We’re Hunting Wild Monsters and looking at some other hot new gaming releases this weekend

This week every major gaming studio stayed out of the way of Capcom, who put out the much awaited Monster Hunter: Wilds. While I would love to spend the morning telling you about the wonders of hunting, fighting, carving and crafting your way to victory, I do believe this gives me an opportunity to shine some light on a few other recent releases that didn’t make the initial cut in previous weeks: Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days collection, and WARRIORS: Abyss.

It puts the Pal in Palico: Monster Hunter: Wilds

Monster Hunter is a franchise that puts you in the shoes of a, well, hunter of monsters. You create a character, pick (two) weapon(s) (new to Wilds!), hunt and fight monsters, then carve them into bits to make armor and weapons to hunt even bigger monsters. Monster Hunter: Wilds is the sequel to Monster Hunter: World, the 2018 re-imagining of the series on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One generation of consoles (as well as PC); World saw larger, more sprawling environments compared to previous titles tiny zones, and brought many changes to bring in new hunters. Wilds appears to be continuing this tradition, bringing us the ability to carry two weapons, a far more open world, and a slew of quality of life changes that should make hunting monsters even easier. That’s not to say there won’t be challenge — as much as the internet hyperbole is that this is the easiest Monster Hunter title to date, the real challenge usually comes further down the road map when special monsters get released.

Do note: it appears that the game is running rather un-optimized on PC which is causing issues for some, which is reflected in its current Steam score. Console might be a better bet at this time if that’s an option for you.

Get Monster Hunter: Wilds for $70 on Steam.

Deliver the Kingdom: Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 has been compared to the jump in quality between CD Projekt Red’s Witcher 2 to Witcher 3; that is to say, they took everything amazing about the previous game and ramped it up to 11. Deliverance 2 is an immersive simulation RPG. You play as Henry of Skalitz, who is on a journey to avenge his murdered parents — but such a journey can lead down many paths, and you will get to explore just how you handle that revenge. Deliverance 2’s world is vast and sprawling, and paying close attention to landmarks could be key to future quests. That crashed wine cart that you stole a bottle of booze from might be called back to in a later quest, and your in game actions carry consequences that ripple through the game world.

Get Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 for $60 on Steam.

It’s time to duel!: Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection

Yu-Gi-Oh! likely needs no introduction, but if for some reason you are unfamiliar with the franchise, it came during the time that deck building games were taking the entertainment world by storm. This spun the manga into multiple anime, dozens of games, and a physical card game. Yu-Gi-Oh! has you playing monsters, traps and spells in order to defeat your opponent’s monsters and bring their player life total from 8000 to 0. Early Days is a collection of many of the Yu-Gi-Oh! game titles that came out back in the Game Boy and Game Boy Advance era, some of which never made it out of Japan. There are 14 titles to choose from, with added functionality like being able to reverse the game so you can replay a turn, or being able to stop and save at any time.

Get Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection for $50 on Steam.

Seriously, stop chasing Lu Bu: WARRIORS: Abyss

WARRIORS: Abyss is KOEI TECMO’s take on bringing the Dynasty Warriors series into the roguelike space, allowing for you to pick a hero to play as from the impressive 100+ character Dynasty Warriors roster. Once you have your character picked, you begin to hack and slash your way through Hell (yes, the Hades inspiration is worn on the sleeve here) and eventually begin collecting up to six allies that can bring surprising combos into the mix. Collecting ice-affiliated allies will add ice damage to your attacks, whereas allies focused on speed will give you an additional evade. Abyss may not be the best looking game, but for a budget title made from older assets, it’s awfully impressive with what it pulls off.

Get WARRIORS: Abyss for $25 on Steam.