Weekly Notes (Jun 23 – Jun 29): A Quiet Week, But Some Interesting Drops

Niklas Borglund

Author

2025-06-30

After a flood of recent releases, this week was surprisingly quiet. I also didn't find any popular game exiting early access either which is a first since I started writing these weekly release breakdowns.

Let's dive in!

Tiny Aquarium: Social Fishkeeping by Lunheim Studios

Largest audiences: ~74% English, ~11% Chinese (Simplified)

One of the top games is an idle aquarium simulator. You create the aquarium you always wanted, you can even dock it at the bottom of your screen while you are doing other things - so you can always keep track of your fish.

It's currently overwhelmingly positive, and once again when I see these high scores, the developer usually sets the expectations VERY well. The first video on the store page is the developer explaining exactly what the game is, so you minimize the risk of being disappointed if you buy it.

Players love the relaxing gameplay, cute graphics, and variety of fish - but it also struggles with some technical issues and limits on bait purchases and quest requirements. Nothing that seems to affect the score that much though.

Persona5: The Phantom X by ATLUS, SEGA & Perfect World

Largest audiences: ~64% English, ~8% Spanish, ~6% Portuguese (Brazil)

The biggest release this week by review count was Persona5: The Phantom X, a free-to-play spinoff bringing the Persona series to PC and mobile.

Players praise the stylish visuals, music, and strong character designs, with many enjoying the F2P model that allows more people to experience the world of the series.

On the flip side, the gacha mechanics draw a lot of frustration, with complaints about low drop rates and expensive pulls. The UI is also a common pain point, with players describing it as clunky and unintuitive, and there’s criticism of repetitive gameplay and story depth compared to the mainline Persona titles.

The japanese reviews score much lower than other audiences (54%, while others are between 70-82%), so I extracted an analysis with only the japanese reviews. And there the split is even clearer:

• Positive reviews praise the graphics, nostalgia, and that it feels like Persona.
• Negative reviews focus heavily on restrictive gacha systems, UI frustrations, and performance issues.

Interesting to see how a beloved IP can pull in players despite F2P friction.

System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster by Irrational Games, Looking Glass Studios & Nightdive Studios

Largest audiences: ~80% English, ~9% Russian

Nightdive’s remaster of this classic landed with a Very Positive rating, showing that even after 25 years, System Shock 2 still holds up.

Players praise the visual upgrades, atmosphere, and faithful preservation of the original’s tension-filled gameplay. The nostalgia factor is strong, pulling back fans who spent late nights playing this back in the day.

On the downside, the multiplayer and co-op modes seem to get a lot of critique, with reports of crashes, bugs, and save corruption.

Ship, Inc. by Rogue Duck Interactive

Largest audiences: ~53% English, ~20% Chinese (Simplified), ~5% Turkish

Ship, Inc. lets you run a cozy shipping business, packing boxes, sorting parcels, and keeping your tiny warehouse running.

Players love the relaxing, wholesome gameplay loop, praising the charming visuals and simple mechanics that make it easy to unwind while feeling productive.

Critiques focus on repetitive gameplay, occasional bugs, and a desire for more depth as your shipping empire scales.

⚔️ Early Access Graduates

I actually didn't find any Early Access Graduates this week! A first? Or did my system miss anything? Please let me know if that's the case.

Notable Mentions

Here are some games or DLCs that were on the top but didn't get its own section in the weekly notes. Many Warhammer 40k DLCs from different games coming out the same week - a coordinated effort?

• Warhammer 40,000: Darktide - Arbites Class Deluxe Edition - (Hack and Slash. FPS. Horror)
• Warhammer 40,000: Darktide - Arbites Class - (Hack and Slash. FPS. Horror)
• Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader - Lex Imperialis - (CRPG. Party-Based RPG. Strategy)
• Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 - Blood Angels Cosmetic Pack - (RPG. Adventure. Action)
• Project Silverfish - (Open World. Survival Horror. FPS)
• Not Monday Cafe - (Life Sim. Idler. Resource Management)
• ToHeart - (Interactive Fiction. Visual Novel. Drama)
• Darkest Dungeon® II: Hero Origin Pack - (RPG. Strategy. Indie)
• Shambles: Sons of Apocalypse - (Turn-Based Strategy. Card Battler. Deckbuilding)

📊 Full List: Top Releases for June 23 - June 29 (2025)

And that's it! Thank you for reading!

Since it's a new quarter tomorrow, I'm working on a breakdown of the entire Q2 2025 that will hopefully come out soon. I'm working on highlighting some interesting data, but I just need to code that pesky code to support it first!

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