The PlayStation and Xbox formats are having a quiet one this week, with less than ten games gracing each system. Over on the Switch eShop things are a little quieter than usual, but there’s still plenty to jump into should your trusty Switch find its way into your luggage or travel bag this weekend.
After a false start a few months ago, Ubisoft’s The Settlers: New Allies is finally out. Perhaps they realised launching it so close to the new Anno console game wasn’t the best idea. Due to it arriving out of nowhere, reviews are yet to surface. It might be worth waiting a few days.
Reviews for NiS America’s RPG The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie went live last week and were generally full of praise, with no review score lower than a 7/10 currently showing on Metacritic.
“Capping off the Crossbell and Cold Steel arcs with a nice little bow, The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie hits some high highs – such as with C and the True Reverie Corridor – and when it does, it’s an RPG fan’s paradise,” said Nintendo Life.
Then there’s Death or Treat – a Roguelike platformer with stages formed of randomised areas, and a comical tone. We reviewed the Xbox version in May and found that despite lavish presentation the combat wasn’t up to much, with the ghostly protagonist unable to adequately defend themselves. A 6/10 was as much as we could muster.
For fans of retro games, there’s the eagerly awaited Gimmick! Special Edition – a re-release of a 1992 NES platformer from Sunsoft, known for pushing the console hard. It was a very late release for the system, and consequently, was largely ignored at launch. Very much a cult classic. That’s joined by the NES style adventure game Full Quiet, the ‘tough but fun’ pixel art action platformer Garlic, and eastasiasoft’s low-fi shooter Feeble Light.
eastasiasoft are also publishing EchoBlade – a first-person hack ‘n slash dungeon crawler with a blind hero relying on echolocation to detect danger. Intriguing.
Other new releases include the chill pixel art puzzler City Limits, the ridiculously named CGI movie tie-in TAD – The Lost Explorer – Craziest and Madness Edition, colourful board game RichMan 4 Fun, a new version of Pinball FX, and the foxy adventure Silent Paws – which looks uncannily similar to Lost Dream: Darkness.
New Switch eShop releases
The Settlers: New Allies – £49.99
The Settlers®: New Allies is a strategy game with an in-depth build-up experience and real-time strategic battles.
– Fully reimagined from the ground up, with stunning graphics and detailed animations.
– Choose among three factions: the Elari, the Maru, and the Jorn. Each has a unique look, playstyle, and background story.
– Experience a story-driven campaign set in the world of The Settlers, or go for the special Hardcore mode and its additional challenges.
– Play online in thrilling skirmish battles against other players or AI for long-lasting fun.
Get the most out of your game experience with the The Settlers®: New Allies Deluxe Edition, including the game, the Deluxe Pack, and the Explorer Pack.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie – £53.99
What destinies await these three fateful figures? Use the Trails to Walk system to switch between Rean Schwarzer, Lloyd Bannings, and the masked figure “C,” and determine the fates of key characters and locations within Zemuria. Dive into refined tactical combat with new features such as United Front, and discover new allies and challenges within the halls of the True Reverie Corridor!
Gimmick! Special Edition – £12.99
An old-school challenge enhanced for the modern player
SUNSOFT’s NES™ classic Gimmick! returns in this long-wished-for Special Edition from City Connection. Experience a stunning physics-based platformer with updated features like online leaderboards, achievements, a time attack mode, save and quick load, a rewind function, a gorgeous gallery (with cartridges, art, and scanned manuals), and more.
Stellar platform physics with a bouncing star
Explore a physics-based playground that was way ahead of its time. As the cute youkai Yumetaro, use your star-summoning powers to tackle complex challenges with creativity and finesse. Your wonderful star will help you reach hidden spots, traverse cliffs, and pull off trick shots that outwit even the toughest baddies!
Discover a hidden NES™ treasure
Gimmick! was exclusively released on Famicom™/NES™ in Japan and Scandinavia in the early ‘90s. It pushed the console to its limits and the Japanese cartridge featured SunSoft 5B, a custom sound chip that let Masashi Kageyama compose a star-studded soundtrack. Gimmick! remains one of the most valuable (and rarest) NES™ cartridges ever made. The Scandinavian version was called “Mr. Gimmick”.
Uncover secrets in a race against time!
Gimmick! Special Edition features a time attack mode for speedrunners, and completionists can hunt for secrets all throughout the game. Unlock a wonderful surprise by finding everything. For a hard-core challenge, disable all quality-of-life features in “Serious Mode” to crank up the excitement!
Biggest brands in pinball form
Discover brand new exclusive tables created for Pinball FX, or find your favorites among more than 20 unique and visually enhanced favorites from Zen’s extensive digital pinball library. Relive the most iconic moments from entertainment powerhouses like Star Wars, Legendary Entertainment and many more. Enjoy accurate re-creations of the most famous pinball machines of all time with Williams Pinball, or have fun with Zen’s original creations.
TAD – The Lost Explorer – Craziest and Madness Edition – £35.99
Embark with Tad and his friends on a new journey through different cities where you will encounter challenging puzzles in your quest to get the emerald tablet.
Super Box Delivery: Beyond the Horizon – £4.49
You’ll be transported to a vibrant cartoon world full of whimsical cars and charming customizations. With fun controls and an ever-changing landscape, this game will keep you entertained for hours on end.
But beware – you’re the only one who can ensure that all packages are delivered on time! Get ready to tackle engaging challenges, earn achievements, and test your driving skills in a thrilling endless driving game.
And the best part? Super Box Delivery is perfect for gamers of all ages. Whether you’re young or young-at-heart, this game offers a heartwarming and captivating escape from the everyday.
So what are you waiting for? Pack up your box tight and get ready for the ride of a lifetime in Super Box Delivery: Beyond the Horizon!
Blast off as a little star trying to rid the cosmos of angry celestial beings in Feeble Light, a 3-tone pixel art shoot’em up where minimalistic presentation makes way for precision controls and fluid animation! Inspired by genre classics, Feeble Light is a vertical bullet hell where you’ll fire at enemies with starlight, dodge asteroids, evade incoming projectiles and build up bomb energy for devastating counterattacks! In a tight spot?
Slow down your little star for extra precision to navigate through bullet swarms or narrow passages. Master 5 thoughtfully crafted stages, randomized with each playthrough to keep you on your toes as you chase the high score, then take down big bosses to free the cosmos and earn new colour palettes to customize your experience in future runs!
A couple of healthy food enjoyers — Mr Broccoli and Super Asparagus — team up to stop the junk food invasion in their hometown. Something goes terribly wrong when hotdogs, burgers and other way-too-much-calories storm their favorite city. They need to stand up and fight!
Pleasant gameplay, exciting boss fights and loads of positive emotions await you. Pick one of two characters and show ‘em all what healthy food is made of! This game also serves as a reminder that junk food can often be very dangerous! Next time when your parents make you eat broccoli and asparagus, keep in mind: they are preparing you for the battle with junk food!
Out here, static is the enemy…
Get lost in this challenging, mysterious, open-world adventure as you encounter strange creatures, solve puzzles, and figure out how to restore the radio relay grid in order to find your missing son. Look for clues along the way and manage your resources while you decode the secrets of Full Quiet.
Your puzzle solving, combat and survival skills will be tested… Do you have what it takes to silence the forest and drive out those who have emerged into our world?
Time Of War, Arkano’90 – £13.49
‘Peacekeeping Forces’ is a military body created by governments, with the purpose of carrying out containment missions in the most complex and dangerous conflicts. In this project you can be part of the elite of the best pilots in the world and travel to the most hostile areas of the planet for the fight for world peace. Are you ready for the challenge?
Frantic and diverse combats with Simul-Arcade gameplay, piloting state-of-the-art helicopters in adverse weather conditions.
Face the deadliest enemies such as: Autonomous AI Drones, Android Mega-robots, Armored Worms, Laser Defenses, Floating Mines, Tanks, Helicopters, Nuclear Submarines and many more… Quite a challenge!
Take control of an Arkano and feel almighty knocking down and destroying everything in your path.
One day the little sentient Toad has decided to arm himself with some heavy weaponry and deal some serious damage with no specific reason. It’s a miracle that Toad was able to pick up his first pistol — soon afterwards he found himself dodging, shooting, crushing and earning money from the dead enemies.
Toadomination revives the best moments from the 90’s era with action packed gameplay and that very special nostalgic feeling. This game is meant to be played like it’s 1995 again — no loot boxes, no battle passes, no grinding and paying to win. It’s only your skills that matter when it comes to Toad’s survival and total Toad Domination!
Recently, the Halloween spirit is missing and GhostMart may be on the brink of bankruptcy. Clark Fackerberg, founder of FaceBoo! has started to distribute Storyum: a drug that absorbs the will and hope for Halloween from the inhabitants of HallowTown. Now, with the purpose of restoring the spirit of Halloween and his trade, Scary must destroy FaceBoo! and its 3 divisions; Darkchat, Deviltube and RipTok
JUSTICE STRIKES TWICE
Swords&Bones 2 is a sequel to an action-adventure RPG game by the same name. Experience the ambiance of 16-bit classics from the 80s and 90s with many modern twists. Challenge yourself in 50 action-packed levels full of dangers and riches.
YOU PROTECT AND ATTACK
Parry your enemies, cast powerful magic attacks, or slash them into oblivion. Use your hard-earned gold to buy new equipment and skills. Only then you will be able to defeat every foe on your path.
TIME TO FIGHT
Feel free to customize your toolkit before every level. Shoot out a whirlwind of destruction, poison your enemies, strike them down with a powerful thunderstrike or heal by slashing them. Only one spell can accompany you on your journey, so choose wisely!
Each of the ten different jobs has different abilities and three unique skills; you can combine the 18 different types of spheres to create a character of your own choice, whether you want to compensate for your weaknesses or enhance your strengths.
There is auto-matching and friend-matching where you can play only with your friends. With auto-matching, you can enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime experience, with friend-matching, you can have fun with your friends, or of course, you can play solo, so you can enjoy the game in your preferred play style.
Dive into a vibrant universe with Rainbow Snake, a classic game reimagined with a colorful twist. Feast on multicolored morsels that transform your luminous tail into the color you’ve just devoured. Composed of pure rainbow light, your snake can’t eat itself but beware of colliding with green walls. Immerse yourself in this captivating gameplay and strive to rack up the highest score possible. Enjoy the stunning visual palette and engaging mechanics of Rainbow Snake.
Paint ball is a fun small platformer game where you are a paint ball and try to escape the level and reach the flag. Although it is a difficult platformer game, the motto is clear “Easy to learn and fun to master”. This makes the game great for beginners and a challenge for seasoned players. Different levels will test your wall slide, jump and double jump skills. After you complete all levels the random challenge is unlocked which will get progressively more difficult after completing each challenge. Happy painting!
This is an exploration-based third-person horror game.
?Game System
Multi-endings. (6 types in total)
As an additional element, there is a new ending that was not in the PC version.
As you complete each mission you advance onto the next mission in that play category. You are free to pick the order you want to play.
Progression
As you go through the levels, you’ll collect coins that the zombies are carrying from their days as a human.
At the end of each level, you can spend your coins in the shop for weapons upgrades. You can also unlock additional characters to take on your journey to rid the neighbourhood of zombies!
Young Jeremy got lost in the woods! He met two new friends, Merry the fox and Tom the hedgehog.
Embark on this little adventure into where Jeremy is finding his way out of the woods.
Help Jeremy to pair the animals in classic mahjong game and make him happy. Quicker.
Play as a fox exploring a mystical world filled with wonder and magic. Step into the shoes of a curious fox and journey through enchanted forests, hidden caves, and ancient ruins to uncover the secrets of this magical land.
As you explore the world of Silent Paws, you’ll encounter a variety of obstacles. You must navigate through the lush environment, using your cunning and agility to progress, you’ll uncover the rich history and lore of the world, revealing the story of the world.
Fastest on the Buzzer is a fast action multi-player trivia game you play against other players.
Simply press your buzzer before the other contestants to answer the question, but be careful because if you get it wrong you will lose points and give the other contestants a chance to win those points.
And remember if you lose all your points your out of the game.
Blinded and trapped inside a labyrinthian dungeon tower, every sound you make illuminates your path to freedom! In EchoBlade, danger lurks around every darkened corner, from trap doors and chambers filled with toxic fumes to halls patrolled by crusader knights and more! Explore in first-person perspective and watch for echo patterns that reveal walls, floors and enemies around you.
Every footstep, every metal clank of armor or swing of a blade illuminates your path with a wave of sonic resonance. Stride with care to avoid pressure plates that spring traps. Each level features new mechanics, secrets to discover and puzzles to solve. Customize your adventuring experience by assigning colors to different kinds of threats and environmental features. Use your wits and every resource at your disposal to defy fate and escape!
Assemble the dead using different body parts while upgrading your tower, combine the abilities of the different fantastic races to fight your way through the hordes of enemies and overrun the ’chosen ones’. To tell the truth, the dead are pretty, uhm, dumb.
In a dark, dark tower a dark, dark Necromancer is performing a dark, dark ritual as dark, dark clouds swarm… Wait a second! What is a white cat doing here?
This is an RPG action adventure game with a sand drawn background style, gradually showcasing Ella’s journey of growth and transformation. Her memory is blurred in the world of sand. She faced numerous difficulties alone, bravely moving forward with the help of many friends, constantly collecting memory fragments to find herself. The game is designed with many skills, equipment, bonus upgrades, and other operations, with complex and diverse terrains that require continuous exploration and collection. After collecting all the memories, it challenges the powerful Boss.
The past and future cannot be explored alone! Team up with a friend and piece together the mysteries surrounding Albert Vanderboom. Communicate what you see around you to help one another solve various puzzles and explore the worlds from different perspectives!
The Past Within is the first co-op only point-and-click adventure set in the mysterious world of Rusty Lake.
Sentimental Death Loop – £17.59
Just as you begin to settle in for a fun day at your best friend’s house, something changes in her and she kills you. And not just once—she ends your life time and time and time again.
Your goal is to escape from this endless loop of despair.
Bunker 21 Extended Edition – £7.19
Bunker 21 is a first-person storytelling action game in which the main character Andrey finds himself in a mysterious world where all people have disappeared. You will find exciting gameplay, atmospheric graphics and a deep story that unfolds as the hero progresses.
The main character is left alone. He goes on a journey in search of answers. He will have to fight terrible monsters and unravel the secrets that the mysterious Bunker 21 hides.
When you enter the world of “RichMan 4 Fun”, you will find yourself in a property management game full of opportunities and challenges. You can experience the fun and sense of achievement of making money and managing assets. The game is played in rounds, and the number of steps to move on the map is determined by rolling the dice. You can accumulate assets by acquiring real estate, building houses, and investing in the stock market. The game also has a rich variety of card props that can help you achieve your goals more easily, defeat others, and become the richest tycoon player in the game!
You are Garlic, an onion-headed boy, and you want to climb the Sacred Tower to meet the Cyber Goddess who will grant your wish. But then something doesn’t go as planned…
Walk, jump, and dash your way through levels full of enemies, traps, and innovative platforming mechanics. The game includes many checkpoints to not get frustrated in a simple and fun mechanics, with the option of performing amazing combo dashes.
Inspired by classics of the genre, Garlic is a tough but fun platformer outing perfect for both new and experienced players alike.
City Limits is a relaxing tile-based puzzle game where you build cities on a desolate island. Place tiles strategically to create a cascading spread of new structures. Cover the island as efficiently as you can before the land becomes unusable. There is no lose state. Just chill and build.
Next week: OXENFREE II: Lost Signals, Manic Mechanics, Cramped Room of Death, Touhou: New World, Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg, Crafting Block World: Magic Dungeons Adventure, Chaos Galaxy, Football Cup 2023, Strike Team Gladius, UltraGoodness, LISA: The Painful – Definitive Edition, and LISA: The Joyful – Definitive Edition.