Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for April 1st, 2021. There are no April Fool’s jokes in this article, friends. This is your safe zone with only the usual chicanery about. Compared to last week, this Thursday is positively quiet. We’ve still got a whole bunch of new games to check out, with summaries of each. Nothing huge today, but there are a few smaller games worth looking at. We’ve also got the usual lists of incoming and outgoing sales to look at, such as they are. Let’s go!
New Releases
Dungeon and Puzzles ($9.99)
SwitchArcade Highlight!
What a nice little puzzle game this is. You have to clear 150 hand-crafted levels by defeating all of the enemies and reaching the exit. You’re given different types of equipment to solve each problem with, including swords, bows, shields, and more. Sometimes you can directly defeat the enemy, while other times you might need to push or pull them onto a trap. The aim is to beat the level in as few moves as possible. I suppose at its core it’s a Sokoban-style game, but it goes to show just how good one of those can be when it has some fresh ideas applied to it.
Stick Fight: The Game ($7.50)
SwitchArcade Highlight!
What is it about stickmen that work so well in so many formats? This game sees a bunch of stick-characters battling it out in physics-based combat in a variety of arenas. And when I say a variety, I mean a serious variety: there are 100 levels with plenty of gimmicks to liven things up. There are also tons of weapons to use against your foes. Up to four players can join in on the multiplayer fun via local or online modes. Great silly action, really. The price makes it an easy pick-up provided you’re down with a game that is largely multiplayer-focused in its fun.
What Comes After ($6.99)
SwitchArcade Highlight!
This is a narrative adventure of sorts from the creators of Coffee Talk and Rage in Peace. Vivi goes on a journey to the place the living go after they die, and her means of getting there is a special train filled with souls of the departed. Talk to them to learn their regrets, their joys, their lives, and their deaths. This is a short, heartwarming story with fairly straightforward gameplay and some very sharp writing. It’s very emotional and heavy, so make sure you’re into that kind of thing before signing up. Quite interesting and it might just be something you get a lot from.
Arcade Archives Haunted Castle ($7.99)
The Castlevania series has had its ups and downs, but very rarely did the Konami-made installments reach the lows that they did with this 1988 arcade entry. Granted, you may already know that if you played this game in the Konami Arcade Anniversary set that was released a while back. It has some good music, but otherwise this is a clunky, unfair, and shockingly hard-to-enjoy game by almost any measure. It was one thing to have it as part of a set with some other, better games. Buying it stand-alone? Well, you do what you want. Hamster did its usual good work on the port, but there’s only so much you can do to polish up Haunted Castle.
Abbie’s Farm for Kids and Toddlers ($9.99)
This is another one of those apps largely meant for very young kids. There are all kinds of animals on the farm and you need to feed them the right foods. They’ll also want some water to wash it all down. Nothing happens if the animals aren’t fed, of course. No risk of Tamagotchi-style trauma here. You can also collect materials to bake cakes. There are several locations to visit. It seems like some fairly low-stress enjoyment for the little ones. I’m not the audience for it, so that’s where I’ll leave it.
Acalesia ($4.99)
I’ll say this: if you’ve got a fiver, the Switch has got a hundred side-scrolling action games for you to choose from. Here’s another one. You play as a little pixel guy with a little pixel shotgun who needs to rescue a pixel princess. He’s also collecting pixel treasures and battling pixel monsters. I haven’t had a chance to try this one yet, but it’s not hard to imagine how it goes. If you feel the need to throw another log onto your indie side-scroller fire, this is certainly an option.
Train Station Simulator ($21.99)
I really like the idea of this game, and the way those visuals look stirs something up in me. But it’s not the kind of sim experience I was hoping for, unfortunately. The UI is fiddly, the building options are restrictive, and it’s just a very cumbersome game to play in almost every sense of the word. There are multiple modes and the underlying systems are certainly deep enough to chew on if you can fit them in your mouth, so I’m not saying there isn’t any merit to it. It’s just that it’s not my particular flavor, and I don’t think it really plays as well as you would hope on the Switch’s controls. If you have a lot of patience, you might get something out of this. You’re probably better off playing it on your computer and pocketing some extra money, however.
A Long Way Down ($14.99)
This is a deck-building roguelite RPG, along the lines of things like Slay the Spire. Its reviews on other platforms are… mixed, to say the least. Most of the negative reviews mention just how buggy the game is, and I’m not sure if that’s been resolved for the Switch version or not. Assuming it has, the next hurdle apparently involves the game’s balancing. It’s a little too easy in most instances, with little reason to properly engage in the mechanics save for a couple of boss difficulty spikes. Get around that stuff, and I suppose what you’re left with is a somewhat standard take on a formula that has already been done very well by some other games on the system. At the very least, I like the look of the game. Some nice art here. I’d have to spend more time with it to say anything else.
Moorhuhn Kart 2 ($29.79)
This game costs five dollars on Steam. Even at that price, a lot of players are mixed on it. I’m going to hazard a guess that increasing the price an astonishing six-fold is not going to change anyone’s mind. Anyway, you get seven different racers, eight tracks, and ten different power-up items to play with. There are all the standard modes, including local and online multiplayer. Between the complete lack of challenge, the weak visuals, and some questionable technical performance, I’m not sure why anyone would opt for this over any of the several other, better kart racers on the Switch. At the very least, wait until it goes on sale for three dollars or whatever.
Sales
(North American eShop, US Prices)
Some interesting titles in the inbox today. The pair of Atelier Ryza games are very rarely on sale, and they’re both quite good if you’re into JRPGs. Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles hasn’t been on sale too often before. I’m not sure I’d recommend picking it up, but if you’re going to buy the game it’s better to get it on sale, right? There are some other good games in there, so look carefully and see what jumps out at you. There isn’t much in the outbox that gets me doing jumping jacks on the rooftops, but you might as well check it too.
Select New Games on Sale
Treachery in Beatdown City ($9.99 from $19.99 until 4/5)
Red Rope: Don’t Fall Behind ($2.59 from $12.99 until 4/5)
Abbie’s Farm for Kids & Toddlers ($8.99 from $9.99 until 4/5)
Potion Party ($8.49 from $9.99 until 4/8)
Under Leaves ($9.09 from $12.99 until 4/8)
Brawl Chess ($4.99 from $9.99 until 4/9)
Among Us ($4.00 from $5.00 until 4/11)
Domiverse ($2.99 from $14.99 until 4/12)
Cat Quest II ($8.99 from $14.99 until 4/12)
Hardcore Mecha ($18.74 from $24.99 until 4/12)
Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles ($17.99 from $29.99 until 4/14)
Invisible, Inc. ($13.99 from $19.99 until 4/14)
Don’t Starve ($4.99 from $19.99 until 4/14)
Mark of the Ninja: Remastered ($4.99 from $19.99 until 4/14)
Doom & Destiny ($7.19 from $11.99 until 4/15)
Miner Warfare ($4.79 from $7.99 until 4/15)
Atelier Ryza: ED&tSH ($29.99 from $59.99 until 4/15)
Atelier Ryza 2: LL&tSF ($47.99 from $59.99 until 4/15)
KORG Gadget ($33.60 from $48.00 until 4/19)
Tokyo Dark: Remembrance ($9.99 from $19.99 until 4/20)
Agatha Knife ($5.99 from $11.99 until 4/20)
MechaNika ($2.99 from $5.99 until 4/20)
Necosphere Deluxe ($3.99 from $7.99 until 4/20)
BATTLLOON ($3.49 from $6.99 until 4/20)
Fight ($1.99 from $9.99 until 4/20)
Night Vision ($1.99 from $9.99 until 4/20)
Dogfight ($1.99 from $9.99 until 4/20)
Survival ($1.99 from $9.99 until 4/20)
Guitar ($1.99 from $9.99 until 4/20)
Monkey Business ($1.99 from $9.99 until 4/20)
Teddy Gangs ($1.99 from $9.99 until 4/20)
Chiki-Chiki Boxy Racers ($4.99 from $9.99 until 4/20)
The Midnight Sanctuary ($4.99 from $9.99 until 4/20)
Tiny Metal ($7.49 from $14.99 until 4/20)
Go! Fish Go! ($1.99 from $3.99 until 4/21)
Pet Shop Snacks ($1.99 from $4.99 until 4/21)
Boxing Champs ($2.37 from $9.50 until 4/21)
Squad Killer ($3.99 from $4.99 until 4/21)
Moorhuhn Kart 2 ($23.93 from $29.79 until 4/22)
Task Force Kampas ($1.99 from $5.99 until 4/22)
Ghost Blade HD ($4.49 from $14.99 until 4/22)
UNI ($1.99 from $4.99 until 4/22)
SkyScrappers ($2.49 from $9.99 until 4/22)
Quarantine Circular ($2.99 from $5.99 until 4/22)
Blue Rider ($2.99 from $9.99 until 4/22)
Sales Ending Tomorrow, Friday, April 2nd
#Halloween, Puzzles Dream ($1.99 from $5.99 until 4/2)
#Xmas, Puzzles Dream ($1.99 from $5.99 until 4/2)
39 Days to Mars ($10.04 from $14.99 until 4/2)
4×4 Dirt Track ($5.99 from $11.99 until 4/2)
Battleship ($9.99 from $19.99 until 4/2)
BFF or Die ($5.99 from $7.99 until 4/2)
Black Legend ($26.99 from $29.99 until 4/2)
Car Driving School Simulator ($6.99 from $13.99 until 4/2)
Carnage: Battle Arena ($2.99 from $14.99 until 4/2)
Caveblazers ($4.49 from $14.99 until 4/2)
City Driving Simulator ($5.99 from $11.99 until 4/2)
Clue: Classic Mystery Game ($14.99 from $29.99 until 4/2)
Fatam Betula ($3.84 from $5.49 until 4/2)
Pianista ($19.99 from $24.99 until 4/2)
Root Film ($31.99 from $39.99 until 4/2)
Space Aliens Invaders ($2.99 from $4.99 until 4/2)
The Town of Light: Deluxe ($4.99 from $9.99 until 4/2)
That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back tomorrow with summaries of the rest of the releases for the week. It’s looking pretty light so far, but there are always surprises, aren’t there? We’ll also have a big-pants list of new sales and any extremely exciting news that comes along. I hope you all have a thrilling Thursday, and as always, thanks for reading!
