Welcome to another edition of RPGs Coming This Week, the column where we discuss roguelites, adventure games, real-time strategy, and Souls-likes. Oh, yeah, and RPGs. Of course. Let’s get started!
Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania – March 6th (PS4, XB1, Switch, Windows)
You ever see a game and think, “Wow, the devs must have loved every single second of making this”? That was my immediate reaction to Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania, a sizable piece of Dead Cells DLC themed around the venerable Castlevania series. Then this PlayStation Blog post confirmed exactly my thoughts: developer Motion Twin said they “loved absolutely every minute of crafting [their] very own love letter” to what they described as “the biggest” inspiration for their action RPG slash roguelite.
‘Nuff said.
Actually, one more thing. There are 12 tracks of rearranged ‘Vania goodness and 51 lifted from the old games. This is the closest we’ve gotten to an actual, branded Castlevania game, and I’m here for it.
by Gio Castillo
Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo – March 9th (Switch, Windows)
I like to imagine whatever Yoko is looking at is going “Yes… ha ha ha… YES!” in response.
Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo is a horror-tinged mystery adventure game from, surprise, Square Enix. It’s set in late-20th century Tokyo—the Sumida ward, specifically—and the environments are all built on 360-degree shots of certain locations there. I’m deathly excited to play this, and with Resident Evil 4 Remake and Fatal Frame: The Mask of the Lunar Eclipse coming out around the same time, it’s looking like Halloween in March.
by Gio Castillo
The Last Spell (Exiting Early Access) – March 9th (PS5, PS4, Switch, Windows)
Oh, man, this is kind of my jam. The Last Spell incorporates a lot of tower defense/real-time strategy elements from that genre into a roguelite strategy RPG framework, leaving you with a metric ton of stats and meters and doodads to mind. To me, it looks like a more complex Lock’s Quest, if anyone is familiar with that old Nintendo DS game (that got ported to modern platforms a while back).
Basically, the game has you defend your base against procedurally generated swarms of enemies. In between battles, you’re afforded limited resources to rebuild your defenses. All throughout, you also need to maintain a party of heroes that you can design yourself with an extensive character customization suite. If all of that sounds cool to you, you should probably pick up The Last Spell before it leaves Early Access (and presumably jumps in price).
by Gio Castillo
Bleak Faith: Forsaken – March 10th (Windows)
Let’s see if I can make it through this write-up without mentioning that series. You know, the one that rhymes with “park strolls.”
Bleak Faith: Forsaken is an action RPG set in an atmospheric, dangerous, purportedly expansive world and is said to feature tough-as-nails combat. You, the player, have to choose a class at the beginning and progress it over time. Intriguingly, it isn’t quite a dark fantasy game, at least from the previews I’ve seen; I spotted a few shots of modern city features and industrial architecture. I consulted this video made by someone who said they were a tester on Bleak Faith, and the takeaway is that he seems to have quite a bit of faith in it (*zing*).
Nice, I made it through without mentioning Dark So-. Oop. Dammit.
by Gio Castillo
Mato Anomalies – March 10th (PS5, XSX, PS4, XB1, Switch, Windows)
Mato Anomalies has been on my radar since it was first announced. You play as dual protagonists Doe and Gram in a cyberpunk-infused futuristic city called Mato, which is rife with demons wanting to destroy the place. An unlikely assortment of heroes must band together to prevent disaster while exploring both Mato itself and mysterious Rifts linking the city to another supernatural-tinged world. The narrative seems quite intriguing, and the turn-based RPG combat has some interesting features such as shared health, so you better carefully figure out your battle plans! Mato Anomalies could very well be a grand RPG anomaly when it releases.
by Audra Bowling
Also Coming This Week
The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition – March 7th (PS5, XSX, Windows)
The Outer Worlds is what you get when Obsidian Entertainment makes a Fallout game without the Fallout name. It may not quite be the successor to New Vegas that many have clamoured for, but it’s still a damn good game in its own right. Taking the charm and fundamentals of the Fallout franchise and putting it into one tight package, it’s perfect if you’re looking for something a little on the shorter side!
Spacer’s Choice Edtion bundles all of the title’s DLC together and also takes advantage of next-gen consoles, boasting improved visuals, performance, lighting and environments. Unfortunately, for those that already own The Outer Worlds, the update isn’t free but is available for a small fee of $10 USD.
by Tom Cox
Record of Agarest War – March 9th (Switch)
Record of Agarest War is a lengthy SRPG with an interesting premise: while you initially start the game playing as Leonhardt, your relationship bonds with other characters ultimately lead to you playing as his descendants thanks to the unique Soul Breed system. Record of Agarest War boasts an over a 100-hour-long campaign, and this Nintendo Switch port features a whole slew of extras, including new music and upgraded art! All the additional content from previous versions is included.
I’m always curious about SRPGs, and this port promises to be the definitive version of Record of Agarest War.
by Audra Bowling
And that’s it! As seems to be the norm, we’re getting a wide variety of games in terms of gameplay, aesthetics and tone. There’s always something for everyone in this RPG golden age (silver age?) we’re living through.
Until next time, readers!
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