Crystar’s Gaming Round-Up: 8/13/2021

A Grand Theft Auto Remastered Trilogy Headlines a Busy Week

22 min readAug 13, 2021

A Grand Theft Auto Trilogy getting essentially confirmed, Indie showcases from every member of the Big 3, more news about Blizzard… we’ve got a lot to talk about, so let’s get started.

Grand Theft Auto Trilogy

First reported by Kotaku yesterday, a Grand Theft Auto trilogy is reportedly in the works by Rockstar, and will release sometime this Fall. The story was later corroborated by sites like VGC.

Rumors have circulated for months about a GTA Trilogy. Recently, Take-Two has been going after classic mods for older GTA titles, issuing DMCA takedowns against them. I’m not excusing those takedowns, mind you — but if a trilogy is on the horizon, they’d at least make some more sense. Meanwhile, Take-Two’s recent earnings report also announced that there were some unannounced remasters/re-releases besides Grand Theft Auto V: Expanded and Enhanced coming soon.

Remastered versions of Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto Vice City, and Grand Theft Auto San Andreas are all included in the package. They’ll all apparently be remastered using Unreal Engine. According to Kotaku’s report, the games will have a “mix of new and old graphics.” They didn’t particularly clarify, but one of their sources claimed that the games looked like “a heavily-modded” version of the older games.

Rockstar Dundee, located in Dundee, Scotland — and formerly Ruffian Games — is the studio behind the project. Before being purchased by Take-Two Interactive in 2020, Ruffian Games was best known for their work on Crackdown 2, while also providing assistance with Crackdown 3 and Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

Kotaku reports that the GTA Trilogy was originally intended to be packaged alongside Grand Theft Auto V: Expanded and Enhanced, but plans changed through the ongoing pandemic. Instead, the GTA Trilogy will be a standalone release that will most likely be digital-only.

Perhaps more exciting is the news that Rockstar has plans to develop ports of games like the first Red Dead Redemption. The probability of remastered versions of those older titles depends on the success of the GTA Trilogy.

But we all know it’ll sell well, right? So get to work, Rockstar. I want Red Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto IV remastered.

And they are putting it the work, apparently. While Dundee is leading the project, Rockstar’s other studios are also pitching in to get the Grand Theft Auto Remastered Trilogy and Grand Theft Auto V: Expanded and Enhanced out the door. Kotaku cites this as the reason for Red Dead Online’s minuscule updates.

The Grand Theft Auto Remastered Trilogy will release in late October or late November according to Kotaku. You’ll be to play it on almost anything that’s not your kitchen sink — PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, PC, Stadia, and mobile devices.

Kotaku also points out that the PC and mobile versions of the trilogy may be pushed to 2022, since Rockstar is prioritizing the console versions first. This isn’t anything new, though. Rockstar has always prioritized consoles over PC, whether we like it or not.

PlayStation Indies Showcase

We’ll just get right into summarizing these games, because there is a lot of Indies to talk about this week from not just Sony, but Microsoft and Nintendo as well.

A Short Hike is an adventure game with an isometric pixel art style that involves a small bird hiking through a stunning open-world landscape to get cellphone reception. The game originally released on PC to very positive reviews, and came to Nintendo Switch in 2020 to much of the same. Now it appears it’ll be arriving to PlayStation 4 in Fall 2021.
A sequel to the critically-acclaimed Oxenfree was re-announced here as Oxenfree 2: Lost Signals. The sequel contains a new cast of characters, where players play as a girl named Riley Poverly, who is investigating strange signals in her home town. The trailer shown here didn’t give a release date but confirmed the game was coming to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. Previous news about the game claimed that it was releasing later in 2021.
Axiom Verge 2 got a trailer showing off some of its features as the sequel to the acclaimed Axiom Verge. The retro-styled Metroidvania features not just one explorable world, but two — an overworld and a second interconnected branch in an alternate dimension. The game is coming to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. We’ll talk more about Axiom Verge 2 later since it appeared in another Indie showcase.
Carrion by Polish indie developer Phobia Game Studio was given a teaser trailer here. Carrion is a reverse horror game — meaning you play as the villain/monster in the game — an “amorphous creature of unknown origin” , an alien abomination that awakened in a secret underground laboratory. Escape while eating people. Awesome stuff. The game is already available on Switch, PC and Xbox One with favorable reviews — but will be coming to PlayStation 4 in 2021. Check out the game on Steam if you’d like to know more.
This one may be a bit surprising for some oldheads out there. Moon Cresta and Terra Cresta were vertically scrolling shooters from the 80s developed by Nichibutsu. Both games were available in Arcades and even the Commodore 64. 36 years later, we’ve received an announcement that a sequel to the Cresta series will be coming later in 2021, developed by none other than Hideki Kamiya and PlatinumGames — best known for games like Bayonetta and NieR: Automata. The game will be on its way to PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC later this year — but you can watch the announcement trailer from the showcase now.
In Wytchwood, players assume control of a witch who finds themselves caught up in a pact she can’t remember making. Wytchwood has a whimsical art style, with talking animals and pretty environments. Alientrap Games describes it as a “crafting adventure”, where players seem to be able to craft spells and other trinkets of alchemy through their journey. Wytchwood is coming later in 2021 to PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Steam, and Xbox One.
Last but not least, critically-acclaimed Hades received a trailer at this showcase from Supergiant Games. I won’t spend too much time on Hades, since we’ve all heard of it by now. The widely celebrated roguelike received Game of the Year awards in 2020 from some outlets, so I’d definitely recommend giving it a look. As of the time of writing, Hades is now available on consoles for the first time — on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. Hades launched on Xbox Game Pass for both PC and Consoles as well.

ID@Xbox Showcase

Same as above, we’ll get right into it!

Lightyear Frontier looks really promising! It’s an open-world farming and exploration game that’s drawn some comparisons to Stardew Valley and No Man’s Sky, being described by some as a mixture of the two. Lightyear Frontier can be played Co-Op with up to 4 players total. The game is on Steam, but will of course be arriving on Xbox at some point. No release window or date was announced for it.
The Wandering Village has an interesting art style for a city builder. The city building itself looks more similar to a 2D art style, but zooming out will be stylized 3D. A group of people is building their settlement on the back of a giant wandering creature — drawing some comparisons to the World Turtle mytheme. The release date will be announced at a later date. It is on Steam, and will be on Xbox.
Lab Rat is a top-down puzzle game where the player shifts things around in order to clear levels. Throughout the game, you’re being overseen by an AI program who will eventually “develop a hilariously-misguided understanding of humanity based on your performance and survey response data”, according to the game’s Steam page. Coming to both Steam and Xbox.
RPG Time: The Legend of Wright is a hand-drawn RPG about a young student who wants to became a game developer, and draws out an RPG named Legend of Wright in his notebook, which he must clear before the school day ends. The Legend of Wright has a wonderful artstyle that invokes the sense of drawing doodles in notebooks during school. The game will come to Xbox alongside PC, but will also be available on mobile devices. The game will release later in 2021.
OlliOlli World is a skateboarding action-platformer with a cutesy cell-shaded artstyle. You’ll perform tricks and meet characters for quests while traversing through the world of Radlandia. Players will be able to create and customize their own character however they wish. The game will run at 120 FPS and at 4K on Xbox Series X/S, and will be releasing this Winter. It’ll also be available on a multitude of other platforms — including PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Switch, and Steam.
While Inked: A Tale of Love is already available on Steam, the team behind the game, Somnium Games, is aiming to re-release the game with a new storyline, better controls and more immersive graphics that better fit the vision of the game they wanted to produce. Inked is a puzzler that features a samurai looking for his lost lover. With the re-release of the game, it’ll also be coming to PS4, Switch, Android, Xbox One, and Mac. Releases on August 27th.
After being released back in December 2020 for Nintendo Switch, Sam & Max Save the World Remastered is out now for Xbox One, being shadow-dropped during the ID@Xbox showcase. Saw a lot of people excited for this, so good for them!
The Big Con is a light-hearted entry from this showcase, an adventure game set in 90’s America, focused around committing crimes as a runaway kid — such as picking pockets or ripping people off while wearing disguises. It’s definitely colorful and has a lovely artstyle, like most of the games in this list. Saying that a lot here, but I’m being honest! The Big Con releases on Xbox and Steam on August 31st.
Of course, a few Xbox Game Pass announcements were in this showcase as well, with a flurry of Day 1 Game Pass launches. Isometric RPG Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous will launch on Xbox Game Pass on September 2nd. Stealth action-adventure Aragami 2 will launch on Xbox Game Pass on September 17th, and dog photography game (yes, really) Pupperazzi will be “coming soon” to Xbox Game Pass.
In terms of previously available indie games coming to Xbox Game Pass — Evil Genius 2: World Domination, a criminal mastermind city builder, will come to the service in Q4 2021. And if you haven’t played it yet? Critically-acclaimed Stardew Valley will be launching on Xbox Game Pass for PC and consoles this Fall.
Lastly, the ID@Xbox showcase ended with Library of Ruina, which IGN and the game’s Steam page describes as a “library battle simulation” game. By inviting guests to your library, you’ll engage in combat with them and collect them as books containing their stories for your library. Combat is determined using a turn-based card system. If you wish to give it a try, the game is available on Xbox Game Pass.

Nintendo’s Indie World

A triple-faceted display of Indies. Very nice to see. Nintendo’s Indie World came last in order of the three, and was 20 minutes in length.

Holy hell, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk looks awesome! This game’s clearly a spiritual successor to the cult classic Jet Set Radio. This sets on the nostalgia heavy, with the different tricks and etc. available. And Hideki Naganuma is working on the OST? Sign me up. Check out the official gameplay trailer here. Mind you, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is a timed console exclusive for Nintendo Switch, which means you’ll likely be able to get your hands on it via Steam when it launches in 2022.
TOEM is a black-and-white adventure puzzler with hand-drawn graphics. The game requires the player to take photos and chat with different characters to solve troubles along the way. Releases on Nintendo Switch and Steam this Fall.
Loop Hero is a game published by Devolver Digital that is coming to Switch this holiday. This top-down game is already available on Steam, but this will be its first console release. The hero in the game follows pre-generated pathways as the player adjusts cards they collect to place terrain features while killing enemies to collect items.
FAR: Changing Tides seems artistic and vague, but intentionally so. You’ll sail across the sea in a ship in an atmospheric world while looking for a new home in a flooded world. It seems like a game that’s more of the relaxing type, if you’re more of that type of gamer. Although it was announced for Switch, it’ll be coming to plenty of other platforms as well — including Xbox One, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and Steam.
Described as “a story about death and coffee”, Necrobarista: Final Pour launched on Switch the day of the Indie World showcase. The game is a visual novel set in Melbourne with an anime-inspired aesthetic, with themes of coffee culture and necromancy entwined through the game. The game is out now on the Switch’s eShop, launched not long after the Indie World presentation.
Another game that came to the Switch later after the presentation was Garden Story, a Nintendo Switch timed console exclusive. Garden Story is a top-down pixel RPG taking place on a colorful island. Players take on quests, fight through dungeons, and more. The game also has a bit of a base-building mechanic, with a farming system as well. Pick it up on Switch, or on Steam.
Yet another game that launched on the same day as the presentation, Boyfriend Dungeon is a dungeon-crawler, but also a dating sim! Who are you dating? Your weapons! Level up your relationship with your swords, daggers and more in this hack-and-slash roguelike. Although showed off at Nintendo’s Indie World and made available on Switch, the game is also available on Steam and Xbox consoles — including launching on Xbox Game Pass for both PC and consoles.
Remember when I said we were going to talk about Axiom Verge 2 again? Well, yeah, here we go — because it’s out now for Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, and the Epic Games Store.
Shovel Knight: Pocket Dungeon got shown off again by Yacht Club Games. This game pits Shovel Knight and other characters from the acclaimed game in a puzzler/dungeon-crawler hybrid. The Switch version of the game will support Shovel Knight amiibos as well, although it’s unclear what that will entail yet. Besides the Nintendo Switch, you’ll also be able to pick up on PS4 this Holiday 2021.
Islanders: Console Edition was announced for Nintendo Switch, and dropped not that long after the show. Islanders is a city builder, but a much more relaxing one — with colorful islands, a minimalist style, and little to no stress. I think I might grab it myself, honestly. You can grab it on Steam or Switch for only $4.99, and it currently stands with Overwhelmingly Positive reviews on Steam.
Metal Slug Tactics was shown off again here at Nintendo’s presentation as the new entry in the classic series. The tactical RPG will be launching on Nintendo Switch, but it’ll also be available on Steam. We’ll be talking about the developers of this game, Dotemu, later on below.
Tetris Effect provides a music spin on the usual gameplay of Tetris by adding themes and music to the usual game, while tying the gameplay in to the beat of the music. I’ve heard really good things about this game, so I might take the plunge myself! Tetris Effect is currently on Xbox Game Pass for consoles and PC, including the Connected DLC for it. You can also pick it up on PS4 or Oculus Quest. Tetris Effect will finally be arriving to Steam on August 18th, and Nintendo Switch on October 8th, including the Connected DLC.
Some Indies that were on other platforms will soon be making their way to Switch as well. Multiplayer party game Gang Beasts will be coming to Switch this Fall, while simulator/tycoon game Hundred Days: Winemaking Simulator arrives in Winter 2021.
Indies that are also available now on Switch include turn-based roguelike Curious Expedition 2, alongside first-person sim adventure Slime Rancher: Plortable Edition.
Looking ahead to the future — sandbox adventure game Astroneer and action puzzle game LumbearJack both come to Switch in 2022.
Published by Chucklefish of Stardew Valley fame, Nintendo ended the Indie World presentation by showing off Eastward, a world with a declining population and a society on the bring of collapse. The pixel art Adventure-RPG launches on Switch and Steam this September 16th.

Overwatch and Call of Duty Leagues Lose Sponsors Amidst Controversy

The Overwatch League has been in a downhill spiral for a while now, and the allegations about Activision Blizzard don’t seem to be making it any better.

We’ve begun to see sponsors for the Overwatch League begin to pull their partnerships with the League last week in the wake of all of the allegations.

On August 6th, the Partners page on the official website for the Overwatch League was updated, showing removals of some of its partners. Kellogg had removed Pringles and Cheez-It Grooves as sponsors for the League.

Later, IBM and State Farm pulled their sponsorships as well.

As of now, this is was the “Partners” section on the Overwatch League website looks like. You can even see it for yourself by clicking here.

On the Call of Duty League side of the pond — ASTRO Gaming, the US Army and T-Mobile have withdrawn their sponsorships as well.

T-Mobile was a prominent sponsor of Overwatch esports for a long while now. If some may recall, previous World Cups of the game at Blizzcon featured fans voting for a T-Mobile MVP of the show — with Felix ‘xQc’ Lengyel being the first T-Mobile MVP crowned at an Overwatch World Cup.

T-Mobile also sponsors “Plat Chat”, a sort of podcast/recap show about the Overwatch League. Their usual pink T-Mobile coffee mugs have since disappeared. Although one host of the show claims the show is separate from Activision Blizzard, and they are in “active talks with T-Mobile” about it, according to the Washington Post.

Last weekend, the New York Subliners of the Call of Duty League covered the T-Mobile logo on their jumpers with duct tape, signaling the writing being on the wall for their sponsorship even then.

As of now, only Xfinity, Coca-Cola and Teamspeak are left as sponsors for the Overwatch League. Coca-Cola is reassessing their sponsorship deals with the League, however, after signing a multiyear deal with Activision Blizzard in 2019. Mind you, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick is a Director at The Coca-Cola Company, and has been since 2012.

Overwatch League has been in a spiral for a while with dwindling viewership after the League decided to move to YouTube as opposed to the more popular platform of Twitch. In fact, the pandemic year of 2020 saved the viewership of the esports League due to more people being home and boosting the view count. Overwatch League has failed to retain those viewers, however, and is in a very rough position going forward.

Activison Blizzard Updates

Jesse McCree is an iconic character from Overwatch, voiced by Matt Mercer.

Recently, more firings occurred at Activision Blizzard.

Diablo 4 Director Luis Barriga, lead level designer Jesse McCree, and World of Warcraft designer Jonathan LeCraft were all let go from their positions at the company.

Shareholders are also putting more pressure on Activision Blizzard, feeling their response was inadequate thus far. They are demanding much more changes from Activision Blizzard — including more board diversity, equity reviews, and the removal of bonuses from executives who engaged in abusive behavior. I highly recommend reading the piece on Axios about this.

While we can go into some concerns about Diablo 4 in the wake of them losing their Director, the situation with Jesse McCree is a bit more interesting, since in-game changes may be on the way in the wake of it.

It is worth asking what might happen to Jesse McCree the character, from Overwatch. While I personally don’t think Activision should or will change McCree’s name, it’s not impossible either.

From Bobby Kotick’s prior statement about making changes at the company, “in-game changes” were mentioned. “We have heard the input from employee and player communities that some of our in-game content is inappropriate. We are removing that content.”

In particular, a World of Warcraft NPC named after confirmed harasser Alex Afrasiabi (fired for ‘misconduct’) is being called for removal by the World of Warcraft community, and it’s highly likely it will indeed be removed.

On the other hand, Jesse McCree (the person) hasn’t been confirmed to have been fired for misconduct as of the time of writing. However, being let go from the company amidst the flurry of controversy is telling. Jesse McCree was also present in the infamous “Cosby Room” photo that circulated online, albeit the photo predating allegations about Bill Cosby.

What is actually of concern is the fact that Jesse McCree (the person) also made some rather vulgar comments in the ousted “Cosby Suite” group chat. As a result of this, some Overwatch players have put forth the idea that the iconic cowboy should be renamed.

In fact, in a recent broadcast of the Overwatch League, casters Brennon ‘Bren’ Hook and Josh ‘Sideshow’ Wilkinson deliberately avoided saying the name “McCree” when referring to the character in-game, instead using the word “cowboy” in substitution.

While there’s an argument to be made, I’m doubtful that McCree will be touched at all.

Jesse McCree (the character) has his own identity, and is a household name for many fans of Overwatch, and even people who don’t know about the game have likely seen his design or name before. While it is a bit weird to have the namesake of the character be from Jesse McCree (the person) in light of everything, we have to also consider that a large majority of Overwatch players are casual fans. They likely had no idea that McCree was named after this person, and likely won’t know unless they read some articles about the situation.

The situation with the Overwatch League casters is a bit strange. However, I feel like that was a deliberate and respectable decision on their part.

I suppose we’ll see if Activision Blizzard feels the need to change the name of the character. As of now, however, it’s a highly complicated issue — but I remain doubtful and skeptical that they’ll change the name.

Rapid-Fire Round-Up

Producer of both Atelier and Fatal Frame, Keisuke Kikuchi, recently told Famitsu that a positive response to Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water would potentially lead to a sequel at some point. Maiden of Black Water was a Wii U exclusive in 2015, shooting itself in the foot in terms of reaching a wide audience. A remastered version of the survival horror game will release this year on October 28 for Switch, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Sony gave some new details for PSVR2 at a recent summit for the tech. PSVR2 will feature HDR OLED displays, and a higher FOV at 110. Controllers will be packaged with the device and have touch sensors. Sony wishes to move away from “experiences” apparently, and wants to focus more on AAA hybrid games for the platform — games that can be played with or without VR (games like Resident Evil 7 and Hitman 3, for example).
The Nintendo Switch has officially surpassed the PlayStation 3 in terms of lifetime sales at over 89 million units sold, making it the 7th best-selling console of all time. The Nintendo Switch currently sits behind the PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, Game Boy, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 1, and Wii on the all-time list.
Arkane Studios has announced that their upcoming shooter Deathloop has gone gold! Congratulations to them. Deathloop releases September 14th, for PlayStation 5 and PC.
Focus Home Interactive has purchased French retro game studio Dortemu SAS for €38.5 million, an equivalent to $46 million here in the U.S. Dortemu is best known for porting older games to modern platforms — such as R-Type and Final Fantasy VIII, alongside producing sequels to older games as well. Dortemu developed and published the positively-reviewed Streets of Rage 4 in 2020. In 2021, they plan to release a sequel to 1994’s Windjammers and are scheduled to be releasing Metal Slug Tactics in 2022.

A new trailer was released for Square Enix’s Guardians of the Galaxy game, which releases this October. The trailer focuses around what appears to be a scene from early in the game, showcasing Lady Hellbender as a character. The trailer almost reaches 4 minutes in length.
Steam users will be getting a performance patch soon for Resident Evil Village that optimizes the performance of the game, and makes some “minor fine-tuning to FidelityFX Super Resolution.”
A small teaser is unlisted for Metroid Dread on Nintendo’s Japanese YouTube channel. Here’s a link if you want to give it a look.
Creative Director for the Dead Space remake, Roman Campos-Oriola, did an interview with Collider recently where he gave some details about the project. The game is being remade entirely in Frostbite, with new assets, models, and more. However, he assures that the remake will retain the same story and structure. They wish to take advantage of the SSDs in the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S to deliver an “unbroken experience” in the remake, “without interruption.” While remaining faithful to the original, they’ll also “do away with some things that don’t work, and make sure the game stays relevant to modern audiences.”
So… PUBG is renaming the game we’re all familiar with to PUBG: Battlegrounds. Wouldn’t that make the title Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds: Battlegrounds? Well, regardless, future games in the PUBG universe will have the same prefix. Such as PUBG: New State — a 100-player Battle Royale game for mobile devices, set in 2051 with a more futuristic setting. Let’s not forget The Callisto Protocol, a survival horror game from the creators of Dead Space that’s apparently in the same universe as well, set 300 years after PUBG: Battlegrounds.

Famed idle game Cookie Clicker is headed to Steam officially on September 1, 2021. Buy some upgrades and expand your bakery until its a Cookie Empire. Not joking. There’s over 600 unlockable upgrades, over 500 achievements, cloud saves, and music by Minecraft’s C418!
We have confirmation now that Xbox will be having a stream at Gamescom 2021. The show will be 100% virtual and will be hosted by Parris Lilly and Kate Yeager. Tune in on August 24th at 10 AM PT.
Not quite a game, but The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf received a new trailer for it’s upcoming premier on Netflix on August 23rd. Nightmare of the Wolf follows the story of Vesemir during his days a young Witcher.
Dubbed as a “Civ Killer” by some due to its similarities to the famed historical crossover franchise, upcoming 4X strategy game Humankind was announced to be launching day-one on Xbox Game Pass for PC when it releases on August 17. Instead of playing as a preset historical Leader and country like Civilization, you’ll instead make your own Leader in Humankind, making a hybrid of cultures throughout the game depending on the bonuses you prefer.
Sean Murray gave a teaser on Twitter about the next update to No Man’s Sky, titled “Frontiers” on the day of the game’s anniversary, August 9th. Sean thanked the community in some other tweets, but we still don’t know anything really about what the update will look like. On the PlayStation Blog, though, Sean mentions that Frontiers will be a “missing piece of the sci-fi fantasy that we’ve always wanted to add.” So I suppose we’ll see.

Street Fighter showed off a trailer for Oro’s return to the franchise, alongside some of the outfits he’ll be able to use as well. Oro releases in Street Fighter V on August 16th.
For those who haven’t played it yet, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice got its next-gen upgrade, optimized for Xbox Series X/S. Enhanced visuals, Raytracing, and more. A chapter select mode was added as well, and the devs say a PC update is on the way.
If you’re interested in the upcoming Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania, you may be surprised to know that Sonic and Tails will be available in the game as well — they’ll be free, don’t worry, and obtainable through normal gameplay on all platforms. Trailer here.
Last but not least, a new Pokémon Presents arrives next week on August 18th, with new information about Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, alongside the new foray the franchise is exploring with Pokemon Legends: Arceus. This presentation is apparently 27 minutes long, so there will be a hefty dosage of information for us. You’ll definitely be hearing from me here after that showcase.

Recent Releases/Updates

I won’t be including the “Available Now!” games mentioned from the Indie showcases above.

Mario Golf: Super Rush has a new free update out now. Ranked Matches have been added as a mode to the game, alongside Toadette as a new character. A new course set in New Donk City from Super Mario Odyssey is also featured in the game as well.
Overcooked! All You Can Eat received a new free update on all platforms the game is on, announced via a trailer and a blog post. The Birthday Party update adds five new birthday-themed kitchens in celebration of the franchise’s fifth anniversary, alongside a new chef and a new recipe.
Third-person aerial combat game The Falconeer: Warrior Edition is now available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch. Instead of the usual planes in aerial combat games, this one features players controlling massive warbirds instead. The Warrior Edition includes all of the previous DLC for the game, alongside all of the major improvements made since launch.
Puzzler-adventure indie game I Am Dead follows the adventure of a ghost and his dog as they attempt to stop a natural disaster from devastating their home island. While already available on Switch and Steam, you can now pick it up on PlayStation or Xbox for $19.99.
Dark RPG-Adventure Black Book follows the adventures of a sorceress named Vasilisa through rural Russia as she seeks out a demonic artifact called.. well, the “Black Book”. Puzzles must be solved along the way and combat is engaged using a card system. The small Russian studio consulted Russian anthropologists to ensure authenticity in the game’s world. The game has a temporary 15% discount on Steam until the 17th. Otherwise, pick it up for $24.99 on Steam, Switch, Mac, Linux, PS4, and Xbox One.
Lastly, for those wanting to have a chance to play it on consoles finally — critically-acclaimed Game of the Year candidate in 2020 Hades is now available on PlayStation and Xbox consoles. Hades is available on Xbox Game Pass for its console launch — available on both Game Pass for PC and consoles.