As the month of April is around the corner, here are our pick of game releases that will see the light of day in April 2021:
Outriders (1 April): Outriders is an upcoming cooperative role-playing third-person video game developed by People Can Fly and published by Square Enix’s European subsidiary. Outriders is a third-person shooter mixed with elements from role-playing games. In the beginning of the game, players create their custom characters and choose from four classes, each of them has unique abilities that the players can utilize. The four classes include the Trickster, which has the ability to manipulate time, the Pyromancer, which can manipulate fire, the Devastator, which can unleash seismic attacks, and the Technomancer, which uses turrets and other devices. These special skills have a short cooldown time and can be combined with other skills for maximum effects. The game features a skill tree that allows players to unlock and upgrade their skills.
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Stadia
Oddworld: Soulstorm (6April ): Oddworld: Soulstorm is an upcoming platform game developed and published by Oddworld Inhabitants. It will be the continuation of 2014’s Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty! and a re-imagining of 1998’s Oddworld: Abe’s Exoddus. Similar to its predecessor, the game is a 2.5D side-scrolling platform game. Protagonist Abe returns in the game and his goal is to save his fellow mudokons from slave labor. The game features a new crafting system in which Abe can craft and customize different weapons. While the game is mostly linear, it features a massive train hub area where players can access new levels and areas
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4 & PlayStation 5
Star Wars Republic Commando (6 April ): Star Wars: Republic Commando is a tactical first-person shooter video game, set in the Star Wars universe. It was developed by LucasArts using the Unreal Engine, and published for the Xbox and Microsoft Windows in 2005. The game features both single-player and multiplayer game modes. The game features some gameplay elements that resemble features in other first-person shooters. The heads-up display (HUD) shows the player character’s helmet, with a tactical visor. The player acts as squad leader of a squad of four elite troops. The squadmate order system allows the player general tactical control over the three non-player characters (NPCs) squadmates that round out the four-man commando team. Many objects in the game environment will highlight when the crosshair is placed over them. The player can then press the “use” key to issue an order automatically associated with the object; for example, a sealed door may highlight with a synchronized team breach-and-clear command, or a computer console might have a “slice” (computer hacking) command, while a pile of cargo boxes suitable for a cover position with good vantage may provide a “take up Sniper/Anti-Armor position” command. Where possible, the squadmates will usually take their preferred roles (sniper, demolitions and technical). The player can order the squad to move to secure any position (wherever the crosshair is pointed), or perform search-and-destroy. There are orders to command the squadmates to group up or spread out according to the player’s discretion for the situation.
Platforms: PS4, Switch
Poison Control (13 April): It is an action-adventure game where a player can discover the stories of fallen souls, unlock an arsenal of venomous weapons, and purge corruption with gunfire and Poisonette’s powers Spirits are being trapped in poisonous manifestations of their despair, and only Poisonette and her Soul Mate can purify them! Players can venture through the different Belles’ Hells to defeat enemies, learn the stories of fallen souls and other Poisonettes, and fight your way to Heaven in this stylishly twisted action shooter!
Platforms: PlayStation 4 and switch
SaGa Frontier Remastered (15 April): The beloved 1998 RPG Classic, SaGa Frontier, is reborn with improved graphics, additional features, and a new main character! Experience this role-playing adventure as one of the eight heroes, each with their own storyline and goals. With the free scenario system, unfold your own unique journey. Engage in dramatic battles, using the Hirameki system to gain new skills and carry out combined attacks with your allies! The new main character, Fuse, can be played once certain conditions have been fulfilled. The Fuse scenario features great new tracks from Kenji Ito, and is full of new content. Discover a different side to the other main characters. Several cutscenes that were cut have been added to Asellus’s scenario. Delve deeper into the story than before. Alongside upgraded high-resolution graphics, the UI has been updated and improved. Additional new features have been added, including double-speed mode, making gameplay smoother than ever.
Platforms: PC, Switch, PS4
Nier Replicant ver. 1.22474487139 (23 April): NieR Replicant ver. 1.22474487139 is an updated version of NieR Replicant, previously only released in Japan. Discover the one-of-a-kind prequel to the critically-acclaimed masterpiece NieR: Automata. Now with a modern upgrade, experience masterfully revived visuals, a fascinating storyline and more. The protagonist is a young man living in a remote village. In order to save his sister Yonah who fell terminally ill to the Black Scrawl, he sets out with Grimoire Weiss, a strange talking tome in search of the sealed verses.
Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, PC
Judgement (23 April): Judgment is an action-adventure video game developed by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and published by Sega. A spin-off to the Yakuza series, the initial development of the game began in 2015 under the codename Project Judge. A remastered version of the game, under the subtitle Remastered in Japan and Asia, is set to release The game follows lawyer-turned-detective Takayuki Yagami as he and his allies explore a case involving corpses whose eyes have been removed. The player controls Yagami in the fictional Tokyo district of Kamurocho, where he fights thugs and yakuza while carrying outside missions that involve chasing, stealth and searching for clues. Yagami can buy healing items in real life-based stores to restore his health, like in the Yakuza games. He can also suffer a major wound if an enemy weapon, like a sword, strikes him. This decreases Yagami’s maximum health, and meals cannot restore it. The player can meet a doctor who treats people in secret who can either treat Yagami to erase the major damage or can sell an item that will heal his wounds.
Platforms: PS5, Xbox, Stadia
Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World (22 April)- Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World becomes a real Wonder Boy adventure that stays true to its roots as the latest part of the legendary and successful series, that dates back to 1986. Back then, in the first game of Wonder Boy, caveboy Tom-Tom sets out to rescue his girlfriend Tina from the evil demon. The story of the game remains true to the original from 1994. Asha is tasked to free the four spirits being confined by evil forces whose origin she discovers throughout her journey. Luckily, she does not have to face this adventure alone, as early on she finds her new companion, a special blue Pepelogoo. The players can experience the adventures of the dynamic duo like never before thanks to cell-shaded 3D graphics and 2D gameplay as well as enhanced visuals and refined play content. Especially in the event scenes, the performance is deepened and the world view is reproduced vividly and colourfully. Plus, for the first time in the series, it comes with a character voice – by the popular and talented Japanese voice actress Ai Fairouz.
Platforms: Switch, PS4
New Pokémon Snap (30 April): New Pokémon Snap is an upcoming first-person simulation video game with rail shooter style gameplay mechanics. It is being developed by Bandai Namco Studios and planned to be published by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company. Players travel using an on-rails hovercraft and research Pokémon by photographing them. It is a sequel to the 1999 Nintendo 64 game Pokémon Snap. In New Pokémon Snap, the player is a Pokémon photographer who visits various islands in the Lental region to help the research studies of Professor Mirror and his assistants Rita and Phil. Taking photographs helps the player build a compendium called a Photodex; the game features over 200 different Pokémon for the player to photograph. In addition to adding photos to the Photodex, the player also helps investigate the Illumina phenomenon, where Pokémon and plants appear to have a special glow.
Platforms: Switch
Returnal (30 April)- Returnal is an upcoming third-person shooter science-fiction psychological horror video game developed by Housemarque and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Returnal is a third-person shooter psychological horror video game featuring roguelike elements. Set in a futuristic science fiction setting, the player controls Selene (Anne Beyer), a space pilot, equipped with a suit and armed with high-tech weapons, who is stranded on the alien planet Atropos, and stuck in a time loop. After every death, Selene is resurrected, following a pattern of traversing across foreign environments and combating extraterrestrial entities with growing visions in an ever-changing world.
Platforms: PlayStation 4