Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for July 8th, 2021. It’s a Thursday, and that means we’ve got a whole pile of new games to check out. The highlights are Unavowed, Heart of the Woods, Boomerang X, and Aria Chronicle as far as I’m concerned, but there are a number of others I could go either way on. Beyond the new games, we’ve also got a selection of discounts in our lists of new and expiring sales for you to mull over. Let’s go!
New Releases
Unavowed ($14.99)
SwitchArcade Highlight!
Your body is possessed by a demon and used to commit a pile of sins against humanity. You’ve managed to regain control, but the only way you can hope to make amends is by joining the secret society known as Unavowed. Customize your character, choose your team, and embark on a journey to battle evil. This is an adventure game from the experts at Wadjet Eye, and its excellent story is backed up by interesting puzzles, dialogue choices, and enjoyable exploration. The UI seems perfectly built for the Switch, allowing you to use buttons or touch as you prefer. I’ll probably have a review of this one soon if you need more details.
Arcade Archives Sea Fighter Poseidon ($7.99)
It’s another Taito game for the pile in this week’s Arcade Archives release. The aquatic 1984 horizontal shoot-em-up Sea Fighter Poseidon joins the line-up, setting you against enemy divers and battleships. You have to keep an eye on your fuel supply, which can only be restocked by stealing the enemy’s fuel after you defeat them. The unusual theme helps this game stand out from the crowd, even if the action itself can’t really hold a candle to many other shooters we’ve seen in Arcade Archives. Hamster has done its usual fine job with this one, naturally.
Indigo 7 Quest for Love ($14.99)
This is one of those times where I wish a game would explain its mechanics as well as it does its storyline in its eShop description. I can’t be too sure what is going on in Indigo 7, but I think it’s a territory capture game of some sort. Up to four players can play together in local multiplayer, or you can tackle the story mode that tells the tale of a heartbroken fellow I’m going to call Not Pilgrim. It’s actually quite substantial, with 32 episodes and comic art telling the tale between them. There are a handful of different modes, eleven playable characters, and lots of things to unlock. Could be interesting, but I can’t say until I actually figure out how to play it.
Crash Drive 3 ($19.99)
I won’t mince words: Crash Drive 2 was pretty lousy on Switch, and it’s going to take a lot to convince me that this third game is any better. Up to twelve players can play together in online multiplayer, engaging in a variety of events like trying to destroy a giant beach ball, stealing the crown from another player, and more. You can upgrade your vehicle, enjoy wandering around the open world, and hunt down secrets. Perhaps you enjoyed that second game more than I did. In that case, you’ll probably want to grab this. As for me, I’ll be steering wide of this particular game.
Aria Chronicle ($39.83)
This is a lighter, brighter, more “anime"-style take on Darkest Dungeon. Not as good, naturally. But it’s not too bad either. Wander through dungeons with a five-member party you pick yourself, making use of their skills and abilities to survive the enemies and hazards found within. It features turn-based battles, procedurally-generated dungeon layouts, and the usual character customization. You have probably played a game very similar to this before, and this one comes in on the higher side of the price range when compared to other titles of its ilk. Still, it seems to be generally well-liked on other platforms and I can’t deny that it’s to have a more colorful take on this kind of game.
My Maite ($4.99)
Ho, some big five dollar Switch platformer energy on this one. Maite is a little girl who somehow ends up going to the moon again and again. Her father has to rescue her in fifty stages of platforming action. Nothing really too fancy or unusual about this one, with the chief gimmick being that you not only have to reach Maite on each stage but must also bring her back to the starting area to clear it. Seems decent enough, even if it’s not very exciting. Lots of portals. Kids still like portals, right? This game sure hopes so.
Woodcutter ($4.99)
Oh, could it be? Do we have two five-dollar Switch platformers today? Yes, we do. You play as a woodcutter whose child has been kidnapped. You have to rescue them by running, jumping, and swimming your way through more than 50 stages filled with obstacles and baddies to overcome. You have three different weapons at your disposal, and if you have nothing handy you can also bash baddies with your buff body by stomping on them. Some iffy collision detection keeps this from being all it could be, but such is the risk when you’re dealing with indie platformers in this price range, I think.
Reverse Memories ($6.99)
In this visual novel, you follow the story of a young man named Yu Sheng. Having lost memories of his past, he returns to his hometown to see if it brings anything back. There he meets a young woman named Yi Yao, and they immediately hit it off. He confesses his love to her at the Summer Festival, and she accepts. Happy ending? Well, the next day Yi Yao seems to have no memory of Yu Sheng whatsoever. What’s going on here? Did something happen to her? Or did something happen to Yu Sheng? An interesting premise, to be sure. I can’t seem to find any reviews of this one and I haven’t been able to play through it myself, so that cool set-up and the reasonable price is really all we have to go on here.
Infinite Golf 2 ($4.99)
If you like Desert Golfing and want something like it on your Switch, here’s Infinite Golf 2. A sequel to a 3DS game, it offers four different game modes and four different types of environments to golf in. Classic Mode is most like Desert Golfing, letting you play at your own pace through procedurally generated levels. Time Attack gives you 30 seconds on the clock and gives you an additional 5 seconds for every hole you complete. Arcade Mode gives you three chances on each hole, and if you run out that’s the end. Finally, there’s Multiplayer Mode, where you compete against up to three other players in local co-op. A shameless copy? Yes. But if you want this kind of experience on Switch, it’s not like the real thing is available.
Monument ($7.00)
This is a so-called “boomer shooter", which is to say that it’s a no-nonsense action FPS game. It sells on Steam for anywhere between fifty cents and two bucks, and you would probably get about that much fun out of it if you were bored enough. Seven bucks? It’s pushing it, to be honest. You can get some DOOM games cheaper than this, and it’s not that far from the price of Duke Nukem 3D, either. Sure, you’ve probably played those before but you’ll get more out of replaying any of those than you would with this, I think.
MASAGORO ($12.99)
Ostensibly a horror game, MASAGORO sees you wandering around in the dark in a Japanese Ryokan, a sort of traditional bed-and-breakfast. Why? Well, apparently our hero just likes exploring abandoned buildings and remembered this one exists. In practice you’re largely just stumbling around looking for keys that open doors that might lead to rooms with other keys for other doors. Sometimes there is a cheap jump-scare. At some point a special monster starts following you around, so you have to avoid it a little. Do all this for a couple of hours and boom, you’re finished. The presentation is okay, but I don’t have many nice things to say about the rest of it.
Boomerang X ($19.99)
Devolver Digital’s latest is not a game you can simply discard. I mean, if you did it would come right back. This is a first-person action game all about using a cool boomerang and a bunch of boomerang-related powers. You’ll use the boomerang to solve puzzles, navigate areas, and of course to battle enemies. There are special powers that you’ll unlock as you play, eventually giving you access to a wide range of abilities. What I’ve played of this one so far is fun, but I haven’t hit a point where it has truly clicked for me yet. I’ll have a review of this one as soon as I can get through it.
Heart of the Woods ($19.99)
This is a yuri visual novel with a supernatural theme. Maddie Raines has helped her best friend Tara with her paranormal video channel for a long time and is now ready to move on. Tara convinces Maddie to come along on one last trip, with the destination being the village of Eysenfeld. Many supernatural events happen there, and Maddie ends up meeting a ghost named Abigail. She’s been bound to the forest outside the village thanks to the mysterious circumstances of her death, and Maddie soon finds herself falling for this spirit. Maddie needs to unravel Abigail’s issues for the sake of the village and her own love. With a well-written story and interesting characters, Heart of the Woods is a solid choice for anyone who likes visual novels.
Beauty Bounce ($4.99)
Why oh why would you choose that color and style of font for a visual novel? That is legitimately hard to read even in good conditions. Well, it’s not like you’re missing out on a winning story or anything. This sequel to Beach Bounce sees our hapless hero running a beauty contest in another effort to keep his grandmother’s beach resort running. There are multiple routes connected to each of the girls, and multiple endings to go with them. Setting aside the legibility of the text, I’ve played worse than this. For five dollars, it’s about where it needs to be. But I cannot set aside that text, and that means I can’t recommend this game.
Sales
(North American eShop, US Prices)
There are some cool new discounts to check out today. Capcom is having a sale on its Resident Evil games, and they’re all worth playing to some degree. Fight Crab is weird fun, Vambrace is an interesting Darkest Dungeon-style game, and Crypt of the NecroDancer is never a bad pick-up. The outbox has a lot in it, and I’ll let you have a look through it yourself to see what strikes your fancy. Personally, I’m going to hold on to my funds to see what pops up tomorrow, but that’s going to be too late for those expiring sales. Do what you must.
Select New Games on Sale
Fight Crab ($11.99 from $19.99 until 7/12)
Raiders of the Lost Island ($6.49 from $12.99 until 7/12)
Labyrinth City: PtMD ($9.95 from $11.99 until 7/15)
Unavowed ($13.49 from $14.99 until 7/15)
Lotus Reverie: First Nexus ($13.91 from $15.99 until 7/15)
Puzzle Box Maker ($9.99 from $14.99 until 7/15)
Under Leaves ($7.14 from $12.99 until 7/15)
Pix the Cat ($1.99 from $9.99 until 7/16)
Soulslayer ($5.49 from $9.99 until 7/19)
CrunchTime ($1.99 from $3.99 until 7/19)
Gaokao.Love.100Days ($6.99 from $11.99 until 7/19)
Monster Blast ($2.39 from $7.99 until 7/19)
Radon Blast ($1.99 from $3.99 until 7/19)
Lily of the Hollow: Resurrection ($4.89 from $6.99 until 7/19)
Youkai Poetry ($5.19 from $6.99 until 7/19)
Reverse Memories ($5.19 from $6.99 until 7/19)
Word Mesh ($2.09 from $6.99 until 7/19)
Train Station Simulator ($4.39 from $21.99 until 7/20)
3000th Duel ($5.99 from $14.99 until 7/22)
Trine Enchanted Edition ($3.74 from $14.99 until 7/22)
Trine 2: Complete Story ($4.24 from $16.99 until 7/22)
Trine 3: Artifacts of Power ($4.99 from $19.99 until 7/22)
Boreal Blade ($1.99 from $3.99 until 7/22)
Resident Evil 0 ($12.99 from $19.99 until 7/22)
Resident Evil ($12.99 from $19.99 until 7/22)
Resident Evil 4 ($14.99 from $19.99 until 7/22)
Resident Evil 5 ($14.99 from $19.99 until 7/22)
Resident Evil 6 ($14.99 from $19.99 until 7/22)
Resident Evil Revelations ($7.99 from $19.99 until 7/22)
Resident Evil Revelations 2 ($7.99 from $19.99 until 7/22)
Nine Parchments ($4.99 from $19.99 until 7/22)
Princess Closet ($17.49 from $24.99 until 7/22)
My Bewitching Perfume ($13.99 from $19.99 until 7/22)
Yumemidori Nostalgia ($13.99 from $19.99 until 7/22)
Byakko-tai Samurai Boys ($13.99 from $19.99 until 7/22)
Diamond Girl ($13.99 from $19.99 until 7/22)
Crypt of the NecroDancer ($3.99 from $19.99 until 7/28)
Bridge Constructor Portal ($5.99 from $14.99 until 7/28)
The Inner World ($2.39 from $11.99 until 7/28)
The Inner World: Last Wind Monk ($2.99 from $14.99 until 7/28)
Super Blackjack Battle 2 TE ($1.99 from $7.99 until 7/28)
Toby: The Secret Mine ($1.99 from $11.99 until 7/28)
Tied Together ($1.99 from $14.99 until 7/28)
Super Treasure Arena ($1.99 from $9.99 until 7/28)
Windscape ($5.99 from $19.99 until 7/28)
Truberbrook ($9.89 from $29.99 until 7/28)
Vambrace: Cold Soul ($8.24 from $24.99 until 7/28)
Blitz Breaker ($3.99 from $19.99 until 7/28)
Miles & Kilo ($1.99 from $7.99 until 7/29)
Red Death ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/29)
Robozarro ($2.79 from $6.99 until 7/29)
Crowdy Farm Rush ($2.03 from $5.99 until 7/29)
Moero Crystal H ($27.99 from $39.99 until 7/29)
Skatemaster Tcheco ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/29)
Synergia ($9.99 from $14.99 until 7/29)
Kingdom of Arcadia ($4.19 from $5.99 until 7/29)
Sales Ending Tomorrow, Friday, July 9th
4×4 Dirt Track ($5.99 from $11.99 until 7/9)
Always Sometimes Monsters ($4.99 from $9.99 until 7/9)
Arc of Alchemist ($9.99 from $39.99 until 7/9)
Azur Lane: Crosswave ($19.99 from $49.99 until 7/9)
Back to Bed ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/9)
Bamerang ($5.59 from $6.99 until 7/9)
Baobabs Mausoleum Ep.1 ($2.99 from $5.99 until 7/9)
Baobabs Mausoleum Ep.2 ($3.49 from $6.99 until 7/9)
Baobabs Mausoleum Ep.3 ($2.99 from $5.99 until 7/9)
Battleship ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/9)
Batu ta Batu ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/9)
Billion Road ($14.99 from $29.99 until 7/9)
Bleep Bloop ($1.99 from $3.99 until 7/9)
Bulb Boy ($2.69 from $8.99 until 7/9)
Car Driving School Simulator ($6.99 from $13.99 until 7/9)
Carnage: Battle Arena ($2.99 from $14.99 until 7/9)
Celeste ($4.99 from $19.99 until 7/9)
Charterstone: Digital ($17.49 from $24.99 until 7/9)
City Driving Simulator ($5.99 from $11.99 until 7/9)
Clue: The Classic Mystery Game ($14.99 from $29.99 until 7/9)
Colossus Down ($12.59 from $17.99 until 7/9)
Connect Bricks ($4.99 from $9.99 until 7/9)
Corridor Z ($1.99 from $7.99 until 7/9)
Cross the Moon ($3.99 from $4.99 until 7/9)
Defentron ($4.99 from $9.99 until 7/9)
Defoliation ($7.99 from $9.99 until 7/9)
Dimension Drive ($1.99 from $14.99 until 7/9)
Dog Gone Golfing ($4.99 from $9.99 until 7/9)
Down in Bermuda ($5.99 from $19.99 until 7/9)
Dungeon and Puzzles ($6.69 from $9.99 until 7/9)
Edgar: Bokbok in Boulzac ($3.99 from $7.99 until 7/9)
Eight-Minute Empire: Complete ($5.99 from $14.99 until 7/9)
Eliza ($7.49 from $14.99 until 7/9)
Embracelet ($5.99 from $11.99 until 7/9)
Enchanted in the Moonlight ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/9)
Eternum Ex ($3.99 from $7.99 until 7/9)
Fairy Fencer F: ADF ($8.99 from $29.99 until 7/9)
Fantasy Friends ($5.99 from $29.99 until 7/9)
Fatum Betula ($3.29 from $5.49 until 7/9)
Fight of Animals ($6.99 from $9.99 until 7/9)
Fight of Gods ($9.09 from $12.99 until 7/9)
Future Aero Racing S ($3.49 from $6.99 until 7/9)
Galaxy Champions TV ($1.99 from $6.99 until 7/9)
Gerritory ($5.59 from $7.99 until 7/9)
Here Be Dragons ($7.19 from $17.99 until 7/9)
House of Golf ($4.99 from $9.99 until 7/9)
I Saw Black Clouds ($11.69 from $12.99 until 7/9)
Inferno 2 ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/9)
Instant Chef Party ($4.99 from $24.99 until 7/9)
Istanbul: Digital ($7.99 from $19.99 until 7/9)
JCB Pioneer: Mars ($12.49 from $24.99 until 7/9)
Kine ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/9)
Kissed by the Baddest Bidder ($12.49 from $24.99 until 7/9)
LEGO Harry Potter Collection ($12.49 from $49.99 until 7/9)
Liberated: Enhanced ($11.99 from $19.99 until 7/9)
Little Misfortune ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/9)
Lost Artifacts: Time Machine ($3.99 from $9.99 until 7/9)
Lost Wing ($1.99 from $7.99 until 7/9)
Love Letter From Thief X ($12.49 from $24.99 until 7/9)
Luckslinger ($6.99 from $9.99 until 7/9)
Lumini ($2.49 from $9.99 until 7/9)
Manifold Garden ($13.99 from $19.99 until 7/9)
Megadimension Neptunia VII ($11.99 from $29.99 until 7/9)
Micro Pico Racers ($2.24 from $4.49 until 7/9)
Milkmaid of the Milky Way ($2.00 from $5.99 until 7/9)
Moero Chronicle Hyper ($7.99 from $19.99 until 7/9)
My Forged Wedding ($17.49 from $24.99 until 7/9)
Our Two Bedroom Story ($12.49 from $24.99 until 7/9)
Paperdoll Deluxe ($8.99 from $17.99 until 7/9)
Rainswept ($2.49 from $9.99 until 7/9)
RoboPhobik ($2.49 from $9.99 until 7/9)
Sagrada ($10.49 from $14.99 until 7/9)
Shing! ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/9)
Skyland Rush: Air Raid Attack ($3.49 from $6.99 until 7/9)
Spooky Ghosts Dot Com ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/9)
Star-Crossed Myth ($14.99 from $29.99 until 7/9)
Street Cleaner: The Video Game ($12.75 from $15.00 until 7/9)
Super Kickers League Ultimate ($4.99 from $24.99 until 7/9)
Super Neptunia RPG ($15.99 from $39.99 until 7/9)
The Bug Butcher ($1.99 from $7.99 until 7/9)
The Complex ($9.74 from $12.99 until 7/9)
The Game of Life 2 ($23.99 from $29.99 until 7/9)
They Breathe ($1.99 from $3.99 until 7/9)
Treachery in Beatdown City ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/9)
Truck Simulator ($5.99 from $11.99 until 7/9)
Voxelgram ($3.99 from $7.99 until 7/9)
Werewolf: TA – Heart of the Forest ($9.74 from $14.99 until 7/9)
What The Fork ($8.99 from $17.99 until 7/9)
That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back tomorrow with the remaining releases for the week, with Monster Hunter Stories 2 leading the charge. I have an appointment at the hospital again tomorrow after a long break, so do wish me some luck if you’ve got any to spare. I hope you all have a thrilling Thursday, and as always, thanks for reading!
