The first week of June introduced some awesome games to the Nintendo Switch. It has also brought a bunch of exciting, New announcements - both big and small.
First announcement on the list is Skul: The Hero Slayer, the beautiful looking 2D platformer rogue-lite that looks great, and feels okay.
The game has a very interesting combat system, has the player choosing which skulls to equip and with that gain new abilities.
Special powers vary greatly, giving the player variety and choice, but the combat always boils down to mashing the attack button against hordes of stun-locked opponents.
Colourful and diverse bosses mix up the combat just enough to prevent it from going stale, but not enough so it could keep pace with a game such as Dead Cells.
It is not honestly fair to compare games based on combat alone, but Skul: The Hero Slayer’s combat is much more forgiving as it has a slower pace, and looks and feels less hectic. The game is fun and creative for what it is, with a beautiful art style and a lot of attention to detail, certainly a good choice for a bit of adventure platforming.
Gear.Club Unlimited 2: T.E is up next, and it crosses the finish line in a good spot but not the winner of the race.
Showing solid gameplay, and great customization on your vehicles, it just doesn’t have enough gas to race past everything else on offer.
It is a good game, as racing games go, hitting all the good spots a racing games should make it worth playing, but it has some issues that hold it back a bit.
Although fixes for this and that have been made in the new version, it still might carry over some of the problems it had before.
With all the new content added to the game and the work that has been done, there is a big possibility that the game might have reached a new level, which is very good news for fans of high octane fun.
To sum it up, it is a good game, and if some of the problems that held the original version back where fixed, it will become a great game.
Microids
More RPG goodness comes in the form of Tower of Time, a dungeon crawler that prides itself on its lore, and one interesting game mechanic.
The mechanic in question is the ability to slow down or stop time, allowing for breaks in combat that give you more time to think and plan.
Apart from that little element, it looks like a standard RPG dungeon crawler, with all its doom and gloom plus the occasional big bad monster that is incredibly hard to put down.
Probably worth the buy, if you are into that sort of game, possibly a great experience just waiting to be uncovered. You won't know until you try it.
If you are looking for a scare, try Goosebumps Dead of Night, the spooky survival game about surviving spooky stuff. The game has so much stuff to do, that it is kind of hard to explain in a simple manner.
You have puzzles, combat, collecting pages, and hiding from monsters while chasing around other monsters. If you decide to go on this wacky adventure, you will certainly have no shortage of stuff to do.
We move on to Metal Unit, a game about saving the world while piloting a robotic suit of armour. You play as Joanna, a soldier on a mission to capture her treasonous sister, flying across the world, facing all kinds of monsters and aliens, and uncovering the truth of what happened.
The game isn’t as polished in the looks department as Skul: The Hero Slayer, but gameplay-wise it is a bit faster paced, has a bit more variety when it comes to ability choice, and how you approach combat.
While it is a great looking game with a fun gameplay loop, it still looks a bit sluggish and lacking in explosiveness compared to some other titles in the genre.
If that is the case, the characters and the story could be the point that pulls it forward making it a well-rounded game.
NEOWIZ
Another RPG dungeon crawler on the list is Labyrinth of Touhou 2, a game from a well known and beloved franchise, makes its way onto the Switch.
The game revolves around your team of four fighters and 8 support characters, all with different abilities you can use during combat.
You navigate a labyrinth, facing encounters, and over one hundred bosses, while you organise your characters and customize them to become the optimal fighting team.
A fun little title for anyone who likes the franchise or might be an anime fan looking for a new and interesting RPG to play.
Next up is Neversong, a dark tale about Peet, the young boy who awoke from a coma, only to discover that nothing is as it was before.
To spoil the story any more than this would be a great disservice to anyone planning to play the game, as it brings an amazing atmosphere to the table, and the voice acting makes the game ten times more interesting.
The more is said about the game, worse the damage done. It should be experienced with no prior knowledge for maximum effect. It is a stunning story told through the medium of a fantastic video game. Try it for yourself, is the only advice that should be given.
Two amazing games that show off how a simple concept done right can make all the difference, YesterMorrow is a game about Yui, a young girl going back in time trying to save her family and the world.
Combining action with puzzles, this game tells a great story using the 2D platformer genre, doing so expertly, making the wold immersive, the weight of the task feel real, and the difficulty of the game on par with what is at stake. For experiencing a good story through a competent game, this is a great way to do exactly that.
Serenity Forge
Jack Move is another story based action-adventure RPG title that has you play as Noa, a talented hacker who gets enveloped by the criminal underworld after her father goes missing.
The combat of the game is turn-based, having you fight multiple opponents, combining moves, and calculating in what order you should take them down.
Exploring the cyberpunk inspired world, covered in beautiful artwork, gives off the gritty feeling of the city, doing a good job portraying the criminal aspect of the story.
Form the way it looks to the awesome animations in combat, the game gives off a promising aura that might just pull a great game from the slightly oversaturated 2D RPG genre.
Keeping with the cyberpunk theme we have, Neon Noodles, a game about automating your futuristic kitchen so it can run like clockwork.
At your disposal, you have little robot helpers that will accomplish the tasks to perfection each time.
Using them and a bit of creative planning you can create a well-oiled machine that will, without fail, produce the perfect sustenance package.
Puzzle-solving skills and a bit of patience is all that is needed to play this game, and play it well.
Relaxing or hectic, your experience with the game will heavily depend on your personality and how you deal with tricky situations on the spot.
Hearin the words 2D action platformer is likely to invoke the “not another one” response from many people, as the market is flooded with all kinds of games from the genre, and very few good ones at that.
HypeTrain Digital
Olija does not seem to fall into the same trap however, differentiating itself from many others with a fun little mechanic that looks to be a promising jump in the right direction.
The mechanic in question is the magic harpoon the player uses, which can be tossed around and teleported to, making for some really cool action sequences if played correctly.
The story looks to be pretty run of the mill, but it seems that it was made with love, thus adding some heft to the plot. It is still a big mystery and will probably make more sense as the release date comes closer.
Stray Cats Doors: 2 is the continuation of the original game Stray Cats Doors, a very successful mobile game.
Usually with mobile games getting ported to consoles, there are a bunch of problems, mainly that you can never have a mobile game work on other platforms without feeling like a mobile game.
This game aims to avoid that, as the continuation seems to be designed for the Switch rather than mobile.
If not, then it will probably have a very hard time working its way up the market, as many mobile games just fall flat for not utilizing all the specs of the console they are ported to.
Another thing people are wary of is when games are marked as roguelikes. It is oftentimes not utilised properly or used as lazy design to avoid planning out levels or combat.
The brawler, Rhythm Fighter, has the ominous word in its description. It doesn't look like it was used for lazy design, but rather to, either artificially or actually, ramp up the difficulty of the fast-paced rhythm-based fighting game.
The combat looks fun, forcing you to follow the beat during combat, making the game feel and flow smoothly, in a constant upbeat tone.
A bright and funky game to get your mood up on a gloomy day, or just make your good day even better, if it turns out to be a good game that is.
Coconut Island Games
And to finish the list off with a really interesting title, Morkredd, an adventure puzzler, were ending up in the shadows means game over.
You must ferry an orb of light across a dark world, and if you step into the shadows you instantly die, you could also brake the orb and die, or fall and die, there are many ways to die in this game and that is what makes it fun.
The simple concept and the single or 2 player co-op makes for a tense adventure where even the slightest slip could cost you.
Gorgeous looking, the game has been in production for a while now, and we can certainly expect a polished game with much to offer.
