SwitchArcade Round-Up: ‘Monster Harvest’, ‘KeyWe’, ‘Lamentum’, Plus Today’s Other New Releases and the Latest Sales

Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for August 31st, 2021. Today’s article is mostly dedicated to summarizing the new releases of the day. There are a larger number than usual for a Tuesday, and at least a few of them are worth thinking about. Besides that, we’ve got the lists of incoming and expiring sales for you to mull over. That’s about it. I meant to have another review ready today, but I feel asleep a little early last night so it will have to wait. Anyway, let’s get to what we’ve got!

New Releases

Monster Harvest ($19.99)

It feels like this game has been on the cusp of release for a long time now, but it’s finally here. The idea here is to take a heaping tablespoon of Stardew Valley and mix in a little Pokemon-style monster collecting. There is a season-change system, a town with people and creatures to build relationships with, a crafting system with lots of items to make, and some dungeons to explore. I’ll have a review of this one soon if you need more to go on.

Rustler ($29.99)

This game has a really cool premise but its execution is a bit wanting, unfortunately. The idea here is basically medieval-era top-down GTA. The game jokingly refers to itself as Grand Theft Horse, even. It jokingly does a lot of things, as it pushes the humor angle hard. You start off as a local brigand, and it’s up to you to try to improve your station by whatever means you deem necessary. Neat, right? Unfortunately, the game has a lot of serious issues with controls, performance, enemy AI, telling its story, and so on. The developer seems to already be working on updating the game, so it may yet become as interesting as it sounds.

CRASH: Autodrive ($9.99)

A murder mystery narrative adventure where even the car is a suspect, CRASH: Autodrive is set in a world where self-driving cars are the norm and no one drives themselves  around anymore. Four passengers are riding in an Autocab one day when suddenly the car hits and kills a cyclist named Thomas Sinclair. As the passengers try to sort out what happened, these complete strangers soon discover they all knew Mr. Sinclair through different means, and all of them had a motive to kill him. Even the car AI, surprisingly enough. You play as one of the passengers, Emily Knight, and you need to search for clues, solve puzzles, and question the suspects to figure out who was truly responsible for the not-so-accidental accident.

KeyWe ($24.99)

This is a cute cooperative puzzle game where two kiwi birds need to work together to deliver the mail. Unfortunately, nothing seems to be quite built for kiwi bird usage, so you’ll have to get creative to keep things flowing. Single player mode sees you taking control of both birds, but you’ll get the maximum enjoyment from the game by roping in another player for either online or local multiplayer. I haven’t had a chance to play this yet, but it looks like another very fun co-op game in the vein of things like Overcooked! and Moving Out. Hopefully it lives up to its promise.

Lamentum ($15.99)

This is a Lovecraftian survival-horror adventure about a man on a journey to find a cure for his wife’s illness. He gets word about a mansion where ancient secrets and forgotten sciences have been uncovered by its Earl, and decides to investigate. The Earl says he can help, but the price may be more than you can afford. Choose your path carefully, as the lives of both you and your wife are on the line. The aim here seems to have been to create a 2D homage to the original Resident Evil, and it does a pretty good job of it.

Prinny Presents NIS Classics Volume 1: Phantom Brave: The Hermuda Triangle Remastered/Soul Nomad & The World Eaters ($39.99)

That’s got to be another contender for the longest title on the eShop. On paper, this is a cool enough idea. Package spiffed-up versions of two older NIS games and release them on modern platforms for today’s audiences to enjoy. Both Phantom Brave and Soul Nomad are pretty neat, and getting your hands on both of them for this price is a deal. That all being said: this set is a mess. I haven’t had a piece of Switch software crash so frequently and seemingly randomly in a very long time. Sometimes it crashes while it’s just sitting there doing nothing. It often crashes when you try to close it. That’s not even getting into what they’ve done with the graphics here. I’ll be doing a review soon, but don’t expect it to be too kind.

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

Well, let’s see what we’ve got in today’s bag of goodies. Operencia: The Stolen Sun is an awesome RPG based on Hungarian folklore and is definitely worth picking up on sale. Castlestorm may tickle your fancy as well. In the outbox, you may want to check out Wuppo and Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion. That’s about it really, at least from where I’m sitting. You are sitting in a different place, and as such you should check out the lists with your own eyes. Just to be safe, you see.

Select New Games on Sale

Dude, Stop ($8.99 from $14.99 until 9/6)
S.N.I.P.E.R. Hunter Scope ($1.99 from $14.99 until 9/6)
Urban Flow ($1.99 from $14.99 until 9/6)
Red Square Escape 2 ($2.99 from $3.99 until 9/6)
Street Basketball ($1.99 from $5.99 until 9/6)
Real Drift Racing ($1.99 from $4.99 until 9/6)
Bubble Cats Rescue ($1.99 from $3.99 until 9/6)
Street Cleaner: The Video Game ($12.00 from $15.00 until 9/6)
Operencia: The Stolen Sun ($11.99 from $29.99 until 9/7)
Castlestorm ($3.74 from $14.99 until 9/7)
while True: learn() ($9.74 from $12.99 until 9/7)
L.A. Noire ($24.99 from $49.99 until 9/8)
Swapperoo ($1.99 from $7.99 until 9/13)

Highrise Heroes: Word Challenge ($1.99 from $7.99 until 9/13)
Quell ($1.99 from $7.99 until 9/13)
Quell Reflect ($1.99 from $7.99 until 9/13)
Everspace: Stellar Edition ($19.99 from $39.99 until 9/14)
Mini Car Racing ($2.49 from $4.99 until 9/16)
Team Troopers ($4.99 from $15.50 until 9/17)
Skyland: Heart of the Mountain ($2.09 from $14.99 until 9/20)
World of Solitaire ($1.99 from $14.99 until 9/20)
Path of Sin: Greed ($2.09 from $14.99 until 9/20)
Feudal Alloy ($3.39 from $16.99 until 9/20)
Blood Will Be Spilled ($2.99 from $14.99 until 9/20)

Sales Ending Tomorrow, Wednesday, September 1st

Alveole ($3.99 from $4.99 until 9/1)
Blocky Puzzle ($1.99 from $4.99 until 9/1)
Boom Blaster ($3.49 from $4.99 until 9/1)
Crimson Spires ($15.99 from $19.99 until 9/1)
Crossbow Crusade ($3.99 from $4.99 until 9/1)
Cubicity ($2.40 from $6.00 until 9/1)
Dead Dust ($3.99 from $4.99 until 9/1)
Deadly Days ($3.79 from $18.99 until 9/1)
Die With Glory ($4.89 from $6.99 until 9/1)
Divine Ascent ($2.99 from $4.99 until 9/1)
Fobia ($1.99 from $9.99 until 9/1)
Karma. Incarnation 1 ($9.59 from $11.99 until 9/1)
Kiai Resonance ($2.99 from $4.99 until 9/1)
Leisure Suit Larry: WDDD ($5.99 from $39.99 until 9/1)
Leisure Suit Larry: WDDT ($26.99 from $44.99 until 9/1)
Let It Roll Slide Puzzle ($1.99 from $4.49 until 9/1)

Potata: Fairy Flower ($5.40 from $12.00 until 9/1)
Power Racing Bundle 2 ($6.79 from $16.99 until 9/1)
Regalia: Of Men & Monarchs ($12.49 from $24.99 until 9/1)
Roki ($9.99 from $19.99 until 9/1)
Shakes on a Plane ($3.99 from $19.99 until 9/1)
Shalnor Legends: Sacred Lands ($1.99 from $9.99 until 9/1)
Super Arcade Soccer 2021 ($4.90 from $7.00 until 9/1)
The Innsmouth Case ($2.99 from $14.99 until 9/1)
Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion ($10.49 from $14.99 until 9/1)
Vosaria: Lair of the Forgotten ($1.99 from $9.99 until 9/1)
Wuppo: Definitive Edition ($4.49 from $14.99 until 9/1)
Yoko & Yuki: Dr. Rat’s Revenge ($3.49 from $4.99 until 9/1)

That’s all for today and this month, friends. Tomorrow we will have a few new releases to look at, some news to chew on, and the usual sales lists. You probably know how Wednesdays go by now. I’m going to dig into some classic games tonight, I think. Maybe play a bit on my PC Engine Mini for funsies. I hope you all have a terrific Tuesday, and as always, thanks for reading!