Welcome to the latest edition of the SwitchArcade Roundup, where it’s the calm before the storm that is this week’s release schedule. 10 games will hit the Switch on Thursday, the 22nd, but only one title is on the Switch today, Layers of Fear: Legacy. However, there are still a few interesting pieces of news and some sales to discuss before tomorrow’s madness, and I’m sensing a pretty strong theme of brutality running throughout a lot of the news…
News
Sega’s bringing back the Shining RPG series to the west, and the Switch is coming along for the ride, too. Shining Resonance Refrain is a remaster of the PS3-only title Shining Resonance. If you’re expecting a turn-based strategy game, or even a first-person dungeon crawler, prepare to be disappointed, as this is a party-based action-RPG, more similar to the Tales series than anything previously released in the Shining series. With the possible exception of Shining Soul for the Game Boy Advance. The Shining name is really just a brand at this point, but hey, this could be a fun time, especially if it manages to maintain the Shining aesthetic. Now how about some new Shining Force games?
The Switch is getting its own physics-based side-scrolling bike stunt game. Urban Trial Playground clearly exists in the genre populated by the Trials series of games, with plenty of offshoots like Bike Baron and Trial Xtreme. The relatively short levels and high replayability of the genre mean that a trial bike game should work really well on Switch. While there’s often a lot of little things that go into these physics-based games to make them feel just right, the trailer for Urban Trial Playground shows some strong production values.
The Switch port of the new DOOM game got an update adding an intriguing new option for controls: gyroscopic aiming similar to Splatoon 2. Motion controls have an understandable stigma, but give them a shot, as any decent Splatoon player will tell you. What motion controls provide is the ability to track people and make quick movements in a way that’s more akin to mouse-and-keyboard, yet feels incredibly natural. It blows away playing with an analog stick, though it does work better with the Joy-Cons separated in my opinion. Though, I did talk to one of the Tilt to Live developers about Splatoon 2‘s motion controls and he preferred it on the Switch itself. A tilt game developer preferring to tilt the entire device? Unheard of!
DOOM adding gyro controls might be the start of an interesting movement for first-person shooters if other games pick up on this trend, especially if, say, the next Call of Duty or Fortnite hits the Switch and high-level players see just how potent gyro controls can be. Or don’t, and I’ll become the next esports star on Nintendo Switch. I already know how to complain on the internet like a high-level competitive player.
New Release
Layers of Fear: Legacy
Today’s only Switch release is a solid one for horror fans. The well-received Layers of Fear arrives optimized for the Switch, along with the Inheritance DLC included. You play as a painter returning to his Victorian mansion to complete his magnum opus. As with any empty Victorian mansion, things quickly turn haunted and weird. The PC version has almost 7000 reviews with a “Very Positive" rating on Steam, and by all accounts the Switch port runs perfectly. I’d be concerned about a game with jump scares causing me to drop my Switch, which adds a new degree of horror to this title!
Noteworthy Sales
Slain: Back From Hell
($15.99 from $19.99 until March 1st) Okay, now here’s a game for Carter. It’s a brutal, metal-inspired Metroidvania where you can deflect enemy attacks and projectiles with your sword. Interestingly, the soundtrack is by Curt Victor Bryant, formerly of Celtic Frost, but from the album Cold Lake. That was not the pinnacle of Celtic Frost’s brutality. The 1980s got weird near the end there. Regardless, this has a nice heavy soundtrack with gothic-flavored snyths. The Switch version isn’t necessarily the best port, with some framerate issues, and a high level of difficulty, but if you’re into the brutal aesthetic, you might want to check this one out.
BUTCHER
($6.99 from $9.99 until March 1st) More brutality! You play as the hero finally bringing about the Anthropocene extinction, a robot set to eradicate the final remnants of humanity. You’ll use a variety of weapons and enjoy some over-the-top explosions as life is no longer able to find a way. It’s the kind of gleeful, over-the-top action that’s fun to play every once in a while. Be warned that the game is rather difficult, and it promises that the easiest difficulty is the Hard difficulty.
Super Ping Pong Trick Shot
($2.99 from $4.99 until March 1st) Let’s wrap up the sales with something completely different. Here, you simply just have to launch a ball into a cup, using physics to bounce off of objects and making the perfect shot. The game looks kind of bland but not terrible? This sort of game would likely be ignored on mobile for being unremarkable in a crowded genre, and if any developer gets rejected from Switch release then this title serves as another “but they got on the Switch" reference point. But still, there is a reason why physics puzzlers got to be so popular: they’re fun. Maybe keep an open mind on this one.
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