Ryosuke isn't just your regular high-school kid — Ryosuke is Bat Boy! He and his fellow sports-star friends secretly battle against the evil invading forces of interdimensional mage Lord Vicious, hellbent on hosting sinister athletic events for his own amusement. When Lord Vicious brainwashes Bat Boy’s fellow squad in order to participate in the Trials of Darkness, it’s up to Bat Boy to traverse a hostile world on his quest to free the minds of his sports-hero squad before they fall victim to the Trials. Along the way, Bat Boy will encounter all manner of allies and goons as he fights his way to the final confrontation with Lord Vicious.
Bat Boy Features:
Traverse glorious, nostalgic 8-bit backdrops.
Engage in exciting baseball-style combat.
Explore a vast world of unique and exciting environments, ultimately leading to a showdown with one of Bat Boy’s brainwashed allies!
Take on the powers of each ally as you free them from the influence of Lord Vicious!
Hum and bob your head along to high-octane chiptunes from Evader Music, composer for Smelter and Super Sami Roll.
Battle dozens of enemies and exciting bosses, and encounter intriguing companions!
Find hidden secrets, collectibles, unlockable music, and more!
Bat Boy launches across Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam on May 25, 2023.
Filled with love and nostalgia for the PS1/N64 era of gaming, Frogun Encore is a dashing standalone follow-up to indie hit FROGUN! Intrepid ruin explorer Renata and her best friend talking frog-gun return, along with Jake and more pals, in a journey across the whole world to prevent the return of Lord Beelzebub.
Watch the official reveal trailer below and check out the first screenshots.
Frogun Encore launches on Xbox Series, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Switch, and PC via Steam in August.
Xbox Live Gold & Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers get exclusive access to Star Wars Episode I Racer and Hoa for a limited time as part of Games With Gold throughout May.
Xbox Live Gold members get exclusive access to these games for a limited time as part of Games with Gold during the month of November. So will Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members, who receive all the fantastic benefits of Gold plus access to over 100 high-quality games with Xbox Game Pass.
Climb on and strap in for some old-school “Star Wars Episode I” podracing action. Play as young Anakin Skywalker or any of the over twenty-one podracers. Fire up your two massive jet engines and rev up to 600 MPH as you race by and over flaming methane lakes, through meteor showers, past Tusken Raiders, and more. May the Force be with you!
Star Wars Episode I Racer will be available May 1st to May 31st.
Travel through the beautiful, mythologically inspired world of Hoa. Play as the titular fairy returning to her homeland to reinvigorate the terrain and its inhabitants. This is a soothing, meditative puzzle-platformer which will utterly charm you with hand-painted art and a beautiful score. Lose yourself in the little wonders.
Hoa (normally $14.99) will be available May 16th to June 15th
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers get all the benefits of Xbox Live Gold, hundreds of high-quality games you can play on console, PC, and across devices from the Cloud, and access to EA Play at no extra cost.
Dear Villagers announced a huge rebranding. The boutique publishing label, which has a team of over 20 people, was founded in 2018 as part of Plug In Digital. It has since evolved into its own distinctive and lively ecosystem. Check out upcoming titles at PAX East!
Having already released such successful, beloved and award-winning titles at The Forgotten City, The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk, Foretales, Souldiers, and Edge Of Eternity, Dear Villagers has carved a niche for itself as an indie game publisher that partners with developers focused on narrative and world-building, making games that will be memorable long after the credits have rolled.
To commemorate this rebrand, Dear Villagers has revealed its all new logo up above. Developed with marketing agency Combostrike, it’s a joyful village, a reminder that almost every endeavor in our industry is a group effort. There’s a reason for the expression “it takes a village”. The colors are inspired by landscapes from the south of France, where Dear Villagers is based, full of olive trees and lavender fields.
Dear Villagers also revealed its new key art. Realized by an artist from Toulouse called Sylvain Tohad, and his studio Umeshu Lovers, this painting represents the company’s vision of its welcoming little village, getting ready to celebrate.
Inescapable is a social thriller set in a tropical island resort: you’ve been kidnapped and forced to participate in a twisted reality TV show with 10 strangers. At the end of their stay, they’ll each receive $500,000... If they survive.
On the island, there are no rules or laws for the contestants to follow. Their only imperatives are to survive and to entertain the depraved audience of the Dark Web TV show on which they find themselves. Inescapable’s story explores human nature and how far people will go for social clout, wealth, and their own desires—and how much further they might be willing to go when they have permission to ignore the rules.
A new publishing label called Short N Sweet Games has announced its mission to deliver high-quality indie games that can be enjoyed in short sessions on consoles and PC.
Short N Sweet enters the spotlight announcing four new games, Mirrored Souls, Holy Hunt, UDO, and Food Boy, which will be released on Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, and PC during 2023. This varied line-up mixes a wide variety of genres and visual styles, from tributes to classic games to pixel art roguelikes or platformers, but they share the Short N Sweet principles in common: quality over quantity (good games don’t need to overstay their welcome with filler!), simplicity (so players can enjoy a carefree experience even between an AAA title and the next) and affordability (players get a good deal for great games while devs and the publisher get fair compensations).
Upcoming Games
Mirrored Souls (The Bricks Studio)
In this 2D "single-player-coop" puzzle-platformer, players have to reunite Ravi and Daru, two celestial beings separated in a mirrored world. Control both characters at the same time in a mirrored screen while jumping and pushing your way through a bevy of beautifully illustrated scenarios to solve challenging, mind-bending Braid-like puzzles.
Holy Hunt (Artificial)
Faith, Guns and your Holy Punch are your only chance to survive the hordes of demons in this 8-bit retro top-down shooter. Go back to the 8-bit Nintendo era in a punishing, fast and precise action-packed gameplay world that urges you to be fearless and persevering. Get the most out of your enemies in an unique bullet-based game loop by using your arsenal of bullet types and blessings from angels to stop the four horseman and a prevent the doomsday prophecy.
UDO (Blue Firefly)
Dig through a mysterious planet in a delicious arcade down-scroller roguelike that basically challenges you to dig deeper and deeper into a hole with an oversized drill! Go deeper to find mysterious technologies, improve your drill and make each run unique while being surrounded by creatures that definitely don’t want you there.
Food Boy (Dopamin Game Studio)
Paperboy meets Food Delivery Service! Inspired by the classic Paperboy, Foodboy gets players to deliver pizzas in urban environments in an exciting arcade format. Make perfect deliveries and knock out furious customers to get the highest scores and unlock new cities and challenges!
Short N Sweet aspires to be a label that will provide opportunities, no matter the developers previous experience, to get their names out there with scope-aware products that will generate both fun and revenue
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