Arizona Sunshine Remake

The original Arizona Sunshine from 2016 caused a bit of a stir regarding some of its content being locked behind Intel Core i7 CPUs. Now in 2024, you can play all of that content, including two large DLCs and numerous updates with a ground-up remake to match Arizona Sunshine 2’s visuals. You’re mostly shooting zombies with your two VR hands throughout the linear narrated campaign, but there’s also a lot of quirky environmental interactions that make this a classic VR experience; and best of all, it has three-player co-op to triple the shenanigans. If you own a VR set, Arizona Sunshine Remake is a clear no-brainer.

Warhammer 40K Space Marine 2

Space Marine 2’s multiplayer offerings are tremendous fun, but it’s the solo campaign where the core meat and potatoes of the game are found. The story kicks off where Space Marine 1 left off, with Captain Titus returning to command his squad against the Tyranid swarms after a mortal wound. With a runtime around 10 hours long, Space Marine 2’s campaign is a riotous time filled with spectacular vistas and visceral combat. This is a hack and slash in a lot of ways, but Space Marine 2 emphasizes precise countering more than its predecessor, adding a bit of extra skill to the mix. Grabbing a partner to run through the separate co-op missions is a treat as well, but the AI companions aren’t bad either with their consistent healing and tanky defense. Space Marine 2 feels like a blast from the past with its fast-paced campaign density.

Silent Hill 2 Remake

Remaking a horror masterpiece like Silent Hill 2 is no easy feat, yet Bloober somehow pulled it off with great success. A key ingredient in that success is the expanded environments. The atmospheric hallways and foggy outdoor areas greatly encourage exploration, leading the player to a host of new items and collectables that can be viewed from any angle. Helping you navigate the expanded areas is the new over-the-shoulder camera perspective, which gives further context to environments. The original Silent Hill 2 clocked in at around 12 or so hours, but the remake can easily take double that time from all the added exploration. Still, the remake maintains the dense pacing of the original in spite of this, making it one of the more impressive and scary linear games on this list.

Black Myth Wukong

Black Myth Wukong takes a rather unorthodox approach to level design, seesawing back and forth between corridor-like linearity to wide open environments. Most puzzling of all, there’s no map or navigation tools to assist your exploration in the game. Despite this, we couldn’t help but marvel at the variety of biomes and beauty of environments within the Journey To the West-inspired tale. But it isn’t just some of the environments that proceed linearly, your weapons and armor automatically upgrade as you progress too. Black Myth Wukong is a masterclass in focus; it doesn’t meander and bloat the player’s time with frivolous stuff, instead honing in on what makes it great.

Stellar Blade

If you’re familiar with the way Nier Automata handles level design, you’ll feel at home within Stellar Blade. One area that Stellar Blade expands upon its level design is the engaging collectibles scattered across its environments. You have everything from soda cans to posters and boxes of loot to collect, rewarding you with new costumes for Eve and her companions to wear. The wide-linear nature of the environments hits a sweat spot that always manages to make you feel like you’re progressing forward while giving satisfying room for exploration as you do so. Parts of the story have you strictly going from A to B with collectibles nestled within secret routes off the beaten path, while others are open zones meant for questing and exploration. Stellar Blade excels in the way it mixes urgency and exploration with its wide-linear level design.

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2

Hellblade 2 takes quite a different approach to linear level design. Due to the zoomed-in focus on very specific locations, Ninja Theory managed to go all-out decorating each hand-crafted environment and presenting it all with an unmatched cinematic flair. It’s no exaggeration to say that Hellblade 2 is among the most graphically impressive games to date. This combination of chiseled graphical fidelity with cinematic flair help cement Hellblade 2’s Norse-inspired locations into the player’s memory. It may be a straightforward game in all aspects of its gameplay, but Hellblade 2’s psychologically rich narrative and impressive visual presentation punctuate its linear design with a bold exclamation point.

Mario & Luigi: Brothership

Despite introducing a sailing ship into the Mario & Luigi series, Brothership still follows a more or less traditional critical path. The brothers’ overarching goal this time around is lighting the four Great Lighthouses throughout Concordia’s oceans. The developers made sure each of the four Great Lighthouse dungeons were top-tier, earning the top spot on my list of Mario RPG dungeons. When they’re not puzzling their way through the Great Lighthouse dungeons, Mario & Luigi are busy linking together the distinctly themed islands with the ship. Brothership threads its themes of connections brilliantly through the narrative and humorous writing, forming a cohesive story that impresses despite its basic appearance.

The Plucky Squire

The Plucky Squire mashes together a bunch of different genres onto the framework of a top-down adventure game. A majority of your time is spent swinging around a sword defeating enemies, but the sheer amount of odd little minigames ranging from Punch-Out sequences, to Duck Hunt shootouts, and even some turn-based RPG fun, is chaotically enduring. And then there’s the puzzles that ask you to rearrange sentences for new props to appear inside the picture book you inhabit. And yes, you even get to pop out of the book and into ‘the real world’ several times. The pop-up book aesthetic puts a bow on the whole package, making The Plucky Squire one of the most enduring linear games of the year.

Neva

Like the studio’s previous game Gris, Neva does more than just offer up a compelling platforming game; it’s an emotional audio/visual art piece. The bond between Alba and her wolf pup Neva grows as the seasons change throughout the adventure, manifested in turn by more advanced platforming challenges. Neva differentiates itself from Gris with its emphasis on combo-based combat and precision platforming sequences, providing a punchy and satisfying linear adventure full of heart.

Akimbot

If you’re looking for an old-school action/adventure game that’s as straightforward as it is fun, look no further than Akimbot. Like its Ratchet and Clank inspiration, you have a range of gun types to unload on enemies with through a linear story. The pacing of the action is non-stop, supplying a constant stream of action-platforming fun. And the best thing is its gameplay doesn’t overstay its welcome thanks to a variety of activities and sequences breaking up the usual run-and-gunning (such as the bullet hell sections). Akimbot is one of the those games that’s effortless to just drop in and play without too much thought or prep-work, and I still often get the urge to start up another playthrough many months after completing it.

Lego Horizon Adventures

Despite its open world source material, the Lego-fied version of Horizon Zero Dawn is one of the most linear and straightforward Lego games to date. You play through the basic storyline of Horizon Zero Dawn through linear mission-based levels, returning to the Mother’s Heart hub area in between your excursions. There’s not a ton of exploration in this game except for some smaller open areas and branching paths in the levels, but the hub does allow for some satisfying customization and personalization. Whether you’re a Horizon fan or a Lego connoisseur, you owe it to yourself to play this unique take on the PlayStation IP solo or with two other friends.

Princess Peach Showtime

If you’re looking for a fun mish-mash of different gameplay ideas and themes presented in true Nintendo fashion, Princess Peach Showtime will satisfy. Each stage has a unique theme that completely alters the gameplay and aesthetics, as well as, of course, Peach’s outfit. From lassoing up bandits on a horse to swordfighting through hack and slash dungeons, the creative levels give you reasons to come back and replay them. Like previous Good Feel games, stages are absolutely filled with collectables and secrets, providing solid replay value.

Astro Bot

Unlike Princess Peach or Akimbot, Astro Bot takes a more open approach to some of its levels, taking a cue from something like Super Mario Galaxy. Still, Astro Bot’s levels comprise mostly linear challenges, and oh how fun they are. 3D platforming never felt better than with Astro Bot’s high tech Dual Sense functionality – it goes beyond a mere gimmick, being a primary function of gameplay. Every action in the game is accompanied by a signature rumble from the controller. Each stage is tailored specifically to the PS5 and its controller, providing a unique kind of console experience. Likewise, stages take full advantage of Astro’s abilities in creative and imaginative ways, proving that linearity can be an enormous strength in platforming games.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak

I know, I know, an ongoing JPRG series with a dozen connected games is a hard sell for most folks. But you owe it to yourself to give Trails Through Daybreak the light of day. For one, it forms the beginning of a new arc with a fresh cast of characters set in a different province from previous games. It’s also just a phenomenal turn-based RPG through and through. If you enjoy dialogue-heavy RPG stories with a linear structure that lets you explore its towns at your own pace, Trails Through Daybreak may be the surprise hit that gets you invested into the wider series.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

Not only is this the first Indy game in 15 years, it’s also a return for MachineGames after their run of successful Wolfenstein reboot titles. As previews have observed, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle features a lot of stealth. Its core gameplay revolves less around – well, revolvers – than you’d come to expect, supplying an experience more in line with the Thief series. You’re often hiding  behind baddies to knock them out before finding that ever elusive key to the locked door down the hallway. What we’ve seen of the trailers has us reassured that MachineGames knows what makes Indiana Jones stories so fun charming. Hopefully, the stealth mechanics and story manage to reach the highs that the IP has been lacking in recent years when Indiana Jones and the Great Circle launches December 9^th.

Princess Peach: Showtime!

One day, Nintendo woke up, looked back on how underwhelming Super Princess Peach was, and decided to do something about it. The result is Princess Peach: Showtime!, with Peach harnessing multiple forms across various plays to stop the sorceress Grape and her Sour Bunch. With a fun story, enjoyable gameplay, and solid level design, there’s much to love, even if the performance would have been better.

As of June 30th, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door sold 1.76 million. The remake of the 2004 Nintendo GameCube classic garnered strong critical reviews at launch (as noted in its accolades trailer).

Meanwhile, Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD, based on the 2013 Nintendo 3DS title from Next Level Games, sold 1.19 million units. It launched on June 27th for Nintendo Switch, thus achieving that milestone within three days, so it should be interesting to see its performance in the long term. You can read our review for our thoughts.

Nintendo’s Princess Peach: Showtime! is also confirmed to have sold over 1.3 million units since launching on March 22nd (up from 1.22 million sold as of March 31st). Check out our review here.

The former sold 1.22 million units, while the latter sold 1.12 million as of March 31st. As it stands, Princess Peach: Showtime! has already surpassed 2005’s Super Princess Peach, the last title to have the princess in a starring role. The latter sold 1.15 million copies in roughly 19 months on the Nintendo DS.

As for Mario vs. Donkey Kong, it launched in 2004 and sold 1.37 million copies worldwide as of 2021 on the Game Boy Advance. Whether Nintendo will bring its follow-ups, like Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis, Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem! or even Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars to the Nintendo Switch remains to be seen.

Rise of the Ronin has also maintained decent momentum. Coming in at No. 3, the open world action RPG sold over 12,000 units, with its total sales now within touching distance of the 100k milestone. Meanwhile, the rest of the top 10 is dominated by a number of evergreen first-party Switch titles, including the likes of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe at No. 2, Splatoon 3 at No. 6, Nintendo Switch Sports at No. 7, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons at No. 6.

On the hardware front, all consoles saw sales increases to varying degrees, but the Switch was comfortably the best-selling console of the week, selling over 71,000 units. The PS5 followed behind by quite some margin with over 24,000 units sold.

You can check out the full hardware and physical software sales charts for the week ending April 7 below.

Software sales (followed by lifetime sales):

1. [NSW] Princess Peach: Showtime! – 19,612 (124,432)
2. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 13,055 (5,781,663)
3. [PS5] Rise of the Ronin – 12,080 (96,865)
4. [NSW] Super Mario Bros. Wonder – 9,898 (1,813,645)
5. [NSW] Minecraft – 7,464 (3,491,021)
6. [NSW] Splatoon 3 – 6,569 (4,270,899)
7. [NSW] Nintendo Switch Sports – 6,497 (1,306,180)
8. [NSW] Momotaro Dentetsu World: Chikyuu wa Kibou de Mawatteru!  – 6,189 (1,029,313)
9. [NSW] Animal Crossing: New Horizons – 6,110 (7,735,293)
10. [NSW] Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – 5,507 (5,481,777)

Hardware sale (followed by last week’s sales):

• Nintendo Switch – 71,942 (57,533)
• PS5 – 24,976 (20,846)
• Xbox Series X/S – 2,113 (1,376)

Meanwhile, Dragon’s Dogma 2 dropped down to fifth place, selling over 9,000 units. A number of first-party Nintendo Switch titles occupy positions in the charts beyond that, including the likes of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe at No. 4, Super Mario Bros. Wonder at No. 6, Animal Crossing: New Horizons at No. 9, and Splatoon 3 at No. 10. The only new release in this week’s charts is Koei Tecmo’s Winning Post 10 2024, with its Switch version taking the No. 3 spot (over 12,000 units sold), and its PS5 version coming in at No. 7 (over 6,000 units sold). Collectively, the game sold over 19,000 physical copies in Japan upon release.

On the hardware front, there aren’t any real surprises to speak of. The Switch was once again the best-selling console in Japan last week, moving an additional 57,000-plus units, while the PS5 followed behind with over 20,000 units sold.

You can check out the full hardware and physical software sales charts for the week ending March 31 below.

Software sales (followed by lifetime sales):

1. [NSW] Princess Peach: Showtime! – 27,258 (104,820)
2. [PS5] Rise of the Ronin – 20,139 (84,785)
3. [NSW] Winning Post 10 2024 – 12,845 (New)
4. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 10,432 (5,768,608)
5. [PS5] Dragon’s Dogma 2 – 9,172 (77,764)
6. [NSW] Super Mario Bros. Wonder – 8,163 (1,803,747)
7. [PS5] Winning Post 10 2024 – 6,733 (New)
8. [NSW] Minecraft – 6,618 (3,483,557)
9. [NSW] Animal Crossing: New Horizons – 6,411 (7,729,183)
10. [NSW] Splatoon 3 – 6,172 (4,264,330)

Hardware sale (followed by last week’s sales):

• Nintendo Switch – 57,533 (60,828)
• PS5 – 20,846 (27,788)
• Xbox Series X/S – 1,376 (1,360)

The Switch exclusive sold over 77,000 copies, which is a solid start for the game. In comparison, developer Good-Feel’s previous title, Yoshi’s Crafted World, sold over 50,000 copies upon its Japanese debut. Meanwhile, the last time we got a Princess Peach game – which was Super Princess Peach for the Nintendo DS back in 2005 – it sold over 29,000 units upon release. Recently-released fellow Mario spinoff Mario vs. Donkey Kong, meanwhile, sold over 61,000 units upon launch. Princess Peach: Showtime! has seen higher sales than all of them.

In second place is Dragon’s Dogma 2, selling over 68,000 physical units in Japan upon release. Compared to its predecessor, those are significantly lower numbers. Upon its release in 2012, the original Dragon’s Dogma sold over 321,000 units in Japan, and the sequel has definitely fallen short of those numbers.

Finally, Team Ninja and Sony’s Rise of the Ronin has debuted at No. 3 with over 64,000 units sold. That’s a better launch than Team Ninja’s last game, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, which sold over 47,000 units upon its release last year. However, both Nioh game enjoyed notably better launches, with the first one selling over 89,000 units when it launched in 2017, and the sequel selling over 91,000 units upon its 2020 launch.

On the hardware front, the Nintendo Switch was once again the best-selling console in Japan last week. It moved over 60,000 units, which is a healthy boost from last week’s sales (when it sold over 42,000 units). The PS5 follows behind in second place, with over 27,000 units sold.

You can check out the full hardware and physical software sales charts for the week ending March 24 below.

Software sales (followed by lifetime sales):

1. [NSW] Princess Peach: Showtime! – 77,562 (New)
2. [PS5] Dragon’s Dogma 2 – 68,592 (New)
3. [PS5] Rise of the Ronin – 64,646 (New)
4. [NSW] Dragon Quest 10 Online: The Door to the Future and the Sleeping Girl (Square Enix, 03/21/24) – 17,919 (New)
5. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 9,276 (5,758,176)
6. [NSW] Super Mario Bros. Wonder – 8,118 (1,795,584)
7. [PS4] Dragon Quest 10 Online: The Door to the Future and the Sleeping Girl – 7,333 (New)
8. [PS5] Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth – 7,121 (305,756)
9. [NSW] Mario vs. Donkey Kong – 6,987 (131,428)
10. [NSW] Minecraft – 6,563 (3,476,939)

Hardware sale (followed by last week’s sales):

• Nintendo Switch – 60,828 (42,883)
• PS5 – 27,788 (26,516)
• Xbox Series X/S – 1,360 (1,496)

Capcom’s open world action RPG was “narrowly ahead” of Princess Peach: Showtime!, which slotted in at No. 3, while another new release, Rise of the Ronin, entered the charts at No. 5. Meanwhile, THQ Nordic’s Alone in the Dark reboot came in at No. 6.

Interestingly, as per Dring, owing to the significantly higher share of physical sales that Nintendo Switch games usually see in the UK, Princess Peach: Showtime! has had a “weak launch”, with sales lower than what the Mario vs. Donkey Kong remake managed upon its release last month. Even though Dragon’s Dogma 2 is only “narrowly” ahead of Princess Peach in the physical charts, when accounting for digital sales (data for which will arrive later in the week), it’s likely to have had a much better launch.

Meanwhile, Ubisoft’s Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown re-entered the charts at No. 10, a whopping 693 percent increase in sales from last week, courtesy of Amazon’s Spring Sale.

Rise of Ronin is at No.5, while Alone in the Dark is the final new release in the charts at No.6. Amazon Spring Sale sends games up the charts, including Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown at No.10 (+693% week-on-week). Best to wait on digital to draw conclusions

— Christopher Dring (@Chris_Dring) March 25, 2024

In the UK, Switch games are much more skewed towards the physical market, vs Xbox and PlayStation. Much more. Dragon's Dogma could be 80 – 90% digital, whereas Princess Peach — based on third-party Switch sales — could be 70 – 80% physical.

— Christopher Dring (@Chris_Dring) March 25, 2024

Peach traverses through different plays, rallying the Theets and helping the Sparklas by taking different forms. For instance, Detective Peach investigates and solves mysteries, while Swordfighter Peach is skilled in slicing, dicing and counterattacking. Players can customize the appearance of Stella and Peach with unique patterns and colors by rescuing Ribboner.

There’s also a Heart Charm, which provides three additional hearts to make the game easier. For more details on Princess Peach: Showtime!, check out our feature here. A free demo is also available on the Nintendo eShop, granting access to two forms. Head here for more details.

STORY DETAILS

Princess Peach: Showtime! will begin, as games in the Mario universe often do, in the simplest of ways, with Peach travelling to Sparkle Theater with a group of Toads to attend its newest performance. Things go wrong, however, when the masked villain known as Grape and her minions attack the theater and take it over, after which it falls to Peach to defeat them and put an end to their nefarious plans.

CORE PREMISE

Sparkle Theater will serve as the game’s setting, but it will take many different forms throughout your playthrough. On her journey to defeat Grape, Peach will be moving across several different stages, each with their own unique themes, aesthetics, and gameplay mechanics. From a wild west town to a pleasant grassland to all manner of interior locations, the stages that Peaches will find herself in throughout the game are looking like they will offer quite a bit of variety.

CHARACTERS

With the Mario brothers and her usual cohorts not really part of the picture in Princess Peach: Showtime!, the princess is going to be accompanied by a different cast of characters. Check among them will be the star-shaped Stella, the guardian of the Sparkle Theater who will accompany Peach on her journey, and will grant her the power of her ribbon (more on that in a bit). Then there’s Grape, the antagonist, a masked figure who wishes to turn every play in the theater into a terrifying tragedy. She’ll be looking to do that with the aid of the Sour Bunch, her acting troupe and minions, while stuck in the crossfire and looking to help Peach out however they can will be the Theets, the theater’s actors and residents.

TRANSFORMATIONS

Transformations will serve as the primary gameplay mechanic in Princess Peach: Showtime! Throughout the game, not only will Peach be going through differently themed stages, in each stage, she will also take on a unique form by transformation to fit the theme of her surroundings. Each form will bring with it a new look for Peach, as well as new abilities and mechanics, which in turn will inform how you will interact with things around you, how you’ll traverse the environment with different platforming actions, how you’ll engage in combat with enemies, and more. Nintendo has confirmed 10 transformations for the game- let’s take a look at all of them.

MIGHTY, FIGURE SKATER, DASHING THIEF TRANSFORMATIONS

Starting off, there’s the Mighty Peach transformation, which will see the princess taking on the form of a superhero, complete with a costume. She’ll have the ability to beat the crap out of her enemies with superpowered punches, and she’ll be able to fly. Then there’s Figure Skater Peach, which will see her moving about icy environments with graceful jumps and nimble movements while defeating her foes with spins. The Dashing Thief Peach transformation, meanwhile, will be a much more stealth-oriented one, and will involve using a grapple hook, gliding, sneaking past enemies, and the like.

MERMAID, COWGIRL, SWORDFIGHTER TRANSFORMATIONS

Moving into much more fantastical territory, there’s the Mermaid Peach transformation, where the princess will be able to control schools of fish by singing to them to then reveal hidden pathways to travel through. Cowgirl Peach, on the other hand, will take on a much more action-heavy approach by riding around on the back of her trusty horse and using her lasso to defeat enemies in combat. The Swordfighter Peach transformation, meanwhile, will do exactly what its name suggests, equipping the princess with a sword and allowing her to deal with enemies using graceful slashes, dodges, and counterattacks.

PATISSIERE, KUNG FU, DETECTIVE, AND NINJA TRANSFORMATIONS

Patissiere Peach is looking like it’ll be one of the more interesting transformations in the game, giving Peach the ability to bake and decorate all manner of sweets, but also imposing time limits as you do so. Then there’s the Kung Fu Peach transformation, which will let players let their acrobatic kicks and punches do the talking when facing the Sour Bunch. The Detective Peach transformation, meanwhile, will task you with solving a mystery by uncovering clues and putting the pieces together. And finally, Ninja Peach, as you might imagine, will blend acrobatic platforming, nimble combat, and sneaky tactics.

PEACH’S RIBBON

Transformation will obviously serve as the central gameplay mechanic in Princess Peach: Showtime! but beyond that, Peach ribbon will also be something you will be getting a lot of use out of. Empowered by Stella, the ribbon will allow Peach to interact with different things in a variety of different ways. On top of serving as her weapon when she’s in her regular form, using her ribbon, the princess will also be able to rally the Theets and enlist their aid, interact with props and the stage, and activate platforms that will allow her to transform.

BUILT ON UNREAL ENGINE

Very rarely do you see a first-party, in-house Nintendo game being developed using an external engine, but Princess Peach: Showtime! is one of those rare examples. The game has been built on Unreal Engine 4, which, interestingly enough, makes it the third Nintendo game in the last few years to have used Epic’s toolkit for development, after Yoshi’s Crafted World in 2019 and Pikmin 4 last year.

SPECIAL EDITION JOY-CONS

Nintendo has a habit of releasing special edition hardware and accessories alongside its first-party games, and it’ll be doing a little bit of that with Princess Peach: Showtime! as well. When the game launches on March 22, it’ll do so alongside a new Pastel Pink Joy-con set for the Nintendo Switch. Nintendo has confirmed that the new Joy-con colour is only going to be available for a limited time, but hasn’t yet revealed any specifics on just how limited it will be.

FILE SIZE

Owing to their very nature, games on the Nintendo Switch tend to have pretty miniscule file sizes, especially by modern standards, and that’s double true for first-party games releasing for the system. Unsurprisingly, Princess Peach: Showtime! isn’t going to break tradition on that front. According to the game’s eShop page, it will require just 4.7 GB of free storage space on your console. Even by Nintendo Switch standards, that’s pretty low.