Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for December 10th, 2019. In today’s article, we’ve got a couple of slices of interesting news to check out, though I expect by the time you read this you’ll know more about one of them than I do at the time of writing. We’ve also got summaries of today’s several new releases, and the usual list of sales for you to mull over. Let’s slide on in!
News
Today’s Indie World Presentation Promises 20 Minutes of News
Has this already happened by the time you read this article? It’s very, very likely. Oh well, that’s how it goes. The latest Indie World presentation is (or was) scheduled for 10:00 AM PT on Tuesday, December 10th. It promises roughly 20 minutes of news on upcoming indies, and if previous presentations are anything to go by, we may well have a new game or two shadow-dropped. I’m going to rub my crystal ball and predict one of them is Hollow Knight: Silksong. We’ll see if I’m right when I wake up!
Is Sony’s ‘MLB The Show’ Coming to Switch? It Looks That Way
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) December 10, 2019
One big news item out of the Sony camp today was that their excellent baseball series, MLB The Show, will be going multiplatform in the future. Normally, you would assume this would just mean PC plus PlayStation, but both Microsoft and Nintendo retweeted the official MLB The Show twitter account’s tweet about this news. While it’s doubtful these plans came in time for the upcoming MLB The Show 20, it seems like we could be seeing the series come to Switch in 2021. It’s a little weird to see Sony giving better support to the Switch than EA, but here we are.
New Releases
Shovel Knight: King of Cards ($9.99)
SwitchArcade Highlight!
The saga of the original Shovel Knight game finally comes to a close with the release of King of Cards. Note: if you already own Shovel Knight, you only need to update to get access to this without paying an additional dime. This version is a standalone for those who only want to play King of Cards. And what a game it is! Yes, it’s using a lot of assets from the earlier games, but you’ve got all-new level layouts, moves, and a surprisingly robust card game to dig into. It’s an epic close to the saga, and now I’m just excited for whatever Yacht Club decides to do next.
Shovel Knight Showdown ($9.99)
SwitchArcade Highlight!
Oh right, there’s this as well. This is basically an arena-based multiplayer fighting game featuring the cast and characters of Shovel Knight. There are sixteen different playable characters, and up to four players can join in at once. Like King of Cards, this is available as a free update for those who already own Shovel Knight. You’ll only need to buy this if you don’t own Shovel Knight and for some reason want to play this and not any of the other stuff from the game. Which would be silly, but you do you.
Call of Juarez: Gunslinger ($19.99)
SwitchArcade Highlight!
There aren’t nearly enough games that use a Western setting. It’s pretty weird if you think about it. At least in recent years the Red Dead series has been doing a great job of making cowboy fantasies come true, but that doesn’t help a Switch owner much, does it? Well, here’s one for you. Call of Juarez: Gunslinger is a pretty awesome first-person shooter that lets you do most of that cool stuff you’ve seen in the movies. This Switch version adds in some motion controls and HD rumble, but otherwise you’re just looking at a fairly straightforward port of the 2013 original. Not a bad thing at all, if you ask me.
Blacksad: Under the Skin ($49.99)
The developer behind the Runaway series of adventure games brings the popular comic book Blacksad to the world of video games. Step into the boots of the hard-boiled feline detective John Blacksad and try to solve a humdinger of a murder case. Fans of the comic will likely be pleased with the respect shown towards the source material, while adventure game fans may well enjoy having a reasonably high-budget entry in the genre to dig into. I’m not sure how much general appeal the game has, and if you’re not familiar with Blacksad I’ll warn you this is a pretty gritty setting that, in spite of its anthropomorphic characters, plays things very straight and dark. I do believe it serves its audience well, however.
Riverbond ($24.99)
This is a dungeon-crawling action game for up to four players in local co-op. It uses a voxel art style, if that happens to be something you dig. Overall, this is a pretty chill game that is probably best for some casual fun here and there. There aren’t any RPG elements so it’s really just a lot of mindless hack-and-slash, but it’s a reasonably good time in that particular milieu. I’ll have a review of some kind for this game going up in a few days, but I need a little more time with its multiplayer mode to make a final call.
Sales
A whole bunch of the usual suspects went on sale today, but I’m sparing you all of the usual stuff like Millie and Frederic. Some highlights here include Grave Keeper for a buck, Q-YO Blaster for two bucks, and Hard West for two bucks. Nothing to get all that fussed about in the outbox, so feel free to save some money for Christmas presents.
Select New Games on Sale
Grave Keeper ($0.99 from $9.99 until 12/29)
Mr Blaster ($0.19 from $1.99 until 12/29)
Omen Exitio: Plague ($4.99 from $9.99 until 12/29)
Dark Veer ($2.49 from $4.99 until 12/29)
Agony ($9.99 from $19.99 until 12/29)
Ashen ($31.99 from $39.99 until 12/20)
Black and White Bushido ($9.10 from 13.00 until 12/30)
Grab Lab ($0.49 from $4.99 until 12/29)
Bad Dream: Coma ($0.99 from $9.99 until 12/29)
Bad Dream: Fever ($0.99 from $9.99 until 12/29)
Dungeons & Aliens ($0.39 from $3.99 until 12/29)
Risky Rescue ($0.49 from $4.99 until 12/29)
Thief Simulator ($3.99 from $19.99 until 12/29)
Phantom Doctrine ($3.99 from $19.99 until 12/29)
The Childs Sight ($0.99 from $4.99 until 12/29)
Q-YO Blaster ($1.99 from $9.99 until 12/29)
Gunpowder on The Teeth: Arcade ($2.49 from $4.99 until 12/29)
Tap Skaters ($0.49 from $4.99 until 12/29)
Terrorhythm ($4.99 from $9.99 until 12/29)
Surfingers ($0.49 from $4.99 until 12/29)
Hard West ($1.99 from $19.99 until 12/29)
Persian Nights: Sands of Wonders ($1.49 from $14.99 until 12/29)
Realpolitiks ($2.49 from $24.99 until 12/29)
The Mahjong Huntress ($0.49 from $4.99 until 12/29)
My Brother Rabbit ($1.49 from $14.99 until 12/29)
Star Story: The Horizon Escape ($0.99 from $9.99)
Timberman VS ($0.19 from $1.99 until 12/29)
Fly O’Clock ($0.19 from $1.99 until 12/29)
Startide ($0.99 from $9.99 until 12/29)
Shut Eye ($0.39 from $3.99 until 12/29)
Gurgamoth ($1.49 from $9.99 until 12/18)
Sales Ending Tomorrow, Wednesday, December 11th
A Duel Hand Disaster: Trackher ($1.99 from $9.99 until 12/11)
Gear.Club Unlimited 2 ($23.99 from $59.99 until 12/11)
Party Arcade ($14.99 from $19.99 until 12/11)
Teddy Gangs ($1.99 from $9.99 until 12/11)
That’s all for today, friends. Tomorrow we’ll have a summary of the news from the Indie World presentation, any other news and sales that come along, and of course, summaries of the newest game releases. There’s some good stuff coming out tomorrow, so I do hope you’ll join me again. Have an excellent Tuesday, and as always, thanks for reading!
