If you’re aiming to spend the long Easter weekend playing the latest Switch releases, good news – you’ll find a bevy of noteworthy new additions to the eShop over the next few days.
Vanillaware’s cult PS2 action RTS GrimGrimoire has been given a new lease of life, reportedly able to withstand the test of time. The Metacritic score currently sits at a respectable 78%, including an 8/10 from Destructoid. “[..] it controls greatly, and the narrative is well-written, avoiding the expository pitfalls of the time-loop genre. Sure, most of the characters here are off-brand Hogwarts faculty members, but Vanillaware injected enough of its style into these caricatures to make them more than some dollar-store Wizarding World weirdos,” they said.
Then there’s the indie prequel Road 96: Mile 0, an emotional story of two teenagers – with a new rhythm action focus thanks to musical ride segments. The first review score to hit the road is a 7/10 from Pocket Tactics, who found that only the UI and performance issues held the adventure down.
We reviewed a trio of new Switch releases ourselves, albeit on other formats. We awarded the Xbox version of the canine photography caper Pupperazzi a 7/10 around a year ago, heralding it as ideal for younger gamers due to its lax difficulty.
Team17’s story-based top-down RPG Batora: Lost Haven also garnered a 7/10. Switch screenshots suggest a noticeable visual downgrade has taken place, which was perhaps to be expected.
Lastly, we gave the PC version of the tycoon management sim Drill Deal – Oil Tycoon a whirl last March. It gained a 6/10 for showing potential but was marred by UI issues and sloppy mechanics.
The rat-ridden Metroidvania Curse of the Sea Rats is also out, and while the hand-drawn visuals and intriguing game world hold appeal, Pocket Tactics noted that the Switch version apparently suffers from input lag and other technical issues.
Coming as a surprise, the Switch also gains a re-release of The 7th Guest – one of the first major PC CD-ROM titles to showcase what the new format could offer. It’s a puzzle adventure set in a toy maker’s twisted mansion, where you’ll get to explore over twenty puzzle-filled rooms. Interestingly, Nintendo allegedly wanted a conversion of their then-upcoming SNES CD add-on. Thirty years later, it finally graces a Nintendo platform.
Speaking of surprise conversions, My Name is Mayo is also available on Switch….for some peculiar reason. The PS4 original was famous for doling out an easy Platinum trophy, being nothing more than an exercise in tedium – “gameplay” consisted of nothing more than bashing buttons to unlock Trophies, making this Switch conversion an oddity. You’ll have more fun with a real tub of mayo.
New Switch eShop releases
GrimGrimoire OnceMore – £44.99
GrimGrimoire OnceMore brings the classic strategy adventure from Vanillaware into the present! Join aspiring mage Lillet Blan on her journey within the Silver Star Tower, a renowned academy for magicians. All is not what it seems inside the tower walls—mysteries, monsters, and menaces lurk about. Harness the power of magic to dispel the secrets hidden within the tower and discover the truth of the Silver Star Tower!
Put your love for pups to the test – we have a bunch of dogs that need their photos taken, doggone it! Photograph and catalogue the finest (and derpiest) dogs to build your career, upgrade your camera, and discover new canines. WOOF!
Who will photograph, pet, and tell these dogs they’re good boys and girls if you don’t?? The world NEEDS you in Pupperazzi, the dog photography game! Snap photos of dogs while maintaining your social media presence. Will you hound for stardom in public, or would you rather be taken seriously as an artist? Perhaps you just want to show your friends the cute dog you saw while you were out. It’s your choice which direction your career goes – just don’t forget to pet the dogs along the way.
Curse of the Sea Rats – £16.99
Curse of the Sea Rats is a ‘ratoidvania’ platform adventure with lovingly crafted, hand-drawn animations. Embark on the epic journey of four prisoners of the British empire, transformed into rats by the notorious pirate witch, Flora Burn. To regain their human bodies, they will have to fight dangerous bosses, uncover the secrets of the vast Irish coast, and ultimately capture the witch who cursed them.
You are an alien predator from the far corner of space, with the power of manipulating the will of your enemies. That is if they make the mistake of letting you get close. Mind control is not the only ability you have to attack your prey. You can also stop time at your will, but be aware of how and when you use it.
Forever Lost: Episode 1 – £3.99
The cult classic finally arrives on the Nintendo Switch™!
Awaking in a mind you don’t know to a world you can’t remember. Surrounded by things that can’t be real, haunted by experiences long forgotten.
Questions racing through your mind. Is this a waking nightmare or a half-forgotten dream? Who are you? Where are you? How long have you been here and how do you escape?
The answers are somewhere, but where? In the world you have found yourself trapped in or simply your own mind?
You have to move on, you have to discover the truth. You have to escape!
Super Cute Alien’s Adventure – £8.99
Super-Cute Alien’s Adventure is a classic 2-D platformer where you play as Oozi, an alien spaceship pilot who crash-landed on planet Earth, lost his space suit and needs to find his way home.
The variety of difficulty levels – from Kid to Hardcore – lets players of all ages enjoy the game regardless of skill level. With the easiest difficulty selected, it’s impossible to fail in the game. Frustration is avoided, making it a great choice for the young player who has never held a controller.
Drill Deal – Oil Tycoon – £12.59
Drill Deal is a fun oil business simulator. Start from a single tiny rig and expand it to a large complex of connected platforms. Optimize & grow your business. Look out for threats like weather, terrorists, fire, and others. Take care of your working crews.
Catgotchi: Virtual Pet – £11.69
RETRO CAT FAMILY
Raise a happy and healthy cat! Become a proper cat parent by ensuring all of its needs are fulfilled. If you want you can raise MULTIPLE pets at once!
REAL-TIME GAMEPLAY
Be careful! If you ignore your pets for too long, they can fall into sadness or even get sick. Their fate is within your hands.
Inspired by Jorge Luis?Borges’ short story of the same name,?The Library of Babel?invites?you to a world 20,000 years after the extinction of humanity.?The world?is now run by advanced robots, who know very little about their mythical creators.?All is well and orderly in a society run by robots, until the discovery of a library that contains everything that has, is, and will ever be written— the perfect harbinger of chaos.?
You play as?Ludovik, a?Seeker, sent to investigate a murder case in Babylon. When a state of emergency is suddenly declared,?Ludovik?finds himself in increasingly dangerous territory as he follows the murderer’s trail and unravels the mystery behind the?Library’s?sudden lockdown.?
Featuring a world full of vast jungles, abandoned temples,?and plentiful cybernetic inhabitants to interact with,?The Library of Babel?promises?both a thrilling adventure full of danger and intrigue, and a thoughtful,?atmospheric tale of?how we consider infinity.?
Another Tomorrow is a puzzle adventure that blends intricately rendered dioramas with first person exploration and puzzle solving.
Trapped without your memories but equipped with a camera you’ll explore abandoned apartments, airfields, temples, and underground facilities to search for clues, solve puzzles, and unlock secrets to answer the question; who are you?
In an undisclosed location, somewhere on the floor of the Pacific ocean, is Station 117 – a classified research facility doing totally secret work. Seriously, don’t ask what they’re doing. Sometimes even they don’t know.
However, as it always does, something went wrong.
As Franklin Gates – genius, billionaire, playboy, amateur marine biologist – you’ve grown up with the stories, never really believing them to be true.
Until today.
Due to your unlimited curiosity, and let’s face it dumb stupidity, you go inside.
What you discover will change everything.
Enter the mind of Jason Bethlam as he awakes to a brightly lit room. With an assortment of items, a camera, and no memory of how you got there you’ll need to photograph everything and solve puzzles to piece together the mystery of what happened and escape.
Join Bumballon on this cute but frantic adventure spanning across an incredible world full of dangers!
Explore 7 unique worlds overflowing with beautifully animated graphics and retro game nostalgia. Overcome various perils to save Bumballon’s magical kingdom and rescue the beautiful Princess Moon.
Each mistake becomes a lesson to overcome future obstacles in Bumballon’s tough but fun and rewarding journey.
Numbers and Squares is a logic puzzle game where you need to place each number from 0 to 9 in each row and column. It offers different difficulties ranging from easy beginner friendly puzzles up to difficult expert levels. In addition little features like the hint system helps you if you are stuck and need a helping hand.
On a journey through 8 Kingdoms. It will be a journey of great adventures, suspense, terror, joy, comedy, humor, battles, drama.
Bob is an ordinary person living a simple measured life. Outside in mid-December, it’s snowing a little. After stopping by for groceries and a large pack of ice cream for his daughter, Bob leaves the store and is about to go to the car, but then he slips, falls and let’s go of the full cart. The cart rolls and crashes into an elderly but well-dressed and stately-looking man, knocking him to the ground. Bob tries to get up and run to help the man, but in the blink of an eye everything around freezes, the clouds thicken and a bloody dark fog envelops the area. Not having time to recover, Bob looks at the old man and is horrified, a dark figure with bright red eyes rises above the ground, opens his mouth and says in an eerie voice:
Hao-Chen Jiang did not understand what it was when he opened his eyes. Before him was a dim and dreary room that he had not seen before. Trying to get up to turn on the lights, he finds that his arms are tied behind him and that is when he realizes that he’s been kidnapped. It is then that a mysterious girl appears before him and with a look of disdain tells him that he’s been kidnapped and unless his family agrees to pay a ransom he has no chance to escape. But perhaps there is more to this than just money…
Gemini is an interactive poem and video game about two stars flying into the heavens together.
In Gemini, the player controls the movement of a star that has descended to the earth. Soon it comes across another star—a little one with its own intentions and personality. Together, the two stars move in tandem to explore mythical spaces, share moments of joy, and overcome obstacles. Through the journey, the player comes to learn more about the little star and how to fly beautifully. After finishing the game once, the player unlocks a local two-player mode to share the experience with a family member, friend, or partner.
The story of Gemini is told wordlessly. It gives the player the freedom to determine the meaning of its metaphors through a playful exploration of its world and mechanics.
You play as a rainbow-wielding cat on a mission to spread brightly coloured joy by removing bumble bees, off-beat music, and other unpleasant things. Your rainbows protect you from the bad things that can kill you and also provide you with platforms to walk and jump on.
A puzzle-adventure game about Dunai, a young guy from Gaab. He is soon moving to the big city, but before doing so, he has to say goodbye to his loved ones. On his way, he’ll have to solve a new case: the disappearance of his best friend.
Freely explore the village of Gaab. Find all kinds of colorful characters and investigate the town to unveil the secrets that this curious town hides. Also, the circus has come to Gaab, go take a look at the attractions and the games it offers. You can even ride the Ferris wheel!
With a unique and original artistic style, you’ll fall in love with the locations and characters. Rack your brain and solve all the riddles and mysteries to complete the game. Enjoy the prologue of one of the main characters of a big story that’s soon to come.
Hei, a being with a humanoid appearance, got disoriented and fell from their favorite place. Now they are lost in a chaotic world full of riddles and mysterious characters. Journey through 4 different levels, each one with its own peculiarities, and meet a great variety of curious folks on the way.
If you are looking for a next generation gameplay experience and an engrossing open world environment…!!! Well, this is not that game… This is the touching story about a Mayo Jar.
This is a clicking adventure that simulates the real-life tapping of a Mayo Jar! You will unveil its story and (maybe) you will learn from it, while you unlock 50 rewards!!
Road 96: Mile 0 is a Narrative-Adventure game with a musical component created by DigixArt, the French studio behind the successful Road 96, 11-11 Memories Retold and 5 Pegases Awards winner. Published by Ravenscourt, players will alternate between the roles of Zoe and Kaito, two teenagers with different backgrounds and beliefs. They live and explore White Sands, a luxurious condominium where Petria´s elite reside and where Kaito´s parents work.
Finger Football: Goal in One – £1.79
Finger Football: Goal In One is a minimalist finger football puzzle game where you have one shot the make the goal. Each level has a different setup and solution. Can you solve all the levels?
Introducing “Path of Colors”, the exciting console game that will put your strategic thinking and creativity to the test! Your goal is to connect the color base to the target base by drawing a path that passes through all the checkpoints in the correct order. But there’s a twist – you can mix your colors with previously used ones to create new shades that will help you navigate through the levels.
Volley Pals is an adrenaline-packed modern style arcade volleyball game with different mechanics in each of its levels. We designed it as a local multiplayer party game that supports up to 4 people. Volley Pals is exactly the game you’re looking for if you want to be on the edge of your seat with friends, family, or anyone you can spend some super-fun time with.
Yes, 42 is the Answer to the ultimate question!
As this is inevitable, don’t fight against it, and decipher the fundamental answer in all levels in this game.
• You can play as a singleplayer or with two players coop locally;
• 80 challenges for you to overcome;
• Ranking globally your performance at each level for all the world see;
• Special Challenge when each 15 days you receive a new bundle of challenges to test your performance and show in the globally ranking.
• Four Cute monsters with unique skills that you can control with up to 4 players locally
• 65 challenges for you to overcome;
• Ranking globally your performance at each level for all the world see;
• Special Challenge when each 15 days you receive a new bundle of challenges to test your performance and show in the globally ranking
Pretty Girls Tile Match – £5.49
These Pretty Girls are no stranger to mahjong solitaire, but this new version freshens up the action puzzling with a skill-based game of match-3! Instead of pairs of tiles, here you’ll need to find 3 identical tiles to erase them from the board, while layers of trapped tiles beneath are darkened and “locked” until you uncover them.
Meet 5 lovely female companions as you play and earn points to unlock new adorable outfits for them across a whopping 120 stages, all featuring unique tile layouts and randomized patterns that pose a tough-but-fair challenge! Then head to the enhanced Dressing Room mode where you can view unlocked outfits and assemble your own custom dioramas!
These creatures will join you on Dream’s Doorstep, where you can befriend them through unique quests and minigames; from snowflake design, to tuning crystal harps, to telling ghost stories!
Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories – £12.79
Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories puts you in the shoes of Honeydew, a bunny headband-wearing employee of a melon soda factory who’s on a mission to find her recently missing best friend. But is it really that safe traveling to a town where melon possession can land you in the slammer? And why is there a hamster so preoccupied with sneaking into the Kitten King’s castle?
Uncover the mystery in this latest story-exploration game from developer Froach Club. Explore a charming, pixelated world – filled to the brim with eccentric characters, criminals, and a plot as weird as it is cute.
Batora: Lost Haven is a choice-driven isometric action adventure with RPG elements and a unique duality system affecting combat, story, dialogues, puzzles, and endings, that will make you question the meaning of sacrifice.
Throughout Batora: Lost Haven, you will navigate your way through a range of unique alien planets and discover a galaxy in which morals are blurred, and the line between right and wrong is mercilessly thin. Wield unique abilities and perfect different combat styles to defeat deadly foes, solve intricate puzzles, and take on quests from curious alien inhabitants. Every choice you make will shape your journey and forge the way you carry out your final mission… Restoring your Lost Haven.
Star Chaser for Make-A-Wish – £1.99
Have loads of fun chasing stars and a new high score, all while helping Make-A-Wish UK grant out-of-this-world life-changing wishes for children who need them. The Star Chaser character itself was specially designed by a wish child and all profits will go towards granting more wishes like theirs. Enjoy!
This is a Shoot’em up & Tower Defense game that you can play with simple commands and rules.
You will command “Tia” and be on a journey to the defeating adventure against invading monsters.
Dungeons of Aether is a turn-based dungeon crawler designed by Nick ‘ampersandbear’ Blackwood from the Aether Studios team. While Rivals of Aether is known for its real-time combat, Dungeons of Aether allows you to take things at your own pace – but it’s just as challenging! Every choice you make can lead you deeper into the dungeons or to an early demise. Will you carry out a treasure chest, or be carried out in a pine box?
The famous game adapted to fit perfectly for Nintendo Switch™ (all play modes)!
The father and mother of all ‘Haunted Mansion’ games!
Winner of multiple gaming awards and “No. 1 Rated Game of 1994”.
“The new standard in interactive entertainment.” – Bill Gates (Founder of Microsoft Corporation, 1993)
Henry Stauf’s mansion has been abandoned for as long as anyone dare remember. Stauf was a master toy maker, a maker of amazing puzzles and this strange, eerie, mansion was his greatest creation.
It stands empty, rotting ever since children started dying with his toys near them, ever since six guests came and were never seen again.
Now, you are in the house, moving from one room to another, trying to remember and trying to forget. Because Stauf’s game isn’t over. There were six guests the world knew about – and there was one other.
The mansion of horror comes to life again and only you can end this mad nightmare and learn the secret of the 7th guest.
Next week: TRON: Identity, Sherlock Holmes The Awakened, Wildfrost, Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection, JarataireRPG, Hyper-5, Tray Racers, Sable’s Grimoire: A Dragon’s Treasure, Castle of Shikigami 2, Process of Elimination, TAPE: Unveil the Memories, Castle of the Underdogs Ep1, and Ultra Pixel Survive.
