Pocket Gamer's weekly Switch round-up - May 20th

Warlock's Tower hexing to Switch later this month

The Warlock's Tower is a Game Boy inspired puzzler which has players take on the role of a postman attempting to deliver himself from a sinister tower. The stickler is that he only has a limited amount of moves to solve each room — tricky.

It's already out for iOS and PC, but will be launching on the Switch on the 29th of this month.

Read all about it in our article, here.

Mable and the Woods receives a summer release date

Fantastic looking exploration-based Metroidania Mable and the Wood has received confirmation of which consoles it will be releasing on, as well as a rough release window.

The game, for those unaware, directly ties your movement to your attacks; a spider's web becomes a deadly attack, the trail of a fairy becomes the path for a sword. You can even play through the entire game passively, if you're adept enough.

Read all about it in our article, here.

Songbird Symphony gets a new, musical trailer.

Musical platformer Songbird Symphony received a new trailer earlier on in the week. It introduced us to one of the most interesting elements of the game world: the side-quests building the music of the world.

It also gave us some information we didn't previously have for the rhythmic rumble: a release date. The platformer will release on the 25th of July for all home consoles, including the Nintendo Switch.

Read all about it in our article, here.

Nintendo announce new digital deal

Nintendo announced a new deal which revolves around online purchases. Players can buy a bundle of two eShop vouchers for £84.00 / €99.00 / $99.00. Each eShop voucher can be redeemed for a game, which considering most first-party games are currently between £44.99 and £59.99 it means that players could be saving up to £35 by doing this. It can also be used to pre-order games.

Dead Cells to receive free, 'Rise of the Giant' DLC on the 23rd of May.

Players who have already completed Dead Cells will receive more post-game content as of this Thursday. The new Rise of the Giant DLC adds a new area called 'The Cavern' which includes a whole bunch of new traps and enemies, as well as a new boss.

The DLC also adds in character skins, with around 50 different outfits for the protagonist to wear. These outfits are obtained through loot dropped by enemies, or can be bought using microtransactions.

There will be 10 new enemy types added, mostly into the higher difficulty modes, and three new skills to help you fight them. There'll also be new weapons and a Specialist shop where you can buy new grenades.

Katana Zero to receive new modes in free update

Action-packed platformer Katana Zero is set to receive a free update at the end of the month. It'll add in a hard mode featuring new enemies, level layouts, and bosses, as well as a speedrun mode featuring custscene skips and regulated enemy behavior. There'll also be a fix for the stealth level.

For those unfamiliar with Katana Zero, it's a neon-soaked action game which puts you in the role of a samurai gear clad assassin with memory issues and time control. Read more about it in my preview from earlier in the year.

Here are a few select new releases from the last week.
 

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Rock of Ages 2: Bigger and Boulder

The first rock of ages was such a weird phenomenon that it's truly astounding that there is a second title. It's a marble run, real time strategy game with a period-art inspired setting which has you rolling a giant ball around the world in duels against historical characters.

Just as weird to explain in writing as in person then.

For all of the oddity it is a lot of fun, and the sequel also adds a four-player mode, customisation features, and plenty of new features. 

KORAL

Koral is a platformer where you control a water current within the ocean. You spend your time exploring an underwater maze, breathing life into the beings which live there while also flicking switches and solving puzzles as to unlock new areas.

It's a magical little experience which carefully toes the line between delivering a message about the damage humans are causing to the environment and showing us a glowing, life-filled reef. It may only be a couple of hours long, but its a couple of hours which you'll almost certainly relive if you enjoy the feeling of being lost in a larger world, like in Journey and Abzu.

Darkwood

Last, but definitely not least, is moody survival-horror game Darkwood. 

Acid Wizard Studio's Darkwood is a fusion of multiple genres. It nails the atmosphere of the survival horror genre, but there are crafting and scavenging opportunities aplenty. This makes for some very odd feeling pacing — as you can, technically, take as long as you wish to complete the game with no risk of running out of resources — but it is always tense.

Much like Koral above, but at the other end of the spectrum, Darkwood has a mastery of light. Unlike the often brightly-coloured game about currents, Darkwood is about what can't be seen, rather than how you see it. Definitely one to pick up for fans of survival horror.