It seems Return to Monkey Island’s Monday launch was supposed to tie in with ‘International Talk Like a Pirate Day’ but due to obvious reasons, that ended up being downplayed somewhat. Nevertheless, the eagerly awaited swashbuckling adventure is available now on Switch and PC, and all signs point to a triumphant return – a game with clever gags, and even smarter puzzles.
Loads of other new Switch releases have managed to wow the critics – you can’t go far wrong with the majority of this week’s eShop line-up. Square-Enix’s The DioField Chronicle gained an 8/10 from Pocket Tactics, who found the diorama-style battles thrilling and the story “meticulously detailed”, while Twinfinite went with a 4/5 after finding the combat to be both challenging and enjoyable. They didn’t care too much for the story, mind.
From colossal time-consuming RPGs, to bite-sized role-players. The pixel art Cyberpunk story Jack Move – starring a vigilante hacker – garnered lofty 9/10s from both Nintendo Life and Nintendo World Report. “The inventive battle system, enchanting world, and appealing graphics all come together to make for a perfectly paced, gripping, and memorable release that no RPG fan will want to miss out on, and that goes double for time-poor genre aficionados,” was NL’s verdict.
Pocket Tactics also took Potion Permit for a spin, and ultimately enjoyed its blend of role-playing and life sim gameplay. “With plenty of puzzles to solve, potions to distil, and patients to heal, your time in Moonbury is as eventful and exciting as it is stunning,” they said.
VideoChums went with a 7.0, meanwhile. “Potion Permit is an attractive life sim with plenty of chemistry but its gameplay could really do with more variety and challenge to keep things engaging. I also hope that a big patch is on its way to remedy all of the odd bugs on display,” was their verdict.
Visual novel duo Amnesia: Memories and Amnesia: Later x Crowd have gained positive reviews too, allegedly complementing each other well. Fans of the genre may also want to check out Piofiore Episodio 1926, set in 1920s Italy.
Then there’s Beacon Pines, a cute ‘n creepy small-town adventure that, as par for the course this week, is going down well with critics. “Overall, Beacon Pines is a fantastic game with clever systems that enrich its characters, world, and masterful storytelling,” said Screen Rant.
We aren’t out of the woods yet – No Place for Bravery is another 2D top-down indie Soulslike that goes the extra mile. Hey Poor Player compared it to Sekiro in their review, which resulted in a respectable 4/5 score.
We’ve reviewed a couple of new releases ourselves. The neon-hued arena battler SpiderHeck spun itself 8/10 thanks to having a deeper single-player mode than we anticipated. The isometric brawler Midnight Fight Express garnered an 8/10 too, being quite demanding and flashy once it gets going.
For those looking to take a walk on the wild side, there’s Wylde Flowers – a cozy indie farming game that’s story-driven, featuring over 18 hours of vocal work and 30 different characters. Continuing this week’s theme, the Steam version has ‘positive’ reviews thus far.
Also, keep an eye out for Prodeus – a retro style FPS with rendered visuals – the anticipated 2D side-scrolling dungeon-crawling roguelite Shovel Knight Dig, a belated release of the puzzle adventure OneShot: World Machine Edition, and the retro action platformer Roar of Revenge. Roarsome!
A gritty and immersive story brought to life with the latest technology.
Introducing “Real Time Tactical Battle” (RTTB), a new, deeply strategic, real-time battle system.
The beginnings of a new Strategy RPG, crafted by a skilled and experienced development team.
Return to the city of Burlone, Italy – home to three powerful mafia families vying for control. Liliana Adornato is an orphan with a hidden past tied to fate of the city. But when a new threat appears, the Falzone, Visconti, and Lao-Shu families must come together in a temporary truce to retrieve a stolen relic and restore the balance of power.
Prodeus is a first-person shooter of old, re-imagined using modern rendering techniques and technology. Experience the quality you’d expect from a modern AAA game, designed with retro aesthetics and gameplay that invoke the tech-imposed limits of older hardware.
The game features a hand-crafted campaign from industry FPS veterans, co-op and competitive multiplayer play drawing on classic modes*, a fully integrated level editor, and a built-in community map browser for instantaneous action with nearly limitless levels to play.
Get ready to paint the walls red. This is the Boomer Shooter you’ve been waiting for.
Return to Monkey Island is an unexpected, thrilling return of series creator Ron Gilbert that continues the story of the legendary adventure games The Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge developed in collaboration with Lucasfilm Games.
It’s been many years since Guybrush Threepwood was last locked in a battle of wits with his nemesis, the zombie pirate LeChuck. His true love, Elaine Marley, has turned her focus away from governing and Guybrush himself is adrift and unfulfilled, having never found the Secret of Monkey Island. Hip, young pirate leaders led by Captain Madison have shuffled the old guard from power, Melee Island has taken a turn for the worse, and famed businessman Stan has been imprisoned for ‘marketing-related crimes’.
Banter with old friends and new faces on familiar islands now under dangerous new leadership. Then, take to the high seas and explore the new and unknown as you work your way out of tough predicaments. Clever puzzles, bizarre situations, and devastating ripostes are all that stand between Guybrush and glory.
Play as Tara (she/her), who has just moved to a cute rural island to help out her grandma and the family farm. Get to know a memorable cast of fully voiced characters with intriguing backstories — find friendship or even romance!
Relax into your rural lifestyle as you tend crops, care for animals, fish, craft, and more throughout the day. By night, nurture your inner witch as you learn to fly your broomstick, brew potions, control the weather and seasons or even transform into a cat!
You’re Babyface, a former member of the criminal underworld lured back into “the life” by a mysterious AI drone. Your mission against impossible odds: Fight your way across the city before sunrise, and prevent a citywide criminal takeover together.
Engage in a brutal and hyper-kinetic brawling ballet, using every environmental tool and street fighting technique at your disposal. Level up your abilities to take down the mounting onslaught of bozos, cronies, and crime lords.
The World Knows You Exist.
Experience an adventure game with puzzles that go beyond its own window and establish a unique bond with the main character.
In OneShot: World Machine Edition, you discover a strange computer operating system with a self-contained world installed. Explore this world to unravel its mysteries and help guide a child on their mission to restore the long-dead sun.
You hear that saving the world may no longer be possible… But it’s worth a shot, you think. Now with collectible content and features exclusive to the World Machine Edition!
No Place for Bravery is a 2D top-down action RPG which weaves together exquisite visuals, a stirring soundtrack and intense combat moments into a darkly haunting tale that explores the lengths we’d go to recapture all we hold dear.
Peril awaits on every path through Dewr, a harsh world of ruined beauty and violent tribes. In this game, you must contend with fast-paced battles filled with dodges, parries and counterattacks. Making mistakes will be punishing and you’ll experience a lingering sense of fragility while facing the dangers of Dewr.
After fighting in a cruel war beyond reckoning, the ex-soldier Thorn lays down his blood-stained arms. Resigned to a quiet life of tavern-keeping, Thorn’s thoughts and dreams linger upon his long-lost daughter Leaf — until Thorn witnesses the reappearance of the one who abducted Leaf so long ago. With the company of his disabled foster son Phid, Thorn enters the fray once more, convinced the world needs his blade to make things right.
Something strange is happening at the old warehouse, and Luka and his friends seem to be the only ones taking notice. Sneak out late, make new friends, uncover hidden truths, and collect words that will change the course of fate!
While helping Luka investigate the strange goings-on in Beacon Pines, you’ll collect special golden charms, each with a word engraved on it. These charms can be used at certain turning points in the story to fill in a blank word and drastically change everything that follows.
As the book’s reader, you’ll navigate the story’s turning points using The Chronicle: an interactive story tree that branches and grows along with your choices. Exploring one set of events can unlock new charms to use on another branch, leading you to jump back and forth between entirely different versions of the story in order to unravel the mysteries at the heart of Beacon Pines.
IRFIA is a couch fighting game where you battle with friends as one of the wobbly birdies inside an unfinished comic book. On top of an old apartment in Brooklyn, NY, you are going to punch (/throw/bomb/…) your opponents off the arena in various creative and risky ways to ensure your team (or yourself) is among the top BIRFIAs!
P.S. If you ever wonder why you hear little footsteps running across your ceiling despite living on the top floor, now you know whom to blame ;D
Work together as a team to complete campsites and unlock further areas in the game world.
Each level is a race against the clock where players are required to build tents, construct a campfire, cook enough food and get into bed before darkness falls.
SongPop Party is the latest addition to the biggest music trivia franchise in the world. With a huge catalogue of cult classics to today’s top hits, you can unlock hundreds of thousands of curated songs grouped by genre, artist, decade, topic and more.
Play with up to 8 friends and family on your couch or online for the ultimate music trivia party! Test your knowledge against opponents online with music fans from around the globe. Based on skill level and music preferences, discover new playlists and train to be the best.
Aside from her crippling debt incurred by her splurging on snacks and diet products, Mirai is just your average girl. Then, one day, she is forced to save numerous princesses who have been snatched away. Connect four pieces of the same color to attack the enemy, and fortify your moves even further with combos! Make full use of up to three skills to add even more oomph to your battles!
SpiderHeck is a fast-paced couch co-op brawler where spiders dance to the death in the grip of chaotic battles using laser swords, grenades and even rocket launchers to defeat their foes.
Challenge yourself by fighting wave after wave of vicious enemies in endless hours of single-player fun, or let the mayhem begin in a dazzling fight against your friends taking on the enemies in PvE; stab, sling, and scramble your way to victory in this silly spider showdown.
The levels are unique, with puzzles that require the player to react quickly and decide when to move between worlds. The game has a unique art style that looks like a painting.
Slice through various unique levels full of mind-clicking experience. Use fun to explore gameplay mechanics to combine thinking with slicing.
* Drifting mechanics with easy controls
* Hit handbrake to go sideways and start drifting
* LOTS OF SMOKE – BURN TIRES!
Moncage is a stunning vignette puzzle adventure developed by Optillusion.
The game takes place inside a mysterious cube, with each side of the cube housing a unique world: be it an old factory, a light tower, an amusement park, a church, etc. At first sight, they may seem random and unrelated, but upon closer look, you will become mesmerized by the subtle and intricate ways of how these worlds connect……
DreamWorks Dragons: Legends of The Nine Realms – £34.99
Unleash your inner dragon and fly beyond the Hidden World, on your fiery adventure to rescue Thunder’s family and save the dragon kingdoms!
Feel the wind against your scales as you soar and dive through unexplored realms. Use your speed, tail, and claws to defeat the worthy foes and gigantic dragon bosses that stand in your way. Level up Thunder and his friends to become the ultimate dragon heroes by choosing new unlockable skills and powers.
Only you can bring peace back to the inter-connected realms of ice, fire, darkness, and beyond. Stoke the flames in your chest and take to the skies – the future of the Night Lights, and all dragon kind, is depending on you!
When Drill Knight and his dastardly digging crew blast apart Shovel Knight’s peaceful campsite and steal his loot, he grabs his trusty Shovel Blade and starts tunneling after them!
Meet new friends and foes, visit strange lands, and outfit yourself in your quest to keep the entire land from collapsing underfoot! Jump, slash, and dig your way down an ever-changing chasm of mystery in Shovel Knight Dig, an all-new Shovel Knight adventure!”
Welcome to Car Mechanic Pinball – repair and pimp up cars for your clients! The more money you earn by flipping cars, the more you can invest back in your workshop to improve it. All of that nicely packed as an old school arcade pinball game with a voxel look and feel!
Collect fuel, and once your tank is filled, enjoy drifting around trees to open the stores. Visit the stores to buy tools. You’ll need them to pimp your cars in workshops!
After the great fun with BLALOON BLALYMPIA PART ONE, now comes the next level: BLALOON BLALYMPIA PART TWO. With even more party game fun action and a significantly improved look and feel for your favorite console.
In four exciting mini-games all your skills will be challenged again: reaction speed, tactical skills and brains…
Whether for big kids or little kids – younger and young at heart: Blaloon Blalympia transforms your Nintendo Switch™ into a blatastic game-sport-fun machine for the whole family!
Nestled deep in the heart of the galaxy, our state-of-the-art facility at Slaycation Paradise offers exclusive access to leisurely slaying activities for all warp travellers looking to get away from the daily grind. Explore our beautiful & chaotic destinations filled with an array of monsters intent on your demise. Slay away your worries and have the time of your life as the world around you withers and dies!
Jack Move is a unique blend of gritty cyberpunk story telling, turn based battles and beautiful modern pixel art. Take on the role of Noa, a vigilante hacker determined to rescue her kidnapped father and take down the overreaching Monomind corporation.
In this otome visual novel, you awaken on the first of August with no memory of your relationships or your past. A friendly spirit named Orion appears, somehow trapped within your consciousness.
With his help, you must unravel the mystery of who you are while hiding your amnesia from those seemingly closest to you – or risk oblivion.
Can you regain your memories and find your true love before it’s too late?
The fandisk companion to Amnesia™: Memories featuring two games previously only released in Japan! Within Amnesia: Later and Amnesia: Crowd, each title will provide a multitude of different story scenarios, as well as new mini-games. Deepen your relationship with the main characters and sub-characters of the original game and see what sparks!
Ahoy Pirates! The time has come for an incredible journey. Together with the entire crew, we must conquer the whole Caribbean Sea, which is filled with valuable gold. Be vigilant because hostile units and various dangers await us on every corner. If we lose all our gold reserves, we will lose everything. Let’s show them what we can!
Get ready for the cruise! Aye, aye, Captain!
The town of Moonbury has always been wary of the advances of the outside world, preferring to rely on their traditional methods of healing. Until one day, when the mayor’s daughter falls ill, and the local witch doctor can do nothing to help her, they are forced to look outside their small community for help.
The Medical Association decides to send their most accomplished chemist – you – to help cure the mayor’s daughter and convince the residents of Moonbury of the wonders of modern alchemy. Gain their trust and tend to each person when they fall ill in this open-ended sim RPG.
Inspired by epic platforming classics from days gone by, Roar of Revenge is an exhilarating adventure through a vibrant world full of monsters, magic, and challenge.
Take control of Keel the Barbarian, and face a vast bestiary of foes while collecting the ancient relics to empower your skills!
Will you manage to stop the fury of the villainous, powerful man-lion called Leomhann?
Next week: TUNIC, The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero, SWORD ART ONLINE Alicization Lycoris, Hokko Life, Life is Strange Arcadia Bay Collection, FIFA 23 Legacy Edition, Airoheart, Lemon Cake, Bunny Park, Hazelnut Hex, Moonscars, Alfred Hitchcock – Vertigo, The Spirit and the Mouse, Life in Willowdale: Farm Adventures, Tip Top: Don’t fall!, Q.U.B.E. 10th Anniversary, Frogice, RAILGRADE, Poly Link – RPG Anime Girls, POST VOID, Crossroads Inn: A Fantasy Tavern Sim, Funtasia, Treasures of The Roman Empire, Shirone: the Dragon Girl, Escape Goat, Voodoo Detective, Martian Panic, and PAW Patrol: Grand Prix.
Matt is Games Asylum's most prolific writer, having produced a non-stop stream of articles since 2001. A retro collector and bargain hunter, his knowledge has been found in the pages of tree-based publication Retro Gamer.