News

SwitchArcade Round-Up: ‘The Punchuin’, ‘The Captain’, Plus Today’s Other Releases and the Latest Sales

Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for December 21st, 2022. Yesterday was a bit packed, but today is quiet like most Wednesdays. Probably busier than the average Wednesday, mind you. Five new releases to check out, plus some new sales. My day job is a bit busy today, so that’s really all there is to it. A quiet day isn’t so bad sometimes, of course. Let’s get to it!

New Releases

The Punchuin ($14.99)

A 2D action-adventure game starring a penguin who punches. Punchuin, you see. Explore the mountain, upgrade your penguin’s abilities, explore branching paths, and find lots of treasure. You can play alone or pull in a friend for some local co-op fun. It looks really nice but I haven’t had a chance to go hands-on with this game yet, so looks are all I can comment on.

The Captain ($19.99)

Here’s the bad news: malevolent forces are on their way to the Earth to destroy it. The good news: you have exactly what is needed to put a stop to their machinations. The worst news: you’re lost on the opposite side of the galaxy with very few resources. If you don’t make it back to Earth in time, that’s the end. How you do that is up to you. You’ll have plenty of choices to make in this oddball hybrid of adventure game, turn-based strategy, and resource management. This is a well-liked game on other platforms and I’ve little doubt it will also find a following on the Switch.

Headbangers in Holiday Hell ($5.99)

You’re a heavy metal-loving weirdo who has ended up on Santa’s naughty list, and instead of just ignoring you he has sent his minions after you to teach you a lesson. This is a top-down roguelite twin stick shooter with a Christmas/heavy metal theme, which I will admit I have not seen on the eShop before. It follows the usual rules, with a variety of weapons, procedurally generated levels, and lots of enemies to blast. Certainly a different sort of holiday game, if nothing else.

Package Inc ($4.99)

A bit of a simulation game and a bit of a puzzle game, Package Inc challenges you to build a delivery system for an expanding city by connecting hubs and destinations in an efficient manner. It vaguely reminds me of games like Mini Metro, and that’s not a bad thing. It has a nice visual style, too. All for a fiver? Pretty good. Pretty, pretty good. It’s also available on mobile if you want to save a few bucks or prefer that platform for your puzzle-sim needs.

Heaven’s Door ($3.99)

Cooking & Publishing, notorious merchants of trash games, have another bag of refuse for the eShop pile. This is the exact same template they always use, where you have to answer a series of questions, then repeat your answers without making a mistake. This time the framing is that you are at the gates of heaven and are being judged by some ugly-butt clip art angel.

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

Some new sales on EA games, Ubisoft games, Koei Tecmo games, and a few others. Samurai Warriors 5 and Atelier Sophie 2 would be my picks, but you do you. Check the lists carefully but keep some money in the wallet as we’re going to see more releases and sales in the next couple days.

Select New Games on Sale

Super Mega Baseball 3 ($13.49 from $44.99 until 1/3)
Lost in Random ($5.99 from $29.99 until 1/3)
Fe ($4.99 from $19.99 until 1/3)
Plants vs Zombies VfN Complete ($7.99 from $39.99 until 1/3)
Need for Speed Hot Pursuit ($7.99 from $39.99 until 1/3)
Tangle Tower ($4.99 from $19.99 until 1/4)
Rogue Star Rescue ($9.89 from $14.99 until 1/4)
Legendary Fishing ($4.49 from $29.99 until 1/4)
Wheel of Fortune ($7.99 from $19.99 until 1/4)
Trivial Pursuit Live 2 ($9.99 from $19.99 until 1/4)
Family Feud ($9.89 from $29.99 until 1/4)
Jeopardy! ($7.99 from $19.99 until 1/4)
Just Dance 2023 Ultimate ($50.99 from $84.99 until 1/4)
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope ($44.99 from $59.99 until 1/4)
Rabbids: Party of Legends ($19.99 from $39.99 until 1/4)


Scott Pilgrim vs The World ($4.94 from $14.99 until 1/4)
Starlink Battle for Atlas ($11.99 from $59.99 until 1/4)
Immortals Fenyx Rising ($14.99 from $59.99 until 1/4)
Assassin’s Creed Ezio Collection ($19.99 from $39.99 until 1/4)
Assassin’s Creed Rebel Collection ($14.79 from $39.99 until 1/4)
Hazelnut Hex ($2.39 from $7.99 until 1/6)
Life of Fly 2 ($k3.99 from $9.99 until 1/9)
Evasion From Hell ($3.99 from $9.99 until 1/9)
Murder Diaries 3 ($3.99 from $9.99 until 1/9)
Aery Sky Castle ($3.99 from $9.99 until 1/9)
Aery A New Frontier ($3.99 from $9.99 until 1/9)
Temple of Horror ($3.99 from $9.99 until 1/9)
Techno Tanks ($1.99 from $4.99 until 1/9)
Antarctica 88 ($2.39 from $5.99 until 1/9)
One Last Memory Reimagined ($3.99 from $9.99 until 1/9)


Atelier Ryza ($29.99 from $59.99 until 1/10)
Atelier Ryza 2 ($29.99 from $59.99 until 1/10)
Atelier Sophie 2 ($41.99 from $59.99 until 1/10)
Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX ($20.99 from $29.99 until 1/10)
Samurai Warriors 5 ($35.99 from $59.99 until 1/10)
Samurai Warriors 5 Digital Deluxe ($53.99 from $89.99 until 1/10)
Plan B from Outer Space ($2.99 from $14.99 until 1/10)
CASE: Animatronics ($4.59 from $19.99 until 1/10)
CASE 2: Animatronics Survival ($4.59 from $19.99 until 1/10)
Persephone ($2.00 from $8.00 until 1/10)
Unichrome: 1-Bit Unicorn Adv ($9.99 from $14.99 until 1/10)

Sales Ending Tomorrow, Thursday, December 22nd

As Far As The Eye ($4.99 from $24.99 until 12/22)
Banners of Ruin ($8.00 from $19.99 until 12/22)
Bite the Bullet ($2.99 from $14.99 until 12/22)
Defend the Rook ($3.59 from $17.99 until 12/22)
Dungeon Village ($7.00 from $14.00 until 12/22)
Game Dev Story ($7.00 from $14.00 until 12/22)
Gas Station Simulator ($13.99 from $19.99 until 12/22)
Kuukiyomi Consider It ($2.49 from $4.99 until 12/22)
Monkey Barrels ($7.49 from $14.99 until 12/22)
Railway Empire ($19.99 from $39.99 until 12/22)
Restless Soul ($9.74 from $14.99 until 12/22)
Station Manager ($7.00 from $14.00 until 12/22)
Suicide Guy Collection ($2.96 from $10.99 until 12/22)
The House of the Dead Remake ($19.99 from $24.99 until 12/22)
Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion ($5.99 from $14.99 until 12/22)

That’s all for today, friends. Tomorrow is Thursday, so we should have a decent plate of new games to look at. And we’ll do just that, as we always do. Beyond that we’ll have some new sales to look at along with any big news that rolls in. I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday, and as always, thanks for reading!