Pocket Gamer's weekly Switch round-up - June 3rd
Toucan play that game
Hello and welcome to another weekly Switch round up. We've been a little bit light on covering Switch news over the last week as I've been away at a few events, but you'll hear all about those — and the great, upcoming games I saw while at them, over the next few weeks.
As such it'll actually be a longer recap than normal, featuring news of release dates for pugilist rodents and rhythmic roguelikes as well as lots of information on some impressive looking new releases.
Don't forget that in addition to simply navigating to our homepage you can also follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook or subscribe to us on Youtube. Why not have some reviews and opinions break up all those darksynth compilations you've been zoning out to?
And, of course, if you think we missed something out then why not leave us a comment below?
1
News
Over on ninten-switch.com they spotted that the Bitsummit webpage for Hamsterdam has received a release date. Bitsummit is a massive festival of indie games which takes place in Kyoto, and regularly sees both new game and release date announcements aplenty — lending some merit to the date.
Hamsterdam, for the unfamiliar, is a fast paced brawler where players tap and drag on the screen to smash their way through droves of animal enemies. You take on the role of a small (but mighty) hamster who has set out to save their kidnapped grandfather and free their hometown from the clutches of a villainous syndicate.
Regular readers (hi!) may remember that Hamsterdam placed 2nd in our 2017 E3 Big Indie Pitch. Back then it was only looking to be released for mobile titles, however a PC version is now in the works. If interested, you can actually play some of the game on Android and iOS through following instructions on the developer's site.
Vaporwave swinger Verlet Swing releasing June 14th
Flamebait Games' first-person racing game, Verlet Swing, will be coming to Nintendo Switch later this month with help from Digerati. It's certainly an odd little game, especially when compared to their previous title which revolved around a starving artist selling art from an alleyway, although despite its unfamiliar style it is fun to play.
Verlet Swing has players hookshot and swing their way through strange landscapes filled with sculptures, blobs, oddities and monstrosities. If you hit into any of the terrain then it's game over, meaning that you'll need to master swinging around corners, sailing through the air long enough to miss objects, and a patience for peculiar courses.
I've played through quite a few of the 100+ levels in the time since the PC release last year, and quite enjoyed the self-aware chaos that each one was structured around. Oh, and there's a level editor included with the game too.
Dead By Daylight Nintendo Switch version receives September release date.
Back in February it was announced that 4 vs 1 horror game Dead By Daylight would be making its way onto the Nintendo Switch at some point in the not too distant future. The asynchronous multiplayer game has already long since released on Xbox One, PS4 and PC — so a Switch release only seemed natural.
Dead By Daylight casts four players into the role of helpless survivors while the fifth player takes on the role of a killer. Think of it as a playable take on one of those horror movies which see a group of teenagers whittled down to one.
Northgard confirmed for Nintendo Switch
Shiro Games, the developers of the Evoland series, have announced that their latest title will be releasing on the Switch later this year. Northgard is a real time strategy game inspired by Norse mythology, and challenges players to fight against other clans to conquer a new land discovered beyond the horizon.
In addition to delivering on the RTS core, Northgard also focuses in on survival elements — with players needing to generate enough resources to survive, not just buy new units. This combined with the passing gathered resources through production chain, and ability to assign workers on the fly, makes it feel closer to Settlers, Banished, or Valhalla Hills than a traditional RTS.
Northgard will release later this year.
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News (Cont)
Beamdog and publisher Skybound have announced that consoles, including the Nintendo Switch, will be receiving ports of 90s-00s CRPG titles Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate II, Planescape Torment, Icewind Dale and Neverwinter Nights later this year.
The five titles will be released as a Baldur's Gate bundle, a bundle of Torment and Icewind Dale, and a solo release of Neverwinter Nights. The latter will release on the 6th of December, while the former two bundles will release on the 27th of September.
All of these titles will be the enhanced, or ported, editions, of the game as previously released by Beamdog. This means that the Baldur's Gate package will include the connective chapter which the developer recently created, as well as restored content.
Mystical first person, point and click title, She And The Light Bearer, launches this week.
She And The Light Bearer is a point and click game built with concepts from fairy tales in mind. The magical world which you explore while playing is filled with quirky characters, rhythmic words and beautiful art, all coming together as a puzzle game stuffed with story. It's not all roses though, there's a darkness in the forest, as well as a little bit of backstory which you'll come to learn as you explore the woodlands.
I've played an extended demo of She And The Light Bearer, and really enjoyed my time with it. It managed to transcend expectations quite quickly. While I was pulled in by the storybook style artwork, I stayed for the fantastic writing.
It releases this Thursday, on the 6th of June.
Cadence of Hyrule confirmed for release this month
A new gameplay trailer for Cadence of Hyrule was released late last week. Not only did it showcase around a minute of gameplay, but it also (from about 54 seconds in) revealed that it will be releasing in June of this year.
Cadence of Hyrule, for the unaware, is a rhythm-based action game set in the Zelda universe. It's an adaptation of the Crypt of the Necrodancer mechanics, but skinned with SNES, Link To The Past, era visuals. It was only announced earlier on this year, so this is an extremely quick turn around for a very promising title.
Crypt of the Necrodancer, and as such Cadence of Hyrule, is a dungeon crawer-style roguelike where you need to move (and attack) to the beat in order to survive against increasingly hard odds. It's a fascinating fusion of two genres, although if you can't hold a beat then you might find it a bit of a challenge.
Raw Fury acquire rights to the Kingdom series
So, I'm trying to include a little bit of business news and speculation in our news coverage going forward; As with last week's THQ acquisition of Piranha Bytes. This week it's 'unpublisher' publisher Raw Fury's acquisition of the Kingdom series IP.
Raw Fury originally started back in 2015, and have gone on to publish an impressive selection of games over the four years since. The likes of Dandara, Bad North and Gonner are among their catalogue. It all started with Kingdom though, their first title. The publisher funded the title back in 2015, and since that time it has gone on to see several major updates as well as a multiplayer sequel.
The agreement comes as the series developer, Thomas van den Berg, intends to move on to new properties while Raw Fury seek to continue working on entries. The relationship between publisher and developer has been cited as formative in how Raw Fury deals with all other projects, specifically in that no IP rights sit with the publisher. There was an exchange of finances, although this was undisclosed.
As an interesting note, Kingdom: Two Crowns already featured heavy involvement from Raw Fury, with co-founder Gordon Van Dyke having a key role in the game. Van den Berg stated that "it was thought out almost entirely by Gordon, with great success."
So it is definitely a series in good hands.
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New Releases
Gato Roboto is a metroidvania set in a lab which has fallen to the strange experiments created there. You take on the role of the ship cat of a passing vessel, sent to explore the facility to figure out what happened, and also to save the captain of your ship.
Don't be fooled by the cute cat though, it's a game which toes the line between tough shooting segments and puzzle sections which remove you from your armor. Gruelling but satisfying, Gato Roboto feels like a retro masterpiece ported to modern systems with a few bells and whistles.
Anarcute
Anarcute is a fun little game where you control a horde of cute little animal characters as they riot through a city, destroying everything they can to take down an evil mega-corporation.
There's something truly fantastic about games which manage the crowd mechanic (Pikmin, The Last Guy), and Anarcute does an exceptional job of it. It's also so sweet that it's almost bitter, filled with humour and a little bit of social commentary too.
Warlock's Tower
Warlock's Tower has you take on the role of Tim the mailman, a mailman cursed to only be able to take a handful of steps before succumbing to the warlock's curse. It's a puzzle game where you need to carefully manage your steps and movements to make sure you navigate through increasingly difficult levels with gusto and promptness.
