It’s time again for another edition of RPGs Coming This Week. As always, we bring a solid range of titles from VNs to MMOs to SRPGs. Let’s dive in!
Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure – August 22nd (Windows)
Guild Wars 2 is alive and well in 2023 with the fourth expansion Secrets of the Obscure. Players can expect new story content at launch will more to come in future updates. Also coming are tweaks to core mechanics like a new and improved rune system, more relics, more rewards, access to previously exclusive weapons, and more. Really, I’m just regurgitating information from an extensive series of blog posts by ArenaNet, so you should hop on over there if you seek further details.
Per the GW2 online store, Secrets of the Obscure will run you $24.99 USD for the standard edition and up to $74.99 USD depending on how premium you want to get. Pre-purchasing gets you a hat skin, a special weapon, and the title of Demon Hunter. Nice.
by Gio Castillo
WrestleQuest – August 22nd (PS5, XSX, PS4, XB1, Switch, Windows)
[Editor’s Note: This write-up is from the August 6th edition of the column. WrestleQuest was delayed last minute to fix a save bug and is now expected to be coming this week, so we’re republishing it now.]
As a lifelong mega-fan of pro-wrestling and RPGs, few games have generated such a high level of interest from me based on premise alone.
WrestleQuest takes inspiration from 2D-style RPG classics and creates a fantasy world based on classic, golden-era pro wrestling. It’s sure to be abundant with Easter eggs for die-hard wrestling fans and features a roster of actual legends big enough to rival the New World Order in 1998. WrestleQuest has got Jake “the Snake” Roberts, Sgt. Slaughter, “Macho Man” Randy Savage, DDP, Jeff Jarrett, and more. Some legends can be recruited to unlock special abilities, and others will have actual locations inspired by them.
What I am most impressed with though, is the great job the game does incorporating elements of pro-wrestling matches into its battle system in a lot of fun ways. Players will be able to unleash devastating moves on their enemies based on classic wrestling finishers.
So do you got the guts, brother (or sister), to take on the WrestleQuest challenge, or will it come crashing down and hurt inside? Plop yourself in a steel chair, snap into a Slim Jim, and become the champion on August 8th. It’s sure to be a slobber-knocker.
by Jimmy Turner
Virgo Versus the Zodiac – August 23rd (PS5, XSX, PS4, XB1, Switch)
Virgo Versus the Zodiac isn’t actually new; it originally came out for PC in 2019. Our own Neal Chandran very much enjoyed it at the time, praising its cute visuals, timing-focused battle system (a la Shadow Hearts), and lush soundscape. Now, it’s coming to PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch, where it can hopefully capture a wider audience.
If you needed a second opinion, we featured Virgo Versus the Zodiac in our list of five RPGs beatable in under 15 hours. RPGs Coming This Week contributor Nick Mangiaracina echoed a lot of Neal’s pros (engrossing combat, top-tier soundtrack), with the added bonus that it’s about ten hours long on average. Busy individuals, myself included, will always appreciate games that get to the point.
by Gio Castillo
Norn9: Last Era – August 24th (Switch)
Norn9: Last Era is both a fandisc and sequel of sorts to otome visual novel Norn9: Var Commons. In Last Era, you not only once again step into the roles of Var Commons’ three main characters to see where life’s taken them and their significant others after the first game’s dramatic events, but you also get to play through a prologue set before the first game along with a retelling of Var Commons from different character perspectives. Plus, there are additional chibi adventures too!
The wealth of content found within Last Era promises to dwarf even the original game while utilizing the first game’s revamped localization team from the Switch port. I’m excited to see how the Last Era fandisc continues to develop the intriguing sci-fi romance tales from Norn9: Var Commons.
by Audra Bowling
Retro Mystery Club Vol. 1: The Ise-Shima Case – August 24th (PS4, Switch, Windows)
Oh my god. Retro Mystery Club Vol. 1: The Ise-Shima Case is a point-and-click detective mystery adventure that harkens back to the two classic Famicom Detective Club games on the, well, Famicom and Super Famicom. We got remakes of those titles somewhat recently, but Nintendo tweaked them heavily to fit modern sensibilities. Gone are the austere, low-fidelity graphics and text, replaced by a more generic VN format.
The remakes don’t look bad, but I’m a homer for the grainy 8-bit look of the original games. I fell in love with the style when I played Retro Game Challenge‘s fan-translated sequel, which features an intensely detailed homage to FDS. From what I can see, Retro Mystery Club‘s developers seem to have that same meticulous eye. I can’t wait to check this out, and I can’t wait for future volumes to unfold.
by Gio Castillo
Also Coming This Week
Lost Eidolons – August 24th (PS5, XSX)
The strategy RPG Lost Eidolons is coming this week to PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. It’s got all the hallmarks of the genre, including plenty of recruitable characters, classes to change, and bonds to form. A physical PS5 release is due out on October 25th in Japan.
by Gio Castillo
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