One of July’s biggest games is available to play later this week, albeit at a price – Halo: Campaign Evolved – Premium Edition will set you back £69.99 and provides early access from Thursday, with the standard version out next Tuesday. This remake of the original Halo is highly anticipated, partly because it’s the first entry to come to PS5, and also because of its spectacular visuals. It also adds three new missions, which is an enticing prospect for any Halo buff.
Nintendo keeps the Switch 2 ticking over with new releases this week too, with Splatoon gaining the standalone spin-off treatment via Splatoon Raiders – which, like Star Fox, will retail for £41.99. Focusing on four player co-op, it involves heading to islands in search of treasure before using spoils to upgrade your gear along with your hideout. The more powerful you become, the bigger bounties are available.
On the subject of spin-offs, there’s Disgaea Mayhem – a hack ‘n slash take on the RPG series, featuring returning characters and familiar weaponry. Reviews are live and mostly positive, although not exactly glowing, being in the 6/10 ballpark. “If you strip away the familiar Disgaea elements, Mayhem is a rather uninspired action game. While it’s a commendable effort, it doesn’t quite hold a candle to more established JRPGs in the same space,” said Dual Shockers.
Then there’s PM Studio’s 1v1 brawler Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game, which sees 12 characters from the Nickelodeon animated series duke it out. Modes include story, arcade, training, spectator, online and offline versus, plus an art gallery. The developers previously worked on Diesel Legacy and Them’s Fightin’ Herds, which were reasonably well received. It’s coming to PS5, Xbox Series, Switch and PC.
Atari are back too with CULTIC. This is another retro-style FPS channelling the late ‘90s that also embraces modern tech to create far larger worlds than what was possible in a pre-3D graphics cards era. You’ll get to explore 1960’s rural America before heading to the ruined city streets of New Grandewel to deal with pesky cultists.
After making an impact on PC, The Planet Crafter comes to consoles – including Xbox Game Pass. Focusing on online play, your mission is to survive on a hostile planet, terraforming it as you go. You’ll also come across alien creatures – with DNA to harvest in order to create your own critters. It definitely sounds as if there’s a lot to get into here.
Other new releases include the 2.5D sci-fi action-adventure Retrace the Light, roguelike archaeological 2D platformer Pit Panic, first-person post-apocalyptic survival game Forever Skies, gas station horror Shift at Midnight, perspective switching avian platformer Dodo Duckie, pixel art co-op adventure Brave Escape, vertical retro shooter Blast’N Bounty, and High Times – which involves dishing out mood altering donuts to troubled individuals. Aren’t all donuts mood altering?
New release trailers
Splatoon Raiders
Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game
The Planet Crafter
Disgaea Mayhem
CULTIC
Pit Panic
Blast’N Bounty
High Times
Shift At Midnight
Dodo Duckie
Retrace the Light
Brave Escape
Micro Overdrive: Home Tour
New multiformat releases
- Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game
- CULTIC
- The Planet Crafter
- Pit Panic
- Blast’N Bounty
- High Times
- Brave Escape
- Tiny Witch
- Halo: Campaign Evolved – Premium Edition
New on PSN
- Retrace The Light
- Trash Raccoon
- Micro Overdrive: Home Tour
- Gurei
- Twofold
- 7 Shifts in Subway
- Shy Cats Hidden Orchestra 2
- Hyperdrive inn
New on Xbox Store
- Shift At Midnight
- Dodo Duckie
- Forever Skies Deluxe Edition
- Milo`s Escape (Xbox Series)
- Cyber Tank Pink
- Aether Keepers
- Club Soko
- Neon Depth (Xbox Series)
- Pure Pool Pro
- Roll Mad
- Vikings Pinball
- American Mafia
- Anomaly Hunter: Observation Duty
- Bear Mage Honey Sage (Xbox Series)
- Cave Looters
- Meow Moments: Celebrating Frost & Flora
- Space Is Crazy
- Terminal Shift
New Switch retail releases
eShop round-up coming Thursday
- Splatoon Raiders
- Disgaea Mayhem – Deluxe Edition
- Dementium The Ward
Next week: Halo: Campaign Evolved, Truxton Extreme, Waterpark Simulator, Shard Squad, Kusan: City of Wolves, The King is Watching, Turnip Mountain, Mechaconda, PAW Patrol: Dino World, The Relic: First Guardian, Grizzy & the Lemmings – Crazy Party, Ironforged, Verho – Curse of Faces, Dungeon Antiqua, Nightmare Shift, Sizeable, Wake Up Lia, BLUE REFLECTION Quartet, Mistfall Hunter, Leafy Corner, and Voidtrain.