The Chinese Room has made the decision to delay Little Orpheus – an action platformer starring a Soviet cosmonaut – in light of current world events.
It seems that not everyone shares The Chinese Room’s sentiment, not that we hold the developers themselves responsible. Still on track for this week are 35MM, which sees two Russians journey across a dangerous wasteland, and Bus Driver Simulator Countryside – set entirely within Russia. A case of bad timing, if nothing else.
Even without the anticipated Little Orpheus, it’s still a busy week. Square-Enix is back with the caps-tastic TRIANGLE STRATEGY, a tactical turn-based RPG that sees three nations go to war, borrowing Octopath Traveler’s distinctive visual style. The review embargo is yet to lift, but it looks mighty promising so far.
That’s joined by FAR: Changing Tides, a sequel to the sleeper hit FAR: Lone Sails. Here, you’re tasked with managing a vessel while occasionally stopping to solve physics-based puzzles. “A wonderful experience from the moment you set sail, FAR: Changing Tides builds out the world and gameplay ideas of its predecessor with scale, detail and awesome moments of discovery. Okomotive has started with its original neat mechanic about a left-to-right juggernaut, then taken it in every other direction it could go,†said Nintendo Life while also praising the conversion quality.
The ’70s set rhythm actioner A Musical Story has garnered positive reviews too, including an 80% review score from COG Connected. “Highlighted through its powerful imagery and stellar soundtrack, this sensitive coming of age story is a sumptuous and sentimental observation of a bygone era,†was their verdict. Eurogamer wasn’t too impressed though, feeling that the package didn’t quite come together.
Cartoony rogue-like Conan Chop Chop is finally out this week too – it was first revealed in 2019. It appears to have been worth the wait, with the PC version gaining glowing reviews. “Conan Chop Chop is a combination of challenging combat and rogue-lite mechanics that reward repeated runs and never leave you feeling defeated, even when you die. This is a game with much more depth than its colorful and cartoony style suggests,†said COG Connected.
Coming out of nowhere, there’s Zombie Rollerz: Pinball Heroes – a rogue-like pinball game, no less, that’s going down surprisingly well. “Zombie Rollerz: Pinball Heroes is the best indie surprise of the year so far. Its combination of pinball action, strategic roguelike structure, and cartoony goofiness is just great for anyone who loves having fun with their video games,†said Video Chums.
They aren’t alone in enjoying it – Movies, Games and Tech also dished out an 8/10.
Other new releases of note include post-apocalyptic puzzle adventure The Uncertain: Last Quiet Day, arcade platformer Gunborg: Dark Matters, comical pixel-art adventure Quest for Infamy, N64 style 3D platformer Knight’s Try, and the offbeat Old Coin Pusher – an online coin-flicking battler with virtual prizes to win.
Incidentally, NIS America’s cutesy hand-drawn RPG The Cruel King and the Great Hero is currently down for a 4th March release on the eShop. We’re not entirely sure if this is correct – other sources report 11th March for Europe and 15th March for the US.
New eShop releases
Conan Chop Chop – £16.99
Enter the Wrath-a-Thon, a fiendish challenge created by the evil sorcerer Thoth-Amon to trap the heroes of Hyboria. Crush, kill and maim your enemies with an arsenal of savage weapons as you and your friends take on the minions of evil. Upgrade your village, upgrade your skills and upgrade yourself (seriously, this game will make you a better person).
Conan Chop Chop is the most epic and realistic stick figure game ever to be set in the world of Conan the Barbarian. Discover a delightfully savage world full of epic boss fights, perilous dungeons, and endless amounts of loot and item combinations.
TRIANGLE STRATEGY – £49.99
Determine the fate of three powerful kingdoms in TRIANGLE STRATEGY, a tactical RPG presented in stunning HD-2D on Nintendo Switch. In this deep, branching story, guide Serenoa Wolffort and his faithful companions through strategic battles and arduous moral choices. Will you espouse virtuous morality, unwavering liberty or pragmatic utility? To each their own convictions.
The Cruel King and the Great Hero – £26.99
Join an intrepid girl on her many adventures as she strives to become a hero with the help of her mighty dragon protector.
Along the way, meet new friends, collect items, and help folks from all walks of life! Discover a heartwarming tale of kindness, companionship, and family in a gorgeous hand-drawn world.
Zombie Rollerz: Pinball Heroes – £13.00
Zombie Rollerz: Pinball Heroes is the ultimate mashup of classic pinball and zombie defense with rogue-like elements to ensure no two playthroughs are ever the same!
Shoot, slam and smash your way through hordes of adorkable zombies in this fusion of pinball, point defense and zombie horde gameplay.
Select from 10 different heroes, each with their own special ability to shoot zombies in hilarious ways. Discover and unlock hundreds of helpful powers and items to boost your hero.
35MM – £8.99
Post-apocalyptic story about two travelers who set out on a long journey in the wasteland, left by people after the pandemic. The disaster destroyed much of the world’s population, the infrastructure went wrong and the common life remained only in memories. The times when a human has adapted the environment for himself have ended and now, in order to survive, he will have to adapt to changes. You will have to play the character whose path runs through the deserted towns and cities in Russia, fields and forests of a vast country and even a secret underground facility. Who are we, where are we from and where do we go – we will be lucky to know it only at the end!
This adventure story will let you explore in more detail a number of interesting locations of post-apocalyptic Russia, filled with a variety of items and secrets. During the journey you will collect supplies, food, batteries and weapons, solve quests and move forward on the plot, which has several variations in the final, depending on your actions.
12 Labours of Hercules V: Kids of Hellas – £7.19
The peaceful living of Hercules and Megara is interrupted by mighty god of war, Ares. He asks Hercules to help him conquer the world by leading the great army.
As soon as Hercules declines, Ares finds a way to avenge. By using the enchanted toys, he zombifies the kids of Hellas so they will follow the god’s commands and become his warriors.
With your help Hercules must return the kids home, blow up the factory that produces the evil toys, and lead a strategic operation to destroy the Ares’ command transmitter.
The game includes new characters and monsters. Midas the King introduces a new power. You will meet Codrus the Woodcutter and giant robot-like Golems.
Primordia – £13.49
Life has ceased. Man is but a myth. And now, even the machines have begun to fail. Explore a wasteland of rust and ruin, full of malfunctioning robots, mysterious devices, and ancient secrets. At its heart lies Metropol, the world’s last city, where an implacable, power-hungry foe awaits.
The android Horatio Nullbuilt spends his days studying the Book of Man, sparring with his sarcastic sidekick Crispin, and tinkering with the airship they call home — but their peaceful existence is destroyed when a rogue robot steals the power source they need to survive. Their search for energy will reveal buried truths about Metropol, mankind, and Horatio himself.
What happened to the humans? And what fate awaits their mechanical inheritors? The answer will depend on the path you take and the choices you make.
The game draws inspiration from traditional point-and-click adventures, adding an integrated hint system, multi-solution puzzles, and automatic note-taking and mapping, making it a favorite of players of all experience levels. For completionists, alternate endings, a developer commentary mode, and hidden secrets await on a second playthrough.
Racing Xtreme: Fast Rally Driver 3D – £5.40
Get the respect you deserve from your unstoppable rivals and race in your abandoned homeland!
Pick and tune to perfection 30 rides from 7 unique car classes: buggy, off-road, SUV, jeep, sports car, funny car, and dragster. Choose from 25 car colors and customize your car by tuning its appearance. Slap on over 60 decals if you want to! Upgrade almost every aspect of your ride – Engine, Turbo, Intake, Nitrous, Body, Tires, and Gearbox – and max out its performance!
Simple Mini Golf – £3.19
Simple Mini Golf is a simple 2D top down mini golf game playable up to 8 players. You can chose between 9 holes and 18 holes tracks with a total of 45 holes in three 9 hole tracks and one 18 hole track. Play with your friends from two up to 8 players.
Simply minigolf results in simply fun for your game party! Can you play all holes par?
FAR: Changing Tides – £14.99
An atmospheric vehicle adventure that follows the emotional journey of a boy and his ship as he embarks on a voyage to find a new home. Sail stormy waters, dive unknown depths, and explore forgotten ruins in a beautifully realised, flooded world.
Hundred Days – Winemaking Simulator – £26.99
In Hundred Days you will have complete control of a new Winery. First choose which vines to grow, learn how to grow them and when to harvest. Then following the entire winemaking process deciding on the type of wine you want to produce or the market requires. You will also have to sell the wine produced to allow your company to expand.
As in reality, every choice made, from the vineyard to the sales, will be able to influence the wine produced both in quantity and quality . A quality wine will increase the reputation of your company worldwide, it may have come at a higher price and will allow you to grow better and faster.
Red Wings: Coloring Planes – £3.59
In Red Wings: Coloring Planes you’ve got the controls! With each historical plane, you get to decide whether to color it in the way it would have looked in its glory days or to personalize it with a wide variety of colors, textures, brushes, and stamps. The sky’s the limit!
The game is made up of 5 chapters, each with 6 different plane coloring pages. That means 30 different planes for you to color into your fleet! Work your way through each chapter and unlock the next one by coloring each plane. Don’t forget to color in the background map of each chapter too!
Bus Driver Simulator Countryside – £13.49
Welcome to the Russian countryside!
Murom is one of the oldest towns in Russia with a population of 106 984, which is located on the left Oka shore. There are many bus routes connecting the town with other villages and bigger cities. The map includes a part of Murom and about a dozen villages in the countryside, so it mostly consists of countryside routes.
These landscapes are worth to be drawn by a famous painter
Russian open spaces are here: huge fields and dense spruce forests are wonderful in different seasons. Summer and winter versions are included so that you can feel the life of Russian countryside even better.Almost all the roads are of tarmac, but there are gravel roads as well. You’ll feel the difference when you drive off the asphalt
The Uncertain: Last Quiet Day – £13.49
You control RT-217NP, an engineering robot with an uncommon curiosity towards the long-extinct human race. Explore the ruins of a once prosperous human civilization and try to discover the truth behind humanity’s disappearance.
Ambition Record – £13.49
The count who rules the northern part of the kingdom has used forbidden, secret arts, and raised the flag of rebellion against his king.
Rafael takes up his sword on the orders of the king, to suppress the revolt. But then, the chancellor, who should be at the core of the king’s court, starts to act in an incomprehensible way. Beliefs and ambition clash fiercely in the unexpected twists and turns of battle!
Fortify characters with the power of the dragons to fight turn-based battles! Create your own party by exploiting the job change system and customizing weapons and armor as you like!
Old Coin Pusher Friends – £3.19
By collecting prizes, new content is released and coins are easily increased. Online multiplayer for up to five players is possible. Furthermore, you can use the coins you earn to upgrade your own coin shooter.
Menseki Genius – £4.49
That satisfying feeling that comes from solving a puzzle! Presenting the novel Japanese logic puzzle game that’s been attracting attention from around the world!
This Genius version is a compilation of the most difficult puzzles included in Menseki: Area Maze Puzzles, for the most expert players.
Find your way to the solution, deducing unknown lengths and areas from known lengths and areas.
All you need is the “length x breadth = area” formula for calculating the area of a rectangle!
Would you like to run an idol cafe? 2 – £9.99
Yokoyama Naoya learns that The Seaside Café is struggling and runs the risk of closing. Wanting to save the café from being shuttered, Naoya turns to his childhood friend, Ichigo, for advice.
After giving the predicament some thought, Ichigo decides that what The Seaside Café is lacking is its own idol group. Bright, shining, sparkling idols should be more than enough to rescue the café from obscurity, and bring about a huge influx in potential customers!
Ichigo enlists Kuu and Mayuki, and together they form an idol unit called Sweet Shoreline. But challenges abound! Mayuki and Kuu have no experience neither in singing nor dancing, and there’s even a formidable rival idol group looming across town.
Will Sweet Shoreline be able to succeed, or will they self-destruct before accomplishing their noble goals? That’s for Naoya’s actions to determine!
Pretty Girls Breakers! – £6.29
Classic brick-breaking action gets a cute and cuddly twist in Pretty Girls Breakers! In this classic arcade-style action puzzler, take the role of a twin-tailed fighter wielding a beam saber. You’ll have to strike incoming balls with precision to destroy block patterns above you, all while avoiding enemy attacks and collecting power-ups to gain the upper hand!
Across more than 20 challenging stages, you’ll need to adapt to new blocks and enemy types, strategizing to clear them from the field without losing all of your hearts or running out of time! As stages are cleared, your female companions’ outfits will gradually change. If you succeed in battle, new outfits will be revealed and unlocked for viewing anytime in the Dressing Room mode. Can you collect them all?
シオリノコトム– DarkReflections – – £15.99
Dark Reflections – Shiori no Kotoha – is a novel game in the survival mystery genre set in an inescapable private library.
The suspense visual novel Dark Reflections has been remade for the CS Novel Club platform so that it can be enjoyed by people of all ages around the world.
The heroines who color the story are voiced by gorgeous VTubers!
A Musical Story – £13.49
Explore the memories of Gabriel, a young man trying to come to terms with his situation through the connections to his musical memory.
A Musical Story is the debut game from independent French developer, Glee-Cheese Studio. They are: Charles Bardin (Game Design + Music), Maxime Constantinian (Programmer), Valentin Ducloux (Music + Integration), Alexandre Rey (Artistic Direction).
CATch the Stars – £2.49
Imagine how wonderful it would be for you to be in a moment on a beach, a mountain, or simply in a quiet place looking at stars and being able to forget everything around you. Have this incredible experience right on your screen.
You don’t need to understand stars, constellations, let alone astronomy. Solve the puzzle and see a beautiful figure from a different constellation being formed on your screen in each level.
Dexter Stardust : Adventures in Outer Space – £9.99
Space! Dexter Stardust barely escaped when the Vreesians, inhabitants of the menacing Planet X, sent a fleet of robots to destroy all life on Earth. Now, twenty years later, a mechanical man from the 10th planet seeks to communicate to Dexter a very important message – he is the key to saving both humans and Vreesians. Play the taco-loving Dexter Stardust as he, and his good friend Aurora, go on the greatest adventure of their lives and discover the mystery of the Robot from the Planet X!
TRIANGLE STRATEGY – £49.99
Determine the fate of three powerful kingdoms in TRIANGLE STRATEGY, a tactical RPG presented in stunning HD-2D on Nintendo Switch. In this deep, branching story, guide Serenoa Wolffort and his faithful companions through strategic battles and arduous moral choices. Will you espouse virtuous morality, unwavering liberty or pragmatic utility? To each their own convictions.
Buck Bradley Comic Adventure – £5.99
WELCOME TO TERRASTRAMBA
Buck Bradley: Comic Adventure takes place in the world of Terrastramba – a post-apo style country, destroyed by toxic pollution, that changes people into mutants.
Your friend (or maybe more than just a friend?) Ciroki transforms into a little monster by a pink cloud… Yes, you read that right, a pink cloud.
As a not-so-great Buck you’re on a quest to bring her back to human form.
Knight’s Try – £8.99
Knight’s Try is a difficult 64 bit styled platforming game. Take on the role of an honorable Knight of Trye attempting to complete their sacred trial by leaping through a world full of perilous pitfalls and dangerous traps!
A 3d platformer for the most persistent of players. Challenging and exciting even for experienced platformer fans.
Dr. Oil – £4.49
Dr. Oil is a bit hardcore 2D platforming experience that tells a story of a conflict between the butter boy and the seagull.
This story is heavy influenced by the popular fairy tales that you loved to hear so much as youngsters before the sleep. Once upon a time there was a boy who lived in a fabled and distant kingdom. One day he was bitten by a seagull and therefore he turned into the Captain Seagull. Hatred and darkness filled the heart of that boy, and he became evil because all seagulls are evil!
Quest for Infamy – £9.99
Return to the glory days of role-playing and adventure with this humor-filled epic fantasy, styled in the vein of classic RPGs, where you play the charming villain.
Blending turn-based combat and spell casting with puzzle solving and adventure, players can choose from three character classes—brigand, rogue, or sorcerer, each with unique storylines and adventures.
Explore a world of wonder, as you wind your way through trap-infested dungeons, battle slavering beasts with swords or custom-made spells, and steal entire town’s worth of treasure from unsuspecting townsfolk.
Being bad has never felt so good!
ELO 1100 Chess – £3.99
Play from beginners level to top level ELO 1100 (very good level, if you beat your device here, respect!) in this high quality Chess Game Engine.
Complete chess game logic available including castle move, en-passant move, pawn promotion (to knight/bishop/rook/queen), piece move rule, undo move, redo move, detecting if chess game is finished by checkmate or draw by fiftymoverule, three fold repetitions, insufficient materials, stalemate and extensible by draw agreement, timeout, and surrender.
Calculate the change in position score after each move, as display on the black and white bar located right side of the GUI, letting you visualize the leading colour on the board and how far you are against your opponent on the board position
If you need only one Chess Game, this one is for you.
Ink Cipher – £1.79
Decode the cipher in Ink Cipher!
Ink Cipher is a sleek take on the puzzle sometimes known as the Cipher Crossword, Code Word, Code Breaker or Kaidoku.
You’re presented with a grid filled with words… except all the letters have been replaced by numbers. Each number represents its own letter. Using your knowledge of the English lexicon (and the occasional hint from the puzzle title), fill in the letters where you can recognise words, and crack the cipher!
Gunborg: Dark Matters – £13.49
Gunborg: Dark Matters is an arcade style, action packed platformer in space, with smooth gameplay and a slick 80’s synthwave soundtrack.
Armed with a fierce blade and a powerful shield your challenge is to fight your way through a mad alien spaceship filled with nefarious creatures and capture the fearsome bosses defending it.
Do you have what it takes to face constant threats while staying on your feet in the heat of combat? Can you keep your cool when chaos is descending upon you?
Ryan’s Rescue Squad – £34.99
Ryan’s friends have been kidnapped by evil Dark Titan, Robo Combo, and Packrat – and you are the only hero who can rescue them! Set out on a quest packed with slime, spaceship-flying bosses, and Ryan’s Surprise Eggs. Collect Sun Coins and Surprise Eggs to unlock new shop items and customize your character with fun alien hats, gamer gear, and much more. And use your platforming skills and special moves to save the day.
You can’t beat these bad guys alone, so it’s a good job hilarious Ryan’s World characters have got your back. Use Gill’s Barrels, Moe Spaceship, Peck’s Slime, and more to stun and defeat enemies. You can even ride on a giant Shelldon! You’ll find them all as you explore the amazing worlds of Toys, Pirates, Space, and Prehistoric, where Ryan’s friends are waiting for you to rescue them.
So, choose which hero to be – Ryan, Combo Panda, Alpha Lexa, or Gus the Gummy Gator – and jump into Ryan’s World. Invite a friend or grown-up to play with you in local two-player mode. And try exciting games like Spaceship Flight and The Floor is Lava. Can you defeat Dark Titan and his fiendish allies?
Operation Zeta – £8.99
Operation Zeta is a space action game. The great battle codenamed ‘Operation Zeta’ has been lost. Your ship is in shambles and you have to act quickly to collect all of the parts and repair your ship before the warzone is completely destroyed by the enemy’s death laser. Play and unlock 13 playable characters from space monkeys to mischievous slugs each with their own unique set of skills and challenges. As well unlock new abilities and upgrades with credits you earn during each run. Each time you play the universe is randomly generated with random quests from wacky local aliens who have stolen the parts of your ship. All in a physics based battlefield, but beware as you only have ten minutes until the death laser fires!
What Lies in the Multiverse – £13.49
What Lies in the Multiverse is a story-driven 2D adventure that one could call a dramatic comedy. Filled to the brim with hilarious, cartoonish hijinks, the narrative also presents the player with mature and deep themes like death, envy, and obsession.
Things inevitably go batshit crazy very fast in the Multiverse when you discover the ability to travel between parallel worlds. These worlds are alternate versions of each level and differ in aesthetic, theme, and physicality. Switching between them allows you to solve logical and spatial challenges and to progress the story.
LIT: Bend the Light – £7.19
Set in an era when electricity wasn’t a thing and nothing but imaginations of great inventors that set the world in motion, LIT tests your own inner engineer and lets you discover the joy of experimenting with light at first hand.
– The behaviour of light in LIT is physically accurate. That said, the amazing light paths you are going to build in LIT are possible but extremely hard to reproduce in real life. Our game gives you the opportunity to set up mirrors and glass pieces to reflect and refract a light beam as you wish.
– Our puzzles are open-ended. We give you the rules and the tools, you show us how to solve the problem. We assigned a number of possible solutions to each level but don’t let those numbers fool you – we’re only waiting for the players to find solutions we haven’t thought of.
Street Cats Race – £8.99
We know kitties love running around, but a cat racing game is the first of that sort you will see. Play as a cat racer, running through many different levels and terrains, on the streets and buildings of the city, with many obstacles along the way. Get the lead over other cats and unlock new tracks.
Enjoy the funniest adventure you’ll find today!
Next week: Chocobo GP, REPUBLIQUE: Anniversary Edition, Young Souls, Two Hundred Ways, Hotel Transylvania: Scary-Tale Adventures, Cosmos Bit, Move or Die: Unleashed, The Last Cube, Ancient Islands, Grand Mountain Adventure, Ashwalkers, The Wild Case, Splash Cars, Aztech Forgotten Gods, Slide Stories: Neko’s Journey, Time Loader, and Will You Snail?
