It looks like a lovely collection of Platinum Games-inspired merchandise could well be on the way to an online store near you (and then instantly to your home via a cardboard box, we imagine). Or at least, it will be if fans show enough demand to make it happen.
The studio’s game designer and director Hideki Kamiya has shared the following tweet with fans today, showcasing some of the merchandise currently being considered. We can see t-shirts, a mug, a pen, and other luxurious-looking bits and bobs that we’d happily plonk on our mantelpiece, and Kamiya hopes to determine fan interest to see whether they might be worth selling.
If you’re wanting to sport a snazzy PlatinumGames tee while you wait for Bayonetta 3 to arrive, you might want to retweet this message as requested to show your interest (assuming you haven’t been blocked, of course).
Do you like the goods shown? Do you like wearing merch from your favourite game developers? Let us know in the comments.
CrossCode eventually arrived on PC last year after an Indiegogo crowdfunding project and a lengthy early access beta, and now it’s making the jump to Switch. It combines 16-bit SNES-style graphics with “butter-smooth physics, a fast-paced combat system, and engaging puzzle mechanics, served with a gripping sci-fi story”. Sounds good to us.
The game has a slight Zelda-like structure to it; you’ll be completing puzzles in dungeons, get rewarded with equipment, and then go on to use those tools in fast-paced battles. Various pieces of equipment and skills are available to mix things up, too, giving you a more in-depth approach to fighting. Here’s a full feature list:
Features:
– Dive into a massive adventure with a playtime of around 40-80 hours – Explore a large world with 7 unique areas and hidden secrets all over the place -Fight over 120 enemy types including 30+ boss fights – Enter 8 expansive dungeons all with with unique themes and puzzle mechanics – Master up to 100 combat arts and even more passive skills – Solve over 100 quests with a great variety of tasks and unique challenges – 60+ music tracks made by a rice ball (well, not exactly)
The game will launch on Nintendo Switch this year with “some exclusive content”. More details on this will no doubt be shared in the coming months.
You can catch up on all the highlights from today’s presentation (and rewatch it) here.
Do you like the look of this one? Have you already tried it out on PC? Let us know in the comments.
That’s right, everyone’s favourite game about possessing the body of a goat, exploring an open, suburban world, bashing into everything in sight, and occasionally giving things a good lick is now on Switch. As the small clip from the presentation states, it’s bringing “next-gen goat simulation” to a console near you.
The trailer shows you the exact kind of madness you can expect to find in the game, and the Switch version includes all DLC released for the title on other platforms.
You can pick the bundle up right now from the Switch eShop for £26.99 / $29.99.
Are you snapping this one up immediately? Is Goat Simulator perhaps not your thing? Tell us below.
Developed by Image & Form – the studio behind SteamWorld Dig, SteamWorld Dig 2, and SteamWorld Heist – SteamWorld Quest is a brand new adventure in the much-loved universe from the previous games. Taking the series in a completely fresh direction, this game is a turn-based, roleplaying card game, where players must lead a party of aspiring heroes through the gorgeous hand-drawn world depicted in the new trailer above.
The focus here is on the game’s card battle system and deck building – you’ll be choosing from more than 100 unique ‘punch-cards’ to build a deck and take on whatever threat comes your way. SteamWorld Quest mixes the series’ familiar steampunk robots with the traditional treasure chests, gold, dragons, magic, knights in shining armour, XP, and the like often seen in RPGs. Here’s a selection of screenshots for you to admire.
Of course, back in December 2017, Image & Form actually asked fans which genre they’d like to see next from the series and RPG was the clear winner. It looks like your prayers have been answered.
A specific release date hasn’t been confirmed – Image & Form tells us that this will be revealed soon – but we do know that the game will launch first on Nintendo Switch. This is the first game from Image & Form to be published under its new joint-venture label Thunderful.
Are you a huge SteamWorld fan? Are you excited to see this new take on the series? Let us know if you’re thinking of picking this one up in the comments below.
It has been confirmed that Chucklefish’s highly-anticipated turn-based tactical game WarGroove will hit the Switch eShop on February 1st – that’s next Friday, in case you were wondering. You can pre-order it now.
Initially announced quite some time ago, WarGroove takes inspiration from the likes of Advance Wars and Fire Emblem, tasking you with controlling a series of units and their commanders across several increasingly difficult battlefields.
As well as a robust single-player story mode, the game promises four-player multiplayer and the ability to build your own missions and campaigns; you can even construct your own cutscenes.
Given the level of excitement surrounding this gorgeous-looking (and sadly delayed) tactical epic, we imagine this news will please a lot of you. Let us know if you’ll be downloading WarGroove by posting a comment below.
The Nintendo Indie Highlights video is now live in all its glory and you can watch it for yourself right here!
As promised yesterday, the video showcases just “some” of the indie games scheduled to arrive on Nintendo Switch in 2019. From the brilliant and the unique to the utterly bizarre, Nindie games have been a huge part of the Switch experience over the last couple of years. Hopefully you’ll find some new favourites today.
Here are just some of the games mentioned (and some PR to go with them):
Wargroove: Now available for pre-purchase, players choose their Commander and wield their army’s units in a war between battling factions. Up to four players can strategically sway the battle in their favour as they progress through the campaign, challenge each other in local and online multiplayer modes or design battlefields and stories with the easy-to-use in-game editor and customization tools.
SteamWorld Quest: is a team-based card collecting role-playing game set to an epic story around what it means to be a hero. With billions of potential decks to build, tongue-in-cheek humour, a storybook-inspired art style and memorable characters, the game is a unique addition to the SteamWorld franchise.
The newly released Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown takes the honours this week, with the PS4 version of the game shifting an impressive 202,379 copies. The PS4 actually has several new releases entering the chart this week, with things on the Nintendo side of things remaining relatively quiet.
Mario’s latest Mushroom Kingdom journey has only slipped down one place, however, and everyone’s favourite Smash-athon is still right up there, too. Last week’s new entry, Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition has fallen from fourth place to 17th on Switch.
Here are the top 20 (first numbers are this week’s sales, followed by total sales in brackets):
Switch hardware sales continue to slowly fall back down to more usual levels after the Smash Bros. and holiday season-inspired surge over the last few weeks. Here are this week’s figures, with last week’s in brackets:
1) Switch – 71,139 (78,056) 2) PlayStation 4 – 9,505 (12,012) 3) PlayStation 4 Pro – 6,958 (6,289) 4) New 2DS LL – 3,767 (3,954) 5) PlayStation Vita – 1,755 (1,711) 6) New 3DS LL – 1,514 (1,483) 7) 2DS – 158 (268) 8) Xbox One X – 94 (38) 9) Xbox One – 24 (12)
Do you think New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe will stay near the top for a long time? Are you surprised by any other entries this week? Let us know in the comments.
The wonderful thing about the indie gaming scene is that it allows game developers to embrace their bizarre, deep-seated desires for game ideas, seemingly with no creative limits. Thus, we have Clock Simulator, a rhythm game that literally has you take the role of Father Time in an array of odd minigames. We also have feline based shoot ‘em up action in Neko Navy: Daydream Edition, as well as less furry shmupping in Stellar Interface. The cream of the crop this week though is the fantastic Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight – a stunning Metroidvania platformer – and Hive Jump, a brilliant platform shooter and an even better party game. Let’s dig in.
Certainly one of the more bizarre titles we’ve looked at lately, Clock Simulator is a peculiar collection of rhythm-based minigames, most using a clock aesthetic. If there is any indie experience that deserves to be dubbed a ‘time waster’, then this is certainly it. The main mode – also used as a basic tutorial – simply requires the player to keep time perfectly, becoming the second hand on a rather basic-looking wall clock. For every second that isn’t precisely hit, you’ll be penalised by the hand shrinking. It’s about as basic as gaming can get, yet is bizarrely addictive.
Playing through one of the game’s eleven single-player games may leave you so tediously bored yet stubbornly invested, and your mind may seep into an existential crisis, endlessly arguing with yourself back and forth as to the nature of the human purpose, before you look down, realise you’ve stopped ticking, and start over again. You may consider the game’s eleven minigames (plus two multiplayer variations) to be good value. However, do consider, dear reader, the deceptively cunning similarities between the minigames, many of which are only slight variations on the source game. The time gods do, however, bless us with another companion for reaction test gameplay: a rope-jumping pig. This at least adds some element of variety. You can even stop clocks and jump pigs with a friend for twice the existential terror.
The visuals of Clock Simulator are incredibly minimalistic, utilising only a handful of block colours, accompanied by a quiet, ambient soundtrack. Clock Simulator is quite conflicting. The hilariously silly concept might make it a novelty and its core gameplay is so frustrating that it becomes addictive, but there are much better reaction testers to spend your time and money on. Yet, the offer of multiple modes and a strangely peaceful and relaxing vibe give it something that might appeal to those who wish to relax by killing, or rather, controlling time.
Maybe
If you love the shmup genre and feline friends, then boy, have we got the game for you. Neko Navy is a fairly run-of-the-mill shoot ’em up, utilising an adorably amusing cat aesthetic as well as a bit of Japenese cultural influence that gives it a fun and unique style. You collect cat tokens to accumulate points and will pick up power-ups along the way. There isn’t a huge amount in terms of the gameplay to define it against other games of the genre. Shields, bigger guns, hordes of enemies and (eventually) large-scale bosses are all implemented well, but are the norm and to be expected.
It’s the surreal and amusing visuals of Neko Navy, with its Pusheen-esque art style, that makes it stand out from the crowd. The splayed-out playable cats are as cute as they are hilarious, making for a nice change from the same old space shooters. The enemies, however, aren’t quite as interesting or fun, with the occasional unique design but nothing as charming as your kitty protagonists. The Daydream edition boasts an infinite mode to test your skill, which is a welcome addition. This is particularly tough on the all-new ‘death mode’. There is a feeling of a missing middle ground in fact, as the game’s difficulty jumps from easy to hard to death, with no medium skill level.
Neko Navy is a perfectly serviceable shmup that, not unlike an underfed cat, is a tad barebones. It plays smoothly, emulating an arcade feel, but could do with some additional features and a bit more enemy variety to make it truly stand out. That said, it offers a bright, colourful atmosphere with an unapologetically arcade-style soundtrack and could function as a nice introduction to shmups for players of any age.
Maybe
The fourth in the series of 2D platformers, Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight is an absolute gem and comes highly recommended. Its stylised backdrops, super-smooth action and wonderfully rendered SNES era graphics make it a stand out in the Metroidvania sub-genre. Between Momodora and Feudal Alloy, we feel more than a tad spoilt. The plot serves as a prequel to the three previous titles, though a knowledge of their events isn’t at all required to appreciate and enjoy it. Information on the world is scarce but revealed via textbox cutscenes at various points. All you need to know is that there’s a curse sweeping the land, which only the priestess Kaho, your playable avatar, can stop.
Kaho isn’t your typical adventurer though, in terms of her melee weapon choice. She doesn’t opt for a sword like Link, an axe like Fire Emblem’s Hector, or even a whip like Simon Belmont. Using a razor-sharp red leaf, she can perform a vast range of combo attacks, combining melee brawls with a powerful magic palette and a ranged option of a longbow. All of this works seamlessly in conjunction with the tight controls and movement options available, including projectile deflection and a roll-to-dodge move. There are also many items for your collection, again with a great variety to continuously upgrade your arsenal, or to give you a health or magic boost in a tight spot. And there will be tight spots aplenty, particularly on hard mode, as every enemy from the grunts to the impressively versatile and sometimes huge bosses boast clever AI that will take you down if you’re unprepared.
The icing on the cake for this game is its delightfully detailed visual style. Backgrounds are beautifully rendered and expansive, giving the world an organically gorgeous, ‘lived-in’ atmosphere. NPCs are well rendered and varied, and the aforementioned boss battles are a true spectacle and a highlight. The only minor criticism comes from the soundtrack which, while not bad, isn’t memorable and doesn’t always match the fantastic art. Overall, however, Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight is a stunningly well-presented platformer with some of the most intuitive controls in the genre. A superb game and a credit to the indie scene.
Thumbs Up
At first glance, one might groan at the notion of yet another space shmup on the indie marketplace, but Stellar Interface manages to set itself apart by offering a variable experience using roguelike elements to stand alone. The game encourages adaptability, perseverance and repetition to create an engagingly addictive experience. This kind of gameplay likely won’t be everyone’s cup of tea due to the permadeath feature; there’s nothing worse than embarking on a successful run with the best gear, only to be thrust back to square one.
Each run begins with the selection of your ship and left and right guns, with the options of a few variables, sub-categorised by type, such as machine guns, blasters, lasers and so on. Once selected, you’ll be thrust into randomly-generated stages to survive, though you crucially don’t have to clear the enemies to progress. You’re then able to allocate further upgrades to your ship, usually taking the form of a passive bonus, gun upgrade or ally to assist you. While the former two have obvious effects, the naming and descriptions of allies – via memes and jokes – is more annoying than it is amusing, as their benefit is not made clear. Still, these upgrades are great when stacked and give the potential for your tiny ship to turn into an absolute monster. It’ll need to be to take on the many bosses too which, while tough, don’t feel unfair on normal difficulty. The addictive quality, failing and telling yourself just ‘one more run’, is really what generates most of this game’s appeal.
Graphically, Stellar Interface is fine, but it’s the least impressive aspect of the experience. It’s your standard 16-bit style shoot em up, but with the slightly generic enemy design; they have a tendency to blend into the background, which can be frustrating. The soundtrack, however, is great, with a blood-pumping dubstep influence that perfectly blends well with the action. Overall, Stellar Interface is the love child of the shmup and roguelike RPG genres and stands above the crowd as an addictively simple shooter that has consistent replay value.
Thumbs Up
Hive Jump is a 2D shooting platformer that brilliantly captures an arcade style, while still remaining exciting and varied for a modern audience. The story really isn’t the focus here, so we’ll keep it quick; you play as amusingly-named marines called Hive Jumpers, tasked with eliminating an alien threat by destroying the source: the aforementioned hives. There is some attempt at giving personality to the various commanders who spout exposition at you, but this really isn’t the game’s focus.
The focus instead lies in the brilliant arcade-style action. You’ll tear through hordes of well-designed alien creatures using only a basic starting gun and jetpack at first, but on collection of gooey currency, you’ll be able to choose what you want at the end of the level. It’s brilliant that Hive Jump doesn’t tease you with ‘higher level’ weapons behind an elusive red rope as some games might. You’re instead able to choose your style and buy any weapon off the cuff for around the same prices, which allows players to find their style and create parties that employ various roles.
Multiplayer really is the way this game was meant to be played, as exploring with multiple jumpers is much more rewarding and avoids things getting stale. The only slightly dull element of Hive Jump’s gameplay comes from a board game-style mini screen before each level. It essentially feels like a game of Risk. If you ask us, skip these and dive straight into the madness.
The aesthetics of Hive Jump are also impressive, taking the 16-bit style and pushing it to its limit, with detailed backgrounds, bright colours and satisfyingly bombastic enemy death animations that give a real sense of weight to each shot. Overall, Hive Jump is a really great time, with well thought out level and enemy design, smooth gameplay and a brilliant upgrade system. It’s certainly better placed as a party game with several mates playing local on the sofa, but it’s good fun regardless.
Thumbs Up
Will you be picking up any of these titles this week? If you care to kill time with Clock Simulator or settle into the brilliant Metroidvania action of Momodora, let us know in the comments below.
Unleash your strategic might in Wargroove, launching for Nintendo Switch on Feb. 1
In a new indie highlights video filled with turn-based, role-playing and platforming action, Nintendo showcased many of the new and upcoming independent games coming to the Nintendo Switch system. The video revealed a Feb. 1 launch date for the turn-based strategy game Wargroove (Chucklefish), the announcement of the next game in the acclaimed SteamWorld universe, SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech (Image & Form Games / Thunderful Publishing) and more indie news.
In Wargroove, now available for pre-purchase, players choose their Commander and wield their army’s units in a war between battling factions. Up to four players* can strategically sway the battle in their favor as they progress through the campaign, challenge each other in local and online multiplayer modes** or design battlefields and stories with the easy-to-use in-game editor and customization tools.
SteamWorld Quest is a team-based card collecting role-playing game set to an epic story around what it means to be a hero. With billions of potential decks to build, tongue-in-cheek humor, a storybook-inspired art style and memorable characters, the game is a unique addition to the SteamWorld franchise.
The video also revealed many other indie games coming to Nintendo Switch, including retro-inspired action-RPG CrossCode (Deck13 Interactive / Radical Fish Games), explosive metal rhythm game Double Kick Heroes (Plug in Digital / Headbang Club), story-driven puzzle-platformer Inmost (Chucklefish / Hidden Layer Games) and 2D open-world game Forager (Humble Bundle / HopFrog). In a surprise announcement, it was also revealed that indie games Goat Simulator: The GOATY (Coffee Stain Studios), When Ski Lifts Go Wrong (Curve Digital / Hugecalf Studios) and Unruly Heroes (Magic Design Studios) are available to purchase in Nintendo eShop on Nintendo Switch right now!
To help keep up with all of the recent indie news, here are some additional updates about indie games on the way, games that recently launched and fun news about the world of independent game development you might have missed.
In Other Indie News…
Indie Extras
Players new to the world of indie games can check out the recently released sizzle reel highlighting some of the hottest and most critically acclaimed indie games for Nintendo Switch from last year.
Anyone who owns a Nintendo Switch system and wants to stay updated on the latest and greatest Nintendo indie news can find the Indie Channel on Nintendo Switch, accessed from the HOME menu. This month’s posts include an interview with Lena Raine, music composer for the award-winning Celeste , and a deep-dive developer story from the creators of Dandara .
*Additional accessories may be required for multiplayer mode. Sold separately.
**Nintendo Switch Online membership (sold separately) and Nintendo Account required for online play. Not available in all countries. Internet access required for online features. Terms apply. nintendo.com/switch-online
If you love Yoshi as much as we do (we’ll ignore his tax evasion for today), then you’ll no doubt be thinking about picking up a copy of Yoshi’s Crafted World. A sequel to the excellent Yoshi’s Woolly World on Wii U, this game is launching for Nintendo Switch on 29th March – and we can’t wait.
With that release date rapidly approaching, retailers are opening up their pre-order options, and one certainly stands out from the crowd at the moment. Most retailers – such as Amazon and GAME, for example – are selling the game for £44.99 (which is a pleasing £5 less than the digital price on the eShop), but this little bundle from ShopTo is cheaper and even comes with a little egg.
That’s right, you can snag a copy of the game and a Yoshi egg-shaped cartridge case to keep it safe for just £39.85. International shipping is available.
The thing is, we all know that we’re unlikely to use the egg case all that much, but it’s just so freakin’ adorable.
Are you excited for Yoshi’s upcoming adventure? Are you thinking of picking up a physical copy, or are you going digital for this one? Let us know in the comments below.
