network, as you previously did for the United States.

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (PS5) – Releases Jun. 26th

Developed by: Kojima Productions
Published by: Sony Interactive Entertainment

While players will still have to balance themselves as they deliver packages across increasingly hostile terrain, Death Stranding 2 also promises to have a greater emphasis on combat, though they can opt to take a more stealthy route, à la, Kojima’s Metal Gear series. Vehicles are also meant to play a greater part in the game as well, with multiple customization options. You can even build a monorail system in the game, just don’t buy track pieces from the guy who looks like the main character in The Music Man.

For those of you looking for something a little less somber, you can check out Tamagotchi Plaza, a new party game for both Switch 1 & 2. I guess this makes it the first new Switch 2 game to release after launch; NEAT! Set in Tamahiko Town on Tamagotchi Planet, players will be in charge of running various shops while also interacting with other Tamagotchi around town, helping them with their various problems.

Tamagotchi Plaza (Switch/Switch 2) – Releases Jun. 27th

Developed by: Hyde Inc.
Published by: Bandai Namco

The world of Persona 5 keeps growing with the free to play gacha RPG The Phantom X. Featuring a new silent protagonist and cast of characters, The Phantom X plays very similarly to the original Persona 5, though it does contain many of the trappings of a free to play mobile title, including the aforementioned gacha system, as well as various timers that you can allow to run down or purchase boosts to speed past them. The game has been going strong in China and Korea since April of 2024; time to see if it can continue its success around the rest of the world.

Persona 5: The Phantom X (Android/iOS/PC) – Releases Jun. 26th

Developed by: Black Wings Game Studio
Published by: Sega

In smaller titles, How 2 Escape: Lost Submarine tasks players with finding a missing submarine, lest the world descend into a massive, global war. Played in co-op only, players must work together to accomplish their goal, hopefully before their mom tells them to turn off their Xbox and go to bed.

Our final top release is the long overdue Front Mission 3: Remake. Featuring updated graphics, animation, and music, without an option to play in the original format, this will likely test the patience of hardcore fans of the PSX classic. Developer Forever Entertainment’s previous Front Mission remakes were not well received, nor were their remakes of Panzer Dragoon and The House of the Dead. Will Front Mission 3: Remake change that? What do you think?

How 2 Escape: Lost Submarine (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Jun. 24th

Developed by: Breakfirst Games
Published by: Maximum Entertainment/Breakfirst Games

Front Mission 3: Remake (Switch) – Releases Jun. 26th

Developed by: Forever Entertainment/Square Enix
Published by: Forever Entertainment/Microids

Ports and Expansions:

2023’s Rogue Trader is getting its second story expansion this week with Lex Imperialis. Developer Owlcat Games promises 15 hours of new content in this expansion, with players needing to unravel the dark secrets of House von Valancius. Nightdive Studios is here with a remake of System Shock 2 that they are referring to the 25th Anniversary Remaster. Their 2023 remake of the first System Shock was generally well received by critics, but it’ll be tough to see how they dared to improve what some believe to be an already perfect game in System Shock 2.

  • Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader – Lex Imperialis (PC) – Releases Jun. 24th
  • System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Jun. 26th

Everything else:

Notable Releases from 10, 20, and 30 (and sometimes 40) years ago:

We’ve got a lot to talk about this week, including notable stuff from the year 1985. Let’s see what they are!

Games:

Kicking things off, from 2015, we’ve got the game Her Story from developer Sam Barlow. More interactive movie than video game, Her Story tasks players with solving a murder mystery by viewing video clips, and interacting with computer files on a faux 1990’s PC. The interviews are of a woman named Hannah, and it her husband that has been murdered. She has an alibi, but something doesn’t seem right here; thus they mystery of Her Story.

Met with near universal acclaim, Her Story was one of the most critically adored games of 2015, with critics calling it one of the most unique games ever made and a near perfect mash up of film & games. The game’s gripping story and superb acting by Viva Seifert were also commended, which led to wins at the 2015 Game Awards for for Best Narrative and Best Performance. A spiritual sequel, Telling Lies, would arrive in 2019, and Barlow would continue the interactive movie trend with 2022’s Immortality.

From 2005, we’ve got the puzzle game Meteos for the Nintendo DS. Following on the success of Lumines on the PSP, Nintendo wanted their own hit puzzle game from developer Q Entertainment to stay competitive. The concept of Metoes was the brainchild of Masahiro Sakurai, best known as the creator of Kirby and Smash Bros., who felt that falling block puzzle games had not evolved much since 1995’s Tetris Attack.

His idea, what if the block that fell from the top of the screen could also be shot back up from the bottom. Sakurai wanted players to be able to launch blocks back out the top of the screen which would, effectively, clear them. Taking the match 3 approach, when three or more of the same block touch it will cause those block to launch a short distance into the air, making it crucial to keep at least some level of blocks on screen in order for them to reach the top.

Meteos was mostly praised by critics who compared it favorably to Tetris and Lumines, though some critics argued that the DS’ touch screen controls hindered the game, making it difficult to accurately launch blocks or move them around. As would be a common complaint with Nintendo’s games over the next decade, critics found themselves wanting to just use the buttons on the DS to perform actions and not have to resort to motion controls.

Despite the criticism, Meteos was still considered among the best handheld games of 2005 and was the winner of several “Best Puzzle Game” by multiple outlets. A Disney themed sequel would come out in 2007 to middling reviews, followed by a proper follow-up on the Xbox 360 in 2008, called Meteos Wars. It too received middling reviews, though not for gameplay but for the lack of people playing it online. Following Q Entertainment’s dissolution 2013, the rights to Meteos (and Lumines) would be purchase by the mobile software company Mobcast, and they don’t seem to be doing anything with the IP right now.

From 1995, we have the racing game Dirt Trax FX, one of the eight games on the SNES to take advantage of the Super FX chip. Developed by the Salt Lake City studio Sculptured Software, Dirt Trax FX had players racing across 22 different tracks, with four difficulty settings. It was, by all accounts, a perfectly serviceable game. However, despite the “realistic 3D graphics”, the critics at GamePro magazine felt that Dirt Trax FX was a fun arcade title that was far too easy to play. If you wanted “real motorcycle racing”, this was not the place to come for it.

This was pretty much it for the game, it didn’t sell well, it didn’t garner any sequels or follow-up titles, and the developer would go on to be a support studio for other companies under the Acclaim umbrella. In 2018, a Canadian company called Liquid Media Group purchased many of the properties owned by Acclaim, including Dirt Trax FX. What they plan to do with it all is anyone’s guess. I won’t be holding my breath to find out.

All the way from 1985, we’ve got Capcom’s first big arcade hit, the vertical scrolling shoot ’em up 1942. Set in the year 1942 (duh) in the Pacific Theater of WWII, players take on the role of a U.S. air force pilot who is on their way to Tokyo to carry out it’s mission of destroying enemy planes and ships, I guess. Does it really matter? You shoot things and they blow up and it is very fun.

While it might be strange that Capcom, a Japanese company, was creating a game where you fought and killed Japanese soldiers, the goal of 1942 was appeal to a Western audience; which it most definitely did. Aside from Western audiences, Capcom also made 1942 far easier and more accessible than its previous titles in an effort to court a more casual crowd in Japan, which it also most certainly did. By the end of 1986, 1942 was the fifth highest grossing cabinet in Japan, and was in the top five highest grossing arcade conversion kits in the United States.

While 1942 was a commercial success, it was also a hit with critics who praised the game’s graphics and originality. While there was some initial confusion as to why a Japanese company would make a video game where you had to defeat Japan, it didn’t matter a whole lot after a while, because the fun of 1942 would take over. Being Capcom’s first major success, it was also the first series to receive a sequel, 1987’s 1943: The Battle of Midway, followed by 1943 Kai, 1941: Counter Attack, 19XX: The War Against Destiny, 1944: The Loop Master, and 1942: First Strike.

Well known by many, we can all thank 1942 for making Capcom a major player in the video game industry. There would be no Mega Man, no Street Fighter, no Resident Evil without 1942. While the game have had you destroying Japanese planes as an American pilot, Capcom would have the final victory, taking as much hard earned cash from Western audiences as it could.

Movies:

Moving on to notable film, 2015 saw the release of the comedy Ted 2, from Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane. In the film, Ted, the talking stuffed bear that magically came to life, has his personhood challenged, leading to a chain reaction of events that sees Ted lose his job, all of his money, and the dissolution of his marriage to Tami-Lynn. What follows is, of course, a bunch of jokes where Ted does something nasty and Mark Whalberg has to be like, “Ted, that’s wicked gross“, or something.

Despite the poor reviews and less than expected box office, Ted 2 was still a massive commercial success, making over $200 million, worldwide, at the box office. While a third film has never materialized, a spin-off TV show is available to stream on Peacock (telling the story of Ted and the kid version of Mark Whalberg), with an animated series also in the works at Peacock or, as I like to call it, Pisspenis. I am available to write jokes for the Ted animated series.

In 2005 we had the documentary March of the Penguins, a stunning nature film about the year long journey that emperor penguins make in order to procreate and keep their offspring alive. While the penguins journey is arduous, the making the film was incredibly difficult as well. The film, produced by a French documentary crew, mainly consisted of two camera operators who had to spend the entire year traveling with the penguins, hidden from sight, to capture their amazing mating and chick-rearing rituals.

Initially released in France in January of 2005 with a male and female narrator, the English version of the film would arrive in June of 2005 and featured Oscar winning actor Morgan Freeman in the narration spot. It was this English version that won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature at the Academy Awards and helped kickstart a penguin craze across the United States.

Heading to 1995 we have another Oscar winning film, Ron Howard’s Apollo 13. Based on the true story of NASA’s Apollo 13 mission, the film stars Tom Hanks as Commander Jim Lovell, an astronaut who dreams of walking on the Moon. However, a malfunction in the spacecraft strands Lovell and his two crewmates (played by Bill Paxton and Kevin Bacon) in open space, leaving their safe return home to the scientists at NASA.

Being 14 when Apollo 13 came out, I fondly remember going to the theatres to see it, having already researched that Ron Howard had directed Splash, Willow, Parenthood, and one of my favorites at the time, Far and Away (which I had just watched in history class at school). I was keenly aware that Apollo 13 was an “Oscar contender”, particularly because it would star Tom Hanks, the guy who had just won Best Actor twice in a row (he would not even be nominated this year), and I was already a huge fan of Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Ed Harris and Gary Sinise. This pop culture kid was eatin’ good.

Apollo 13 was a huge critical and commercial success, earning high praise for how masterfully crafted the film was, and earned over $300 million at the worldwide box office. Nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture, it would only win two, for Best Editing & Best Sound. In my mind, I always though Apollo 13 was a bigger winner but, for whatever reason, Academy voters really loved Mel Gibson’s Braveheart instead. Being a true story there was no sequel, though it did re-ignite interest in the Apollo space program in the 1990’s, leading to countless documentaries and museum exhibits.

Rounding out the notable films is 1985’s Back to the Future, one of my all-time favorite films and, I’m guessing, probably many of your as well. Set in the year 1985, teenager Marty McFly finds himself going down a path of loser-dom that seems to plague his entire family. Having made friends with an eccentric scientist, Doc Brown, Marty is tasked with helping the Doc film a time travel experiment. When Doc & Marty are attacked by Libyan terrorists, Doc is shot and Marty leaps into the time machine, a Delorean sports car, hurtling himself back in time to the year 1955 where he must make sure his parents fall in love and, just maybe, change his future for the better.

Produced by Steven Spielberg, one of five in 1985, including the recently released The Goonies, Back to the Future’s director would be an up and comer named Robert Zemeckis, who co-wrote the screenplay with his partner Bob Gale. The two had previously worked with Spielberg, writing his 1979 flop, 1941 (no relation to the Capcom game 1942). Putting these two in charge of a big budget, blockbuster film was a gamble, but Spielberg seemed to trust the two, and we’re all glad he did.

A critical and commercial success, Back to the Future was hailed by critics as smart, clever, and incredibly entertaining. Critics felt that Zemeckis and Gale were among the new wave of filmmakers that were “raised by television” and felt that their style was very reminiscent of old sitcoms, but made grander by the big screen. Audiences flocked to the movie in droves, pushing it a a worldwide gross of $388 million (which would be over $1 billion in 2025). The film’s lead star, Michael J. Fox, would become an overnight sensation, far surpassing the fame he had gained for his role on the TV series Family Ties.

The success of Back to the Future would lead to two sequels, an animated series, and a theme park attraction at Universal Studios. The famous “courthouse square”, where the film’s ever present clock tower is located, continues to be a high point for visitors on Universal Studios’ tram tour as well. There is so much I could say about Back to the Future, but I only have so much time. There are countless making-of documentaries, commentaries, YouTube videos, and essays written about Back to the Future that I couldn’t dare come up with anything new.

All I can say is that I can’t imagine my life without Back to the Future. It brought my entire family together, every generation, with its massive, broad appeal. It’s a near perfect movie that will almost certainly be remembered and watched by generations that far exceed my time on this planet.

Albums:

Onto notable albums, 2015 saw the release of Summertime ’06, the debut studio album from rapper Vince Staples. A critical and commercial success, Summertime gave the world its introduction to Staple’s mumbly delivery style, telling stories about the struggles of Black Americans and what it’s like to have to grow up around violence and poverty. Debuting at #39 on the Billboard Top 200, Summertime was considered by many critics to be one of the best albums of 2015, though its success, both critically and commercially, would not lead to any Grammy nominations.

From 2005, we’ve got the album U.S.A. (United State of Atlanta) from rappers the Ying Yang Twins. I was personally never a fan of these guys, I found their style and content to be a little…eh…gross. Their big single off USA was one that you are likely familiar with, “Wait (The Whisper Song)”, in which the duo whisper rap about how amazing their penises are, with the unforgettable line, “Just wait ’til you see my dick. Aye, bitch, wait ’til you see my dick“. The best thing to come out of this, for me, was The Lonely Island parody song, “Bing Bong Brothers”, with the even better lyric, “You will like our penises. I will look at your vagina“.

Moving on to 1995, we’ve got the album, I Wish, by rapper Skee-Lo, which featured the hit single, “I Wish”. You might not know the name right away but if I write, “I wish I was a little bit taller, I wish I was a baller. I wish I had a girl who looked good, I would call her. I wish I had a rabbit in a hat with a bat, and a six-four Impala“, you’ll know exactly what song it is.

The song “I Wish” would peak at #13 on the Billboard Hot 100, while the album I Wish would peak at #53 on the Billboard Top 200. Both would also be nominated at the Grammy’s, for Best Rap Solo Performance & Best Rap Album, losing to Coolio’s “Gangster’s Paradise” and Naughty By Nature’s Poverty’s Paradise. I Wish would be a kind of one-hit wonder for Skee-Lo, who retired from rapping not long after it came out. He would go on to write & produce other acts, eventually returning to making his own songs in the 2010’s.

Closing things out this week, from 1985, is the album Little Creatures from Talking Heads. Yet another of this week’s commercial and critical success stories, Little Creatures was named Album of the Year by The Village Voice’s Pazz & Jop critics poll, and would be Talking Heads most commercially successful album of all-time. It’s two singles were Billboard Hot 100 hits, with “And She Was” peaking at #54 and “Road to Nowhere” peaking at #25.

If you’re wondering just why Little Creatures did so well, Talking Heads and made their mainstream breakthrough in 1983 with the top ten hit “Burning Down the House”, while their 1984 concert film, Stop Making Sense, was a critical darling that did big business in art house theatres. There is a tonal shift on Little Creatures, showing that everyone involved was likely ready to step away from one another. Talking Heads would have two more album after this but they just feel like David Byrne solo joints. Hell, the above video barely features the band on screen with Byrne in the same place (if at all), so I think the writing was on the wall for quite a while.

Her Story (Android/iOS/PC) – Released Jun. 24th, 2015

Notable Film Release: Ted 2 – Starring Mark Wahlberg, Seth MacFarlane, Amanda Seyfried, Giovanni Ribisi, John Slattery, and Jessica Barth
Click here to watch the trailer
Notable Album Release: Vince Staples – Summertime ’06
Click here to listen to the album

Meteos (DS) – Released Jun. 27th, 2005

Notable Film Release: March of the Penguins – Narrated by Morgan Freeman
Click here to watch the trailer
Notable Album Release: Ying Yang Twins – U.S.A. (United State of Atlanta)
Click here to listen to the album

Dirt Trax FX (SNES) – Released Jun. 1995

Notable Film Release: Apollo 13 – Starring Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, Ed Harris, and Kathleen Quinlan
Click here to watch the trailer
Notable Album Release: Skee-Lo – I Wish
Click here to listen to album

1942 (Arcade) – Released Jun. 1985

Notable Film Release: Back to the Future – Starring Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Thomas F. Wilson
Click here to watch the trailer
Notable Album Release: Talking Heads – Little Creatures
Click here to listen to album

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