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King's Bounty 2 review

System: Switch
Release date: August 24, 2021
Developer: 1C Entertainment
Publisher: 1C Entertainment / Prime Matter


Over the past few years, the turn-based strategy genre has become awash with new entries in some of its most landmark franchises; in retrospect, it should have seemed inevitable that someday, eventually, King’s Bounty would return on modern hardware. But I doubt that even longtime fans of this dormant franchise had expected to witness such an ambitious reinvention of the series’ name. Sure, at its heart, King’s Bounty II is still a grid-centric, turn-based strategy game with a traditional medieval setting, but with this new release, 1C Entertainment and Prime Matter have attempted to integrate more immersive role-playing elements, a grander world, and a completely different pace than the last game in the series. And while some of these new ideas can be well-executed individually, I left King’s Bounty II feeling unimpressed by the package as a whole.

mario golf super rush camelot

Japanese magazine Nintendo Dream recently conducted an interview with some of the lead staff at Camelot involved with the development of Mario Golf: Super Rush.

At one point of the discussion, Hiroyuki Takahashi (producer) and Shugo Takahashi (director) talked about their approach to course design for the Switch entry. In order to make the courses as large as they did in Mario Golf: Super Rush, Camelot received technical advice from the Zelda: Breath of the Wild team.

Here’s Nintendo Everything’s translation of the excerpt:

Gamescom: Opening Night Live 2021

The all-digital Gamescom 2021 is kicking off with Opening Night Live. Like the past couple of years, the show will be held to highlight a few unannounced games and previously-known titles. LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge, and Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania have already been confirmed for the show.

You can watch Gamescom: Opening Night Live 2021 as it happens below, with the action set to begin at 11 AM PT / 2 PM ET / 7 PM in the UK / 8 PM in Europe. Note that a pre-show will kick off 30 minutes beforehand. We’ll also be sure to share any Switch news as it’s revealed.

After last week’s Indie World Showcase, another Nintendo-related presentation took place this week with Pokemon Presents. There were no brand new game announcements, but we pretty much knew that was going to happen going in. However, we did get a look at some big upcoming Switch games.

Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Pokemon Shining Pearl took up a good chunk of the broadcast complete with a new trailer and gameplay. Pokemon Super Contests are back as Super Contest Shows, players can socialize with others around the world in the Union Room, and it’ll be possible to customize the gameplay experience with Capsule Decoration.

Pokemon Legends: Arceus closed things out with a lengthy trailer and overview. Gameplay information was shared and new creatures were revealed: Wyrdeer, Basculegion, Hisuian Braviary, and Hisuian Growlithe.

Other games were covered as well such as Pokemon Unite and Pokemon Cafe Remix. We have the full recap here.

Now that this week’s Pokemon Presents has aired, how are you feeling about the presentation? What are your thoughts on Pokemon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl and Pokemon Legends: Arceus? Let us know in the comments below.

Dengeki Online recently published a lengthy Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity developer interview. Producers Yosuke Hayashi and Masaki Furusawa, along with director Ryota Matsushita, were all involved with the discussion.

At one point, there was some interesting discussion about the game’s characters. The three first shared the following when asked about how the playable characters were chosen, as translated by Nintendo Everything:

Today’s Pokemon Presents presentation will be starting not too long from now. The broadcast is set to begin at 6 AM PT / 9 AM ET / 2 PM in the UK / 3 PM in Europe. Pokemon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl and Pokemon Legends: Arceus are confirmed to be shown.

You can watch today’s Pokemon Presents as it happens below. Our coverage will continue throughout the day.

NEO: The World Ends with You

System: Switch
Release date: July 27, 2021
Developer: Square Enix / h.a.n.d.
Publisher: Square Enix


My very first introduction to Shibuya was alongside Neku and Shiki in their first week of The Reaper’s Game. The colorful rendition of the city alongside a masterpiece of a soundtrack didn’t fail to snare me in their net, and before I knew it I was three weeks into a game that really spoke to me about what it is to be alive and experiencing the world alongside my fellow human beings. When a sequel was announced, I wondered: what kind of follow-up could shine alongside such an artful game as The World Ends With You? Would it really be up to par with the first title? Now, with the game in hand, it’s time to find out. What will NEO bring to the table, really?

This week’s Indie World Showcase was pretty darn packed with new games for Switch. There were brand new titles, ports, and plenty of new experiences to try out that same day.

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, Eastward, TOEM, Shovel Knight: Pocket Dungeon, Metal Slug Tactics, Tetris Effect: Connected, FAR: Changing Tides, Loop Hero, Hundred Days: Winemaking Simulator, Gang Beasts, Astroneer, and LumbearJack were all featured. Axiom Verge 2, Boyfriend Dungeon, Necrobarista: Final Pour, Islanders, Garden Story, Slime Rancher: Plortable Edition, and Curious Expedition 2 all came out on Wednesday. You can catch up on all of the news in the recap announcement post here.

What are your thoughts on this week’s Indie World Showcase? Did you have any personal favorites from the show? Let us know in the comments below.

Indie World Showcase

Today’s Indie World Showcase is set to begin in an hour. The broadcast kicks off at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET / 5 PM in the UK / 6 PM in Europe. You can watch the event as it happens below.

Nintendo says that that Indie World Showcase will run for about 20 minutes with news regarding various games for Switch. We’ll have coverage during and after the show.

Shadowverse: Champion's Battle

System: Switch
Release date: August 10, 2021
Developer: Cygames
Publisher: XSEED / Marvelous


While Shadowverse may not have the same name recognition of other card titles, since its release in 2016 it’s held a strong presence on both PC and mobile with Hearthstone-esque style of gameplay as an array of beautiful cards are pitted against two players on a field representing themed decks. What set the IP apart from other games of this style is its evolution mechanic, which grant bonuses at any time the player feels they want to initiate the function to turn cards into buffed up versions of themselves. In addition to having a story coincide with the cards in a dark fantasy matter, Shadowverse felt whole, engaging, and consistently fresh with its frequent updates that’s kept the game and community alive and well for so long. Since then, the IP has continued to grow and taken a new visual direction with the anime in 2020, and furthermore a year later leading up to today now releasing a brand-new RPG on Switch that uses the art direction, world, and cast of the show to carry the helm of this great new outing. Shadowverse: Champion’s Battle is a brand new adventure that blends fantastically the depth of a RPG with its signature collectible card game gameplay to give what may possibly be the best card-game based game in years.


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