Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for May 29th, 2024. In today’s article, I’ve got a big review for you to read covering 1000xRESIST, a game that completely blew my socks off. I love getting the occasional reminder of why I love this medium so much. After that, some new releases. You might like them! Then, a teeny-tiny list of new sales and a not-so-tiny list of expiring ones. Sure, that all sounds like a solid Wednesday. Let’s get to it!
Reviews & Mini-Views
1000xRESIST ($19.99)
Wow. That’s the first thing that comes to mind. After reading the description for 1000xRESIST on the eShop, I was interested enough to put it in my review queue. There it sat unplayed for a week while I took care of other games, until I fired it up on Sunday night in my usual efforts to work through my always-stuffed pile of to-review games. I had and have a lot on my plate, so I intended to do my usual juggling of the game with other more high-priority games and potentially finish it up for an early June review.
I was immediately struck by the presentation. As you would expect from a game published by Fellow Traveler, this is an indie game. The developer is Sunset Visitor, based in Vancouver, Canada, and this is as far as I can tell their first release as a studio. As such, 1000xRESIST obviously isn’t going to have a AAA budget, but what the team has done with their means is impressive. A real demonstration of what strong art design and a carefully crafted soundscape can do. It had my eyes. It had my ears. It wouldn’t take too long for it to have my heart and mind. And it would not release me until I saw it all the way through to its very end.
What a journey that was. Every time I thought I knew where it was going, it went somewhere else. Not always cleanly, of course. There are a few instances where it’s perhaps trying to do a little more than it needs to. Some parts of its unexpectedly lengthy and twisty narrative are better realized than others. But it always had me thinking, and not just on one theme but on several. 1000xRESIST has a lot to say. Some of it I need to spend more time thinking on. Some of it I probably can never fully understand because it speaks very specifically to situations and contexts I have not lived. But it was all truly fascinating, and in the end it left me with a lot. A lot of questions. Some answers. Some of those answers aren’t as clear as I might have preferred, but life is messy that way.
Anyway, let me give you the basic set-up. I won’t give you much more than that because I refuse to rob anyone of the experience of unfolding it on their own. It’s 1000 years in the future, and things have not gone well for humanity. In a time not far from our current year, aliens called Occupants arrived and brought a disease with them that wiped out practically all life on Earth. One teenage girl named Iris was totally immune, and the remaining survivors, clad in full masked suits to prevent them from breathing in the deadly air, saw her as a potential savior. Clones are made from Iris, and in the future the remnants of the human race consist entirely of Iris’ clones. To them, she is the ALLMOTHER. They live in a society below the surface, while the ALLMOTHER ostensibly fights against the Occupants up above in hopes of perhaps one day freeing Earth from its extraterrestrial plague.
This society is an unusual one. Each clone has its role, but the main ones fall to six of them. Bang Bang Fire, the head of security. Healer, the local doctor. Knower, something of the ultimate librarian. Fixer, who keeps the machines running. Watcher, who observes and records. And Principal, who guides the lot in the near-total absence of the ALLMOTHER. Every so often, the ALLMOTHER calls one of these sisters to come to the Other Side, sending a train to pick her up. Sisters who leave in this fashion are never seen or heard from again, and a new sister is appointed to her vacated role. This is just how it is, hair to hair.
We assume the viewpoint of Watcher, the youngest of the bunch, as she goes through her Communion. This is a type of ceremony wherein a sister dives into the memories of another sister, sharing in their past experiences. In Watcher’s case, she is diving into the ALLMOTHER’s past. We see before this that Watcher’s friend Fixer has been called by the ALLMOTHER, and she boards the train in a tough farewell. Watcher’s Communion is going as normal, when suddenly Fixer hacks in, warning Watcher that the ALLMOTHER isn’t what she seems to be. Afterwards, it’s announced that Fixer has been executed. Watcher is told by Principal to commune with her other sisters to help find clarity. In doing this, we learn more about the sisters, more about the current society, but most importantly more about Iris, the ALLMOTHER.
In terms of gameplay, you’re mostly running around talking to various characters all around the Orchard, the small yet complex facility that much of the game is set in. Sometimes you’ll be doing more actiony bits where you’re skipping from one jump point to the next, and you’ll also run into the odd puzzle. But by and large, you’re just exploring spaces, finding the right people to talk to, choosing what you want to say, and watching things unfold. There were times where the Orchard felt bothersome to navigate, particularly since I wanted to talk to everyone at every opportunity to see what more lore I could pick up. But by the end I kind of had the measure of the place, and it felt a little bit like learning the layout of a new school.
So yes, you’re mainly strapping in for the story here, but what an incredible story. It’s multilayered, full of exciting situations, features some truly memorable characters, and it leaves you with a lot to chew on. There are even a number of different endings, and they’re all interesting to see. We’re mainly seeing the world through the eyes of Watcher, but through the Communions we also explore the points of view of other characters, and there are certainly some different perspectives on people and situations based on who is perceiving them. Which is correct? Which is true? That’s for you to decide, I suppose. Maybe those things don’t exist.
All up, 1000xRESIST took me about a dozen hours to finish and I was enraptured the entire time. Always some story element I wanted to see play out. Always looking forward to the next gorgeous sight. Where was I going to be next? What was the next thing I was going to learn? Are any of these people who I thought they were? I couldn’t put it down. Oh, I almost forgot to mention the voice acting! The whole game is voice acted! Every line of dialogue! It varies in quality but where it’s important it hits perfectly. Credit especially to Nhi Do, who voices the lead character with an astounding amount of nuance according to the situation. The rest of the cast did a nice job, but Nhi Do had to carry a pretty heavy load for narrative reasons, and she absolutely killed it.
If you have even the smallest shred of love in your soul for story-based games, play 1000xRESIST. Some of the best games of this sort feel like getting a fine dinner in a fancy restaurant. This one is like getting the whole damned menu brought to your table, plus a slice of fruit cake because there’s always room for dessert. An absolute masterpiece, and I am grateful that I got to experience it. Hekki grace.
SwitchArcade Score: 5/5
Select New Releases
Capes ($39.99)
This is pretty much XCOM with superheroes, and I expect anyone reading that will know immediately if it’s the kind of thing they would be interested in. I’m not going to say it executes on its concept to the same degree of quality that XCOM does, but it’s not bad at all. If you want to take a ragtag team of superheroes into battle to try and wrest back control of a city from super-villains one turn at a time, you’ll probably dig this. I’ll have a review soon, though.
Terminal 81 ($9.99)
Another one of these horror/mystery games that is leaning into a low-poly aesthetic to evoke the PlayStation 1 era, and hey, the more the merrier I say. For now. It’s set in a neighborhood in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 2008. Some kidnappings pull the protagonist into a situation that runs much deeper than it initially appears. This isn’t the lengthiest of affairs, running just a couple of hours, but it does give you a nice space to run around and explore, plus a few side activities to engage in besides the main story.
Echoes ($9.99)
A narrative adventure game where you do some light point-and-clickery, make choices, and end up at one of four different endings. Murder is afoot in rural America, and it’s up to you to solve the case. But as things always go, there’s more going on in the town of Greenhearth than meets the eye. Indeed, your very sanity will be at stake as you start to piece things together. Can you solve the case and survive to tell the tale? I’m not actually asking for an answer here. It’s rhetorical. Trying to drum up some tension and such. Hire me to punch up your game descriptions, people. I work cheap.
Sales
(North American eShop, US Prices)
Small, small turtle house! Er, I mean… small, small inbox. Maybe you want one of those three games? Over in the outbox, the second round of Arcade Archives 10th Anniversary sales are wrapping up. Smoke ’em if you got ’em. There are tons of other great games finishing up their sales too, so make sure you go over the list carefully.
Select New Games on Sale
SnowRunner ($19.99 from $39.99 until 6/4)
MLB The Show 24 ($39.59 from $59.99 until 6/4)
Umurangi Generation SE ($17.49 from $24.99 until 6/5)
Sales Ending Tomorrow, May 30th
ACA NEOGEO Metal Slug X ($3.99 from $7.99 until 5/30)
ACA NEOGEO Robo Army ($3.99 from $7.99 until 5/30)
ACA NEOGEO Stakes Winner ($3.99 from $7.99 until 5/30)
ACA NEOGEO The Super Spy ($3.99 from $7.99 until 5/30)
ACA NEOGEO World Heroes 2 ($3.99 from $7.99 until 5/30)
Among Us ($3.00 from $5.00 until 5/30)
Apple Slash ($1.99 from $4.99 until 5/30)
Arcade Archives Galaga ($5.59 from $7.99 until 5/30)
Arcade Archives Metal Hawk ($5.59 from $7.99 until 5/30)
Arcade Archives Pac-Land ($5.59 from $7.99 until 5/30)
Arcade Archives Phelios ($5.59 from $7.99 until 5/30)
Arcade Archives The Tower of Druaga ($5.59 from $7.99 until 5/30)
Astebreed ($3.99 from $19.99 until 5/30)
Avatar: The Last Airbender: Quest for Balance ($19.99 from $49.99 until 5/30)
Cat Quest II ($4.49 from $14.99 until 5/30)
Catherine Full Body ($9.99 from $49.99 until 5/30)
CorpoNation: The Sorting Process ($10.49 from $14.99 until 5/30)
Demon Slayer KnY Hinokami Chronicles ($23.99 from $59.99 until 5/30)
Drago Noka ($13.99 from $19.99 until 5/30)
DRAINUS ($13.99 from $19.99 until 5/30)
DreamWorks All-Star Kart Racing ($15.99 from $39.99 until 5/30)
DreamWorks Trolls Remix Rescue ($19.99 from $49.99 until 5/30)
Dying Light: Definitive Edition ($9.99 from $49.99 until 5/30)
Etrian Odyssey II HD ($19.99 from $39.99 until 5/30)
Etrian Odyssey III HD ($19.99 from $39.99 until 5/30)
Gnosia ($17.49 from $24.99 until 5/30)
Hakinowa Explorer Plus ($4.79 from $11.99 until 5/30)
Indigo 7 Quest for Love ($2.99 from $14.99 until 5/30)
Intrepid Izzy ($5.49 from $10.99 until 5/30)
Kero Blaster ($2.99 from $9.99 until 5/30)
Kuukiyomi: Consider It! ($2.49 from $4.99 until 5/30)
Little League World Series Baseball ($7.49 from $49.99 until 5/30)
Lunar Lander Beyond ($23.99 from $29.99 until 5/30)
Mario & Sonic at the Tokyo Olympics ($23.99 from $59.99 until 5/30)
Miraculous: Rise of the Sphinx UE ($5.99 from $59.99 until 5/30)
Monster Panic ($8.39 from $11.99 until 5/30)
NASCAR Arcade Rush ($19.99 from $49.99 until 5/30)
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 Ultimate ($31.99 from $79.99 until 5/30)
Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3 TE ($8.99 from $59.99 until 5/30)
Noel the Mortal Fate ($12.49 from $24.99 until 5/30)
One Way Heroics Plus ($7.49 from $14.99 until 5/30)
Orangeblood ($5.99 from $19.99 until 5/30)
Parasite Pack ($3.19 from $7.99 until 5/30)
Persona 4 Golden ($11.99 from $19.99 until 5/30)
Persona 5 Royal ($29.99 from $59.99 until 5/30)
Persona 5 Tactica ($35.99 from $59.99 until 5/30)
Pickleball Smash ($9.99 from $39.99 until 5/30)
Puyo Puyo Champions ($1.99 from $9.99 until 5/30)
Puyo Puyo Tetris ($4.99 from $19.99 until 5/30)
Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit ($14.99 from $24.99 until 5/30)
Remote Life ($9.49 from $18.99 until 5/30)
Samurai Bringer ($5.99 from $9.99 until 5/30)
Save Room ($1.99 from $4.99 until 5/30)
SEGA AGES, Assorted ($2.39 from $7.99 until 5/30)
Skull Island: Rise of Kong ($15.99 from $39.99 until 5/30)
Sonic Origins ($17.99 from $29.99 until 5/30)
Sonic Superstars ($29.99 from $59.99 until 5/30)
Team Sonic Racing ($14.99 from $29.99 until 5/30)
The Good Life ($15.99 from $39.99 until 5/30)
The Last Faith ($19.59 from $27.99 until 5/30)
The Walking Dead: Destinies ($19.99 from $49.99 until 5/30)
Touhou Luna Nights ($12.59 from $17.99 until 5/30)
UltraGoodness ($2.49 from $4.99 until 5/30)
Unicorn Overlord ($44.99 from $59.99 until 5/30)
Valkyria Chronicles ($4.99 from $19.99 until 5/30)
Valkyria Chronicles 4 ($5.99 from $29.99 until 5/30)
That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back tomorrow with the big list of Thursday releases, plus whatever sales and major news items roll in during the course of the day. Man. What a game. What a damned great game. What am I going to play next? Probably something with a light story that will kick my butt around a bit. Oh right, Wizardry is right here. Perfect. I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday, and as always, thanks for reading!
