Surprise! Nintendo’s Indie World presentation has sprung a bunch of new Switch releases upon us, with the most unexpected of all being Among Us. A game of teamwork and betrayal, it has become a runaway success on PC, proving incredibly popular with streamers. It’s such a success, in fact, that the developers cancelled the sequel to focus on the original. That doesn’t happen often.
It’s a short and simple affair, but that’s where the appeal lies – anybody can jump in and play, donning their detective garb to try and sniff out an imposter within the group.
Calico is also out now. It’s a pastel-hued community affair in which you’re tasked with repairing and restoring a quaint cat café. The developer’s aim was to make you feel warm and fuzzy inside, and judging by screenshots alone, I’d say they’ve achieved that goal.
Capy Games’ Grindstone is a different beast, being a 200+ stage puzzle game with boss battles, crafting and daily challenges. The Apple Arcade version was very well-received.
Then there’s When the Past was Around, a point ‘n click puzzle adventures starring Eda, a girl in her early 20s trapped in a surreal world consisting of rooms filled with memories. In this bittersweet tale, Eda learns about moving on and letting go. Look out for a review soon.
Going back to scheduled programming, Square-Enix’s COLLECTION OF SaGa FINAL FANTASY LEGEND brings together three Game Boy RPGs with new features such as adjustable screen magnification and a high-speed mode. The screen can also be flipped vertically, allowing the Switch to be held like a giant Game Boy.
Shakes on a Plane, meanwhile, has been likened to Overcooked. Here, you’re serving up meals while airborne, dealing with turbulence and loose luggage. Might be one to try with friends over Christmas.
Tactical shooter SYNTHETIK: Ultimate is one of the few games to get the review treatment this week. If you’re up for a challenge – it prides itself of being tougher than frozen toffee – it’s apparently very good, scoring an 8/10 from Finger Guns.
“Offering a modern roguelite spin on a retro-inspired concept, SYNTHETIK is a cracking title from a small team. A fiddly menu system can be a pain at times, but the core gameplay of this robot rampage is absolutely top notch. Either solo or with a friend, there’s hours of fun to be had in trying to overthrow the machine,†they said.
Other new releases to mull over include the excellent 32-bit style Metroidvania Touhou Luna Nights, offbeat physics game Freddy Spaghetti, challenging combat adventure Unto The End, and the rather risqué Qix-alike Crawlco Block Knockers. Oo-er!
New Switch eShop releases
COLLECTION of SaGa FINAL FANTASY LEGEND – £14.99
The first Game Boy RPG to sell over a million units and the memorable first installment of the series: THE FINAL FANTASY LEGEND.
A title that gained popularity through its refined gameplay system and the journey through a diverse world: FINAL FANTASY LEGEND II.
A unique story that travelled across time that featured a new and an innovative character leveling system.: FINAL FANTASY LEGEND III.
Experience the origins of the SaGa series with the COLLECTION of SaGa FINAL FANTASY LEGEND, the first complete port of these hugely popular titles.
The collection includes new enhancements like high-speed mode as well as features unique to the Nintendo Switch, such as adjustable screen magnification and game screen background customization. Featuring compatibility with, of course, handheld mode, but also with TV mode and tabletop mode.
Furthermore, this game also revives the nostalgia of playing the original by enabling vertical usage of the console after removing the Joy-Con. Take your collection on the go with handheld mode, share your journey with your Nintendo Switch in TV mode, or remove the Joy-Con and turn your Nintendo Switch vertically for a retro Game Boy experience.
When the Past was Around – £7.09
When the Past was Around is an adventure point-and-click puzzle game about love, moving on, letting go, and the joy and pain of everything in between.
The game tells a bittersweet tale between a girl and her lover in a surreal world consisting of disjointed rooms from memories and time. With each gathered clue, solved puzzles, and unlocked door, the girl will find her way, unraveling the secrets between her and her lover, the secrets which she used to know.
Calico – £8.99
Calico is a day-in-the-life community sim game where you are given an important and adorable task: rebuild the town’s cat café and fill it with cute and cuddly creatures! You will journey to a small village filled with magical girls and other fantastical friends, where you are placed in charge of a run down cat café. Build up your café by filling it with cute furniture, fun decorations, yummy pastries, and get it bustling with animals again!
Calico is meant to make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. The gameplay reflects that with a laid back, low stress creative environment to explore and play in.
Among Us – £3.89
An online and local party game of teamwork and betrayal for 4-10 players…in space!
Grindstone – £15.09
Smash creeps to get huge combos and earn precious Grindstones in CAPY’s hit puzzle-battler. Cash in your grindstones to craft new gear and overcome devious enemies, obstacles, and boss encounters as you conquer Grindstone Mountain’s 200+ levels, and prove your prowess on the daily mode’s leaderboards.
SYNTHETIK: Ultimate – £13.49
Fight against relentless opponents and unforgiving bosses encased in ever-changing environments. Master the uniquely deep and satisfying weapon mechanics and the unprecedented amount of customization. Discover a seemingly unending amount of weapons, items, perks and character upgrades.
Defentron – £8.99
Get ready and battle for the ultimate upgrade. Defentron, the retro-futurist computer system is trying to safeguard itself from malicious viruses that seek to control its core.
Use strategy to upgrade your lines of defense and become the most powerful security system ever known.
Think like an 80s software. You will face fast, hard, resilient enemies, capable of regenerating or splitting when destroyed, returning to the battlefield. Nobody will be safe until the last of the living enemies falls.
Will you be able to save Defentron from the enemy threat? It all depends on you.
Mercenaries Blaze: Dawn of the Twin Dragons – £17.99
Experience a lengthy and challenging story campaign, an enthralling tale full of emotive writing, plot twists and high stakes moments. Grow with your team by clearing strategic turn-based battles, with many optional missions and details to consider – which class will you upgrade for each character, and what equipment or skills will you prioritise?
Developer Rideon’s highly-regarded turn-based strategy battles are carried out from an isometric viewpoint, and are characterized by increased depth as you position characters not just in terms of elevation and enemies, but also to maximise attacks and defence depending on the direction you face. Varied weapons and skills are all tools that need to be utilised smartly for the best results.
New to the series for Mercenaries Blaze: Dawn of the Twin Dragons are fully 3D Battle Maps, along with improved visuals and audio. Character designs are from Mr. Masayoshi Nishimura, with the varied cast telling an exciting and surprising story.
Body of Evidence – £8.99
Become a dead body disposal specialist!
As a “cleaner†you need to get rid of the body and make sure there is no evidence left behind.
Remember, you’re on a clock. Think fast, use proper tools, and don’t mess up…
Leave one smear of blood and you’re in trouble. All of this in a low-poly noir style.
Crawlco Block Knockers – £7.99
Return to the feel of smokey ‘90s Japanese arcades as you pull, kick and match blocks to reveal hidden images of the lovely ladies behind each stage! As blocks enter the play field, knock them into marked zones while avoiding and smashing enemies, all as your workspace gets tighter. Aim carefully to boost your score, but don’t get boxed in!
ARCADE ARCHIVES: VS. TENNIS
Slam a serve, fire a blazing backhand, smash a forehand volley… you call the shots in Nintendo TENNIS! Nintendo lets you choose an opponent from five different skill levels, so as your game improves, so does your playing partner! Plus, you can actually gauge the speed of your serve! The better your timing, the faster it moves across the net. You’ll have hours of fun rushing the net, playing the baseline or roaming the court. With Nintendo’s state-of-the-art graphics and realistic game play, you’ll really believe you’re at center court!
DOG GONE GOLFING – £7.19
Grab up to 8 local players and compete against your friends. Tee off simultaneously as you compete to be the first to get your puck in the hole. No two matches are ever the same!
Master the art of Dog Golfing as you compete through a series of 20 unique worlds. Each world adds new challenges and features to test your skill. Compete for Dog Park supremacy and earn coins to unlock new puck skins.
Yum Yum Line – £6.99
Fantastic fun for all ages. Match up the same colours to clear lines and make sure that you don’t get stuck. With infinite replayability and the local battle mode, Yum Yum Line gives you the chance to play by yourself or challenge a friend on the same screen.
Gems of Magic: Lost Family – £7.99
Gems of Magic brings a match-3 game together with wonderful hand-drawn art with a story of magic, gems and adventure. Discover this mystical enchanted forest in a calm and relaxing world of spirits and magic. But a dark cloud is forming over the forest and Hurricane has kidnapped the Fuzzy family. It’s now time to help the magic creatures to save the Fuzzy family and restore the magical forest.
Unto The End – £22.49
Unto The End is a challenging, handcrafted combat-adventure. Alone and outmatched, a humble father must endure a desperate journey to get back to his family. Armed with a sword, a dagger, and his wits, he must outfight and outsmart the creatures he encounters as he treks through unfamiliar lands, where every step brings him closer to home but is fraught with untold dangers.
Outbreak Lost Hope – £11.69
Experience a mother’s desperate search for her daughter in the midst of a nation-wide epidemic. Taking place in the Outbreak universe by Dead Drop Studios, this story follows Gwen just after her harrowing escape from an urban center during the outbreak. A terrible accident causes her to get separated from her daughter Hope and she has to fight the undead to survive… and save her daughter.
Traditional Tactics Ne+ – £8.09
You are “Prince Natri”, explore the dungeon “Royal Tomb” to be the king. In there, many spirits are waiting to make a trial of your courage. Let’s fight and try the simulation battle with your units!
This is turn-based Simulation RPG. You and enemy take turns playing like Chess. Move your units on the map and beat the enemy to clear each stage. The rules of this game are so simple that you can understand easily, and there are many features for beginners.
KAUIL’S TREASURE – £8.99
Kauil’s Treasure is a new single-player adventure-puzzle game where you, the father of a teenage girl named Sophie, need to find your daughter before the horrors behind Kauil’s Treasure find her first. Thus, you’ll have to solve the hardest puzzles, avoid the rotten souls corrupted by Kauil, and use your whip to get to the most dangerous places and save your daughter.
Dark Arcana: The Carnival – £13.49
Investigate two worlds: the one you know and an alternate plane existing behind the Hall of Mirrors. Discover the secret of an ancient being known as the Evil One. Reveal the story of star-crossed lovers and stop the Evil One from breaking its magical chains and invading our world.
While traveling through dimensions, you will solve cleverly designed minigames and find hidden objects or play a special minigame as an alternative. Best of all, you will befriend a cute and clever monkey devoted to aiding you on this adventure.
Shikaku Shapes – £6.29
Shikaku Shapes is played on a rectangular grid. Some of the squares in the grid are numbered. The objective is to divide the grid into rectangular and square pieces such that each piece contains exactly one number, and that number represents the area of the rectangle.
Freddy Spaghetti – £4.99
Follow along Freddy’s story as you plunge head first into challenges and obstacles. Created in a laboratory machine by the brilliant Dr. P Starr, Freddy’s story turned out to be quite the adventure that would follow.
Freddy uses rope physics to simulate a squishy, stretchy, ropey character. Walk, Run, Jump, Slide, Slap, Smash, Kick, Dodge and Epic Fail your way to the Goal. Overcome the environment, master your spaghetti!
60 Seconds! Reatomized – £8.50
Scavenge supplies, rescue your family, and stay alive in your fallout shelter. Make difficult decisions, hunt mutant roaches… and maybe survive. Or not.
Dolores, Ted, Mary Jane and Timmy return to face the nuclear apocalypse in this new, remastered edition of the classic atomic adventure – 60 Seconds! Reatomized, featuring refreshed 2D graphics and hand-drawn 3D textures, new interactive menu, improved UI system, a technical refresh, and of course… new content!
Dark Grim Mariupolis – £4.49
Encourage yourself and step into darkness…
Enter Mariupolis, a dark place accompanied with confusing, strange music of no visible source. You are some sort of a detective, and therefore you need to investigate, but why? That’s the thing you’re going to find out… or, maybe not. Everything depends on you and sudden whims of Pentaculus, a grim god stretching its hands out over the whole city.
Investigate and solve puzzles, while resisting dark and obscure grasp of Mariupolis, where the only things guarding you from its baneful influence are sarcasm and arrogance. And be aware – your hero might actually die.
Shakes on a Plane – £17.99
Shakes on a Plane is a chaotic co-op shaking game for one to four players. Flying on various planes with your flight crew, serve up a variety of tasty shakes, burgers, fries and many more dishes before the plane lands on the airport and your passengers rate your services.
But it is not only you who creates all the mess. Aliens always had a look on our shiny planet with its weird citizens but undeniable and delicious food they are creating and cooking. The intergalactic community competes in fame rewarding cooking competitions and the species with the most sophisticated meal wins. This is when humanity can play its part in this extraordinary event and show the galaxy what real fast food can taste and look like.
Boot Hill Heroes – £7.69
Boot Hill Heroes is the first game in a series that fuses elements of spaghetti western film – gunslinging outlaws, brave lawmen, and the untamed wilderness – with classic RPG storyline and gameplay. It’s an epic Wild West adventure packed with excitement, intrigue and a dose of humor.
Chill Panda – £9.99
Baby Pandas grow up fast! Chill Panda is excited to go out into the world but feels worried about exploring alone!
Chill Panda heads to the beautiful island of Chillville near the sea where it’s said that a very calm and wise panda lives.
Discover the secrets of the island. Help Chill Panda manage fear and worry. So that nothing can stop Panda from having fun!
Touhou Luna Nights – £TBA
Touhou Luna Nights is a Metroidvania title with a heavy emphasis on exploration and action.　 Developed by Team Ladybug, creators of multiple fantastic action games thus far.
Next week: The Hong Kong Massacre, Cube Life: Island Survival, Super Meat Boy Forever, Traffix, PBA Pro Bowling 2021, Override 2: Super Mech League, Smart Moves, Dungeon Limbus, Landflix Odyssey, Isolation Story, Kolumno, Kingdom Tales, The Last Dead End, Elliot, Spirit Arena, Match Three: Pirates! Heir to Davy Jones, BIT.TRIP BEAT, Candy 2048 Challenge, BIT.TRIP CORE, BIT.TRIP VOID, BIT.TRIP FLUX, BIT.TRIP RUNNER, BIT.TRIP FATE, Dungeonoid, DungeonTop, and Door Kickers.
