Here is our pick of game releases that will see the light of day in April 2022:
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (5 April): is an upcoming Lego-themed action-adventure game developed by Traveller’s Tales and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. It will be the sixth entry in TT Games’ Lego Star Wars series of video games and the successor to Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The game will adapt all nine entries in the Skywalker saga series of films, with additional characters and levels based on other Star Wars films and shows set to be released later as DLC.Unlike most Lego video games in which players had to advance through the story in a linear order, players can choose to start the game from any of the three Skywalker saga trilogies and complete them in any order they wish.Each episode will have five story missions, making a total of 45 levels, contrasting from six levels per episode in previous games. Combat has been revamped from previous titles, such as lightsaber wielders now using a variety of combos with light attacks, heavy attacks, and Force moves, and blaster characters having an over-the-shoulder camera (angle featured in many third-person shooter games). The game features 300 playable characters.
Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Switch
MLB The Show 22 (5 April): MLB The Show 22 is an upcoming baseball video game by San Diego Studio and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, based on Major League Baseball (MLB).The seventeenth entry of the MLB: The Show franchise, Los Angeles Angels two-way player Shohei Ohtani is featured as the cover star. A special manga style art by Takashi Okazaki of Shohei Ohtani will be the cover art for the collector’s edition of MLB The Show 22.
Platforms: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Switch
Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition (7 April): It is an RPG that transcends time and space, unfolding across two interlinked parallel worlds. With over 40 party members to meet, people and dimensions will intertwine in this epic drama about the planet itself.The 3D models have been upgraded to HD, new illustrations have been added, and all kinds of new features are now included. Utilising an innovative turn-based style battle system, CHRONO CROSS is an unique RPG that follows the protagonist “Serge” as he crosses time on his quest to save himself dying in a parallel universe. Those who purchase the game will also receive a CHRONO CROSS wallpaper!Additionally, the game that formed the bedrock of the story, “RADICAL DREAMERS – Le Trésor Interdit -“, is included in this edition!
Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Seres X/S, Switch
The House of the Dead Remake (7 April)The House of the Dead is back! This remake brings back the classic arcade rail-shooter experience to the Nintendo Switch with a bunch of modern updates to boot.Set in December 1998, the game follows AMS agents Thomas Rogan and G as they confront biologically-engineered creatures in the mansion of Dr. Curien, a mad scientist. The remake will have modern voice acting and audio quality, while retaining the original game’s “cheesy” dialogue.Confirmed voice actors include Chris Okawa as Thomas Rogan and Magician,Brian Connor as Dr. Curien, Charlie Weirauch III as G, and Natalie Roers as Sophie Richards.Dianna Conley and Matthew Curtis have unknown roles.
Platforms: Switch
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim (12 April): The game is divided between side-scrolling adventure segments and real-time strategy (RTS) battles, and follows thirteen high-school students in a fictionalized 1980s Japan who are dragged into a futuristic war between mechas and hostile Kaiju in a nonlinear narrative. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is a video game where players take control of thirteen different characters, who interact with each other to build a larger narrative.The gameplay is split into three sections: Remembrance, with exploration and dialogue taking priority and advancing the narrative; Destruction, where characters equip mecha and engage in pausable real-time battles against enemies; and Analysis, a glossary which documents event scenes and important items and characters.
Platforms:Switch
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (20 April): The Force Unleashed is a third-person action game in which the player’s character’s weapons are the Force and a lightsaber. Developers treated the main character’s lightsaber like another Force power, and wanted to ensure “something visceral and cool” happened with each button-push.The game has a combo system for stringing lightsaber attacks and for combining lightsaber attacks with Force powers.Experience points earned by killing enemies and finding artifacts can be used to increase Starkiller’s powers and traits.The gameplay is intended to be easy to learn; the development team included “horrible” gamers to help ensure the game’s accessibility.Players can casually run and gun through the game, but the game rewards those who take a stealthy, more tactical approach. Platforms: Switch
Lumote: The Mastermote Chronicles (21 April): it is an adventure casual game where the player meets Lumote, the squishiest bioluminescent creature, in this beautiful 3D puzzle platformer. Take control of the world’s inhabitants on a quest into the Great Depths to seize control from the Mastermote.Squish, bop and bounce through the Great Depths, an underwater world filled with Motes; bioluminescent creatures who spend their lives deep in the Bioverse, living on the rhythms of an electronica soundscape. Lumote is a Mote different from others; inquisitive, and with an “eye” on power. When the shift causes the Great Depths to turn red, Lumote sets out on an epic quest to return the world to blue. To do so, Lumote must learn to take control of the Great Depths inhabitants and gain mastery of its puzzles in order to defeat the greatest Mote of them all… the Mastermote!
Platform: PC, PS4, XBO, Switch
Zombie Army 4: Dead War ( 26 April): Zombie Army 4: Dead War is a third-person shooter video game.The game is set in the year 1946, after the events of Zombie Army Trilogy, one year after Adolf Hitler was defeated by the Resistance and banished to hell. Even though the Hellmouth that Hitler opened was closed, the Zombie Menace continued, with innumerable number of the Nazi dead overwhelming and pushing the Allies out of Germany and back into territories such as France and Italy. Without a leader, most of the Living dead are mostly weak and can be easily destroyed as long as their numbers were low, but rumours spread about a cult ensuring that the horde has some cohesion/control. Most of the known world is now referring to the conflict against the Zombie menace as the “Dead War”.
Platforms: Switch
The Serpent Rogue (26 April):The Serpent Rogue is an action-adventure game set in a medieval fantasy world. Master the art of alchemy, explore forgotten lands, and protect the realm from impending disaster. You will craft, brew, boil, & concoct potions all in your stead to defeat an ominous danger! The ominous Serpent Rogue has laid down roots on Mount Morbus. Its evil is spreading quickly, and it threatens to overwhelm the realm. It is your task as the Warden to confront the Serpent Rogue and bring peace and tranquillity to the land. Explore every inch of the map, unearth secret passages, and expand your knowledge to stand against the incoming disaster.
Platforms: PC, PS5, XSX, Switch
Nintendo Switch Sports (29 April): Nintendo Switch Sports consists of three sports from previous installments (tennis, bowling, and swordplay; known as chambara within the game), and three new sports (soccer, volleyball, and badminton).Another sport from a previous installment, golf, was announced as well, and will be issued in a free update sometime this fall.Players utilise the Nintendo Switch’s Joy-Con in a similar manner to the other Wii Sports games, positioning them in a manner resembling the actual sport. The gyroscope functionality embedded within the Joy-Con are used to simulate motion in-game,compared to the usage of the Wii Remote (and occasionally the Nunchuk) to simulate motion in the other games in the series.Alongside Miis, new avatars called “Sportsmates” have been introduced, which have detailed hair and faces as well as arms and legs.Additionally, the Leg Strap accessory introduced in Ring Fit Adventure will be included in the physical copy of the game and will be usable in Soccer. At launch the leg strap will only work for Soccer Shootout-Mode but an update launching sometime this summer will add the functionality to use the leg strap for Soccer matches.The game will be playable both locally on the same system and online. Online will allow play with friends and random matchmaking.
Platform: Switch