April Games Release Radar: The Force, family fun, and a cat café

Los Angeles, California - The gaming year started out strong with massive hits like Elden Ring and Tunic. Now it's time for a month of quirkier games and returning favorites in TAG24's Games Release Radar for March!

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

Modern graphics should help Lego's vehicles and scenery shine, like this Imperial AT-ST.
Modern graphics should help Lego's vehicles and scenery shine, like this Imperial AT-ST.  © Warner Bros/Traveller's Tales

Facts:

  • Genre: Action adventure
  • Platform: PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series
  • ESRB Rating: E for Everyone
  • Release Date: April 5

Developer Traveller's Tales lets you play through the main Star Wars saga in famously whimsical Lego style, with goofy moments, quips, and jokes to liven up the start of the month.

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Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga takes players through each of the nine movies to follow the stories of Anakin, Luke, and Rey Skywalker.

The usual hi-jinks of previous Lego games are back, with an extra coat of polish, including all-new takes on the classic children's toys and the Force-fueled franchise.

You'll get to relive your favorite scenes from the movies, but with plenty of ways to switch things up. The trailer promises stealthier sneaking pathways, or you can go in guns blazing and get tricksy with Force powers.

There is even a solid-looking space adventure portion of the game that puts you in the cockpit of classic Star Wars spaceships, to really put the space in space opera.

Lego games have been a blast in the past, so here's hoping putting the massive saga into one game is as fun as the trailer makes it look.

Even huge ships like Republic Cruisers make a showing in the game's space sequences.
Even huge ships like Republic Cruisers make a showing in the game's space sequences.  © Warner Bros/Traveller's Tales

Chinatown Detective Agency

Try to keep Chinatown Detective Agency afloat while solving cases around the world.
Try to keep Chinatown Detective Agency afloat while solving cases around the world.  © General Interactive Co.

Facts:

  • Genre: Detective adventure
  • Platform: PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One
  • ESRB Rating: T for Teen
  • Release Date: April 7

Get ready to play as former Interpol agent and fresh new private eye Amira Darma, who runs the Chinatown Detective Agency. Starting in Singapore, you'll crisscross the globe in a game of high stakes, intrigue, and deadly drama.

Olivia Rodrigo shakes up classic LBD in vintage Thierry Mugler look
Olivia Rodrigo Olivia Rodrigo shakes up classic LBD in vintage Thierry Mugler look

This effort by Indie developer General Interactive Co. lets you rub shoulders with corrupt business leaders, fast-talking informants, and other powerful characters as you take on jobs and solve cases.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to fact-find, sleuth, and investigate your way through the game world to make ends meet.

But what starts out as a job to scrape buy quickly unfolds into a race against the clock with only you between the futuristic world of 2037 and pandemonium.

It sounds melodramatic as hell, but with slick pixelated art and actual detective shenanigans that should force you to think outside the box, Chinatown Detective Agency is one of the most interesting titles of the year so far.

Cat Cafe Manager

Manage your very own cat café and the lore of Caterwaul Way.
Manage your very own cat café and the lore of Caterwaul Way.  © Roost Games

Facts:

  • Genre: Tycoon game
  • Platform: PC, Nintendo Switch
  • ESRB Rating: E for Everyone
  • Release Date: April 14

Indie developer Roost Games has the game for anyone who wants to fulfill the dream of managing a cat café.

You start your business adventure at the bottom, and you'll need to upgrade your space, refine your menu, and woo cats and customers alike to stop by and stay awhile.

If you gain enough loyal customers, you'll be able to dabble in some on-the-side problem-solving, with characters telling you their sob story and asking for your help.

Roost Games also seems to have added a splash of lore to their tycoon game, with a mysterious shrine to some forgotten cat god.

You'll need to manage your business, but also uncover what the deal is with that shrine. And what the deal is with the absolute zoo of stray cats running around the little town of Caterwaul Way.

And after a string of games in 2022 devoted to combat or intrigue, maybe it's time to spruce up a café, pet some cats, and enjoy some light-hearted fun.

Nintendo Switch Sports

Travel to a new sports complex with Nintendo Switch Sports.
Travel to a new sports complex with Nintendo Switch Sports.  © Nintendo

Facts:

  • Genre: Family fun, sports
  • Platform: Nintendo Switch
  • ESRB Rating: E for Everyone
  • Release Date: April 29

Nintendo took its sweet time before finally deciding to relaunch Nintendo sports for the Switch, which seemed like a no-brainer after Wii Sports was one of its most popular Wii titles.

The party game looks like it will still be geared towards family fun and casual gaming with friends, although a recent trailer gave us a peak at competitive play.

The "new" game keeps classics from the previous Wii Sports, like Bowling, sword fighting, and Tennis, but has plenty of new additions to keep things fresh this spring.

Soccer, badminton, and volleyball will join the other game modes on release, and Nintendo will add Golf and further disciplines later in the year.

A new accessory is part of the party, a leg strap/holster, which you'll need for taking shots on goal in soccer.

Nintendo seems to know which games work well, and even if a reboot of Wii Sports took awhile, this is one title Switch owners won't want to miss.

Microsoft and Sony free games

Sony will offer these free games for the PS Plus service:

  • Slay the Spire
  • Hood: Outlaws & Legends
  • SpongeBob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated

Microsoft will offer these free titles for Games with Gold:

  • Another Sight (Xbox Series, Xbox One)
  • Hue (Xbox Series, Xbox One)
  • Outpost Kaloki X (Xbox Series, Xbox One, Xbox 360)
  • MX vs ATV Alive (Xbox Series, Xbox One, Xbox 360)

Cover photo: Collage: Warner Bros/Traveller's Tales, General Interactive Co., Roost Games, Nintendo

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