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January may traditionally be a slow period for game releases, but this month is certainly an exception, with some big games coming to each platform. That’s especially true for Nintendo Switch this week, as more than 30 titles have arrived in the Eshop.

Headlining this week’s releases is the 2D Mario adventure New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe. This port contains both the Wii U launch game New Super Mario Bros. U and its DLC expansion, New Super Luigi U. It also features two new characters: Nabbit, who is invulnerable to damage (and was previously only playable in New Super Luigi U), and Toadette, who can use the exclusive Super Crown power-up to transform into Peachette, allowing her to double jump and hover through the air.

Also available on Switch this week (as well as on PS4 and Xbox One) is Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition. Originally released in 2008, Vesperia stands as one of the most beloved entries in the Tales series, and the Definitive Edition features all of the additional content that was added to the game’s Japan-exclusive PS3 port, as well as all the paid DLC that was originally released for it. You can read more about the title in our Tales of Vesperia impressions.

Other highlights this week include Bury Me, My Love, a poignant text-based adventure game about a refugee fleeing war-torn Syria. There’s also the classic Sega racer OutRun, as well as the Neo Geo fighting game Kizuna Encounter. You can see the full list of this week’s Nintendo Switch releases below.

The next additions to Nintendo Switch Online’s NES library are Blaster Master and Zelda II, and they arrive on the service on January 16. Nintendo also recently announced a release date for one of this year’s big-name Switch exclusives, Yoshi’s Crafted World. The colorful platformer launches on March 29. You can see the other big games coming to Switch (and 3DS) this year in our gallery of all the Nintendo-exclusive titles in 2019.

This Week’s Nintendo Switch Releases

January 10

• A Ch’ti Bundle
• ACA Neo Geo: Kizuna Encounter
• Apocalipsis: Wormwood Edition
• Big Crown: Showdown
• BQM: Block Quest Maker
• Bubble Shooter DX
• Bury Me, My Love
• Caveblazers
• Clock Simulator
• Combat Core
• Double Cross
• Everything
• Grab Lab
• Guns of Mercy: Rangers Edition
• Hopiko
• Inside My Radio
• Knock ‘Em Down Bowling
• Lightseekers
• Marble Power Blast
• Mecho Wars: Desert Ashes
• Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight
• Neko Navy: Daydream Edition
• Number Place 10000
• Overdriven Reloaded: Special Edition
• Samsara: Deluxe Edition
• Sega Ages: OutRun
• Snowboarding: The Next Phase
• Voxel Sword

January 11

• Hive Jump
• Stellar Interface
• New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe
• Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition

From Software has revealed additional details concerning the hub area in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Like the Dark Souls games and Bloodborne, Sekiro features an enclosed area, titled the Dilapidated Temple, that’s safe from enemies where you can buy items and upgrade your abilities.

According to Game Informer, the Dilapidated Temple shares a lot of elements with the hubs seen in past Soulsborne games, including the area’s expansion as you recruit other characters. “If you’re familiar with the Souls games, you know how you can find NPCs in the world,” From Software marketing and communications manager Yasuhiro Kitao said. “Maybe they’re vendors, maybe they do something with you, maybe they head back to the hub, where you can speak to them and progress their quests.”

Like other Soulsborne games, you’ll be able to fast travel to Sekiro’s hub too. You can either rest at the bonfire-like sculptor’s idols or use items that immediately send you to the temple if an idol isn’t nearby. While in the Dilapidated Temple, you’ll have the opportunity to increase the number of healing items you can carry at a time as well.

The Dilapidated Temple does differ in a few ways from recent Soulsborne hubs though. For one, there’s a character in the Dilapidated Temple, called The Immortal Soldier, who teaches you combat moves and how to use items, and willingly offers himself as a test dummy for you to practice different attacks. Also, unlike Dark Souls III and Bloodborne’s hub areas–both of which you must teleport from to explore the world–Sekiro’s Dilapidated Temple connects to multiple areas. In turn, several of these areas are also interconnected with each other.

“We feel like Sekiro’s probably on the higher end of the spectrum in terms of the freedom the player has to explore the world if we’re to compare it to our previous games,” From Software director Hidetaka Miyazaki said. “Particularly from the mid-game onward, the world really opens up, and you have a great deal of choice and freedom about which order and way you choose to explore.” Miyazaki did not reveal just how often Sekiro’s many areas would connect with one another, but with the game on the near horizon, we’ll find out soon enough.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice releases for Xbox One, PS4, and PC on March 22. The standard version of the game releases alongside a Collector’s Edition, both of which are available for pre-order.

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Following cancellations throughout 2018, there are two Netflix/Marvel shows from the Defenders universe still standing: The Punisher and Jessica Jones. These also happen to be the two shows with upcoming seasons still outstanding, with Punisher Season 2 dropping on January 18.

Clearly, Netflix is waiting to actually release these final seasons before cancelling them too, judging by the fact that Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and Daredevil were all canned after their seasons aired last year. If I’m wrong, great! These shows haven’t exactly been consistent in quality, but overall I’ve enjoyed becoming immersed in the world of Netflix’s Defenders. On the other hand, if I’m right–well, at least for now we can enjoy the carnage that is The Punisher Season 2.

The Punisher Season 2 is very much more of the same, as far as Frank Castle’s bloody hijinks go. Season 1, which released in 2017, left Frank in the wind, having maimed but not murdered his rival Billy Russo, and been cut loose by the powers that be. When we catch up with the Punisher in Season 2, he’s sort of just drifting, staying in motels and hanging out in bars. It’s very un-Punisher like; he even meets a nice lady, although predictably, that doesn’t last long. You see, the Punisher’s gotta Punish. It’s what he does.

Frank’s little fantasy drifter life as Pete Castiglione doesn’t last long, as trouble quickly finds him in the form of damsel-in-distress Amy (Giorgia Whigham), a young girl being hunted by a small army of douchebags. The story of why plays out over the course of the season, and it proves to be somewhat relevant to the times in which we live, though probably not too relevant that it will ruffle any particular feathers.

Needless to say, Frank tangles himself up in the whole mess through a misguided but lovable desire to protect the innocent by executing as many of the guilty as possible. He faces off this season with two main villains: John Pilgrim (the very creepy Josh Stewart), a religious fundamentalist who paradoxically loves murder almost as much as Frank does, and the escaped Billy Russo, whose face isn’t nearly as disfigured as everyone makes it out to be, which is a shame, because that would have been cool. Like last season, Homeland Security Agent Dinah Madani (Amber Rose Revah) and Castle’s former squadmate Curtis Hoyle (Jason R. Moore) play prominent roles, and some other characters from the all-but-dead Defenders universe even crop up, which was clearly planned before the whole thing got cancelled.

On what could be its last time around the Netflix merry-go-round, Punisher Season 2 presents a mess of morals, motivations, and messages. Its portrayal of veterans as mainly degenerate dickheads looking for any excuse to do violent crimes remains problematic. Billy has selective amnesia, and remembers being best friends with Frank, but not why Frank now wants to kill him, which is just boring and never really pays off in the way you want it to. Frank, meanwhile, is still undoubtedly a psychopath, but the show seems hesitant to call a spade by its name, and Madani spends half the season trying to convince other characters (Royce Johnson’s no-BS Detective Sergeant Mahoney, and Floriana Lima’s imitation Harley Quinn, Dr. Krista Dumont) that he’s really a good guy deep down. That may be the case, but it’s easy to see the other side of it too.

That’s really what makes The Punisher fun to watch: Castle is a deceptively complex character. Even though he’s on the right side of these various conflicts, you kind of want someone to check Frank Castle’s unstoppable macho killing spree. And yet, that would mean stopping Jon Bernthal too, which would be a shame, because he remains an absolute joy to watch. He’s the manliest man on the planet; his endless grunting and hollering causes lesser beings to crumple in fear (also, he punches them really hard). Castle takes more bullets, slashes, and various hard knocks than any real human could possibly withstand, but the show never stretches disbelief too far, because Bernthal really seems that tough. The whole thing wouldn’t work without him.

The Punisher Season 2 rests comfortably in that middle ground Netflix’s Marvel superhero shows have too often occupied: It’s pretty good, not mindblowing like the best of them, and nowhere near the dizzying lows they’ve hit over the years. It’s entertaining more often than not, and mostly well made. If they’d all been like this and public opinion hadn’t turned against the Defenders, maybe the whole thing would have played out differently. Maybe it still will–who knows! For now, stream The Punisher Season 2 on Netflix next Friday, January 18, and enjoy the carnage while you can.

Some highly anticipated PS4 games are heading our way in 2019, but you won’t likely find deals on many of them until well after they launch. But if you want to pre-order digital versions of select PS4 games from Green Man Gaming, you can save 7% right now. The discount also applies to PlayStation Store credit that you can spend on anything you like, including already-discounted PS4 games. Below are some of the items that qualify for this 7% off deal.

In terms of pre-orders, $55.79 lets you reserve a copy of the long-in-the-making Disney/Square action-RPG Kingdom Hearts 3; it’s set to release January 25. Releasing the same day is a very different game: the survival horror remake Resident Evil 2. The standard edition is on sale for $55.79, while the Deluxe edition, which comes with additional in-game items, is marked down to $65.09.

The standard edition of Metro Exodus, an open-world shooter set in Russia after a nuclear war, is marked down to $55.79, while the Gold Edition is on sale for $79.04. It’s set to release on February 15. The final discounted PS4 digital pre-order is Left Alive, a survival shooter from Square Enix that doesn’t have a release date but is expected this year.

There is one game in the sale that’s already available, and it’s one that has gone on sale very rarely since launch. It also happens to be GameSpot’s 2018 Game of the Year. It’s Red Dead Redemption 2, and you can buy the standard edition of this open-world western for $55.79 or the Ultimate edition for $92.99.

You’ll find the full list below, including links to the PS Store credit you can also get for 7% off.

Games

PlayStation Store Credit