Earlier this week Nintendo warned of playing the Switch in temperatures above 35 degrees. Most unfortunate, considering we’re expecting to reach 36 degrees here in the UK over the weekend. Not only that, but there are some intriguing indies out this week too.
XEL looks set to offer Zelda-inspired action and adventure, only with a sci-fi theme. Despite showing promise upon its announcement, first impressions haven’t been great. SwitchUp described it as “broken” – treasure chests fail to open, AI doesn’t behave properly, and assets are glitchy. There’s no way to tell when you’re low on health either. Oh. Keep an eye on reviews, we reckon.
F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch – starring an anthropomorphic rabbit – makes the jump from PS4 to Switch, being a Metroidvania with combat that requires skill.
God is a Geek and Nintendo World Report both opted for 8.5 review scores, making comparisons to Metroid Dread. “F.I.S.T remains an excellent action adventure on the Nintendo Switch and an unmissable experience for fans of the genre,” said God is a Geek.
The first review out the door for Time on Frog Island – an errand-based chilled island adventure – comes from Nintendo Life, who went with a 7/10.
“Running errands for frogs is good for a little bit, but the lack of a map or any effective means of managing requests means that even this sole task is made needlessly more difficult. We’d give this game a light recommendation, as the chill vibes and the charming atmosphere do a great job of making Time on Frog Island worthwhile, but bearing in mind its frustrations, you might want to wait for a sale,” they warned.
The “1-bit” retro visual novel Mothmen 1966 is reviewing reasonably well too, gaining a 3.5/5 from Digitally Downloaded. “Mothmen 1966 is a solid, albeit short (though there’s nothing wrong with that) game that successfully combines pulp fiction and video games,” they said.
The Switch also gets Darker Skies, a sequel to 2020’s Grey Skies: A War of the Worlds Story. The first game showed promise but was let down by clunky controls, poor pacing, and rudimentary stealth. We also came across that hilarious ragdoll physics glitch. Hopefully, this sequel is an improvement…while also retaining some of the unexpected silliness from its predecessor.
Two animated tie-ins are upon us too. Krut: The Mythic Wings is based on a 2018 CGI movie from Thailand, taking the form of a side-scrolling hack and slasher, while DC League of Super-Pets: The Adventures of Krypto and Ace is based on WB’s summer kid’s film. The former will set you back around a fiver; the latter £34.99.
When’s a tie-in not a tie-in? When there’s nothing to tie it into, of course. WayForward’s Spidersaurs – first released on Apple Arcade – resembles a Saturday morning cartoon. It’s a run ‘n gunner that takes inspiration from Contra 4…which WayForward developed themselves. Nintendo Life said it’s short but fun while it lasts.
Other new games include Superola Championship Edition – an auto-runner with nods to retro games of yore – cutesy JRPG Worth Life, a surprise release of the Dungeon Keeper-inspired Dungeons 3, the promising fantasy RPG Pascal’s Wager: Definitive Edition, and the retro-style 1v1 battler SUPER UFO FIGHTER.
There’s some ‘quality’ shovelware too – Firefighter:Car Fire Truck Sim Driving 2022 Simulator appears to feature assets from GTA V. Uh-oh!
New Switch eShop releases
Shipwrecked on a strange Island:
A terrible storm ravages the seas around you, casting your mighty vessel into the perilous rocks of a nearby island.
You awake to find your ship in pieces, shipwrecked on a strange island filled with… frogs?
A spaghetti network of trades will take you all over this strange island as you seek out materials to fix your boat. You will meet a cast of friendly characters, solve head scratching puzzles, find hidden treasures, and much more as you explore the world of Time on Frog Island.
F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch – £26.99
After the animals of Torch City were defeated by the invading Robotic Legion in the Resistance War six years ago, former Resistance fighter Rayton the rabbit has kept a low profile. The arrest of a friend meant he had no choice but to put on his giant metal fist and fight against those oppressing him. Little did he know that he would soon be caught up in a maelstrom of conspiracies involving the Legion, the Resistance, and the Rat Gang.
Explore more than a dozen unique areas in a Action Platformer (Metroidvania) style map. The core combat, puzzle-solving, and platform mechanics are complemented by countless hidden rooms, secret passages, and shortcuts, with all kinds of rewarding challenges for players to complete.
Maps are loaded on the fly to avoid frequent transitions, making the massive Torch City feel even more detailed and alive.
Combining escape room gameplay and action, Oxide Room 104 is a bone-chilling single-player body-horror game set inside an old motel. Abducted, at the mercy of a ruthless scientist, and stalked by a horrible creature, you must try to escape using common sense, just as you would in real life. Can you get out of Oxide?
It all starts when you wake up in the bathtub of a motel room, naked, wounded, and unsure what has happened. You remember that the deal had gone wrong, but now the only thing that matters is trying to escape from that horrifying place no matter what. From this moment on, everything you do will lead you to one of the endings. And we warn you that, out of all the ways it could end, there’s only one good way out…
There are many options and ways to solve situations, as well as different paths. Some actions will lead you to states that will alter your perception of the environment and even to an abrupt outcome. Remember that a bad decision can be the difference between life and death
The inhabitants of Rayland use the energy from the Domus to survive, and to transport this energy they use a Reflectus, a type of equipment that reflects the rays to other Domus. Your mission is to help the inhabitants of Rayland to transport the energy of the Domus through the various lands contained in the path. For this, you must correctly position the Reflectus and rotate them so the energy rays reach the necessary Domus.
Rayland features a variety of brain teasers about reflecting a beam of light around an isometric playfield from one point to another. The emitter and receiver are stationary, and it’s your task to reposition mirror-like reflector panels to direct the course of the beam. Gameplay is simple, but the challenge is increasingly high. Do you have what it takes to clear them all?
Krut: The Mythic Wings – £5.99
Krut: The Mythic Wings is a fast-paced hack and slash, side-scrolling platformer based on a 2018 Thai CG animated feature-length film “Krut: The Himmaphan Warriors”, Southeast Asian mythology about the adventure of a Garuda warrior on the enchanted Island, Himmaphan.
In a world full of mystical creatures and magic, the ruthless army of the Ogre invaded the land of the Garuda race. The Garuda army was defeated and the capital city was eventually fallen. Upon the destruction and despair, a badly wounded warrior found himself on a mysterious enchanted island called Himmaphan. He met a mysterious figure who entrusted him with a powerful artefact, the Mythic Wings. A legend told that a legendary hero used the wings during the Great War hundreds of years ago and brought peace to the land. Now, the new adventure has begun.
Based on the classic Lander games that were made popular during the 1980’s, in Galactic Pioneer you must navigate an exploration module across ten varied and increasingly difficult planets with limited fuel and even more limited lives, with the goal being to make a great landing, get the highest score possible and place on the leader board.
Firefighter:Car Fire Truck Sim Driving 2022 Simulator – £14.99
In the game Firefighter:Car Fire Truck Sim Driving 2022 Simulator, you have to try on the role of a real fire brigade worker in a large American city. Players will experience exciting tasks, more than 30 different locations, inspired by the landscapes of the US West Coast. Drive carefully recreated Rosenbauer America vehicles, extinguish fires using heavy firefighter equipment and tools!
You will have real firefighting equipment at your disposal: helmets, safety shoes, firefighter axes, crowbars, water guns and breathing apparatus from the most famous American manufacturers.
Fire alarm! Don’t hesitate, every minute counts! Put on your shoes, zip up your firefighter uniform, settle your duty-belt, put the helmet over your head and start the fire truck, turn on special signals and a siren, and take the shortest route to save people’s lives.
Whether in an industrial area, in the suburbs, in the center of the city – firefighters are needed everywhere to save the lives of people! Do you have what it takes to become a high skilled firefighter? Put yourself up to the challenge right now and become the number one life saver in the city!
The space sport “SUPER UFO FIGHTER” is all the rage in the galaxy.
And UFO pilots, known as Shuforians, are battling it out today!
?Shuforians compete in intense 1v1 battles for supremacy!
Deposit the “target” item into your goal to score.
The key to victory is to control the stage items!
Use your shwoop beam to collect the target before your rival and bring it home!
Or use the beam to intercept, throw, and attack your opponent!
Anything goes when trying to get the prize!
Use the stage gimmicks and special items to your advantage to win!
Growbot is a 2D point&click adventure about a robot saving her home from a dark crystalline force. Set upon a beautiful biopunk space station bursting with fantastic plants and aliens, you play as Nara, a growbot in training to become a captain. When your station home is attacked by rapidly growing crystals, it’s down to you to save it.
The game is inspired by classic adventure games like Loom, modern adventure games like Machinarium, and aims to appeal to both seasoned and new gamers.
Vzerthos: The Heir of Thunder – £4.00
Player’s arsenal includes skills of the Thunder God’s heir and three types of guns – use them to slice and dice, burn and blow up your enemies!
Hero under the player’s control must rescue a kidnapped princess Se’Vera from the evil Baron Vakhzon.
Not only the guards of Baron attack Vzerthos, but his ally Messenger took his magical powers by order of the Thunder God.
Now the heir should return his power, to break into Vakhzon castle and rescue the princess!
(Princess is exactly in this castle!)
The War is over, but the effects linger. Take control of Jack, a survivor of the War of the Worlds trying to rebuild a working Heat Ray to blow his way to freedom and light the spark that will rebuild civilization.
Explore the Horrors of the world after interplanetary war, encounter psychotic enemies suffering from prolonged exposure to Red Weed. Collect parts from fallen Tripod’s and rebuild your own Heat Ray and maybe even come face to face with the few surviving Martians themselves.
Craft weapons and items and combine them in interesting ways to take out the creatures left by the war, sneak your way past, or just shoot your way through. You decide.
Superola Champion Edition – £4.49
Superola Champion Edition is a challenging runner-style platforming adventure, in which you’ll have to guide a burger loving llama in its quest to defeat the Hotdog Aliens and recover the stolen hamburgers… before they get cold!
Explore 10 worlds with over 70 super challenging stages, unlock all the costumes and map’s secrets, fight boss battles, clear bonus rounds and compete with up to 4 friends!
Pixel Game Maker Series JETMAN – £8.59
Pixel Game Maker Series JETMAN is a simple jumping action game using only one button.
The height of the jump changes depending on the length of the button hold.
Make the best jump attack according to the enemy’s position.
Far far away in some magic realm a mage is running hard to escape. Grim Reaper is upon him. Luckily for him, the clumsy reaper is not in a hurry. But, for how long?
In Running on Magic you take control of a desperate mage in an obstacle course to avoid Grim Reaper. Jump over blob creatures using your flying powers and survive to the end in this runner platformer featuring vibrant pixel art and dynamically created levels.
Ambition: A Minuet in Power – £16.19
A revolutionary, romantic, visual novel where your choices change the course of history!
It’s March 19th, 1789 and King Louis XVI rules over France from the gilded halls of Versailles. France is a country of elegance and poverty, of ancient tradition and unstoppable change. It is a country on the brink of revolution.
Attend parties, mingle with the rich and powerful, learn their secrets, and use this to get the wealth and power you deserve. Find true love in an opulent world of ever-shifting alliances, that grows more dangerous by the day.
Still, you must always keep your eye on the coming revolution. After all, it’s better to be on the right side of history, than the wrong side of the guillotine.
Table of Tales: The Crooked Crown – £15.49
Table of Tales: The Crooked Crown is a role playing adventure that brings tabletop gaming to life. Take a seat at the magical table, captain the helm, and lead your party of scoundrels as they venture through a world of swashbuckling and sorcery.
Strange incidents have been occurring across the land ever since the crystals in reach region lost their light.
As one of the 30 summoned by the king, it is your duty to find a solution to the kingdom’s plight.
Playing as one of 30 individuals summoned by the king, WORTH LIFE sees you set off on a journey to save the kingdom from a terrible fate. During your quest, you’ll be able to raise crops on vacant lots you come across, and build houses for people in need. You’ll even be able to take up your sword and bow to face off against monsters. Forge your own path to restoring prosperity and happiness to the kingdom!
SENGOKU Princess ????????????? – £15.99
“SENGOKU Princess ?????????????” is a story about a hero who travels back in time to the Sengoku period and aims for unification of Japan while living a sweet life with a warlord in a female body, a warlord princess.
This bishoujo game released in 2020 under the brand, “Momoiro Pocket”, has been remade for the “CS Novel Club” platform so that it can be enjoyed by people of various ages around the world.
Mothmen 1966 is the first in a new series of interactive adventures: Pixel Pulps. Created by novelist Nico Saraintaris and artist Fernando Martinez Ruppel, Pixel Pulps are a fusion of exceptional writing and stunning illustration, inspired by mid-20th century pulp fiction and 80s home computer graphics. The first volume comprises three games: Mothmen 1966, Varney Lake, and Bahnsen Knights.
First Time In Paris – Collector’s Edition – £8.99
A new Hidden Object adventure begins! Kate Robinson is an amateur travel blogger who’s taking on her first big job – and it’s in Paris!
Join her and her daughter Nicole as they save the Hotel Hospitalité, all while making new friends and new memories in the City of Love!
Explore lavishly illustrated and animated locations and help Kate save the Hotel Hospitalité!
Pascal’s Wager: Definitive Edition – £17.99
Centuries ago, the sun sank into the sea, leading to the Dark Mist enveloping the lands. At the same time, great, towering beings began to appear. These were the Colossus. They brought light to the areas surrounding them and in turn, humanity found its last and only refuge.
Thousands of years after the Colossi appeared, a mysterious illness beset these creatures of the light and they began to fall…
Following the trail of the falling Colossi, Terrence the Courier and his companions embark on an arduous journey. They will encounter figures benevolent and evil, seal or witness their fate, and unveil the truth behind the dark world.
You assume the role of a spy who finds way on the Russian nuclear submarine K-141 Kursk. Your task is to collect secret information about the revolutionary Shkval supercavitating torpedoes. While trying to complete your mission, you become witness to the dramatic events which shook the world at that time.
On the night of the deep purple moon, a girl who appears to be an ordinary teenager goes out for another devil hunt. While chasing her prey, she comes across a crack that leads to another world, and the adventure of her destiny begins.
Explore and make your own route through a large, organically connected world! Your teammates are waiting for you in a world of riddles and terrible devils.
Create your own personal fighting style with combos, dodging, guarding, parrying, and more! Help your character grow in your own way with parameter-based growth and a skill board!
Figure out your opponent’s unique characteristics and conquer devils and bosses! Over 170 types of items to collect, including different kinds of weapons, the forbidden Occult magic, and more.
Alert! Alert! The nightmarish dinosaur-spider hybrids known as Spidersaurs have run amok and only you (and a friend in co-op mode) can stop them! Created by InGest Corp to provide the meat and muscle that humanity needs to end world hunger, the Spidersaurs are now on the loose, leaving it to two former taste-testers – officer-in-training Adrian and punk-rocker Victoria – to use their awesome firepower to overcome six stages of ferocious run-‘n’-gun action. Blast through a sweltering jungle, an infested laboratory, the heart of a live volcano, and more! The tangy food source with a bite is biting back, but by grabbing power-ups, gaining new abilities, and obliterating everything in sight, you can send these mutant monstrosities back to the stone age.
Slam down on those chords – the guitar riffs start now! Take a deep breath and step into a musical journey to make your dreams come true and become a real artist!
Immerse yourself in the ultimate arcade guitar experience and get lost in its rhythmic beats and beautiful audiovisual effects.
This is the story about Astrid – a teenage girl who’s not quite fond of this ‘growing up’ thing. We’ve all been there. To help take her mind off the mundane, she occupies her free time with her greatest love: music. Grab your broomstick and play to your heart’s content – your bedroom is your concert! Shred sick tunes as a radical garage band, throw air guitars in the subway or in a local pub, and join Astrid on a wild adventure to sign her first contract with a talent scout.
The doors to hell have been opened! The Earth has become a battlefield among 10 infernal armies. Bael, the most feared of all demons, sets out in an insane crusade to conquer the Earth for himself across 10 stages of bullet hell action. Violence and blood surround you. Nightmarish fiends accost you. It’s slay or be slain as the forces of evil fight to determine the fate of mankind!
Hell Pages is a traditional side-scrolling shoot’em up presented through grotesquely gorgeous HD visuals and set to a pumping soundtrack! Fly through ruined cityscapes, dark caverns, frozen wastelands and more as your quest for domination pits you against horrors than only a powerful demon could endure. In between stages, purchase items to aid in your survival, from magic and health to continues and save points. Will you emerge victorious or suffer everlasting torment alongside humanity?
Universal Flight Simulator – £9.99
Fasten your seatbelts and be ready for the most realistic and beautiful flight of your life!
Universal Flight Simulator will let you pilot from old dusters to modern jets and helicopter.
Free flight or Race the circuits, achieve best times and unlock new missions!
DC League of Super-Pets: The Adventures of Krypto and Ace – £34.99
Suit up as super-dogs Krypto and Ace and get ready to soar through the skies and protect the streets of Metropolis in this pet rescue adventure inspired by the movie!
When Superman and Batman’s favorite caped canines uncover Lex Luthor’s plot to pet-nap Metropolis’ strays, these four-legged fighters aren’t just going to roll over. So, unleash Krypto’s Heat Vision and Arctic Bark powers, or Ace’s Batarangs and Shoulder Charge attacks, to bring the evil LexBots to heel. Rescue animals along the way, before they’re locked up in LexCorp Zoo and prepare for the ultimate battle with Lex and his high-tech War Suit.
Being a Super-Pet isn’t all ruff and tumble. Pamper your furry friends at the Adoption Center to help them find forever homes and receive special rewards. And hang out with your pals Chip, Merton, and PB to learn superpower upgrades. It’s a bird… It’s a plane… It’s the DC Super-Pets!
A 2.5D shooter with old-fashioned side-scrolling and a way to attack enemies in the background.
Fight with lock-on shots that can track up to 6 enemies appearing from the back of the screen at the same time, and forward charge shots that can penetrate enemies and enemy bullets.
Defeating many enemies with one attack will increase the score you get, and the final score will change greatly depending on the order in which you defeat the enemies.
With flowy level design and addictive gameplay – every inch of trail will keep you on the edge and keep you coming back for more!
A total remake of “Shred! 1” remade with love, from the ground up.
“Flowy” level design based around the “pump” mechanic makes for a fun, addictive and authentic MTB gameplay experience
Over 30 gnarly trails inspired by real world locations, video segments and MTB culture!
A Zero BS experience…Shred! Remastered’s “pickup and play” appeal is ideal for a quick adrenalin fix!
Bike geeks can nerd out over the references to MTB culture and licensed in-game products from Orange, Halo, Gusset and TSG.
“Get your Shred on” to the awesome soundtrack
Cursed Island is a story of a single person trying to leave the island full of mysterious horrors and unimaginable monsters. To achieve this task he has to smash his way through the island with his trusty pickaxe.
Cursed Island blends the elements of some popular titles with nostalgic pixel-art graphics. We dare to say that this game is a unique gaming experience that will help you to enjoy slow-paced gameplay with emphasis on exploration, mining and fighting mythical beasts.
Become one man construction crew and build houses like a simple African mud hut and as complex as a super modern energy saving architectural marvel.
BUILD AROUND THE WORLD
Let us take you on a trip to various spots on the globe and experience true architectural variety. You will try to build a mud hut in Africa, an igloo in the Arctic, a Canadian house, a log cabin in Siberia, traditional house made of bricks, airbricks or concrete and many, many more…
Every house consists of hundreds elements you need to match according to rules of construction.
Dungeons 3 – Nintendo Switch Edition – £35.99
At last, the Dungeon Lord has successfully united the forces of evil and established his dark empire. Time for the next step in his most diabolical quest: expansion!
Unleash your dark side by creating a unique underground dungeon from a huge array of rooms, traps and structures. Raise the most terrifying army the world has ever seen, by choosing from despicable creatures such as orcs, succubae, zombies and much, much more. Then, once you have built your forces, emerge from the darkness and guide your army to the light of the overworld, where you will corrupt the land and dispatch anything even vaguely heroic, cute or unicorn-shaped.
The Last Run: Dead Zombie Shooter – £6.99
Evil is everywhere.
Stand up to fight massive hordes of zombies. Thrilling battles await you in ruined cities with no return. You need to prepare a weapon and an appropriate supply of ammunition, survive the fight with the living dead, and reach the base where you can replenish your supplies and feel safe…but not for long.
Your goal is to destroy the demon responsible for the unleashed hell. The fate of humankind is in your hands, there is no time to waste!
Next week: LIVE A LIVE, Bright Memory: Infinite Gold Edition, Endling – Extinction is Forever, River City Saga: Three Kingdoms, Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium, BUNNY MUST DIE! CHELSEA AND THE 7 DEVILS, Wally and the FANTASTIC PREDATORS, Hover Racer, Inertia: Redux, Sakura Fantasy, Hell Pie, Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II, Fallen Angel Seduction: A Monk’s Fate, Hazel Sky, Wayward Strand, and Aery – Vikings.