Out this week: AEW: Fight Forever, Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, Everybody 1-2-Switch, STORY OF SEASONS: A Wonderful Life, more

It’s pleasing to see THQ Nordic try and keep the spirit of the original THQ alive. A lot of THQ’s money was made through annual WWF/WWE games, and so THQ Nordic are trying their hand at wrestling too with AEW: Fight Forever. This, of course, follows on from publishing new SpongeBob games.

AEW: Fight Forever comes from the venerable Yuke’s – a studio responsible for wrestling games since the days of the PSone, first hitting the big leagues with WWF SmackDown! Indeed, it appears to be paying homage to the glory days of wrestling – before 2K’s annual release schedule sapped the fun from the franchise. We can expect 10 different gameplay modes, deep customisation options, online co-op multi-player, and 50 playable characters. Explosions, barbed wire, and blood, too!

Speaking of return to forms, STORY OF SEASONS: A Wonderful Life has garnered positive reviews, with the Xbox Series version sitting pretty with an impressive 80% Metacritic. “Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life remains one of the best that the series has to offer, managing to preserve what made it so special in the first place with its unique emphasis on an aging town and cast of characters, while also raising the bar with new content and improvements,” said The Gamer.

Capcom’s also back with a HD re-release of the Nintendo DS’s cult investigative adventure Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective. The publisher is on a roll at the moment, and considering how revered the original is, it’s doubtful their winning streak is about to abruptly end. That said, next month’s Exoprimal could go either way, with recent footage looking a bit…iffy.

A few other re-releases are also due, including a multiformat release of the 2002 Xbox medieval hack ‘n slasher Enclave HD – with new music and other improvements – and a double whammy of RayStorm x RayCrisis HD Collection and Ray Z Arcade Chronology on PS4 and Switch. FRONT MISSION 1st: Remake then makes the jump from Switch to PlayStation and Xbox formats.

On the subject of Switch, Nintendo is gearing up to release Everybody 1-2-Switch – which apparently the Kyoto giant has been sitting on for some time, fearing it wasn’t fun enough. Either they managed to work their magic on it, or they believed the time was right to finally get it out the door. Perhaps Zelda: TotK has seen an influx of new Switch users. Spike Chunsoft’s Master Detective Archives: RAIN CODE is another of the week’s big Switch releases, coming from the minds behind Danganronpa. There’s even a £99.99 collector’s edition.

Then there’s Destroy All Humans! 2 – Reprobed Single Player – answering the prayers for those demanding a PS4/Xbox One release – Microid’s tie-in Noob – The Factionless, pixel art deckbuilding RPG SOULVARS, Kemco’s zombie RPG Raging Bytes, management sim Moonshine Inc, horror adventure Burnhouse Lane, 60s racer Classic Racers Elite, and the narrative driven Goodbye World – detailing the struggles of two budding game designers.

Slipstream gains native PS5 and Xbox Series versions as well, just in time for its free Blue Hour expansion.

F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch and the nightmarish twin-stick shooter NeverAwake also come to Xbox, with the former on Game Pass, while the four year old Reverie: Sweet As Edition makes the leap from Switch to PS4, Xbox, and PC. It isn’t the only vastly belated console release – Vision Soft Reset also dates back to 2019. Better late than never, eh?