Regions of Ruin is a refreshing and different take on the usual setting of fantasy and lore. For once the dwarfs take centre stage and for an indie game there is certainly plenty of hours worth of great gameplay. It will keep you interested enough to continue playing it. If you’re a fan of 2D side scrolling RPG with settlement building elements as a bonus, then maybe it should have a home on your Nintendo Switch.
While the original game is a solid platform game reminiscent of a mixture of 8-bit titles from the days of the NES and the expansions following suit the whole package. As it now stands in Treasure Trove it is a brilliant retro platform romp that is full of charm and humour with characters who each have their own personalities and different moves. Personally platform games are not my go to genre. However Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove has been an exception to the rule. While writing this review I wanted to check something in the game so I picked my Switch up to check something and a while later after completing a level or two I remembered I was meant to be writing and not playing the game. A sure sign of a great game if it sucks you into it and you totally forget what you were meant to be doing.
Is there a better way to start a New year than taking a holiday on a tropical island? The Touryst is all about going on a relaxing holiday. Well it was, until the unnamed protagonist wearing his Hawaiian shirt steps on to the sunny sands of the Touryst Island and speaks to a sunbathing blocky NPC and discovers there is more to the his holiday island than he was expecting.
Robots under Attack! is an entertaining and enjoyable puzzle game that has given me more than a few hours of amusement as I blew up robots or watched them being cut in half by a saw. The game brought a smile to my face as I watched their demise!
In the year 2590AD the Atlas corporation is excavating for crystals in an asteroid which is orbiting Earth. Something horrendous has gone wrong in the asteroid and it’s orbital correction has been disabled. The Technosphere is the only hope to reload the asteroid system and restore its orbit around earth before disaster strikes and wipes out Earth and all its inhabitants…..and one other tiny detail: you have 10 hours to succeed in saving Earth. Yes that’s right 10 hours….. that certainly add’s a sudden sense of urgency to the gameplay. Nice enough gameplay until the glitch...
Originally released a few years ago on PC, World of Magic Planar Conquest has now been released on the Nintendo Switch. A 4X strategy game which for those that don’t know stands for eXplore, eXpand, eXploit and eXterminate with the games goal to Explore the world around you, I feel the five minute tutorial isn’t long enough to equip the player with the knowledge they need to play this style of game. If you’re trying the 4X genre for the first time this is not the game to start with, otherwise you will loose interest in it before you’re completed the first game. For those that have played this genre before you might find something you like in World of Magic Planar Conquest.
Puzzles and Dragons is probably best know as a mobile game and the 2015 3DS release of Puzzles and Dragons Super Mario Edition. I played both versions over the years and I particularly enjoyed the 3DS Super Mario Edition. When Gold was released on the USA Eshop, with no European release scheduled I downloaded it from the USA shop. The story mode is very short, but after it’s finished you can play against the AI and unlock more teams and believe me, there are plenty to unlock. Visuals and sound effects are top notch and the core gameplay is interesting and enjoyable.
Ember is about as old school RPG as can be, it has touches of most of the elements of RPG though on a smaller scale and not as in-depth. For a player that has never played an RPG it would be a good introduction game for them. However what I have written above would only be recommended if Ember had received an update as in its present performance state of shutting down and stuttering during play I can’t recommend it to anyone. I’d be disappointed if I had bought Ember with the way it preforms at the moment.
Arc of Alchemist is an RPG/ Adventure game, according to the info on Nintendo’s web page it has been newly polished for a western release. Released from a publisher and developer who have a lot of RPG games in their back catalogues. I thought I was in for an enjoyable RPG adventure when I took the game on to review. Unfortunately, that was not to be the case! In my opinion Arc of Alchemist should never have been released in the eShop or advertised as “Newly Polished” in Nintendo’s blurb for the game, and priced at $40. It did get an update on the day of release but I can honestly say it has made no difference to how the game runs and preforms.
Visually Orn the Tiny Forest Sprite looks good, with the bright lush colours in Japanese style. The idea behind the platformer of progressing through the levels clearing away all obstacles using the runes is a nice one. But sadly, the way you fill up the jump meter, and the problems it causes spoils the gameplay for me. Hopefully a future update changes or improves the use of the magic meter.
Ever thought you’d like to construct bridges, to be a bridge engineer and architect? In Bridge Constructor Ultimate Edition that’s exactly the role you play as you create and design your own structures. Watch the cars and trucks drive over them. Will they cross safely or will you see them fall and crash while your inferior creations collapse due to weight and the laws of physics? Bridge Constructor is the sort of puzzle game that you would play in short bursts, maybe when inspiration strikes. Remember one thing: Triangles are your friend when building bridges!
Following along the same lines as the first game, Glass Masquerade 2 revolves around jigsaw puzzles where the player is asked to piece together a stained glass window. In the first game the puzzles were all clock-faces with a theme of cultures from around the world. This time, clocks don’t make an appearance. The clocks have been replaced with circular puzzles with a fantasy theme. The puzzles in Glass Masquerade Illusions are more intricate than the clock faces in the first game. The game is just as addictive and I find the game brilliant for playing in short bursts. It’s perfectly suited to the portable nature of the Nintendo Switch and playing in handheld.
In Dungeon Rushers you start with one character, Elian. He is a young lad who works as a toilet cleaner and has decided he has had enough of the rat race and the daily grind. One morning he makes a big decision to join the community of dungeon looters (like you would do) to make life more interesting. Dungeon Rushers is part of the Indie Gems Bundle JRPG recently released. Fans of tactical games will like what both Dungeon Rushers and Robothorium offer in terms of gameplay, though it might be a good idea to wait until the game gets an update. It has a tendency to shut down in between gameplay at the moment of writing (February 2020). However, the core gameplay is very good!
WanderLust Travel Stories is centered around a group of five strangers who meet on Rapa Nui (Easter Island). They recognise in each other kindred travelling spirits and decide that they will meet every night during their stay to hear each other’s respective stories of the journey that changed them. Through four long stories and five shorter stories in this anthology of travel you’ll learn more about each character and make decisions that shape how each character responds both in the present and within their own individual story.
Mousecraft presents itself in a lovely polished package, under the ever watchful eyes of Schrödinger the cat who adds some character and humor to the game. The game has addicting gameplay that gives you a sense of satisfaction once the mice make it safely to the block of cheese. You’ll not find anything new or mind blowing in the game but you will find a charming and entertaining puzzle game which fits the Nintendo Switch purrfectly!!
Breeder Homegrown Directors Cut is a weird and strange game, and let’s not forget short as well. Though in saying that, it doesn’t make it a bad game, I did enjoy the story even if I was a bit mystified after it had finished as to what I had seen during the game play. If the point of the developers when making Breeder Homegrown was to leave the player with a unsettled feeling and a sense of bewilderment after having completed the game, I have to say they have succeeded in that for sure.
Poly Puzzle looks like a simplistic game, but as they say looks can be deceiving. The same can be sometimes be said for Poly Puzzle. There is no story to this game as it’s a series of puzzles with the simple premise of completing the puzzle to earn three stars to unlock the next set of puzzles.
Two Point Hospital is instantly accessible to the player, it is a modern management game with a classic strategy gameplay that keeps you hooked. Civilization fans will know the saying “Just one more turn” where you think to yourself, I’ll have one more turn and then quit: hours later you’re still playing and before you know it it’s 3am. Two point hospital is that sort of simulation game. It sucks you right in. There is a very delicate balance in management or strategy games of keeping the player busy but not being overwhelmed. In my opinion Two Point Hospital has managed to do that brilliantly and with lots of humour.
Kingdom Rush Frontiers is a classic Tower Defence game, that has been ported to the Nintendo Switch with all its charm, fun, enjoyable and frantic gameplay intact. If you were to buy Kingdom Rush Frontiers on mobile, all of the premium content such as the additional Heroes would be locked behind a paywall. That would be far more expensive in the long run than buying the full game on the Nintendo Switch.
If you have read this review up until this point it should not come as a surprise that I really like this game. Hidden Through Time is a delightful engrossing and cute little game. For anyone with a young family to entertain, Hidden Through Time would be a fantastic opportunity for some quality family time in front of the TV and the Nintendo Switch.