Hey I guess I’m doing this early and will probably regret it because more dates will probably pop up soon, let’s go! January was a bit quiet review-wise, with some catching up, games I decided not to review, and one new game. Currently playing through Fire Emblem Engage which I will review (so far so good) and Forspoken just finished pre-loading (that game is not looking so hot)… not sure if I’ll review Forspoken, but I will post about it either way because big Squeenix game. And there’s still Pizza Tower and the new Spongebob I want to check out, but they might end up on the maybe list.
So February is a fucking packed month. I’m highlighting 16 multiplats, 1 Switch game, 4 PC games, and 2-3 PS5 things. There’s 4 or 5 or 6 games on my “getting for sure” list, and like 10 in my maybe list. There’s absolutely no way I’m playing all the interesting stuff that’s coming out in February, especially since I’ll still be catching up with January games. Thankfully (for now) March is a bit quieter so I should be able to get into a bunch of these.
Disclaimer: I only list games that I think are worth mentioning. This includes games I’m personally interested in, games that will likely be popular, highly advertised games, some more niche stuff I may notice, and such. Not just games I care about myself, I highlight as much as I think makes sense. And of course, I can’t see the future, so I may be missing games and I may be listing games that may get delayed.
Also there’s a few cool retro re-releases like Truxton, Zero Wing and Montezuma’s Revenge.
EDIT: removed a game
MULTIPLATFORM RELEASES
Rhythm Sprout 02/01 (Switch, PC, PS4, Xbone, PS5, Xbox X/S)
I saw Gura playing this one. Gave me some heavy Muse Dash vibes, with a bit of weirdness as far as both the music and the visuals but it seemed pretty fun.
Hogwarts Legacy 02/10 (PC, PS5, Xbox X/S)
I’ve not been convinced that this will work. Like, it has a lot of different elements that don’t seem like they connect whatsoever. You can do all sorts of shit, it’s a semi-open world kinda deal, and I don’t know what it’s really about beyond you being a student at Hogwarts. People seem hyped about it though, so I’ll look at someone playing it and see if I can get my mind changed.
Labyrinth of Galleria: The Moon Society 02/14 (Switch, PC, PS4, PS5)
This is a sequel to Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk, a game I liked quite a bit. It’s one of them first-person grid-based dungeon-crawling RPGs, it was really well made, and is one of the rare games to have a story that’s actually not bad. Pretty excited to try this one out.
Wanted: Dead 02/14 (PC, PS4, Xbone, PS5, Xbox X/S)
This is an action game made by people who made Ninja Gaiden, though a different company. The dev’s previous projects were Valkyrie Elysium and a Naruto game. This has what seems to be a really wacky presentation with some anime moments, some live action infomercial-looking parts, and gameplay that seems quite good. I’m pretty curious about this one. For now this is a maybe, but I’m very curious about it and I feel the gaming community will largely ignore it.
Tales of Symphonia Remastered 02/14 (Switch, PS4, Xbone)
Oh hey it’s the last-gen console (and Switch) port of the PC port of the PS3 remaster of ToS. Okay. Very confusing release, why not PS5/Series X? Why PS4 and Xbone?
The game’s good but whatever man, I played it when it was new and kinda don’t feel the need to do it again.
Theatrhythm Final Bar Line 02/16 (Switch, PS4)
I remember enjoying the first Theatrythm game, but it’s been a while. This one seems pretty similar. It features 385 tracks which is pretty crazy. If you get one of the special editions, you get another 27 tracks and one or more of the “season passes”. Each of the 3 season passes features 30 tracks from other squeenix games. The DLC is way overpriced compared to the whole package though (67$ Canadian for 385 tunes, then 67$ for the special just 117 songs… there’s a really stupid ripoff going on there), but at least the base game has plenty of content on its own and it’s not full price.
Wild Hearts 02/17 (PC, PS5, Xbone)
This is basically Monster Hunter but with a different name. It does look pretty cool. I’d say movement seems a bit swifter than MH, but otherwise I’m not really sure how it differentiates itself. Actually a bit of a weird one since it’s a collab between Koei Tecmo and… EA, somehow. Very rare for EA to do anything interesting, but this might be a rare exception (and they have another one next month too). I definitely have this on the “want to try” list.
Atomic Heart 02/21 (PC, PS4, Xbone, PS5, Xbox X/S)
This is an FPS that looks kinda cool. You have guns of course, but also you can change super-powers on your left hand (making people compare it to Bioshock) with stuff like telekinesis and shooting lightning. it seems there’s a bunch of RPG elements that I didn’t quite notice in older trailers (with an open world and separate dungeons and skill trees). Looking at a recent gameplay video from gamespot, I’m not really sure about it, mostly because it looks really slow and attacks kinda lack impact. I kinda want to play a demo. Might be interesting, not a priority for me, it’s on the maybe list.
Like a Dragon: Ishin! 02/21 (PC, PS4, Xbone, PS5, Xbox X/S)
Yakuza time! Though now they’re finally calling it the correct title, the series has been Ryu Ga Gotoku (Like a Dragon) all along, so Yakuza was just some “localization” shit.
This is one that came out on PS3 and was an Edo period spin-off of the franchise, but this is a remake for newer platforms. I’m pretty interested in checking this out. The only game in the series I’ve actually beaten is 7, so this looks like a bit of a different experience.
Digimon World: Next Order 02/22 (PC, Switch)
I have this on PS4. I wasn’t really into the whole gameplay concept of it though. But hey, more games getting PC releases is good. I still recommend checking out some gameplay videos see if it’s more your thing.
Grim Guardians: Demon Purge 02/23 (Switch, PC, PS4, Xbone, PS5, Xbox X/S)
This looks like a Classicvania-style game, except it features the 2 sisters from Gal Gun Double Peace (both games having GGDP as their title acronym fun), doing some side-scrolling demon hunting shit. This actually looks quite fun in videos. I will check it out.
Labyrinth of Zangetsu 02/23 (Switch, PC, PS4)
This is another one of them first-person dungeon-crawlers. It looks pretty cool visually, but also I’ll be giving priority to Labyrinth of Galleria this month as far as this genre goes, so this game is on the maybe list.
Blood Bowl 3 02/23 (PC, PS4, Xbone, PS5, Xbox X/S)
I’m not super familiar with Blood Bowl. I tried playing one of the previous ones but didn’t totally get how it was meant to be played so I was pretty bad at it. Maybe I should’ve looked at a tutorial. Anyways, I hear people have been waiting for this one for a bit, so… good that it’s coming out.
Clive ‘N’ Wrench 02/24 (Switch, PC, PS4, PS5)
This is a 3D platformer that gives me some Banjo/Hat in Time feels. Looks like it could actually be pretty interesting. I’m adding it to the maybe list.
Octopath Traveler II 02/24 (Switch, PC, PS4, PS5)
It’s more HD-2D stuff! The first Octopath is one I enjoyed a bunch, this looks pretty similar. There’s some new elements here and there like more path actions. They added a day/night system which… why? I actually hate day/night systems in RPGs. But other than that, looks great.
void tRrLM2(); //Void Terrarium 2 02/28 (Switch, PS4)
The first one was this fun little roguelike (as in a game that is actually LIKE ROGUE), where you took care of this little girl in a post-apocalypse world. This seems very similar to the original. I don’t know if I’ll play this one, but it should be pretty good.
SWITCH RELEASE
Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe 02/24
This is the Kirby that was on Wii. It’s pretty good, as per Kirby tradition (other than Star Allies). Not the most interesting Kirby game (Super Star still is), but it’s good stuff. I didn’t really check what this changed though I know the graphics aren’t identical. Looking it up, there’s new powers, new sub-games, and minor gameplay adjustments, but I don’t think that’s enough to make me buy it again.
PC RELEASES
Ikki Unite 02/14
Ikki is an absolutely classic shit game from the Famicom. I’m pretty sure it’s one of the first games to be given the infamous label “Kusoge” (which translates literally to “shit game”). It was not a very good game, but kinda worth playing just to see what it’s all about. Ikki Unite is a new game completely, which uses a lot of the graphical elements and music of the original. It changes the gameplay pretty much entirely, with it being a Vampire Survivor-like, that also has multiplayer with up to 16 people. When it comes to games like this, I’d rather recommend HoloCure (which gets a new update with a ton of new content on February 10th), which is definitely the best game in that specific sub-genre. Go download HoloCure here: https://kay-yu.itch.io/holocure
Returnal 02/15
PS5 loses one of its 2 almost-reasons to buy it. This actually looks pretty cool, but obviously I have yet to be given a reason to get a PS5 so I was waiting for a PC release. And there it is. So I might actually try this out soon!
Company of Heroes 3 02/23
This is an WW2 RTS series that I never played, but I heard good things about. I actually have the first 2 games on my Steam account somehow, not too sure how or when that happened. But it’s been 10 years since the last one so it’s cool for the fans that a new one is coming.
Dungeons of Aether 02/28
This is a side-game from the Rivals of Aether smash-like fighting game. Looking at screenshots and videos, this looks like an actual roguelike in some ways, but with a pretty unique turn-based combat system on a separate screen from the dungeon-crawling, with a lot of dice rolling required to I think determine stats and actions. I’m pretty interested in checking this one out.
PS5 RELEASES
PlayStation VR2 and Horizon Call of the Mountain 02/22
I’m being nice and putting this obviously awful VR garbage here because it’s the first PS5 exclusive in literal years. VR sucks.
I actually added the VR headset itself just before posting this (originally I just had the crappy VR Horizon game), I was looking at the list of “launch” titles for it and there’s fucking nothing. I hope VR dies (again) soon. We killed it in the 90s, we can kill it again!
Kizuna AI: Touch the Beat! 02/22
Not actually a PS5 exclusive, it’s coming later to Switch and PC.
But man, I kinda miss oldschool Kizuna Ai. She was my intro to vtubers, but I also kinda stopped watching when I got into Hololive, only popping in occasionally (eventually to find the original Ai no longer there). She (or, more specifically, the company handling her) still does stuff, but it’s not at the level or frequency it used to be… Stuff such as this game!
ANYWAYS. This is a VR rhythm game, that also has a non-VR mode. The VR mode looks like beat saber, the non-VR mode looks like a pretty standard thing you’ve seen a million times before. But this time I guess Kizuna Ai is singing all the songs. Yay.
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