Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for November 12th, 2019. There wasn’t a whole lot of interesting news in the last day, but I do have a nice little review for you. On top of that, there are summaries of all of today’s new releases. Nothing as noteworthy as the last couple of weeks, but still some interesting games to look at. We finish things up with a nice list of sales, including a very big outgoing list. Let’s check it out!
Reviews
The Stretchers ($19.99)
Nintendo sometimes releases games out of nowhere, but for the most part such things happen alongside a Nintendo Direct presentation or something. It’s exceedingly rare for a game to drop out of the sky with virtually no fanfare, but that’s just what happened with The Stretchers, which hit the Switch eShop last Friday. Created by Swedish developer Tarsier Studios, who are best known for Little Nightmares, The Stretchers sees you take on the role of a team of paramedics who find themselves suddenly quite busy when people start coming down with the Dizzies.
I’ll say it right away: this game is a lot better if you’re playing with another person. In the two-player mode, each of you takes control of one of the paramedics, forcing you to work together to overcome the game’s obstacles. It’s great fun. If you choose to fly solo, you’ll control both characters in a style that feels a bit like Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. But while that game was designed around the idea of one person controlling two characters, it’s clear The Stretchers was built around the co-op mode. Playing on your own is often awkward and a little too complicated. It’s a decent game when you’re playing on your own, but there’s definitely a wide gap between the two experiences.
At any rate, whether you head out on your own or with a second player, you’ll be doing more or less the same things. Select a mission from the map, jump in your ambulance, and drive to the location. The driving here errs towards the fun end of things, so you can do huge jumps or crash through whatever you like without any real consequences. In two player mode, one person drives while the other operates extra gadgets like a nitro burst. Once you reach the location of the mission, there are a few different things you may find yourself doing.
The core missions have you searching out Dizzy people and bringing them back to your ambulance, a task which often requires you to solve various puzzles and avoid obstacles. You can rack up tons of extra points by seeking out hidden objects and completing sub-goals. Once you’ve got everyone piled into your ambulance, you then need to drive them to the hospital. You would think you’d need to take care while doing this, but you’ll actually get more points for driving wild and smashing into stuff. Besides these missions, you’ll also find yourself on various side-missions. These could involve cutting down trees to build ramps, setting bombs to explode rocks, racing a spark traveling across the power lines, and so on.
You’ve got a reasonably-sized open world to explore, set across a few islands that gradually open up as you progress. There are some secrets to uncover if you dig around, and you’re free to just wander around and do what you like. There isn’t a whole lot to do outside of the missions, but it’s certainly fun to goof around in the ambulance. Again, if you’re playing with someone else, you’re in a better position to get the most out of every aspect of the game.
The Stretchers is an easy game to recommend if you’re the sort that likes to play co-op games on your Switch. The sense of humor is great, the controls are fun, and the puzzles are just challenging enough to make you think a little without ever actually becoming show-stoppers. If you think you’ll end up playing the game on your own, however, it’s less interesting. Not terrible by any means, but also not really worth playing in the game-packed world we live in.
SwitchArcade Score: 4/5
New Releases
Bee Simulator ($39.99)
The word ‘simulator’ has come to mean a lot of different things in video games, and you’ll often find it attached to games that are anything but. Bee Simulator takes more than a few liberties, but the aim of the game is to try to give you the experience of the life of a wild bee. It also aims to educate the player about bees and their current tenuous situation in our ecosystem. This isn’t really my sort of game, but it seems quite well-made and if you have any interest at all in bees, I’m not sure you’ll find anything better around. Yes, it’s even better than the Bee Movie Game.
Draw Chilly ($9.99)
This rather hectic action game sees you playing as a guy named Vladimir who has been hired to help raise a city from Purgatory, level-by-level. Upgrade your city, earn coins to unlock new skills and abilities, and summon the Horsemen of the Apocalypse for the occasional assist. Certainly an odd game, and not one I can really get much of a handle on with a quick glance. I can’t deny that the pixel art looks fantastic, at the very least. The game was developed by Azamatika Games, who were also behind the rather enjoyable Peace, Death, so I’m at least a little confident the gameplay will back up those visuals.
Thief of Thieves: Season One ($19.99)
This is a stealth puzzle game based on the Robert Kirkman comic book series. You get four episodes of sneaky gameplay where you have to plan routes, don disguises, and make narrative choices to build relationships with other characters. It has a cool comic book-style presentation that certainly makes it stand out a bit, but I find the actual design of the game to be a bit too limiting for its own good. There are lots of places where there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to do things another way, but the game typically has one solution in mind, so you’d better find it. Not bad, not great.
Mad Games Tycoon ($39.99)
Already played the heck out of Game Dev Story and want more of that sweet, sweet game studio sim joy? You might enjoy Mad Games Tycoon, a slightly different take on the concept of building a game studio that nevertheless scratches a similar itch. It’s pretty fun, but you can tell the game was designed around a mouse interface as it doesn’t control as smoothly as you’d like on a controller. It’s also worth mentioning that this Switch version is selling for more than three times the price of the Steam version, so if that’s an option for you it’s probably the way to go.
Yaga ($24.99)
You may recognize Yaga from its recent launch on the Apple Arcade service. There are no major differences between this version and that one, except that you’re probably more likely to have a controller you can use with your Switch than your mobile device. Oh, and it costs twenty-five bucks here, which quick math tells us is the cost of five months’ worth of Apple Arcade subscriptions. It’s a decent action-RPG, but as is the case with many of these Apple Arcade migrants, it’s hard to recommend buying here over getting it through your mobile device unless you really can’t get down with subscription services.
Zen Chess Collection ($3.99)
This isn’t a standard chess game, so don’t go looking for The Chessmaster or anything. Instead, this game presents you with 600 chess puzzles that you have to solve. The game will put you into various situations and you’ll need to make the right moves to get out of them. The presentation is extremely minimalistic, and the price is fairly reasonable. There’s a more complete version of this game available on the App Store with 900 puzzles for the same price, which is a better value if you don’t mind playing on your smartphone or tablet, but I don’t think chess fans will be unhappy with what they get in either package.
Sales
Alright, hands up if you bought Romancing SaGa 3 before the discount kicked in. Oh well, I would have just spent that six bucks on candy, I suppose. There are a few good sales here, including Iconoclasts and the Reigns games. Oh, and hey, it looks like Bloo Kid 2 is hitting soon. Nice. In the outbox, we’ve got… a lot. I don’t have any particular recommendations as most of the list is on sale pretty regularly, so comb through it a bit and see if anything strikes your fancy.
New Games on Sale
Romancing SaGa 3 ($23.19 from $28.99 until 12/1)
Farming Simulator ($14.99 from $49.99 until 11/25)
Masters of Anima ($4.99 from $19.99 until 11/25)
MudRunner – American Wilds ($15.99 from $39.99 until 11/25)
Call of Cthulhu ($31.99 from $39.99 until 11/25)
Kensho ($7.49 from $14.99 until 12/1)
Narcos: Rise of the Cartels ($23.99 from $29.99 until 12/3)
Iconoclasts ($11.99 from $19.99 until 11/19)
Reigns: Kings & Queens ($3.99 from $7.99 until 11/18)
Reigns: Game of Thrones ($1.99 from $3.99 until 11/18)
Rollin’ Eggz ($1.99 from $2.99 until 11/24)
Circle of Sumo ($6.99 from $9.99 until 11/18)
Guacamelee! 2 ($9.99 from $19.99 until 11/18)
Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack ($5.49 from $9.99 until 11/18)
Mahjong Stories: Vampire Romance ($2.49 from $4.99 until 12/1)
12 Labours of Hercules ($2.49 from $4.99 until 12/1)
Catch a Duck ($2.49 from $4.99 until 11/25)
Milkmaid of the Milky Way ($1.19 from $5.99 until 11/17)
The Mims Beginning ($6.74 from $8.99 until 11/18)
Bloo Kid 2 ($3.99 from $4.99 until 12/1)
SoccerDie: Cosmic Cup ($5.24 from $6.99 until 11/21)
Sales Ending Tomorrow, Wednesday, November 13th
1979 Revolution: Black Friday ($3.59 from $11.99 until 11/13)
64.0 ($2.39 from $2.99 until 11/13)
Agony ($17.99 from $19.99 until 11/13)
AngerForce: Reloaded ($6.49 from $9.99 until 11/13)
Aquatic Adventure of the Last Human ($3.89 from $12.99 until 11/13)
Bad Dream: Coma ($0.99 from $9.99 until 11/13)
Bedtime Blues ($0.99 from $9.99 until 11/13)
Black Paradox ($7.49 from $14.99 until 11/13)
Blacksea Odyssey ($3.24 from $12.99 until 11/13)
Bleed ($3.59 from $11.99 until 11/13)
Bleed 2 ($4.49 from $14.99 until 11/13)
Clock Simulator ($0.39 from $3.99 until 11/13)
Digerati Indie Bundle ($2.99 from $14.99 until 11/13)
Don’t Die, Mr Robot! ($1.34 from $8.99 until 11/13)
Dungeons & Aliens ($0.39 from $3.99 until 11/13)
Estiman ($0.19 from $1.99 until 11/13)
Fall of Light: Darkest ($3.74 from $14.99 until 11/13)
Flood of Light ($2.44 from $4.99 until 11/13)
Fly O’Clock ($0.19 from $1.99 until 11/13)
Frederic 2: Evil Strikes Back ($0.49 from $4.99 until 11/13)
Frederic: Resurrection of Music ($0.59 from $5.99 until 11/13)
Frost ($3.89 from $12.99 until 11/13)
Glaive: Brick Breaker ($0.99 from $9.99 until 11/13)
Glass Masquerade ($5.99 from $11.99 until 11/13)
Goetia ($0.99 from $9.99 until 11/13)
Golem Gates ($12.49 from $24.99 until 11/13)
Grab Lab ($0.49 from $4.99 until 11/13)
Gunpowder on The Teeth: Arcade ($2.49 from $4.99 until 11/13)
Hacky Zack ($1.99 from $9.99 until 11/13)
Hard West ($1.99 from $19.99 until 11/13)
Horizon Shift ’81 ($0.99 from $9.99 until 11/13)
Hyperide ($0.19 from $1.99 until 11/13)
IHUGU ($0.39 from $3.99 until 11/13)
INK ($2.69 from $8.99 until 11/13)
Jim Is Moving Out! ($4.49 from $14.99 until 11/13)
Letter Quest Remastered ($2.99 from $11.99 until 11/13)
Merchants of Kaidan ($0.99 from $9.99 until 11/13)
Millie ($0.49 from $4.99 until 11/13)
Monster Slayers ($7.49 from $14.99 until 11/13)
My Brother Rabbit ($1.49 from $14.99 until 11/13)
Nefarious ($4.49 from $14.99 until 11/13)
Neon Chrome ($4.49 from $14.99 until 11/13)
No Thing ($0.19 from $1.99 until 11/13)
NoReload Heroes ($0.99 from $9.99 until 11/13)
Odallus: The Dark Call ($5.99 from $11.99 until 11/13)
Omega Strike ($4.49 from $14.99 until 11/13)
Oniken: Unstoppable ($4.99 from $9.99 until 11/13)
Paranautical Activity ($1.59 from $7.99 until 11/13)
Persian Nights: Sands of Wonders ($1.49 from $14.99 until 11/13)
Phantom Doctrine ($6.79 from $19.99 until 11/13)
Pipe Push Paradise ($4.39 from $10.99 until 11/13)
Qbik ($0.49 from $4.99 until 11/13)
Realpolitiks ($2.49 from $24.99 until 11/13)
Reverse Crawl ($6.49 from $12.99 until 11/13)
Risky Rescue ($0.49 from $4.99 until 11/13)
Shikhondo – Soul Eater ($4.75 from $13.99 until 11/13)
Shut Eye ($0.39 from $3.99 until 11/13)
Skelly Selest ($4.99 from $9.99 until 11/13)
Slain: Back From Hell ($5.99 from $19.99 until 11/13)
Slayaway Camp: Butcher’s Cut ($4.49 from $14.99 until 11/13)
Snake vs Snake ($3.59 from $3.99 until 11/13)
Sparkle 3 Genesis ($0.49 from $4.99 until 11/13)
Sparkle Zero ($0.49 from $4.99 until 11/13)
Spectrum ($2.99 from $11.99 until 11/13)
Star Story: The Horizon Escape ($0.99 from $9.99 until 11/13)
Startide ($0.99 from $9.99 until 11/13)
Strikey Sisters ($7.99 from $9.99 until 11/13)
Sudoku Universe ($4.19 from $6.99 until 11/13)
Super Blood Hockey ($8.99 from $14.99 until 11/13)
Super Jumpy Ball ($4.49 from $4.99 until 11/13)
The Adventures of Elena Temple ($1.99 from $4.99 until 11/13)
The Coma: Recut ($5.99 from $19.99 until 11/13)
The Mahjong Huntress ($0.49 from $4.99 until 11/13)
Three Fourths Home: Extended ($1.79 from $8.99 until 11/13)
Timberman VS ($0.19 from $1.99 until 11/13)
Tiny Hands Adventure ($0.79 from $7.99 until 11/13)
Uncanny Valley ($3.39 from $9.99 until 11/13)
Unexplored ($4.50 from $15.00 until 11/13)
Verlet Swing ($7.49 from $14.99 until 11/13)
Vertical Drop Heroes HD ($2.49 from $9.99 until 11/13)
Violett ($0.99 from $9.99 until 11/13)
Vortex Attack EX ($7.89 from $9.99 until 11/13)
That’s all we’ve got for you today, friends. Tomorrow is looking light for new releases, and if it stays that way you can count on some reviews or Mini-Views to plug the gap. Any interesting news and sales that come along will also be found here. As for me, I’m heading back to Romancing SaGa 3 for tonight. I still can’t believe we finally have this game and Trials of Mana officially in English. Ever wait 24 years for something and finally get it? Ahh. Anyway, I hope you all have a great Tuesday and, as always, thanks for reading!
