It’s a real mixed bag of new Switch releases this week, with a mix of titles new and old, some of which were received more favourably than others at launch.
Also due on PlayStation formats this week, Moonglow Bay is a chilled fishing RPG with business management and cooking elements. The PC and Xbox versions, from late 2021, washed ashore to a mixed reception – it apparently runs its course quite quickly, resulting in tedium settling. The Xbox version was also known to be glitchy. We’d like to think most bugs have been squashed in the three years that have passed.
Slave Zero X is less tardy, only falling a month or so behind the PS4/Xbox versions. This is a side-scrolling hack ‘n slash based on a relatively obscure Dreamcast mech shooter. Most critics praised the stylish visuals but found it to be a little frustrating and fatiguing in places, requiring an understanding of its allegedly deep combat system to enjoy fully. A handful of 8/10s were handed out, though, suggesting it might be worth looking into if you’re a fan of the genre. Still. the 63% Metacritic score for the Xbox Series version doesn’t entirely fill us with confidence.
Let’s! Revolution! was more positively received when it hit Steam in 2023, skilfully blending puzzle, strategy, and dungeon crawling tropes into something new. If you’re up for something different, it might be one to investigate. The first person adventure Botany Manor has reviewed well too, offering numerous nature-based puzzles to solve in order to complete a book. Many of these require out of the box thinking, which has ultimately resulted in critics being left smitten. The Metacritic score currently sits at 83%, making it one of the best received games of the month so far.
Then there’s Loretta, a dark and gritty noir visual novel with mini-games which arrived to a sea of 7/10s on PC earlier this year. The pixel art packing Outer Terror has mostly gained 7/10s so far too, putting a horror spin on the rouge-lite genre while featuring a 20 minute gameplay loop.
3D Realms is also back this week with something new. The Kindeman Remedy is a twisted time management game based around torturing prisoners in the name of science. Morbid? Yes. Compelling? Also yes. We quite enjoyed their last time management game, unofficially based on the tale of Sweeney Todd.
Other releases for this week include the legit Game Boy top down adventure Kudzu (legit in the sense that it’s also available on Game Boy), innovative sounding shooter Die Again – in which it’s possible to possess enemies upon death and continue playing – a re-release of the MSX2’s 1987 action RPG Dragon Slayer IV, the self-explanatory (and self-raising) Bakery Simulator, and the clumsily titled cartoony point ‘n clicker Jorel’s Brother and The Most Important Game of the Galaxy.
New Switch eShop releases
From the top of Megacity S1-9, the Sovereign Khan rules with fists of iron and flesh. Beneath the city’s rotting foundations, a vengeful warrior embarks on a journey to murder him. 5 years prior to the events of Slave Zero, Slave Zero X brings new life to a world where horrific, living machines known as Slaves are primed to become the latest tools of war in humanity’s long and bloody history. A secret band of warriors known as The Guardians hope to stop these biomecha from being unleashed upon the world, but one swordsman among their ranks has a different idea: use the enemy’s own weapon against them. By merging with a stolen Slave Unit Prototype, Shou will become a furious Devil in pursuit of killing a false God.
Combining a playful voxel art style with a sumptuous soundtrack by Lena Raine, your journey is split into several distinct story arcs featuring a fully-inhabited town to traverse and the potential for epic encounters with the rumoured Mystical Monsters of Moonglow.
Equipped with nothing but your journal and trusty rod, venture to the ocean’s farthest reaches, from icy glaciers to steaming geysers. Master the art of casting nets, setting traps, and fishing through ice as you document the 151 aquatic species and explore the diverse local wildlife all while unearthing the secrets hidden within Moonglow Bay.
Being an evil doctor is hard work: upgrade and use eight different rooms, manage your resources, play with poisons, drugs, and hazardous substances, and conduct secret experiments.
It is a lot to handle, but you are not alone. Sister Anna is there for you. Always. And always ready to do just what the doctor ordered.
Welcome to Botany Manor, a stately home in 19th century England. You play as its inhabitant Arabella Greene, a retired botanist. Explore your house and gardens, filled with botanical research, to figure out the ideal habitat for a collection of forgotten flora. Grow each plant to discover the mysterious qualities they hold…
Rise up in Let’s! Revolution!, a roguelite puzzle mashup that combines logic-based puzzles with turn-based tactics.
Embark on a deadly game of hide and seek, chasing the rotten King across the enchanting land of Beebom.
Put your problem-solving skills to the test as you flip tiles to outsmart deadly foes and uncover powerful items and abilities.
Enter the crypt and defeat as many monsters as you can before they overwhelm you!
Match three of the same type of monster to defeat them. Their weird and wobbly shapes mean you’ll have to think hard about where to connect each piece lest you find yourself backed into a corner…
Combine abilities to create infinite possibilities of spells and decimate thousands of enemies. King Krieg is a top-down arena roguelite where YOU are the KING and you buy mystical items, find powerful guns, and craft new spells.
You are the King of war. Thousands of enemies try to slay you. Protect your Castle.
Overdelivery – Delivery Simulator – £7.99
Welcome to “Overdelivery”, the ultimate open-world delivery game where you get to experience the excitement of delivering goods in a bustling city! Get ready to explore a vibrant metropolis, make timely deliveries, and master the art of driving against the clock. Deliver food, coffee, correspondence, and more while navigating through traffic and pedestrians.
Mimi the cat: Mimi’s Scratcher – £4.49
In Mimi the Cat: Mimi’s Scratcher, players join Mimi on her quest to reach her beloved scratching post. The game is a puzzle-based adventure that challenges players to stack boxes and navigate various platforms to help Mimi reach her goal.
Who dares to explore the depths of the Kudzu maze: is it just an out-of-control invasive plant, or is something more sinister afoot?
Take control of Max, a serious go-getter and the best student of master gardener Zoen, who has just gone missing in the kudzu labyrinth. The wisdom that Zoen imparted on Max will be put to the test as you use your wits and gardening tools – machete, rake, garden hoe, and others – to navigate the vines!
During your journey, you will find a host of weird and helpful characters, as well as kudzu-controlled creatures who will stalk you through fields, gardens, forests, and even a haunted house!
Will you survive long enough to find Zoen and unravel the mysterious origins of the kudzu itself?
Get up before dawn and see what it’s like to be a baker! Learn to bake several dozen types of bread. Use realistic bakery machines. Deliver orders to stores, earn, and invest. Use original recipes or experiment with ingredients.
Check the cookbook, use a database of original recipes, and learn to bake several dozen types of bread, buns, and more. Be precise – otherwise, your goods will not be properly baked.
Die Again is a shooting game that challenges your limits and immerses you in an epic experience filled with action and strategy. Do you like games that keep you on the edge of your seat? Then get ready for an experience like no other!
What makes Die Again so incredibly addictive? Everything! From frantic shootouts to the creative use of an extensive arsenal of weapons, every moment is an opportunity to demonstrate your skill and prowess. In this game, every bullet is a puzzle to solve, and every scenario is a new chance to surprise your enemies with innovative tactics.
Pushing puzzles get a colorfully cute twist in SokoFrog, a top-down pixel art adventure for the whole family! Help your little frog friend navigate tricky stages by pushing special blocks onto their matching tile switches. Key blocks, star blocks, fire blocks, ice blocks and more await as stages shift between 5 themes, each with their own unique gameplay mechanics.
There’s plenty to explore across 100 main puzzle stages and 50 extras, plus you can unlock 15 different skins for your froggy protagonist!
Are you ready for a unique adventure like no other? Oxytone invites you to explore the depths of your mind while offering a tranquil escape from the hustle and bustle of everyday life for those seeking relaxation. For more determined players, there are 99 challenges, colorful themes to unlock, and 12 meticulously designed maps. Oxytone is the ultimate puzzle game, equally easy to learn and challenging to master.
Join our lovely heroine as she roams Venice, the City of Water. Search for objects & characters in stunning and vivid hand-painted cityscapes!
Unique and enjoyable picture book style. before. Does playing our game bring back your childhood memories? Here in “Sophia the Traveler”, we strive to make sure that every frame is a painting. You will never be short of wallpapers anymore!
This version contains 10 different scenes. More than 1800 character assets, over 300 sets of character animation, more than 100 sequence animation & SFX, exceeding 100 European buildings (including 8 iconic buildings of Venice), and nearly 300 sound effects have been integrated into the game, just to create the complete and lifelike Venice in our dreams.
Loretta is a housewife. Walter is a writer. Dragged from the glitz and glamor of 1940s New York City and thrust into a dilapidated farmhouse in the rural south, both are unsuccessful, struggling with their finances, and straining in their relationship. But when Loretta learns of her husband’s infidelity and a lucrative life insurance policy filed in his name, a grisly plan takes root. It is up to you to decide how far she should take it.
Become an accessory to Loretta’s crimes as she navigates a nightmare of her own creation. Engage with the locals through branching dialogue options, discover the right tools for putting an end to nosy neighbors, recover from the betrayal of a love gone wrong, and ultimately decide how Loretta’s story should end. Will you walk the high road and move on, or will you serve those who have wronged you their just desserts?
Hatsumira -From the Future Undying- – £40.49
The epic, portal-fantasy visual novel by the creative team behind the Fruit of Grisaia series has arrived at last on the Nintendo Switch™!
Includes new event CGs from the console version!
The plethora of new event CGs that were added to the console version have all been included. Enchanting illustrations breathe life into the story at every turn.
Experience the thrill of victory and embark on a journey through the world’s grandest stadiums. Take on the Football Cup 2024 and lead your favorite team to victory against the toughest competition from around the globe. Conquer challenges, face off against sports legends, and claim the ultimate trophy with unparalleled soccer skills.
Outer Terror is a horde shooter where you hold out against massive quantities of otherworldly cosmic creatures. Assemble a ridiculous arsenal of weapons and blast apart seemingly endless waves of horrific creatures in this stylish roguelike that pays homage to the B-movies and Golden Age horror comics of the 80s and 90s.
EGGCONSOLE Dragon Slayer IV DRASLEFAMILY MSX2 – £5.39
Released by Nihon Falcom in 1987, this action RPG marks the fourth installment in the “Dragon Slayer” series and was exclusively available for MSX and consumer versions.
The game revolves around adventuring from a home base with a family of varying abilities, searching dungeons for the four crowns, and face the final battle against Dillgios. Designed to suit the hardware features of the MSX, swiftly navigate through the dungeon, defeating monsters and bosses with agile controls.
Considered an outlier among the Dragon Slayer series by PC fans, however, the game includes elements that can delight fans, such as the appearance of the heroine “”Serena Princess’s illustration”” from another title in the “Dragon Slayer” series within the dungeons.
This is an opportunity to take on the challenge. There might be a chance to discover a new facet of the Dragon Slayer series. How about giving it a try?
Develop your cities and armies, level up your heroes to gain new, powerful spells and skills, and explore the wonders and dangers of the procedurally generated maps as you aim to conquer your enemies before they do the same to you.
Hero’s Hour is an accessible, yet-deep and content-rich Strategy Roleplaying Game. Take control of your hero, explore the world, build up your town, fight fast-paced battles, level up your hero and amass an army large enough to take out the opponents – before they take you out.
Escape Game The Deserted House – £8.09
This game is an escape-the-room game (mystery-adventure game).
*Point the screen with a cursor to solve riddles, and story goes on.
Ato is an Atmospheric, Metroidvania, Sword Dueling Game set in the Era of Feudal Japan. It tells a visually driven story about a father who has given up his past ways in order to live a life of peace with his wife and child. However this peace is soon disturbed as his child is taken from him…
In Ato, every combat encounter is an intense duel to the death. Perform risky parry maneuvers, bounce off of your opponent, evade their attacks and unlock new abilities to further expand your arsenal of options against your adversaries. Every combat encounter has its own personality and fighting style. Challenge, observe and overcome each opponent you face as you strive to retrieve your child back from the clan you once served.
Explore colorful and atmospheric environments. Obtain new abilities to solve environmental puzzles. Uncover the mystery of this world and experience a story that is told without a single word.
Steel Sand Mars Chronicles – Survival Simulator – £12.99
Embark on the ultimate space odyssey with “Steel Sand Mars Chronicles – Survival Simulator” Prepare to be thrust into the heart of an epic adventure on the enigmatic surface of Mars, as a colonist technician stranded after a solar flare, lost alone on mars, where danger lurks around every corner and survival is the name of the game. Battle crazed robots, uncover the truth, and escape the planet with your life. With 8 challenging missions and a variety of weapons, survival is your only option in this gripping adventure.
Jorel’s Brother and The Most Important Game of the Galaxy! – £12.50
“Jorel’s Brother and The Most Important Game of the Galaxy” is a point-and-click adventure about an eight-year-old boy who lives with his eccentric family in the shadow of Jorel, his handsome and popular brother. Based on the award-winning Brazilian animation “Jorel’s Brother”, in this game you will be able to step into the yellow boots of none other than Jorel’s Brother in an interactive story full of comedy, mystery, and twists and turns! It’s like playing a brand-new full-sized episode of a cartoon!
Next week: Grounded, ZooKeeper, Planet of Lana, Rose & Camellia Collection, The Mildew Children, Trackline Express, Unboxing – Idle Factory Simulator, A Tale of Paper: Refolded, Epic Dumpster Bear 1.5 DX: Dumpster Fire Rebirth, Scheming Through The Zombie Apocalypse Ep2: Caged, Stone Age: Digital Edition, Lunar Axe, Corn Kidz 64, and Ready, Steady, Ship!