Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for May 4th, 2023. Oh, it’s that day. The Star Wars day. Nothing Star Wars today in the article, though. Just a whole lot of new releases, from city building to bird finding. There are also the usual lists of new and expiring sales to look at. To tell the truth, I took most of today off to go and watch a movie, so you’ll have to forgive me if I’m a little curt with some of these games. Let’s go!
New Releases
Urbek City Builder ($18.99)
Cities: Skylines has the gap for a SimCity-like experience properly filled, so one might wonder what another city building game has to offer? Well, Urbek City Builder takes a different route. There’s no money for starters. No disasters or really even any properly random elements. Instead it’s a game about using your resources carefully to plan out the city the way you want it to be. It ends up having a considerably more chill vibe as a result, and is perhaps more chill than some may prefer. Reviews of the computer version are mostly positive, at least.
Space Gladiators ($14.99)
Okay, so as near as I can tell this is a humorous take on the Dead Cells concept. Well, more humorous. That game has a nice sense of humor that I appreciate a lot. This one is a bit more on the wacky-for-the-sake-of-wackiness vibe, but the gameplay set-up is familiar. Roguelite platforming action, tons of enemies and bosses to battle, lots of items and gear to tweak your character, several different characters to choose from, and so on. It’s been out for ages on Steam and it’s pretty good there, so unless they biffed up the port here I think this will be of interest to fans of the genre.
Mia and the Dragon Princess ($12.99)
Another Wales Interactive FMV adventure, and it’s more or less set up like the previous ones. The premise sees a young woman yearning for adventure who gets her wish when a mysterious stranger shows up looking for somewhere to hide. This kicks off a series of events that might have our heroine thinking she should have wished for a bag of chips or something instead. Make your choices and arrive at one of ten different outcomes. I’m not really into games like this, but people who are seem to be fairly happy with this publisher’s output. So hey, here’s another one.
No Place Like Home ($24.99)
Oh hey, a farming game. Apparently in this one you’re a girl who is about to move to Mars but decides to visit her grandfather’s house on Earth one last time before she heads out. When she gets there, she finds him missing and his farm in a shambles. Rebuild the farm, fix up the house, explore the surrounding areas, befriend the local animals, and try to get to the bottom of things while you’re at it. You can have an animal party where pigs fly using balloons. I don’t know what more you need me to say.
Pathfinders: Memories ($2.99)
The idea with this one is that you have to draw the path to the goal in each stage, then watch the little character do it. If you mess up you’ll have to correct your plan and try again. Not a whole lot to this one, but I suppose you could guess that much just from the price.
Japanese Escape Games The Prison Underground ($9.99)
Well, I’ll grant that this is the kind of place a person would probably want to escape from. At any rate, this is the sixteenth game in this series and I think we all get the point now. Solve some puzzles to escape from the location du jour. I can’t really muster much enthusiasm for these at this point, but I know some of you are truly enjoying these and I hope you also have fun with this one.
I Love Finding Birds Collector’s Edition ($14.99)
Another hidden object game that you might think is about finding birds but is actually about finding all kinds of things. There are also a bunch of minigames you can play if you get tired of looking for objects.
Jigsaw Puzzle Fever ($7.99)
A truly basic jigsaw puzzle game. There are seventy-five pictures to play with, and four different difficulty levels that present the puzzles at two different piece counts. You can probably find a better, more option-packed jigsaw puzzle game on your Switch if you’re on the hunt for one.
Hola! Reversi ($6.99)
This offers up a basic-butt version of Reversi for one or two players via local multiplayer, and that’s something we’ve got plenty of on the Switch already. It also offers up two other modes that put a twist on the rules, and I actually appreciate the effort. Clubhouse Games is all the Reversi I need, but I imagine someone out there will be interested in this.
Escape the Prison: 3 Days to Freedom ($4.99)
Another Cooking & Publishing game where you just make a series of choices and see where it takes you. The premise is that you’re trying to escape from prison in three days. Don’t expect much in the way of quality writing here or anything.
War Tank Machine Battle Vehicle Simulator – Fight World Wars WWII Mechanic Troopers Royale Driving ($14.99)
More trash from INSTAMARKETINGANDGAME, a publisher who can’t even make trash that is trashily entertaining. No, this is just dull trash, and they have the pluck to charge fifteen bucks for it.
Sales
(North American eShop, US Prices)
Well, that’s not a lot. But there’s already a fair bit on sale, so I guess it makes sense. Nothing in the inbox that I would assertively recommend, but if you’re even a little interested in playing The Stanley Parable you should act now because it’s hard to say when we’ll ever see it on sale again.
Select New Games on Sale
Roundguard ($6.26 from $19.99 until 5/11)
#Funtime ($3.19 from $14.99 until 5/11)
The Ambassador: Fractured Timelines ($3.19 from $14.99 until 5/11)
Deleveled ($2.13 from $9.99 until 5/11)
Cozy Grove ($8.81 from $14.99 until 5/11)
Space Otter Charlie ($6.49 from $14.99 until 5/11)
Lucid Cycle ($2.79 from $6.99 until 5/19)
Drizzlepath: Deja Vu ($2.79 from $6.99 until 5/19)
Mini & Michi ($1.99 from $4.99 until 5/19)
Pretty Girls Breakers Plus ($5.24 from $6.99 until 5/19)
Figment 1 + Figment 2 ($25.99 from $39.99 until 5/25)
IIN ($8.00 from $10.00 until 5/25)
Goroons ($8.00 from $10.00 until 5/25)
Sales Ending Tomorrow, Friday, May 5th
Aces of the Luftwaffe: Squadron ($1.99 from $14.99 until 5/5)
Arcane Vale ($5.59 from $7.99 until 5/5)
Bus Driving Simulator 22 ($13.99 from $27.99 until 5/5)
Don’t Starve ($4.99 from $19.99 until 5/5)
Don’t Starve Together ($1.99 from $14.99 until 5/5)
Drift & Drive ($6.49 from $12.99 until 5/5)
Driving School Sim ($2.47 from $9.99 until 5/5)
Dying Light: DE ($9.99 from $49.99 until 5/5)
El Hijo: A Wild West Tale ($7.99 from $19.99 until 5/5)
Fashion Friends ($1.99 from $9.99 until 5/5)
Golazo! 2: Soccer Cup 2022 ($8.78 from $15.98 until 5/5)
Griftlands ($10.99 from $19.99 until 5/5)
Invisible Inc ($4.99 from $19.99 until 5/5)
Little Big Workshop ($6.99 from $19.99 until 5/5)
Mark of the Ninja ($4.99 from $19.99 until 5/5)
Minabo: A Walk Through Life ($13.49 from $14.99 until 5/5)
Neighbours Back From Hell ($7.49 from $14.99 until 5/5)
One Hand Clapping ($7.49 from $14.99 until 5/5)
Pile Up! Box by Box ($7.49 from $14.99 until 5/5)
Pocket Witch ($3.49 from $4.99 until 5/5)
Police Sim 22 ($9.99 from $19.99 until 5/5)
Real Driving Sim ($4.95 from $9.90 until 5/5)
Skydrift Infinity ($9.99 from $19.99 until 5/5)
The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe ($12.49 from $24.99 until 5/5)
Truck Simulator USA ($7.49 from $14.99 until 5/5)
Venus: Improbable Dream ($3.99 from $9.99 until 5/5)
That’s all for today, friends. I’ll be back tomorrow with the remaining new releases of the week, plus whatever sales and major news items come in during the course of the day. I totally recommend Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 if you liked the other movies. It’s a great capper for the trilogy, and it has a lot of heart. I hope you all have a thrilling Thursday, and as always, thanks for reading!
