The multiformat life-sim/adventure game hybrid Disney Dreamlight Valley – due on Xbox Game Pass at launch – is the first of two Disney games from Gameloft, with Disney Speedstorm set to follow later this year. Hopefully, the studio has enough Disney magic to go around.
Disney Dreamlight Valley sees your custom-made avatar team up with various Disney and Pixar heroes and villains to restore several realms to their former glory. Expect adventuring, puzzle solving, gardening, collecting ‘n crafting, and an ever-growing catalogue of clothing and furniture to blow your Disney dollars on.
The Switch gets a major first-party release this week too. Splatoon 3 has been under slight scrutiny, with some arguing that there aren’t enough new features to justify its existence – i.e. the new weapons and maps could have easily been incorporated into Splatoon 2. That said, fans seem happy enough to reserve judgement for now. Is more Splatoon really a bad thing?
The PC and next-gen only Steelrising is flying under the radar somewhat despite showing potential. This action RPG is more combat-focused that Spiders’ past games (Greedfall, The Technomancer, Bound by Flame), featuring mechanical automatons battling during an alternative take on the French Revolution.
The PS5 and Xbox Series also both gain next-gen updates of Biomutant.
We can also expect NBA 2K23 – with new 1-on-1 mechanics and the return of the Jordan Challenges – a belated release of the Pokémon alike Temtem, the murderous vacuum cleaner stealth sim Justice Sucks, steampunk RPG Circus Electrique, and the self-explanatory Kaichu – The Kaiju Dating Sim.
Then on PS4 only there’s the freshly revived The Tomorrow Children: Phoenix Edition, action platformer Wind of Shuriken, the FMV double bill The Gallery, and two Arcade Archives re-releases.
Other new releases include Slavonic Metroidvania Catmaze, Korean horror White Day: A Labyrinth Named School, and a re-release of the 16-bit mascot platformer Radical Rex. Curiously, QUByte has thrown in the Game Boy version, which was once destined to become an Edd the Duck tie-in here in the UK. What an odd piece of gaming history.
New release trailers
Splatoon 3
Steelrising
Disney Dreamlight Valley
NBA 2K23
White Day: A Labyrinth Named School
Biomutant (Next-Gen)
Circus Electrique
Kaichu – The Kaiju Dating Sim
Temtem
The Tomorrow Children: Phoenix Edition
Justice Sucks
Catmaze
Radical Rex: QUByte Classics
Wind of Shuriken
Hobo: Tough Life
New multiformat releases
- Disney Dreamlight Valley
- Steelrising
- NBA 2K23
- Biomutant (Next-Gen)
- Circus Electrique
- White Day: A Labyrinth Named School
- Radical Rex: QUByte Classics
- Kaichu – The Kaiju Dating Sim
- Tower Princess
- Justice Sucks
- Catmaze
New on PSN
- Wind of Shuriken
- The Gallery
- Life in Willowdale: Farm Adventures
- The Tomorrow Children: Phoenix Edition
- Alice Gear Aegis CS: Concerto of Simulatrix
- Arcade Archives: Champion Wrestler
- Arcade Archives PAC & PAL
- Mozart Requiem
New on Xbox Store
- Temtem
- The end is nahual: If I may say so
- Castle Walker
- Game Type DX
- Super Sunny Island
- Space Science Investigations
- Hobo: Tough Life
- Starlit Kart Racing
New Switch retail releases
eShop round-up coming Thursday
- Splatoon 3
- NBA 2K23
- Temtem
- F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch
Next week: SBK 22, Metal: Hellsinger, Last Beat Enhanced, You Suck at Parking, Wayward Strand, Amazing Chicken Adventures, Knights & Guns, Inertial Drift: Twilight Rivals Edition, Despot’s Game: Dystopian Army Builder, Blind Fate: Edo no Yami, Plunder Panic, Trash Sailors, Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden, XIII (Remake), Little Orpheus, Isonzo, Nobody Saves the World: Frozen Hearth, Windstorm: Start of a Great Friendship, Q.U.B.E. 10th Anniversary, and Cotton Reboot! on Xbox One.