Tag: featured

Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for January 30th, 2023. In today’s article, we start things off with a few reviews. Fire Emblem Engage takes center stage, with Demolish & Build Classic and Wonderland Nights serving as back-up dancers. There are a handful of new releases to check out including Trek to Yomi and Super Benbo Quest, and the usual lists of new sales and expiring discounts to sort through. Let’s get to work, shall we?

Reviews & Mini-Views

Fire Emblem Engage ($59.99)

I’m of two minds on Fire Emblem Engage. At the end of the day, this series is about the turn-based tactical battles. They’re better in this game than they have been since, I would say, Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest. The new Emblem mechanic is a real game changer, and I’m thrilled to see the return of the weapon triangle. Map designs are solid, and the enemy placements are better at putting pressure on you to go on the offense than most of the recent entries. If I were to grade this game on the mechanical side alone, it would easily be walking away with a better score than Three Houses.

But Fire Emblem isn’t just about the battles, and it’s in those other areas where Engage falls behind. It’s a game that is partly about delivering service to long-time fans of the series, to the point that you would almost think it was an anniversary release. Like many games of that sort, the plot suffers for the sake of shoe-horning in those references. Even at the best of times, Fire Emblem stories aren’t the most impressive of tales, but Engage‘s may well be the most meaningless and uninteresting yet.

On top of that, the characters are more poorly developed than the average Fire Emblem game, falling back on silly tropes even more than the norm. Most characters aren’t any deeper than their gimmick, and the conversations with them tend to go down the road of goofy antics rather than showing actual development. All of this is particularly disappointing after Three Houses did a relatively good job with its narrative elements, and those who come to these games looking for a good story are not going to be very pleased with Engage.

The ambitious and occasionally overbearing social elements of Three Houses have been pulled almost as far back as they could be. While there is still a hub area to go back to between battles, it’s mainly home to a bunch of bizarre minigames that confer entirely unnecessary rewards and aren’t all that enjoyable or amusing. I was one of those folks who found the monastery stuff in Fire Emblem Three Houses a bit too much of a distraction and frequently dull, but even I didn’t want them to rein it in this far. Apparently Intelligent Systems wanted to make a more focused experience this time, and I surely can’t argue against the emphasis resting entirely on the battles this time. I don’t know where the minigames factor into that focus, but here we are.

So yes, it all comes back around to those battles. Luckily, they’re really good. The Emblem system sees twelve classic characters coming back as partners for your characters, granting them access to weapons and abilities for a limited number of turns. It’s a lot of fun experimenting with who you want to pair with who, and having to decide when to pop your Emblem state for the best effect is a welcome additional layer of strategy and tension in battles. And yes, it’s good to see old faces like Lyndis and Ike again. Taking advantage of the returning weapon triangle system gives you more of an advantage than ever, so you have to consider who you send after which enemies.

I also want to applaud the inclusion of the Maddening difficulty from the get-go this time rather than adding it as DLC. While only a small number of players are likely to want to play Fire Emblem Engage this way, it really does underline just how well-designed the tactical elements of this game are. I certainly wouldn’t recommend it to first-timers, but if you’re looking for some extra bite you will be happy with how thoughtfully Maddening mode has been implemented this time. It’s worth the second trip, and in some sense the story being extremely skippable is almost a benefit for such an approach.

As far as the presentation goes, I think it’s terrific. I know some people don’t like how colorful and bright some of the characters look, particularly the two-toned design of the lead, but I kind of dig how pop it is after the far more staid approach of Three Houses. One of the cool things about the Fire Emblem series is in how it isn’t afraid to change up its visual design, and Engage certainly shows us a new side of the series. From a technical standpoint, this looks and runs a lot better than Three Houses did. Intelligent Systems seems to have handled development itself this time, which may explain why the scope of it is smaller, but what it does it does very well. Battle animations look fantastic, and the Mika Pikazo character art translates to 3D surprisingly well. Add in a solid soundtrack and some strong voice acting and there isn’t much to complain about in terms of how the game looks and sounds.

Fire Emblem Engage is a more single-minded entry in the series than we’ve seen in a while. A lot of the things people may have loved about Three Houses don’t return here, and the battles are left to carry the load. The more focused design is by choice and I respect that, but it didn’t mean the characters and story had to be as diminished as they are. It’s fortunate that the battle mechanics ratchet things up this time, with the new Emblem system and the returning weapon triangle adding compelling strategic layers. Fans of the tactical aspect at the core of Fire Emblem will find a lot to like, but it’s a shame that the overall package isn’t as strong.

SwitchArcade Score: 4/5

Demolish & Build Classic ($14.99)

This really should have been an easy win. People love breaking things. The PC version this game is based on is years old by this point and really shouldn’t be too tough to get running nicely on the Switch. But no, this is another disaster from Ultimate Games. You’re the operator of a demolition and construction company, and you’ll take on jobs that see you moving around a handful of connected open world maps. Completing jobs gets you money, and you can reinvest that money into new equipment and such. A solid enough premise. Shame the execution botches things so much.

The technical performance here is wholly unacceptable. The framerate starts chopping the minute you start looking around even the emptiest of areas. Even moderately busy sections drop to a headache-inducing framerate. Driving is deeply unpleasant, with textures loading in late and choppy movement despite how empty the maps are. Collision detection is fussy and it’s easy to get your vehicles stuck in places you can’t get them out of, forcing you to respawn them. The usual UI problem rears its head here, with tiny text that is hard to read on the handheld screen and menus that were clearly built to be navigated with a mouse. The game also doesn’t do a great job of teaching you how to do anything, making for a frustrating initial experience. Even once you know what you’re doing, the game has too many issues to get much joy from it.

Demolish & Build Classic is another in a too-long series of PC ports that don’t do enough to optimize or adjust the experience for the Switch. There’s a good idea at its core, but significant performance issues, fiddly collision detection, and a clumsy UI keep it from achieving the promise of that idea.

SwitchArcade Score: 2/5

Wonderland Nights: White Rabbit’s Diary ($6.99)

Wonderland Nights has an interesting idea behind it, but it perhaps doesn’t do enough to obfuscate the mechanical nature of what it asks of you. You play as the White Rabbit, and your job is to assign guests to various events on each day of a gathering of royalty in Wonderland. Each day a vote is held on a particular issue, and who you put together in which place will help determine the outcome. On top of that, putting certain people together will reveal secrets about them and perhaps even unravel new plot elements. At the end of the gathering, you’ll be given one of a large number of endings based on what happened. You can then start again and try to use the knowledge you have gained to tilt the results of the next game in your favor.

At the start of the day, you simply assign the twelve different characters to the six different activities as you see fit. You have a notebook that starts out basically empty but as you discover things over the course of playthroughs will fill out with useful information. After assigning everyone to events, you’ll watch them all play out. The writing itself is alright, but the voice acting is frankly atrocious and drags the narrative down with it. Some of it sounds like it was recorded in a bathroom, everyone sounds like they’re rushing through their lines, and no one sounds very interested in what they’re doing. That’s unfortunate because without the narrative supporting it, this game is just a process of trial and error until you hit the desired result.

The overall plot of Wonderland Nights is reasonably interesting, but the stunningly poor voice acting and simple gameplay mechanics make it hard to stick with long enough to reveal that whole story. It reminds me a lot of one of those old flash games where you combined various items to see the results, playing over and over again until you got the ending you were after. The art has a unique and striking style, but the rest of the presentation is quite weak. It’s a mildly amusing game to poke at, but it could have been a lot better.

SwitchArcade Score: 3/5

New Releases

Trek To Yomi ($19.99)

A side-scrolling action game that is clearly inspired by the films of Akira Kurosawa, Trek to Yomi certainly has a striking presentation. It’s been out on other platforms for a while, so it’s hardly an unknown quantity. The consensus seems to be that it is a decent, brief cinematic experience that has a few flaws keeping it from being all it can be. What we don’t know is how the game has made the transition to the Switch, a question I’ll answer with a review fairly soon.

Super Benbo Quest: Turbo Deluxe ($10.00)

This is a weird action-platformer that is trying its hardest to be as odd as possible. And it largely succeeds at that. Noteworthy for apparently being banned from Steam for changing its name to all kinds of bizarre things. I think you could call it a piece of art, though whether that makes for a fun game or not is an exercise best left to the reader.

Capybara Madness ($6.99)

Weakfish has a 3D platform adventure that leans heavily on ragdoll physics, similar to the likes of Human Fall Flat. At least to my eye, this game really seems to be trying to hit that game’s vibe. Not necessarily a bad thing, mind you. There are fifteen maps in this one and if you like clowning on weird physics and solving puzzles in unexpected ways, you might find this worth looking into.

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

If I can only point out one thing in the list of new sales today, it would be Radiant Silvergun at an absolutely bonkers price of just twelve American dollars. If you loved Ikaruga or just like shooters in general, you need to add that game to your library post-haste. There isn’t too much catching my eye in the outbox, but do make sure you have a look through both lists yourself to be safe.

Select New Games on Sale

Circa Infinite Ultimate ($1.99 from $10.99 until 2/4)
Nirvana Deluxe Edition ($1.99 from $7.49 until 2/4)
Tcheco in the Castle of Lucio ($1.99 from $4.99 until 2/4)
Galaxy Shooter ($1.99 from $4.99 until 2/4)
Glyph ($1.99 from $9.99 until 2/4)
Instant Tennis ($2.48 from $9.95 until 2/6)
OlliOlli World ($17.99 from $29.99 until 2/6)
Superliminal ($9.99 from $19.99 until 2/6)
The Outer Worlds ($19.798 from $59.99 until 2/6)
Borderlands Legendary Collection ($9.99 from $49.99 until 2/6)
Borderlands GotY Edition ($9.89 from $29.99 until 2/6)
Borderlands Handsome Collection ($9.99 from $39.99 until 2/6)
XCOM 2 Collection ($7.49 from $49.99 until 2/6)
BioShock Remastered ($7.99 from $19.99 until 2/6)
BioShock 2 Remastered ($7.99 from $19.99 until 2/6)
BioShock Infinite CE ($7.99 from $19.99 until 2/6)

BioShock The Collection ($9.99 from $49.99 until 2/6)
PGA Tour 2K21 ($14.99 from $59.99 until 2/6)
Tales from the Borderlands ($14.99 from $24.99 until 2/6)
New Tales from the Borderlands ($19.99 from $39.99 until 2/6)
Carnival Games ($7.99 from $39.99 until 2/6)
L.A. Noire ($24.99 from $49.99 until 2/6)
Sid Meier’s Civ VI ($5.99 from $29.99 until 2/6)
Sid Meier’s Civ VI Platinum ($14.99 from $49.99 until 2/6)
NBA 2K23 ($23.99 from $59.99 until 2/6)
All-Star Fruit Racing ($5.99 from $19.99 until 2/7)
EA Sports FIFA 23 Legacy Edition ($19.99 from $39.99 until 2/7)
Among Us ($3.50 from $5.00 until 2/10)
Radiant Silvergun ($11.99 from $19.99 until 2/10)
SUPERHOT ($12.49 from $24.99 until 2/10)

Dungeons of Dreadrock ($2.50 from $10.00 until 2/13)
Postal Redux ($3.49 from $9.99 until 2/14)
Spirit Roots ($1.99 from $6.99 until 2/14)
Bud Spencer & Terence Hill: S&B ($3.39 from $19.99 until 2/14)
Car Parking Club ($6.49 from $12.99 until 2/17)
Silenced: The House ($2.99 from $4.99 until 2/17)
35MM ($5.99 from $9.99 until 2/17)
Amazing Superhero Squad ($4.19 from $6.99 until 2/17)
Behind Closed Doors ($2.99 from $4.99 until 2/17)
Oddworld: Soulstorm ($34.99 from $49.99 until 2/17)
Hillbilly Doomsday ($2.99 from $4.99 until 2/17)
Smashy Road: Wanted 2 ($1.99 from $7.99 until 2/17)
Wonderland Nights: White Rabbit’s Diary ($5.59 from $6.99 until 2/17)
Witchcrafty ($5.99 from $9.99 until 2/17)
.cat ($1.99 from $9.99 until 2/18)
.dog ($1.99 from $9.99 until 2/19)

Sales Ending Tomorrow, Tuesday, January 31st

Boreal Tenebrae ($1.99 from $6.99 until 1/31)
Chalk Gardens ($1.99 from $5.99 until 1/31)
Crash Drive 3 ($1.99 from $19.99 until 1/31)
Disney Dreamlight Valley Deluxe ($34.99 from $49.99 until 1/31)
Fe ($4.99 from $19.99 until 1/31)
Floppy Knights ($13.99 from $19.99 until 1/31)
Fluffy Horde ($1.99 from $9.99 until 1/31)
Fury Unleashed ($4.99 from $19.99 until 1/31)
Garden Story ($11.99 from $19.99 until 1/31)
Inukari CoD ($1.99 from $7.99 until 1/31)
It’s Kooky ($1.99 from $9.99 until 1/31)
Legendary Eleven ($1.99 from $9.99 until 1/31)
Lost in Random ($5.99 from $29.99 until 1/31)
Monster Destroyer ($2.06 from $7.13 until 1/31)
Need for Speed Hot Pursuit ($7.99 from $39.99 until 1/31)
P.3 ($1.99 from $4.99 until 1/31)
Plants vs Zombies BfN CE ($7.99 from $39.99 until 1/31)
Quell Zen ($1.99 from $7.99 until 1/31)
Space Tail: EJLH ($13.99 from $19.99 until 1/31)
Super Mega Baseball 3 ($13.49 from $44.99 until 1/31)

That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back tomorrow with more reviews, more new releases, more sales, and perhaps some news. I had a pretty nice weekend, and actually managed to spend some quality time with my family for once. It’s great how rested that can make one feel. But it’s the start of the week and that means back to the ol’ grind. I hope you all have a marvelous Monday, and as always, thanks for reading!

Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for January 27th, 2023. In today’s article, we mop up the remaining releases of the week. There are quite a few, thanks to some slipping out after I went home last night. There are summaries of all of them, plus the lists of the newest sales and expiring discounts of the weekend. Let’s get working for the weekend!

New Releases

ATONE: Heart of the Elder Tree ($14.99)

Here’s another game that exited Apple Arcade and is now making its way to other platforms. We really liked ATONE‘s unusual mix of adventure game and rhythm game when we reviewed the Apple Arcade version more than three years ago, so as long as this Switch port doesn’t introduce any issues it’s probably worth your consideration. The strong sense of style really catches the eye, but the puzzles and rhythm battles are what will keep you playing. I’ll have a review fairly soon to let you know how the game plays on our favorite hybrid handheld.

Dance of Death: Du Lac & Fey ($15.99)

This point-and-click style adventure game has an intriguing premise. Lancelot Du Lac and Morgana Le Fey have become immortal, the latter has been turned into a dog, and they solve crimes together in 19th century London. The case they’re taking on this time is naturally none other than stopping Jack the Ripper, and they’re assisted in this aim by a local resident. Reception for this one on other platforms is all over the map. Critics didn’t seem to care for it much despite enjoying the story, but Steam user reviews were considerably sunnier. I’d say that if the premise really speaks to you, then give it a shot. But it’s up to you in the end.

Beholder 3 ($19.99)

Another point-and-click adventure, this one the third game in a series that is at least popular enough to have a third game. You’re Frank, a guy living in a totalitarian state who has recently had a career change and is now a spy working undercover as a landlord. You have to break into the apartments of your tenants and search for anything illegal they might be up to. At the same time, you have to try to worm your way up the ladder in the ministry and try to gain power. It’s a treacherous political path you’re walking, and if you’re not careful you could lose everything. If you liked the first two, you’ll likely want to continue onto this one. I wouldn’t start here, though. If you want to play this series, you should definitely start with the first.

Roller Drama ($14.99)

From the people that brought us Football Drama comes Roller Drama, and it’s broadly a similar affair except for the swap in sports. That is to say, it is mainly a narrative choice-based adventure with some management aspects, even going so far as having you manage the actual matches the team plays in. If you enjoyed Football Drama, this is an easy game to recommend. If you didn’t like it, you probably won’t get into this one either. And if you didn’t play it at all and are interested in this because of roller sports, then as long as you come in with eyes wide open about this being primarily a story-based game, I say give it a shot.

Wonderland Nights: White Rabbit’s Diary ($6.99)

Well, that’s a striking art style. This game is obviously based on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, but instead of following Alice you are instead in the role of the white rabbit. The four nations of Wonderland meet up every year to break bread, and you’re in charge of the schedule. The problem is that there are numerous conflicts and issues between the various parties, and you have to do your best to avoid any messy clashes. Oh, and there’s a wild card in the mix as a strange girl named Alice appears to be poking around. Your choices will determine the very fate of Wonderland. No pressure. I’ll have a review of this one soon.

Match Ventures ($11.99)

Another one of Ocean Media’s matching puzzler games. Do some match-3 puzzles, upgrade the castle and earn new goodies for it, then do some more match-3 puzzles. As you play a story will slowly play out. At least it’s cheaper than Green Sauce’s stuff.

Jewel Match Solitaire Collector’s Edition ($14.99)

Ocean Media goes for another scoop with its Jewel Match Solitaire series. You get a bunch of different solitaire variants to play, some castles to build with the spoils of your victories, and several different card decks to choose from. That’s about all I have to say about this one. It’s solitaire. Do you need solitaire? Here is solitaire.

Farming life ($9.99)

In case you don’t feel like space farming this week, here’s a normal Earth farming game. It looks entirely unremarkable except for the fact that, in true Ultimate Games fashion, the UI seems designed for a mouse and the in-game font suited to a computer monitor, with few considerations for Switch users who might be playing in handheld mode. This is another one of those genres that is so competitive on this platform that I don’t know why anyone bothers putting out middling fare like this. There are so many better choices, and they don’t cost substantially more either.

Hyper Shapes ($4.99)

This is a game that you kind of have to see in motion to properly understand thanks to its minimalistic art style. You’re a dot battling bosses in various stages, and those bosses are also simple shapes. Your means of offense is a ball you can throw, but once you toss it you have to retrieve it to throw it again. All the while, the bosses will be doing their best to wipe you out. Not too bad for a fiver, in my opinion.

nOS new Operating System ($39.99)

This is an exceedingly overpriced novelty app, and you can tell because it is having a day one 95% off sale. You get a calculator, drawing app, day planner, a little puzzle to play, and a few other odds and ends. I’ll grant that at a price of two dollars you might amuse yourself enough to justify the price, but at forty only a fool would buy it. Are you a fool? I don’t think you are, but the power is yours.

Extreme Highway Racing: Real Speed Driver ($9.99)

A thoroughly bland racing game from Megame, a publisher that excels in making thoroughly bland games. I have to believe you can find something better to do with ten bucks than buying this.

Fear in Hospital: Escape Horror Story ($9.99)

A thoroughly bland first-person horror game from Megame, a publisher that excels in making thoroughly bland games. I have to believe you can yet again find something better to do with ten bucks than buying this.

Unblock the Brick: Casual Block Puzzle ($9.99)

A thoroughly bland block sliding puzzle game from Megame, a publisher that excels in making thoroughly bland games. I have to believe you can find yet another better thing to do with ten bucks than buying this.

Anime Girls: Camping Trip ($3.99)

Cooking & Publishing’s latest release is similar to almost all of its other ones. Answer some questions, then answer the same questions again without changing your answers. An absolute waste of four dollars.

Tales of Shinobi Fantasy Magic Anime World Fight RPG Simulator ($4.99)

Not content to drop just one load of trash onto the eShop this week, Midnight Works has another dung pile of a game to try to lure unsuspecting folks. Look at that title. Pure nonsense, as always. This publisher is one of the worst on the eShop, and that is really saying something.

Offroad Moto Bike ($3.99)

Pix Arts may have lost its crown as the worst publisher on the eShop, but it’s still out here doing its thing. In this one you have to drive your bike to the goal on each stage. A rather poor take on this idea, especially considering Trials Rising is regularly on sale for only a few dollars more. Don’t bother.

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

Let’s deal with that outbox first. Specifically, there isn’t much in there at all. Well, that was easy. Now, to the inbox. Football Manager 2023 Touch is at its lowest price yet, and that’s probably the main game I would highlight. Otherwise, it’s a fair bit of stuff that is often on sale with some decent games to pick from. Check through the list yourself and see what strikes your fancy.

Select New Games on Sale

Sail Forth ($17.39 from $19.99 until 2/2)
Freshly Frosted ($7.19 from $9.99 until 2/2)
Roundguard ($6.38 from $19.99 until 2/2)
Cozy Grove ($8.90 from $14.99 until 2/2)
Once Upon a Jester ($11.99 from $14.99 until 2/2)
Aka ($10.39 from $12.99 until 2/3)
I Saw Black Clouds ($7.79 from $12.99 until 2/3)
Don’t Knock Twice ($3.74 from $12.49 until 2/3)
Cyber Shadow ($15.99 from $19.99 until 2/3)
PopSlinger ($7.49 from $14.99 until 2/3)
Battle Chef Brigade Deluxe ($9.99 from $19.99 until 2/3)
Lost in Play ($11.99 from $19.99 until 2/3)
Football Manager 2023 Touch ($35.99 from $44.99 until 2/3)
Live by the Sword: Tactics ($4.99 from $24.99 until 2/7)
Tamashii ($1.99 from $11.99 until 2/9)

Dungeon and Puzzles ($3.49 from $9.99 until 2/9)
Tunnel of Doom ($6.99 from $13.99 until 2/9)
Omega Strike ($2.24 from $14.99 until 2/9)
Uncanny Valley ($1.99 from $9.99 until 2/9)
Trifox ($13.99 from $19.99 until 2/9)
Severed Steel ($12.49 from $24.99 until 2/9)
Underhero ($4.24 from $16.99 until 2/9)
Tower of Time ($4.99 from $24.99 until 2/9)
Signs of the Sojourner ($6.99 from $19.99 until 2/9)
Bloody Rally Show ($9.99 from $19.99 until 2/9)
H1.Jack ($1.99 from $4.99 until 2/10)
Glo ($1.99 from $4.99 until 2/10)
Hell Pages ($5.39 from $8.99 until 2/10)
Quintus & the Absent Truth ($5.99 from $9.99 until 2/10)
Many Faces ($1.99 from $4.99 until 2/10)

Pity Pit (41.99 from $4.99 until 2/10)
Hatup ($3.49 from $4.99 until 2/10)
Vesper Zero Light Edition ($6.99 from $9.99 until 2/10)
Element ($3.59 from $11.99 until 2/13)
Headland ($1.99 from $19.99 until 2/15)
Conduct Together ($1.99 from $19.99 until 2/15)
Fly Together ($1.99 from $15.00 until 2/15)
Collapsed ($3.00 from $15.00 until 2/15)
Depth of Extinction ($3.59 from $14.99 until 2/15)
Green Hell ($2.49 from $24.99 until 2/16)
Monster Boy & Cursed Kingdom ($13.99 from $39.99 until 2/16)
Ultimate ADOM CoC ($7.99 from $19.99 until 2/16)
Thief Simulator ($1.99 from $19.99 until 2/16)
Phantom Doctrine ($1.99 from $19.99 until 2/16)
Pixboy ($1.99 from $4.99 until 2/16)

Loud ($1.99 from $11.99 until 2/16)
XEL ($7.59 from $18.99 until 2/16)
A Juggler’s Tale ($7.19 from $17.99 until 2/16)
Sinless ($1.99 from $9.99 until 2/16)
Rise Eterna ($1.99 from $19.99 until 2/16)
Train Station Renovation ($2.84 from $18.99 until 2/16)
Cooking Simulator ($1.99 from $19.99 until 2/16)
Ultimate Fishing Simulator ($1.99 from $19.99 until 2/16)
Aeolis Tournament ($2.24 from $14.99 until 2/16)
Agony ($1.99 from $19.99 until 2/16)
Smashroom ($1.99 from $9.99 until 2/16)
Wax Museum ($2.49 from $4.99 until 2/16)
Hollow 2 ($1.99 from $19.99 until 2/16)
Armed to the Gears ($2.39 from $11.99 until 2/16)
Danger Scavenger ($1.99 from $9.99 until 2/16)

SpyHack ($1.99 from $9.99 until 2/16)
Aery A Journey Beyond Time ($1.99 from $9.99 until 2/16)
A Long Way Down ($2.24 from $14.99 until 2/16)
Stitchy in Tooki Trouble ($2.59 from $12.99 until 2/16)
Virus: The Outbreak ($1.99 from $9.99 until 2/16)
Dino Galaxy Tennis ($1.99 from $9.99 until 2/16)
Barbero ($2.49 from $4.99 until 2/16)
Panzer Dragoon Remake ($2.49 from $24.99 until 2/16)
Neurodeck ($2.79 from $13.99 until 2/16)
Pawn of the Dead ($1.99 from $9.99 until 2/16)
Hot Shot Burn ($2.24 from $14.99 until 2/16)
Tennis Open 2020 ($1.99 from $9.99 until 2/16)
Orbital Bullet ($11.99 from $19.99 until 2/16)
Soulblight ($3.74 from $14.99 until 2/16)

Sales Ending This Weekend

Kao the Kangaroo ($17.99 from $29.99 until 1/28)
Fly Punch Boom! ($1.99 from $14.99 until 1/29)
Out of the Box ($4.49 from $14.99 until 1/29)
Super Treasure Arena ($1.99 from $9.99 until 1/29)
Tied Together ($2.99 from $14.99 until 1/29)

That’s all for today and this week, friends. We’ll be back next week with some reviews, a bunch of new releases, tons of new sales, and perhaps some news as well. I have another busy weekend of game-playing ahead of me to prepare for some reviews. I hope you all have a great weekend, and as always, thanks for reading!

Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for January 26th, 2023. The big news is that Goldeneye for Nintendo Switch Online finally has a release date, and it’s soon as it could be. We have a ton of new releases to go through today, but I’m sorry to say that only the smallest fraction of them are worthy of your attention. We have summaries of all of them anyway, though. After that, it’s the usual lists of sales. There’s a lot to go through today, so let’s get on it!

News

‘Goldeneye’ Coming to Switch Online Expansion Pack Tomorrow

It was announced a few months back that the Nintendo 64 classic Goldeneye would be making its long-awaited return soon, both on the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack and Xbox via Rare Replay. Soon is apparently now, as Goldeneye will be hitting the service tomorrow. Relive your university years and ignore your aching back and the highly accurate framerate as you step into the shows of Brosnan Bond once again. Friends have all scattered? No worries. Like other Nintendo 64 Switch Online games, Goldeneye can be played online. Just update your app tomorrow and you’ll be all set to shake and not stir.

New Releases

Wonder Boy Anniversary Collection ($49.99)

A while back we saw a Wonder Boy Collection release with a handful of games from the series included, with the notable and lamentable exclusion of The Dragon’s Trap. Well, as is often the case where Strictly Limited Games is involved, we’ve now got a considerably more thorough collection for your consideration. This one is almost shockingly complete, even including things like the SG-1000 port of the original game and the Game Gear version of The Dragon’s Trap. You get a whopping 21 versions and variants of the six distinct games in the series, and that’s a whole lot of gaming fun for a reasonable price. I’ll have a review of this soon, but Wonder Boy fans probably don’t need to wait.

Startup Company Console Edition ($12.99)

I think if we’ve learned anything in the last few years, it’s that running a successful startup is pretty tough. Unless you have tons of money and can tank through the problems, I guess. If you want to have a little fun trying your hand at it yourself but your parents can’t give you a few hundred thousand dollars to do so, you might want to play Startup Company. It’s a business management sim that sees you trying to handle the various elements of a brand new company. Reviews of the computer version have been solid, so it all comes down to how well they’ve adapted what was a rather mouse-heavy interface to console controls.

Onion Assault ($7.99)

From the developer of Gunman Clive and Mechstermination Force comes this homage to the veggie-throwing joy of Super Mario Bros. 2/USA. Pick up veggies and throw them at baddies, switches, and other things. Pick up baddies and throw them, too. Pick up tanks and use them to shoot baddies. There are a lot of clever ideas packed into this game’s sixteen stages, and if you enjoyed the previous efforts of this developer I would say this is an easy recommendation.

Mars Base ($19.99)

After everyone moped about the Switch having too many farming sims, this latest farming sim is escaping to the one place that hasn’t been corrupted by complainers…. SPACE! So yes, Mars Base is another farming game, but it separates itself from the pack by being set on the Red Planet itself. That involves a few extra challenges not seen in more terrestrial affairs. It sounds like a cool twist, but the reception to the computer version has been surprisingly mixed. You may want to wait this one out a bit to see how this Switch version settles in before taking the plunge.

Arcade Archives New Zealand Story ($7.99)

Taito’s adorable-as-heck platformer was a pretty big hit back in the day, particularly through its many home conversions across countless platforms. You play as a little kiwi and have to make your way through fairly large levels full of hazards, enemies, and gimmicks. It still holds up fairly well, so if you want one of those rare platformers in the Arcade Archives line, this is a great pick.

7 Days to End with You ($11.99)

This is an interesting one. We’ve seen a few games before that play with language, but it’s not something you see often. The premise is that you don’t know any of the words of the language spoken by the people of this world. You have to deduce the meanings of words and try to figure out the little story that plays out over the course of seven days in the lives of two people. Only by fully figuring out the language will you be able to reach the true ending of this story. Fascinating stuff.

pixelBOT EXTREME! ($9.99)

A side-scrolling shooter with an interesting gimmick, albeit one we have seen in some other games before. The idea is that each of your buttons is matched with a color and you need to kill enemies matching that color with the correct button. It adds a little extra element to think about as you make your way through the game’s twenty-five stages. You can play with a friend in local multiplayer co-op, with each of you taking your share of the colors. It looks pretty fun, but I haven’t had a chance to play it yet. I do wish they would have recolored the buttons in the UI to match the Super Famicom color layout rather than the Xbox one, but since the Switch buttons have no colors associated with them I suppose it doesn’t really matter.

DobbyxEscape: Spooky Escape Adventure ($3.99)

LKMAD makes some nice little hidden object puzzle games at reasonable prices, and this looks like another good one. You get six different locations with some fun challenges to solve, and I really love the more cartoony art style in this game. Not much more to say than that. If you enjoyed Panmorphia or Kosmonavtes, you’ll want to give this a closer look.

Bike Clash ($9.99)

T-Bull has a motorbike racing game for us today. It looks acceptable, I suppose. While it boasts local multiplayer, note that it means local wireless multiplayer. You’ll need two Switch consoles to play that way. Race to be 1st because there is no room to be 2st. Personally I don’t find the games from this publisher to be very good, but there must be some fans out there or else we wouldn’t see so many games come from it. If you are one of them, here you go.

Uphill Rush Water Park Racing ($9.99)

Here’s a port of a free-to-play mobile game. Give it a try on your mobile device to see how well you like it. There are a bunch of levels, some unlockables, a mode where you can create your own ride, and a UI that looks barely modified from its mobile form. Is it worth ten bucks to buy this version over just playing the free mobile game? Probably not, but that’s for you to decide.

Japanese Escape from The Room With Sturdy Door ($9.99)

Already starting to run dry on themes for this series, it seems. So yes, it’s another one of these room escape games, and the gimmick this time is that you are in a room with a sturdy door. Really, really solid door. Just… well-constructed. Can you defeat it? Probably. It’s still just a door.

Yeah! Fighting Girl ($15.00)

It’s another one of those melee battler games with sexy lady characters and very little content. Choose one of five characters and go battle enemies in short stages and arenas. Upgrade some stuff with the cash you earn, then go do it again. Keep going until you’re able to actually beat the game. It’s grind-heavy, and the gameplay isn’t very fun. Definitely no Croixleur Sigma, and that’s not even a particularly high bar of quality. It’s probably going to sell a lot anyway.

Sunwards ($15.00)

Another melee battler game from the same publisher as Yeah! Fighting Girl, and I don’t have much to say that I didn’t already say in that last description. Just one character in this one and while the graphics look a lot better, the gameplay is just as poor. You can find a lot of better games for this price on the eShop. It’s probably going to sell a lot anyway.

Ginnung ($5.00)

Hey, a five dollar Switch platformer that actually costs exactly five dollars. Neat! This one is a precision platformer of sorts with more than fifty levels to play. It follows the Celeste rules where you can do a dash in any direction but need to touch something solid before you can dash again. There are secret routes and hidden collectibles to find if you’re really feeling frisky. This seems fine for the price it’s asking.

Zodiacats ($2.99)

Another one of those games where you need to arrange the tiles properly to display the picture. The theme here is both cats and astrology, and you’ll get information on both as you play. It’s a way to spend three bucks if you are not interested in a couple delicious Snickers bars. I would take the delicious Snickers bars, though. Definitely more happiness to be found in them, and the chewy nougat would ensure they last longer than this game.

Cubic Light ($2.99)

This puzzle game has you placing blocks and changing their colors as needed to light up the whole stage. There are seventy-five levels in total. A decent enough little logic puzzle for the meager price it’s asking. Probably better than a couple of mouth-watering Snickers bars.

Poker Legends: Omaha Champions ($9.99)

T-Bull has another game for us today, and it’s a pretty bland take on Omaha Poker. Single-player only, so you’re just up against CPU opponents. Play in tournaments and try to work your way up the rankings. Feels like you could find a much better free game in this style on the App Store if you searched for ten or fifteen seconds.

Pipeline Panic ($14.99)

A twin-stick action game crossed with base defense, Pipeline Panic sees you defending Earth’s important pipelines from radioactive monsters. You’ll have to fight off creatures using a wide array of weapons while doing the occasional repair job on the pipelines. You can also construct towers to help you fend of the fiends. It looks okay, but I’m not sure why it’s four bucks on Steam and fifteen bucks on the eShop. It would be an easy punt at the former price but at the latter it’s really hard to recommend.

Nature Escapes Collector’s Edition ($14.99)

Another hidden object thing from Ocean Media. They seem to really be going for it this time with the price, but as far as I can tell this is just the same sort of thing they’ve released a dozen or so of up until now. Find the objects, play some mini-games, and revel in the knowledge that you own a collector’s edition. Sure to appreciate in price over time. Might pay for your kid’s college tuition if you keep it in good condition.

Demolition Inc HD ($9.99)

You play as a demolition worker named Mike who has been given the job to do some wrecking on Earth. Oh yeah, Mike is an alien. So you fly around in your UFO and use various tools and weapons to try to set off chain reactions of destruction. It’s physics-based fun in three cities and fifteen districts, with extra modes to mess with after you’ve completed the campaign. This one is well-liked over on Steam and I think it has a good chance of finding fans on the Switch as well.

OddBallers ($19.99)

Ubisoft’s long-delayed multiplayer dodgeball party game appears to finally be ready to release. Up to six players via online or local multiplayer can get in on the fun, whipping whatever you can get your hands on at your opponents in a bid to be the last one standing. There are thirty different arenas to play in, each with its own characteristics, and a whole pile of character customization options. I haven’t had a chance to play this one yet, but I’m certainly hoping it lives up to its potential.

Haunted Zombie Slaughter ($14.99)

TROOOZE has a bland top-down zombie-themed shooter for us, and I really question if the world needs another one of these. Well, this won’t be the last by any means. Feel free to bring in a second player for some local multiplayer co-op if you want to share your misery. Also, I love that mere zombies weren’t enough. No, they had to be haunted zombies. Does that mean there are evil spirits pestering the zombies? Wouldn’t that distract them, making it easier to get away? Questions better reserved for a developer that puts half a thought into its designs, I suppose.

Red Hands – 2 Player Games ($4.99)

I cannot stress enough that you do not need a video game to play Slaps. You just need two humans with hands to play. There’s seemingly no AI opponent in this video game version either, and while you get different hands to choose from, the art is just kind of… amateur. Save your five dollars for pretty much anything else.

Animal Super Craft – Maker Word Simulator Deluxe Game 2023 ($1.99)

In case you needed some lining for the kitty litter box, Midnight Works has a new game available. It’s trash, as usual. I love that they threw ‘word’ in the title. It’s a bloody 2.5D platformer. Good luck pulling in that Wordle crowd, you absolute bozo clowns.

Chain Car Stunt Simulator – 3D Extreme Highway Car Driving Games ($1.99)

DEZVOLT Games? A new challenger has appeared! And they have never heard of VG Games or Midnight Works, no sir! As you can guess from the stupid SEO optimized title, this game is a pile of garbage. I’ll be looking forward to seeing what rubbish comes from this new crap-sack publisher in the future!

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

Continuing the recent theme, there isn’t much going on sales-wise. I’d imagine that tomorrow will be better in this regard, but for now there isn’t much action in either the inbox or the outbox. Have a look at both lists anyway, just in case.

Select New Games on Sale

Out of the Box ($4.49 from $14.99 until 1/29)
B.ARK ($5.99 from $9.99 until 2/1)
Adventures of Pip ($4.99 from $9.99 until 2/1)
Dead by Daylight ($11.99 from $29.99 until 2/8)
Dead by Daylight: Ultimate Edition ($41.99 from $69.99 until 2/8)
Save Koch ($2.00 from $20.00 until 2/14)
Speedway Racing ($1.99 from $9.99 until 2/15)
Cattails ($3.74 from $14.99 until 2/15)

Sales Ending Tomorrow, Friday, January 27th

Bloodwash ($7.99 from $9.99 until 1/27)
Castle of Pixel Skulls ($1.99 from $4.99 until 1/27)
Commandos 2 HD Remaster ($14.99 from $19.99 until 1/27)
Devastator ($2.79 from $6.99 until 1/27)
Horned Knight ($1.99 from $5.99 until 1/27)
Immortal Realms: Vampire Wars ($13.99 from $39.99 until 1/27)
Inferno 2 ($1.99 from $4.99 until 1/27)
Jack ‘n’ Hat ($1.99 from $7.99 until 1/27)
Luckslinger ($1.99 from $9.99 until 1/27)
Lumini ($1.99 from $9.99 until 1/27)
Neon Souls ($3.99 from $4.99 until 1/27)
Pecaminosa ($5.99 from $14.99 until 1/27)
Port Royale 4 ($24.99 from $49.99 until 1/27)
Retro Highway ($2.99 from $5.99 until 1/27)
SkateBIRD ($4.99 from $19.99 until 1/27)
The Bug Butcher ($1.99 from $7.99 until 1/27)

That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back tomorrow with the remaining releases of the week, plus a bunch of sales and perhaps some news. Are you excited for the return of Goldeneye? It’s certainly wild to see the first externally-licensed Nintendo Switch Online game is as big a get as that one. I hope you all have a fantastic Thursday, and as always, thanks for reading!

Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for January 24th, 2023. We’ve got a few more reviews for you today, all of which were written by yours truly. The main star is Persona 4 Golden, and backing it up are the decent Void Prison and the not-so-decent Motorcycle Mechanic Simulator 2021. After that, we’ve got a couple of new releases to look at, one of which is rather intriguing. Finally, the lists of new and outgoing sales are waiting for you to sift through. Let’s get to it!

Reviews & Mini-Views

Persona 4 Golden ($19.99)

I mean, yes. I’m going to do it. If this isn’t a full five out of five, what is? While Persona 3 lost as much as it gained in its transition from PlayStation 2 to PlayStation Portable, Persona 4‘s jump from PlayStation 2 to PlayStation Vita was, well, nothing short of golden. It had everything the original game had, plus a whole lot more. And not only did it not have to compromise its visual presentation in the process, it actually was able to improve it. This Switch version uses the Vita Persona 4 Golden as its base, upscaling and upgrading the graphics where it can, adding the option to choose between English and Japanese voices, putting in more granular difficulty options, and including a highly-welcome quick save feature. It’s a total win.

In broad strokes, the gameplay of Persona 4 is similar to that of Persona 3. By day, you’ll do normal teenager things like attend school, hang out with your friends, and study. By night, you’ll explore dungeons and engage in turn-based battles against evil creatures using the power of your Persona. It’s largely up to you how you want to spend your time each day, and it’s important to make the most of it. You have to decide whether you want to devote more time to building relationships or fighting evil, but whatever you choose you’ll have to overcome hurdles at set points on the calendar.

In the particulars, there are a lot of differences between the previous game and this one. The setting is in the countryside rather than the big city, which itself sets a different mood. While Persona 3 saw you trying to explore the massive dungeon of Tartarus to get to the bottom of a mysterious mind-destroying phenomenon, Persona 4 has you trying to solve a series of mysterious murders. The main link between them seems to be televisions, and you’ll soon find yourself venturing into the TV World to battle evil demons and monsters. Instead of exploring one big dungeon, you’re dealing with several smaller ones, each with its own theme. I’ve heard people say that if Persona 3 is Buffy the Vampire Slayer, then Persona 4 is Scooby-Doo, and I can’t really argue with that.

Like its immediate predecessor and successor, Persona 4 is an exceptional JRPG experience. The low-pressure time management and relationship side of the game blends perfectly with the role-playing bits, playing off of each other in ways that make sense and bring out the best in both. Pursuing the social links with characters not only rewards you with some satisfying mini-stories, but also strengthens you in the role-playing side. The overall plot is fantastic, and the characters in this game really stand out. There are some character bits that perhaps don’t land as well as one would hope, but on the whole it’s hard not to get attached to this wacky crew. People tend to love these characters even above those in other Persona games, and that’s not for nothing.

The gameplay also holds up its end of things. While it’s down to preference as to whether you like Persona 3‘s single giant dungeon or Persona 4‘s many smaller dungeons more, it’s hard to deny that the latter’s have more personality. I also think that Persona 4 has a marginally fairer difficulty curve, but that might just because Persona 3 trained me well. By default it’s a relatively challenging affair that forces you to actually use your brain a little bit in battles and make some proper preparations for boss battles, but there are so many tweaks and toggles in this version that you can make it as easy or hard as you want it to be. The core loop of leveling up, fusing, and gradually building a powerful team of Personas to use is also a winner.

Persona 4 Golden is shining its absolute brightest in this Switch port, and it was already a truly brilliant game that any fan of the genre should play. The fact that you can get an RPG this great for such a low price is wild, and Persona 4 has always been a great game to enjoy on a portable. If you already played through it on the Vita, I’m not sure you’ll find enough here to make it worth another scoop, but if this is your first time tuning in to the Midnight Channel the Switch version is an incredible way to experience it.

SwitchArcade Score: 5/5

Void Prison ($2.99)

Void Prison feels a lot like the kinds of amusing mobile games we used to see on the regular back in the glory days of iOS. It’s cheap, fun, and while it doesn’t make a huge lasting impression, it’ll be a good friend to you for a week or so. You’re in a circular arena with a lot of unfriendly enemies who teleport in with ever-increasing numbers. You have a gun that you can fire in any direction with the right stick, and you can roll. You can pick up the occasional power-up. Oh, and the enemies can’t hurt you. They can only bump you backwards. Take a bullet, bump. Run into a foe, bump. But if you touch the outer edge of the arena, you’re toast. The goal is to last as long as you can. The longer you survive, the higher in the online leaderboards you’ll place and the more skins and power-ups you’ll unlock. That is everything there is to it, and I do mean that.

It’s a fun game to play, but it gets repetitive after a while because very little changes from session to session. There just aren’t very many variables in play in Void Prison, and the ones that are here feel a little more random than I’d prefer. You can be doing everything right only to have an enemy pop in next to where you are standing and bounce you out without any recourse. Void Prison is best enjoyed as a little snack here and there, a few sessions at a time. In that capacity, it certainly earns its meager keep.

SwitchArcade Score: 3.5/5

Motorcycle Mechanic Simulator 2021 ($19.99)

Let me start this review by saying that if you enjoyed any of the other mechanic simulator games released on Switch by Ultimate, you’ll probably have a nice time with this one. It’s another scoop of the same gameplay seen several times before. This game isn’t doing anything wrong that all of the other games before it didn’t already do. But that’s part of the problem, isn’t it? Six years down the line, and we’re getting the same old thoughtless PC ports from this publisher. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t. But when it does, I suspect it’s only by sheer chance. Nothing I can see here suggests that Ultimate considered how this game would play on this platform. The UI is dreadfully clumsy and obviously designed for a mouse. The text is small enough to be nearly illegible at times on the handheld screen. It’s buggy in a lot of weird ways.

It’s hardly surprising that Motorcyle Mechanic Simulator 2021 is as unpleasant to play on the Switch as it is. Most of these simulator games are, simply because they’re built around PC play and the proper considerations haven’t been made for the Switch’s input methods and display. If you can get your head around the terrible controls and user interface, you might have fun taking apart bikes, fixing them, and putting them back together again. But at the very least, I’d wait for a deep, deep discount.

SwitchArcade Score: 2/5

New Releases

Right and Down ($9.99)

This looks interesting. It’s a roguelite card game, and yes I know we have a lot of those, but this one has a gimmick wherein the moves you can make are right or down. Each turn you make that one choice and have to live or die with the results. The dungeons are randomly generated, but everything else in the game is fixed, so you have all the information you need to make the best choice at any given moment. There are several unlockable alternate heroes, tons of artifacts to unlock that can modify your abilities, and a total of nine different dungeons to tackle, each with an additional rule to mix things up. I haven’t had a chance to play this one yet, but it seems like a lot of fun to me.

Garden of Pets ($7.99)

They say that nature abhors a vacuum, and if there is one vacuum on the Switch that can be felt it is the lack of Nintendogs. So here is another game making an attempt to fill that hold, with a variety of different dog breeds to choose from and a number of activities you can engage in with them. You can also decorate the garden space they inhabit. It doesn’t look very fancy to me, but I suppose people can latch on to all kinds of things if they’re cute enough. But just having dogs when it says pets in the title? When will I get my leopard gecko pet-raising sim, hunh?

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

Well, not much in either list today. Haiku, the Robot is pretty solid and that is its lowest price yet. Otherwise, I don’t have much to say. The New Year’s sales have truly subsided at this point, but I’m sure all of our wallets could use a rest anyway. For those looking to toss some cash, I’m sure we’ll find some reasons to do so later on in the week.

Select New Games on Sale

Haiku the Robot ($13.99 from $19.99 until 1/30)
Pid ($1.99 from $19.99 until 1/30)
Furry Hentai Tangram ($2.00 from $2.99 until 1/30)
Hot Tentacles Shooter ($3.34 from $4.99 until 1/30)
Lonesome Village ($14.99 from $19.99 until 1/30)
Floppy Knights ($13.99 from $19.99 until 1/31)
Overwatch 2: Watchpoint Pack ($23.99 from $39.99 until 2/6)
LIT: Bend the Light ($5.60 from $8.00 until 2/12)
Mail Mole + Expansions ($9.99 from $14.99 until 2/13)
Package Inc ($4.49 from $4.99 until 2/13)
Alpaca Ball Allstars ($7.99 from $19.99 until 2/13)
Discolored ($1.99 from $9.99 until 2/13)
The Company Man ($12.99 from $19.99 until 2/13)
Classic Games Collection Vol.2 ($1.99 from $4.99 until 2/13)

Sales Ending Tomorrow, Wednesday, January 25th

Azure Saga Pathfinder Deluxe ($2.99 from $9.99 until 1/25)
Coffee Talk ($8.70 from $12.99 until 1/25)
Jade Order ($1.99 from $2.99 until 1/25)
Rage in Peace ($3.89 from $12.99 until 1/25)
She and the Light Bearer ($2.99 from $9.99 until 1/25)

That’s all for today, friends. I got my fifth vaccine shot today, and it’s my first Omicron one. I have absolutely no idea how hard the side effects will kick my booty, so I can’t guarantee we’ll have an article tomorrow. If I can crawl out of bed, I absolutely will do one. And if I do, you can look forward to more new releases and sales, plus whatever big news hits. I hope you all have a great Tuesday, and as always, thanks for reading!

Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for January 23rd, 2023. In today’s article, we’ve got a trio of reviews for you. We’ve got my thoughts on Persona 3 Portable and NeverAwake, while our pal Mikhail has a slick write-up of the excellent A Space for the Unbound. After that, we’ve got some new releases to check out, plus the usual lists of new and outgoing sales. Let’s get this party started!

Reviews & Mini-Views

Persona 3 Portable ($19.99)

So hey, I’m the person that likes Persona 3 best out of the last three games in the series. It’s me, I did it. I like the characters, I like their arcs, I like the main plot, and I like the friction in the game that was smoothed out of its follow-ups. It has a gutsy ending, and I think it’s a really cool game. I gave Persona 5 Royal a perfect five, so I guess that’s it then. Persona 3, five out of five, pack it up and head home.

Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. There are three versions of Persona 3, you see. I guess we can call this the fourth. First there was Persona 3 for PlayStation 2. Never buy the first version of a modern Persona game, friends. The following year saw the release of Persona 3 FES for the PlayStation 2. It added a wholly unnecessary epilogue called The Answer which, as after-the-fact epilogues often do, messed with the excellent ending of the base game. It also added some story bits to the main game, let you take Koromaru for walks, and tossed in some extra content and options here and there. Nothing from the original game was left behind in the process. It’s a great way to play Persona 3.

A couple of years later, Atlus decided to bring out a version of Persona 3 for the highly successful PlayStation Portable. While the impressive handheld often punched well above its weight, it didn’t have quite enough power or disc space for direct PlayStation 2 ports. So Atlus cut back on some elements of the original game, removing animated cut-scenes and swapping out the free-roaming movement for a more visual novel-like presentation. It also removed the epilogue from FES, while at the same time adding a new female version of the main character to give you a different perspective on the story complete with new social links. There were also a number of genuinely helpful quality of life improvements, like giving you the option of direct control over your party members.

That makes porting the game to modern consoles a tough matter. You can either bring over the PlayStation 2 FES and lose the female main character and all of the gameplay improvements of the PlayStation Portable version, or you can bring over Persona 3 Portable and lose both The Answer and the superior presentation of the PlayStation 2 game. There probably isn’t a choice here that will please everyone short of perhaps remaking the game so that it has the best of both worlds. Atlus has opted for Persona 3 Portable, upscaling the visuals and giving it a few tweaks to update it that much more.

I didn’t mind the sacrifices Persona 3 Portable made in its time and place too much, but that was more than a dozen years ago. I wish I could say I could look past the cutbacks, but I can’t. Not completely. It’s less atmospheric. You don’t feel the locations as well in Portable. The characters feel considerably less expressive. On top of all of that, the upscaling done on the backgrounds here doesn’t look very good. This may well be the worst I have ever seen any version of Persona 3 look. I love Persona 3, and I find it quite likely that for many new fans of the series, this will be their first brush with this entry, and frankly I think it deserved better.

That said, at its core this is still Persona 3. Still the same great characters, fascinating plot, challenging bosses, and enjoyable gameplay mechanics. Pushing farther and farther into the towering Tartarus is very satisfying, and you truly feel like you’re ascending an impossibly large dungeon piece by piece. There are lots of Social Links to develop, and some of the stories that spring from them are superb. The overall plot is twisty and at times heart-wrenching, and the ending is quite poignant. It’s a long haul to reach that ending, but I belive such journeys are best made on a handheld. The new quick save feature is perhaps the best new addition for this port, allowing you to quickly end your session whenever you might need to.

The trimmed-down-for-PSP presentation of Persona 3 Portable was an overall detriment to the game in 2009/2010, and it hurts it even more in 2023. Some nasty upscaling works against the stylish UI and excellent character art, and I do at least wish the removed animated cut-scenes had been reinstated for this version. Even with all of that in mind, this is still a great JRPG. Challenging, compelling gameplay mechanics combined with a strong story and a fantastic soundtrack make this an easy pick-up for fans of the genre and series alike, even if one can’t help but wish for a less compromised version.

SwitchArcade Score: 4/5

NeverAwake ($24.99)

There’s no doubt about it, NeverAwake is a very cool shooting game. I haven’t played anything else quite like it, and the most surprising thing is that for all of the unusual things it does, all of it works really well. The premise involves a girl who can’t wake up, but we’re in the dark about what happened to her at the outset. We have to navigate her nightmares, picking up souls and defeating the terrors that lurk within. The game spans more than eighty levels, which sounds like an absolutely bonkers number for a shooting game, but like I said, NeverAwake is a bit different from the norm.

The levels in NeverAwake are pretty short on the whole. After a couple of minutes at the most, they’ll loop back around to the start. Your goal isn’t to play through them, though. No, your goal is to gather up enough souls to bring your meter to 100%, a process that may take you less than a single lap if you know what you’re doing. Souls are often dropped by defeated enemies, but you’ll sometimes need to extract them by shooting a giant crystal or by defeating a boss. Clearing levels faster earns you better rewards and gives you a better place on the leaderboards.

As in a standard shoot-em-up, the levels scroll on their own. The controls are more akin to a twin-stick shooter, however. Use the left stick to move, the right to fire your regular attack, the left trigger for a useful dash, and the right trigger to use your equipped special attack. You can turn on an assist that helps you aim, or you can just go it on your own. As you play you’ll unlock various extra special attacks and gear pieces that convey a number of benefits, which you can buy with souls and equip in whatever combinations you desire. You’ll also unlock some other extras, with things being handed out to you at a steady pace to keep things lively. Oh, and you’ll also slowly be fed the game’s plot, which is rather intriguing.

NeverAwake plays well, has a fascinating, strong sense of style, and is very unique. Its brief levels meant I ended up devouring the game like a bowl of popcorn, and I had a blast with every minute of it. The story and sense of wonder at what bizarre situation I would wade into next kept me going to the end, and the unlockable challenges and leaderboards brought me back for more still. If you like shooting games, action games, or twin-stick shooters, you’ll want to put NeverAwake on your shopping list.

SwitchArcade Score: 4.5/5

A Space for the Unbound ($19.99)

A Space for the Unbound from Mojiken and Toge Productions caught my eye ever since its original reveal. I’m a sucker for narrative driven adventures set in small towns, and the pixel art aesthetic in A Space for the Unbound was just the icing on the cake in every trailer. It features two high schoolers, supernatural abilities, secrets, the end of the world, and more. This is also the first game I’ve played since Sega’s Lost Judgment to tackle some important topics well.

Since A Space for the Unbound is a story-driven experience, I don’t want to ruin any of the surprises or story. I was surprised and pleased with how well it handled many important topics. In its dozen or so hours of runtime, I only found myself feeling annoyed with a few portions of the middle of the experience. I often find myself being let down by the gameplay portion of these kinds of games, and while that aspect is straightforward, it could’ve used some fine-tuning in its pacing there. The story itself elevates this quite a bit, and that’s what makes this an essential.

Visually, A Space for the Unbound is mostly amazing. The pixel art is gorgeous, and a lot of the animations and environments look brilliant. Some elements look a bit off compared to how well-designed everything else is in A Space for the Unbound. On the performance side of things, A Space for the Unbound isn’t perfect on Nintendo Switch, but the performance issues I ran into weren’t a dealbreaker.

One aspect I wanted to highlight for the Switch port of A Space for the Unbound is the support for the Switch’s touchscreen. I love when you can progress dialogue by tapping the screen in handheld mode, and A Space for the Unbound having support for it was great. A Space for the Unbound also looks sublime on the Switch’s OLED screen despite the lower resolution. This is definitely a game worth grabbing a physical release for on Nintendo Switch.

While a few of the gameplay portions in the middle dragged a bit too much, A Space for the Unbound is one of the best narrative driven indie games I’ve played. Despite not having been to Indonesia which inspires the setting, the storytelling, characters, and atmosphere all felt perfect. It reminded me of how I felt playing The Kids We Were and Persona 4 Golden in that sense. If you enjoy memorable stories and great characters, A Space for the Unbound is an easy recommendation on Nintendo Switch. -Mikhail Madnani

SwitchArcade Score: 4.5/5

New Releases

Demolish & Build Classic ($14.99)

Here’s another one from Ultimate Games. You take charge of a construction and demolition company and need to take on various jobs to earn money and grow. There are a number of machines to use, an open world you can explore, a number of missions to complete, and a few different gameplay mechanics to deal with. There’s a certain pleasure to breaking things in any game, and I’d imagine this is no different in that regard.

Kindergarten Buddy Edition ($19.99)

This packs both Kindergarten and Kindergarten 2 into one convenient package, bringing the games to the Nintendo Switch for the first time. These games are absolutely beloved by folks over on Steam, so I’d imagine they will go over fine with the Switch crowd too. You’re in kindergarten, reliving the same day again and again. Interact with the teachers and other students, explore when and where you can, and just see what weird stuff you can find. Be advised that it gets a little bloody, and there’s a lot of crude humor and such. Just like a real kindergarten.

Magic Klondike ($4.99)

This is just a basic Klondike solitaire game that allows you to pick from a variety of card backs and table themes. I’m not sure if anyone needs another Klondike solitaire game at this point, and there are better options if you’re looking for your first one on the system.

Elta7 ($5.49)

This is a roguelite shooter that looks to have twin-stick controls. It seems to have the usual assortment of features for a game of this sort, with its primary distinguishing feature being its futuristic setting that sees you as part of a resistance against an oppressive force known as Skynet. With a premise as original as that, I can’t really see how it could go wrong.

Beach Cafe: Caribbean Sand ($3.99)

Cooking & Publishing has a low-cost escape room-style adventure game for us today. It is set in an abandoned beach cafe and sees you investigating the disappearance of your grandfather. I’ll give them the smallest benefit of the doubt that this isn’t just a template from the Unity Asset Store flipped onto the eShop, but it doesn’t look much better than that.

Frido ($4.99)

A fairly straightforward 3D platformer with ten stages to play. It doesn’t seem to be of the highest quality, but I suppose for the price it’s asking one can expect a little bit of roughness. You play as a robot time traveler who is trying to return to its own time, which is a cute enough premise.

Santa Claus Goblins Attack ($9.99)

Alright, who ordered the month-late bullet hell shoot-em-up with Santa Claus in an old war plane battling an army of goblins? Because that is an oddly specific thing to ask for, but here it is. Other than the bizarre premise, this is a fairly basic vertically-scrolling shooter that features an upgrade system to power up your weapons and shields as you go. I can’t imagine buying or playing this with the wealth of top-tier shooters on the platform, but I’m sure it will be someone’s jam.

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

Some lesser-seen games in the inbox today. Nothing that jumps out at me in any significant sense, but feel free to take a careful look through the list and see what catches your eye. Not a whole lot in the outbox, but JellyCar Worlds is wrapping up its first post-launch sale and might be of interest to some of you.

Select New Games on Sale

Youkai Poetry ($4.49 from $6.99 until 1/30)
Lily of the Hollow Resurrection ($4.49 from $6.99 until 1/30)
Gaokao.Love.100Days ($6.49 from $11.99 until 1/30)
Reverse Memories ($4.49 from $6.99 until 1/30)
The Jackbox Party Pack 2 ($9.99 from $24.99 until 2/1)
Revertia ($1.99 from $4.99 until 2/3)
Joggernauts ($2.99 from $14.99 until 2/3)
Double Cross ($3.99 from $19.99 until 2/3)
Restless Soul ($4.49 from $14.99 until 2/3)
Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion ($5.99 from $14.99 until 2/3)
Bite the Bullet ($2.99 from $14.99 until 2/3)
Lila’s Sky Ark ($4.49 from $14.99 until 2/3)
Mable & The Wood ($2.99 from $14.99 until 2/3)
Blue Fire ($7.99 from $19.99 until 2/3)
The King’s Bird ($3.99 from $19.99 until 2/3)

Luna the Shadow Dust ($14.99 from $19.99 until 2/4)
Rhythm Fighter ($12.74 from $16.99 until 2/4)
Dying: Reborn ($7.49 from $9.99 until 2/4)
Necrobarista Final Pour ($16.49 from $21.99 until 2/4)
Chinese Parents ($9.74 from $12.99 until 2/4)
Christmas Tina ($20.24 from $26.99 until 2/4)
Hatchwell ($4.99 from $9.99 until 2/5)
Brutal Chase Turbo ($2.79 from $13.99 until 2/6)
The Unexpected Quest ($5.25 from $15.00 until 2/9)
In My Shadow ($7.20 from $12.00 until 2/9)
Toki Tori ($1.99 from $4.99 until 2/10)
Toki Tori 2+ ($1.99 from $14.99 until 2/10)
Swords & Soldiers ($1.99 from $7.49 until 2/10)
RIVE: Ultimate Edition ($1.99 from $14.99 until 2/10)
Swap This! ($1.99 from $4.99 until 2/10)
Trenches ($7.99 from $9.99 until 2/10)
Brawlout ($7.99 from $19.99 until 2/11)
Crypt of the NecroDancer ($3.99 from $19.99 until 2/12)
Extreme Snowboard ($5.99 from $7.99 until 2/12)

Sales Ending Tomorrow, Tuesday, January 24th

Blood Will Be Spilled ($1.99 from $14.99 until 1/24)
Feudal Alloy ($1.99 from $16.99 until 1/24)
Ghost Grab 3000 ($1.99 from $4.99 until 1/24)
JellyCar Worlds ($6.79 from $7.99 until 1/24)
Rising Hell ($4.99 from $9.99 until 1/24)
Singled Out ($1.99 from $4.99 until 1/24)
Switch ‘N’ Shoot ($1.99 from $4.59 until 1/24)
Tyd wag vir Niemand ($1.99 from $9.99 until 1/24)
When the Past Was Around ($4.24 from $8.49 until 1/24)

That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back tomorrow with more new releases, more sales, a couple more reviews, and perhaps some news. Who all is playing Fire Emblem Engage? Are you enjoying it? Let me know in the comments, if you’re that-way inclined. I hope you all have a great Monday, and as always, thanks for reading!

Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for January 20th, 2023. When I went home last night, I expected there to be about a dozen new releases to talk about today. Imagine my surprise when I came in this morning and saw more than twenty. Some great, some highly dubious, some intriguing. We’ve got summaries of all of them, with Fire Emblem Engage obviously leading the pack. Throw in a healthy list of new sales and the expiring discounts for the weekend and you’ve got a packed line-up. Let’s get to it!

New Releases

Fire Emblem Engage ($59.99)

In the realm of Elyos, an evil creature known as the Fell Dragon was defeated one thousand years ago through the cooperation of heroes from across various worlds. The land has known peace since then, but recent signs indicate that the Fell Dragon may have just been pining for the fjords the whole time. This Fire Emblem game puts more focus on the combat and less on the side stuff when compared to Three Houses, which is a decision that some folks may not like but others will be thrilled with. What does Shaun think? I’ll let you know when I review this one soon.

Colossal Cave ($39.99)

I really don’t know what to do with this. When I heard that legendary video game pioneers Roberta and Ken Williams were coming out of their decades-long retirement to make a remake of the seminal 1976 adventure game Colossal Cave, I had assumed they were using the original game as a source of inspiration or jumping-off point for a whole new thing. But no, this is really Colossal Cave in all of its 1976 glory, rendered with decent but not great 3D graphics. The puzzles are familiar. The rules are familiar. Instead of reading the text, you hear the narration. Instead of typing in your actions, you have a more modern way of interacting with the environment and its objects. But this is shockingly faithful to the original, and I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing. I’m also not sure if the 3D graphics replacing the text descriptions is a friend or foe. I might have a review, if I can sort my thoughts out.

OmegaBot ($12.99)

In this side-scrolling action game you play as a robot that makes its way through a futuristic, mechanized world in search of a means to end the curse that threatens life itself. As you battle bosses and clear areas, you’ll earn new weapons and abilities to aid you. It’s quite well-made and you can really feel the passion of the developer in its details. Definitely worth checking out for fans of the genre.

Pixel Game Maker Series Pentacore ($9.99)

This game isn’t shy about what it’s paying homage to. It’s a Metroid-like where you have to try to escape a world filled with deadly hazards and murderous monsters. You don’t know how you got here but you have to find a way out. Explore, locate upgrades, and see if you can uncover the method for finding the secret ending. Not a bad little Metroid-style adventure for the price.

Chronicles of Albian: The Magic Convention ($11.99)

Another one of those hidden object adventure games from the folks at Ocean Media. A magical convention is being held at Albian Castle, and the Fairy Godmother Gwendolyn has asked for your help with the preparations. Find hidden treasures, fix everything up, and make sure the castle is up to the high standards of the hoity-toity magicians who will soon be arriving.

Motorcycle Mechanic Simulator 2021 ($19.99)

2021, eh? That takes me back. Terrible year, but at least it had a Spider-Man movie. At any rate, this is another one of Ultimate’s mechanic games. Fix the bikes, get paid, upgrade your garage, lather, rinse, repeat. As usual the UI seems designed for a monitor and mouse, with teeny-tiny text that is unpleasant to read on the handheld screen. This is how this publisher has done things on Switch for years, so I guess I shouldn’t expect them to suddenly start fixing things. Maybe they should make Switch Port Simulator 2017 to get the hang of it?

Drift & Drive ($12.99)

Another BoomHits driving game, with more or less the same structure as all of them. Drive various vehicles, complete various missions, and explore a decent-sized area. There’s a focus on drifting here, but otherwise it’s very familiar. I’m at the point where I wonder how many of these we need, but if they keep coming that means that someone must be buying them and enjoying them. So shine on, my friends.

Gardenia ($14.99)

This is a curious little game. It’s a first-person adventure where you’re doing all kinds of things to help out the residents of an island, all while trying to find the source of the pollution and litter that keeps popping up. Your stamina is limited each day, like in a farming sim, and you’ve got various side quests to solve. The game has a bizarre sense of humor that is really quite charming, and that I think that helps it stand out in what is becoming a real crowd of slow life simulations.

Critical Zone ($2.99)

A party game-style brawler for up to four players via local multiplayer. Indeed, I can’t tell if there is any solo play mode here at all. Choose from more than twenty different characters, all loosely based on various historical figures, and fight it out on eleven different planets. Each planet has its own properties, adding some variety to the gameplay. It doesn’t look all that great, but for three bucks I suppose it doesn’t have to.

Deep Space Shooter ($3.99)

A four-dollar vertical shoot-em-up, and it looks and plays like it. You get twenty-four levels to blast through, plus an endless mode to keep you playing after you’ve finished the game. I’ve seen far worse things, but it’s really hard to justify buying something like this when an absolute treasure trove of great shooters are waiting in the Arcade Archives line for just a few bucks more.

Escape to the Ocean ($11.50)

A port of a rather shabby free-to-play mobile behind-the-back auto-runner, albeit with some of the IAP included in the upfront purchase price. Give it a try on your mobile device if you want to get a taste, but at least in my opinion it just doesn’t play very well at all. About the nicest thing I can say about it is that it looks okay visually. There are better ways to spend your money today, no doubt. Worse ways too, mind you.

Xposed Switched ($9.99)

This is basically another game inspired by Taito’s QIX. Carve out portions of the screen to reveal the backgrounds, and when you reach a certain percentage you’ll clear the stage. Notable in that this is the rare QIX clone that doesn’t hide saucy pictures in the background. Instead you get meme pictures, landscapes, evil clowns, and such.

Harem Girl Isabella ($2.99)

Another one of those Gamuzumi puzzle games where you just need to rearrange and rotate the tiles to complete the pictures. Some of them are a little spicy, but there isn’t anything too adult. I tend to prefer puzzles with a little more texture to them, but I suppose if you like the art then three bucks is a reasonable ask for this kind of affair. Probably a spicier version on Steam if you can’t work out how to find naked ladies on Google for free.

Trenches ($9.99)

A survival horror game with an unusual premise, Trenches sees you in the role of a soldier caught behind enemy lines in World War I. You’re unarmed and all you have with you is a trench whistle. The whistle’s sound will guide you to where you need to go, but you have to be careful because if an enemy soldier hears it, you’re as good as done for. Be cautious, be quiet, and try not to lose your cool. There’s no room for a gun-toting hero who takes on an entire army in this game. Seems interesting, if not necessarily my kind of thing.

Demon Hunter: New Chapter ($14.99)

Another Artifex Mundi hidden object adventure game, and another chapter in its Demon Hunter series. This one sees a doctor reach out to Dawn Harlock, claiming he knows about her mysterious past. The truth can be a dangerous thing, something Dawn may come to know all too well. I’m sure if you’ve enjoyed the previous Demon Hunter games, you’ll also have fun with this one.

Through the Years ($9.99)

Oh, BoomHits is doing something unrelated to cars. That’s unusual. This is a very basic simulation game where you start off as a caveman gathering resources and move, portal by portal, through history. I haven’t been able to play it, but I’d expect it to be about on par quality-wise with other BoomHits games.

Menhera Girls Ensemble – Needy Girlfriends – ($19.90)

Wow, that’s… that’s something. ‘Menhera‘ is a somewhat rude word in Japanese and translates to something like ‘nutjob’ or ‘lunatic’, but the eShop description has opted to just go with ‘mental’. That’s a choice. Anyway, this is a visual novel where all three heroines are kind of obsessed with the protagonist, who himself can’t seem to walk away from people in need. Is there any way for this bunch to come to a happy ending? It seems like another game with a poor localization, so even if you’re interested in the concept you may want to tread carefully.

Mischief Dungeon Life Dorothy Edition ($7.99)

Mischief Dungeon Life Clara Edition ($7.99)

Mischief Dungeon Life Janice Edition ($7.99)

Mischief Dungeon Life Satsuki Edition ($7.99)

A bit over a year ago, a visual novel called Mischief Dungeon Life came out on Switch. Twenty bucks, five different ladies to romance, you know how it works. Well, if you want a version of that game that focuses on just one route, here you go. Four of the five ladies from that game have been split off into their own eight-dollar game. This does not feel like an especially good deal to me, but do what you will. I’m not the governor of your piggy bank.

Peachy Boy ($3.99)

Weakfish takes a swing at the single-screen action-puzzler genre with this game. There are thirty levels in total, and your goal in each is to guide Peachy Boy to the key and then to the exit. There are various obstacles, hazards, and gimmicks to deal with along the way. It seems fine enough for what it is.

Arcade Machine: Clown Hunt ($2.49)

A pretty basic shooting gallery-style game where you have to blast away clowns. Play it alone or pull in a friend for some local multiplayer fun. Not much more to it than that.

Simple Mini Golf 3D ($3.99)

More trash from Benjamin Kistler. Leave it in the garbage pail where it belongs.

Midnight Runner – Blade Galaxy Beat Puzzle Legacy 3D Games Ultimate Edition ($2.99)

More trash from Midnight Works. Leave it in the garbage pail where it belongs.

Counter Bottle Shooter – Pro Aim Master Target Bottle Shoot 3D Game Strike Pistol ($3.99)

More trash from VG Games. Leave it in the garbage pail where it belongs.

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

So what do we have in the inbox today? The usual sales from Electronic Arts, Capcom, and Ubisoft for starters. That said, there are some new low prices among them so even if they’re the usual fare they are still worth checking out. Also note Huntdown at four bucks. Not a new low price for it or anything, but it is a very good value. Nothing in the outbox is speaking loudly to me, but give it a look anyway.

Select New Games on Sale

Retro Highway ($2.99 from $5.99 until 1/27)
Bloodwash ($7.99 from $9.99 until 1/27)
Super Korotama ($2.49 from $4.99 until 1/30)
Naught ($2.99 from $19.99 until 1/30)
Steamroll Rustless Edition ($2.99 from $9.99 until 1/30)
Oxide Room 104 ($9.99 from $24.99 until 1/30)
Need for Speed Hot Pursuit ($7.99 from $39.99 until 1/31)
Super Mega Baseball 3 ($13.49 from $44.99 until 1/31)
Lost in Random ($5.99 from $29.99 until 1/31)
Fe ($4.99 from $19.99 until 1/31)
Plants vs Zombies BfN CE ($7.99 from $39.99 until 1/31)
Huntdown ($3.99 from $19.99 until 2/1)
Dragon’s Dogma Dark Arisen ($9.99 from $29.99 until 2/2)
Ghosts n Goblins Resurrection ($14.99 from $29.99 until 2/2)
Resident Evil 0 ($9.99 from $19.99 until 2/2)

Resident Evil ($9.99 from $19.99 until 2/2)
Resident Evil 4 ($9.99 from $19.99 until 2/2)
Resident Evil 5 ($9.99 from $19.99 until 2/2)
Resident Evil 6 ($9.99 from $19.99 until 2/2)
Resident Evil Revelations ($7.99 from $19.99 until 2/2)
Resident Evil Revelations 2 ($7.99 from $19.99 until 2/2)
Monster Hunter Generation Ult. ($11.99 from $39.99 until 2/2)
Monster Hunter Rise Sunbreak DLC ($29.99 from $39.99 until 2/2)
Monster Hunter Stories 2 ($19.99 from $59.99 until 2/2)
Monster Hunter Stories 2 Deluxe ($24.49 from $69.99 until 2/2)
Onimusha Warlords ($7.99 from $19.99 until 2/2)
Capcom Arcade Stadium 1+2+3 DLC ($19.99 from $39.99 until 2/2)
Capcom Beat ‘Em Up Bundle ($9.99 from $19.99 until 2/2)
Shinsekai Into the Depths ($9.99 from $19.99 until 2/2)
Ace Attorney Turnabout Collection ($34.99 from $59.99 until 2/2)

Mega Man 11 ($9.99 from $29.99 until 2/2)
Mega Man Legacy Collection ($7.99 from $14.99 until 2/2)
Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 ($7.99 from $19.99 until 2/2)
Mega Man X Legacy Collection ($7.99 from $19.99 until 2/2)
Mega Man X Legacy Collection 2 ($7.99 from $19.99 until 2/2)
Mega Man Zero/ZX Collection ($14.99 from $29.99 until 2/2)
Devil May Cry ($9.99 from $19.99 until 2/2)
Street Fighter 30th Anniversary ($11.99 from $29.99 until 2/2)
Unbound Worlds Apart ($6.99 from $19.99 until 2/3)
Immortals Fenyx Rising ($11.99 from $59.99 until 2/3)
Immortals Fenyx Rising Season Pass DLC ($15.99 from $39.99 until 2/3)
Valiant Hearts The Great War ($4.99 from $19.99 until 2/3)
Monopoly ($9.99 from $39.99 until 2/3)
Family Feud ($9.89 from $29.99 until 2/3)
Legendary Fishing ($4.49 from $29.99 until 2/3)

Wheel of Fortune ($7.99 from $19.99 until 2/3)
Trivial Pursuit Live 2 ($9.99 from $19.99 until 2/3)
Trials Rising ($5.99 from $19.99 until 2/3)
Scott Pilgrim vs The World ($4.94 from $14.99 until 2/3)
Rabbids: Party of Legends ($15.99 from $39.99 until 2/3)
Assassin’s Creed Ezio Collection ($19.99 from $39.99 until 2/3)
Child of Light UE ($4.99 from $19.99 until 2/3)
Hungry Shark World ($1.99 from $9.99 until 2/3)
MotoGP 20 ($2.49 from $24.99 until 2/3)
Poly Link Origins ($1.99 from $2.99 until 2/6)
Evil Tonight ($12.74 from $14.99 until 2/9)
Dog Gone Golfing ($1.99 from $9.99 until 2/9)
Always Sometimes Monsters ($1.99 from $9.99 until 2/9)
Kamikaze Veggies ($9.09 from $12.99 until 2/9)
Burger Patrol ($1.99 from $4.99 until 2/9)
Omega Labyrinth Life ($23.99 from $59.99 until 2/9)
Bakumatsu Renka Shinsengumi ($19.99 from $49.99 until 2/9)
Goblin Sword ($1.99 from $4.99 until 2/9)
Vampire the Masquerade NY Bundle ($5.79 from $28.99 until 2/9)
Karma Knight ($2.06 from $8.99 until 2/10)
Drift & Drive ($9.74 from $12.99 until 2/10)

Sales Ending This Weekend

8Doors: Arum’s Afterlife Adv. ($3.99 from $19.99 until 1/21)
Aeon Must Die ($9.99 from $19.99 until 1/21)
Aery Path of Corruption ($4.99 from $9.99 until 1/23)
American Fugitive ($1.99 from $19.99 until 1/21)
Call of Cthulhu ($9.99 from $19.99 until 1/21)
Curse of the Dead Gods ($9.99 from $19.99 until 1/21)
Faircroft’s Antiques TML CE ($4.99 from $9.99 until 1/21)
Finding America: TH CE ($8.49 from $9.99 until 1/21)
First Time in Paris CE ($4.99 from $9.99 until 1/21)
First Time in Rome CE ($10.19 from $11.99 until 1/21)
Go Rally ($14.99 from $20.00 until 1/21)
Grappling Dash ($4.99 from $9.99 until 1/23)
Hotshot Racing ($2.99 from $19.99 until 1/21)
Human: Fall Flat ($5.99 from $19.99 until 1/21)
I Love Finding More Pups CE ($5.99 from $9.99 until 1/21)

Invocation: Festival of Souls ($2.02 from $6.99 until 1/21)
Ki11er Clutter ($5.99 from $9.99 until 1/21)
Love 3 ($4.99 from $9.99 until 1/21)
Masters of Anima ($2.09 from $6.99 until 1/21)
Metal Unit ($3.99 from $15.99 until 1/21)
Montgomery Fox & tCotDN ($12.74 from $14.99 until 1/21)
Montgomery Fox & tCotMB ($12.74 from $14.99 until 1/21)
Montgomery Fox & tRoVD ($12.74 from $14.99 until 1/21)
Othercide ($14.99 from $29.99 until 1/21)
Shady Part of Me ($7.49 from $14.99 until 1/21)
Smoke & Sacrifice ($3.99 from $19.99 until 1/21)
SnowRunner ($23.99 from $39.99 until 1/21)
Tankorama ($6.99 from $9.99 until 1/21)
Unsouled ($5.59 from $19.99 until 1/21)
Vampyr ($13.99 from $39.99 until 1/21)

Warhammer Age of Sigmar: SG ($9.99 from $19.99 until 1/21)
Bush Hockey League ($9.59 from $15.99 until 1/22)
Family Mysteries 2: EoT ($1.99 from $14.99 until 1/22)
Family Mysteries 3: CM ($1.99 from $14.99 until 1/22)
Family Mysteries: PP ($1.99 from $14.99 until 1/22)
Journey To The Blue Mountain ($1.99 from $9.99 until 1/22)
Police Sim 22 ($14.99 from $19.99 until 1/22)
The Kingdom of Gardenia ($1.99 from $7.99 until 1/22)

That’s all for today and this week, friends. We’ll be back next week with some reviews, more new releases, a bunch of sales, and maybe some news if it pops up. I’ve got a busy weekend ahead of me. I need to wrap up Persona 4 Golden and keep plowing through Fire Emblem Engage. I never expected January of all months to be this crowded. I hope you all have a nice weekend, and as always, thanks for reading!