December 2023 New Games Thread

[Violentvixen]

Thread concept:
The basic idea is to list new games that you are interested in, as well as games you are potentially curious about or want to give wider attention to. You can briefly describe them or ask other people to help fill you in. The hope is that regular threads like these can act as a collective filter/discovery mechanism to help people decide what is worth checking out.

"New games" means any new title that is being released or ported this month in any capacity (not "backlogs/what you are playing this month"). The angle here is sharing your anticipation and promoting game discovery (as opposed to sharing comments about a first playthrough in progress - that belongs elsewhere).

• If you want a handy list that covers most of the major upcoming games of the month, here's a few text lists of upcoming games:
  • Giant Bomb
  • Game Informer
  • Wikipedia

Here are the subscription service lists for this month:

Gamepass

• Spirit of the North (Cloud, Console, and PC) – December 1
• SteamWorld Build (Xbox One/Xbox Series X) - December 1
• Clone Drone in the Danger Zone (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – December 5
• Rise of the Tomb Raider (Cloud, Console, and PC) – December 5
• While the Iron’s Hot (Cloud, Console, and PC) – December 5
• World War Z: Aftermath (Cloud, Console, and PC) – December 5
• Goat Simulator 3 (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) – December 7
• Against the Storm (PC) - December 8
• Tin Hearts (Cloud, Console, and PC) – December 12
• Far Cry 6 (Cloud, Console, and PC) – December 14
• Sounds like there may be more added after the Game Awards on Dec 7th?

PS+

• Lego 2K Drive Dec 5th
• PowerWash Simulator Dec 5th
• Sable Dec 5th

Feel free to post other lists or list videos that you find useful.
If there is already a thread on TT about a game, please add a link to it.

Final request: If you are the first person to mention a game please provide (at minimum) a short sentence description. (If it is a very big AAA release though, then don't worry about it.) This is a good convention that makes the thread more useful as a discovery mechanism, and especially helps out anyone who doesn't follow the news as closely as you.

 

[Violentvixen]

Wanted to highlight that the free PS+ December game Sable has a thread here.

The new Sonic game Dream Team comes out Dec 5th, but it's only on Apple... something. Looks like my older laptop can't run it from the specs. I'm still playing through Superstars on Switch. Cool intro movie though.

Also wanted to note that Wingspan Oceania expansion on Steam comes out on the 12th. I played the beta and it was a little too complex for me but I like simpler board games than a lot of people on here.

Anyway, not picking anything up for myself this month for Santa Law and also I have a huge backlog of stuff to play, especially on Gamepass from earlier this year. Want to play those before they're gone or my membership runs out.

 

[WildcatJF]

December's got a LOT of Taito stuff coming out: the LD Game Collection brings together three of Taito's efforts in the Laserdisc adventure genre, Time Gal, Space Battleship Yamato, and Revenge of the Ninja, and the collector's edition has a brand new Time Gal game, Re:Birth, which looks to be a pretty quick and dirty text adventure with minimal animation, but it's...new? lol Here's the OP for the new game as Taito seemingly didn't release a trailer for the collection proper:

Taito also has their second SD Card expansion for the Egret II Mini, so I'll just let the trailer do the talking for me:

Good Feel's new Goemon-like 御伽活劇 豆狸のバケル ～オラクル祭太郎の祭難 (Fairy Tales Bakel the Raccoon Dog ~Oracle Matsuri Taro's Sorrows) comes out today in Japan, so technically I'm getting it in December, lol:

That's it for me.

 

[YangusKhan]

Dragon Quest Monsters: Dark Prince, which comes out tomorrow.

 

[Lokii]

PS+

• PowerWash Simulator Dec 5th
• Sable Dec 5th

Nice! My stingyness patience payed off!

Mostly I'm hyped for Gensei Sukioden Plus, which releases today but its basically a December game come on. There's like no information on the English web about it and I'm excited to see what it's all about.

 

[WildcatJF]

Mostly I'm hyped for Gensei Sukioden Plus, which releases today but its basically a December game come on. There's like no information on the English web about it and I'm excited to see what it's all about.

I'm intrigued by this as well, but I'll have to wait til next year to pick it up. Please share thoughts!

 

[Bongo]

I'm also curious enough about Gensesuikoden Plus, a cult classic remembered for having many hidden branches. I don't know what to expect, but I'll take it for a spin.

I tried the demo for Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince and that was enough to convince me to go for it. Compared to the last time I played a DQM game, which was literally the first one on GBC, it feels smooth, transparent, and generous: the UI prioritizes convenience and efficiency rather than the diegetic contrivances that enhance the mood of mainline DQ; the important information about your monsters is close at hand right at the place you want to know it; and everything you do seems to increase your progress toward something or other. Looking forward to a long and comfortable grind.

One that I'm not so sure about is Princess Maker 2 Regeneration, a remake of the 1993 original with redrawn art. A pirate copy of the otherwise-unreleased-in-English original was one of the first management simulator I ever got into, alongside Monster Rancher 2, and is foundational to a whole subgenre despite or perhaps because of being deeply problematic. Been a long time since I touched it and I don't know if it would still hold any appeal to me. But it's on my radar due to its historical significance, if nothing else. I feel like management sims are better the more you know about them.

 

[Violentvixen]

ne that I'm not so sure about is Princess Maker 2 Regeneration, a remake of the 1993 original with redrawn art. A pirate copy of the otherwise-unreleased-in-English original was one of the first management simulator I ever got into, alongside Monster Rancher 2, and is foundational to a whole subgenre despite or perhaps because of being deeply problematic. Been a long time since I touched it and I don't know if it would still hold any appeal to me. But it's on my radar due to its historical significance, if nothing else. I feel like management sims are better the more you know about them.

Looks like that got delayed to next May.

 

[gogglebob]

December's got a LOT of Taito stuff coming out: the LD Game Collection brings together three of Taito's efforts in the Laserdisc adventure genre, Time Gal, Space Battleship Yamato, and Revenge of the Ninja, and the collector's edition has a brand new Time Gal game, Re:Birth, which looks to be a pretty quick and dirty text adventure with minimal animation, but it's...new? lol Here's the OP for the new game as Taito seemingly didn't release a trailer for the collection proper

Any results I found were difficult to parse on this subject: is this (particularly TG Re:Birth) releasing in English?

 

[WildcatJF]

Currently it has not been announced by Taito's usual localizer ININ/Strictly Limited Games...they may be waiting to say something closer to release, but we'll have to see.

 

[Violentvixen]

Oh, I just learned that A Highland Song comes out on the 5th. I was interested in this based on the brief view of it in the last Nintendo Direct. It is coming out on Steam as well but it has just come to my attention that it might be a rhythm game, which is bad news for me because I'm very bad at those. Maybe I totally missed this on the announcements, but definitely going to learn a bit more about how this game works before I buy it. Still looks very neat though.

 

[WildcatJF]

I'm very interested in A Highland Song but that'll probably need to need to wait til next year for me to pick up.