Welcome back to our little videogame shop! Within the last month in the gaming world: fan-favorite MOBA Gigantic made its return to form, supernatural sniper-puzzler Children of the Sun released to plenty of community praise on Steam, and both Sea of Thieves and Grounded made their multiplatform debuts. (Ever tried using Discord's cross-platform voice chat on Xbox or PS5 before?) 

Our roster of Discord Staff gaming specialists have been playing games new and old this month, and they’re ready to dish out the deets on what they’re playing as of late. 

This month, we’ve got Alex, Emi, Matt, and Cody coming together in the store’s break room to discuss what they recommend you check out. 

Without further ado, let’s see what they’ve got to share:

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Nice to see you again, friend! What’s your Staff Pick for April?

2024 started with a few months of quality but long and narrative-heavy RPG releases (Infinite Wealth, FFVII Rebirth, Dragon’s Dogma 2, etc.) so I’m recommending something to serve as a little respite before the RPG releases pick up again. 

My Staff Pick for April is Crypt of the Necrodancer or its Zelda-themed spinoff, Cadence of Hyrule. Both are roguelikes but make the pressure of potentially dying and losing all your progress better because of their tracks by Danny Baranowsky (The Binding of Isaac, Super Meat Boy).

As I noted last month, a game’s soundtrack contributes heavily to if a game makes my list. But Crypt of the Necrodancer and Cadence of Hyrule take “immersive soundtrack” to another level. In addition to your usual dungeon-crawling fare, these roguelikes are part rhythm game and require you to move and attack to the beat of the BGM for score multipliers and stronger attacks. 

A sequel, Rift of the Necrodancer, was announced one year ago today and is slated for release sometime in 2024. Consider adding one or both of these games to your regular rotation as a palate cleanser between intense RPGs and to gear up for Rift’s release later this year!

Around the United States, spring is in full bloom! Do your gaming habits ever change with the seasons? 

No, I usually play games right when they come out and buy a digital copy in addition to the physical so I can play right at release time. Even the few live service games I play have set content release schedules (ie. expansions in MMOs). So, if anything, my gaming habits just revolve around the seasons of game releases.

Any games you’re looking forward to playing in the next month, either new or from the backlog?

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, a game I backed 4 years ago, is finally coming out on April 23rd. “2024” seemed like such an unreachable year back in July of 2020, but here we are. I’m writing this before the game has come out, otherwise it might’ve been my Staff Pick for the month. Check back to see if it holds up and receives my rec in a future post.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is also coming out for Switch on May 23rd, and I’m so excited I can play it without having to buy a $100+ second-hand GameCube disc (was pretty close to biting the bullet though last year).

‍Nice to see you again, friend! What’s your Staff Pick for April?

I’ve been playing a lot of Tabletop Simulator lately! I’ve had a bit more time to get friends together on Discord this month, and we’ve really been enjoying having chill nights. People can drop in or out as needed, and there are thousands of mods you can add to the game. 

Sometimes the table gets flipped, but at least I don’t have to clean it. If you want a tabletop card game that’s already set up, Puzzline is also reasonably chill, but with a smidge of chaos.

Around the United States, spring is in full bloom! Do your gaming habits ever change with the seasons? 

I think a bit, yes! I live in a city with four seasons, so when it’s warmer out, I find myself outside or traveling a lot more. 

My Nintendo Switch always comes with me, and I also end up playing more mobile games on my phone just because it’s available. While I’ve had quite a few afternoons in the park with Animal Crossing: New Horizons and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, I still think my PC games are played the most.

Any games you’re looking forward to playing in the next month, either new or from the backlog?

I spend most of my time playing multiplayer games, so I’ve built up a (thankfully short) list of games that I’ve been meaning to finish. 

My first priority is finishing my Baldur’s Gate 3 campaign, and I’m on Act 3, so I’m not too far off! Once I finish there, I’ll hopefully have a few quiet weekends to finish The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Disco Elysium, and God of War Ragnarök. I’m gonna give it a good effort, but success is TBD.

Nice to see you again, friend! What’s your Staff Pick for April?

I’m going opposite of Alex and awarding my pick to Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth since I’m nearly done and have 75 hours in it. Q1 of 2024 has been awesome for RPG’s. If you enjoy turn-based JRPGs but never dipped your toe in the Yakuza-filled waters, you should absolutely give this game a try. 

It’s the second game in the Like a Dragon Series which takes place after the original Yakuza series and it’s bonkers. 90% of my time has been chasing every side quest they throw my way because they’re hysterical and very well made. Easily a contender for my GOTY.  

Around the United States, spring is in full bloom! Do your gaming habits ever change with the seasons? 

I’ll hopefully be riding my bike a bit more but no drastic changes in my gaming habit. April fortunately was a slightly lighter release month which gave me a chance to catch up on my ever-growing backlog.

Any games you’re looking forward to playing in the next month, either new or from the backlog?

lol yes. Too many.

Games I need to finish or keep playing:

• Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth
• Dragon’s Dogma 2
• Pacific Drive
• Helldivers 2

Games I want to pick up in April/May: 

• No Rest for the Wicked
• Manor Lords
• Vampire Survivors: Operation Guns
• Homeworld 3
• The Rogue Prince of Persia
• Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
• Foundry

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‍Nice to see you again, fri- oh wait, you’re me. So what’s my Staff Pick for April?

My pick would be Rock Band 4 as I’ve been reliving the days of using my plastic instruments single day. I’ve gathered up a library of about 1200 songs since Rock Band 1 was first released in 2007. Even though RB4 was released in 2015, it was still releasing new songs every week up until January of this year! 

Now that there’s nothing new coming out every single week, I’ve been instead diving into the years of DLC that I completely missed. It’s always stuff that I heard on the radio ages ago and never quite knew the title to, I see it in the Rock Band store and I’m like “OOOHHH!!!” and buy it immediately. 

Rather than being an irresponsible teenager playing Rock Band instead of focusing on homework, I’m now a somewhat responsible adult whose job includes getting to talk about Rock Band *AS* my work. Take THAT, rude high school English teacher! 

Somewhat related — I’ve also been modding my Rock Band guitars to have slick new strum bars with mechanical switches (and it LIGHTS UP). If you have an existing Rock Band 4 guitar that you wish had a more responsive strum bar, I can’t recommend the Strum Fix Plus 4 enough. (Did I mention it lights up?)

Around the United States, spring is in full bloom! Do your gaming habits ever change with the seasons? 

I have this weird mental habit I’ve grown over the years where if it’s light outside, I should be doing something not gaming-related. Going out for coffee, taking a lovely walk outside, or anything productive like… ugh… doing laundry… 

Spring means the sun goes down later, which also affects the time I play games due to this behavior. It helps that I do enjoy horror games, and playing those while the sunlight’s still out doesn’t quite hit as well.

Speaking of scary games, onto the next question: 

Any games you’re looking forward to playing in the next month, either new or from the backlog?

Senua's Saga: Hellblade II! The first Hellblade connected with me on an emotional level that I’ve never experienced in any other game, and I’ve recommended so many friends to check it out. 

It does tackle some heavy subject matter — it’s the only game where I distinctly remember having to take a mental break from getting too stressed out. But the story that it comes with and how it’s portrayed still sticks with and inspires me to this day, and I’m eagerly waiting to see what the sequel holds next month! 

April Showers Bring Long Gaming Hours 

Even though the sun is staying out longer, it doesn’t mean the gaming has to slow down! (Except for me apparently.) Games big and small are constantly releasing, so we’ll be back again at the end of next month for even more recommendations and picks. 

Did you take any advice from last month’s Staff Picks and try out Alex’s recommendation of Consider It? Will Matt get to play every game he listed out? And will Emi get to finish her BG3 run? Let us know what you think might happen or tell us a game that you feel would vibe well with one of our contributors by shooting us a message on X, Instagram, or TikTok.