There’s something fishy about this week’s new releases, and we don’t mean the games themselves. Well, that’s not strictly true. The PlayStation formats gain the indie sensation Dave the Diver – a deep sea fishing RPG, with exploration during the day and restaurant management at night – while the stop-motion ‘future retro’ narrative adventure Harold Halibut comes to all formats. Dave will be showing up on PS Plus Extra, while Harold will be on Game Pass.
The PlayStation formats gain two other belated releases. Thunderful’s Planet of Lana involves a rescue mission in a colourful world, and was very well received on Xbox and PC, while Microsoft’s Grounded (also out on Switch this week) is a tiny but mighty base-building survival adventure seemingly influenced by Honey I Shrunk the Kids. We spent dozens of hours on the Xbox version and found that it comes into its own when played with friends.
There are three co-op shooters due this week too, with Wales Interactive’s gruesome Sker Ritual said to give Call of Duty: Zombies a run for its money, ArcRunner offering cyberpunk cityscapes and battles against rogue AI, and first-person PERISH going all in on satanic imagery due to its purgatory setting. All three of these appear to be worth investigating.
A couple of retro-style adventures are upon us too. The Mildew Children is based around a village inhabited only by children, all of whom follow pagan traditions – including rituals. Lunar Axe, meanwhile, is inspired by real life locations and features hand drawn art, complete with a story taking place in a city struck by an earthquake.
Other games for this week include Richman 11 – an interactive board game series that can be traced back to 1989 – couch co-op party game Ready, Steady, Ship, low-poly photography adventure Umurangi Generation, and the Vampire Survivors inspired Gladiator’s Arena. Check back later in the week to see if we were entertained.
New release trailers
Grounded
Harold Halibut
Sker Ritual
ArcRunner
Planet of Lana
Dave the Diver
PERISH
Richman 11
The Mildew Children
Lunar Axe
Ready, Steady, Ship!
New multiformat releases
- Harold Halibut
- Sker Ritual
- ArcRunner
- Richman 11
- PERISH
- The Mildew Children
- Lunar Axe
- Dead Island 2: SoLA
New on PSN
- Grounded
- Planet of Lana
- DAVE THE DIVER
- Zenith: The Last City
- SOUL COVENANT
- Umurangi Generation
- Umurangi VR
- Ready, Steady, Ship!
- Bit Dungeon Plus
- Age of Water
- Gladiator’s Arena
- Sokobalien
- A Tale of Paper – Refolded
- Pretty Girls Escape PLUS
New on Xbox Store
- Argonauts Agency 6: Missing Daughter
- Pummel Party
- Pocket Clothier
- Pocket League Story
New Switch retail releases
eShop round-up coming Thursday
- Farming Simulator Kids
Next week: Stellar Blade, SAND LAND, TopSpin 2K25, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants, SaGa Emerald Beyond, Another Crab’s Treasure, Wrath: Aeon of Ruin, Tales of Kenzera: ZAU, Class of Heroes: Anniversary Edition, Class of Heroes 2G: Remaster Edition, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, Library Of Ruina, Lunar Lander Beyond, Ratyrinth, Insurmountable, Secret Agent : Cold War Espionage, Teared, and Whisker Waters.