SwitchArcade Round-Up: ‘Bugsnax’, ‘Transiruby’, ‘Arise: A Simple Story’, Plus Today’s Other Releases and Sales

Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for April 28th, 2022. It’s Thursday, and like most Thursdays this month we’ve got a couple dozen new games to look at. More, actually. We’ve got summaries of all of them, plus the lists of new and expiring sales. That’s about it, but those new game summaries will definitely take you a while to get through. I know they took me a while to write. Let’s get going before my fingers fall off for real.

New Releases

Bugsnax ($24.99)

SwitchArcade Highlight!

If you’re looking for charm, Bugsnax has it in spades. Explore a colorful island populated by weird insect/snack hybrids known as Bugsnax. Try to catch them all, chill out, and have a nice time wandering about getting to know everyone. The attractive visuals have lost only a tiny bit of their shine in the transition from PlayStation 5 to Switch, and this is a game well-suited to portable play. I think the game’s personality is its strong point, while the gameplay mechanics are perhaps not as good as they could be. Still a trip that many will find worth embarking upon.

Arise: A Simple Story – Definitive Edition ($19.99)

This is a beautiful game with a lovely, simple (it’s right in the title), emotional story. It’s worth experiencing if you value narrative experiences above all else, but it bears mentioning that there’s a fair bit of platforming in the game that feels rather clunky in action. If you can forgive that bit of roughness in the gameplay mechanics, this is absolutely something you’ll get a lot out of in its few hours of running time.

Layer Section & Galactic Attack S-Tribute ($29.99)

While there are two names in that title, it’s really just that this particular game went under a few names depending on the region. In Japanese arcades, it was RayForce. Then when it got ported to the Japanese SEGA Saturn, it became Layer Section. That Saturn version got renamed Galactic Attack in North America and Europe, and in some European arcades it appeared as Gunlock. Well, glad I cleared that up. This is a really fun shoot-em-up from Taito, but this particular version is the Saturn port running through that Saturn emulator that was used for the Cotton/Guardian Force Saturn Tributes several months back. Let’s… let’s hope it’s running better now. Note that you can buy a different port of this game on the App Store for $6.99 if you prefer to play on your mobile device.

Transiruby ($14.99)

The latest release from Skipmore, the developer behind Kamiko and Fairune, Transiruby is a Metroidvania-style adventure starring a cyborg named Siruby. I remember playing a very early version of this at the Tokyo Game Show years back, and even as early as it was it was pretty fun. I haven’t had a chance to play the final version yet, but I have a lot of faith in this developer to make something that lives up to my expectations.

As Far As The Eye ($24.99)

This is a resource management-focused strategy game where you need to take a tribe of creatures to the center of the world. This is actually a very difficult thing to pull off because food is scarce. You need to plan your moves very carefully, taking care of basic needs but also trying to build up and stock resources for other purposes. There are no enemies here, so it’s just you against nature. But nature is perhaps the most formidable and cruel foe of them all, isn’t it? Reviews of this one were somewhat middling on other platforms, but it seems to have gotten a better appraisal from the players themselves. I’ll have a review of it soon if you need more details.

Get Packed: Couch Chaos ($14.99)

Here’s a new party game to play with friends or family. It’s a bit like Moving Out! in that the goal is generally to go into spaces, grab some items, and bring them to a moving truck. There are special missions to accomplish on each level to help you boost your score, and a fairly big list of minigames to enjoy if you get tired of the core gameplay. The Musgrave family had a good time with this, and I’ll have a review for you based on that early next week.

Tasomachi: Behind the Twilight ($19.99)

This is an indie 3D collectathon platformer, and unfortunately it falls prey to a lot of the usual issues that come with that. I love the art and world design, and it’s an interesting space to roam around in. The controls just don’t feel as good as you would want them to for a game like this though, and nothing else in here really manages to compensate for that. You play as a young woman named Yukumo and need to save a town from the curse it’s under by tracking down all the Sources of Earth scattered about. If you can do that, you’ll be able get your airship fixed and continue on your merry way. I’ve played far worse, but I also couldn’t see myself feeling good about dropping twenty bucks on this as it is.

Lost Bubbles: Sweet Mates ($2.99)

Perhaps you remember it, perhaps you don’t, but a while back there was a game released called Lost Eggs that was just weird in a lot of good ways. From that same developer comes Lost Bubbles, where you are a bar of soap. You need to get to the soap dish, but as you move you will become smaller. Because you’re a bar of soap. When you dash, you leave bubbles behind you. Again, you’re a bar of soap. And you can play with up to nine other players at once online as you all compete to reach the soap dish first. There’s also a towel hidden somewhere in the stage that you might want to find in order to complete the set. If I was the sort to include emojis in my articles, the shrug one would be right about here.

Arcade Archives Youkai Douchuki ($7.99)

Bandai Namco Month in Arcade Archives comes to a close with the rather off-beat action-platformer Youkai Douchuki. Originally released in 1987 in Japan only, this game sees you playing as a little fellow named Tarosuke as he battles his way through hell in order to reach Yama and receive judgement for the misdeeds he committed in the world of the living. It’s not a great game, or at least I don’t think it is, but it has a cult following who I am sure will be happy to see it rereleased. Note that this will likely follow in the footsteps of Legend of Valkyrie and only offer up a Japanese version.

Watcher Chronicles ($19.99)

This is a cartoony, 2D, Souls-inspired action game, and it seems to have a lot of fans in its Steam incarnation already even though it’s only a few months old. The art style is immediately eye-catching for a game of this sort, eschewing the usual dreariness in favor of plenty of colorful pop. But don’t worry, the despair of getting your butt handed to you by giant bosses until you learn all of the lessons they have to teach is well and alive here. If you enjoyed games like Salt and Sanctuary or Blasphemous, you’ll want to give this one a closer look.

Panmorphia: Awakened ($6.99)

The latest chapter in the Panmorphia hidden object adventure series is here. You know how this works by now: examine each scene carefully, pick up everything that isn’t nailed down, and use that stuff to solve the various puzzles you’ll come across. Some really nice art and while I haven’t played it I’m confident the puzzles will be as well-designed as usual.

Catie in MeowmeowLand ($14.99)

It’s like Alice in Wonderland in a point-and-click adventure except everything is cat-themed and it’s about ten times more bizarre. Meet more than a hundred strange characters, solve puzzles that frequently make little sense, and explore a couple of dozen hand-drawn scenes. Not a particularly great adventure game but not a bad one either. If the quirky theme speaks to you, maybe give it a go.

Light Fairytale Episode 1 ($9.99)

As you might infer from the title, this is the first part of what will eventually be a full adventure. It’s a JRPG-style game that deliberately throws back to the PlayStation era in a lot of ways. Unfortunately, that Episode 1 subtitle also means that this is pretty short (a few hours long for most players, I suspect) and also rather basic. Which makes sense, doesn’t it? The first part of most JRPGs usually isn’t where the games shine the brightest. Let’s hope that pattern holds here, but for now it’s a little tough to recommend this release in the vacuum it presently exists in.

Whisper Trip ($4.99)

You play as a cop in a cyberpunk world, which means you’re probably the bad guy. Well, whatever. You have a katana and if you want to bring a buddy along in local multiplayer you can have some back-up, too. What more do you need? Better controls would be nice, I suppose. Well, it still manages to have its moments. It costs five bucks, so it’s best not to expect too much.

New Terra ($24.99)

Really thought enough of that name that you had to register the trademark, eh Winteryear Studios? I guess hope really does spring eternal. Anyway, this is a multi-directional shooter that I think uses thrust mechanics for flying your ship around. There are eighteen missions to clear, plus a special mode where you play through all of those levels in complete darkness with only your ship’s headlights to help you see. It’s not straight-up action, either. You need to manage your fuel carefully so that you don’t run out midway through a stage. That means planning your movements and overall path carefully, especially in the more maze-like areas.

Unsouled ($19.99)

This is a top-down action RPG with a very, very sharp difficulty curve. It pretty much tosses you into the deep end right away to sink or swim as you will. If you can get over that initial hump, you may find something extremely satisfying in its intricate mechanics. But if you do bounce off it, you’re liable to bounce off it hard. In spite of what the title may lead you to believe, there’s probably more Devil May Cry to this game than Souls-like. Wait, maybe that makes the title very appropriate then? A stiff challenge for those in the mood for one.

LilyDeux Black Lily ($15.00)

A text-heavy strategy RPG that only has support for Japanese language. I can’t speak to how well it plays as it kind of dropped out of nowhere on the eShop, but I’d imagine that language support choice is going to mean that it doesn’t really matter for most of you anyway.

Turn Tack ($14.99)

Another Limbo-like puzzle-platformer. You play as a mysterious white-haired woman on the run from the Aztec Empire. They want to sacrifice her and she doesn’t want to be sacrificed, so they’re at something of an impasse. Occasionally striking visual design is about all that elevates this from the usual fare, so it’s unlikely to convince anyone who has already filled their boots with this sort of game. I’m very ambivalent to it.

Parkasaurus ($24.99)

This is a lighter and brighter take on the dinosaur park management thing than the other choice available on Switch at the moment. It’s also a lot easier and rather lacking in depth, which means the joy burns down more quickly than you might like. Those qualities make it a perhaps a decent choice for those new to the park simulation genre. Kids especially might find it very manageable. More experienced players are probably going to find themselves pretty bored within an hour or two.

Raven’s Hike ($3.99)

A cute little platformer where you can’t move or jump but instead have to use your grappling hook to move around. You get more than sixty levels to play through, and some of them are rather tricky. You need to grab all the tokens and then make it to the exit, and that is easier said than done at times. Quite decent for the price, really. If you want a cheap pick-up today, this is a nice one.

Marco & The Galaxy Dragon ($19.99)

Hm, well that’s just my own preconceptions working against me, isn’t it? Marco is a young woman who lives on a distant planet. Her friend Arco, who happens to be a dragon, decides to help her seek out her mother. To find her, they’re going to the planet where Marco was born: Earth. This is a visual novel with a higher-than-average amount of images from the same publisher that brought us Steam Prison, Ephemeral Fantasy on Dark, and Hashihime of the Old Book Town. I’ve heard really good things about it from fans of the genre, too.

OshiRabu: Waifus Over Husbandos + Love-or-die ($39.99)

Here’s a double dose of yuri-themed adventures, with both OshiRabu: Waifus Over Husbandos and OshiRabu: Love-or-die packed together for their Switch debut. Akuru is a gacha-obsessed office worker who can’t seem to pull her favorite husbando no matter how much money she spends. She meets a woman named Ren who, by contrast, has incredible luck with her pulls. One thing leads to another, Akuru accidentally proposes to Ren, and they end up moving in together. Akuru is mostly interested in Ren’s luck to help her pull her husbando, while Ren falls completely for Akuru. What will happen with this unlikely pair? Well, given there is a sequel packed right in here, you can probably guess the broad strokes.

Waifu Impact ($4.99)

Yes, we have two games hitting the eShop today with ‘waifu’ in the title. I don’t know either. Play as a swimsuit clad woman and use your watergun to spray the other other women on the island. You can unlock eight different characters in all, and there are naturally some images to add to the in-game gallery. Somehow this is single-player only, which feels like it’s missing an easy goal. But hey, it’s a fiver.

Marble Maid ($9.99)

Nobody puts eastasiasoft in a corner when it comes to anime ladies, though. Here they have trapped a hapless maid in a plastic ball and sent her on a mission to clear up the dust bunnies around a huge estate. There are more than fifty levels to play, and the usual gallery images to unlock. It might remind you of Monkey Ball, and I don’t think it’s hiding that, but you actually have direct control over the rolling maid rather than the stage-tilting antics of its inspiration. Could be fun.

Gems of Magic: Dwarf’s Destiny ($9.99)

Another Gems of Magic game, and there’s nothing really different about the piece-matching gameplay. You just get a new story to wrap it all up in.

Cricket 22 The Official Game of the Ashes ($49.99)

I’m not going to sit here and pretend like I know enough about cricket to tell you if this is a good interpretation or not. Reviews seem lukewarm on other platforms, at least. I somehow doubt the Switch version would be an improvement, but I’ll leave it to actual cricket fans to sort that out.

Ping Pong Arcade ($14.99)

A slightly fancier-than-usual take on Ping Pong that can be enjoyed alone or against another player either locally or online. There’s a campaign mode with multiple locations to play in, plus a bunch of unlockable special powers that you can deploy to turn things around in a pinch. The computer opponent comes in five different difficulty levels so you can find the right challenge for you.

Let’s Get Changed! ~ Nyanzou&Kumakichi: Escape Game ($19.80)

I don’t know why Alignment Sharp is going for it so hard with the price on this one. It’s another escape room game with a really poor translation that ends up being unintentionally hilarious. You can actually try this out for free on your mobile device where it goes under the name Escape Game: Change Clothes. Fun enough but nowhere near a twenty dollar value for me. Perhaps you feel differently.

Bunny Reversi ($1.99)

More of this junk. Play Reversi, but instead of a simple easy-to-use interface you have to control a goofy-looking rabbit in a 3D space. No thank you.

Escape Game R00M ($1.00)

From the maker of the Cape’s Escape Game and Nyanzou&Kumakichi games comes this very short and low-cost slice of puzzling. If you’re wondering if you might like what this developer puts out but don’t want to throw down much cash until you are sure, here you go.

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

Golden Week sales have started already, and I’m sure there will be more by the time we check in tomorrow. Plenty of goodies already, and it’s that usual case where there is so much that I had to do more curation than usual. I’ll let you pick through the lists yourself, and don’t forget to take a glance at the outbox because it also has some good stuff in it.

Select New Games on Sale

MO: Astray ($7.49 from $14.99 until 5/8)
DEEMO -Reborn- ($15.00 from $25.00 until 5/8)
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 ($21.99 from $39.99 until 5/9)
Spyro Reignited Trilogy ($19.99 from $39.99 until 5/9)
Crash N.Sane Trilogy ($19.99 from $39.99 until 5/9)
Crash Bandicoot 4 ($29.99 from $39.99 until 5/9)
Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled ($15.99 from $39.99 until 5/9)
Diablo II Resurrected ($29.99 from $39.99 until 5/9)
Diablo III Eternal Collection ($29.99 from $59.99 until 5/9)
Diablo Prime Evil Collection ($38.99 from $59.99 until 5/9)
Blizzard Arcade Collection ($9.99 from $19.99 until 5/9)
Overwatch Legendary Edition ($19.99 from $39.99 until 5/9)
Groove Coaster Wai Wai Party ($35.99 from $59.99 until 5/9)
Touhou Spell Bubble ($27.49 from $54.99 until 5/9)
RPGolf Legends ($20.99 from $29.99 until 5/9)

Marenian Tavern Story ($10.99 from $19.99 until 5/9)
Super Shadow Break: Showdown! ($9.09 from $12.99 until 5/11)
Skul: The Hero Slayer ($13.99 from $19.99 until 5/11)
Attack on Beetle ($4.19 from $5.99 until 5/11)
No More Heroes ($14.99 from $19.99 until 5/12)
No More Heroes 2 DS ($14.99 from $19.99 until 5/12)
Demon Gaze Extra Deluxe ($48.74 from $64.99 until 5/12)
Nosferatu Lilinor ($13.71 from $17.14 until 5/12)
Cogen: Sword of Rewind ($19.99 from $24.99 until 5/12)
Inferno Climber Reborn ($4.76 from $13.99 until 5/12)
BurgerTime Party ($9.99 from $19.99 until 5/12)
Story of Seasons: Mineral Town ($23.99 from $39.99 until 5/12)
Story of Seasons: Olive Town ($29.99 from $39.99 until 5/12)
Rune Factory 4 Special ($23.99 from $29.99 until 5/12)
Worldend Syndrome ($10.00 from $39.99 until 5/12)

Guilty Gear ($6.89 from $9.99 until 5/12)
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core+R ($9.74 from $14.99 until 5/12)
Family Tennis SP ($4.19 from $6.99 until 5/12)
Chaos Code NSoC ($6.69 from $9.99 until 5/12)
Blazblue Cross Tag Battle ($5.00 from $19.99 until 5/12)
Kill la Kill -IF ($10.00 from $19.99 until 5/12)
Heroland ($7.49 from $29.99 until 5/12)
Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin ($22.49 from $29.99 until 5/12)
Gal Metal ($5.99 from $19.99 until 5/12)
Touhou Hyouibana AoCF ($24.49 from $34.99 until 5/12)
Touhou Genso Wanderer LLR ($31.49 from $44.99 until 5/12)
Gensokyo Defenders ($5.99 from $19.99 until 5/12)
Gensou Skydrift ($7.19 from $23.99 until 5/12)
Azure Reflections ($12.49 from $24.99 until 5/12)
Touhou Luna Nights ($15.29 from $17.99 until 5/12)

fault milestone two side above ($7.49 from $14.99 until 5/12)
Mononoke Slashdown ($4.19 from $6.99 until 5/12)
Kubinashi Recollection ($9.59 from $11.99 until 5/12)
Filmechanism ($13.99 from $19.99 until 5/12)
Corpse Party ($14.99 from $19.99 until 5/12)
Corpse Party Blood Drive ($9.99 from $19.99 until 5/12)
Freedom Planet ($4.49 from $14.99 until 5/12)
Akiba’s Trip H&D ($19.49 from $29.99 until 5/12)
Shadowverse Champion’s Battle ($23.99 from $39.99 until 5/12)
Senran Kagura Reflexions ($4.99 from $9.99 until 5/12)
Senran Kagura Peach Ball ($14.99 from $29.99 until 5/12)
Mon Amour ($7.19 from $8.99 until 5/12)
Dandy Dungeon: Brave Yamada ($13.29 from $18.99 until 5/12)
Black Bird ($13.29 from $18.99 until 5/12)
moon ($16.99 from $18.99 until 5/12)

A Street Cat’s Tale ($6.39 from $7.99 until 5/12)
Wicce ($3.99 from $7.99 until 5/12)
Wonder Boy Returns Remix ($7.49 from $14.99 until 5/12)
Sacred Stones ($1.99 from $9.99 until 5/12)
Fairy Knights ($1.99 from $9.99 until 5/12)
Tales of Djungarian Hamster ($7.99 from $9.99 until 5/13)
Livestream: EfHI ($9.99 from $19.99 until 5/13)
Uchu Shinshuchu ($4.00 from $8.00 until 5/13)
Mom Hid My Game! ($2.99 from $4.99 until 5/16)
Mom Hid My Game! 2 ($3.49 from $4.99 until 5/16)
Hide & Dance! ($2.99 from $4.99 until 5/16)
SGC Short Games Collection ($13.99 from $19.99 until 5/17)
Draw a Stickman: Epic 2 ($1.99 from $6.99 until 5/18)
Omega Labyrinth Life DX Edition ($29.59 from $79.99 until 5/19)

Sales Ending Tomorrow, Friday, April 29th

9 Monkeys of Shaolin ($4.99 from $19.99 until 4/29)
Aces of the Luftwaffe SE Edition ($9.99 from $24.99 until 4/29)
Airport Simulator Day & Night ($17.49 from $24.99 until 4/29)
Animal Doctor ($5.99 from $19.99 until 4/29)
Area 86 ($2.99 from $9.99 until 4/29)
Ash of Gods: Redemption ($4.99 from $19.99 until 4/29)
Astro Bears ($1.99 from $6.99 until 4/29)
Barrage Fantasia ($6.99 from $9.99 until 4/29)
BioShock 2 Remastered ($7.99 from $19.99 until 4/29)
BioShock Remastered ($7.99 from $19.99 until 4/29)
Borderlands GotY Edition ($11.99 from $29.99 until 4/29)
Borderlands the Handsome Collection ($15.99 from $39.99 until 4/29)
Carnival Games ($9.99 from $39.99 until 4/29)
City Stunt Driver ($6.49 from $12.99 until 4/29)
Classic Pool ($1.99 from $7.99 until 4/29)
Classic Solitaire ($1.99 from $4.99 until 4/29)

Construction Site Driver ($6.99 from $13.99 until 4/29)
Death Squared ($2.24 from $14.99 until 4/29)
Dezatopia ($13.99 from $19.99 until 4/29)
Doom & Destiny ($5.99 from $11.99 until 4/29)
Doom & Destiny Advanced ($5.99 from $11.99 until 4/29)
Doom & Destiny Worlds ($9.99 from $19.99 until 4/29)
DOOM 1993 ($2.49 from $4.99 until 4/29)
DOOM 2016 ($19.99 from $39.99 until 4/29)
DOOM 3 ($4.99 from $9.99 until 4/29)
DOOM 64 ($2.49 from $4.99 until 4/29)
DOOM Eternal ($19.79 from $59.99 until 4/29)
DOOM Eternal DX ($29.69 from $89.99 until 4/29)
DOOM II Classic ($2.49 from $4.99 until 4/29)
DOOM Slayers Collection ($24.99 from $49.99 until 4/29)
Edge of Eternity ($23.99 from $29.99 until 4/29)

Empire Invasion ($5.19 from $12.99 until 4/29)
Fibbage XL ($4.99 from $9.99 until 4/29)
Firefighters AFD ($19.99 from $39.99 until 4/29)
Firefighters Airport Heroes ($19.99 from $39.99 until 4/29)
Firefighters The Simulation ($19.99 from $39.99 until 4/29)
Forestry The Simulation ($9.99 from $19.99 until 4/29)
Highway Haste ($7.99 from $19.99 until 4/29)
Joe’s Diner ($9.99 from $19.99 until 4/29)
Mad Games Tycoon ($11.99 from $39.99 until 4/29)
Mad Tower Tycoon ($8.99 from $29.99 until 4/29)
Metro Simulator ($9.99 from $19.99 until 4/29)
Miner Warfare ($3.99 from $7.99 until 4/29)
Mountain Rescue Simulator ($19.99 from $39.99 until 4/29)
NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 ($7.49 from $29.99 until 4/29)
NBA 2K22 ($19.79 from $59.99 until 4/29)

One Hand Clapping ($13.49 from $14.99 until 4/29)
Party Games 15 in 1 ($1.99 from $4.99 until 4/29)
PGA Tour 2K21 ($14.99 from $59.99 until 4/29)
Pile Up! Box by Box ($10.49 from $14.99 until 4/29)
Pineview Drive ($9.99 from $19.99 until 4/29)
Pro Construction The Simulation ($19.99 from $39.99 until 4/29)
Professional Farmer ($19.99 from $39.99 until 4/29)
Professional Farmer: AD ($19.99 from $39.99 until 4/29)
QUAKE ($3.99 from $9.99 until 4/29)
Quiplash 2 InterLASHional ($4.99 from $9.99 until 4/29)
Rangerdog ($4.19 from $5.99 until 4/29)
Red Ronin ($1.99 from $7.99 until 4/29)
Redeemer: Enhanced Edition ($3.74 from $14.99 until 4/29)
Savage Halloween ($1.99 from $4.99 until 4/29)
Shing! ($3.99 from $19.99 until 4/29)

Sid Meier’s Civilization VI ($8.99 from $29.99 until 4/29)
Skydrift Infinity ($10.49 from $14.99 until 4/29)
Soccer, Tactics & Glory ($11.99 from $39.99 until 4/29)
Space Blaze ($14.99 from $29.99 until 4/29)
Stunt Kite Party ($1.99 from $9.99 until 4/29)
Super Dodgeball Beats ($2.59 from $12.99 until 4/29)
Tales from the Borderlands ($14.99 from $24.99 until 4/29)
The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim ($29.99 from $59.99 until 4/29)
The Forgotten City: Cloud Vers. ($23.99 from $29.99 until 4/29)
The House of Da Vinci 2 ($5.99 from $9.99 until 4/29)
The Jackbox Party Pack 3 ($16.24 from $24.99 until 4/29)
TheNightfall ($19.99 from $39.99 until 4/29)
Townsmen Kingdom Rebuilt CE ($10.99 from $26.99 until 4/29)
Truck Simulator ($6.99 from $13.99 until 4/29)
Vasara Collection ($1.99 from $9.99 until 4/29)
Wolfenstein II New Colossus ($15.99 from $39.99 until 4/29)
Wolfenstein Youngblood ($9.99 from $19.99 until 4/29)
Wolfenstein Youngblood DX ($14.99 from $29.99 until 4/29)
WWE 2K Battlegrounds ($15.99 from $39.99 until 4/29)
WWE 2K18 ($17.99 from $59.99 until 4/29)

That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back tomorrow with a handful of additional releases to close out this very busy week, plus what I am sure will be a very big list of new sales. For now, I shall ice the hands. My recent Thursday tradition. I hope you all have a great day, and as always, thanks for reading!