Lucas Alven, Staff Writer

The holiday season is in full swing! Christmas lights illuminate the winter skies while game consoles illuminate underneath entertainment centers. Here are three new video game releases that gamers and their families can play this holiday break.

Super Mario Party™ Jamboree – (Nintendo Switch)

Super Mario Party Jamboree is the newest addition to the long running Super Mario Party franchise. Like in previous titles, players dash across a board aiming to collect the most stars and be declared the winner. After each roll, there are opportunities to win coins in mini games which can be exchanged later to cause mischief among the competition in ways such as stealing stars.

Players can choose what character to play as from a roster of 22 characters from the Mario franchise, which is the largest selection in any Mario Party game. Jamboree also features six unique game boards and over 110 mini games for players to aim for the top spot in.

Tetris Forever – (Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, PC)

Tetris Forever is the newest release in the Tetris series. This title was made to celebrate the 40-year anniversary of when the game was originally created by Alexey Pajitnov.

This title is a collection of more than 15 previous Tetris games, including some that were unavailable outside of their Japan release. Additionally, a historically accurate rendition of the original Tetris prototype for the Electronika 60 computer was developed for players to experience.

Included in Tetris Forever is a new 90-minute documentary that covers the evolution of Tetris from the game’s development at a Soviet Union computer research center to it becoming the series it is today. This game is a part of Digital Eclipse’s gold master series which the development company describes as “independently-produced projects that celebrate key designers, studios and games that changed our world.”

Metaphor: ReFantazio – (PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, PC)

Metaphor: ReFantazio is a role-playing game produced by Studio Zero. The game’s development team included Katsura Hashino (director), Shigenori Soejima (character designer) and Shoji Meguro (composer) who are known to have all worked together on the recent titles of the critically acclaimed game franchise, Persona.

The story of this game takes place in the fictional land known as The United Kingdom of Euchronia, where the king’s assassination and the discovery of a previously hidden royal magic creates turmoil over who will take the throne. Despite this, your protagonist must save Euchronia by breaking a curse that was put on the prince, who people assume is dead, and winning a tournament for the throne. 
It’s worth noting that these games are only just a few of many that have recently come out. November and December are known to be a busy time for new releases within the gaming industry, so it’s easier for a title to get lost in the shuffle. So hopefully this list helped bring attention to some games you may not have known about. Happy holidays and happy gaming to you and your families!