Mashing buttons since 1984
The Friends of Nintendo Humble Bundle is currently available, offering a number of Nintendo Wii U and 3DS games.
I could be mistaken, but as far as I can remember, this is the first time Nintendo games have been available as part of a Humble Bundle. And it’s a great deal — 13 bucks gets you everything, including Street Fighter IV for the 3DS and Darksiders 2 for the Wii U.
Paradox Development Studio is coming at us on two fronts. They’re flanking us!
The most immediate approach is Stellaris, their intergalactic grand strategy game – due out May 9 and is now available for pre-order. I’ve been skimming the dev diaries and youtube videos, and am generating marginal-to-lukewarm interest. Paradox will be implementing some very interesting ideas about the structure of every playthrough, but overall what I am seeing doesn’t really blow my skirt up. (In fact, if to the stars we must go, I’m actually leaning towards taking the Distant Worlds:Universe route.)
However, I will be following very closely the game’s reception upon release. Scrutinizing, even. (There is an overarching purpose for this course of action which I shall explain later.) What I will be looking for is this: How complete is Stellaris? By saying ‘complete’, I do not speak of game-stopping bugs or graphical spasms. I want to know how fulfilling is the gameplay? Does it seem like there are voids that future DLCs will gladly and conveniently fill? How will the UI – admittedly not Paradox’s strongpoint – withstand the use and abuse of a broader gaming populace? In other words: How sound will Stellaris be and how badly will players bounce off of it?
The future of the company requires that Stellaris be rock solid. Not only is the hype through the frigging roof, but now that Stellaris is available for pre-purchase, if there is anything less than smooth-sailing the backlash will be severe and demoralizing. Bitter nay-sayers will pistolwhip Paradox, citing the company’s history of ugly new releases and will identify the mountains – and hundreds of dollars worth – of DLCs that are available for Europa Universalis 4 and Crusader Kings 2, claiming (somewhat erroneously, though not completely) that each expansion is just another patch job that gamers should not have had to pay for. The peasant rabble will swell and be foolish to ignore.
But let us have hope. The company has grown and matured these last few years. And, at least in respect to the condition of newly-released games, matters have improved since the days of yore. EU4 and CK2 were, for the most part, able to stand on their own two feet. Let us hope that Paradox has learned from history as they plan to move forward…
Indeed. The time has come for the company to pass the torch. Stellaris is one of the newcomers. It is garnering tremendous attention. Message board and comment sections are buzzing.The hype train is real. Paradox seems to be capitalizing on the fact that this game breaks the traditional Paradoxian mold. The marketing has been tasteful… and fun! Space aliens and pew-pews have a broader acceptance compared to hard historical settings. And now, in this, the new generation, it looks like Paradox will have both.
Which brings us to the discussion of the second – more important – newcomer: Hearts of Iron 4.
Where Stellaris looks to the stars and is dictated by scope, campaign structure and a dash of RNG, Hearts of Iron is very much grounded, very much logistically detailed, and very much akin to the mold of a Paradox game.
The Hearts of Iron series – three titles in all, each with varying number of expansions – is known for being notoriously complex, dense, and difficult for newcomers to take on. Despite this, the framework for the games is interesting. They operate in the narrow window of time that leads up to and plays out through World War 2. Conquest isn’t always the goal. Because the time frame is so short and the details are so concise, objectives can take on a more ahistorical flavor. Knowing that a world war will break out, the player can build a campaign around this determination.
Hearts of Iron 4 looks to intend to follow this same formula but with a greater emphasis in streamlining the in-game logistics. I’d say ‘simplify’ but that would send tremors down the spines of veteran players. But it kind of looks like this is what Paradox is doing: Cutting the crap and interconnecting many of the mechanics. The process has been a slow and deliberate one. HoI4 doesn’t have the luxury that Stellaris currently has; It can’t get too wieldy with (re)defining itself.
And come June 6, the game will have all sorts of players shoring up, with many others reconnoitering from perhaps their empires in Stellaris.
That’s the rub: How do you gently onboard new players to this game with a reputation without turning your back to the veteran players of the franchise?
There has already been talk of streamlining and creating, essentially, mutually exclusive military profiles. This method seeks to focus the player’s attention to certain aspect of the game and not just throwing a wall-of-game at him. Another way to onboard new players has been put in effect already. Paradox sponsored a 3-part video series at the Extra Credits youtube channel. This series gives an overview of the economic and industrial factors behind WW2. It is a great attempt to, at the very least, orient new players to the historical goings-on that are at the foundation of Hearts of Iron 4.
But to veterans of the HoI series, the historical goings-on of WW2 is old news. They’ve been there. They’ve done that. Because of this, there’s a good chance that many of them will chafe against all this talk of streamlining, favoring the wall-of-game of previous HoI iterations. So, to ease the low-level player rumble, Paradox, sticking to a proven game design model, is basically coding the game to easily facilitate modding. Paradox is leaving the game wide open and is practically daring modders to have at it. Nary a ten minutes will pass in the preview/gameplay Twitch VODs when a commentator will make an observation or answer a question from chat and respond with, “I’m sure someone will mod that inâ€.
Whoever that ‘someone’ is could be someone who has followed the Hearts of Iron series from the very beginning or it could be someone who is new to the Paradox fold, perhaps even drawn in by Stellaris. And that is exactly what has me so excited: To see just what can materialize when this motley crew of players coalesces upon Hearts of Iron…
And that is exactly why the initial release of Stellaris needs to be a smooth one. The next phase of Paradox is hinged on this. It’ll be interesting to see how many of the newcomers from Stellaris also make the leap into HoI4. Even more so, how many of these actually stick around. Hearts of Iron 4 has the potential of not only being a great game with a diverse player set who may or may not mod the shit out of it, but it also provides many philosophical and theoretical platforms to explore – And that, in and of itself, is reason enough to stick around.
Paradox is taking a rather aggressive stance with flanking us with two strategy games that are nearly polar opposite. But I see it as quite an adroit maneuver: reap a huge audience with Stellaris and let Hearts of Iron 4 sift out the chaff, so that a new player base, tempered by wisdom yet eager to move forward, may carry the company into this next generation.
I can’t stop thinking about Victoria 2. I can’t. I just can’t. The game is just so interesting and logically constructed! Part of the joy in this game is figuring out how all the systems work and work together, and I learn so much with every passing campaign.
So, check it out:
My first campaign was as the U.S. I clicked on a few things here and there and was then promptly overwhelmed. After which I abandoned ship.
My next attempt was as Belgium. It is smaller and a little more manageable. I clicked a few more things here and there and gained a rudimentary understanding of just what the devil I was actually doing.
Next, I gave another shot at playing the USA because, you know… ‘Murica. Acting from what I learned as playing Belgium, I set off to create a solid infrastructure through my own resources as well as tapping into the global economy – easily one of my favorite aspects of the game. It was during this campaign that I learned the intricacies of influencing the political leanings of the populace. My people never really seemed to recover from the civil war and rebels were popping up everywhere all the time. And that, as they say, was that. Campaign = Over.
Learning what I learned. With what little wisdom I had firmly in my pocket, I gave Italy a shot. Technically, started off as Two Sicilies but with the intention of forming Italy. I learned about quick ways to rise to Great Power status and what is available once you attain that position. Not to mention, I also drank from the bitter cup and experienced what happens when you are surpassed by another rising nation (JAPAN!) and are pushed back to Secondary Power status – of which includes the inability to FORM ITALY!
Forgive me if this post reads like a dry history lesson, but it is hard for me to contain my enthusiasm for how Victoria 2 is framed and constructed. The game operates within a relatively narrow window of history (the Hearts of Iron franchise has Vicky2 beat. More on this in a later post) and it seems like more opportunities arise in closer succession. This is because the world between 1835-1935 was in fact a time of change and of opportunity. The world was becoming more global. As a player, I take a step back to see how that works. And I see that that is really cool!
This weekend, I reckon I shall give another shot at playing a secondary power with the intent of unification in some manner.
Gaming news has not really been part of the regularly scheduled programming here at ButtonMashing – or, for that matter, neither has regularly scheduled programming.
But this news is too great to pass up.
Defiant Development recently announced the existence of Hand of Fate 2, sequel to their 2015 deckbuilding-RPGish-brawler hybrid. It is projected to be released around this time next year. Details are scarce at this point, but what is known sounds very, very promising.
Destructoid speaks of things like new weapon types, an improved success-fail card draw sequence, new opportunities and limitations in deck building, companion warriors.
Kotaku was privy to a few more juicy details. Here we read about a greater emphasis in varied deck building, as opposed to min-maxing your way to the top. Defiant plans to address the brawl sequences hoping to make them far less buttonmashy as the first game’s – as they, admittedly, can tend to be. Kotaku’s Stephen Totilo, in speaking of game director Morgan Jaffit, explains: “The impression Jaffit gave about the game is one of improvement rather than reinvention.â€
Further investigation shows that Defiant are focused on the right things.
Indeed. Both of the above links, in varying degree, touch upon an improvement that I am most excited for. As a primer to this, I draw your attention to the trailer below.
Yes. The Dealer is back from the abyss from whence you’ve banished him. Half a scared face is evidence of his determination – “… to this mortal realm,†he spats. The table has changed as has the setting. Whereas before, the two of you sat inside a grand hall, light failing to reach the distances of the corridors that surround the table. Now, the setting is a little more cozy, perhaps as humble re-start to the dealer’s efforts of flaunting life & death. I mused in a previous post about the dealer’s steely eyes looking into mine, how mine compared to the others who have sat in this player’s chair. Now, it seems the player may have the upperhand; we may gaze into his eyes and see glares of defeat, of spite, of vengeance.
Hand of Fate’s presentation is remarkable. The setting. The dealer. The music. It is a mysterious place I loved being inside. The themes of games, life, death, and power permeate in nearly everything you do, punctuated by the dealer’s own quips and criticisms – if he is not directly dealing you cards or handing off tokens, he is in the shadows spectating your every move. Hand of Fate operates on different planes of reference, some more obvious than others, all of which may or may not cycle through each other. There is an undeniable presence of mysticism. And then there are the fundamental questions such as: Who exactly is this dealer? What was that vortex that swallowed him up at the end game? Why does he spite this mortal realm so? Is he a slave to it or the fabricator? Or both? What exactly is at stake?
Plus, I would be absolutely remiss if I do not mention the fantastic compositions of Jeff van Dyck. The music is a primary element to the setting of Hand of Fate. Tracks can elicit sensations of contemplation, thoughtfulness, foreboding, wonder, determination. The music works in fluid harmony with the rest of the game, enhancing the situation through atmosphere or a driving tempo, and never overextends itself.
All these things considered, the game is a compelling experience in that there could be so much more under the surface, in the shadows, in the words left unspoken..
… Or not.
And that uncertainty is, at least in my head, utterly intoxicating.
Unfortunately, the journey that the player takes in Hand of Fate does little for the game’s setting. Though there are distinct storylines buried in the cards, each with its own affects and rewards, there is a definite lack of cohesion between these stories and the one-off situations that may be drawn.
The improvement mentioned, in varying degrees, in the Kotaku and Destructoid links that has me most excited is the proposal of quests and storylines. There seems to be planned a more call-and-response approach to the player’s actions and decisions, instead of the player just hopping from one downturned card to another. Totilo explains, “… Defiant Development can tie the different possible outcomes of those battles to different branches of a mission.â€
The cards of Hand of Fate 2 may have that longed-for cohesiveness in line with the mysteries of the game’s tiered setting. Each card may a vignette that could either answer some of these essential questions listed above, or, more preferably, enlarge the cloud of mystery – to answer a question with a question.
I could very well be flying off the rails with all this pondering. Again, as stated above, there could be more to this mystical setting or there could very well be not. But, Jaffit explained something to Kotaku that I find tremendous comfort in. When speaking of intended improvements, Jaffit gives an example whose implications tell me that Defiant’s thinking is on the right level.
Some of Jaffit’s ideas for changes are charmingly specific. It bugged him, for example, that players of the first game could buy cards in the stores that they could encounter from turning over a shop card while playing through a deck. “The shop system is wrong,†he said, “not that anyone has called on it.†Since the game showed the player’s character walking into the shop, players were essentially seeing something from the card level come to virtual life, as they did the cards that spawned real-time battles. By that logic, he lamented, there shouldn’t be cards within the shops. There should be rendered items that the cards would have represented. “It’s the wrong philosophical layer of abstraction and it actually bugs the crap out of me.†It sounds like he’s going to address that with his team in the sequel.
This is not a ‘charmingly’ specific attention to detail. I perceive much more gravitas to this example than it being merely charming. It shows that Defiant see the necessity of creating a multi-layered setting with stronger, more convincing continuity. And I can only hope that this line of thought extends out to the quests and storylines.
April marks the release of the HTC Vive, the Valve VR experience. There are a couple other big titles, including Quantum Break and Dark Souls III, so this month is shaping up to be a decent month of games. With that said, on to this month’s releases:
Week of April 5th
Star Wars Battlefront Outer Rim
Fallout 4: Automatron
Quantum Break
RBI Baseball 2016 – I haven’t followed baseball closely for a few years now, so I don’t know which Boston Redsox player is featured as this year’s cover athlete, but it sure looks like he’s REAL excited about diving for the ball!
DiRT Rally
Week of April 12th
Dark Souls III
Week of April 26th
Tales from the Borderlands
Lichdom: Battlemage
Week of April 19th
StarFox Zero
Week of April 12th
Bravely Second: End Layer
Week of April 19th
Langrisser Re: Incarnation – Tensei
Week of April 26th
Pokemon Rumble World
SEGA 3D Classics Collection – I know this whole “SEGA games on Nintendo systems” thing has been going on for quite a while now, but 14 year-old me would be very disappointed to see Sonic on a Nintendo. (That being said, I’d be perfectly happy with Altered Beast)
(**Editor’s Note: There are a TON of games coming out at the beginning of April on Steam, mostly VR games. I didn’t think that every game deserved a link, but if you have new VR Kit and you’re wanting to get some games, there possibilities are numerous)
Week of April 5th
Gunjack
Enter the Gungeon – (Guns are apparently a thing this month)
Outrage
Until I Have You
Fortify
Glitchrunners
Silver Bullet: Prometheus
The Fifth Expedition
Week of April 12th
DARK SOULS III
Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan
Secrets of Deep Earth Shrine
Week of April 19th
The Banner Saga 2
Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair
Wayward
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada
Week of April 26th
Pavilion – If looks were all that counted, this would be a 2016 GotY contender.
Cubium Dreams
Elite vs. Freedom
Week of April 5th
Ether One
DiRT Rally
RBI Baseball 2016
Week of April 12th
Ratchet & Clank
Dark Souls III
Week of April 19th
Zombie Vikings
Lichdom: Battlemage
Week of April 26th
Tales from the Borderlands
Week of April 5th
Assassin’s Creed Chronicles
Week of April 26th
Stranger of Sword City
What are you picking up this month?
(Note: As always, all Amazon.com links have our affiliate code embedded in them. If you purchase something through our link, we get a little commission. It’s appreciated.)
Paradox Interactive, well-known for their historical grand strategy games, is certainly abuzz at the moment. The hype train is so very, very real for their new spacey space 4x-ish strategy everything-but-the-friggin-kitchen-sink title Stellaris. This is especially noteworthy as it is Paradox’s first foray as a developer into the cosmos. And judging by the dev diaries and the previews trickling in on YouTube, this is definitely one giant leap, and Paradox fanfolk will be at the game’s heels the entire trip.
While not on the game’s heels, I have kept a measured distance. Stellaris is shaping up to be perhaps much of what I loved about EVE Online but without 
having to deal with other players’ stupid, backstabbing, sociopathic crap. Though, I do have reservations about Stellaris, at least its initial release (not to mention its overall accessibility). History has shown that Paradox games need some TLC right at the onset, for various reasons. Reading about how big Stellaris is proclaimed to be, I can with surety expect some part of the game to go bellyup or house some void in the mechanics.
But Paradox are the masters of following up – the Masters! And don’t you ever forget it. Whatever is wonky about Stellaris upon release will be patched up and eventually buried under four years’ worth of DLC. For good or ill. Just look at Crusader Kings 2! Every time I load the game after a new DLC/Patch, the UI is all different and there’s new mechanics and limits that stop me in my tracks. The same intrusive behavior can be said about EU4; some DLCs have been proclaimed to be game breaking. Staying up-to-date with these games is work, son – for both developers and the players.
All the while, Victoria 2 is just sort of there minding itself. It is not the most contemporary Paradox game but it is nonetheless a very integral part in the patchwork of the company’s history – And recent enough that it continues to have a healthy player base and modding community. It is also somewhat of an exception to the habitual addition of DLCs to Paradox games. Vicky2 only has two major DLCs. The game operates in a narrow window of time and hasn’t spiraled out of control as its younger siblings have. 
Because it is ‘contained’ like this, I found an appeal. I tried playing CK2 recently, but the Conclave DLC (which I haven’t bought yet) and accompanying patch (which everyone gets regardless) rearranged stuff and I quickly lost motivation (non-aggression pacts? C’MAAAWN!). Personally, I have to get amped to initiate a grand Paradox campaign. It takes days to mentally prepare. And within the game, I need to know where my tools are and what they can or cannot do. The slightest change from what is familiar and I have to walk away. Petty, I know – but truth.
Anyways, with only two DLCs, I perceived Victoria 2 to be far less impenetrable than, say, to take a step back and see what EU4 is right now. I like that the focus is on industrialization and a global economy. The sociopolitical aspects are relevant to the game’s time period (1836-1936) and promise to keep the passage of those years interesting and varied, as opposed to just using time to make your military numbers higher. Industry, Prestige, Military – These are equal factors in determining a nation’s rank, and they all influence each other. Indeed. Each nation isn’t just an island rushing and crushing for numerical superiority. There’s competition, absolutely, but because of all the industrialization there’s a bit of a co-dependency nations have on each other. An internal and external balance must be sought in order to climb the ranks. I can dig on that.
This weekend I shall be developing a wicked case of vertigo as I continue to tread the infamous Paradox learning curve.
… Oh, and playing Etrian Odyssey Untold 2. I’m slowly making my way through the labyrinth and devising all kinds of oddball recipes for the populous to eat. I sort of regret playing in story mode bcs I want to try out different classes. I might make use of the extra save slots and start a game in classic mode just to see what it’s all about.
What are you playing this weekend?
This coming week is Spring Break for the young buttonmashers, so we’ve been playing a family trip to the Big Apple since we really like there and maybe planning to move in the future by getting Tips from Moving Companies. I’ll be driving the majority of the way there, so while we’re on the road they’ll be jamming with their 3DSes and Fire HD’s while I slave away in the driver’s seat. I don’t anticipate a whole lot of gaming for me for the next week or so.
Of course, being the Buttonmasher that I am, I am planning on a trip to the Nintendo Store in New York. Besides filling up our 3DSes with Street Passes, I’m looking forward to the kids’ reactions to two floors of Nintendo gaming Nirvana. If there was such a place when I was 12, I’d have to be dragged out, kicking and screaming. The Statue of Liberty has the history and the Empire State Building has the views, but I’m pretty sure I’m going to be Dad of the Year when we walk into the Nintendo Store.
But we aren’t leaving until Sunday, so in the meantime, it’s extremely possible that I pick up a copy of The Division before I head out of town. I think the communal love-affair with Diablo III has waned and we’re all looking for something new to play. Right now, The Division has risen to the top of everyone’s wishlist.
And you know, with the game set in Manhattan, I could actually say I need to get this game. It’d be a great way to ahem familiarize myself with the city.
Especially if the Apocalypse hits while we’re there!
What are you playing this weekend?
There was that time just a few years ago when I was looking into buying a Nintendo 3DS. A very thorough article on Kotaku caught my attention. Its enthusiasm for the innovation of the StreetPass system was convincing. Likewise were the testimonies of nearly every single 3DS owner I spoke with. There was a delight in voice and sparkle in the eye, as well as an inability to articulate just why they love their DSes so. I had never seen such tickled affection for an inanimate object.
I didn’t understand the sensation at the time, but now, as a 3DS owner myself, I do. And I too can only attempt to articulate the delight in knowing my DS is so near. It is a low-pressure mobile gaming device, but unlike other mobile devices, I do not have a compulsion to check up on a notification or text or any other countless distractions. The DS just kind of hangs out, always on standby and is ready when you’re ready.
The intensity of said delight may ebb and flow but it is nonetheless always there, and right now it is pretty stinkin’ high. Etrian Odyssey Untold 2: The Fafnir Knight is the reason. Yes. What began as an inquiry into the new Fire Emblem games now sees me nearly 15 hours deep into EOU2 and still getting my sea legs.
Like many other 3DS owners, Fire Emblem:Awakening was my first exposure to the franchise. And, like the majority who played FE:A, I could not and would not shut up about the game. It is fantastic and made a great impression. The follow-up games, Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright and Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest were released in the US a few weeks ago. Naturally, I was interested, especially at having to initially choose one title over the other. I did some investigating and came to the conclusion that, despite the differences between Birthright and Conquest, they are more or less ‘Awakening 2.0’ with a focus on either character matchmaking or aggressive tactics.
The thought of playing a familiar game held zero (0) appeal. I was feeling adventurous, ready to branch out. The 3DS, being the low-pressure, mobile platform that it is compliments this longing. 
Etrian Odyssey is another franchise with a solid reputation. Untold 2, being the most recent release, is reported to uphold this high standard – And, get this: you actually utilize the touchpad! Not just to cycle through inventories or pan maps, but to create the maps! The game has a strong emphasis on exploration. Plus, it has both a story mode and classic mode as well as its own little sim building mechanic. A crafting system that, so far, is not arduous. AI that can’t be baited. Anime aesthetic and a great OST. Dialog between characters that doesn’t get too gabby…
It is a conglomeration that is all so wonderful and new to me. This, combined with the inherent, unspeakable delight of owning a DS, has me excited to take the time to play – which cannot be said about my steam library.
Alas, part of the motivating factor for choosing EOU2 was to get me away from habitually booting up my desktop and vacantly scrolling through my game library or, most recently, convincing myself load Diablo III. It’s time for a hiatus, son. The weather is breaking and the world beckons us forth from our winter shelters. So, why not grab the DS, trade some Grimoire stones via StreePass, and see what this spring has in store?
What are you playing this weekend?
I wish to speak about plateaus.
Not the land forms, nor the pun that they are the highest form of flattery. I wish to speak of the emotional plateaus that can form when playing games of the video variety.
There comes a point when we discontinue our time investment in a particular video game and turn our attention to another. The motivations behind this transition are varied. Sometimes it may be a lethal ragequit. Sometimes it is a victorious completion. Sometimes we can bounce off a game before getting too far into it. Sometimes the game design just kind of shrugs, stops offering new challenges and variety, forcing the player to do the same things over and over again – plateauing.
I forsee myself plateauing with Diablo III. It is inevitable. I will plateau hardcore. Sure, difficulty levels can increase, enemies can hit harder and I can tank more; these numbers increase with every increased difficulty level (in all honesty, is there cap to greater rifts?) And, sure, there are a plethora of builds to experiment with. But in all the game boils down to click > kill > loot > repeat. Loot is needed to create stronger builds, even if loot drops are random. So, aside from escalating grifts levels, and the blind hope for sweet loot drops, there really is not all that much to strive for. This method will not hold my attention forever and I will turn my sights elsewhere.
But not this weekend! No no no. My wizard is finally at a point where she can hold her own in Torment 3. 
At first, I admittedly had no idea how to build a wizard, trying to make her play like a crusader. But as the orange items starting trickling in and my Kanai’s Cube library filling in nicely, I’ve been able to make her a bringer of fire and vengeance. Likewise, my crusader unleashes havoc no matter what he’s doing. Brother could be standing still and he is bringing the pain.
It has been awesome to create builds that have so many different components, so many different kinds of synthesis. Doing what you can with what you’ve got. Though D3 is maddeningly obscure with its numbers and mechanics in some places, sometimes you’ve just got to observe what is happening in the playing field for the best evidence of a build’s performance… Unless you’re in a set dungeon – at that point it’s like your playing in a quantum level Twilight Zone.
What are you playing this weekend?
February is a great month. For starters, it’s Mr. Buttonmashing’s birthday month. It’s cold and miserable outside for most of the northern hemisphere, so it’s perfect for gaming. And it’s short, so the cold isn’t that bad. With that said, on to this month’s releases:
Week of February 9th
Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4
Dying Light: The Following
Assassin’s Creed Chronicles
Arslan: The Warriors of Legend
Alekhine’s Gun
Week of February 23rd
Far Cry Primal
Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2
Megaman Legacy Collection
No new releases for the Nintendo Wii U in February.
Week of February 16th
Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright
Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest
Project X Zone 2
Week of February 23rd
Megaman Legacy Collection
Week of February 2nd
NARUTO SHIPPUDEN: Ultimate Ninja STORM 4
XCOM 2
Fortified
Sorcery! Parts 1 and 2
Cobalt
Tales of Symphonia
Week of February 9th
Defragmented
The Renegades of Orion 2.0 – I watched most of the video for this game on the Steam Store page and it is a singularly bizarre experience.
Doors
Wayward Terran Frontier: Zero Falls
Firewatch – As a long-time fan of the Idle Thumbs podcast, I feel like it’s my duty to give this game a try.
ARSLAN: THE WARRIORS OF LEGEND
Space Pirates and Zombies 2 – I played and enjoyed the first SPAZ.
Week of February 16th
Talisman: The Horus Heresy
Dead Effect 2 – A game with an upgrade called “Thor’s Biceps” can’t be all that bad.
Street Fighter V – There is something that feels distinctly wrong with playing a Street Fighter game on the computer.
Dub Dash
Week of February 23rd
The Descendant
Disgaea PC – There is a very good possibility I will be picking this one up.
The Town of Light
Week of February 2nd
Gravity Rush Remastered
Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth
Megadimension Neptunia VII
Nitroplus Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel
Week of February 9th
Assassin’s Creed Chronicles
Arslan: The Warriors of Legend
Alekhine’s Gun
The Last Tinker City of Colors
Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4
Dying Light: The Following
Week of February 16th
Street Fighter V
Week of February 23rd
Megaman Legacy Collection
Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2
Far Cry Primal
No new releases for the Playstation Vita in February.
What are you picking up this month?
(Note: As always, all Amazon.com links have our affiliate code embedded in them. If you purchase something through our link, we get a little commission. It’s appreciated.)
