Every week, more games arrive for more platforms with more ways to play than ever before. So we help you sort through the list to find the games you absolutely need to play this week. And this week finds a franchise trying some very surprising new tricks.
Pick Of The Week
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, Tuesday (Xbox One, PS4, PSVR, PC)
After years of cheese and chasing the success that was Resident Evil 4, Capcom’s flagship survival horror franchise in some ways goes back to its roots. You’re back in a creepy mansion, your ammo and tools are limited, and you’re facing something far worse that it seems. But it also takes cues from survival horror elsewhere: It’s entirely in the first person, and it sets aside the convoluted story of past games in favor of something more personal. Expect a full review later this week.
Yakuza 0, Tuesday (PS4)
Sega, meanwhile, brings back its signature open-world brawler with a prequel that, well, you can watch the trailer. Despite what you might think, though, the real selling point of this franchise is its depth. You can play video games in the arcades, pursue hobbies, and occasionally actually follow through on the whole “gangster” thing by following the plotline. So in other words, it’s Grand Theft Auto.
Subterrain, Friday (Xbox One)
If you want your “survival horror” with more emphasis on the “survival” than the “horror,” this intriguing top-down survival game should offer a nice change of pace. You’re trapped underground, on Mars, and you’ve got to find food, water, and protection from the inevitable mutant hordes that will infest any fictional base on Mars, unless you’re Matt Damon. Can you make it, or will the mutants eat you?
Moto Racer 4 (Xbox One, PS4, PC)
If, on the other hand, you just want to race bikes, you can race bikes this week. After more than a decade away, the arcade bike-racing franchise is back with a new entry, which makes it something of a question mark. Still, racing fans will take what they can get, and if nothing else, this is a pleasant reprieve from all the survival games.
Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, Tuesday (PS4)
Finally, this remaster of Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, the franchise that teams up Square Enix and Disney characters, arrives with a few extra tidbits filling in the rest of the story, because we probably won’t see Kingdom Hearts 3 until the PS5 comes out. Hey, at least they’re working on it.
Any we missed? Let us know in the comments!