Despite being a remake, it seems reasonable to suggest that Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is the biggest Switch first-party release of 2024 so far. With Nintendo gearing up for the Switch 2, their primary teams are clearly working on games for the new system. It’s amicable that we’ve received one new game a month; and the quality hasn’t been too bad overall.
Paper Mario appears to be the best of the bunch so far, with a Metacritic score of 88% currently. “The Switch version of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is the definitive way to play the best turn-based RPG starring Mario. More of an enhanced HD remaster than a full-fledged remake, The Thousand-Year Door has small yet meaningful quality-of-life features that ease some of the bloat from the original GameCube version,” said GameSpot.
Quite possibly due to Paper Mario popping up, it’s a leaner week than usual for the Switch eShop. We can look forward to Digital Eclipse’s revival of Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord – a vastly influential RPG from 1980, even laying the foundations for Japanese RPGs. The cult classic MSX2 RPG Golvellius gains a re-release too, and an inexpensive one at that.
The well-received top-down puzzler Paper Trail joins them, along with the comical 2-3 hour mystery game Duck Detective – The Secret Salami, cosy ‘n cartoony hillwalking adventure Pine Hearts, the environment altering Hauntii – in which a ghost can control creatures – and the PS2-style throwback survival horror The Glass Staircase.
There’s Doug’s Nightmare too – which like Hauntii is a twin-stick affair. Here, Doug – a banana suffering from anxiety, cursed with a doppelganger – is out to stop his nightmares by tackling weird and warped bosses using a mixture of ranged and melee weapons. We awarded it a 6/10. Considering the £5 asking price, it isn’t a bad way to spend an afternoon. [UPDATE] Co-op platformer Bread & Fred launched yesterday, looking ideally suited for the Switch. The PC version was a sleeper hit, selling over 500k copies.
New Switch eShop releases
Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord – £35.00
Craft your own party of adventurers and head into the labyrinth at the behest of the mad overlord Trebor, in search of the amulet stolen by the evil wizard Werdna. Battle groups of challenging enemies, avoid hidden traps, and make your way deeper into the dungeon as you prepare for the ultimate battle: Facing Werdna himself.
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door – £49.99
Join Mario and friends on a journey to discover the legendary treasure behind the ancient Thousand-Year Door. A hilarious adventure full of colourful characters and foldable fun awaits in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door on Nintendo Switch!
Welcome to Rogueport! Mario visits this notorious town of ruffians to help Princess Peach on a treasure hunt. But Peach is nowhere to be seen! After learning about the legend of the Crystal Stars, Mario sets out to find them and hopefully track down the princess too…
Bread & Fred is a challenging co-op platformer from Apogee where two players must cooperate to jump and climb to the top of a snowy mountain. Play as both Bread and Fred in their exasperating, sometimes maddening, climb that requires precision with every jump. Each time you land you’ll be closer to the peak and one step closer to mastering the platforms, but your fall down the mountain will be even farther.
C.A.R.D.S. RPG: The Misty Battlefield – £35.09
Clear the mist away as you advance forward, and discover hidden enemies, facilities, and equipment.
What could be hiding in the mist? Anticipate anything and account for everything in your strategy.
Blade Jumper is a 2D action platformer where players use a simple jump mechanic in order to climb the obstacle-filled tower.
In 2045’s Yeouido, in the heart of Seoul, the massive structure Kukuru Tower was constructed, overshadowing the rest of the city. In this unfathomably high tower, the selected 1% of Seoul residents live their happy lives, separated from the outside world.
From their headquarters within Kukuru Tower, the authoritarian Unreality conglomerate dominates Seoul with pleasurable feelings, using its highly addictive Kukuru Candies. The vigilante group Ground Z, preparing for the final battle to overthrow Unreality’s hold, comes looking for you, their former infamous agent.
Welcome to Pine Hearts Caravan Park! As Tyke, hop into your hiking boots and explore the paths and rivers of this cosy little world. Rummage around the park and find handy tools that will help you on your journey as you fill out your trusty hillwalking journal. Rediscover memories of Tyke’s time in the park many summers ago and unearth the heartfelt story of his childhood.
Grab your controller, and if you want, bring up to 3 of your friends – you’re going on a tasty, chaotic, and fun trip around the world! Everyone’s favorite foods are back in an even more epic competition – now with an extra spicy DASH ability to shake things up!
Shoot donuts at your foes in Hollywood, play Foodball in Brazil, avoid soy sauce beams in Japan… and more, in 10 wacky game modes!
Good luck… And have fun!
Duck Detective – The Secret Salami – £8.99
Aggretsuko meets Return of the Obra Dinn in Duck Detective, a cozy mystery game about a down-on-his-luck duck searching for answers in a sinister sausage-based conspiracy.
Inspect and interview suspects to learn their hidden secrets, then use the information you’ve gathered (plus your own de-duck-tive reasoning) to locate the suspect and bust the case wide open!
BEASTWATCH: Meat & Mayhem – £10.79
Plunge into an unimaginable macabre nightmare in Beastwatch, a terrifying first-person shooter that immerses you in the heart of darkness. On your first shift as a security guard at a shadowy slaughterhouse, you expected a quiet night, but blood spills, and hidden horrors emerge as the animals take a sinister turn.
Paper Trail is a top-down puzzle adventure about leaving home, set in a foldable, paper world. You play as Paige, a budding academic, leaving home for the first time to pursue her studies. On the journey, you learn to fold the world, merging two sides to solve puzzles, explore new areas and uncover long-lost secrets.
One More Gate: A Wakfu Legend Complete Edition – £22.49
One More Gate is a rogue-lite deck-builder that combines exploration and turn-based strategic combat. Head out to discover fantastic places, master the power of Wakfu to create destructive card combos, and defeat all those who would stand in your way!
What is a banana to do when he’s haunted by anxiety and inner demons? Doug’s Nightmare is a cartoony, hand-drawn bullet hell where your job is to help Doug the banana overcome his worst fears by pounding them into oblivion! Part top-down twin-stick shooter and part beat ’em up, Doug’s Nightmare pits you against swarms of bugs, mushrooms, floating brains and more!
Soul Link is a challenging puzzle game where you use your intelligence to build bridges with falling pieces of various shapes. Reconnect this broken land with Soul Bridges, and make the world whole again!
Can you overcome a relentless gauntlet of pinches and traps and safely escape the island…?!
All kinds of terrain, traps, and enemies will stand in your way, but as the player, please do your best to figure out all the maneuvers and ways of getting out of each pinch!
Step into the crime scene not as a detective, but as an ‘Evidence Destroyer’!
Your mission is to find and remove traces of crime left by the culprit, ensuring the crime remains unsolved.
TP Bullet is a puzzle platform game where you need to shoot your one shot to solve each puzzle and clear the level.
As a secret agent marksman, you are the only hope against the evil Skeleton King and his minions who attack the city. A kindly witch gives you an enchanted bullet which allows you to teleport so you can retrieve the ancient magic coins to defeat the villains.
Jump, shoot, and block your way to victory over 40 amazing and addictive levels.
Chocolate Factory Tycoon – £4.49
Indulge in the sweet thrill of becoming a Chocolate Tycoon! Dive into a delectable adventure where you take charge of your very own chocolate empire. From cocoa bean to mouthwatering confections, every step of the journey is in your hands.
As an operative tasked with fixing corruption in the timestream, you have been sent to the North of England in May 2015, where six people died in a house fire. Prohibited from simply stopping the fire, you must instead manipulate the choices made by the housemates in the week leading up to it so that they all survive the event.
From the outset, you have free and complete reign to explore the seven day timeline before the fire. You can watch and alter the significant events from the entire week as many times as you like and in whatever order you wish. Some decisions will have only minor effects on the timeline, moving objects around the house or revealing deeper stories and secrets. Major changes however, rewrite the timeline by changing existing events, adding new events and even replacing other events entirely.
EGGCONSOLE SHIN MAOU GOLVELLIUS MSX2 – £5.39
Released in 1988 by COMPILE for the MSX2 in Japan, this action RPG is an enhanced version of “Golvellius” which was released for the MSX the previous year. In this game, players take on the role of the knight Kelesis, who embarks on an adventure to rescue Princess Rena in the Valley of Monsters while searching for his sister.
Grab your magic staff and step into the shoes of a necromancer working as a bouncer at a nightclub. Selflessly crawl the dungeon club and face scores of inebriated monstrosities ready to welcome your back after your holiday break. It’s time to get to work!
– Heroes with unique weapons, abilities, and talents
– Over 70 weapons
– Weapon fusion system
– Over 200 passive abilities for building your build
Tales From The Under-Realm: After Midnight – £11.99
Our heroine protagonist takes up a new job as a guard and discovers the start of a series of murders, all with one thing in common: they occur after midnight.
Who is behind them? What do they have to do with our young guard? Will she too become a victim of the mysterious assassin?
In this dark / gothic visual novel with multiple endings, your choices matter and will determine who stays alive and who dies.
Discovering the whole truth about the murders may require multiple playthroughs.
It’s been a long time since you’ve seen your parents, hasn’t it? Not to worry, girls. Just listen to the voice on the intercom. Do what they say. They’ve provided you a home. They’ve provided you food. They will make you into good girls.
This old house has never treated you wrong, now has it? Now be good girls, all of you. The Master will need you to be strong during these troubling times.
Play as Hauntii, a naive but brave ghost on a relentless quest for answers. A mysterious race of glowing creatures, known as Eternians, guides lost souls to an ominous central tower where they appear to ascend to a higher plane. They look like angels, but no one really knows who they are, nor where they came from.
Unleash ghostly powers to possess both inhabitants and environment, unveiling various solutions to combat and puzzle challenges. Unravel the mysteries of Eternity and shape your fate in a mesmerising adventure like no other!
Next week: Xuan Yuan Sword 7, Capes, Goliath Depot, Burst Hero, Ginger – The Tooth Fairy, Medieval Lords, SKELER BOY, Nine Nights – Martial Ci Lang Story, O-VOID: Console Edition, Mars Colonization Expedition: Survival Simulator, Ultra Mission, Construction Simulator 4, Stick to the Plan, Echoes, Terminal 81, Master Key, Umbraclaw, vridniX, NINJA KAMUI: SHINOBI ORIGINS, Jelly Battle, and Spellbearers.