The start of Quarter 2. April 2024 was a pretty active month with ten (10) games releasing in the month. What makes it more interesting is that those 10 releases were to only 4 of our F.C. Publishers! So, this month was especially active for Bearded Champions, Dougsvest Digital, Homie Don’t Play Games, & Wolfpack Games and because of their success (or relative lack thereof) we can see the movement in their league standings.
As of April 30th, this is how the league is stacking up:
And these were the games that released in April 2024:
- Biomorph – 2.5 points
- Children of the Sun – 11 points
- Harold Halibut – 2.8 points
- Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes – 6.4 points
- Tales of Kenzera: ZAU – 6.5 points
- SaGa Emerald Beyond – 3.6 points
- Another Crab’s Treasure – 8.5 points
- Sand Land – 2.8 points
- Stellar Blade – 12.2 points (highest score for the month)
- Top Spin 2K25 – 6.3 points
So, while Micah & Dougsvest Digital was able to pick up ~15 points or so, he fell from 1st place to 2nd place this month, being usurped by Adam & Bearded Champions who picked up ~17.3 points. Jeff & Wolfpack Games climbed from 6th to 5th place despite losing 6.4 points to the “Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes” counter-pick. And finally, even though he received negative -3.6 points from counter-picking “SaGa Emerald Beyond”, Josh & Homie Don’t Play Games climbed out of the basement from 10th place to 9th place. (Leaving Eddie & Crystal Cross Games in the basement for now)
Looking ahead to May we can see that there aren’t a lot of AAA world shakers lined up for this month with the clear exception of Jeff’s & Wolfpack Games’ 1st round pick: “Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2”. The review cycle for that game will definitely be one to watch as I know many of us are looking forward to seeing how Ninja Theory have improved the formula with their long-awaited sequel to Hellbalde: Senua’s Sacrifice. I look forward to seeing if this propels Jeff way up the standings!
Aside from that game I don’t know quite enough about a lot of these games to pick which ones we should look out for in May. So, instead of giving a few games that I’m looking forward to or games that I will be interested in seeing how well they score, I will instead provide you all with links to previews of the games coming out this month. This will be a great way for us (me in particular) to learn more about the games that are releasing this month and learn if we were foolish for letting certain games go to other publishers. I personally hope that we see some awesome games come out that surprise all of us and make us think, “I gotta pick that one up!”
Cryptmaster [Akupara Games] (May 9th) – https://www.rpgsite.net/preview/15227-cryptmaster-hopes-youre-ready-to-tackle-your-vocabulary
Animal Well [Billy Basso, Shared Memory LLC / Bigmode] (May 9th) – https://www.escapistmagazine.com/animal-well-preview-indie-metroidvania/
Homeworld 3 [Blackbird Interactive / Gearbox Publishing] (May 13th) – https://www.pcgamer.com/homeworld-3-trailer-ships-news/
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes [Simogo / Annapurna Interactive] (May 16th) – https://www.engadget.com/lorelei-and-the-laser-eyes-preview-this-may-be-my-goty-140030011.html
Paper Trail [Newfangled Games] (May 21st) – https://www.thegamer.com/paper-trail-preview-wasd/
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II [Ninja Theory / Xbox Games Studios] (May 21st) – https://www.ign.com/articles/hellblade-2-is-shaping-up-to-be-another-beautiful-nightmare
Capes [Spitfire Interactive / Daedalic Entertainment] (May 29th) – https://nintendoeverything.com/capes-release-date-set-for-may-new-trailer/
Nine Sols [Red Candle Games] (May 29th) – https://www.polygon.com/23003478/nine-sols-red-candle-games-gameplay-reveal-trailer
That’s all that I have for this month’s newsletter! I’m looking forward to next month as I think we’ll have a pretty good idea of what the summer season (with its many announcements) will start to look like. Until then…
Take care & God Bless,
Alex C.
Deer Critics League 