News of SEGA rebooting several dormant franchises sent fans into a tizzy in late 2023. Even though screenshots and footage were shown, the first of these announcements has taken two years to materialise. That game being Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, developed by Lizardcube – the team behind Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap and Streets of Rage 4.
The bar has been set high for the remaining reboots, it seems, with this side-scroller currently boasting an 86% Metacritic. “Shinobi: Art of Vengeance is hard to fault. We can take or leave the story, the platforming is occasionally frustrating, and levels can outstay their welcome sometimes — but that’s basically it. This is otherwise a brilliant 2D action platformer that looks gorgeous and plays even better thanks to kinetic, satisfying combat that feels superb when you get in the flow,” said Push Square.
The Switch 2 gains a new first-party release too. Well, semi-new. Kirby and the Forgotten Land – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Star-Crossed World, as it’s officially known, gives the base game a performance boost and features a new expansion that makes better use of the Switch 2 hardware. Review scores are mostly clocking in at 8/10, with critics in agreement that it’s a superior expansion when compared to Super Mario Party Jamboree’s add-on.
Siliconera called it a “must play” while Game Reactor said that it was “worth it” despite being light on innovation. The Metacritic score sits at a very respectable 85%, although do take the handful of 7/10 review scores into consideration. “[…] This comes across less like a proper expansion and more like a DLC level pack to invite you to come back for a weekend,” warned IGN.
STORY OF SEASONS: Grand Bazaar meanwhile comes to both Switch and Switch 2, reportedly performing well on the original Switch. Of all the Story of Seasons games to come and go over the years, this appears to have generated the most buzz due to its introduction of wind power and the titular bazaar where goods can be sold. There’s also a new glider to get around quicker.
“At its best, Grand Bazaar represents the best of what makes Story of Seasons so great, and reminds me of how much I loved the series when I was younger. Even if the game’s balance feels like a glaring issue, I can’t deny that all the changes big and small have made this remake feel like a more complete and fulfilling experience, one that makes all the time spent investing in Zephyr Town feel engaging,” was RPG Site’s verdict.
If you were curious about Microid’s cult anime tie-in Space Adventure Cobra – The Awakening, then you’re in luck – this too has been reviewing well, successfully mixing running ‘n gunning with classic Metroidvania tropes. The Metacritic score is currently 70%. “Filled with charm, Space Adventure Cobra – The Awakening is also accessible to gamers of all levels, thanks to offering three different difficulties. It can get quite challenging, even on normal difficulty, but the frequent checkpointing makes it a fun challenge of your skills rather than a frustrating one,” said PlayStation Lifestyle, who opted for an 8/10.
Makis Adventure is a new release we’ve taken a look at. It’s a 2D pixel art puzzle adventure in which our red-eyed hero can transform into different sharks to progress. There’s also a low-poly hub world to explore and a handful of mini-games such as darts and snooker. It’s a fun package.
We’re still waiting on reviews of Bandai-Namco’s grid-based tactical combat RPG Super Robot Wars Y. It seems reasonable to suggest that if you’re a fan of the series, you’ll already have a good idea of what’s in store. The press release notes that it brings together units and pilots from various series, resulting in large scale battles.
This week also sees the release of the psychological horror sequel Vlad Circus: Curse of Asmodeus, school life RPG VARLET, spooky family friendly adventure Goosebumps: Terror in Little Creek, the long time coming online zombie shooter Battle of Rebels, pixel art investigative adventure Ash: The Motel, and the martial arts based auto-shooter Karate Survivor – where everything is a weapon.
The newest EGGCONSOLE release may be of interest too, being none other than 1993’s rendition of Puyo Puyo. £5.49 seems very reasonable, and we doubt the language barrier will be too much of an issue outside of a possible storyline.
New Switch eShop releases
STORY OF SEASONS: Grand Bazaar – £44.99
Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar Nintendo Switch 2 Edition – £49.99
Build your farm in Zephyr Town and breathe new life into the once-famous bazaar. Set up your stall to sell produce and goods from the crops and animals you raise on your farm, and meet charming townsfolk to befriend and romance as you help the close-knit community thrive.
Kirby and the Forgotten Land – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Star-Crossed World – £66.99
Explore 3D platforming stages as you discover a mysterious world, save the kidnapped Waddle Dees, and defeat the ferocious Beast Pack. Hope you’re hungry for a big adventure!
Super Robot Wars is a grid-based tactical combat RPG that brings units and pilots from a variety of anime together to battle their mutual foes.
Place your units strategically and command them to defeat your enemies!
Upgrade your units and train your pilots with credits and resources you earn after every mission. Super Robot Wars Y introduces the new Assist Link system, which brings your favorite sidekick characters into action, allowing them to participate in missions and enhance their abilities and effects. Strengthen your heroes to overcome the next challenge!
Enjoy the impossible epic battles where units and pilots from all the series clash together! Embark on a journey into lore-rich, new saga of Super Robot Wars!
SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance – £24.99
The iconic SHINOBI returns in an all-new 2D action platformer with a unique hand-drawn look created by the team behind the hit brawler Streets of Rage 4.
Play as the legendary Shinobi Joe Musashi, master of the ninja arts. After finding your village burned to the ground and your clan turned into stone, you must set off on a quest for vengeance, ready to face an unparalleled evil and avenge your clan.
Vlad Circus: Curse of Asmodeus – £16.99
Vlad Circus: Curse of Asmodeus pushes horror game storytelling forward with its unique mechanics of navigating parallel timelines. Pass through mirrors to shift between fragmented memories. Each temporal jump uncovers new layers of the story, allowing you to piece together Josef’s life and the macabre secret hidden in the old town of San Reno. Interact with a chilling array of characters—from the bizarre inhabitants of the dime museum to the terrifying dwellers of the catacombs. Each encounter will bring you closer to the truth.
As you dive deeper into the story, you’ll face challenges that test both your wits and survival skills, presented in small doses of action.
Space Adventure Cobra – The Awakening – £34.99
Play as Cobra, the space pirate, in an action platformer. Along with Lady Armaroid, your loyal partner, and equipped with your iconic Psychogun, you must solve a mystery that could threaten the entire universe.
Travel from planet to planet to save three enigmatic sisters, whose fate is tied up with a fabulous treasure sought by the dreaded Space Pirate Guild.
You will need to shrewdly use Cobra’s weapons and gadgets to defeat your enemies and complete the levels filled with obstacles and traps, which won’t be an easy feat for our space rogue.
To be a “leader” that guides others forward, or to be an uncompromising “ruler”…
VARLET is a school life RPG where, through encounters with troubled boys and girls who are also searching for themselves, you begin to uncover a version of yourself you never knew existed.
Goosebumps: Terror in Little Creek – £34.99
Enter the chilling world of Goosebumps in Goosebumps: Terror in Little Creek! Step into the shoes of Sloane Spencer, a young teen caught in a town of nightmares, as you unravel eerie mysteries, confront sinister monsters, and navigate haunted locations inspired by R.L. Stine’s legendary book series. Solve puzzles, evade creatures, and uncover the dark secrets lurking in the shadows—all while experiencing the Goosebumps signature blend of spooky adventure and playful twists that has captivated millions of fans both young and young at heart.
EGGCONSOLE PUYO PUYO PC-9801 – £5.49
This game is an action-puzzle title released by COMPILE in 1993 in Japan. Gameplay involves clearing falling Puyos by matching four or more of the same color. Players battle head-to-head, strategically managing Puyos. Stacking Puyos to the top means a loss. Clearing large amounts or triggering chains sends Nuisance Puyos to opponents. Though a falling-block puzzle game, it’s known for strategic depth.
Step into the shoes of a martial arts master in a thrilling survivor-like roguelite inspired by action movies of the ‘80s. Use the environment and improvised weapons, master new techniques, and create devastating combos to fight off relentless goons and bandits! Karate Survivor delivers intense, fast-paced combat where improvisation and creativity are key to surviving the streets.
The Nameless: Slay Dragon – £15.79
Observe, listen, think, communicate, act, you need to use all possible skills to find your own path. Adventures are not only full of choices, but often require a bit of luck.
Every action you take is meaningful, including knocking down enemies and using skills that will enhance your talents and allow you to learn new skills faster.
There are more than twenty classes with different mechanisms in the game, and the classes can co-exist. You can mix and match skills and traits to create unexpected chemical reactions.
A narrative mystery game set around rural Chinese religious rituals and serial murders. When ancient beliefs and modern horror collide, can you uncover the truth behind the mask?
A rich and fully realized story unfolds like an interactive novel. Multiple choices and branching paths lead to dramatically different endings.
Investigate every clue, gather scattered pieces of information, and experience the thrill of intense cross-examinations as you piece together the truth behind the mystery—step by step!
In this game, shooting is based on a turn timer which you can influence. Every time you dash, or kill enemies the turn timer will move faster. Playing fast and reckless will allow you too attack very fast, but careful not to be too reckless! Missing bullets will slow down your timer.
In order to face a demon, you will need to clear 3 randomly generated islands. Which are guarded by monsters. Survive islands with the help of perks and upgrades. These will help you become more and more powerful the further you get. With infinitely stacking perks and your own skills, the monsters will have a hard time stopping you!
Bahamut and the Waqwaq Tree – £17.99
Bahamut and the Waqwaq Tree is a 2D adventure game deeply rooted in Arabian mythology. Dive into Ma’een, a stunning underwater realm. Once a thriving ocean, Ma’een is now corrupted by dark entities.
Dive into a strategic, tactical semi-auto battler with player agency through positioning and powerful activated ultimate abilities. Each hero comes with their own unique ability. Use it at the right time to turn the tide of battle, waste it, and risk a soul-crushing defeat.
Legends of Amberland II: The Song of Trees – £17.99
Legends of Amberland II: The Song of Trees is a classic western dungeon crawler RPG. Using the classic first-person perspective, over grid movement, turn-based system to travel in an open world with fast travel options and a quick combat.
You lead a party of 7 adventurers, manually assembled or pre-made, on an epic adventure to fight the evil which lurks in Amberland. It’s light, fairy tale, epic, heroic and slightly humorous. It does not take tons of hours to complete or require an endless grind to progress. Basically, it’s a love letter from the 90s, the golden era of RPGs.
Roadwarden is an illustrated text-based RPG that uses isometric pixel art and combines mechanics borrowed from RPGs, Visual Novels, adventure games, and interactive fiction, such as inventory puzzles, dialogue choices, character abilities and progression, hit points. simple survival mechanics. or quests restricted by in-game time.
Cross Pix is a NEW NONOGRAM Logic Puzzle Game! where you follow number clues to solve a hidden image. It’s also known by other similar games like Griddlers, or Paint by Numbers.
With simple and easy-to-understand rules, it’s a game anyone can enjoy! A perfect choice for casual play, while still offering a satisfying mental challenge.
Cross Pix delivers a relaxing and cozy puzzle experience that keeps your mind sharp and engaged.
Planets sumo wrestle on a variety of maps with hazards like black holes and wormholes.
Complete a variety of missions from planets gaining sentience to the end of the universe.
Knight Quest: Goblins Raid – £4.49
Put on your armor, grab your sword, and get ready to face what no sane knight would dare: noisy goblins, deadly traps, and platforms that seem to have a mind of their own. In Knight Quest, you are the hero the kingdom definitely needs – even if no one warned you how complicated this mission would be.
Explore dense forests, dark caves, and desperate situations, all in beautiful 2D settings full of action and danger. Jump, roll, fight, and scream internally as you try to survive sharp spikes, falling rocks, and goblins that look like they do crossfit.
Voxelgram 2 features 250 new puzzles and a fresh set of rules, now with two colors in play. The puzzles are organized into 20 handcrafted dioramas.
If you own the previous Voxelgram game, you’ll also get access to the original puzzles, reworked to fit the new two-color rules. That means an extra 250 puzzles to solve!
For endless replayability, the game features procedurally generated puzzles with different sizes, shapes, and features.
Welcome to Ash Pines – a peaceful vacation spot nestled deep among whispering pine trees… or so it seems.
What begins as an ordinary night soon unravels into a terrifying mystery beyond imagination. Stranded at the eerie Ash Pines Motel, you’ll explore abandoned rooms, uncover cryptic clues, and slowly piece together the haunting secrets buried within the motel’s forgotten past.
Bangman is a perfect example of what a pixel roguelike should be. The game gives you everything you love: hordes of monsters, many unique characters, countless ways to destroy them and many attempts to do it. It’s nice to know that in this world there are perfect games! And you are now one step away from starting to play one of them!
Om Nom: Run & Om Nom: Run 2 – £7.20
Om Nom: Run – Speed through 140 campaign levels across 9 locations, tackle 4 mission types, and power up with rockets, magnets, and more. Dress Om Nom in fun outfits, earn coins to upgrade, and jump into Free Run or local multiplayer on one screen (up to 8 players) or split-screen (up to 4).
Om Nom: Run 2 – The sequel pushes the pace with tighter turns and more demanding courses. Avoid obstacles, pick smarter lines, use shortcuts to stay ahead, and beat your rivals to the finish. Easy to learn, rewarding to master.
A virus spreads on the entire planet after the aliens invaded the earth, and nations are struggling to defend it. United armies from all over the world were formed to stop the invasion but in vain. Aliens are much more advanced. State-of-the-art technology enabled them to clone humans!
Next week: Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion, Star Wars Outlaws Gold Edition, Cronos: The New Dawn, EVERYBODY’S GOLF HOT SHOTS, Adventure of Samsara, Camper Van: Make it Home, Candylands Journey, Folly of the Wizards, Souno’s Curse, Splatterbot, Above Snakes, Legends BMX, Fling to the Finish, SHUTEN ORDER, Bad Cheese, The Nameless City, Overpowered 1 – Mars Infestation, and Dragon Ruins.