Welcome to Digitally Downloaded’s weekly catch-up news feature, the catch-up coffee. With each issue I 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)!
Ooblets is imminent
That’s right, it’s time for me to ramble about card-based battle game slash farming sim slash creature collector Ooblets! I’ve played well over a hundred hours of the game in Early Access on Xbox One; I wait for each update with the anticipation of a child awaiting Christmas. Finally, the big update is about to happen: the game will be leaving Early Access and launching version 1.0 within the coming weeks. Ooblets is the second of the five games I’m looking forward to this year to release – see the others here.
Glumberland posted about Ooblets 1.0, stating, “Ooblets has grown immensely since its Early Access release in the summer of 2020, with new regions, ooblets, crops, story content, systems, and many quality of life updates already released for Early Access players. Now with its 1.0 release, whether players have played during the Early Access period or waited patiently, the team is excited for players to experience the full breadth of Ooblets. The 1.0 release of Ooblets will include everything previously released as well as multiple new locations to visit, new quests / clothes / ooblets, and the conclusion to the game’s main storyline.”
Developed and published by Glumberland, Ooblets will be released for PC via Epic, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One on September 1. Nintendo eShop pre-orders are now open (and heavily discounted). A physical version will be released for Nintendo Switch later this year courtesy of Fangamer (of course, yes, I’ve already pre-ordered it).
Seven song packs announced for Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Mega Mix
Ooblets is one of the few things that would have me move precious Miku news to the second slot. Miku, please forgive me! SEGA will be releasing seven (yes, that’s right, seven) new Song Packs for Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Mega Mix on August 24, which adds 72 new songs to the game. The packs will be available separately, or together as DLC Bundle 3. There are is a LOT to unpack here, too much to possibly fit in the catch-up, so I’ll list some of the songs from each pack to whet your appetites. Here’s an older gameplay trailer in case you’re not 100% sure what the game is like:
Songs from Song Pack 12 include Innocence (music and lyrics by KazuP), Disruptive Diva (music and lyrics by Machigerita), and Equation+** (music and lyrics by Powapowa-P). Songs from Song Pack 13 include Requiem for the Phantasma [25,Dec] (music and lyrics by Deadball-P), Gothic and Loneliness ~I’m the very DIVA~ (music and lyrics by narushima takashi), and The Star Maker (music and lyrics by Mazo-P). Songs from Song Pack 14 include Far Away (music and lyrics by kz), Ookami Girl (music and lyrics by Kura-P), and Mellow Yellow (music by Melissa-P and lyrics by Aien-P). Songs from Song Pack 15 include Hinekuremono (music and lyrics by ryo), Transparent Watercolors (music and lyrics by Yasuo), and Step Forward (music by Chesa and lyrics by Ena-Yuzuru).
Songs from Song Pack 16 include Dreaming Leaf -Yume Miru Kotonoha- (music and lyrics by OSTER project), Ame Nochi Sweet*Drops (music and lyrics by OSTER project), and Perico Space Shipper (music and lyrics by Onecup-P ). Songs from Song Pack 17 include Pink Moon (music and lyrics by Mojo-P), Liar Betty (music by PolyphonicBranch and lyrics by Hana Usagi), and Gizmo (music and lyrics by uguis08). Songs from Song Pack 18 include Lucid Dreaming (music by Kue (Naive-P) and lyrics by Touka Hako), Biroudo Arabesque (music and lyrics by Hata Aki), and Tsuki Mukou Made no Travel (music and lyrics by vilP).
The original Life is Strange is finally on its way to Switch
It’s been a long wait, but at least it’s almost up. Life is Strange: Remastered Collection launched for Stadia, PC via Steam, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on February 1, but the Switch version wasn’t quite ready yet. Well, it’s ready, and it’s been packaged under a new title – Life is Strange: Arcadia Bay Collection. It includes Life is Strange Remastered and Life is Strange: Before the Storm remastered. These games cover all the action in the series that takes place in, shocking, Arcadia Bay. For more about these characters, there is a comic series (a good one, too).
In Life is Strange, Max moves back to her hometown to live in the dorms and attend high school. A photographer at heart, she’s there for the excellent photo program. But things go wrong… very wrong… and Max learns she has the ability to go back in time. Oh, and it’s basically a murder mystery, an excellent one at that. Life is Strange: Before the Storm follows Max’s best friend Chloe in the time Max was gone. Chloe makes a new friend in Rachel Amber, but Rachel Amber ends up missing.
Life is Strange: Arcadia Bay Collection will be released physically and digitally for Nintendo Switch on September 27.
Beacon Pines launches this September
A cute and creepy adventure set within a mysterious book, Beacon Pines is just about ready for its release. As an added bonus, a Nintendo Switch version has been added! Players take on two roles: the book’s reader and the book’s main character (Luka).
Something funky is going on at the old warehouse, and Luka and his friends appear to be the only ones who have noticed. Sneak out late, make new friends uncover truths, and collect words that will change the course of fate. These words are found on special golden charms, each with a different word. Use the charms at specific points in the game to fill in a blank word, and change everything that will happen afterwords. There are, of course, different story paths. To help, players can use The Chronicle: an interactive story tree that branches and grows along with the choices made. Exploring one branch can unlock new charms to be used in another, making it necessary to jump back and forth between different versions of the story.
Developed by Hiding Spot Games and published by Fellow Traveller, Beacon Pines will be released for PC via Steam, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One on September 22.
