You’re a recommendation hero. I applaud your Herculean effort here.
The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa is a bit under-the-radar and great if you like beat ‘em ups or surprisingly poignant stories about friends growing apart as high school ends. But it’s also a bit more expensive than most indie titles (~$15).
Friends of Ringo Ishikawa is 50% off on GOG right now!
If anyone here does take a chance on Ringo Ishikawa on PC, you’ll definitely want (if not need) a controller. I have the Switch version, but I assume it’s the same otherwise.
And some of you should take a chance. It’s excellent. I’m not usually a fan of the genre, but this one worked for me in part because of all the extraneous elements. You play as a Japanese high school student who leads a gang of delinquents who battle against other delinquent gangs. Sometimes. Really, the game is more of a slice-of-life: You wake up, go to school (if you want), or go to work (if you want), talk with your friends and classmates, and roam around the city getting into fights (or not). There’s a main story with mandatory scenes and events that happen now and again. It’s kind of like Persona in a different genre, except with much stronger writing. That’s not really an insult to Persona, but Friends of Ringo Ishikawa has some of the best-written dialogue I’ve ever seen in a game. The writing’s snappy without sacrificing much verisimilitude. The characters are mostly young wannabe tough guys and they talk like it. Some of them are tired of the life and strive for better things, others want to follow delinquent life through to adulthood. I’d read this as a novel or watch it as a miniseries. All the characters felt real and their mini-arcs and dialogue reinforced this. The actual fighting mechanics work well too, but, again, this is not normally my genre-of-choice.
Edit: Having written all that, the game’s description on its GOG page says much of the same in fewer words. So maybe read that instead or in addition to all the stuff I posted above.
New Animal Crossing and DOOM games coming this week. My wallet is under serious threat this week because of the Doom game. Especially because I want the pre-order so I can check out Doom 64 as well.
Any games you can spot that deserve the spotlight despite being overshadowed by the two big releases this week?
Monday, March 16
- Deep Diving Adventures | Switch
- Super Bit Blaster XL | Switch
- The Strange Realm Of Mine | Switch
- Chop Is Dish | PS4
- Slay The Bigies | PC
- WoMen In Science | PC
- Chronicle: Unit Eight | PC
- DragonScales 6: Love and Redemption | PC
- Bone Marrow | PC
- Weed Farmer Simulator | PC
- Encore Classic Card Games | PC
- Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego? | PC
- Democratic Socialism Simulator | PC, Mac
Tuesday, March 17
- Overpass | PS4, Xbox One, Switch
- Kamiko | PS4
- La-Mulana 1 & 2 | PS4, Xbox One, Switch
- R.B.I Baseball 20 | PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC
- MLB The Show 20 | PS4
- Kingdom Hearts All-In-One Package | PS4
- Knight Swap | Switch
- Rainbow, Toilets & Unicorns | PS4
- Stellaris: Federations | PC
- Apocalypse, Wow! | PC, Mac
- Pillars Of Dust | PC
- Beardy McStrongarm | PC
- Zombie Mutant DNA | PC
- Golf Extreme | PC
Wednesday, March 18
- Explosive Jake | PS4, Xbox One, PS Vita
- Top Speed: Drag & Fast Racing | Switch
- Battle Ram | PC
- Black Blood | PC
- Dunk Lords | PC
- Dwarf Shop | PC
Thursday, March 19
- TT Isle Of Man: Ride On The Edge 2 | PS4, Xbox One, PC
- lttle Dew 2+ | Switch
- SeaBed | Switch
- Silent World | Switch, PC
- Dezatopia | Switch
- The Secret Order: Shadow Breach | Switch
- Nerdook Bundle Vol. 1 | Switch
- Factotum 90 | Switch
- Ghost Sweeper | Switch
- Beyond Enemy Lines: Essentials | Switch
- A Pluge Into Darkness | PC
- Chronicles Of Daneya | PC
- Legends Of Keepers: Career of a Dungeon Master | PC, Mac
- Panzer Corps 2 | PC
- Tiny Bunny | PC
- Overrun | PC
Friday, March 20
- Doom 64 | PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC
- Doom Eternal | PS4, Xbox One, PC
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons | Switch
- Mist Hunter | Switch
- Pooplers | Switch
- Lust For Darkness: Dawn Edition | Switch
- Diabolic | Switch
- Quell Memento | Switch
- Party Arena: Board Game Battler | PC
- Solar Warden | PC
- Topang | PC
- Night Road | PC
- Return To Sender | PC
- DarkStory Online | PC
- Out Of The Park Baseball 21 | PC
- Plastris | PC
- Slayers For Hire | PC
- Chickduck and Catduck | PC
Saturday, March 21
- Crazy Puzzle | PC
Holy shit, TT Isle of Man has a sequel coming out? I’ve been enjoying the original on and off since it became a Games with Gold game on Xbox One.
Oh boy. Big troubles.
You are missing Stellaris: Federations, the latest DLC to come out for the game the 17th.
Yeah, but when will the first major patch be for Stellaris: Federations? Until then it’s probably unplayable.
Thankfully, this thread is DLC free, as everything should be.
so many rules here on Qt3 - its hard to remember them all.
Not a rule, stating a fact!
Really? I’m getting too old for this…
My wallet is still feeling the pain from last week’s $60 purchase of DOOM Eternal w/Doom 64 (aka Doom: The Absolution). Both worth it, but man, still a lot.
Well, our collective wallets are again under severe threat this week if you happen to own a PC VR setup. Or if you’ve somehow never played Saints Row IV yet and were waiting for the Switch release of one of the best games of all time. Oh, and the Colin McRae Flat Out pack comes out for DiRT Rally 2.0 this week. That’s a big threat to my wallet, damn it.
Anything else on this list have people excited?
(Btw, the very first game on this list is the sequel to the sequel to the game that can’t be named).
Monday, March 23
- The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III | PC
- Half-Life: Alyx | PC (VR Only)
- Bug Academy | Switch
- Rhythm of the Gods | Switch, PC
- YoloMic | PC
- Shieldwall | PC
- Fill All | PC
- Pirates? Pirates! | PC
Tuesday, March 24
- Deep Sky Derelicts: Definitive Edition | PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC
- DiRT Rally 2.0 DLC Colin McRae Flat-Out Pack
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution | PS4, PC
- Odallus: The Dark Call | PS4
- Moons of Madness | PS4, Xbox One
- Freedom Finger | PS4, Xbox One
- Bleeding Edge | Xbox One, PC
- Paper Beast | PSVR
- WARTILE | Xbox One
- Element: Space | PS4, Xbox One
- Oniken | PS4
- Colorgrid | Switch
- Hyperspace Delivery Service | Switch
- Littlewing | PC
- Rhythmy | PC
- Damaged In Transit | PC, Mac
- Output Pasture | PC
Wednesday, March 25
- Vampire: The Masquerade - Coteries of New York | Switch, PS4
- Iron Danger | PC
- Breaking Blocks | PC, Mac
- Northern Tale 5: Revival | PC
- Lock ‘N Load Tactical Digital | PC, Mac
- Mists Of Noyah | PC
Thursday, March 26
- Control: The Foundation DLC | PS4, PC
- Grand Guilds | Switch, PC
- Ara Fell: Enhanced Edition | PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC
- Legend Of Keepers | PC, Mac
- Mekorama | PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PS Vita
- One Step From Eden | Switch, PC, Mac
- Last Oasis | PC
- Wenja | Switch
- The Room VR: A Dark Matter | PSVR
- Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy | PS4
- DreamGallery | Switch
- NecroWorm | Switch
- Card Game Bundle Vol. 1 | Switch
- CHAOS CODE-NEW SIGN OF CATASTROPHE | Switch
- Indie Darling Bundle Vol. 2 | Switch
- Sin Slayers | Switch
- Wanba Warriors | Switch
- JigSaw Abundance | Switch
- Trailer Trashers | Switch
- Urban Cards | PC
- Miner’s Mettle | PC
- WarPlan | PC
- Assemble With Care | PC
- ManaTech | PC
Friday, March 27
- Giantosaurus: The Game | PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC
- Saints Row IV: Re-Elected | Switch
- Children of Zodiarcs | Xbox One, Switch
- Lost Words: Beyond The Page | Stadia
- One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 | PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC
- Bears Can’t Drift | Xbox One
- Railway Empire | Switch
- Inops | Xbox One
- Biped | PC
- Duck Souls+ | PS4, Switch
- Repressed | Switch
- CopperBell | Switch
- 6 People | PC, Mac
- Gordian Quest | PC
- Mayhem Masters | PC
- Derange | PC
- Archaid | PC, Mac
- KnightOut | Pc
Saturday, March 28
- Goofy Golf Remastered Steam Edition | PC
Those two are huge treats to my wallet. And that’s pretty much it.
Of course, next week has one of my most “waited for” games ever, Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord. This month is not good for my wallet.
Disappointed this isn’t a pinball game
Watched a video of this one the other day. Looks incredibly cool. Crpg with a rewind time mechanic, so if you get hit by an enemy, you can back up and block or use a faster attack. Very puzzly in feel.
This is sort of Dungeon Keeper meets Iratus/darkest dungeon where you are defending treasures with minions, traps, and spells. Looks neat.
Can you explain what is going on on the Cold Steel Front? New publisher (and one that I dislike the localization works very much), new platforms, seems the save file won’t transfer? Not that I complain a lot, as the game seems to be very far remote from the atmosphere of the previous ones, but it’s all strange.
I don’t really know… I actually didn’t hear any of those news, and that troubles me too, I suppose. Not that I would buy it today, as it is a bit more expensive than I’m comfortable (budget is tight for now). I’ll look around for info, I suppose. Thanks!
Rats, it’s early access. :(
Okay, I was all excited about this, but I see it’s also early access. “… we expect that the game will be in early access for around a year,” the page reads. Ugh.
-Tom
The original Mount & Blade practically invented Early Access, and it was a mostly smooth process, so I’m up for that again. ;)