It’s an odd week for the Switch – the eShop line-up mostly consists of indie oddities. There aren’t many reviews floating around for the majority either. It’s suspiciously quiet on that front.
Multiformat release Skully heads to both retail and the eShop, and is one of the few games to get the review treatment. Critics seem to agree that while it has its fair share of problems, they’re mostly easy enough to look past, such as blurry visuals and sloppy vocal work. The fantasy 3D puzzle platformer – with light Marble Madness-style elements, thanks to a spherical lead – currently has a Metacritic of 63%, with most reviews clocking in at 6/10.
“It may be uglier than sin and you may be accompanied by an irritating voiceover throughout, but you’ll still have some fun playing through it and the plot does resolve itself in a nice way by the end. You’ll just need to be able to roll with a lot of annoyances to get there,†said Nintendo Life.
Nintendo World Report echoed this: “Even though the Switch version’s visuals are a little rough, which doesn’t play nicely with the overall visual blandness of the levels, the style of the character designs is appealing. Underneath Skully is a lot of charm, but enough issues pile up that pull it back into the mud.â€
While the name ‘Skully’ rolls off the tongue, no pun intended, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Familia Myth Infinite Combate certainly doesn’t. This JRPG is due out in the UK this week but isn’t out in the US for another week, giving some explanation to the lack of reviews. Following the story of the anime, it combines dungeon crawling with dating, along with a quest to become a great adventurer.
There’s also ancient far east brawler Clan N, a top-down beat’em up with arcade virtues and a four-player mode. The pixel art looks rather clean and tidy. Cruel Bands Career has an appealing art direction too, featuring black and white sketchbook style-doodles. This abstract rhythm action affair is launching at a super-low price too.
Aery – Broken Memories, meanwhile, casts you into the role of a small bird as they try to navigate a person’s memories – both good and bad. That’s joined by Steam Tactics, a steampunk turn-based RPG with airships. The PC version launched in 2017 to ‘positive’ reviews on Steam.
A couple of other games pique our interest this week, including Titan Glory – an online mech shooter which appears visually accomplished, at the very least – and Frontline Zed, a zombie defence shooter with detailed rendered backdrops. Take a look at the full list below.
New Switch eShop releases
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Familia Myth Infinite Combate – £34.99
Labyrinth City Orario, where gods live amongst humans and provide them with extraordinary powers. Experience the tale of Bell Cranel, a young boy striving to become a great adventurer, and Aiz Wallenstein, a first-class swordswoman, as their lives become intertwined and decide the fate of all Orario!
Experience an Expansive Story – Discover exclusive new narratives not covered in the anime!
Explore the Dungeon – Defeat monsters in the dangerous labyrinth underneath the city!
Take on Extra Challenges – Once the story concludes, continue to undertake additional randomly-generated dungeons for extra replayability!
Go out on Dates – Deepen your relationships and become intimate with several characters by going on dates, exclusive to the game!
Mystery Mine – £8.09
Dynamic adventure in the Mystery Mine: dangerous monsters and bosses, ancient magic and decisions, on which many lives depend! Can the ordinary aborigine save the world?
Aery – Broken Memories – £14.99
In Aery – Broken Memories you enter the mind of another person in order to bring them back from a coma.
Within the other human’s mind, you are represented through a little bird that moves smoothly through thoughts, fears, and memories.
Your objective is to find memory shards in order to get to know the other person, to progress with the story, and to unlock new, unknown areas of the mind.
Experience the feeling of flying, immerse into beautiful and atmospheric landscapes and enjoy the unique storytelling of the game while getting to know a new friend on the fly.
Clan N – £13.49
Clan N is a beat’em up game which combines the classic arcades gameplay with today’s modern brawlers. With a fast paced nature, you have to dodge, block and use your light, heavy and special attacks wisely to progress. With an ancient far east theme, you’ll get challenged across 7 different levels with many different enemies, Mid/End level bosses and casual mini games integrated into main gameplay.
Cruel Bands Career – £3.59
They are on a secret mission and must face varied audiences and bosses to complete their quest.
Cruel Bands Career features highly varied gameplay and a unique art style.
The three-man band is on a secret mission, the only thorn in their side being the constant stream of audience. Keep an eye on the mood of your band members and gain control of the situation by adjusting their on-stage positions and using their abilities.
As you progress, you must choose which abilities to upgrade, or when to sneak into a secret room for a nap or two. But your final goal remains the same, to explore an increasingly dangerous world.
KukkoroDays – £5.89
In this love-adventure game set in Akihabara, you can enjoy living together with a lady knight. It’s a little serious, a little sad, and a little sexy, but most of all, it’s fun!
Titan Glory – £4.49
Titan Glory is a sci-fi mech combat game with an emphasis on mech and weapon variety, multiple game modes and spectacular combat arenas.
In the near future, mech combat sports are all the rage! Various match rules and objectives bring the thrill of the game in glorious skirmishes filled with explosions and projectiles.
Taking part in tournaments and winning matches will earn you valuable credits and ranks. In turn these will give you access to 12 mechs with different weapon loadouts and attributes. For all of them you will have to choose which component to upgrade and where to push your machine to the limits.
Crowdy Farm Rush – £5.49
Animals of Crowdy Farm lost their way! Bring them back, rancher, but don’t allow for chaos! Be cautious, so your lazy cows and fast chickens won’t collide. Make dozen of ducks march in a row, gather flock of pigs in safe place and control stubborn donkey! Ensure that farm residents are washed out of mud before they enter the farm, but beware: the coyote is awake. Keep animals away from him!
Ultra Foodmess – £3.59
Experience the food mess! Call your friends to explode, shoot, swing, push, dodge, destroy and, eventually, ruin your friendship.
Memory Lane – £4.49
Memory Lane : A game to test your memory skills!
Test your memory to find the pairs cards.
Select from 4 different card sets.
Over 150 different cards to play with.
Unlock new factoids.
Drink More Glurp – £7.99
Drink More Glurp is a wacky physics, sports(ish), hot seat, party game set on a distant world where aliens have copied Earth’s summer games and got everything slightly wrong.
Having binge watched broadcasts of Earth TV the aliens are convinced that advertising is the most important part of any sporting event. Sponsors will randomly take control of events and twist them to fit their agenda, leading to a chaotic galactic summer games like no other.
Alphadia Genesis – £13.49
Having been at peace for only 15 years since the end of the Energi War, the kingdoms of Archleign and Ghalzabine are once again thrust onto center stage after a murder perpetrated by a clone comes to light.
Hoping the treaty signed to end the use of clones for conventional warfare has not been violated, a joint-investigative team is put together to find out the cause and bring those responsible to justice. However, the adventure appears to be far more volatile than anyone could have first imagined…
Engage in intense 3D turn-based battles with beautifully rendered character visuals, vibrant Energi and Break Skills! Characters outside the party can cooperate in various ways through the use of Assists. Not to mention the rest of the huge content packed in one in the well-known RPG saga, immerse yourself in challenging subquests, arena battles, bosses around the world and more!
Frontline Zed – £9.71
Collect weapons where you can. Manage your time well. Will you spend precious daylight hours repairing your defense, or searching for other survivors to help you fight? The promise of rescue beckons – if you can survive long enough to make it.
Manage your time by day – search for weapons and survivors, or keep your defenses repaired. Hordes of zombies are waiting for your flesh! Will a wood wall stop them?
You should defend your position against the horde by night with maximum attention. Try to survive, fight back with weapon and revel in the carnage with a fully detailed ragdoll and dismemberment system.
Two hours of intense, action-driven gameplay. Can you make it through America and reach a final rescue destination? Gather, ledge zombies and survive!
Swimsanity! – £19.99
Swimsanity! is a multiplayer underwater shooter with action-packed Co-Op and Versus game modes, all supported by online and local play. You play as our hero Mooba, who uses a variety of unique power ups and weapons to survive in this aquatic world.
Whether you’re teaming up with friends to swim into Adventure mode, or clashing in competitive matches such as Last Mooba Standing, there’s more than 150+ challenges to complete across 8 action-packed Game Modes in Swimsanity! All modes can be played online or locally.
City Bus Driving Simulator – £10.79
Enter a demanding training arena, try out a selection of varied vehicles and show your skills driving them!
Wordify – £2.69
Wordify goal – using the given letters, combine them into correct word cross. Exercise your brain playing 250 puzzles, multiple difficulty levels.
RogueCube – £4.99
Pick your cube and blast your way to victory in RogueCube!
Choose from solo campaign, local multiplayer campaign or local multiplayer competitive modes and duke it out. Can you capture the eight vertices and clear each zone?
Jump dodge and shoot your way to victory!
Steam Tactics – £8.99
Take on a role of a captain of a squad of airship pilots, acquire and upgrade new ships and weapons, level up your crew.
The king is gravely ill. The queen wishes to employ your services. You are one of the most renowned mercenary tacticians in the land. Will you answer the kingdom’s call?
Spitlings – £13.49
You know what the problem with multiplayer games is, right? The other players! It’s always THEIR FAULT if you lose! We’ve got the perfect game to blame your friends for their incapability: Spitlings! This chaotic action arcade game for up to four players is a modern take on the hardcore classics.
Skully – £29.99
On a mysterious remote island, a skull washes up on shore and is reawakened by an enigmatic deity. Dubbed Skully, the newly reanimated being has been summoned to intervene in a war between the deity’s three siblings, whose quarrel jeopardizes the island they call home.
Fate has bestowed Skully with a second chance at “life†and his adventure will take him across a strange paradise as he seeks an end to the conflict that plagues the isle.
Wizards: Wand of Epicosity – £15.79
When the Wizard of Darkness awakened, it was up to one man to defeat him. When that man was accidentally killed by one idiot, Tobuscus (or “person of extremely low intelligence” – gently put), the responsibility of becoming an AWESOME WIZARD fell onto him… by default!
Wizards: Wand of Epicosity is a thrilling, fast paced Tower Defense game with magic, zombies, and a teleporting castle.
The Wizard of Darkness sends forth his undead hordes and it is up to you and your allies to defeat them.
Next week: Twist & Bounce, Banner of the Maid, Volta-X, The Ambassador: Fractured Timelines, Faeria, Big Dipper, WE ARE DOOMED, Boomerang Fu, Darkestville Castle, and Shaolin vs Wutang.