[Preview] 6 compelling indies we played at Day of the Devs 2023
Posted on 12 months ago by Nicholas Serpa in Previews, Switch | 0 comments
Earlier this month, Nintendo Everything dropped by the Day of The Devs indie showcase event in Los Angeles to demo some upcoming Switch games from small teams all over the globe. We played a staggering variety of games and had a chance to chat with some of the developers behind unique titles like Dome-King Cabbage and Resistor, and will be publishing dedicated previews for some of these games over the coming week; Still, with more games present on the show-floor than we could dream of covering individually, we thought we’d compile a list of some smaller titles that might not be on your radar yet. Here are six Switch-bound indies we played at Day of the Devs 2023 to keep an eye on!
[Preview] Hands-on with Resistor, an ambitious racing RPG
Posted on 12 months ago by Nicholas Serpa in Previews, Switch | 0 comments
It feels like racing games are often excused from needing to tell stories; even as players, we’ve been trained to expect little more from the genre than schlocky tales of midnight street racing, if there’s even any context to the action at all. That can be just fine as many players only care about the feel of the driving, but there’s so much potential for fresh ideas. That’s why I’m curious about Resistor, an upcoming racing RPG whose lead developer, Violet McVinnie, previously worked on cinematics and narrative for titles like Mass Effect and Dragon Age. There’s a lot of potential for Resistor to be something unique, and while my brief demo only let me preview a small slice of the game, I’m hopeful it will prove that racing games can indeed tell deeper stories than they typically do.
More: highlight, Long Way Home, PQube, Resistor, top
[Preview] Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes
Posted on 1 year ago by Nicholas Serpa in Previews, Switch | 0 comments
It always seems to happen the same way: just when I think I’m ready to take a break from playing big, sprawling JRPGs that threatens to suck up every ounce of my free time, along comes a game like Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes that immediately makes me reconsider. After spending the past few years deep in development following an immensely successful Kickstarter campaign in 2020, the turn-based RPG will finally land on Switch next spring and will hopefully help scratch the Suikoden itch that Konami has ignored for over a decade. I was fortunate to have a chance to demo the game in Los Angeles recently, and while I only got to experience a small sliver of the opening chunk of the game, I really enjoyed what bits of the story, combat, and exploration I played.
[Review] Persona 5 Tactica
Posted on 1 year ago by Nicholas Serpa in Reviews, Switch | 0 comments
System: Switch
Release date: November 17, 2023
Developer: Atlus / P-Studio
Publisher: SEGA
From dancing and dungeon-crawling to road-trip adventuring, the Phantom Thieves have been awfully busy since the events of 2017’s Persona 5. Of course, with that game being one of the most acclaimed RPGs of the past decade, there’s been plenty of fan demand for spin-offs and sequels, some of which have been truly excellent. That said, even as a fan of Joker and company I was having a hard time getting excited about Persona 5 Tactica – 2021’s Persona 5 Strikers put such a nice bow on the characters’ stories that I didn’t expect a shift to grid-based strategy to shake things up enough. The good news is that it’s a solid tactics game that introduces some fun ideas to the series, even when its story beats don’t quite hit the mark.
More: Atlus, highlight, Persona 5 Tactica, top
[Rapid Review] Little Goody Two Shoes
Posted on 1 year ago by Nicholas Serpa in Reviews, Switch eShop | 0 comments
System: Switch
Release date: October 31, 2023
Developer: Astral Shift
Publisher: Square Enix Collective
Little Goody Two Shoes is the first game I’ve experienced that truly feels like a fairy-tale story come to life, and I’m not talking the family-friendly Disney variety. The quaint countryside village of Kieferburg may seem like your average sing-songy folk town at the surface, but murmurs of a witch in the woods and strange happenings nearby have residents becoming paranoid. To make matters worse, protagonist Elise is getting caught up in the middle of it all, after a strange supernatural encounter promises to grant her her life’s wish if she manages to complete strange tasks before the end of the week. What follows is a tense, often funny narrative adventure that frequently had me on the edge of my seat, even when the tedium of its time-management gameplay began wearing on my patience.
[Review] Fashion Dreamer
Posted on 1 year ago by Nicholas Serpa in Reviews, Switch | 0 comments
System: Switch
Release date: November 3, 2023
Developer: Syn Sophia
Publisher: XSEED / Marvelous
It’s a bit of surprise that it’s taken so long for a game like Fashion Dreamer to land on Switch, especially after developer Syn Sophia’s Style Savvy series of games proved that there’s an audience craving laid-back games about designing clothes. The bulk of recent releases in the genre have been microtransaction-ridden smartphone games, so there’s been some excitement among the cozy-gaming crowd that Fashion Dreamer could be a more premium alternative. It’s also a bit of a departure from its predecessors, focusing more tangibly on the clothes themselves than the culture around them. But is that enough to make Fashion Dreamer an easy recommendation for aspiring clothes designers?
More: Fashion Dreamer, highlight, Syn Sophia, top, XSEED Games
[Review] Super Mario Bros. Wonder
Posted on 1 year ago by Nicholas Serpa in Reviews, Switch | 0 comments
System: Switch
Release date: October 20, 2023
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
As I reflect on my time spent with Super Mario Bros. Wonder, there truly wasn’t a single moment when I wasn’t having an absolute blast. Any time it seemed impossible that there could possibly be any other surprises left in a game that already had been bombarding me with creative ideas left and right, to my delight, I was always proven wrong. At its core, Super Mario Bros. Wonder is the same joyful platforming adventure that Nintendo has crafted for decades. The key difference this time is that the developers have designed a fundamental sense of novelty into every stage, every new mechanic, every visual flourish. The result is a side-scroller that always feels fresh, fun and exciting in ways that few genre peers have accomplished.
More: highlight, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, top
[Review] Cocoon
Posted on 1 year ago by Nicholas Serpa in News, Reviews, Switch eShop | 0 comments
System: Switch
Release date: September 8, 2023
Developer: Geometric Interactive
Publisher: Annapurna Interactive
Cocoon’s mechanical brilliance is the subtle kind, the kind that sneaks up on you. I knew going into my playthrough that this was the next project from Jeppe Carlsen, the lead gameplay designer of highly acclaimed side-scrollers Limbo and Inside; that type of pedigree sets high expectations, which for me were amplified further after a summer media demo left me with more questions than answers. The most important distinction to note with Cocoon is that it’s more outwardly a puzzle game than either of its forebears, and a very clever one; its trippy, entangled web of worlds is one big metapuzzle that’s true depth astonishes the deeper one dives into it. It’s also a game that somehow builds atmosphere masterfully, but frustratingly refuses to contextualize its world or provide any real stakes, narrative or even lore to engage with. Having rolled credits, I’m still unsure what exactly was the point of my little mechanical bug’s world-bending journey; this, combined with some technical issues on Switch, results in a game that somehow manages to both impress and disappoint at once.
More: COCOON, Geometric Interactive, highlight, top
[Preview] Little Goody Two Shoes – PAX West 2023
Posted on 1 year ago by Nicholas Serpa in Previews, Switch eShop | 0 comments
If you’ve never heard of the classic fairytale “The History of Little Goody Two Shoes,” don’t worry, you’re not alone. This over 250-year-old story may have been one of the first children’s books to reach a widespread English audience, but its tale of a poor orphan’s journey journey to a life of riches hasn’t prevailed in the cultural zeitgeist in the way other classics from that era have. That hasn’t stopped Square Enix Collective – the indie publishing division of the JRPG giant – from greenlighting an experimental new release called Little Goody Two Shoes, which they bill as a “mysterious new fairytale anime adventure with a dark twist.” I had the chance to demo this off-the-wall title at PAX West recently, and while I had no idea what to expect going in, what I played was unsettling, beautiful, and immediately absorbing.
More: AstralShift, highlight, Little Goody Two Shoes, Square Enix, top
6 narrative-rich Switch indies we played at PAX West 2023
Posted on 1 year ago by Nicholas Serpa in Features, Switch | 0 comments
We’ve already highlighted a ton of great games that we had the chance to demo at PAX West 2023, but some of the best titles at the show this year were ones that look to be experimenting with storytelling in new or compelling ways, often innovating with game mechanics too. Here are just a handful of narrative-rich games that we had the opportunity to play during Seattle’s big annual gaming expo – and if you’re a fan of particularly off-the-wall premises and presentation, you’ll have even more to look forward to.
