While there’s nothing uncommon about new releases launching on a Friday, this week sees more than usual due to Valentine’s Day – including titles appropriately themed, such as the narrative adventure The First Valentine, comical 2D puzzler Girlfriend from Hell, and the anticipated Afterlove EP – a tale of love and loss, from the creator of Coffee Talk.
Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered is also out 14th Feb, bringing together the last two PS1 adventures – The Last Revelation and Chronicles – along with the PS2’s much-maligned The Angel of Darkness. Whereas the first three TR games are often revered as classics, the three presented here aren’t exactly fan favourites. Core Design was eager to work on something new, but Eidos insisted on turning TR into an annual franchise – something reflected in the quality. The Angel of Darkness meanwhile was badly managed, promising numerous new features that were eventually ripped out to make a deadline. It’s hoped Aspyr will squish some of its more notorious bugs and make improvements to give us something closer to Core’s original vision.
Xbox owners can jump into Obsidian’s fantasy adventure Avowed on 13th February via the £89.99 Premium Edition or the £19.99 Premium Upgrade, which includes five day early access along with two skin packs and a digital artbook/soundtrack. Set in the same world as Pillars of Eternity, the storyline entails a plague spreading across an island full of mysteries and secrets.
The multiformat Slime Heroes has a similar storyline, again involving corruption blighting the landscape. The similarities end there – this is a bright and cartoon-like top-down 3D adventure with co-op.
Then on PS4 and Switch there’s the comical and cartoony collect-a-thon adventure Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip – which gained positive reviews on PC – and NiS America’s combat focused role-player The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II, which has been well received by the press. “Whether tackling 4SPG jobs from the bulletin board, grinding for gear or playing minigames in the Märchen Garten or trying to advance through the main story, things never get boring in Trails Through Daybreak II,” said Hardcore Gamer.
Kemco has a new RPG too, in the form of the multiformat pixel art packing Dead Dragons.
Other releases for this week include the Taiwanese psychological thriller Recall: Empty Wishes, pixel art shooter duo METAL SUITS: Counter-attack and Snezhinka, the canine starring 3D platformer Doggy Up, and eastasiasoft’s Super Jagger Bomb 2: Go East – a new take on the arcade classic Bomb Jack.
New release trailers
Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered
Sid Meier’s Civilization VII
Avowed
Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip
The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II
Slime Heroes
Afterlove EP
Dead Dragons
Recall: Empty Wishes
METAL SUITS: Counter-attack
Snezhinka
Super Jagger Bomb 2: Go East
Doggy Up!
Camping Simulator: The Squad
New multiformat releases
- Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered
- Sid Meier’s Civilization VII
- Slime Heroes
- Afterlove EP
- Recall: Empty Wishes
- METAL SUITS: Counter-attack
- Snezhinka
- UNDYING
- Chibi Ninja Shino-kun Treasure of Demon Tower
- Dead Dragons
- Super Jagger Bomb 2: Go East
- Quilts and Cats of Calico
- Deep, In the Forest
New on PSN
- Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip
- The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II
- Girlfriend from Hell
- Once Again
- Puzzle Piecer: The World Below
- DodgeCraft
- The First Valentine
New on Xbox Store
- Avowed Premium Edition
- Unsolved Case: Above the Law CE Xbox
- Witch of the Meta Loop
- Alpacapaca Dash 2
- Camping Simulator: The Squad
- Fall Asleep
- Penguin Flight
- Pyramids and Aliens: Escape Room
- Super Forklift 3000 (Xbox Series)
- Blood Hunting
- Bumblebee – Search for Happiness
- Doggy Up!
- Hole Theory Series X|S
- REPLAY BOYS
- Stickman Odyssey
New Switch retail releases
eShop round-up coming Thursday
- The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II
- Sid Meier’s Civilization VII Standard Edition
Next week: Avowed Standard Edition, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, RPG MAKER WITH, Cabernet, Racing the Gods – Beyond Horizons, Things Too Ugly, Stories from Sol: The Gun-Dog, and Please Be Happy.