At a time when zombie games are a dime a dozen, it helps to have a little special something to stand out. Knowing this, Saber Interactive has associated their Left 4 Dead-alike with the 2013 movie World War Z. Having some sort of brand recognition is better than nothing.

Besides, WWZ did rather well at the box office. It seems WWZ (the game), borrows the movie’s penchant for colossal zombie hordes – showcased here using Saber’s Swarm Engine – so it isn’t just cashing in on WWZ’s good name either.

It’s a co-op shooter with missions set across the globe (New York, Jerusalem, Moscow and Tokyo) that’s been heavily likened to Valve’s L4D series. While critical reviews are yet to surface, user reviews on Metacritic are surprisingly positive, with both the level design and the XP-based character progression system receiving praise.

If you’d rather wait for Days Gone for your zombie fix, a few other notable new releases are available now. PSVR owners may want to check out Ghost Giant, another VR showcase that presents a beautiful world to explore. Recent Wireframe cover star Heaven’s Vault is aimed at budding archaeologists, meanwhile, being an adventure game with an entire hieroglyphic language to decipher.

Trüberbrook offers a different kind of adventure, influcensed by point ‘n clickers of yore. It’s set in an alternative 1960s and provides a sci-fi mystery to uncover. “While Trüberbrook suffers from a handful of technical issues and some occasionally sluggish gameplay, the story, atmosphere, and dry humour make for a largely enjoyable experience. However, if you don’t already love point-and-clicks, this one won’t change your mind,” said Switch Player before dishing out a 3/5 review score.

There’s also My Time at Portia, from good old Team 17. Taking inspiration from Harvest Moon, Animal Crossing and other relaxed ‘life’ sims, it’s apparently a little scrappy in some areas but bursting with personality. We’ve rounded-up scores below.

You’ll also find scores for Square-Enix’s Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster, which is out on both Switch and Xbox One later this week. It’s fast become a cliché to say it, but it’s another fine addition to the Switch library.

Retro purists may also want to investigate Anniversary Collection: Arcade Classics – Konami – the first of three collections – which includes Haunted Castle, A-Jax (aka Typhoon), Gradius, Gradius 2, Life Force, Thunder Cross, Scramble, TwinBee, and an ebook full of sketches and design documents. We doubt we’re the only ones pleased to learn that Konami still possesses documentation on their older games.

New release showcase:

My Time at Portia

Reviews:
8/10 – PlayStation Country: Barring a few janky moments, My Time At Portia remains an engrossing, vibrantly colourful Sim-RPG with tons of charm, surprises and discoveries around each corner. There is plenty to see, lots to do and a fair amount to love about this charming and rewarding adventure.

7/10 – Push Square: The game is effortlessly simple, but it excels in almost everything it aims to achieve. It’s one of the most relaxing indie life-simulation games out there, and yet it still offers enough adventure and addictive crafting opportunities to keep you hooked. A totally new spin on the post-apocalyptic experience, My Time At Portia is vibrant, relaxing, and brimming with charm.

3.5/5 – Windows Central: My Time at Portia could use some polish to improve things like menus, positioning objects, and cursor positioning with a controller, but once you get used to its idiosyncrasies, it’s a relaxing and rewarding experience.

7/10 – Nintendo Life: My Time At Portia is an ambitious game that actually delivers on what it sets out to do. The crafting can be extremely overwhelming at first and the presence of some in-game timers can be a mild annoyance, but get your head round its detailed multi-step building missions and you’ll end up with a game that could end up racking hundreds of hours on your Switch.

6/10 – GameSpot: Time feels like it crawls by unless you’re occupying yourself with busywork, which unfortunately ends up detracting from the charm of the lively hustle and bustle of the town of Portia.

Ghost Giant (PSVR)

Reviews:
9.0 – PlayStation Lifestyle: It’s not a difficult game, but that’s not the point. Ghost Giant wants you to play in its world, but also engage with its heart. It’s a beautiful experience that really highlights what not just VR, but games overall, are all about.

8.3 – IGN: Ghost Giant may look like something you’ve played in VR before, but has the character and emotional depth to invoke very real feelings.

8/10 – The Metro: A wonderful mix of cutting edge technology and nuanced storytelling that instantly becomes one of the best games for PlayStation VR.

Heaven’s Vault

Reviews:
8/10 – TheSixthAxis: Heaven’s Vault is a fantastic narrative experience that offers a genuinely mature and intelligent take on science fiction and the interactions between technology and religion. Superbly realised characters, fascinating architecture, and a wonderfully detailed new language to decipher combine to make this a truly original and rewarding game. It’s a shame that the sailing is so repetitive, but Heaven’s Vault will reward fans of slower paced and meditative games.

5/10 – Push Square: Heaven’s Vault will satisfy budding archaeologists and linguistic fanatics in fits and starts, but the overall experience that brings those mechanics together leaves a lot to be desired. Alongside technical frustrations and tedious movement between locations, this is hardly a game we can recommend with any sort of confidence.

N/A – Polygon: Heaven’s Vault does hold great potential; Inkle’s commitment to delivering an alternative (and more realistic) take on video game archaeology, and to encouraging players to decipher and learn a language, is inventive and mentally stimulating. But holistically, the experience is humdrum; there’s little incentive to keep on unpacking its world if I don’t buy into its fiction. And sadly, I do not. For a game that revolves around the beauty of languages, it’s a disappointment that Heaven’s Vault can’t find the right words to express itself.

FINAL FANTASY X/X-2 HD Remaster

Reviews:
8.5 – CGM: Final Fantasy X/X-2 make for a lovely addition to the Switch’s library – a touching experience for new and old players.

4/5 – Game Rant: The Switch’s visuals are on-par with the other remastered releases of Final Fantasy X/X-2, but with the added plus of custom controller binds and the Quick Recovery system. Gamers who want to play FFX and FFX-2 on the go have a great option here, but it’s still not an ultimate release, as some of the PC perks didn’t make it to this version.

New digital multi-format releases:

World War Z
Anniversary Collection: Arcade Classics – Konami
Iron Snout
WORLD OF WARSHIPS: LEGENDS
Snooker 19 – The Official Video Game
God’s Trigger
Revenant Saga
Trüberbrook

New on PSN:

Our World Is Ended.
Immortal Legacy: The Jade Cipher
Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs
Cave Digger
Crossovers by POWGI
Tarot Readings Premium
Path to Mnemosyne + Theme
Sephirothic Stories
Dark Quest 2
Croc’s World 2
Table of Tales: The Crooked Crown
Vaporum

New on Xbox One store:

FINAL FANTASY X/X-2 HD Remaster
Eternity: The Last Unicorn

New Nintendo retail releases

Trüberbrook
Our World Is Ended
Jake Hunter Detective Story: Ghost of the Dusk (3DS)

Next week: Days Gone, Mortal Kombat 11, Bomber Crew Complete Edition, Seven Enhanced Edition, Unknown Fate, Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark, UglyDolls: An Imperfect Adventure, and Jupiter & Mars.