Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for March 5th, 2024. In today’s article, we get the party going with a couple of reviews. Our pal Mikhail has jumped into the world of Mediterranea Inferno and lived to tell the tale, while yours truly has been doing a little running and a lot of gunning in Tenement. After that, we look at the new releases of the day. Not so many today, but completely Bin Bunch-free. We earned that. We finish things up with the usual lists of new and expiring sales, in case you need to spend some money. Let’s get to it!
Reviews & Mini-Views
Mediterranea Inferno ($14.99)
Mediterranea Inferno from Milky Way Prince – The Vampire Star‘s Lorenzo Redaelli and the excellent Santa Ragione is a game I bought after a friend recommended it on Steam last year, and it was a superb experience with its blend of striking visuals, rollercoaster and raw narrative, and memorable characters. It is more of a visual novel than adventure game, and it might be one of Santa Ragione’s best releases.
When I first booted up Mediterranea Inferno for my original playthrough on Steam, it had a very unique aesthetic and structure, but I quickly got engrossed in its compelling story. This focuses on three men in Italy, and deals with things like desire, horror, loss, the pandemic, and more with a rollercoaster of tone (in a good way) throughout. Some might consider a few of the topics in the game too close to home, but that’s what elevates this into feeling very human throughout despite the extremes it goes to. Expect things ranging from humor to unfiltered thoughts that you might not expect. Mediterranea Inferno isn’t afraid or ashamed of its story.
The more I played Mediterranea Inferno back then, the more I could see its uncompromising vision, and also ended up being very impressed with its visual storytelling. Expect a playthrough to take you between two and four hours, and you’re encouraged to replay it to see more. I didn’t play Santa Ragione’s Saturnalia until after Mediterranea Inferno, but both games reminded me why the publisher is always worth paying attention to. If you’ve enjoyed prior releases from Santa Ragione, this one will not disappoint you.
I installed Mediterranea Inferno on my Steam Deck OLED and Nintendo Switch OLED model to play together during the review period. It looks stunning on both, but I did notice some interfaces or the text being sluggish on Switch compared to Steam Deck. The dialogue speed or certain animations were the only issues I had with the port because. These made some bits feel choppy or sluggish. The load times in some situations are a bit long as well compared to Steam Deck, but these are small issues. I really wish it had touchscreen support on Switch though. I feel like a broken record when I say this for narrative or adventure games on Switch, but I will not stop until more games that would benefit from it use the touchscreen.
The elevator pitch for Mediterranea Inferno would be an arthouse film told in the style of a Suda51 game. If that sounds appealing to you alongside the premise, you will not be disappointed. The way Mediterranea Inferno blends horror, humor, desire, and other topics in a way that engrosses you from start to finish is commendable. It also is a perfect fit for the Switch’s OLED screen. I just hope it gets touchscreen support in a future update. -Mikhail Madnani
SwitchArcade Score: 4.5/5
Tenement ($9.99)
When this game came out around a month ago, I said that it “looks like a mess, but sometimes there’s fun to be had in such things. I haven’t had a chance to play it yet, so I really can’t say whether this is decent or not." Well, the developer reached out to me and offered to send me a code so that I could say whether it was decent or not. This is a 2D arena shooter where you battle against up to forty bots on eight different maps. You can collect and use a variety of weapons during each match, and your goal is to come out on top by killing as much as you can and dying as little as possible.
I hit the nail on the head that the game is a bit messy. It doesn’t have a very cohesive look to it, and both the controls and physics are a little rough. The AI opponents are fun enough and they sometimes feel like human opponents, but it sure feels odd that the game doesn’t have multiplayer support. Still, there’s some meat on the bone here. While the game puts its free-for-all mode forward by default, there is a mission mode with one hundred specific set-ups to play and complete. The game gets repetitive fairly quickly, and there just isn’t enough variety in the missions and maps to solve that problem. It’s really just about grinding out all the unlocks, but to what end?
So is Tenement decent? Yes, I think I can say that. There’s certainly a bit of fun to be had here, but battling bots gets tiresome after a while. The missions do their best to keep you engaged and I can enjoy a nice unlock-fest as much as the next person, but what the game is truly crying out for is online multiplayer. I think a lot of effort went into making what’s here as good as it can be, but it feels like it’s in service to a core experience that runs out of gas before it runs out of content.
SwitchArcade Score: 3.5/5
New Releases
Expeditions: A MudRunner Game ($49.99)
This game puts a new spin on the MudRunner concept by having you exploring extreme environments in order to carry out various scientific missions. You’ll have to plan your route using an airborne drone, then take the right vehicle out with the gadgets you need in order to accomplish your goals. As you play, you’ll be able to build up your base with new equipment and such. It looks to be another enjoyable romp in the MudRunner series, so if that’s your jam then here you go.
Mediterranea Inferno ($14.99)
A visual novel about three young men who are reconnecting after isolating during the pandemic. You’ll choose daily activities for the three men, and those choices will determine where the story goes. This one is from the creator of Milky Way Prince: The Vampire Star, so if you enjoyed that game then you’ll probably want to check this one out. Well, there’s a review right up there. Go check it out if you need more details.
Plumbers Don’t Wear Ties: Definitive Edition ($19.99)
I don’t know. What do you even say to this? For all of the goofy aspects to Night Trap, there was at least some merit to it. Plumbers Don’t Wear Ties? It’s an FMV game without the FM or the V. By and large just a series of slides telling an extremely stupid story. I guess we’re going to see here just how much blood Limited Run Games can extract from a stone. They do seem to have presented this game with far more effort than it probably deserves, but will that make it worth twenty bucks? That, I suppose, will be what my review will tell you soon.
Focus Tower ($6.99)
One of those basic platformers that sees you platforming your way up a tower that spins around as you move forward. You have a grappling hook, which is the main reason this isn’t in the Bin Bunch. I don’t expect much in the way of fancy dining here, but if you need something new with a grappling hook and you only have seven dollars, this might be worth considering.
Sales
(North American eShop, US Prices)
The good news is that if you want a nice deal on MudRunner: American Wilds, today’s list has one for you. Otherwise, it’s not the most thrilling of scenes in the inbox. The outbox is similarly plain, but give them both a scan and see if anything jumps out at you more than it did me.
Select New Sales
Ultionus: A Tale of Petty Revenge ($4.99 from $9.99 until 3/11)
Mystik Belle Enchanted Edition ($7.49 from $14.99 until 3/11)
Pinball FX Star Trek Pinball DLC ($13.49 from $14.99 until 3/12)
Pinball FX Charlie Brown Xmas DLC ($4.94 from $5.49 until 3/12)
Chants of Sennaar ($15.99 from $19.99 until 3/18)
Dordogne ($13.99 from $19.99 until 3/18)
Call of Cthulhu ($7.99 from $19.99 until 3/18)
Vampyr ($11.99 from $39.99 until 3/18)
Warhammer 40k: Boltgun ($16.49 from $21.99 until 3/18)
Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Storm Ground ($6.99 from $19.99 until 3/18)
Othercide ($11.99 from $29.99 until 3/18)
Nobody Saves the World ($9.99 from $24.99 until 3/18)
Severed ($3.74 from $14.99 until 3/18)
Guacamelee Super Turbo CE ($3.74 from $14.99 until 3/18)
Guacamelee 2 ($4.99 from $19.99 until 3/18)
MudRunner: American Wilds ($7.49 from $24.99 until 3/18)
Immortal Realms: Vampire Wars ($11.99 from $39.99 until 3/25)
Summum Aeterna ($13.99 from $19.99 until 3/25)
Aeterna Noctis ($11.99 from $29.99 until 3/25)
Sales Ending Tomorrow, March 6th
Aliisha: TOoTG ($13.19 from $32.99 until 3/6)
Battle Brothers ($14.99 from $29.99 until 3/6)
Battle Brothers Complete ($36.58 from $60.98 until 3/6)
Bite the Bullet ($2.99 from $14.99 until 3/6)
Blue Fire ($6.79 from $19.99 until 3/6)
Cresteaju ($3.14 from $6.99 until 3/6)
Double Cross ($3.99 from $19.99 until 3/6)
Favela Zombie Shooter ($3.99 from $7.99 until 3/6)
King Jister 3 ($2.69 from $5.99 until 3/6)
Orten Was The Case ($11.99 from $14.99 until 3/6)
Raid on Taihoku ($7.69 from $10.99 until 3/6)
RichMan 11 ($13.29 from $18.99 until 3/6)
RichMan 4 Fun ($9.59 from $11.99 until 3/6)
Super Shadow Break Showdown ($5.84 from $12.99 until 3/6)
Tails of Trainspot ($7.19 from $11.99 until 3/6)
The King’s Bird ($3.99 from $19.99 until 3/6)
Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion ($5.09 from $14.99 until 3/6)
That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back tomorrow with more new releases, more sales, and perhaps some news and/or reviews. It’s a bit rainy here today, and it’s that cold sort of rain that makes walking about outside unpleasant. Well, the sky will do what the sky will do. I hope you all have a terrific Tuesday, and as always, thanks for reading!
