RPGs Coming This Week, 10/29/23

Little Goody Two Shoes – October 31st (PS5, XSX, Switch, Windows)

Little Goody Two Shoes presents itself visually with a colorful and eye-catching Sailor Moon anime art style. On the other hand, the game is described as a horror fairytale adventure filled with dark twists. The game drops on multiple platforms on Halloween, October 31st, for a reason.

Unlike other storybook-inspired games where the plot is predetermined, Elise’s fate is yours to create in Little Goody Two Shoes. Time is of the essence in Kieferberg, and your choices will define how things will turn out for our ambitious girl to get away from her modest life with over ten unique endings to discover.

by Tin Manuel

Lunacid (Exiting Early Access) – October 31st (Windows)

Lunacid finally exits Early Access on Halloween, providing die-hard dungeon crawling fans a nice, spooky surprise. Blending the low-poly aesthetic and atmospheric low fantasy settings of FromSoftware’s Shadow Tower and King’s Field series, Lunacid crafts an immersive, challenging first-person action RPG to rival the classics. Movement is more fluid, combat faster, and the enemies and puzzles are devilish in their danger and complexity. The experience is already fantastic in Early Access, with the full release promising a satisfying conclusion to the immersive environments and plethora of hidden secrets. Anyone with an interest in exploratory gameplay should give this one a shot.

by Ben Love

My Time at Sandrock (Exiting Early Access) – November 2nd (PS5, XSX, XB1, Switch, Windows)

Indie developer Pathea Games’ latest project, My Time at Sandrock, is an upgraded and highly improved version of their previous game, My Time at Portia, as I and many Early Access players like to describe it. From my playthrough, I can attest to the fact that it has a ton of new building mechanics, an expanded storyline, enhanced graphical textures, more character depth, and a better combat system. If you’re new to both games, I highly suggest jumping straight to Sandrock. However, if you want to witness the improvement for yourself, you might also enjoy spending your time at Portia beforehand.

The desert farm-sim RPG exits Early Access and fully releases as version 1.0 on Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC via Steam and Epic Games on November 2nd.

by Tin Manuel

Phantom Blade: Executioners – November 2nd (PS5, PS4, Windows, iOS, Android)

Phantom Blade: Executioners is S-GAME’s side-scrolling ARPG with dark themes set in the same world of their previously showcased Souls-like project, Phantom Blade Zero. In the beginning, players will have a choice between four Wuxia martial arts heroes in this fast-paced, action-packed title with fluid combat animations. Players have to stop all the murders brought on by Sha-Chi, a secret technique that, when misused, can turn the host into a dreadful killing machine. If you enjoy the hack-and-slash genre, you may want to consider playing this when it launches on mobile, consoles, and PC.

by Tin Manuel

Phantom Galaxies (Entering Early Access) – November 2nd 15th (Windows)

Another phantom title with high-octane mecha action arrives in this week’s fray. Free-to-play online multiplayer sci-fi RPG Phantom Galaxies enters Early Access on PC via Steam this November 2nd. Early on, the game was also mentioned as coming to PS5 and Xbox Series consoles, but for now it appears to be PC only via Steam and Epic Games Store.

In Phantom Galaxies, there will be four classes to select from, depending on your play style, and a wide range of mecha Starfighter customizations. Players can also team up or fight solo while exploring the vast universe. Color me intrigued. I think it’s cool, but it’s important to note that this is a blockchain game, which is an industry I’m not too familiar with.

[Editor’s Note: It’s also notable that according to the game’s Download page, you must have and connect a specific wallet to be able to play. How that may affect the game’s reach and player base will be interesting to see at this point.]

11/04/23 UPDATE: Phantom Galaxies‘ Early Access launch got moved at the last minute to November 15th.

by Tin Manuel

Star Ocean: The Second Story R – November 2nd (PS5, PS4, Switch, Windows)

Star Ocean: The Second Story R is the remake of the 1998 PS classic fan favorite, Star Ocean: The Second Story. The sci-fi RPG returns for old fans and newcomers with 2.5D graphics, new re-arranged music, improved battle mechanics, full Japanese and English voiceovers, and brand-new character art upgrades by Yukihiro Kajimoto. Just take a look at how beautiful Weekly Famitsu No. 1821’s front cover is.

After the release of The Divine Force, I never expected the announcement of a full-blown remake of the second installment. I’m going to be vulnerably honest and say that this is what I’m looking forward to the most this entire November. Now the question is: am I going to choose to play as Rena this time around?

by Tin Manuel

Thirsty Suitors – November 2nd (PS5, XSX, PS4, XB1, Switch, Windows)

Outerloop Games and Annapurna Interactive teamed up to bring an exciting and unique title to the table. At first glance, Thirsty Suitors piqued my interest because of its vibrant art style and quirky gameplay. There’s turn-based battling with your thirsty exes, having confrontational conversations with your parents while learning how to cook savory dishes, and an abandoned theme park where you can run away to and skate all your worries away.

With its queer representation of a South Asian protagonist, the game offers different viewpoints and cultural references I’ve always wanted to see more of in video games. During Summer Game Fest, Monica’s 30-minute demo impressions of Thirsty Suitors solidified my plans to add this title to my own library.

by Tin Manuel

Vampire: The Masquerade – Justice – November 2nd (PSVR2, Meta Quest)

Completely immerse yourself in full VR set in a bloodstained Venice, Italy, as a vampire and the bringer of justice in Vampire: The Masquerade – Justice. Although you start off as a powerful vampire, you may boost your abilities by developing new skills from various skill trees to upgrade.

The game will truly test your stealth abilities in each level, as the game design highly focuses on that. Players will have to seek new paths by either going high up above the rooftops or going low, encountering targets one by one in alleyways. Personally, I’m the run-and-gun type of player, so if I do give this a try, I’m quite sure I’m going to fail miserably playing this. [Editor’s Note: I believe in you, Tin!]

by Tin Manuel