Miitopia, Knockout City, SnowRunner, Layers of Fear 2, Just Die Already, Rising Hell and more hit the Switch

It’s doubtful anyone expected the 3DS’ Miitopia to end up on Switch, but here we are – Nintendo clearly believed their Mii RPG didn’t quite reach its potential on its original format. Perhaps they felt Animal Crossing: New Horizons has paved the way for other games with social aspects.

Reviews aren’t live yet, but there is a trial version. The improved character creator seems to be a great addition, allowing for some familiar faces to join your quest.

The Switch gets a surprising number of noteworthy titles this week, in fact. There’s SnowRunner – the realistic physics-based driving sim with various snow-covered terrane to conquer. The first review score out the door is an impressive 8.5 from Nintendo Enthusiast, who claimed it’s one of the Switch’s best-looking games.

“It’s a feature-for-feature port of an already renowned game and is made all the better thanks to Switch-exclusive portable functionality. While there are some technical limitations, Saber Interactive has managed to cram SnowRunner’s foliage-dense open-world maps onto the hybrid with preservation of detail that was unexpected,” they said.

If you prefer your racing games more straightlaced, yet also with a sprinkling of snow, Driving World: Aspen has that base covered.  

Then there’s EA’s dodgeball-style online battler Knockout City, which is free to play for ten days, horror sequel Layers of Fear 2, the Goat Simulator-style mayhem sandbox Just Die Already – which sees the elderly out to cause chaos – and the crass cartoon adventure sequel Leisure Suit Larry – Wet Dreams Dry Twice. The original was allegedly surprisingly clever.

Reviews for the stylish auto-runner platformer Aerial_Knight’s Never Yield are starting to surface, including a 6/10 from Nintendo Life. They praised the visual style and soundtrack, but felt it lacked both variety and challenge. Gert Lush Gaming enjoyed it a lot more, dishing out an 8.2.

We’ve reviewed a couple of new releases ourselves. Rich was smitten by the hellish vertical platformer Rising Hell – it feels great to play, and there’s a ton of content – while Matt stepped into the roguelike horror Outbreak: Endless Nightmares and found that the dated engine and poor camera system hampered an otherwise ambitious project.  

Others to consider include the anime-style rhythm actioner Arcaea, arcade shooter Jetboard Joust, a remaster of the 2004 PS2 adventure Kowloon High-School Chronicle, and Invirium – a top-down roguelike set within a human body.

RPG remaster Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance may turn up too – it’s on the US eShop, but yet to grace the UK store. Any day now, we reckon.

New Switch eShop releases

SnowRunner – £35.99

SnowRunner puts you in the driver’s seat of powerful vehicles as you conquer extreme open environments with the most advanced terrain simulation ever. Drive 40 vehicles from brands such as Ford, Chevrolet, and Freightliner as you leave your mark on an untamed open world.

Overcome mud, torrential waters, snow, and frozen lakes while taking on perilous contracts and missions. Expand and customize your fleet with many upgrades and accessories including an exhaust snorkel for heavy waters or chain tires to battle the snow.

Miitopia – £TBA

Set off on a whacky, whimsical adventure with a cast of friends in Miitopia on Nintendo Switch! Create your own party of Mii characters and face off against the Dark Lord, who has stolen the faces of Miitopia’s residents – including that of the King! Reclaim them and restore balance to the kingdom through the bonds of friendship.

Knockout City – £TBA

Team up and duke it out with rival Crews in Knockout Cityâ„¢, where you settle the score with EPIC DODGEBALL BATTLES. Brace yourself for outrageous fun and intense competition in an all-new take on team-based multiplayer games.

Customize your character and form a Crew with friends to start your Knockout City takeover. Knock out opponents with trick shots and coordinated teamwork while dodging and catching balls flying across the map. No ball? No problem! You can literally ball up, roll into a teammate’s hands, and become the ultimate weapon!

A variety of outlandish ball types, locations, and game modes keep it exciting. Plus, each season introduces new maps, ball types, rewards, events, and challenges! Throw, catch, pass, dodge, and tackle your way to dodgeball dominance!

Cosmic Top Secret – £8.99

EXPERIENCE SOMETHING UNIQUE

“Cosmic Top Secret” is the weird, but official, term NATO uses for top confidentiality. A fitting name for this game since it needed military clearance to be released!

Cosmic Top Secret won multiple awards for the innovative ways it engages players in deeply documented plots. The game even inspired the creation of a life-size event at the Cold War Museum of Denmark.

Outbreak: Endless Nightmares – £17.99

Outbreak: Endless Nightmares twists the series’ survival horror gameplay by adding elements of roguelike gameplay. You’ll need to explore, hunt for supplies, uncover clues, and fight your way through each anomaly – each consisting of semi-procedurally generated instances where both the environment, and the undead, are out to kill you!

Immediately after the events of Outbreak: The Nightmare Chronicles, you find yourself trapped within the remains of Arzt Memorial Hospital – the hub to organize your inventory and storage cache, level up your character, or just to take a breather before venturing back out into the chaos. There’s more to discover in the world besides murderous hordes of the undead – find the journals scattered about to learn more about the outbreak and ultimately where to find refuge! Don’t think death can save you – every time you die, you’ll awake trapped in this nexus.

Outbreak: Endless Nightmares focuses on extreme replayability by offering multiple character options – each with their own abilities, upgrade paths and more! Each time you venture into the anomaly, it’ll change and become increasingly difficult as you grow in power. You’ll need to think carefully about what weapons, healing items, and other supplies you’ll bring along. If you’re lucky, you may find storage caches that give you access to your expanded inventory, and offer an opportunity to restock. But it’s all on you to search your environment for supplies. If you run out … your fate is sealed!

Arcaea – £34.99

Touch, hold, slide—and, for the first time ever, use the Joy-Con controllers to glide through the world of Arcaea. Feel the rhythm in a vast collection of songs now fully available on Nintendo Switch, and follow the fateful story of the girls lost in its world.

Each awakens without any memories in a barren, pale world of ruined buildings and dry oceans. Only the drifting, glass shard-like memories offer any sense of life in this world… but where will the memories lead them?

Jetboard Joust – £7.99

An intense, arcade-style, ‘bullet hell’ SHMUP/STG in which you must master a vast array of ridiculous weaponry in order to defeat a race of evil aliens who are intent on abducting innocent civilians and turning them into mutants. Jetboard Joust blends the spirit and intensity of 1980s arcade coin-op SMHUPs with the replayability and tactical elements of hardcore modern roguelikes. Don’t expect a story. Do expect frantic, fluid, fast-paced 60fps action, big guns, and explosions!

Chess Knights: Shinobi – £3.59

Chess Knights: Shinobi is an original turn-based puzzle game inspired by Chess.

Geminose: Animal Popstars – £29.09

Meet the Geminose, seriously cute and talented animals from all over the globe. The Geminose love to make, listen, and dance to music and they’re ready to embark on their world tour with your help!

Recruit the Geminose from all over the world and form your ultimate popstar band. Travel the globe playing 20 original songs while mastering 30 different instruments. Spin the mashup wheel after each performance to meet mashup superfans that will follow your band on its international tour.

Keep your fans guessing and wanting more by rearranging songs in hundreds of different ways and dressing up the Geminose in different stylish looks for each performance. Unlock additional outfits and customize the Geminose to your heart’s content.

Leisure Suit Larry – Wet Dreams Dry Twice – £40.49

Hey Ladies! I am not done yet and still dreaming of you in Leisure Suit Larry – Wet Dreams Dry Twice. I left New Lost Wages, and had prepared to marry my only true love, Faith. But, unforeseen events interrupted us and we’ve become separated again! She is somewhere in the famous, sunny and huge Kalau’a archipelago and I have to find her.

No obstacle will keep me away from my beloved, my Faith, not even the wild and untamed islands of Kalau’a. Those lovely island ladies can only distract me for so long as my heart’s compass only points in one direction – Faith! Care to set sail with me as a true pirate and become a real gold digger? Join my crew on this glorious quest!

Fate Of The Pharaoh – £8.99

The greedy enemy wanted the treasures of Egypt. Long time attacks exhausted the magnificent realm of Pharaoh. Days of glory are far behind now, wrapped in dust of endless deserts. But, there’s hope! The enemy finally fled!

Take the role of brave young Pharaoh’s adviser and raise the golden cities of Egypt once again in this fun and beautiful strategy/management game.

Construct homes for your people, set-up production, trade, please gods, fight crocodiles and dangerous cobras while build monuments and famous wonders of Egyptian realm. And, be visited by aliens from space that will teach you secrets of how to build the mighty pyramids! All this, and much more in Fate of the Pharaoh!

Let it roll slide puzzle – £3.59

Let it roll has a simple goal. Arrange the puzzles pieces by sliding them into the correct position to let the ball roll into the goal. Two game modes are included, the star mode where you need to collect all stars and the classic mode where you only need to reach the goal. Both of the game modes have 240 levels ready to be solved.

Wood Block Escape Puzzles – £3.59

Tease your brain in this challenging puzzle game where the player must move the red block all the way to the right side of the game board. However, other blocks obstruct the way which must be moved out of the way to unblock the red one. Unlock new difficulties by earning stars and reach the expert difficulty.

Wood block escape puzzles a fun and simple way to relax and challenge your logical reasining and concentration.

Wanna Survive – £13.49

Set in an ongoing zombie apocalypse, Wanna Survive is a challenging strategy/tactics game with highly streamlined turn-based combat. The easy-to-read iconography and color coding allows players to quickly assess each evolving battle scenario and evaluate the status and options of allies and enemies with ease. Follow multiple characters’ story arcs through a variety of unique combat scenarios and try to keep them alive until they reach their goal: the city of Borealis!

Sunless Skies: Sovereign Edition – £18.99

Captain a spacefaring steam locomotive, as a new Victorian empire takes to the stars! Lead your hapless crew into trouble – and out of their minds. Barter for barrels of time. Smuggle souls. Pause for cricket and a cup of tea.

Unfettered by gravity, the Victorian Empire reaches across the skies. The stars are the Judgements: vast intelligences that govern all things. But they are dying.

Create your past. Choose who you were before you became a skyfarer. Most of your captains will die. Each will leave their mark on the world.

Explore a beautiful, hostile world. This is a standalone story set in the Fallen London universe, as seen in Sunless Sea.

Improve your locomotive. It is all that stands between you and the Heavens.

Populate your ship with officers. Fight marauders. Survive starvation, madness and terror.

Will you support Her Majesty’s empire, or the rebels who mean to dismantle London’s rule? Pick your side wisely, for you might be the one to tip the balance of power…

Xylophone – £8.09

Turn your Nintendo Switchâ„¢ into a Xylophone and learn to play anywhere, anytime.

Xylophone is an easy to use game that will teach you how to play your favourite songs.

Choose from one of the 9 included classic learning songs which will teach you how to play them like a professional by highlighting the coloured bars to hit. You will be surprised how easy it is to play something that sounds so amazing, so quick.

Xylophone also comes with a free play mode, so you can play anything you want NAND maybe after enough practice learning you can play one of the included songs without any assistance and amaze you family and friends.

Xylophone is the fun way for anyone to start learning to play the Xylophone.

Aerial_Knight’s Never Yield – £11.99

Survive a futuristic Tokyo style Detroit in this 3D runner that tells the story of Wally, who has uncovered the evidence that can change his city forever. Explore a game world with a dope-tastic soundtrack featuring the authentic sounds of Detroit artists.

0 Degrees – £3.59

A snow-covered wonderland of platforming action awaits in 0 Degrees, a chill puzzle experience for players of any age or skill level! Take control of a bundled-up pixel art climber as they make their way across icefields, up frosted peaks, through dark caves and over treacherous pitfalls! Help them survive mysterious hazards and overcome brain-teasing obstacles that span 40 unique levels.

The objective is simple, to navigate single-screen challenges from entry to exit, then warp to the next level of escalating complexity. Locate and unlock warp points by activating switches, opening doors and finding special crystals. You’ll even be able to form ice blocks to help you negotiate dangerous gaps or reach high ledges. Stack them on top of one another, knock them over or toss them on top of spikes and switches. And if you get in a tight spot or plummet off a cliff, no worries! You can restart at the beginning of any level you’ve reached, allowing you to try again or go for better times.

CLANNAD Side Stories – £35.99

CLANNAD Side Stories is an anthology of sixteen short stories penned by the scenario writers of the original CLANNAD visual novel.

Featuring episodes set both before and after the events of CLANNAD, this collection is fully voiced by a stellar cast and brought to life by the gorgeous illustrations of acclaimed artist GOTO-P.

Available in two languages!

The text can be set to Japanese or English (audio is Japanese only). This includes in-game text, options, and the digital manual. Language settings can be changed at any time.

Play using only the touch screen! Play with one hand!

Play in handheld mode with the Joy-Conâ„¢ controllers attached, or detach them and play with just the touch controls! While in tabletop mode or TV mode, everything can be controlled using only the Joy-Conâ„¢ (R), allowing you to play with only one hand! Also available for the Nintendo Switchâ„¢ Lite. (A separate Joy-Conâ„¢ (R) is required to play with one hand.)

Rising Hell – £7.99

Rising Hell is a vertical platformer rogue-lite filled with adrenaline-pumping action and tons of heavy gothic metal shreds. Climb out from the ever-changing hell while you fight hordes of blood-lusting demons.

ABOUT THIS GAME:

Fight your way through hordes of blood-lusting demons and escape hell as you unlock new characters and talents to create chaos in the randomly generated and ever-changing landscape of hell!

Heavy-metal riffs and pixelated madness will accompany you as you fight your way out from the depths of fiery hell, facing the bugs-ridden Beelzebub’s Lair, and other pits of hell with different creatures, bosses, and living traps lurking around. Chaining combos, jumping maneuvers, and talent building will be your key to help you climb your way out of hell in this adrenaline-pumping vertical platformer.

Invirium – £7.19

Invirium is an action shooter game with randomly generated levels and elements from the roguelike genre. You are the cell which needs to eliminate dangerous pathogens in the human body. In the gameplay you can find interesting items which help you upgrade or add new features against tons of microorganisms.

Sakura Succubus 2 – £8.99

Ogasawara Hiroki is a thoroughly average man, until a photography job changes his life. Suddenly a gorgeous actress, athlete, idol, businesswoman and social media star, all the girls of his dreams are within his reach.

They’re all rich, famous, and they should be utterly unattainable…But, for some reason, they’re attracted to Hiroki!

But does he have enough time and energy to give these women what they want?

Driving World: Aspen – £10.79

Driving World: Aspen opens to you an authentic-looking, challenging location to drive around and prove your driving skills in. Start exploring it in your trusty SUV, getting the hang of navigating around the narrow, windy mountain roads. After a bit of practice you’ll be able to advance and try your luck in more demanding vehicles.

Visit the great, majestic winter resort, driving on ice-covered roads in a variety of exciting, challenging vehicles! Plow through snow, drift in a rally car, feel the winter air in a snowmobile or try to navigate a big, bulky bus! Plentiful exciting challenges await you!

Layers of Fear 2 – £26.99

With an emphasis on exploration and storytelling, Layers of Fear 2 puts you in the center of the scene. You are not just in character, you are the character. The part you play is singularly yours. Written just for you. Beware, though, for all may not truly be what it seems.

Your past has helped to mold you into what you are, forced upon you the skills required to hone your craft. That same past has scraped deep furrowing scars into you, not on the outside where the world can see, but in a place buried so deep within that it has become shapeless. You push those memories down but let the experiences drive you into who, or what, you must play.

Darkness surrounds as you stand silently in the spotlight, the only sounds to be heard over your heartbeat are the distant breaking of waves against the hull. A deep and commanding voice rises from the distance.

“Act!” – it demands.

What part will you play?

Color Your World – £12.99

Travel the world and through the seasons on a journey full of colourful labyrinths. Think fast and leave no path unpainted! Colour each maze with as few moves as possible to earn 3 stars and unlock new challenging levels. Play 100 levels and encounter obstacles such as moving walls, teleporters and treadmills!

Challenge your friends in the multiplayer mode with up to four players. Who will come up with the best strategy to become the champion? Use special power-ups to get an edge over your opponents. Only the smartest players will be victorious, and paint the world in their colour!

Alchemist Adventure – £15.99

You awaken in a strange and unknown place, with no memories, alone in a world you know nothing about. Now you must explore the dangerous and abandoned region of Isur and discover its secrets — as they are tightly connected to your own story.

To explore the world you will need to use the power gained by combining nature’s four elements — fire, water, air, earth — with various ingredients. By crafting different potions, you will be able to explore the regions of Isur, solve alchemical puzzles, and fight dreadful enemies.

Kowloon High-School Chronicle – £24.99

Kuro Habaki has joined a society of treasure hunters, seeking relics that are said to perform miracles! His next mission takes place at Kamiyoshi High School in Tokyo where mystery surrounds the nearby cemetery and the ruins beneath. Habaki must team up with his classmates to uncover the school’s mysterious secrets.

Communication is Key. At school, choose from nine emotions to interact with your classmates. Depending on your choices, your relationships with these characters will develop, and some may join you on your adventure. There are many wonderful and intriguing characters for you to meet.

Dungeon Exploration. After dark, explore the ruins beneath the school for turn-based RPG combat! Solve puzzles, avoid traps and fight monstrous enemies with your classmates to find treasure and solve the mysteries of the ruins.

Discover the Classic. Kowloon High-School Chronicle has been remastered with HD graphics and voice acting for the main story. Don’t miss out on this legendary game!

Rise of the Slime – £12.99

Rise of the Slime is a roguelite like no other, mixing deep and tactical deckbuilder gameplay with the chill vibes of a side-scrolling adventure.

Just Die Already – £11.99

Just Die Already is an old people mayhem sandbox game created by the designers of Goat Simulator.

You are an old retired person in a near future where people aren’t having any children. There isn’t anyone to pay for pensions due to those ungrateful millennials who prefer playing video games instead of doing actual work. With no one to cover your living costs, you – just like all other old people in this world – have no other choice but to survive on your own.

How will you survive in a world that wants you to Just Die Already?

To make things worse, you’ve just been kicked out of your retirement home, and your only option now is to perform dangerous challenges and explore the world for retirement tickets to qualify for free retirement care.

So with society wishing you dead, isn’t it finally time to live a little?

Tiger Trio’s Tasty Travels – £10.99

Solve puzzles with a cute, sushi-serving animal crew! Join our three tiger siblings as they take on the world with their sushi food truck. It’s super delicious, but orders always tend to get mixed up. With the help of their talented friends, solve puzzles by adding, subtracting, and moving sushi between conveyor belts, fixing orders before they reach the customer! You’ll come across places like the land of ghosts and even venture into outer space! This new puzzle game will challenge your wit across a total of 60 stages. Includes a hint function, so players of any age can travel with the Tiger Trio and their friends. On your trip you may even find yourself starting to think like a programmer!

RoboPhobik – £7.19

Use your tactical skills to avoid being surrounded by the robots as you unfold a rich story full of love, hate and machines!

During the early 70s, the government created a secret experimental robot city, controlled by a supercomputer called PAL 9000. One day, PAL 9000 went out of control, and rebelled against his creators. He captured the scientists, and started an evil plan to take over the world.

In order to regain control over PAL 9000 and its robots, a special team of highly skilled agents has been put together. Some have already entered the city, only to become trapped inside.

As Julie, a rookie agent, your goal is to find all your teammates and defeat the evil PAL 9000.

But… are you sure you’re on the right side? Are you sure robots are the aggressors?

Guards – £4.49

Play by the 4-heroes team. Defend against the hordes of monsters, plan your moves, improve your abilities. Defeat all the enemies on each level and join the deadly fight with the Boss !

Backworlds – £7.39

Move between two parallel worlds, each with its own unique set of properties, using your brush to flow seamlessly from one to the other. Solve environmental conundrums by using your own creativity to craft original solutions to the game’s puzzles.

Gutwhale – £4.99

Gutwhale is a finite action roguelike, taking place in the belly of a beast! Mastering the challenges of this game will involve managing the space between you and your ammo while fighting your way through a digestive system!

Descend deep down into the gut, keep your ammo close, unlock weird hats, and get crushed by a van! Levels are randomly generated and the final challenge mode can be played forever!

Next week: Wonder Boy Asha in Monster World, Very Very Valet, King of Seas, Sumire, Port Royale 4, Off And On Again, Maneater, Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Storm Ground, Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster, Pathway, World’s End Club, and Horse Club Adventures.

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