Final Weapon previously reviewed The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero and gave it a 4 out of 5 score, noting it’s “another excellent Trails JRPG with a memorable cast of characters and an engaging narrative. The game stays true to the identity of the Trails series while foreshadowing implications for subsequent games.”
Final Weapon also reviewed The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure, giving it a perfect 5 out of 5 score. The review notes that the game is “a beautiful turn-based RPG that encapsulates what makes Falcom’s Trails series so great. The Special Support Section proves to be one of the most memorable casts of characters in gaming today.”
The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure are currently available now for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PC via Steam in the west.
15 Industry and Digitalis Publishing have announced that gamebook-style RPG Veritas Tales: Witch of the Dark Castle will launch on July 9 for PC via Steam with English, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese language support. Veritas Tales: Witch of the Dark Castle offers a fresh take on the classic gamebook, allowing players to mark down numbers in pencil and let the dice decide their fate.
Lastly, here’s an overview of the game, via Steam:
A neo-classic digital gamebook RPG that reimagines the charm of classic gamebooks for the modern age. Experience the nostalgic feel of scribbling stats with a pencil, rolling dice to decide your fate, and flipping pages by hand. The “authentic fantasy” you crave is right here!
Key Features
A Rich Fantasy Woven by Two Protagonists – Set in the plague-ridden capital of Erishing, the narrative centers on the Dark Castle, inhabited by a mysterious witch. Players choose between two protagonists — Havelock the warrior and Paneri the mage — to experience the narrative from two distinct perspectives.
Dice Rolls and Choices Shape Your Destiny – Your fate is determined by your decisions and the roll of the dice. Good fortune may save you from a crisis, but a single careless choice can lead to an unexpected death.
Over 300 Hand-Drawn Illustrations – Veteran creator Yoshio Nishimura, with over 30 years of experience in the industry, spent more than six years hand-drawing over 300 illustrations to bring this world to life.
Square Enix has released Trials of Mana and Legend of Mana for PC via GOG as the platform’s latest DRM-free releases. To celebrate the launch of Trials of Mana and Legend of Mana on GOG, the Square Enix JRPG Sale is now live with discounts on Final Fantasy and SaGa titles. In addition, Trials of Mana is 70% off and Legend of Mana is 60% off.
The legendary Mana series is coming to GOG for the very first time!
Trials of Mana (-70%) Legend of Mana (-60%)
To celebrate, we’re also launching the first-ever Square Enix JRPG Sale on GOG, featuring discounts on beloved FINAL FANTASY and SaGa titles!
Here’s a story synopsis of Trials of Mana, via Steam:
This daring tale of overcoming the tests of fate has been given new life! Experience the beloved adventure fully modernized with graphic improvements, character voiceover support, a remastered soundtrack and a new episode which you can experience after the ending, in addition to an ability system and a new class that reconstructs the character levelling system plus more active battles!
This overlapping story of interwoven destinies changes depending on who you choose as your main character and companions! Will these young adventurers be able to use the power of mana to save the world from the brink of destruction?
When the world was shrouded in darkness, the Goddess of Mana drew forth the Sword of Mana to smite the eight Benevodons, monsters of destruction. She sealed the horrors inside the eight Mana Stones, bringing the realm back from the brink. Weakened from rebuilding the world, the Goddess changed herself into a tree and fell into a deep sleep for many years. However, the forces of evil soon sought to free the Benevodons to gain control of the world. They started a terrible war to further their plot and destabilize the kingdoms. Peace was at an end. Mana itself began to disappear from the world and the Mana Tree started to wither…
Here’s an overview of the game via its store pages:
About
Persona 4 Revival intertwines an investigation into a string of murders with the journey of self-discovery and encounters with the occult, all within a critically acclaimed, classic RPG experience—revived in a new form!
In the rural Japanese town of Inaba, the once sleepy streets receive a cold wake-up call when a mysterious serial killer strikes. Also, what’s with the rumor of a mysterious TV channel appearing only on rainy nights? A whirlwind of surprises and otherworldly adventures will make the next year of your high school life anything but ordinary!
Key Features:
An Unforgettable Year Awaits:
A new life, a new town, and a new school year. Move to the rural countryside town of Inaba and experience moments you’ll treasure forever with unique friends at Yasogami High School.
Classes, club activities, romance, and even part-time jobs—whether you’re leveling up your skills or kicking back, how you spend your time is entirely up to you.
Murder Investigations and the Mysterious Midnight Channel:
A string of murders rocks the town: on foggy mornings, corpses are found hanging from buildings and transmission towers. At the same time, an eerie rumor of a TV channel emerges: “They say your soulmate will appear if you stare into a television set on a rainy night…” As you dig deeper, you stumble upon another realm beyond the screen. On the other side, you awaken the power to uncover the truth—an inner strength known as “Persona.”
Battle Shadows and Conquer the Unknown:
Face against “Shadows” lurking in this other world in turn-based combat. Exploit the enemy’s elemental weaknesses to knock them down, then team up with your crew for an explosive “All-Out Attack”! Strategize your next move by collecting and equipping different Personas to bring your own unique fighting style and skills to each battle.
Explore Beautiful Locales and Interact with a Captivating Cast of Characters:
From clear blue skies to riversides bathed in sunset hues and glistening streets on rainy days, Inaba’s nostalgic landscapes are brought to life with revamped modern day graphics.
Form Social Links and deepen your bonds with the town locals through rich story and immersive interactions. The closer your connections, the stronger your journey unfolds.
Sony Interactive Entertainment has revealed its PlayStation Plus monthly games lineup for June 2026 featuring Grounded Fully Yoked Edition, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2, Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, and EA Sports FC 26. PlayStation Plus members will have access to the June 2026 monthly games lineup starting June 2.
In addition, the PlayStation Days of Play 2026 promotion was also revealed, running from May 27 to June 10. The promotion will offer exclusive deals, activities, and bonuses for PlayStation Plus subscribers, including the addition of Destiny 2: Legacy Collection (2025) for the Game Catalog on June 9.
PlayStation Plus Monthly Games for June 2026
The June 2026 monthly games lineup for PlayStation Plus may be found below, via PlayStation Blog:
Grounded Fully Yoked Edition | PS5, PS4
Shrink down and survive in a perilous, creature-filled backyard. Mysteriously shrunken down to the size of an ant, your intrepid young adventurer must fight for survival as they experience the backyard from an entirely new perspective. Explore a vast garden environment alone, or with the aid of up to three friends in online multiplayer, and gather the resources you need to build shelter and craft armour and weapons to protect yourself from the creatures that populate the backyard. As you progress, you’ll uncover the truth behind your tiny transformation and find out what it takes to return to your original size.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 | PS5, PS4
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 lets you duke it out with the biggest and best fighting character roster yet, including all new characters like SpongeBob SquarePants, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Squidward Tentacles, Jimmy Neutron, and more. Play solo or fight online and choose your favorite brawlers, master their unique move sets, and use all-new powerful Supers to land the finishing blow with friends or across a unique, roguelike player campaign!
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide | PS5
Take back the city of Tertium from hordes of bloodthirsty foes in this intense and brutal action shooter. Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is the new four player co-op focused experience from the award-winning team behind the Vermintide series. Built on the legacy of Vermintide 2’s best-in-class melee combat, Warhammer 40,000: Darktide introduces intense WH40K gunplay to the mix. Master the balance between ranged and melee combat as you fight through a slew of enemies. Feel the impact of each swipe, swing, and slice of a chainsword, or fry some flesh with a lasgun.
EA Sports FC 26 | PS5, PS4
EA Sports FC 26, originally announced as part of the PS Plus May Monthly Games lineup, will remain available as a PlayStation Plus Monthly Game through June 16.
PlayStation Plus members also receive a EA Sports FC 26 PlayStation Plus Icons Pack*** as a special add-on entitlement, redeemable during the game’s PlayStation Plus Monthly Games residency.
Every month, PlayStation Plus brings several PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 games to subscribers of all three tiers. Alongside a number of PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 games, PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium members also gain access to classics from the original PlayStation, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation Portable.
The Pokémon Company and Niantic have announced that Pokémon GO Season 23 Forever Forward will launch on June 2. The season will include the Pokémon GO Fest 2026: Global event on the weekend of July 11 to 12, along with the debut of Mega Mewtwo X and Y, a new limited-time GO Pass, and new Pokémon like Dynamax Electabuzz, Dynamax Magikarp, and Dynamax Feebas.
In addition, the June Community Day event was announced for Pokémon GO Season 23 Forever Forward. The Community Day event will be held on June 20 from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. local time. Frigibax is the featured Pokémon, and players can Arctibax to get a Baxcalibur that knows the Charged Attack Glaive Rush. There will also be limited-time bonuses, including 3× Stardust and 2× Candy for catching Pokémon.
During Pokémon GO Fest 2026: Global, players can celebrate the 10th anniversary of Pokémon GO with Community Celebrations. Each Pokémon GO Community Celebration will feature on-site festivities, including a pop-up event with interactive opportunities, photo opportunities, activities with local Community Ambassadors, and giveaways and prizes.
Pokémon GO Fest 2026: Global Community Celebrations will take place across 26 cities worldwide, inviting players to engage with the local community and challenge themselves against Mega Mewtwo X and Mega Mewtwo Y in Super Mega Raid Battles. All events will take place between 10:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. (local time).
Square Enix has launched a new update for Dissidia Duellum Final Fantasy to kick off the game’s latest season, titled “A Planet in Peril.” Dissidia Duellum Final Fantasy Season “A Planet in Peril” introduces Sephiroth (VA: Toshiyuki Morikawa) from Final Fantasy VII as a playable character, along with the UR Super Nova (Sephiroth exclusive), UR Octaslash (Sephiroth exclusive), UR Aerith/Planet’s Protection, and UR Tifa/Falling Crane abilities. The season will end on June 30.
▼ New Season “A Planet in Peril” Now Live! ⚔ Available Until June 30, 2026 03:59 (UTC)
▼ New Limited-Time Character Joins the Battle! 🔹 Sephiroth (FFVII)
▼ New Limited-Time UR Abilities Available! 💎 UR Super Nova (Sephiroth exclusive) 💎 UR… pic.twitter.com/0MUj2vgDpW
— DISSIDIA DUELLUM FINAL FANTASY (EN) (@DDFF_EN) May 26, 2026
As previously announced, Sephiroth is unlockable for free as a Season Reward. Dissidia Duellum Final Fantasy players can also obtain Sealed Crystals to unlock Sephiroth’s UR and SR abilities. What’s more, a new character, stage and boss from Final Fantasy X will be introduced in June, followed by a new character from Final Fantasy VI in July and a new character, stage, and boss from Final Fantasy V in August.
The Dissidia Duellum Final Fantasy original soundtrack is out now on Amazon Music, Apple Music, and other music distribution services. Featuring original tracks and arranged fan-favorites, the original soundtrack of Dissidia Duellum Final Fantasy was composed by Final Fantasy XIV and Final Fantasy XVI sound team member Takafumi Imamura.
Nino Games has given a release date to The NOnexistenceN of Lilith, which will launch on PC via Steam on July 16. It is the latest in the NOnexistencen series, introducing a new experience starring Lilith.
Nino Games will both develop and publish The NOnexistenceN of Lilith, a desktop companion game that promises “cozy everyday moments” while hinting at more beneath the surface. The news was announced to tie into the ongoing development of The NOnexistencen of you AND me.
CreSpirit have announced an upcoming DLC for TEVI, titled Fauna Arcade, which will release on June 25. The DLC will be available on PC through Steam, though whether consoles will also receive it is yet to be confirmed.
TEVI first released in November 2023 on Steam and Nintendo Switch, while console releases on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S followed in 2024. It was developed by CreSpirit, GemaYue, and Ein Lee and published by CreSpirit and Neverland Entertainment. TEVI is a 2D bullet-hell platformer with Metroidvania exploration elements.
CreSpirit describes the Fauna Arcade DLC as follows (via Gematsu):
A new chapter unfolds. The adventure begins anew. A distant land with mystery. Unleash new abilities. Combat evolves. New maps. New story. New challenges.
After tireless investigation, Tevi has followed a crucial lead and set out once again! This time, their destination is Rabina Island—a mysterious land far beyond the borders of Az.
In TEVI: Fauna Arcana, Tevi travels to this enigmatic island to search for a missing companion. Along the way, players will reunite with allies to confront the threats lurking on the island and gradually unveil the secrets of an ancient holy land…
The protagonist Tevi is nimble and agile, wielding both her trusty dagger and an oversized wrench for dishing out melee damage in style. Alongside her, companions Celia and Sable manifest as two floating orbitars, ready to unleash a variety of ranged offensive and supportive magic in battle. Adapt your combat style to suit any situation and bring down foes with flashy, dazzling combos!
Every boss fight is a unique challenge requiring different strategies to tackle, all while you dodge their attacks and look for openings to counter-attack. As bosses change phases, their attack and bullet patterns become increasingly challenging, and they can even unleash devastating special moves. Continual offense can put bosses into a vulnerable BREAK state, during which you can deal massive bursts of damage.
It feels like it has been quite a while since we last saw a game dedicated to Yoshi on the Nintendo Switch. I mean, Yoshi’s CraftedWorld came out in 2019, but that’s seven years ago now! The last time I touched a game where Yoshi was the main protagonist was probably Yoshi’s New Island on the Nintendo 3DS.
When it comes to the Mario universe, so to speak, if you asked me who my favorite character was, I would undoubtedly say Yoshi is at the top of that list. As part of the series’ 40th anniversary celebration, Nintendo announced several titles, and one of them was Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, exclusive to the Nintendo Switch 2 system, which also marks his debut on Nintendo Switch 2. So let’s open the pages of this book and discover its quirky creatures.
A Talking Encyclopedia
One day, as Bowser Jr. was walking around Bowser’s castle, he spotted a curious book on top of a huge pile. After paging through its pages, he sees a very beautiful-looking bird depicted in it, and an illustration that looks very similar to the island where the Yoshis live. Curious, he attempts to take the book there to find out more, but after he grabbed the magnifying glass that started to dangle from the book and peered into it, he ends up getting sucked inside its pages. This causes his Clown Car to crash-land on the island, alongside the book.
The Yoshis all gather to find out where he crash-landed, and in doing so, the book wakes up, introducing himself as Mister Encyclopedia, or Mr. E for short. According to him, his pages are chock-full of information about all sorts of strange little creatures, but he does not seem to be able to read or understand what they are. And that’s where Yoshi can help. By diving into his pages, Yoshi will be able to fill out details about those creatures and satisfy Mr. E’s dream of finally understanding the creatures that live within him to become the ultimate encyclopedia. And hey, maybe we can find out what happened to Bowser Jr. in the meantime.
It’s Research Time!
To start things off, in Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, you’ll use Mr. E’s magnifying glass to pick a creature that’s walking around in one of its many chapters. Afterwards, you’ll dive into the natural habitat where said creature can be found, and begin your study. You’ll be asked to do all sorts of things with this creature and see how it will react. This can range from ground pounding it, having it hop on Yoshi’s back, or in many cases, attempting to gobble it up to see how it tastes. For every new discovery you make, it will be jotted down as a Note.
Every stage will contain one main objective that must be completed in order for your exploration to finish. For the most part, it doesn’t take too long, with each stage taking me roughly 5 to 15 minutes maximum to complete its main objective. But even after clearing it, there is still a lot more you can learn about the creature. By collecting a currency known as Tokens, you can spend them on hints in case you’re stuck on how to trigger certain discoveries, or you can use them to “predict” a discovery you have not found yet. In fact, some stages will have you go back to them later, with discoveries that can be made with your newfound knowledge.
This game features some of the most fun platforming levels I’ve come across in a while, but there are some that can be a bit of a miss at times. Honestly, the biggest issue I had was how there are certain discoveries that become completely inaccessible until you restart a stage. Normally, that wouldn’t be too much of an issue, especially given that you’re expected to replay them, but this can happen even with the main objective. While pressing “Start Over” won’t cause the game to undo your existing progress, it’s still very frustrating to have to start over an entire stage just because of this specific solution it’s expecting. Considering “discovery” is a major theme, I would’ve loved if puzzles had multiple solutions, or at least were more lenient on what could be perceived as valid.
One thing that must be said is that initially, I thought the game was very short, because in just 10 hours of playing, I had already rolled the staff credits, so I thought that was it for the main game. But I was met by a sizeable post-game that feels double the size of that in the main story, with new creatures and tons of discoveries for you to find out. Of course, the definition of a short game is something that is rather subjective, but I would say that this is a game that will deliver quite a bit of content for you to enjoy.
Name Your New Discovery… Within Reason
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book will feature many returning enemies from the Mario franchise, but it will also have some new ones for you to find. After you complete a stage’s main objective, you’ll be asked to name the creature. You can either let Mr. E “suggest” a name for you, or you can type a name yourself. I say “suggest” in quotes, but in practice, he will only suggest one name. However, if you choose to name it yourself, you have a 10-character limit to work with. I would sort of understand this limit for Japanese, but English? Well, you might have to get really creative with abbreviations. Still, that didn’t really bother me as much.
A surprising thing is that it appears that Nintendo decided to reconsider and backpedalled on what they did in Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, because Yoshi and the Mysterious Book features a profanity filter that will prevent you from using that kind of inappropriate language, with a “This name can’t be used” error pop-up appearing if you try to name a creature with a swear. I can’t say I understand why they decided to implement a filter on this single-player experience, but I digress. It’s still really fun to come up with some names, especially when I didn’t really like the pun made by Mr. E’s suggestion.
Now, I generally don’t like nitpicking on a game for its graphics, but after playing through some stages, I couldn’t help but feel that the performance does leave something to be desired, even when considering the fact that this is a title exclusive to Nintendo Switch 2. I’ve had many instances where the frame rate seemed to drop significantly, in particular when a stage is loading, and I feel like it had dropped significantly with a specific enemy in Chapter 4. It’s not the type of performance that makes the game unplayable, of course, but I hope they can fix this in a patch.
A Cute Experience Filled With Joy
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is a cute experience that I had a lot of fun playing. Discovering and naming new creatures, solving puzzles, and playing a game centered around Yoshi since the 3DS days was just my idea of a fun week. And when I thought I was done analyzing the creatures that lived inside of Mr. E’s pages, the game finds a way to drag you in even further. While some stages do have some rather obtuse solutions to their puzzles, it’s still a cute and fun experience that I enjoyed from start to finish.
Disclaimer: Yoshi and the Mysterious Book was reviewed on Nintendo Switch 2.
