Don’t sleep on these one-of-a-kind games that launched in February

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Whenever Apple rolls out a lofty new idea, it invites as many skeptics as it does fans. Devices like the Vision Pro birthed naysayers from the moment it was announced, but armchair criticism has rarely, if ever, put a dent in the tech giant’s plans. It has a way of committing to its products and initiatives, even when outsiders might think no one is using them.

Every year, the annual Game Developers Conference (GDC) acts as an all-important watercooler moment for the video game industry. It’s the one time a year where developers can widely gather to share their innovations, discuss the state of the industry, and advocate for change at scale. This year’s show, though, is especially crucial. It comes amid a catastrophic wave of layoffs across studios that’s put well over 10,000 individuals out of work. That’s happening as executives look to tools like generative AI to cut costs, which has created a firestorm over labor issues.

Depending on what era of gaming you grew up in, the name Jeff Minter could mean everything or nothing to you.

You know that it’s a busy year for gaming when a project by an industry legend launches with hardly any fanfare. That’s exactly what happened in February 2023 with Akka Arrh. Created by Jeff Minter and his eccentric studio Llamasoft, the neon-tinted shooter is a remake of a 1982 Atari game that never saw the light of day after being deemed too difficult. Minter got the greenlight to revive the project, bringing it to life as a retro arcade shooter built in his unmistakable style.

Every year, like clockwork, I end up playing one retro-style 2D game that gets its hooks in me. It’s not that I harbor a lot of nostalgia for the Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis; it’s just that indie developers have gotten very good at both replicating and modernizing the fun of old-school platformers. So far in the 2020s, I’ve had a blast with Cyber Shadow, Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider, and now, Berserk Boy.

If you’re looking for a new Switch game to play with your kids following titles like Bluey: The Videogame and Disney Illusion Island, get ready to meet the Moonmins. Snufkin: Melody of Moonminvalley comes to Switch and PC this week, giving the cartoon vagabond his own game. Developed by Hyper Games, the adventure title aims to capture the cartoon joy of Moomin, a Swedish children’s series, with some musical twists.

If you’re getting ready to start your Final Fantasy VII Rebirth adventure, let me offer you fair warning: it is a long game. If you’re planning to do every sidequest, minigame, and Chadley combat battle, you’ll be wandering around Gaia for 100 hours. That’s not an exaggeration; I hit credits in 73 hours and I still had a massive checklist of side content to complete.

The Call of Duty series legend who helped shape the Black Ops games into some of the most iconic entries in the franchise, has announced his new project.

When I reviewedSplatoon 3 in 2022, I found myself impressed by what a robust suite of content it offered at launch. It had a solid single-player campaign, great competitive multiplayer, a killer PVE mode in Salmon Run, and even a fun card minigame. All of those disparate modes meshed together perfectly to makeSplatoon 3 the kind of game you could pick away at for hundreds of hours. And with its latest DLC, called Side Order, that’s more true than ever.

Pokémon Presents | 2.27.2024

Just a few days after potentially teasing a new game in the series, Nier Automata's director has followed up with another odd teaser.