The kids are off school, and the long Easter weekend is almost upon us. The Switch eShop provides a solution for restlessness and entertainment, with several anticipated new releases due. Nintendo would probably quite like you to watch The Super Mario Galaxy Movie before firing up the Switch and cracking open a chocolate egg or two, though.
For the Switch 2 there’s Super Meat Boy 3D, South of Midnight, Goat Simulator 3, a surprise release of Big Ant Studios’ sports sim AFL 26, third-person running game Haste, and the co-op horror Content Warning – which involves trying to go viral on SpöökTube.
Super Meat Boy 3D hasn’t gained the most positive of receptions so far, with the Metacritic score currently sitting at 74%. While it did gain a handful of 8/10s, a swath of 7s has brought the overall score down. Some critics complained of imprecise movement and forgettable level design, while a few questioned if it needed to take the leap to 3D. “Super Meat Boy 3D isn’t exactly a massive leap for the franchise when compared to other side-scrollers that have made the jump to a new dimension, but that’s okay,” said Dual Shockers.
Scores for the spell weaving adventure South of Midnight – a former Xbox exclusive – are in a similar ballpark, with complaints of performance issues in handheld mode. “If you’re playing docked I can largely recommend this version without apprehension, but it is hard to suggest to handheld focused players,” stated Nintendo World Report.
Then there’s Legacy of Kain: Ascendance – the first new entry in the series for 23 years. Critics aren’t too englamoured with this pixel art side-scroller, reporting a seemingly low budget and iffy level design. “Even the game’s story suffers from simple and mediocre writing, something that was once a standout for the franchise,” warned PlayStation Universe.
Darwin’s Paradox! meanwhile comes from Konami, and appears to be strongly influenced by Pixar’s Finding Dory, putting you in control of a highly intelligent octopus. This too has a 74% Metacritic. “Fun but uneven” seems to be the consensus amongst critics.
This week also sees the release of the boss rush-focused action platformer Morkull Ascend to the Gods, “recording action” puzzler MotionRec, otome Homura: The Crimson Warriors, and the pixel art RPG Manafinder.
If you’re a retro fan into single screen platformers, you’re spoilt currently. Go! Go! Mister Chickums involves lobbing eggs at foes before returning them to a nest, featuring beefy 8-bit visuals. It’s a good test of skill, and with 100 levels to beat, it isn’t something you’ll finish in an hour. Living Dead House from Flynn’s Arcade is an arcade style shooter that tasks you with surviving the night in a monster-ridden house. Then there’s an EGGCONSOLE release of C-SO – an early MSX platformer that seems to be based around luring creatures onto seesaws.
Lastly, this week’s Arcade Archives re-release is something of a curio, being ACA NEOGEO MASTER OF SYOUGI – a shogi game released by SNK in 1995. Or Japanese chess, if you prefer.
New Switch eShop releases
South of Midnight Weaver’s Edition – £34.99 – Switch 2
From the creators of Contrast and We Happy Few, the award-winning South of Midnight is a spellbinding third person action-adventure game set in the American Deep South.
As Hazel, you will explore the mythos and encounter creatures of Southern folklore in a macabre and fantastical world. When disaster strikes her hometown, Hazel is called to become a Weaver: a magical mender of broken bonds and spirits. Imbued with these new abilities, Hazel will confront and subdue dangerous creatures, untangle the webs of her own family’s shared past and – if she’s lucky – find her way to a place that feels like home.
Super Meat Boy 3D – £19.99 – Switch 2
Super Meat Boy 3D is a tough as nails platformer where you play as an animated cube of meat who’s trying to save his girlfriend (who happens to be made of bandages) from an evil fetus in a jar wearing a tux – IN 3D! Our meaty hero will leap from walls, over seas of buzz saws, through crumbling caves and pools of old trash sacrificing his own well-being to save his damsel in distress – IN 3D.
Super Meat Boy 3D brings the old school difficulty of classic retro titles we all know and love and streamlines them down to the essential no bull straight forward twitch reflex platforming. Ramping up in difficulty from hard to soul crushing Meat Boy will brave lush (but also on fire) forests, vast dumps filled with the waste of mankind, and high-tech forges producing the very traps that will inevitably kill Meat Boy over and over and over – IN 3D! And if a bunch of levels weren’t enough, we also have epic boss fights and tons of unlockable secrets – IN 3D!
Goat Simulator 3 – £26.99 – Switch 2
Venture forth into Goat Simulator 3, the baa-rilliant sequel to 2014’s Goat Simulator that puts you back into the hooves of Pilgor the Goat.
Begin your whirlwind adventure on the sandbox island of San Angora. Lick, headbutt, and crash your way through an open world full of quests to solve, secrets to uncover, and NPCs to terrorise. We won’t tell you how to play (except in the tutorial), but provide the means to be the goat of your dreams.
Darwin’s Paradox! – £19.99 – Switch 2
Embark on a grand adventure worthy of a true animated movie with Darwin, an octopus as charming as he is clever, ripped from the ocean and trapped in a massive and mysterious industrial complex. With his extraordinary intelligence and incredible abilities – swimming, camouflage, and many other fascinating skills – help him overcome the most formidable traps and dangers in this captivating platformer, adventure, and puzzle game.
AFL 26 – £59.99 – Switch 2
Get ready for the future of footy with AFL 26. Feel every hit, hear every roar, and live every moment with unmatched authenticity and intensity. From the first bounce to the final siren, the action is fast, fierce, and true to the game. With lifelike gameplay, roaring crowds, expert commentary, and all the drama of real AFL, you’re not just watching the game — you’re in it. This is footy, redefined.
Haste is a high-speed third-person running game, set in a collapsing universe. Race through a variety of worlds, master your movement and use items and abilities to progress through each level before it falls apart around you. The game consists of ten Shards, each featuring a collection of procedurally generated levels that must be completed without fail to unlock the next. You’ll encounter challenges and characters on your journey, seeking answers about what lies behind the destruction, and how to escape it!
Get famous or die trying! Content Warning is a co-op horror game where you film spooky stuff with your friends to try and go viral.
Squad up, customize your face with the ASCII face customizer, buy some gear and use the diving bell to go down to the Old World!
Down there you’ll encounter scary physics-animated monsters, cursed relics and other artefacts!
Go! Go! Mister Chickums – £8.50
Oh no! That sneaky Grabbo has stolen all of Mister Chickums’ precious eggs! This misdeed cannot remain unpunished: Get out there and help the poor chick to regain his rightful property and give the culprit a well-deserved spanking!
And if you ever get stuck, invite your best friend to play the role of Fritz, Mister Chickums’ BFF, to assist you in the hunt for the lost eggs!
Morkull Ascend to the Gods – £14.99
Morkull Ascend to the Gods is a 2D action video game focused on boss battles, once again taking control of the charismatic God of Death: Morkull.
Set in the original world of Morkull Ragast’s Rage, locked up and aware that he is in a new video game, you must help him escape so that he can carry out his evil plans for the world and rule by subjecting everyone to his will (yes, including you).
You will feel the power and bear the weight of being the God of Death and Darkness. A select series of battles against other henchmen, minions, and Gods that make up the Olympus of the Kingdom of Midaldus await you.
Homura: The Crimson Warriors – £35.99
Amongst the fire and ashes, love will prevail — Previously released in Japan in 2018, Western fans can experience the historical fantasy otome as the protagonist Mutsumi Mochizuki fights alongside the Crimson Warriors. Accompanied with multiple endings and CGs, this legendary battle of love tangled with iconic historical events and original characters in the Warring States period is sure to capture the hearts of history otome lovers!
You are hired as a mini-golf level tester by the french company ROGOLF. Management will always expect big quality scores from your golfing skills…
Break the witch’s curse on your home as you explore five distinct regions, each hiding a sacred key to unlock the village chest.
■ MotionRec is a “recording puzzle action” game.
Use the ability to record your own movements and play them back elsewhere to explore a world of devastation.
You can record the trajectory of your movements, from walking to jumping. Use stage gimmicks to create and record more complex movements to traverse the world.
■ Record your movements and play them back in another location!
This will let you reach places too high to jump up to, or even access spots where there’s nothing to stand on.
Make good use of the MotionRec ability to unravel the mysteries behind this devastated world ruled by machines!
After breaking up with Erika, Bianca’s life unravels once more when a second magic camera appears and a new girl, Lúcia, enters the scene. Will she reconnect with Erika or explore a new path with the mysterious student council president?
Magic Exposure 2 is a cute yuri-themed visual novel adventure with a supernatural twist! Take the role of Bianca in a story spanning 15,000 words and featuring 2 romance options to date. Make critical choices for Bianca to affect the narrative and explore multiple endings, unlocking special CG scenes along the way!
Blast into VECTORED, a high-energy arcade shooter inspired by classic shoot ’em ups and rebuilt for modern play.
Take control of a fast, agile drone and dive into a dark, corrupted woodland where shadowy forms and glowing red signals collide. Within a single woodland-style arena, enemy AI units emerge endlessly, pressing in from all directions as the forest reacts to your presence.
Manafinder is a RPG with rich exploration, nostalgic turn-based combat, and original pixel art.
In a vast and untapped world, powerful wild beasts roam the dangerous lands. A community of survivors known as the exiles depends on heroes like Lambda to obtain the power of manastones to keep their civilization safe.
Fight your way against ferocious beasts and other enemies in the quest for manastones as you define the fate of the exiled!
PULMO is the ideological continuation of ALVEOLE and the second part in a trilogy about the human journey. Our project explores human behavior in a society where everyone will find their own meanings. Your goal is to change the environment around you to influence people’s behavior by solving spatial puzzles. The crowd in the game acts according to its own rules, sometimes helping, sometimes interfering, but always reacting to your actions.
Welcome to a horror experience set during a long, lonely night inside an empty office building.
What begins as a normal overtime shift quickly turns unsettling. The building grows quiet and the silence becomes almost unbearable. Something about the place feels wrong — as if the office has changed.
As the night continues, reality starts to feel unstable. While moving through the office, the harder it becomes to trust what you see.
It’s World War Worm! Victoria is under siege at the battle front. After a two-year absence, Mighty Aphid returns to battle Lady Bug and her evil horde once again. This time, the villainess has created her own Mighty warriors to take on the pint-sized hero.
Run, shoot, swim, dash, and fly. Rescue the innocent. Fight mighty bosses. Earn powerful upgrades.
This action game was originally released in 1985. Players control the protagonist, Jun-kun, to battle against the “Warugaki” gang. However, Jun-kun’s only move is jumping. You must fight by skillfully using the C-SOs, trampolines, and other features placed throughout each stage. When you step on a C-SO, a countdown begins; during this time, any gang member caught in the C-SO can be crushed and defeated. You can also launch chasing enemies into the air by running across a C-SO together. As the game title suggests, mastering the C-SO is the key to victory! Since the gang members’ personalities vary by color, you will need a strategy that accounts for their different behaviors.
Survive the Night. Escape the Dead.
Darkness descends and the undead rise. Armed with only a handful of weapons and the shelter of an abandoned house, you must fight to see the sunrise. Can you hold out, or be overwhelmed?
Next week: Pokémon Champions, Sigma Star Saga DX, Incantation, ChainStaff, Tears Revolude, Arcadia Fallen II, Solid Void – Topsy Turvy World, Legends Aligned: Land of Order, SHIKA-Q, FROGGONIT, Football Cup 2026, Veins of DARKNESS Horror, Ninjora Echoes, People of Note, Eko and the Bewitched Lands, and TR-49.