Close out March with some new game releases, from tower defense to a new soulslike

March’s ending is looking cold in my area, so it’s the perfect time to bundle up inside before the warm weather arrives and check out some new games that came out over the last week. This week we’re going to cover a new Souls-like (there were two this week, but we’re only going to cover one of them: The First Berserker: Khazan), a dark immersive storytelling game (KARMA: The Dark World), a sequel to a great Fire Emblem-esque title (Dark Deity 2), and last but certainly not least, a game that mixes the joy of LEGO with the tower defense genre (Cataclismo).

Let’s get into it!

Dungeon Fighter Online meets Dark Souls: The First Berserker: Khazan

Perhaps the first Dungeon Fighter Online spinoff that I can think of, The First Berserker: Khazan tells the story of General Khazan, leader of the Pell Los Empire’s military, who was falsely branded as a traitor and sent to his death. Narrowly escaping his demise, Khazan makes a pact with the Blade Phantom — a ghostly, otherworldly entity that surely can’t be evil right? — so that he can get his revenge. A soulslike through and through, Khazan does actually have a difficulty setting for newer players, and has added some quality of life features such as getting experience points for how much health you manage to take off a boss, even if you don’t beat them (so you are always failing forward!). Early reviews say the story may not be the strongest and the world itself might be a bit repetitive, but the boss fights are where these games shine and I hear Khazan has some really, really cool ones.

Get The First Berserker: Khazan for $60 on Steam.

Dystopian Crime Thriller: KARMA: The Dark World

Cinematic first-person games are becoming more popular in recent times; gone are the days where they are referred to simply as “walking simulators” and instead have become the home to dark thrillers or psychological horror, such as we have with KARMA. KARMA has you take the role of Daniel McGovern, an agent of the Leviathan Corporation’s Thought Bureau during an alternate version of 1984 East Germany — and it’s here that you will use Leviathan’s technology to dig deep into the minds of suspects, touching their darkest thoughts, and struggling to find the seams between reality and sanity.

Get KARMA: The Dark World for $23 on Steam.

Level Up! +5 Luck: Dark Deity 2

Every time I think the tactical RPG genre is fading into existence, a new title comes to the surface to bring back my love for it — and Dark Deity 2 looks to be the current breath of fresh air given to the genre as a whole. Taking place 25 years after Dark Deity, the sequel has you playing as the descendants of the first game as they’re forced to immediately fend off a holy empire border nation who is bent on taking control of their weakened country after the strife of the first game. If you haven’t played the first one, you really don’t need to play it to play the sequel — you know how it goes; a country barely survives a war, begins to rebuild and fortify in case of future conflict only to get tested before they’ve completed their preparations.

Where Dark Deity 2 really shines is where it begins to split from the Fire Emblem formula, letting armor and equipment radically change how classes play and interact with each other, as well as making choices between shattered factions alter the future states of the game. Add in the developers seeing popular modes the community liked, such as randomizers, and making them an official part of the release and Dark Deity 2 is one to not pass up on if you’re a fan of the genre.

Get Dark Deity 2 for $20 on Steam.

LEGO x Tower Defense: Cataclismo

Cataclismo has a very neat premise: there was a great disaster (the Cataclismo) which nearly ended the world, leaving behind evil beings known as the Horrors who are attempting to exterminate humanity. It’s now up to you to build fortresses to hold back the Horrors, using your own imagination (or downloading community-made blueprints) to design fortifications to hold back the evils and save humanity itself. While this doesn’t sound like it’s anything new to the genre itself, the neatest part is that the fortress building looks and feels like trying to build homemade LEGO castles in the living room as a kid, allowing you to do many of the same things you could do then: build weak bridges that collapse onto enemy lines traversing under them, or lining a wall with archers to pepper the enemy from the sky.

Get Cataclismo for $20 on Steam.