Reviews of the dimension hopping Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds went live late last week and were mostly full of praise, with a few sites rating it higher than Mario Kart World – causing a stir on social media. The Metacritic score currently sits at 83%, including a handful of 9/10s.
“Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is a fast, stylish return to form for Sega’s kart-racing efforts, blending tight controls with deep customization and a surprisingly generous amount of content,” said Noisy Pixel.
While the Switch version is out this week, the Switch 2 version is coming later. SEGA already has an upgrade path planned. Currently no reviews of the Switch iteration are live, which is a little worrying. It may be guilty of pushing the ageing hardware too hard.
Konami continues their redemption arc with Silent Hill f. Early impressions are positive, with Famitsu awarding the 1960s Japan set psychological horror 9/9/9/9 (36/40). Due out Thursday on PS5, Xbox Series and PC, it sees the town of Ebisugaoka smothered in fog, with monsters soon emerging. A few Soulslike elements allegedly feature, giving it a more modern feel.
EA Sports FC 26 technically released last week, via early access. This Friday sees it hit the turf on all formats, including Switch 2 – which EA claims will be similar in quality to the PS5 version. Gameplay is said to be rejuvenated this year by community feedback. Presumably that feedback was more than “this game is f**king bulls**t.”
Namco Bandai continues their weekly game drops with Pac-Man World 2 Re-Pac, based on the 2002 PS2 era original. Worlds have been made larger, voice acting added, and the graphics overhauled. There’s a two-player mode as well. It’s out Friday for £34.99. Another 3D platformer due is the oddly timed Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, based on the 1964 movie. The £12.99 price tag, even at retail, suggests we’re in for something on the short side.
Team17 are back with SWORN, a dark retelling of the story of Camelot, featuring four player co-op. It’s coming to Xbox Game Pass at launch. It’s up against Brews & Bastards, a similar looking top-down dungeon crawler with splashes of bright colours.
Then there’s Outright Games’ family friendly NBA BOUNCE, Microid’s alternative 1970s take on Agatha Christie – Death on the Nile, animal auto-shooter Extremely Powerful Capybaras, Atari’s spell flinging retro FPS Wizordum, SUDA51 and SWERY’s twisted side-scroller Hotel Barcelona, a re-release of the 2008 Japanese arcade game Mamorukun ReCurse, music driven blaster Beat Hazard Arcade, and Devolver Digital’s quirky walking sim Baby Steps. The highly praised Slime Rancher 2 leaves early access, meanwhile.
RPG fans have two to mull over. Koei Temco’s Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist & the White Guardian comes to PS5, PS4 and Switch, featuring “highly strategic timeline command battles” and multi-level dungeons. Alternatively, NiS America’s Cladun X3 is a top-down pixel art affair with ten jobs and six weapon classes.
Two empire builders are due too, with PQube’s Republic of Pirates mixing city building with real time naval battles, while ENDLESS Legend 2 is 4X hex based and allows wars to be waged.
Evercade owners can add two new carts to their collections, both of which feature nine Taito arcade games. Taito Arcade 1 includes the likes of Space Invaders, Bubble Bobble, Growl, and DON DOKO DON while Taito Arcade 2 has The New Zealand Story, Elevator Action, Operation Wolf, Rastan and Liquid Kids. Both have a few older games too from the early days of the arcade scene. Retro fans may also want to check out The Order Of The Snake Scale, a survival horror throwback with a fixed camera, evocative not so much of the PS1 era but the early noughties.
Next week is likewise looking busy for new releases, featuring new Digimon, LEGO and Final Fantasy games, along with the anticipated PS5 exclusive Ghost of Yotei.
New release trailers
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds
EA Sports FC 26
Pac-Man World 2 Re-Pac
Silent Hill f
SWORN
NBA BOUNCE
Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist & the White Guardian
Cladun X3
Slime Rancher 2
Agatha Christie – Death on the Nile
Republic of Pirates
Extremely Powerful Capybaras
Mamorukun ReCurse!
Wizordum
Hotel Barcelona
Baby Steps
Beat Hazard Arcade
Endless Legend 2
Heroes of Mount Dragon
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
The Order Of The Snake Scale
Radiant: Guardians of Light
Brews & Bastards
Evercade – Taito Arcade 1 and 2
New multiformat releases
- Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds
- EA Sports FC 26
- Pac-Man World 2 Re-Pac
- Silent Hill f
- SWORN
- NBA BOUNCE
- Slime Rancher 2
- Agatha Christie – Death on the Nile
- Extremely Powerful Capybaras
- Mamorukun ReCurse!
- Republic of Pirates
- Wizordum
- Hotel Barcelona
- Forgive Me Father 2
- Giant Rush
- My Horse Stories
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
- Bunny Pit Stop
- Electronics Puzzle Lab 2
- Super Long Cat
- Grief like a stray dog
- Liquid Cat
- Airborne Justice
New on PSN
- Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist & the White Guardian
- Cladun X3
- Baby Steps
- Heroes of Mount Dragon
- Beat Hazard Arcade
- The Order of the Snake Scale
- Eternum EX
- DOOMCRUSH
- For a few minutes
New on Xbox Store
- Radiant: Guardians Of Light
- Pilot Sports (Xbox Series)
- ENDLESS Legend 2 (Game Preview)
- Baseless
- Brews & Bastards
- SpotCat vs The Cheddar Mafia In Asia
- Hyper Team Recon
- Kingdom Shell – White Temple Edition
- Edgar Poe: Hidden Objects Game
- INK ENIGMA: Hidden Object Challenges
- Full Throttle Parking
- Emerald Huntress
- Meow Moments: Celebrating Beats & Books
- Endoparasitic
- Frozen Rune
- Napoleon Maiden Episode.1 A maiden without the word impossible
- Crystal Veins
- Hanoi Puzzles: Flip Match
New Switch retail releases
eShop round-up coming Thursday
- EA Sports FC 26
- EA Sports FC 26 – Switch 2
- Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds
- Pac-Man World 2 Re-Pac
- Berserk Boy
- Mamorukun ReCurse!
- Teslagrad Power Pack
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
- NBA Bounce
- Bendy and the Dark Revival
- Winter Games Collection + Advent Calendar
New Evercade carts
- Taito Arcade 1
- Taito Arcade 2
Next week: Ghost of Yotei, FINAL FANTASY TACTICS – The Ivalice Chronicles, Digimon Story Time Stranger, Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2, LEGO Party, Nicktoons & The Dice of Destiny, Castle of Heart: Retold, Alien: Rogue Incursion Evolved Edition, Train Sim World 6, Notice Me Leena-senpai, Buildest, Candy Rangers, Mai: Child of Ages, MOUTHOLE, Judero, King of Meat, and Jaleco Sports: Goal!