Blair Witch, Mr. DRILLER DrillLand, Ninjala, Duke Nukem 3D, and SpongeBob Rehydrated hit the Switch

Like the British public heading to an already overcrowded beach, this week’s Switch eShop releases come thick and fast.

On the big-budget side of things there’s THQ’s SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated, and the well-received psychological horror adventure Blair Witch.

Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated – a remake of a PS2 era platformer – has received mixed reviews. Nintendo Life settled on a 7/10: “Though Battle for Bikini Bottom doesn’t bring anything new to the table as a 3D platformer, its strong level design, lighthearted tone, and gorgeous remastered visuals make this one an easy recommendation.”

IGN meanwhile found it merely average. “There are bright spots that remain fun almost two decades later, and there are pops of ingenuity in its reworking, but it does little to stand alongside the best, or even the pretty good, platformer remakes and remasters we’ve seen this generation,” was their verdict.

A few of retro re-releases are upon us too. Mr. DRILLER DrillLand reinvigorates the original with updated graphics, HD cut-scenes and a four-player mode. Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour adds gyroscopic aiming support, motion controls, and HD Rumble, while STAR WARS Episode I Racer brings back the N64 classic. Cubed claims it’s a competent conversion but felt it would have benefited from improved AI and online play.

Ultracore can more or less be classed as retro re-release as well. This run and gunner was originally due on Amiga and Mega Drive before being canned. Some 25 years later, here it is.

A couple of free-to-play releases are also upon us. Ninjala offers colourful 8 player battles, clearly inspired by Splatoon, while Pokémon Café Mix is a puzzler centred around cooking. Stay away from those cakes – Mr. Mime has touched ‘em.

Also of note are the Parisian murder mystery Night Call, the colourful Trials-alike Urban Trial Tricky, pixel art kingdom management sim Yes, Your Grace, and A Summer with the Shiba Inu – a visual novel starring dogs. The fate of Shiba Island is in your hands. As always, the full list is below.

New Switch eShop releases

Ninjala – £0.00

Take part in Battle Royale-style matches of up to 8 players and vie for supremacy with ninja around the world. The player who earns the most points over the course of the match will be declared the winner. Score points by defeating your opponents, obtaining items, destroying drones positioned across the stage, and more. Earn extra points by taking down your opponents with an IPPON—impressive finishing techniques.

Mr. DRILLER DrillLand – £15.99

The popular action puzzle game “Mr. DRILLER DrillLand” makes its Western debut on the Nintendo Switch!

You’re invited to a secret amusement park known as “DrillLand” – 500 meters underground! Explore and conquer the five “attractions” with simple, yet exciting, gameplay that guests of all ages can enjoy!

Holy Potatoes! What The Hell?! – £12.99

Holy Potatoes! What the Hell?! is a whacky hell-themed cooking management sim where you take on the role of a chef in an Afterlife populated by potatoes! Sort potato sinners into cooking stations to extract sinfully delicious ingredients, cook up incredible potato-based recipes, and appease the gods in your Pantheon by serving them savory spud dishes!

Play as Sweeny Tots, a potato chef in the Afterlife determined to find out what happened in his previous life as he works to ascend to heaven.

Having no recollection of your life before, you appear in hell, late for your first day of work.

After a brief and rather vague explanation, you are thrown into the kitchen and must adapt to your new job – sorting potato sinners into their rightful stations and cooking up delicious, tantalising dishes befitting the Gods!

BRIGANDINE The Legend of Runersia – £44.99

The continent of Runersia is home to six major powers with more than 40 bases, 100 knights, and 50 types of monsters.

Select a ruler, compose your platoons of knights and monsters, and march to claim enemy bases.

The player chooses how they will battle, so devise the best strategy to lead your nation toward continental conquest. How will your legend unfold?

Poopdie – Chapter One – £4.49

Upgrade them with unique skills. Fart ancient spells. Defeat evil Samron and his army of Buttcreatures.

The Forgotten Land – £12.99

Along with your friends you embark on a quest for the legendary “Forgotten Land”. Your adventure begins! “The Forgotten Land” is a turn-based “Combat & Puzzle Match 3” with streamlined RPG and Management elements. Set up a sheltering camp, improve your teams’ abilities and unlock tactical bonuses.

Show your skills and prepare your strategies! Improve your heroes’ strengths with care and put their special powers to tactical use to prevail in battle.

Are you ready?

Miden Tower – £13.49

Miden Tower is a fantasy RPG with a compelling and dramatic story. After Miden Tower is invaded by the Alroval Empire, the mages who call it home find themselves cornered on its upper floors. This sets in motion a series of tragic events that lead to a counteroffensive being launched to take back the tower and to get revenge for the wrongs committed against them.

The heroine is an actual wall that provides support to the main characters by merging with walls or acting as a wind breaker if needed. Turn-based battles can be engaged with 3×3 grid battles by using skills with different effects or by summoning golems to take down your foes. Alchemize items, learn passive skills and enjoy the tons of quests and extra enjoyment that await in this magical adventure!

Swords and Sandals: Spartacus – £11.69

You are Spartacus, the gladiator who defied the corrupt tyrants of Rome!

One man who broke free from a brutal gladiator arena. One man who took on the most powerful legions in Ancient Rome. This is the story of the legendary … SPARTACUS!

Now for the first time, take up the sword of the greatest gladiator ever and do battle with Rome yourself in this thrilling action combat platformer. From the dark dungeons under the Arena of Capua to the heights of Mt Vesuvius and beyond, you will battle brutal slave drivers, grizzled legionnaires and mighty centurions as you free the slaves of Rome.

STAR WARS Episode I Racer – £12.29

The fan favorite racer is back featuring motion controls!

Take control of a podracer speeding through flaming methane lakes, Tusken Raider assaults, anti-gravity tunnels, and much more in a pulse-pounding, do-or-die fight to the finish line.

Conjurer Andy’s Repeatable Dungeon – £6.69

Conjurer Andy’s Repeatable Dungeon is a peculiar adventure game, where you, the hero will journey into the depths of a repeating dungeon to collect loot, defeat unusual creatures like the Jelly Cube, Pizza Golem and recruit unlikely heroes such as the Mathemagician to aid you in going the deepest into the dungeon.

C.A.R.D is a card-based Roguelike with fast paced, easy to learn gameplay featuring an ensemble cast of quirky and humorous heroes to join your questing adventures deep into Andy’s dungeon. With push your luck mechanics, the real question is…How much loot can you bring back without perishing!

SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated – £24.99

Are you ready, kids? The cult classic is back, faithfully remade in spongetastic splendor! Play as SpongeBob, Patrick and Sandy and show the evil Plankton that crime pays even less than Mr. Krabs. Want to save Bikini Bottom from lots of rampant robots with your mighty bubbles? Of course you do! Want to underpants bungee jump? Why wouldn’t you! Want to join forces in a brand new multiplayer mode? The battle is on!

HexON – £0.89

HexON is a relaxing puzzle game where you connect magnetic pieces to a hexagonal board.

In each level you have a different board and set of pieces. You need to plug all pieces to the board to complete each level. No piece can be left unplugged.

Ultracore – £17.99

design, tons of secrets to discover and numerous mid- and end-bosses.

Originally developed in the 90’s by the legendary game studio Digital Illusions! Back then, it went by the working title of Hardcore and was sadly cancelled last minute.

Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour – £7.99

Join the world’s greatest action hero in Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour as he saves Earth once again, saving babes across the globe. Blast your way through hordes of ugly aliens in four classic Duke Nukem 3D episodes. An all-new fifth episode from the game’s original episode designers includes a new weapon, new music from the game’s original composer, and all-new lines from the original voice of Duke.

AntVentor – £7.99

Have you ever wondered what the world would look like if you were the size of an ant?

AntVentor is the first short chapter of the AntTrilogy series about an ant and his unusual adventures in a realistic macroworld.

The main character is an inventor ant. Despite his small size, he has a big dream.

He lived a simple life, until you showed up, broke his mechanism and ruined his plans.

Now you have to do whatever it takes to help Florantine not only return to his life, but also fulfill his long-cherished dream.

Together you will overcome difficulties and have many adventures, which are just beginning in this first chapter.

Night Call – £17.99

A mysterious serial killer stalks the streets of modern-day Paris. The body count rises, and the police are no closer to catching the culprit. You are a taxi driver and survivor to the killer’s most recent attacks, having barely escaped with your life. You have seven nights to help find the killer, or the police will pin it on you. These next few shifts will be far from ordinary or safe…

Night Call is a non-linear, narrative-driven noire investigation game. You are no detective, but you do have a gift. Around you, people feel more at ease. They talk. They share their thoughts, their emotions, their stories… their secrets. To passengers, you are more than just a driver; you are also a friend, a confidant, a counselor. A voyeur catching a glimpse under the masked but very real lives throughout the City of Light. And you’ll need to play these roles well if you want to catch the killer.

Pokémon Café Mix – £0.00

As Pokémon arrive to sample the delights of your Pokémon Café, it’s up to you and your highly trained staff to get their orders just right! Each order takes the form of a puzzle – where you must clear special “gimmicks” on-screen to prepare a dish.

Using the touch screen, chain icons together and drag them round to dissolve sugar cubes, chop up tomatoes and whip cream for your next culinary masterpiece. Shifting icons around and moving these gimmicks into specific spots feels like you’re stirring a pot – so get into the cooking spirit when solving each puzzle!

Sudoky – £2.49

Sudoku – is a logic-based, combinatorial number-placement puzzle. The objective is to fill a 9×9 grid with digits so that each column, each row, and each of the nine 3×3 subgrids that compose the grid (also called “boxes”, “blocks”, or “regions”) contains all of the digits from 1 to 9.

Urban Trial Tricky – £13.99

Hold on to your seat and pull off the most savage tricks and combos on your motorbike. Ride free, spin in the air, move back and forth and let yourself be carried away by the exciting, fast-paced gameplay, colorful visuals, and smooth controls.

PLOID SAGA – £10.79

In PLOID SAGA you play with the PLOIDS Alpha and Omega, wich are the evolution of the human race by merging technology with its DNA. You have 3 adventures in the saga with different playstyle:

In V.O.I.D.+ our First platformer game, our planet is invaded by a race from another galaxy, which destroys everything it touches to become thus with absolute power. After some time, a group of Ploids decides to take action and return the peace. To achieve this, Alpha and Omega must travel through time to eras of ancient land, in order to obtain sacred stones that will give him the necessary power to defeat the invaders. Some of the ancient epochs are feudal Japan, the ice age, the medieval era or among others. What he does not know is that the invaders tried to get those holy stones before him! … In addition, time threatens to collapse, and only you can connect to the PLOIDS to save the Earth!

Pachi Pachi On A Roll – £6.99

Dress up for the occasion, complete all missions, fight giant UFOs, defeat dragons, and rob a train, to get the highest score possible in this fun mix of pachinko and pinball.

Grimshade – £17.99

Grimshade tells the story of the company of heroes, by a twist of fate involved in the cycle of events unfolding in the world of Ree’fah. Numerous dreadful monsters infested the forest around the city of Brann and high walls could no longer protect residents from the attacks. The menacing army of the neighbouring kingdom suddenly landed on the outskirts of the city, wreaking havoc.
There is no hope for salvation — the strength of the defenders is running low, but the King and his loyal Champions had vanished.

Lead the group of the adventurers on a journey and explore a varied and intricate world, meet new characters and reveal plot-related secrets. Remember, beauty is deceptive — danger lurks everywhere. Test your skills in challenging turn-based battles, adjusting your combat tactics and optimal team combinations for each foe you met on the way.

Blair Witch – £26.99

Inspired by the cinematic lore of Blair Witch, experience a new story-driven psychological horror game that studies your reactions to fear and stress.

Your darkest fears will awaken in these woods.

It’s 1996. A young boy disappears in the Black Hills Forest near Burkittsville, Maryland. As Ellis, a former police officer with a troubled past, you join the search. What starts as an ordinary investigation soon turns into an endless nightmare as you confront your fears and the Blair Witch, a mysterious force that haunts the woods…

The Almost Gone – £13.49

Poised between life and death, isolated and alone, you must unravel the poignant truths that led to your fate. Dig beneath the beautifully rendered façades and interiors of an ordinary suburban lifestyle to discover a contemporary tale crafted by an award-winning author.

Piece together this compelling story by revealing objects and memories, and decipher these clues to reveal more of the story and its secrets. From your own home to eerily deserted streets, beautiful apartment blocks to abandoned hospitals, you must search forensically for clues and the path forwards. Each new revelation takes you that one step closer to understanding, and to the people and places that surrounded you, in your all too short life.

Collar X Malice – £35.99

A dangerous shadow organization launches a campaign of fear and violence in the city of Shinjuku, pushing society to the brink of chaos. As a young police officer tasked with restoring order, you become the target of an attack, and have a poisonous collar attached to your neck. With the situation spiraling out of control and time running out, five mysterious strangers appear to aid you in your quest for the truth.

Tower Of Time – £22.49

Lead the ultimate party of heroes into the Tower of Time, a vertical battleground filled with lore, mystery, and combat. Combining the nuances of classic RPGs with challenging tactical combat, Tower of Time transforms each battle into a puzzle of magic and mettle. Slow or pause time to plan your every move: strategically place your warriors, control the battleground with precise spells, counter incoming waves with devastating maneuvers.

Truck and Logistics Simulator – £36.99

Master all the individual logistics vehicles like forklifts, cranes, telescopic handlers, wheel loaders and many more to load up your vans, pickups and heavy trucks.

Dive into the progressive career mode and accomplish challenging missions to buy new vehicles, upgrade your vehicle fleet and take on the real heavy loads. Pull off dangerous off-road missions with loads as big as a 21 tonnes articulated loader that will push your driving skills to the limit. Master each unique vehicle and use them to their fullest potential to maximize your income and driver experience to become the biggest logistics company in town.

Unitied – £2.29

Unitied is a minimalistic & relaxing puzzle game. The simple goal is to finish all blocks. You do so by moving all blocks in one direction: up, left, down or right. The blocks have to use each other to be able to finish.

Urban Flow – £13.49

Urban Flow is a game about the subtle beauty of city streets filled with cars moving in perfect harmony. But such order does not happen all by itself – the city needs YOU to control the traffic lights and to make sure everything goes smoothly. That means no crashes, no jams. Everything will run perfectly – as long as you stay focused!

Immerse yourself in a beautiful, hand-crafted, low-poly world to discover the enormous satisfaction of watching the hundreds of tiny, colourful cars flowing through the streets – all while listening to the chill, urban music.

Over 100 levels, each with its own busy intersection. You have one job: operate the lights and keep it safe.

Party Game (even if you party all alone!)

Towaga: Among Shadows – £13.49

Sake of your tribe lies solely in your hands

Towaga: Among Shadows is an action -shooter game, in which the sake of your tribe lies solely in your hands. Your focus, accuracy, and patience will be put to the ultimate test as you cleanse the world from its curse. Defeat legions of foes with your spells, upgrade your skills, unlock new abilities to fit your playstyle, and delve into the mysterious past of the island of Az’kalar!

Iron Wings – £13.49

Player takes on the role of the two pilots, Jack and Amelia, as they attempt to take down Nazi aerial menace across a rich campaign of missions, each with numerous objectives and enemies as well as side objectives. While fast paced action goes you will also have to consider some strategy, assigning your partner primary objectives to shoot down, in order to succeed.

Iron Wings is primarily and arcade game, a flying shooter, where shooting won’t be enough, where each weapon or tool mounted on each of the two planes will have its role on completing each mission, and you’ll have to deal with the decision on what to do and how to do it.

City Driving Simulator – £10.79

A new and exciting car driving game that lets you try out a plethora of different vehicles in a beautiful city! Drive a car, a bus, fill up your tank at a gas station and more!

A Summer with the Shiba Inu – £9.99

When Syd the Shiba Inu returns to Shiba Island after a ten-year absence, she sets off a chain of events that overturns the lives of all the dogs she had left behind. She gets back in touch with her old friend, Max, and along the way meets a mysterious Labrador retriever named Quei-Li. (What’s a Lab doing on the Island, anyway?) They are her only remaining allies as she tries to survive the past that made her leave the Island in the first place.

Your choices matter – there are multiple drastic ways to change the fate of Shiba Island, with 10+ variants depending on how you treat the dogs you meet along the way.

Yes, Your Grace – £15.49

In this kingdom management RPG, petitioners will arrive in the throne room each turn to ask for your advice and assistance. Decide whether to help them with their problems, or to conserve resources for more important matters. Remember: supplies are limited, and not everyone has the kingdom’s best interests at heart…

Quell Zen – £6.99

This serene puzzler has you guiding raindrops through a series of colorful mazes. Enhanced by atmospheric orchestral music, the game’s subtle, sophisticated mechanics evolve as you navigate its many levels, delivering an absorbing experience that’s familiar but always fresh.

Set against a narrative of a Japanese family divided, Quell Zen will take you on an unforgettable journey. Step inside this beautiful world today.

Next week: The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III, The Otterman Empire, Biped, Infliction: Extended Cut, Infini, Ghost Grab 3000, and Singled Out.

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