Gaming News Week 18

Come on in, get yourself a nice cup of coffee or tea and pull up a chair.

Even with Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom around the corner, I decided to treat myself to No Place Like Home on my Switch. The game came highly recommended by Mina, and let me tell you: it really is great. Just the kind of combination of exploring, farming and crafting that I love, with a little bit of fighting involved. Anyway, let’s take a look at the news that caught our eye this week; enjoy!

Zelda’s Adventure ported from Philips CDi

I know the Zelda fans think they are a laugh, the three titles that Philips brought to the CDi in the 90s. They could do so because of a deal they made with Nintendo. The first two were side-scrolling adventures. They were Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda: the Wand of Gamelon. The third one was Zelda’s Adventure, which was more traditional top down action adventure. I happened to play them on the CDi and I must admit hubby and I loved them. We spent many nights puzzling our way through!

Now, John Lay has ported Zelda’s Adventure in GB Studio to the GameBoy, with a few modifications. You can also play it in the Browser. See John’s tweet below.

Proud to release a complete port of Zelda's Adventure for the Game Boy.
Zelda's forgotten CDi game is now available to download!https://t.co/LOsk0DjrbS
Made with @GBStudioDev. Music composed by @beatscribemusic.@gbs_central, @DouggernaughtTV, @thedopster #gameboy #Zelda pic.twitter.com/fLQ5NvgAzO
— John Lay (@johnlay_) April 29, 2023

New Pretty Princess Game

Last week, Aksys presented the new Pretty Princess game, coming to Switch on June 22nd. In Pretty Princess Magical Garden Island, you will cultivate crops and raise livestock while exploring the island to collect resources and create goods. Set in a cute European fantasy world, the residents of your magical island depend on you to keep them thriving and content.

Roam the island to collect ingredients and materials to craft goods they need. Back on your farm, plant seeds to raise crops that will grow over time and collect milk and eggs from your animals. Use the money and goodwill you earn to decorate the island and make it your perfectly cute fantasy home.

Apico Update

Budding beekeepers rejoice – your favourite beekeeping sim APICO is bringing an update, APICO 2.0: I Can’t Beelieve It’s Not Butter(flies)!, to Nintendo Switch and PlayStation on May 11. This is what’s in the update:

New NPCs: New friends from the mainland, Cody and Sto, have come to the APICO Islands to further their research.
Butterflies: Discover, collect and breed a variety of brand-new pollinators.
Solitary Bees: These new pollinators prefer to do things independently – build new solitary bee hotels and help them along!
New Flowers: Now, there are more ways to keep the pollinator population happy – each new flower has its own new effect on the environment.
Incense: Through the magic of alchemy, make your own incense and candles!
Bee-Sides: New tracks have been added to the chill soundtrack
And More: New books, decorations, and various quality-of-life improvements have been added.

This Means Warp Launched on Steam

The co-op spaceship rogue-lite from Jagex and Outlier Games, This Means Warp, launched on Steam this week. Players must explore a hostile galaxy, battle dangerous enemies, upgrade their ships and adapt to survive a procedurally generated universe.

The game now has a 25% discount on Steam, and the offer will end on May 11th. This Means Warp will be coming to PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch later this year.

Kickstarter Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara Started

Summer in Mara developer Chibig has started a new Kickstarter campaign for Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara. Unlike Summer in Mara, this will not be a simulation game but an adventure game. You have to outwit traps, manoeuvre dangerous environments, and explore a series of dazzlingly different landscapes on your quest to recover stolen pirate loot.

After one day live, the campaign has already raked in 4 times the funds they were looking for! Plus, Tesura Games is collaborating with Chibig to bring a physical edition in Standard and Collector’s Edition to PS4, PS5 and Switch. Want to join in the fun? The Kickstarter Campaign is here.

Loop8 Computer and Smartphone Backgrounds

We mentioned Loop8 before, a very interesting coming-of-age adventure RPG, where the party members don’t level up through experience in battle but because of the strength of their relationships. Marvelous has now put backgrounds in a variety of sizes for desktop, and animated videos as backgrounds for home and lock screens on smartphones.

They look pretty good! You can find them here.

Fall of Porcupine has a Release Date

The cosy 2D adventure Fall of Porcupine has a release date. It’s coming on 15th June 2023 for PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam. We looked at the demo at the beginning of 2023 and found it to be a great addition to the visual novel genre.

Stepping into the town of Porcupine for the first time, players will take to the worn and well-loved scrubs of Dr. Finley, the newest fledgling medical practitioner to step through the doors of the Porcupine hospital. At first glance, the town and its people hold up to its quiet, small-town vibe. But as you experience the heart-tugging story of Fall of Porcupine unfolds, you’ll see that not everything is as it seems. Not everyone is honest with themselves and others, the healthcare industry is not as illustrious as it seemed in medical school, and the work/life balance Finley strives toward might be harder to achieve than he could have ever imagined.

Bread & Fred Climbs for Cancer Research

On May 23, Bread & Fred will be released on Steam, and James is already checking it out for us. The game puts a cooperative twist on the challenging platformer genre. After all, victory and defeat are attached at the hip, and one penguin’s false move can mean trouble for both!

But even before the release, you can participate in the St. Jude PLAY LIVE Challenge Season, which takes place from May 2nd to May 31st, 2023. Download the updated Bread & Fred demo on Steam to access exclusive St. Jude content along with weekly themed events and challenges during the month of May.

Jump, cling and swing in search of special in-game artwork in hard-to-reach locations created by St. Jude patients, and tackle weekly challenges provided every Friday by Apogee Entertainment and St. Jude PLAY LIVE throughout the month of May. You can even earn real-world prizes while reaching money-raising milestones to support children’s cancer research.

Tiny Witch Managing a Store

Have you ever wanted to become a whimsical little store manager, creating potions in your cauldrons all while being accompanied by a magical cat merchant? In Tiny Witch, you can do just that! Premium pixel-art game creators Creative Hand have announced their upcoming title, released later in 2023 on PC.

In Tiny Witch, you are a little witch who, unfortunately, keeps buying stores that come with a curse. To break the curse, she must run each store situated in towns full of dungeon masters for ten days. Activate spells, unlock new recipes and prepare the best minions in time to become the ultimate shop manager!