What we initially believed was a quiet week for the eShop has somehow turned out to be busier than anticipated. I think we can be forgiven for thinking F1 Manager 2024 was skipping Switch though.
There’s even another first-party title on the agenda. The New Denpa Men doesn’t appear to be classed as a banner title, however, due to being download only and free to play. Here, you capture unique creatures carried by radio waves in order to fulfil RPG-like quests and adventures. Treasures and monsters await. That, and lots of colourful peculiar folk.
SNK VS. CAPCOM SVC CHAOS has also made a surprise appearance for £17.99, published not by Capcom but rather SNK. It’s more than a straight conversion, offering rollback netcode, nine player online lobbies, and an art gallery.
As mentioned, Frontier’s F1 Manager 2024 parks up this week too, featuring broadcast-quality presentation, the ability to create your own team, enhanced trackside detailing, and the return of the Shanghai International Circuit. £29.99 doesn’t seem unreasonable. Unless we’re mistaken, this is the first entry to make it to Switch.
Other notable releases include Team17’s pixel art WWI survival horror Conscript, chilled photography adventure The Star Named EOS, the comedic physics-based Exhausted Man – in which the protagonist can only crawl, yet has a bunch of stuff to do – and the polished looking nightmarish puzzle platform adventure Daydream: Forgotten Sorrow.
Another puzzler launching this week is the top-down world sliding Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure, which is going down well with critics. “Compact and playful and ingenious in the lightest, and least overbearing of ways, Arranger is just lovely,” said Eurogamer.
Other new releases include the top-down racer Super Woden GP II, sci-fi retro FPS Exophobia, the pixel art Outrun-style Steel Racer, retro-style action platformer Abathor, and Mists of Noyah – a survival RPG where you must forage at day and build defences at night. There’s also something called Faster Than Bolt, which we very much doubt has the athlete’s blessing.
New Switch eShop releases
SNK VS. CAPCOM SVC CHAOS – £17.99
SVC CHAOS—a dream match of epic proportions! Worlds collide as 36 iconic characters across various series from SNK (mainly THE KING OF FIGHTERS) and CAPCOM (mainly STREET FIGHTER) do battle in a frantic fight to the finish! Brand-new rollback netcode and tournament modes allow for fun, fast-paced online matches—all while still retaining the classic visuals and controls of the original fan favorite. Also comes with a hitbox viewer and a gallery mode! Rise up and throw down with players all around the world in this new evolution of the SVC CHAOS legacy!
Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure – £15.99
Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure follows the story of Jemma, a small-town misfit on a journey of self-discovery. Venturing out beyond her stiflingly cozy confines, she finds an inspiring world – but also one ruled by fear, and a strange, immovable ‘static’ force. Can she disrupt a culture of stagnation, and find a place to fit into it?
Gameplay takes place on a unique, interconnected ‘grid’ that spans the entire world, snappily uniting movement, exploration, and combat. When Jemma moves, the world moves with her – creating both a playful sense of chaos, and a regular stream of small, thoughtful puzzles that twist and play with the central mechanic.
“THE NEW DENPA MEN” is a free-to-play, consumer-operated RPG in which you catch the mysterious creatures “Denpa Men” that fly around you, make them your companions, and go on an adventure.
Lead your team to glory in F1® Manager 2024. A new Formula 1® season has arrived, and with it, the most comprehensive F1® management experience to date. Build a legacy with one of 10 official F1® constructors or create your own team for the very first time.
Plan and direct your team’s strategy and watch as your driver’s execute your commands in thrilling F1 races, brought to life with a broadcast-quality presentation. Manage your drivers, staff, car development and facilities throughout multiple seasons to give your team the best chance to claim a spot on the Formula 1 podium.
Play as a person who is exhausted but refuses to sleep. Make it through a night that is crucial to him/her.
“Know, oh prince, that in the years when Atlantis ruled the oceans, sins and arrogance unleashed fierce demons. When everything seemed lost, four heroes arrived to close the Gates of Abathor.”
The Atlantean civilization has angered the gods. They have sent hordes of monsters to punish Atlantis by destroying the continent. Players must cooperate and compete to save Atlantis, going through a series of challenges of increasing difficulty. In their progress, our heroes will fight against ferocious demons and primordial gods, against the living and against the dead, against flying beasts and crawling horrors, they will dodge dangers and traps and descend into chilling abysses. But they will also compete against each other for the loot and the spoils, plundering treasures and offering them to the gods to receive their favor.
Daydream: Forgotten Sorrow – £17.99
Daydream: Forgotten Sorrow is an atmospheric adventure game starring Griffin, a little boy who struggles to face his fears. Thankfully, his teddy bear companion Birly is always by his side.
The duo’s journey will not be easy. Traversing the expanse of light and darkness will force the pair to confront traumatic memories and make amends with the monsters of the past.
Birly’s help is invaluable. Send him anywhere Griffin can’t reach. Toss the teddy bear over a high beam to press a button or command him to crawl into a tiny hole. Together, the duo can move heavy objects, overcome traps and succeed at whatever new challenges await them.
Put an end to the hustle and bustle of the big city! Get ready for a new challenge in the countryside of Harvest Days! Take care of your own farm or enjoy tons of activities in the open world. Care for your animals, cultivate your fields and trade the fruits of your labor. Discover the secrets of the varied environments or pass the time collecting raw materials and creating numerous tools, furniture or decorative items.
Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Purgatory – £12.59
Battle monsters, investigate insidious conspiracies and explore the dark side of (in)human nature in Werewolf: The Apocalypse — Purgatory, a unique blend of dark fantasy thriller, visual novel and tabletop RPG set in the World of Darkness universe.
CONSCRIPT is an upcoming survival horror game inspired by classics of the genre – set in 1916 during the Great War. CONSCRIPT will blend all the punishing mechanics of older horror games into a cohesive, tense, and unique experience.
In CONSCRIPT, you play as a French soldier searching for his missing-in-action brother during the Battle of Verdun. Will you be able to search twisted trenches, navigate overrun forts, and cross no-mans-land to find him, and ensure a home goes unbroken?
The Star Named EOS is a story-rich puzzle adventure built around photography. Explore a beautiful hand-drawn world as you photograph some of the most precious yet fleeting moments in life. As you recreate photos from the past, you will slowly uncover the truth of a family mystery, and the love hidden within fragmented memories will eventually become clear.
You find yourself alone in a human spaceship taken over by hostile alien soldiers. Explore and fight your way to find the last human survivors, while you uncover piece by piece the backstory of the spaceship crew, leading to this high-stakes moment at the red planet. Evolve your alien weapon and shoot, slide, stun your enemies and more, in your journey to escape out alive!
Attention
This train contains mild horror elements. Please offer your seat to all passengers, including the elderly, those with a fear of horror, pregnant women, and those with young children.
Next stop: Sanbansen. Transfer here for strange events, escape elements, puzzles, and mild horror. The exit is at Exit ⑩ ahead.
Be careful as there are gaps between the world and the platform.
The Legend of the Dragonflame High School 3 – £2.80
The Legend of the Dragonflame High School 3 is a Beat ’em up RPG.
There is a wide variety of techniques such as punching, kicking, throwing, and mounting.
You can improve your status and learn new techniques by eating at the store.
Work together with your friends to defeat the motorcycle gang team, the Dark Dragons.
Mists of Noyah is a survival game with many RPG elements. Fight factions that evolve over the days and bizarre monsters that will terrify you at night! Strengthen your base by rescuing survivors from around the world.
You start in an abandoned fort that has been attacked and destroyed by corruption, and you’ll have to explore the world to find the inhabitants who have managed to escape the attack, to rebuild the fort and return to war!
During the day, you’ll have to collect resources such as wood, iron, gold, special ores, plants, food, and search for lost inhabitants of the ancient fort! During the night, you’ll have to build defensive towers, regroup with the found inhabitants and protect yourself. Every full moon, the demons lash out at your fort and get stronger with each attack!
NINJA SLAYER NEO-SAITAMA IN FLAMES – £16.75
Ninjas are known to be fast, and their attacks are even faster! Unleash intense, ultra-fast attacks to defeat any yakuza and ninja in your way!
Use Karate to dispatch the cannon-fodder small-fry without even needing to stop. Tougher enemies on your tail? Harness the Ninja Dash, a high velocity attack that lets you race through enemies and terrain with ease, and finish off your foes with Hissatsu Waza, special ninja techniques that boast terrifying power.
A strange knight sat in front of a fire, darkness surrounding him. His sword stuck in the ground, covered in dried blood. He warns you against going any further, but the intrigue of what lies beyond far surpasses the instinct of self-preservation.
Play as a young thief and explore the dangerous ruins of a once-prosperous kingdom. Fight against hordes of terrifying monsters, make your way through challenging platforming sections and discover the secret that lies at the very bottom of the ruins in this handcrafted experience.
Chrysolite is a narrative driven, pixel-art, 2D platformer with Soulslike inspirations.
Hardcore classic gameplay. Huge hordes of monsters. Send evil chickens, aliens and other evil spirits to the grave, like the good old days. Play with your best friends: shotgun, machine gun, plasma gun and a homemade rifle.
It’s a dangerous thing, gods and monsters living among mortals.
Good thing your agency exists to keep them in line.
With big dreams and an even bigger heart, you aspire to climb the agency’s ladder…
That is, until one day five mythical beings ask for your help!
“You don’t know anything about monsters… yet.”
People have always feared them, but…
Will you be the one to see them for what they truly are?
10 years ago, a colossal earthquake devastated Tokyo and changed the lives of its inhabitants forever. The city has since been rebuilt and life has slowly returned to a semblance of normalcy.
However, behind the veil of this newly rebuilt metropolis lies another world, one with a sinister secret. The earthquake that originally destroyed Tokyo was actually caused by the emergence of a mysterious and lethal shadow world known as Eclipse.
Now, action must be taken to thwart the legions of Eclipse and ensure the protection of peace!
Never stop running, never slow down. Your power comes from running. You can release powerful energy to crush your enemies while running.
10 heroes to choose from. Each hero has more than 100 exclusive upgrades and 5 exclusive talents. In addition, there are more than 130 universal upgrades, 20 BOSS upgrades, and 32 universal talents.
Simple and easy to play. Running is automatic, and all you need to do is “”Dash”” and “”Burst””. Observe the situation on the field, build your unique skill style, and crush all enemies.
Some Some Convenience Store – £20.79
Players step into the role of assistant manager, having to manage their own convenience store. Run the store week by week to earn a regular profit. Use that income to set up displays for new products, change the interior design, hold promotional sales, and pay your own salary. Your monthly salary allows you to buy the girls gifts and advance the story.
Escape Fear 2: Hide And Seek Horror – £4.99
An abandoned house, a locked room, somewhere in the distance you hear the steps of your kidnapper… How to escape? You’ll have to secretly explore the house, find hidden objects and use them to escape from the maniac!
Be extremely careful and act quietly so as not to attract the attention of a maniac. Your footsteps, the creaking of doors or the noise of an accidentally dropped mug can attract the attention of your kidnapper. Sneak like a shadow, collect various tools to open locked boxes and hiding places and find your way to the exit!
You have several attempts, so try not to get caught by the maniac. Can you find the path to freedom?
Uncover the Triad of Terror – £2.24
This is a brain training game where you spot differences in illustrations depicting horror scenes.
The mysterious mansion you’ve visited is full of perplexing traps and strange monsters!
Prince Gerhard the Brave embarks on a journey to the neighboring land to investigate the appearance of a magic barrier that surrounds it and his father’s disappearance.
This is a first-person horror adventure game set in 1980s Japan.
The player takes on the role of Minato Jimba, a university student who visits his mother’s hometown for the first time in over a decade upon receiving news of his grandmother’s death. While hiding from the monsters that attack him, the player explores various locations, solves mysteries, and collects materials to uncover the hidden and terrifying truths.
Shikon-X Astro Defense Fortress – £7.59
Shikon-X is an intergalactic point and click adventure without any actual pointing or clicking! Set out on an epic quest to unravel the mysteries behind the war against humanity. Even when pitted against a cosmic threat, there’s always time for a bit of pinball.
Explore the room from a first-person perspective and complete your missions to survive the night.
Ghost are always approaching from behind you. Run around without getting caught.
Solve various problems that arise night by night and close the distance between her.
BABA YAGA is a horror game, where you play as a wooden boy who needs to bring sleeping herbs for his mum, but on the way, he meets the BABA YAGA! After that everything becomes more brutal and scary. This game is based on many fairytales about Baba Yaga in some of them she is the helper and in others is a scary monster, who consumes children.
Steel Racer is a 2D pixelated old school racing game inspired by arcade classics from the 1980s and 1990s decades.
Speed through 50 different circuits in any order across 5 different terrain zones. Win races and money to upgrade and customize your car. Choose between 3 difficulty settings and 3 levels of traction assist, making your car easier or harder to control on curves.
Customize the game to be as challenging as you want.
Various game modes including One Vs One to challenge your best friend or family member. With a world ranking and friends ranking for each event (leaderboard), and with an Olympic podium to celebrate your great achievements and Olympic medals.
Your aim in Faster Than Bolt will be to become the fastest athlete on the planet. You will have to train hard to make it.
You will travel the world taking part in 100-meter-dash events at olympic cities such as Barcelona, Los Angeles, Athens, Berlin or Tokyo, among others, that will be more and more demanding as you reach Paris.
To improve your attributes you will have to follow your trainer’s order and complete the exercises as best you can to be in the best shape for the olympics.
Little Army is an auto battle game in which powerful insect rulers clash for power. Each faction has its own specific abilities and effects in battle, and the Tyrants provide different aids to their armies. Expand your ranks and crush your enemies.
TACTICAL BANDITS is a hardcore arcade action game set in a post-apocalyptic world where you must navigate the ruins of civilization as a fearless bandit seeking survival and glory. Embark on a thrilling adventure to the Last Settlement, looting weapons and fuel canisters while evading deadly threats.
Prepare for epic confrontations with a diverse arsenal of weapons, and leave your mark on the hauntingly beautiful yet treacherous wasteland. Prove your worth and become a legend feared by all in the West Coast’s unforgiving landscape.
Scavenge, shoot, and survive as you embrace the mantle of a tactical bandit and conquer the apocalypse in an adrenaline-fueled quest for dominance!
Get ready to climb your way to the top of the motor sports world! Super Woden GP II is a love letter to the sport and arcade racing games of the ’90s. Compete in a wide variety of event types, from rally to endurance racing, in classic isometric style, using an intuitive central map interface to buy and tune vehicles, explore circuits across the world, visit your garage and more.
Obtain more than 180 vehicles from 9 car manufacturers using the credits you earn in racing events and unlock secret cars through skillful play. Race solo, challenge other players’ records or enjoy split-screen local multiplayer for up to 4 drivers!
Next week: STAR WARS: Bounty Hunter, MARS 2120, Thank Goodness You’re Here, Aero The Acro-Bat, World of Goo 2, Rejoinder – Procedural Roguelite, Bedrotting, The Garden Path, Death Noodle Delivery, TOKYO CHRONOS & ALTDEUS: Beyond Chronos TWIN PACK, Trinity Fusion, TENSEI, Landnama, Hakuoki: Chronicles of Wind and Blossom, Werewolf Goldfish, EvoMon, and Metroplex Zero: Sci-Fi Card Battler.