This might be the meta. Me commenting about upcoming releases, and simpler posts where I don’t have to struggle to find things to say in reviews anymore. The new era of low-effort content! I enjoy doing it, it’s just the reviews have been hard to write because at this point, even playing a newer game, I struggle to find anything to say about them.
So for March 2024 I am highlighting: 14 multiplats, 2 Switch games, 2 PC games and 2 PS5 games. While there’s one big game here, March is mostly filled with smaller niche games and a few mid-level things.
Oh and another fun thing, near the end of the month, is that the Pokemon TCG finally rotating, so a bunch of cards are going out of the standard game mode. Finally I can take Spiritomb out of my decks which is just there to counter Mew Vmax decks.
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. This is not just games I care about myself, I highlight as much as I think makes sense. Of course, I can’t see the future, so I may be missing games and I may be listing games that may get delayed.
MULTIPLATFORM RELEASES
Captain Velvet Meteor: The Jump+ Dimensions 03/01 (PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox X/S)
This came out on Switch I think 2 years ago. It’s a pretty fun turn-based strategy game where you get to play with characters from Jump+ like Lloyd Forger, Kaiju No 8 and a bunch of others. IIRC you only ever get to control 2 characters at once, that being Captain Velvet Meteor and whichever Jump+ character you’re up to in the story. Each of them play a bit different and their levels have different gimmicks, so it’s pretty cool. Not a super amazing game, but a solid one.
The Outlast Trials 03/05 (PC, PS4, Xbone, PS5, Xbox X/S)
This is the weird multiplayer co-op Outlast thing. It doesn’t look too interesting based on what I’ve seen (a lot of vtubers have played this).
Plumbers Don’t Wear Ties: Definitive Edition 03/05 (Switch, PC, PS4, Xbone, PS5, Xbox X/S)
Plumbers Don’t Wear Ties is a classic bad FMV game. It’s kinda worth playing just for how wacky it is.
But I don’t support Limited Run Games so meh 😀
Berserk Boy 03/06 (Switch, PC)
This is a Megaman X-like, with a focus on melee attacks it seems. With that description it sounds similar to last year’s Gravity Circuit, but I think the gameplay here looks nicer. It seems like a good time.
Unicorn Overlord 03/08 (Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox X/S)
The localization of this game is awful and has many random moments where the english version assassinates the characters a bit much (there’s a specific scene where a character shows responsibility as the heir to the throne as far as protecting the people, but the english version makes it look like he’s being selfish about it, worrying more about “deserving” the crown rather than caring about the people… like… just do a straight translation from the japanese instead of adding “flair” that is not needed or appreciated). But I might try to ignore the shitty translation if the gameplay’s good enough.
And this game looks really interesting as far as gameplay, based on what I saw (there’s a demo that I have not tried, so it’s possible I’m getting the wrong impression from trailers). It gives me heavy Ogre Battle and Ogre Battle 64 vibes, which is a type of strategy RPG we have not really had much of since those games. I am really looking forward to playing this, even if I already know the characters are butchered.
Contra: Operation Galuga 03/12 (Switch, PC, PS4, Xbone, PS5, Xbox X/S)
There’s also a demo for this, but I have also not played it. Sounds like the Switch version of the demo wasn’t great. Some of the complains I’m seeing are definitely not Switch-exclusive complaints, but the performance ones are definitely not good for the Switch version. Otherwise, it’s Contra, it looks much like classic Contra with not much that seems to be very different from, like, Contra 1. Just maybe get it on PC.
Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection 03/14 (PC, Switch, PS4, Xbone, PS5, Xbox X/S)
This is the good Battlefront games, from the PS2 era. Not the shitty EA ones. With online play, and crossplay. This should be pretty great. I do hope it gets picked up a bit so it has a decent online community.
Alone in the Dark 03/20 (PC, PS5, Xbox X/S)
Alone in the Dark is in the weird position of being apparently the first 3D survival horror game (I can’t think of any before), but also not having much of a track record past its early-to-mid-90s games. The 2001 game is one I’m unfamiliar with, but the 2008 one was bad and the 2015 one was blasted by everyone who played it. This one looks like a modern RE kinda thing, which is appropriate considering classic RE is a lot like the original Alone in the Dark. Might be okay, it looks pretty good visually at least. Kinda hard to say looking at a lot of the trailers since several of them are so focused on story and not really gameplay.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 03/22 (PC, PS5, Xbox X/S)
This is for sure the biggest game this month. The first Dragon’s Dogma is a pretty okay action RPG that I didn’t play the whole way through. I can see how it became fairly popular. I really don’t have much to say about this one, it does look really good. It just looks really nice. Not sure if I’ll get it at launch but I will probably grab it eventually.
The Legend of Legacy HD Remastered 03/22 (Switch, PC, PS4, PS5)
I didn’t play this back on 3DS. It seems pretty similar to Alliance Alive, a pretty decent SaGa-like console-style RPG. Since I didn’t play it originally, I might give it a try here since I enjoy the SaGa-like shit.
South Park: Snow Day! 03/26 (PC, Switch, PS5, Xbox X/S)
Weird how Ubisoft of all companies is able to produce a South Park game that looks just like the cartoons, but THQ Nordic is making a South Park 64-tier piece of trash. This is a 4-player co-op… beat ’em up? Thing? With swords and bows and magic. Looking at the gameplay, it looks pretty meh… maybe the traditional South Park humor makes up for it?
Pepper Grinder 03/28 (Switch, PC)
There’s a demo for this on Steam. It’s a drilling-based side-scrolling platformer where you drill into dirt and jump out from the drill’s power. It looks pretty fast-paced and possibly fun. It’s been on my maybe list for a while.
Felix the Cat 03/28 (Switch, PS4, PS5)
Now this is a confusing release. This is a collection of the Felix the Cat games from the NES and Game Boy. The NES one is actually a bit of a hidden gem on the system, but I have no familiarity with the Game Boy one. My question really is what spurred this into existence? Why now? Felix hasn’t been even a little bit relevant since roughly when those original games came out (actually a couple years after those games with 2 season of a cartoon… I remember liking it though I don’t really remember specifics)… So yeah, cool that these games are seeing the light of day again, but this is still rather strange.
Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland 03/?? (Switch, PC, PS4, Xbone, PS5, Xbox X/S, NES (at some point))
Speaking of old irrelevant cartoons… This is a game that actually looks cool. It’s an actual NES game which… I think Limited Run Games is unfortunately handling the release of (or are they just doing a special edition? I don’t know, the devs are weirdly secretive). The PC and modern console versions feature the 8-bit graphics of the NES version, but you can switch to HD graphics that look a lot like the original cartoon. It’s a side-scrolling platformer, but it has some NES Rescue Ranger mixed with Super Mario Bros 2 (USA) vibes to it. It also features all the main babies as playable characters, each with different jumping and lifting abilities. This actually looks good.
Oh and we don’t have a release date for this other than March 2024, lol. EDIT: And this was changed to August 16 2024, lol
SWITCH RELEASES
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 03/15
This is an RPG that I found kinda hard to get into. Like, I hear great things about it, but the intro segment just kills me. I’m sure it’s good afterwards, but eh. So anyways it’s coming to Switch. Fun.
Princess Peach: Showtime! 03/22
It’s been a while since a Princess Peach game. Last one on DS was pretty fun. A bit straightforward and simple, but good stuff. This one… I actually skipped most of the trailers, but I saw the one with the sword, kung fu and cook costumes… I’m not sure about this one. It looks kinda braindead difficulty-wise, but maybe those were just early-game moments. I’ll probably grab this because Nintendo, but I’m not particularly excited for it
PC RELEASES
The Thaumaturge 03/04
This is a top-down RPG with what seems to be a lot of cutscenes, visual novel-style dialogue choices and turn-based combat with what looks like a collection of stands from JoJo. Might be okay, hard to say from the videos I watched. I think it’s at least interesting enough to mention.
ENDER MAGNOLIA: Bloom in the Mist (Early Access) 03/26
I don’t tend to mention early access title, so I will mention it again at full release. This one was an interesting announcement at the Nintendo Partner Showcase, it being a sequel to Ender Lilies. I haven’t played Ender Lilies but I have seen bits and pieces on some vtuber streams and it looks quite good, and this looks good too. And this is a second game in a row where the main character seems to fight using JoJo-style stands. Huh.
PS5 RELEASES
Hi-Fi Rush 03/18
This is one of the best games from last year, it’s just jumping to more platforms. Check it out if you haven’t before. That is all.
Rise of the Rōnin 03/22
A PS5 exclusive? Whoa! Probably only temporary of course. This takes place during the meiji restoration era, you play as some samurai/ronin duder who has a gliding device, and it’s an open world action game with Nioh-like combat with a bunch of weapons (and Sony have been calling it an RPG though the trailers didn’t show that element much, if at all). It looks possibly interesting.
Curious how Ghost of Tsushima’s graphics are so freakishly better technically considering it’s on PS4.
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