It’s the end of the month, which means a long-awaited payday – the first of the year, no less – is imminent for many. Publishers must be hoping that there’s cash left over after paying off the post-Christmas credit card bills as it’s an exceedingly busy week for new releases. A little something for everyone, perhaps.
Rebellion are back with Sniper Elite: Resistance, which as you may have noticed, isn’t a numbered sequel. The storyline runs parallel with SE5, while features include co-op play and other online modes such as Invasion. It doesn’t seem to offer anything drastically new, but that’s fine considering Rebellion has had the formula perfected for a while. It isn’t like we see a new entry in the franchise annually either. Look out for it on Game Pass at launch, along with PS5, PS4, and PC. Yes, they’re putting out a PS4 version.
Game Pass owners can also dive into the lavish-looking spell casting fantasy adventure Eternal Strands – also due on PS5 and PC – and the third person defence shooter Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap this week. EDGE rated Eternal Strands highly, which is pleasing – we’ve had our eye on it for a while. The long running magazine also gave the anticipated Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector – a sci-fi RPG inspired by tabletop games, based around decision making – a positive review. This too is a multiformat release, even hitting Switch at launch.

The Xbox also gains the first-person horror adventure Dreamless, which hit Switch last week, and takes place in an abandoned house within a village where children have gone missing. That’s joined by Mostroscopy, a cartoony one-on-one fighting game that mixes monsters with Mexican luchadores.
Cuisineer then jumps from PC to all formats, including Xbox, taking the form of a restaurant management sim that involves heading into enemy filled dungeons to gather ingredients. There’s a great deal of flexibility, allowing you to spend time as you see fit. Elements from Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing also feature. Another game reaching consoles anew is Gimmick! 2, a modern sequel to a late Sunsoft NES platformer. The Switch version managed to amass an 80% Metacritic. The innovative puzzler Botany Manor, entailing growing rare plants by creating perfect conditions, should also be out on PS5 later this week, finally.
Strategic RPG Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero meanwhile comes to PS5, PS4 and Switch. This long-time coming sequel (the original launched in 2004) sees Ivoire, a young girl with the power to speak to Phantoms, assemble a team to fight off a fleet of ghost ships. Reviews went live last week, being a mixture of 7s and 8s. “Tactical RPGs are always a hit and miss with gamers but Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero is a fun and accessible title for anyone looking to get into the genre and those who already enjoy it,” said PSU.

Then there’s The Stone of Madness – a stealth adventure set in a Spanish monastery, where you play as inmates looking to escape – Wales Interactive’s top-down auto-attack survival game Slasher: Origins, chilly side-scrolling action RPG squeakquel Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter, nightclub bouncer sim Techno Banter, the hyperactive looking Neptunia Riders VS Dogoos, and the rhythm shooter ROBOTBEAT.
For retro fans there’s Accolade Sports Collection (QUByte Classics) – which brings together five 16-bit sports games, including Hardball and Shut Up And Jam (minus Barkley) – the Mega Man style co-op platformer Basureroes: Invasion, and eastasiasoft’s Men in Black influenced side-scrolling shooter Agent Fall.
If you missed the news last week, NINJA GAIDEN 2 Black – a remaster of the 2008 original, now powered by UE5 – and 505 Games’ real-time strategic shooter Red Solstice 2 Ultimate Edition are also out now, with NG2B available on Game Pass. After a quiet few weeks, Xbox owners suddenly have a lot of new games to play.
New release trailers
Sniper Elite: Resistance
Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector
Eternal Strands
Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero
Cuisineer
Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter
The Stone of Madness
Red Solstice 2 Ultimate Edition
ROBOBEAT
Dreamless
Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap
Gimmick! 2
Mostroscopy
Neptunia Riders VS Dogoos
Slasher: Origins
Techno Banter
Accolade Sports Collection (QUByte Classics)
Basureroes: Invasion
Agent Fall
Genso Manège
New multiformat releases
- Sniper Elite: Resistance
- Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector
- Cuisineer
- Eternal Strands
- Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter
- The Stone of Madness
- Red Solstice 2: Survivors Ultimate Edition
- NINJA GAIDEN 2 Black
- Slasher: Origins
- Accolade Sports Collection (QUByte Classics)
- Techno Banter
- Basureroes: Invasion
- Gimmick! 2
- ROBOBEAT
- City Transport Simulator: Tram
- Agent Fall
- Stellar Docks
- Checkmate Survivors
- Squab
New on PSN
- Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero
- Botany Manor
- Mizuchi
- Farewell of Life
New on Xbox Store
- Dreamless
- Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap
- Mostroscopy
- Wayfinder
- A Rite from the Stars: Remaster Edition
- Casual Sport Series: Tennis
- Hero of Fate
- Marine Survivors (Xbox Series)
- Stones Keeper
New Switch retail releases
eShop round-up coming Thursday
- Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero
- Cuisineer
- Neptunia Riders VS Dogoos
- Life Is Strange: Double Exposure
- Genso Manège
- Gimmick 2
Next week: Kingdom Come Deliverance II, Sid Meier’s Civilization VII, MACROSS -Shooting Insight, Moons of Darsalon, Fly Punch Boom, Ambulance Life – Deluxe Edition, Rogue Waters, Luck be a Landlord, UNDER DEFEAT, Spacepunk Survival, and Mechanita.