News by Lindsay M. and Matt S.
Welcome to Digitally Downloaded’s regular catch-up news feature. With each issue we will bring you the best news that you may have missed. Grab the biggest mug you’ve got, fill it with your favourite brew, and catch up with us (and our favourite news anchor, Dee Dee)!
It’s always a good day when NISA announces a new dungeon crawler
By Matt S., Editor-in-Chief
NISA held a major media event over the weekend, and made a number of really nice announcements. The pick of the bunch for me would have to be the news that Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven Of Dusk is headed to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Steam.
Labyrinth of Refrain is a first person dungeon crawler, in the vein of Etrian Odyssey and Demon Gaze. It looks like a fairly clean, straightforward example of the genre, and promises big maps, plenty of party and character customisation, and fast paced combat. Not that you’ll get much of a sense of any of that from the teaser trailer, above. But hey, I’m sure you’re teased by it.
The game will be released in Autumn/Fall in America and Europe (so, Spring in Australia and New Zealand). I’m sure we’ll hear plenty more about the game between now and then.
It’s always a good day when NISA talks The 25th Ward
By Lindsay M., News Editor
It feels like I’ve been waiting since 1999 for this news, although in reality it’s only been months since The 25th Ward: The Silver Case was announced. A sequel to The Silver Case, which was originally released just prior to the millennium and recently received a remaster, NIS America is bringing the title to Western audiences this March.
The game is set five years after The Silver Case in the “new” 25th Ward. A woman is found murdered in an apartment complex, setting off random events that are thread through three different people, including a familiar face from The Silver Case… or ar the events random at all? The 25th Ward is a Suda 51 game through and through, featuring an exceptionally bleak view at a future world.
The 25th Ward: The Silver Case will be launched both physically and digitally for PlayStation 4 and digitally for PC via Steam. The PS4 version will be available March 13 in North America and March 16 in Europe, whereas the PC version will be available worldwide on March 13.
It’s always a good day when NISA releases a trailer with lots of swimwear
By Matt S., Editor-in-Chief
SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy is a fighting game that’s worth looking forward to. Celebrating 40 years of SNK, the company is bringing together all of its most popular and beloved female characters together for an all-girl brawlers. And it looks good.
The other thing about the game is that it’s got a lot of fanservice. A lot. And that’s what this new trailer has been designed to show off. In SNK Heroines you’ll have the traditional costume for each lady, as well as three unlockable costumes which can be earned. That’s where the fanservice comes in.
Bikinis? Check! Greek Goddess cosplay? Check! Wedding dress? Sure why not! Harem costume? Could it get any better! No idea if there will be DLC on top of all this, but these costumes alone make the game as close to Dead or Alive as any other fighting game we’ve seen to date. This one releases in the middle of the year on PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch.
It’s always a good day when NISA brings Happy Birthdays West
By Lindsay M., News Editor
Na na na na na na, they say it’s your birthday! But it feels like mine, because NIS America is officially bringing the Switch version of Birthdays the Beginning to Western audiences. Originally only announced for Japan, Happy Birthdays is the new (and adorable) title for the familiar game released to mixed fan reactions last year.
The title features a few changes to the original, including an updated user interface. Birthdays the Beginning / Happy Birthdays is a sandbox game where players breath life into diverse worlds featuring unique life forms. You’ll begin at… well, the beginning: single-called organisms can be slowly transformed to complex life.
Happy Birthdays will drop in Japan on March 29, whereas it will be released in North America and Europe this summer, or winter for all of those Down Under.
