Talk about a long time coming. Open world role player Crimson Desert began development in 2017 as an online prequel to Black Desert Online before becoming a standalone single-player adventure. How developer Pearl Abyss had the foresight to see how the online/live service landscape was fairing in 2026 is a mystery. Arguably a good call, though.
After 7-8 years of development, Crimson Desert is finally with us this Thursday. It presents a massive world to explore – with reports of the map taking four hours to traverse – and plenty of diversions, including a starting point camp to rebuild, numerous mini-games, and over 70 bosses to find and defeat. The plot sees a looming threat, and casts you as warrior Kliff – with two more playable characters (Oongka and Damiane) joining later. If the impressive pre-release footage is to go by, we may have a potential GOTY contender on our hands.
Another fantasy RPG launching this week is Nacon’s Dragonkin: The Banished, featuring four player co-op and action viewed from a top-down perspective. There’s a town to rebuild here too.
This week also sees the release of the retro-style FPS Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War, the authentic looking Thomas & Friends: Wonders of Sodor – influenced by the original TV series – auto-shooter duo Grind Survivors and Royal Revolt Survivors, the traffic weaving Moto Rush Reborn, first-person psychological horror EMOTIONLESS: The Last Ticket, and a PSVR2 release of Maid of Sker. Then there’s The Coin Game, which takes place on an island full of physics enabled arcade games – with plenty of virtual prizes to win.
On the subject of VR, it seems that Dinosaurs Bodycam is about to leap from Meta Quest to Xbox. Try as we might, we couldn’t find a trailer, just a few Jurassic Park-esque screenshots.
It’s a strong week for retro-style releases as well, including the scrolling brawler revival RUSHING BEAT X: Return Of Brawl Brothers, the Commando/Ikari Warriors style top down shooter Machine Gun Fury, a resurrected version of the cult PS2/PC spooky strategy game Ghost Master, a belated console release of Acclaim’s Basketball Classics, and Headcannon’s “experimental” physics based 2D platformer RUBATO – which already has all the hallmarks of a cult classic, cramming in some low poly PS1 visuals and faux Mode-7.
Join us next week for maximum carnage, with 17 new releases lined-up for 26th March alone.
New release trailers
Crimson Desert
Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War!
Thomas & Friends: Wonders of Sodor
RUSHING BEAT X: Return Of Brawl Brothers
Dragonkin: The Banished
Moto Rush Reborn
The Coin Game
Maid of Sker VR
Overthrown
RUBATO
Machine Gun Fury
Ghost Master: Resurrection
Royal Revolt Survivors
Grind Survivors
Emotionless: The Last Ticket
Defending Camelot
Basketball Classics
New multiformat releases
- Crimson Desert
- Dragonkin: The Banished
- Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War!
- Thomas & Friends: Wonders of Sodor
- RUSHING BEAT X: Return Of Brawl Brothers
- The Coin Game
- Machine Gun Fury
- Ghost Master: Resurrection
- Dread Delusion
- Grind Survivors
- Defending Camelot – Tower Defense Action
- Party Club
- Basketball Classics
- Minima
New on PSN
- Maid of Sker VR
- POSTAL: Brain Damaged – These Sunny Daze
- Virtual Ties Isekaijoucho Träumerei
- Overthrown
- Hatsune Miku Logic Paint S
- RUBATO
- MOTE: The Old Office
- TROX
- Anime Uni St. Patrick’s Puzzle
- The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin(F2P)
- EMOTIONLESS: The Last Ticket
New on Xbox Store
- Realpolitiks II
- Only Up Rush
- Word Quest Space
- Xray Customs
- Royal Revolt Survivors
- Space Kitten
- The Wellmonts Case
- EMOTIONLESS : The Last Ticket
- Legends Aligned: Land of Order (Xbox Series)
- Beautiful Sakura: Volleyball Club 2
- Dinosaurs Bodycam
- Coffee Plis Special Edition
- NO-SKIN
- Panda Keeper (Xbox Series)
- Battle Puzzle 2048 – Maidens of Steel
- Cowboy Kart
- Hoof and Seek
- Kuky Adventure
New Switch retail releases
eShop round-up coming Thursday
- Rushing Beat X: Return of the Brawl Brothers – Switch 2
- Snoopy & The Great Mystery Club Deluxe Edition – Switch 2
- Ghost Master: Resurrection
- Ion Fury: Double Shot Edition
- Warplanes: WWI Sky Aces + WW2 Dogfight
- Voidwrought
Next week: MARVEL Maximum Collection, Life is Strange: Reunion, Screamer, DAMON and BABY, ICARUS: Console Edition, Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection, Super Mario Bros. Wonder – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. World Stage 30th Anniversary Edition (Switch 2), Taito Milestones 4, Dracamar, Trash Goblin, Öoo, Ariana and the Elder Codex, New Super Lucky’s Tale (PS5), Overpowered 2 – Crux of Fate, Project Songbird, Neopets – Mega Mini Games Collection – The Neopian Arcade Odyssey, Shardpunk, GRIDbeat, Etrange Overlord, ChildStory, Ink Inside, Retro Drive: Revamped, and Shop & Stuff: Supermarket Simulator.