Top Releases:

• Pragmata (PC/PS5/Switch 2/Series X|S) – Releases Apr. 16^th
• Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream (Switch) – Releases Apr. 16^th
• Mouse: P.I. for Hire (PC/PS5/Switch 2/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Apr. 16^th
• Dosa Divas (PC/PS5/Switch/Switch 2/Series X|S) – Releases Apr. 14^th
• Ground Zero (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Apr. 16^th

After a few quiet weeks, we finally have a couple of new releases to actually be excited about! First up is Pragmata, a sci-fi action/adventure game from Capcom. In this title, players take on the role of Hugh, a researcher who appears to be the only human left alive on a Moon base. Hugh is not alone, however, as he is accompanied by an android named Diana who was, for some reason, built to look like a child.

Together, Hugh and Diana must stop a berserk AI from leaving the Moon base and reaching Earth where it will, I assume, destroy all of humanity. This is the first brand new IP from Capcom since the release of Dragon’s Dogma all the way back in 2012, so there is probably a lot riding on this game’s success. Early reports indicate that Pragmata is phenomenal, being called a potential Game of the Year candidate.

Pragmata (PC/PS5/Switch 2/Series X|S) – Releases Apr. 16^th

Developed by: Capcom
Published by: Capcom

Our other big release of the week is Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream for the Switch. This is a sequel the 3DS title, Tomodachi Life, and finds players building an island paradise for their collection of Mii characters. It’s a little odd that Nintendo is releasing another city building life-sim game so close to the release of Pokémon Pokopia, but I’m sure they know what they’re doing.

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream (Switch) – Releases Apr. 16^th

Developed by: Nintendo EPD
Published by: Nintendo

As for the rest of this week’s releases, the oft-delayed first person shooter Mouse: P.I. for Hire is finally coming out, unless is somehow gets delayed again before April 16th. We’ve also got the indie title Dosa Divas, a RPG in which two sisters join forces to take down an evil fast food corporation and reconnect ethnic communities with the food of their heritage. Finally, from the Korean developer Malformation Games, we have Ground Zero, a retro-inspired survival horror game (think, Resident Evil and Dino Crisis).

Mouse: P.I. for Hire (PC/PS5/Switch 2/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Apr. 16^th

Developed by: Fumi Games
Published by: PlaySide Studios

Dosa Divas (PC/PS5/Switch/Switch 2/Series X|S) – Releases Apr. 14^th

Developed by: Outerloop Games
Published by: Outerloop Games/Outersloth

Ground Zero (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Apr. 16^th

Developed by: Malformation Games
Published by: Kwalee

Ports and Expansions:

• Hades II (PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Apr. 14^th
• Parasol Superstars (PS4/PS5/Switch/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Apr. 14^th
• Fortnite: Save the World (PC/PS5/Switch 2/Series X|S) – Releases Apr. 16^th
• Atomic Heart: Blood on Crystal (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Apr. 16^th

In the world of ports, Hades II, one of the best games of 2025, is finally launching on the PS5 and Series X|S after being exclusive to the Switch and PC. The Taito classic Parasol Superstars is coming to modern consoles after it was first released over 30 years ago. Meanwhile, the original version of Fortnite, you know, the mode where it’s an actual game with goals and shit, called Save the World, is going free-to-play and hitting Switch 2 for the first time.

Last up, Atomic Heart is receiving its fourth and final expansion, Blood on Crystal. I don’t know anyone who played this but, apparently, the audience was big enough to give the game FOUR expansions.

Everything else:

• Last Flag (PC) – Releases Apr. 14^th
• Moses & Plato – Last Train to Clawville (PC) – Releases Apr. 14^th
• Regions of Ruin: Runegate (PC) – Releases Apr. 14^th
• Replaced (PC/Series X|S) – Releases Apr. 14^th
• We Gotta Go (PC) – Releases Apr. 14^th
• Cleaning Up! (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch) – Releases Apr. 15^th
• Industria II (PC) – Releases Apr. 15^th
• Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Apr. 16^th

• The Empty Desk (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Apr. 16^th
• Gecko Gods (PC/PS5/Switch) – Releases Apr. 16^th
• Nullstar: Solus (PC/PS5/Switch/Series X|S) – Releases Apr. 16^th
• OPUS: Prism Peak (PC/Switch/Switch 2) – Releases Apr. 16^th
• RAD: Repeat After Death (PC) – Releases Apr. 16^th
• Under Par Golf Architect (PC/PS5/Switch 2/Series X|S) – Releases Apr. 16^th
• ZPF (PC/Switch/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Apr. 16^th

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

Games:

In notable games, 2016 gave us the 3DS RPG Bravely Second: End Layer, the sequel to 2012’s Bravely Default. Set a couple years after the first game, Bravely Second has players in the role of Yew Geneolgia as they attempt to rescue the first game’s protagonist, Agnes Oblige. Yew is joined on their journey by two returning characters, Edea and Tiz, as well as a mysterious Moon woman named Magnolia. The game was well received by critics, with notorious Japanese game magazine Weekly Famitsu scoring the game 36 out of 40.

There were some detractors, however, with those critics feeling like Bravely Second was not different enough, both in story & gameplay, from Bravely Default, lamenting what they perceived as a lack of innovation on the part of the developer. Almost a million copies of the game were sold, worldwide, which wasn’t enough to immediately warrant a third entry. However, the success of the mobile title Bravely Default: Fairy’s Effect and the similarly themed Octopath Traveller (which was made by the same team) convinced Square Enix to release Bravely Default II in 2021.

From 2006, we have the game Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!. In this game, players take on a series of small brain teasers and try to complete them as quickly as possible. Once players finish the games they are assigned a “brain age” that is, hopefully at or near their own age. Of course, the younger your “brain age” the smart you are supposed to be or, at least, indicate that you have a sharp brain.

Developer & publisher Nintendo were, however, wary of saying that Brain Age had any scientific merit, conceding that they were an entertainment company and that Brain Age was meant to be fun, and nothing more than that. Initially, retailers in Japan were skeptical of the game, despite it being based on the best selling self-help book, Train Your Brain: 60 Days to a Better Brain. However, Nintendo’s strong marketing for the title, as well as the large casual audience who owned the DS, turned Brain Age into a phenomenon.

The game faced similar negative voices in the US but they, too, were silenced as Brain Age took the country by storm. In its lifetime, the title would go on to sell over 19 million copies, making it one of the most successful DS games of all-time. You can not, however, understate just how many copies of the game were sold due to the fact that it also contained a hot “new” Japanese puzzle game, sudoku. This little number game was taking the world by storm and its inclusion with Brain Age helped push sales through the roof.

The success of Brain Age not only ensured multiple sequels and spin-off’s, but also led to multiple copycat titles and edutainment inspired software, such as games that taught you a different language, along with Nintendo’s own Wii Fit, helping to bring even more of a casual audience to gaming.

From 1996, we have the all-time classic first person shooter, Duke Nukem 3D. A sequel to the side scrolling platform shooters from Apogee, in which Duke returns to Earth after the events of Duke Nukem II. He finds that the planet is under attack from aliens and, even worse, they’re kidnapping all the babes! Using an arsenal of badass guns and his cool, dry wit, Duke heads out on a mission to save the planet, screw hot chicks, kill alien scum, and screw hot chicks.

Initially, the first episode of Duke Nukem 3D, called “L.A. Meltdown”, was released in January of 1996 as a free sharware title for PC. At eight levels, it was a solid demo, offering tons of areas to explore and enemies to kill. When it was fully released on April 19th, 1996, two more episodes were added, “Lunar Apocalypse” and “Shrapnel City”, at 13 levels each, for a grand total of 34 levels across all three episodes. A fourth episode, “The Birth”, was added in November of 1996 as part of The Atomic Edition.

Critical reception to Duke Nukem 3D was almost universally positive, based on the game’s stellar speed, highly explorable, non-linear levels, and technological advancements over its obvious inspiration, Doom. While there was a lot to love about Duke Nukem 3D, just about every critic had some reservations about the game’s sexual content and overall tone. While there is no graphic sexuality or full nudity, there is just enough that you had to question if the game was in good taste or not.

There were a handful of outside groups that objected to the sexual content and graphic violent of Duke Nukem 3D but, as many of these issues were addressed by the ESRB’s formation in the wake of Doom, it didn’t seem to cause that much of an uproar in the general public. The game did contain various parental controls that would remove the in-game strippers and change enemy blood from red to green, and later ports, such as the one for the Nintendo 64, censored the game even further.

By the end of the 1990’s, Duke Nukem 3D had sold almost 1 million copies (perhaps this modest take was what kept it from being the ire of politicians), with combined sales across all platforms coming out to roughly 3.5 million copies over its lifespan. While the game would receive multiple expansions and fan-made levels over the years, a proper sequel, Duke Nukem Forever, wouldn’t arrive until 2011, after it languished in development hell for almost 15 years.

While the game was often cited among the greatest PC games of all-time in the early 2000’s, it faded from memory as the decade went on. It’s unsuccessful sequel, and an overall shift in cultural tastes, has pushed the game further back in the minds of most modern gamers, though I still contend that it is one of the best FPS games of the 1990’s, and certainly helped usher in the cultural shift of video games from a children’s hobby in the 1980’s & 1990’s to a more adult focused hobby in the 2000’s which, ultimately, led the way for games to be seen as an equally important hobby across all age groups.

Movies:

In notable films, 2016 gave us The Boss, starring Melissa McCarthy and was kind of a beginning of a long drawn out slate of misses for the comedian or, at the very least, was the beginning of a string of films that didn’t do as well as her previous ones; is that any better? The Boss was McCarthy’s second collaboration with her husband, Ben Falcone, and finds McCarthy playing a tough as nails CEO, and 47th richest person in the US, Michelle Darnell. After being found guilty of insider trading, Darnell becomes penniless and must move in with her former assistant; hilarity ensues.

Critics didn’t really love the film, like, AT ALL, and while it made a respectable $78 million against at $29 million budget, the film wasn’t really considered a box office smash, especially since her previous film, Spy, made over $200 million. McCarthy still has a solid career, it’s not like The Boss ruined her, or anything. Her days as a leading, comedic actress, though, isn’t what it used to be.

From 2006, we have the movie Hard Candy, a provocative, wholly disturbing film about a young woman who, posing as an underage teen, kidnaps and tortures a man she claims was about to do the same thing to her. What ensues over the next 104 minutes of the film’s run time is a stomach churning, anxiety riddled indie masterpiece that has you ping ponging between which of the two characters is actually telling the truth.

While I highly recommend the film, critics weren’t too keen on it, with Hard Candy only earning 67% positive ratings on Rotten Tomatoes. Most of the negative comments on the film came from its gratuitous use of torture which some critics felt was in poor taste as we were living the world of “Abu Ghraib”, while others felt that its torture was just a ploy to get people in seats after the popularity of Saw.

What most critics agreed on, though, was that the film was a star making turn for the then unknown Ellen (now Elliot) Page. Their portrayal as the shy, awkward teen turned psychopath torturer was a revelation to critics who predicted that Page would soon be among the most sought after, in-demand young actors in Hollywood, with major Oscar potential. Sure enough, just one year later, Page would appear in Ivan Reitman’s film Juno, earning them their first Academy Award nomination.

From 1996, we have the psychological thriller Fear, about a young male psychopath who fools everybody into thinking he’s somebody that he’s not. Please do not confuse this with last week’s notable film, the psychological thriller Primal Fear, about a young male psychopath who fools everybody into thinking he’s somebody that he’s not; they’re totally different.

Critics didn’t really care for Fear and neither did audiences, with the movie opening up in fourth place behind Primal Fear, James and the Giant Peach, and The Birdcage. However, I would be curious to know how many teens bought a ticket to James and then snuck into the R-rated Fear. I can personally say that all the boys at my high school were, well, VERY excited about the scene in which Reese Witherspoon’s character is brought to orgasm on a roller coaster by Mark Wahlberg’s character.

While the film was not Wahlberg’s introduction to audiences, he was already well known for his music career, Fear did help solidify Wahlberg as an actor, helping him to build his notoriety before his star making turn in Paul Thomas Anderson’s 1998 film, Boogie Nights.

Albums:

In notable albums, 2016 gave us Gore, by the hard rock band Deftones. Gore was the band’s eight studio album, and first since 2012’s Koi No Yokan, and it marked a time of creative tension within the group. The band’s longtime principal songwriter, guitarist Stephen Carpenter, had less input then on previous records, giving Gore a fresh sound that was more experimental than what fans were used to. However, it wasn’t like Deftones hadn’t flirted with differing sounds before, particularly on their 2006 album Saturday Night Wrist, which Gore was compared favorably to.

When it released, Gore was a big hit for Deftones, debuting at #2 on the Billboard Top 200, their highest chart since 2003’s Deftones, which also came in at #2. Critics praised the album, calling it one of the best hard rock records of 2016, giving it glowing reviews. However, despite the commercial success and high praise, Gore did not receive any Grammy nominations. Instead, the Grammy honored groups like Megadeth, Korn, Disturbed, Twenty One Pilots, and Beyoncé in the Rock & Metal categories.

From 2006, we have one of my all-time favorite albums, Wolves in Wolves’ Clothing from the punk band NOFX. Debuting at #46 on the Billboard Top 200, this was not the band’s best charting record, nor was it one of the best selling albums of the year, but I don’t give a fuck, I’m highlighting it.

I don’t really have anything to say about its recording or anything, just that the album rules and you should be listening to it right now instead of reading this article. Go ahead, I’ll wait…did you love it? I bet you loved it. Opening with the cool melodies of “60%” that leads into the driving speed of (the currently highly relevant) “USA-holes”, followed by the party anthem “Seeing Double at the Triple Rock”, and the thought-provoking “We March to the Beat of Indifferent Drum”, the album just gets better and BETTER as it goes on.

I didn’t even need a third paragraph about Wolves in Wolves’ Clothing, I only did this so that I could embed at least two songs from the album in today’s article. I went to see NOFX at their final San Diego show, just a couple years ago, and when Fat Mike asked the crowd what the best NOFX album was, most people screamed “Punk in Drublic” but Mike told them that they were wrong, and that the best NOFX album was Wolves in Wolves’ Clothing. He’s not wrong, it’s incredible; now go listen to it again.

Closing things out, from 1996, we have the album Evil Empire by Rage Against the Machine. While their self titled debut certainly put RATM on the map with the song “Killing in the Name”, it was Evil Empire that turned them into one of the biggest rock acts on the planet. The success of the album was thanks in large part to the song “Bulls on Parade”, which hit made a splash on three Billboard charts, #11 on Alternative Airplay, #36 on Mainstream Rock, and #62 on Radio Songs.

I sometimes find it silly to think that various art forms, music, film, games, books, what have you, can radicalize us, well, me in particular. It’s almost like thinking, well, did I have an original thought or did I just like the way this song sounded or how that film was shot/acted? However, I know a lot of people, and there are famous cases like Paul Ryan, who heard bands like Rage Against the Machine and still turned into right wing dick heads.

While I wouldn’t fully embrace the more left leaning side of myself, I still had a lot of right wing influence in my family, the strong, anti-government, anti-establishment message of RATM resonated in a part of my soul that eventually led me to become the left leaning guy I am now. I won’t go so far as to say I’m an anti-capitalist anarchist, or anything, I like buying stuff and being (relatively) safe, but I’m also strongly opposed to fascism and corporate greed, and I’m so glad we have bands like RATM to make that message mainstream.

Bravely Second: End Layer (3DS) – Released Apr. 16^th, 2016

Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day! (DS) – Released Apr. 16^th, 2006

Duke Nukem 3D (PC) – Released Apr. 19^th, 1996

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