It’s one of those rare weeks where there are no easily definable big-name releases due. To call this week a write-off though would be folly – there are a couple of RPGs, an unexpected retro collection, and a few intriguing indies.
Before We Leave has made a belated appearance on Switch too. It’s a post-apocalyptic settlement builder that’s surprisingly relaxed, letting you manage and build at your own pace. We awarded the Xbox One version a 7/10 at launch. Its non-violent nature doesn’t make for the most thrilling of experiences, mind.
Low poly platformer Frogun is one of the week’s few games to get pre-launch reviews. Intended to recall the days of the PSone (it’s reminiscent of Croc, in particular), scores are mostly clocking in at 7/10.
Nintendo World Report mentioned slowdown and basic presentation in their review, but mostly enjoyed what it had to offer.
Then there’s After Wave: Downfall, an arcade-style shooter featuring fire-power packing boats sailing upstream while blasting mutated sea life. It’s looking both colourful and chaotic – Hydro Thunder meets Ray Storm, perhaps. Look out for a review soon.
Flying under the radar somewhat, there’s Hot Lap League: Deluxe Edition. Screenshots look mighty impressive – perhaps even a little too impressive for Switch. It’s a Trackmania-style racer with gravity-defying loops, a mobile version of which launched a while ago. While it looks promising, it might be worth waiting for reviews to surface before dishing out £18.
For RPG fans there’s Gale of Windoria from Kemco, a pixel art affair staring Shan – a young boy out to save a sullied land and save his childhood friend. Digital Tribe Games’ Celestian Tales, meanwhile, features hand-painted art and a story told through the eyes of six protagonists. Battles are turn-based and moral confrontations will also feature.
KOKORO CLOVER Season 1 may be worth a look too, based on a faux Japanese Saturday morning cartoon. The presentation appears slick, with the game itself being an action platformer.
QUByte Classics: Thunderbolt Collection by PIKO is this week’s retro re-release (because there’s always one, right?) It’s an unusual beast – the Thunderbolt games were unlicensed 2D shooters released on Famicom and Genesis. Physical copies are rare nowadays, giving this collection some justification for its existence – the games themselves look a little unexciting.
Other new releases include 90” Soccer – which features online play – randomly generated dungeon crawler Princess.Loot.Pixel.Again x2, and the neon-hued time manipulation shooter Wavecade.
New Switch eShop releases
Hot Lap League: Deluxe Edition – £17.99
Take complete control of your vehicle, perfect your driving, and prove your place in the Hot Lap League. Drift and race your car around 150+ mind blowing tracks, each requiring unique techniques and strategies. Improving your time by racing your best is the only way to the top.
It’s you, the track and the clock – no driving assist, no nonsense.
Join Renata as she adventures across a world of mystical ruins with the titular FROGUN! Frogun is an old-school platformer with the soul of the retro era, in which your frog-shaped grappling hook is a your best friend!
Renata’s parents are world-renown explorers, archeologists and inventors that travel all over the world uncovering the secrets of the past, bringing her with them in their expeditions. However, in their latest adventure, they decide to leave her at the base camp – the Beelzebub ruins are said to be too dangerous!
For three whole days she waits, her pride hurt and bored out of her mind, until she realized: if they haven’t returned yet, something must have happened to them! In a hurry she grabs her parents’ last invention, the Frogun, and heads to the ruins to rescue them, and prove that she’s as capable as them!
Grow, gather and manage resources to help your settlements thrive, and share goods between the hexagonal lands and planets around you. Relax and expand the fabric of your growing societies and create a solar system of happy planets at your own pace. Not everything will go your way, though – use your wits and research solutions to overcome the challenges that your ancestors once faced.
90” SOCCER – £TBA
Choose your team and face your opponents on quick and wild matches to claim victory.
– Play against other players on local, or online play.
– Arcade tournament for a quick play.
– League mode for longer play sessions.
– Use voice chat with friends, or text messages with everybody.
– Change formation before start a match.
– Chosse your challengue with five difficulty levels.
Kells is a puzzle game where you have the power to change the laws of gravity and guide your team of little green dudes to safety in each level.
There are over 100 levels in the game, dozens of secrets and mysteries to uncover and over 45 Kells in total to collect as you explore the world map on your journey to The Last Level.
Completing the story is just the beginning, however. Unlocking all the levels is really just a rather long tutorial in disguise designed to prepare you for the real challenge – competing in The Iron Kell! Do you have what it takes to perfect the Iron Kell and become a true Kells Champion?
Inspired by classic arcade shooters, Wavecade brings back the original nostalgia feeling to players from arcades, using sleek retro 80’s and sci-fi aesthetic.
Viki Spotter: Megapolis – £4.49
Viki Spotter is truly an infatigable girl. She has already seen many interesting things the world has to offer: a farm full of cows, meow cats and haystacks and the mysterious depths of the sea where colorful fish, corals and flashing silhouettes of submarines awaited her. This time things will get more prosaic, but no less exciting! You will have to visit an enormous city, where it’s inhabitants wearing colorful shirts, cyclists on their swift bikes, friendly animals living on the streets and much more are waiting to be discovered. So many things can be found in the colossal metropolis! Help Viki spot all the differences in the pairs of pictures provided. You, her loyal and trustworthy friend, are her last hope!
Fightro is 2D Arcade Fighting Game,
If you are an oldschool fighting game lover, this game is for you!
Our character is a blonde professional fighter, his opponent is not weak, but he has to turn his opponent down!
Can you beat the AI with its awesome fighting mechanics?
Celestian Tales is a beautifully hand-painted JRPG set in a world of questionable morals where opposing views clash, with no clear right or wrong.
Follow the journey of six Companions, knights sworn to serve and protect the heir of a noble house, as they rise and fall in their struggle to survive a world where one’s true enemies are often their closest allies.
Celestian Tales is full of lush hand-painted environments, emotive portraits, memorable characters and a sprawling engaging moralistic storyline that is told through the eyes of six protagonists.
The game features a turn-based combat system with plenty of character and party customization options, allowing you to play the game at your own pace and in your own style.
Princess.Loot.Pixel.Again x2 – £3.39
Please welcome the sequel to everyone’s (well, at least someone’s) favorite game Princess.Loot.Pixel.Again! Lots of fun with no hint at being serious, randomly generated adventures. x2 means heaps more artifacts, objects, locations, enemies, bosses, secrets and booby traps! The game retains the original graphic style called “pixel comic” (at least, that’s what the devs say anyway).
PLPA x2 is full of amusing and bizarre events, easter eggs and references to other games and movies. You think you’ve seen it somewhere before? Then you must be right!
This game is for prepared players of the SUPAPLEX world with many new adventures! A new level of sophistication and enthusiasm! Although SUPAPLEX THINK! contains many levels that require good reaction, in general, it is more focused on planning and thinking through action. Therefore, we say: THINK! AND IF YOU NEED TO – RUN!
After a day of fun and games with friends and family, it’s time to clean it all up! Find pairs of items scattered around the apartment and merge them, putting them in their places. Every day there are more toys, so finding them becomes even more difficult! Will you manage to collect more of them than your friends?
Pure Crosswords – the best Crossword Puzzle Word Game ever! – £13.49
Enjoy 2,250 puzzles across 3 difficulty levels, and written in classic British English. The clues are shown right in the puzzle grid, making crossword puzzles easy to view and play.
What if the physical objects of everyday life, the possessions we hold close, were actual windows to the past? Peer into distant memories and unseen futures in Hindsight.
From the creator of Prune, Hindsight is a narrative exploration game spanning the entirety of a woman’s life, from birth to present day, as she tries to make sense of it all. Revisit her childhood home, sort through personal belongings, and step through windows to memories frozen in time.
KOKORO CLOVER Season 1 – £16.79
KOKORO CLOVER Season 1 is part of a 2D platform series based on the theme of “a Japanese Sunday morning anime”. Transformations, cards, dancing, and robots! Enjoy the exciting and wonder-filled world!
The Tetra Quartzes, the source of all life, have become sullied, and there is a growing sense of foreboding across the world. Shan, a young boy from the citizens of the winds sets off on an adventure to purify the sullied Tetra Quartzes and save his childhood friend. With allies from different roots, slash away the dark clouds of death, and reach out to the future in a fantastic adventure.
Soar on the breezes around the world in your flying Beakle, upgradable with parts to spread your accessible areas. Make use of the elementals not only in turn-based battles, but in dungeon gimmicks as well by combining character abilities. Find also the Quartzes to strengthen your party, acquire skills and techniques. Not to forget the entire world drawn with nostalgic pixel artworks!
QUByte Classics: Thunderbolt Collection by PIKO – £6.99
Your goal is simple: destroy all the enemies that will come until you reach the final boss of the stage, make it easier and faster as you collect items and power-ups to enhance your health bar, increase your speed and upgrade or acquire new weapons. You’ll lead humanity to survival.
Thunderbolt Collection is a compilation of two vertically-scrolling shoot ‘em ups from the series Thunderbolt released in 1995 exclusive on east.The QUByte port brings the 8-bit and 16-bit versions of the game, both with official English localization and new features to improve your experience like: control remapping, which allow players to customize controller buttons as they like it better, different screen types and save states.
Japanese Escape Games The Retro House – £7.49
The 6th “Japanese Escape Games” series!
Game system
This game is an escape-the-room game (mystery-adventure game).
*Point the screen with a cursor to solve riddles, and this game goes on.
Follow the numbers at top rows and leftmost columns to discover hidden pixel art!
Did you ever wake up in the middle of the night because you hear a cat meowing? Roll The Cat is a game about that!
On each level, you have to roll the cats back into their bed. Only then you will convince them to sleep.
Use your spatial logic and try to put the cats back to bed. A simple relaxing game for puzzle lovers!
After Wave: Downfall is an arcade shooter where the player battles against monsters, completes various missions with a cool battleship. Deathrix invaded the world and released a mysterious meteorite causing a great flood. Players can upgrade their ships for better performance to fight the most brutal enemies. A Local Co-op mode allows the player to team up and adventure with others.
Next week: Two Point Campus, Lost in Play, Cult of the Lamb, Arcade Paradise, Super Bullet Break, Book Quest, and Cleo – a pirate’s tale.
