James Bond games, just like LEGO movie tie-ins, were once a yearly fixture of the gaming calendar. This trend came to an end after EA and Activision milked the spy franchise completely dry. Fourteen years on from the dismal 007 Legends, 007 First Light sees Bond blessed with a fresh vision – something clearly needed to bring the agent back with a bang, while helping to maintain relevancy.
This action-focused shooter comes from IO Interactive, creators of the Hitman franchise. They’ve had tough time convincing fans that this isn’t simply Hitman in James Bond’s clothing, and it seems they eventually managed to succeed through a bunch of explosion filled and car-chase packed trailers. This is an origin story of 007, and as such, we’re cast into the role of a younger yet resourceful take on the character. Arguably, a tad cockier too. First announced way back in 2020, it has hopefully been worth the wait. On that note, the Switch 2 version – just like last week’s LEGO Batman – is still a few months away.
Another new release a long time coming is Mina The Hollower from Shovel Knight developer Yacht Club, originally planned for release last October. This is a top-down adventure inspired by the Game Boy Color generation, visually at least. While it looks a bit like Zelda, Mina is armed with a whip, opening new possibilities. It reportedly has a 20-30 hour play time, and is bigger than every Shovel Knight game combined. Yacht Club has priced it at $20, keeping in mind the current market. It’s priced to sell, essentially, just like last year’s Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
World of Tanks: HEAT meanwhile launches as a free-to-play release. It’s a business model that clearly works greatly in WoT’s favour. This is described as a “hero-driven tank action game” due to agents having different skillsets. 5v5 skirmishes and larger 10v10 clashes are on offer.
Then there’s Focus’ first-person puzzler Yerba Buena – which sees a video game NPC gain a cut ‘n paste ability – the arcade football game Beat The Champions, a belated PS5/Xbox release of the Switch 2 launch title STORY OF SEASONS: Grand Bazaar, cosmic horror adventure Necrophosis: Full Consciousness, inky action roguelike Realm of Ink, card based tower defence game Into the Slimy Mines, fellow mining game Wall World 2, and One Move Away – which tells the story of a person’s life through house moves.
Additionally, PlayStation owners can leap into shooter sequel Primal Carnage: Evolution, which gives the chance to side with the dinos or mercenaries. Then over on the Xbox, Echo Generation 2 – the voxel-packing deck building sci-fi RPG – and the co-op forklift party game Crashout Crew are due on Game Pass. Curiously timed, another forklift game is due, titled Do You even Forklift? This one is a physics-based puzzler, with various challenges to overcome.
Two new games aimed at the younger generation are Gameloft’s Nickelodeon Extreme Tennis: Next and PM Studio’s Bluey’s Quest for the Gold Pen, with the former featuring characters from TMNT, Avatar, Rugrats, and SpongeBob. And Garfield, for some reason. It’s like Droopy’s Tennis Open all over again.
Lastly, it’s a busy week for new Switch retail releases, with the likes of the expanded version of The Disney Afternoon Collection, System Shock 2 Remastered, and Ball X Pit lined up.
New release trailers
007 First Light
Mina The Hollower
World of Tanks: HEAT
Nickelodeon Extreme Tennis: Next!
Echo Generation 2
Beat The Champions
CRASHOUT CREW
Bluey’s Quest for the Gold Pen
STORY OF SEASONS: Grand Bazaar
Poppy Playtime: Chapter 5
Yerba Buena
Necrophosis: Full Consciousness
Into the Slimy Mines
FORENSIC – M.E. Protocol
Realm of Ink
Primal Carnage: Evolution
Do You even Forklift?
One Move Away
Nitro City Racing
New multiformat releases
- 007 First Light
- Mina The Hollower
- World of Tanks: HEAT
- Nickelodeon Extreme Tennis: Next!
- Bluey’s Quest for the Gold Pen
- STORY OF SEASONS: Grand Bazaar
- Poppy Playtime: Chapter 5
- Beat The Champions
- Necrophosis: Full Consciousness
- Into the Slimy Mines
- FORENSIC – M.E. Protocol
- One Move Away
- A Frog’s Job 2: Froggina
- Cat Girl Survivor
- Realm of Ink
- Yerba Buena
- Nitro City Racing
- Blueberry
- Kabuto Park
- Cottonville
- N.E.R.D
- Midnight Swamp (Xbox Series X|S)
New on PSN
- Wall World 2
- Primal Carnage: Evolution
- My Little Puppy
- Backrooms: The Twisted One
- Pixel into the Galaxy
- It Reaches
- Virtual Hunter
- Sands and Relics
- Prizma Puzzle Classic 2
- OilClicker
New on Xbox Store
- Echo Generation 2
- Mashina
- Nocturne for Cyl-Hestia
- Cat Lines
- Crashout Crew
- Do You even Forklift?
- Jelly Math (Xbox Series)
- Mel The Pyramid Cat
- Immunuzzle (Xbox Series)
- Kiko’s Apple Adventure
New Switch retail releases
- The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak – Limited Edition – Switch
- Sympathy Kiss – Limited Edition – Switch
- 9 R.I.P. – Limited Edition – Switch
- Rhapsody: Marl Kingdom Chronicles – Limited Edition – Switch
- The Disney Afternoon Collection – Switch 2
- Little Nightmares II Enhanced Edition – Switch 2
- The Disney Afternoon Collection – Switch
- Red Dead Redemption Nintendo Switch 2 Standard Edition
- BALL x PIT – Switch
- I Hate This Place Elena’s Edition – Switch
- SWORN Deluxe Edition – Switch
- System Shock 2 Remastered – Switch
- Bendy and the Ink Machine + Bendy and the Dark Revival – Switch
- Bluey’s Quest for the Gold Pen – Switch 2
- Bluey’s Quest for the Gold Pen – Switch
- NAIAD – Switch
Next week: Tour de France 2026, Gothic 1 Remake, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, BrokenLore: FOLLOW, SILVERPINE CREEK, Beholder: Conductor, Hell Clock, Blood West: Scavengers, Village of the Curse, Scientific Project: Optic, Pyramid Quest 2, Tale of Dark Lands, Scarlet Wolf, Metal Shoot, Damways, Paperly, and Death Attraction.