Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for December 3rd, 2020. We’re directly in the hangover period from the Black Friday sales, so there isn’t a whole lot going on in that regard. That said, there’s a whole lot going on in the new release department. More than twenty new titles hit the eShop today, and we’ve got summaries of each and every one of them. Let’s get to work!
New Releases
Immortals Fenyx Rising ($59.99)
SwitchArcade Highlight!
By now I’m sure you know the pitch for this one by now: a little bit of Breath of the Wild, a little bit of Assassin’s Creed, and a generous sense of humor to help it all go down. You play as the titular Fenyx on a mission to save the Greek gods and the world itself. Wield a variety of powers, solve puzzles in shrines dotted about the landscape, and explore a vast world full of stuff. So much stuff. This Switch version is apparently pretty rough when compared to other versions of the game, particularly if you’re playing in handheld mode. Still, if it’s a Breath of the Wild-style open world you’re craving this season, this looks to be the best new one you can get on the Switch. Mikhail is going to be doing a review of Immortals, so keep your eyes peeled for that.
Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythmic Adventure Pack ($49.99)
SwitchArcade Highlight!
This pack includes two Taiko no Tatsujin RPGs. You can also buy them individually for $29.99 each, but I really do think it’s worth going all-in on this if you’re getting in on it at all. Basically, these are simple RPGs where the battles are resolved by playing Taiko no Tatsujin. If you’re not familiar with that title, it’s a drum-based rhythm game. Quite fun. If you can’t be bothered with the RPG stuff (and it does get a bit tiresome after a while, to be honest), you can just hop over to Taiko Game Mode and play more than 130 songs including a fair bit of licensed stuff. There are some neat cameos in here, too. As long as you’re down with the Taiko gameplay you’ll probably have a fun time with this pack.
GUNPIG: Firepower for Hire ($4.99)
SwitchArcade Highlight!
This is a twin-stick shooter that reminds me a lot of the kinds of things we’ve seen from Radiangames, at least in terms of mechanics. You zoom around levels shooting enemies and collecting goodies. It’s all very fast and feels good in motion. You get eight main levels, two bonus levels, and nine different weapons to play with. You can swap weapons in a jiffy, which helps bolster the quick pace of the action. There are some art card collectibles hidden around to give you something extra to go for. With this genre being as popular as it is on the Switch, there’s a good chance you’re not exactly hungry for another twin-stick shooter. But if you’re looking for some fast, cheap action today, this is a good pick.
Morbid: The Seven Acolytes ($24.99)
SwitchArcade Highlight!
Morbid is a top-down action-RPG that takes a lot of cues from Soulsborne-style games. If nothing else, the different perspective helps to set it apart. You’re the last warrior of your kind and your job is to take out the remaining Acolytes, who are apparently some seriously naughty puppies that threaten the world itself. It’s quite difficult and fairly opaque, but that’s the deal with this kind of thing. You can look forward to plenty of great boss battles and all the Lovecraftian horror nonsense a person could ask for. If I had to poke at any problems, I would say that the level designs are a bit aimless and not in the good way. Still, this is very well-made and if Soulsborne games are your jam you’ll probably dig this take on the now familiar formula.
Arcade Archives The Fairyland Story ($7.99)
This 1985 Taito single-screen action game can be seen as one of the steps on the way to Bubble Bobble. You play as a witch named Ptolemy who can turn enemies into cakes. The idea is that you use the cakes to crush other enemies for more points. A second player can join in for extra fun. Far from the best game of this sort, but it’s decent enough. Hamster’s done its usual fine job with bringing the arcade experience to the Switch, with the now-standard suite of options and settings to mess about with.
Wildfire ($14.99)
This is a cool stealth game that starts off a bit slow but eventually turns into something quite interesting. Your character has magic, and that’s a real problem in a world where having magic gets you branded as a witch and hunted. You need to avoid the forces of the Arch Duchess while rescuing your fellow villagers, ultimately reclaiming your home and earning your freedom. You can use your magic to manipulate the environment, which is helpful both for solving puzzles and dealing with your pursuers. There’s even a local co-op option, which is quite a welcome feature in a game like this. It’s more than capable as a solo title, however. It’s a little on the frustrating side, especially early on, but it’s worth sticking with.
Dog Gone Golfing ($9.99)
Dogs using golf clubs to smack around hockey pucks on wacky courses. Uh, yeah. That’s a really good concept. The actual layout of the courses is procedurally generated, giving it a slight Desert Golfing feel. Indeed, there is a mode in here called Endless Journey that basically has players going through the same set of procedurally generated courses with no clear end in sight. There’s also a World Tour mode where you play through 20 worlds, Shot Streaker mode where you have a limited number of shots for each hole and need to see how long you can keep your streak going, a Dog Golf Arena mode where you can battle against other players or the AI, and a Practice Green mode where… you practice. Sadly, for how neat it is on paper, Dog Gone Golfing is kind of bland to play. If it were cheaper, it would be easier to recommend. Like, say, the two bucks its Ad Removal IAP goes for on the App Store.
Baila Latino ($9.99)
This has a big Just Dance look to it, but that’s fine. The focus here is on Latin American music, with 20 songs to dance along to. Up to four players can join in at once, and the game description encourages others to sing along to the lyrics as they appear on the screen. Sure, why not? For just ten bucks, those who enjoy dancing games may find this one to prove to be a very good value. Pretty sure my neighbors will call the police if I start dancing, and I’m no Kevin Bacon so I doubt I’d be able to dance my way out of it. Thus, I leave this one to the readers to judge.
fault – milestone two side: above ($14.99)
This picks up right where fault – milestone one left off, giving you a few more hours of story in this ongoing visual novel series. Note that this is just the first part of chapter two, with milestone two side: below scheduled for release on PC early next year and presumably for Switch sometime after that. You should definitely play milestone one first, and go into this with the knowledge that a lot of things aren’t going to be tied up until the next chapter. I don’t have much to say here. At present this feels like filler, but I suppose we won’t know its true significance until we get down the road a little.
Quiplash 2 InterLASHional: The Say Anything Party Game! ($9.99)
Oh look, another game whose full title will never appear in these articles again. What is this, a light novel? Anyway, this is the party game from Jackbox Party Pack 3 spun out into its own thing. The only thing it includes above and beyond the version found there is support for more languages, which is probably not going to be much of a bonus to most of our readership. It has support for eight players via local multiplayer, and you should definitely only buy it if you have regular parties with people who like to play games. I don’t know what to say, really. It’s Quiplash. It’s a blast with the right group of people. It’s nothing without them. Maybe wait for a Jackbox Party Pack 3 sale if you want to get more bang for your buck.
Liberated: Enhanced Edition ($19.99)
Uh… didn’t we… didn’t we just look at this in the summer? Yes, we did. Here’s what I said then: “This is an atmospheric platform adventure about a world where truth and personal freedoms are dying under an oppressive authoritarian regime. You naturally join the revolution and do what you can to fight back. You play as a number of characters through various scenes filled with puzzles and quick-time events. Not really my cup of tea, but perhaps it’s yours. Though if it is yours, you should probably be aware that the Switch version isn’t the best way to experience it. There are some serious tech issues with the game, including low resolution and a wildly inconsistent framerate. I don’t know if other versions are better in that regard, but it’s enough of a problem with this one that it’s hard to recommend it." Apparently this new version cleans up the tech problems and also adds a couple of free DLCs? If you bought the original version, this one was apparently free until… uh, today. Well, that’s awkward. I hope others were more on the ball than I was.
Death Tales ($9.99)
I love Luc Bernard’s turn-based strategy games. I really, really don’t like Luc Bernard’s 2D action games. This is the latter, and if you feel differently from me about Mecho Tales, you will probably like this. One thing that I do like is the look of these games. Bernard’s games have an amazing art style, so even if I don’t always enjoy playing them they’re at least a treat to look at. There are 30 levels here, with more than 40 pieces of gear to collect and use to customize your character. A second player can join in locally for some co-op fun.
Absolute Drift ($11.99)
Mmmm. Okay, look: I like Absolute Drift. It’s a fun little arcade-style game that focuses on ridiculous drifts. You can definitely kill some small pockets of time with it. It plays well on the Switch, and it looks really nice on the handheld screen. In a vacuum, that would be enough. But this game does not exist in a vacuum. It exists in a world where you can pop open the App Store on your mobile device and buy it for a buck. I just can’t find anything in the Switch port that justifies paying over ten dollars more for it. Great game for a buck. Go buy it on your iPhone.
Cybxus Hearts ($4.99)
Well, this looks pretty bad in screenshots. In motion, it fares a lot better. It’s a bullet-hell shooter whose skewed perspective somewhat reminds me of Silpheed. You get four stages of action, and you control three characters, each with their own abilities. While it probably won’t hold your attention for a terribly long time, for five dollars it doesn’t really have to in order to justify itself. I’m still uncertain as to how to pronounce that title, but that’s one benefit of the written word, isn’t it?
Renzo Racer ($19.99)
Joindots tries its hand at the whole kart racing thing to middling results. Actually, ‘middling’ might be a bit generous. There are a lot of poor games in this genre on the Switch, perhaps inevitable given the popularity of Mario Kart. Renzo Racer may not be the worst, but it’s not far from it. The AI of your opponents is absolutely terrible, the physics don’t feel good, and it’s incredibly buggy. Well, at the very least your misery can enjoy company with the local two-player mode. With plenty of good choices when it comes to kart racers on Switch, I can’t see why anyone would drop twenty dollars on something like this.
Oniria Crimes ($19.99)
An adventure game with voxel-style graphics, Oniria Crimes is set in the Land of Dreams. The main characters are a detective and inspector who are part of a special group that solves crimes in dreams. They’re hunting down a serial killer in a race against the clock, as crime-solvers tend to. I haven’t had a chance to try this one out yet and I can’t find any impressions from anyone who has, so I really can’t say whether you should have your eye on this or not. I don’t really like the visual style, but that’s a personal thing. If the writing is sharp, I could easily see myself looking past my disinterest in voxel aesthetics. I’ll let you know later if it turns out to knock my socks off.
Outbreak: The New Nightmare ($12.99)
Back when Resident Evil was the new hotness, there were several attempts to ape its success that didn’t end up going over all that well. Not terrible games for the most part, but it was easy to see which tree they were barking up and none of them had what it took to play in those leagues. Mmm, mixed metaphors. Anyway, Outbreak: The New Nightmare reminds me very much of one of those. Its love for Resident Evil, the classic style of Resident Evil specifically, is clear. And considering the size of its development team, it’s fine. But you have to really like the PlayStation Resident Evil games and have a lot of patience to warm to this one, I think.
PHOGS! ($24.99)
I’m like anime guy looking at the butterfly saying “Is this Noby Noby Boy?". It is not, but you are controlling a rather noodle-like creature and wrapping your weird body around things to solve puzzles. It has a dog head on each side. Do not think about the logistics. You can play this on your own, or pull in a friends in local or online multiplayer to enjoy the chaos of two heads that may have different ideas about what to do. There are a few different worlds to explore, and they all seem rather inventive in their construction. I bet this one is a lot of fun with the right friend or family member. I haven’t been able to test that, but it just seems like it would be.
Pretty Princess Party ($39.99)
Yeah, I can see some kids really getting into this. Some adults, too. You create a princess character, then play six different mini-games to train her in the ways of royalty. Clearing the games gives you access to more outfit options as well as a bunch of decorations you can use to customize your castle. There’s a bit more to it than that, but that’s the gist of it. Up to four players can enjoy the mini-games via local multiplayer, but the overall experience is fine for the solo player. Obviously not aimed at old guys like me, but it seems fairly well-made for what it is.
Biz Builder Delux ($14.00)
Kairosoft again. You know the deal. It’s a simulation game that you really can’t lose at, this time centered on the idea of building a commercial district of sorts. A fun game, albeit one that is highly derivative of most of this developer’s prior works. If you’re sick of them, this won’t change your mind. If not, you’ll probably have fun with it. As always, I will remind you that this game is available on mobile, plays perfectly well there, and is about a third of the price that it costs on Switch. Do what you will with that.
Sales
(North American eShop, US Prices)
Like I said up top, we are now well and truly in the hangover period from those Black Friday sales. I’m sure more games will go on sale between when I’m writing this and tomorrow’s article, but I’m not expecting anything particularly interesting to be in the bunch. As for today, we’ve got some discounts on a few new and upcoming releases, some very low prices for the first two Syberia games, and a decent sale on Hexagroove: Tactical DJ. As for the outbox, it’s your last chance to get in on the pre-release discount for Commandos 2, the launch price of The Alto Collection, and the 69% off sale on ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove.
Select New Games on Sale
Hexagroove: Tactical DJ ($23.99 from $29.99 until 12/9)
Fall Gummies ($3.99 from $4.99 until 12/10)
Syberia ($2.98 from $14.90 until 12/16)
Syberia 2 ($2.00 from $29.99 until 12/16)
ATV Drift & Tricks ($6.99 from $29.99 until 12/16)
Pixeljunk Eden 2 ($9.89 from $14.99 until 12/17)
The Forbidden Arts ($5.99 from $14.99 until 12/22)
Super Chariot ($2.08 from $14.90 until 12/22)
Quarantine Circular ($4.79 from $5.99 until 12/24)
Morbid: The Seven Acolytes ($19.99 from $24.99 until 12/24)
Wildfire ($13.49 from $14.99 until 12/10)
Sales Ending Tomorrow, Friday, December 4th
Car Driving School Simulator ($6.99 from $13.99 until 12/4)
City Driving Simulator ($5.99 from $11.99 until 12/4)
Commandos 2: HD Remaster ($26.99 from $29.99 until 12/4)
Detective Driver: Miami Files ($5.99 from $11.99 until 12/4)
Gas Station: Highway Services ($5.99 from $11.99 until 12/4)
Green Game: TimeSwapper ($2.00 from $2.99 until 12/4)
Hardcore Mecha ($21.24 from $24.99 until 12/4)
Hero Hours Contract ($2.79 from $3.99 until 12/4)
LocO-SportS ($2.03 from $5.99 until 12/4)
Midnight Evil ($1.99 from $9.99 until 12/4)
Paper Wars: Cannon Fodder ($1.99 from $9.99 until 12/4)
Reflex Unit 2 ($1.99 from $9.99 until 12/4)
Spartan ($1.99 from $3.99 until 12/4)
The Alto Collection ($7.49 from $9.99 until 12/4)
The Snake King ($1.99 from $7.99 until 12/4)
ToeJam & Earl: BitG! ($4.64 from $14.99 until 12/4)
#womenUp, Super Puzzles Dream ($2.10 from $6.19 until 12/4)
That’s all for today, friends. The week isn’t finished yet, however. Tomorrow will see several more new releases, including Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light, Commandos 2 – HD Remaster, John Wick Hex, and more. There should be some new sales as well, though I’m not sure what exactly that list will look like this time. And I suppose if there’s any very big news, I’ll include it as well. I hope you all have a nice Thursday, and as always, thanks for reading!
