Gaming News Week 25

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

After weeks of hot weather and sunshine all day, we now have a massive storm front covering the country. Good for the garden at least! Nice to sit inside with a good game.

Anyway, let’s take a look at the news that caught our eye this week; enjoy!

Dolmenjord Vikings Coming to Switch

Mens Sana Interactive is bringing its fourth self-published game to the Nintendo Switch on June 27th for $2.99|£ 2.69|€ 2,99. Paula already reviewed Dolmenjord Vikings on Steam and gave it our highest Two Thumbs Up rating! Here is her conclusion:

It is such a cute, wholesome puzzle game. Once again, a quality title from Mens Sana Interactive. It is enjoyable to play with gorgeous artwork to look at; what’s not to like? I’d recommend Dolmenjord – Viking Islands to any puzzle-loving fans!

Everdream Valley Is Out On Switch!

Ready for another farming sim? Out on Steam since May 30, I can tell you that Everdream Valley out now on the Switch as well!

Everdream Valley is a vast farming adventure with a touch of magic. By day, you’ll restore your special corner of the valley. Raise various crops, care for a slew of animals, and help rebuild your grandparent’s farm. At night, magic dreams let you embody various farmland creatures to complete special challenges. Our review of this cosy gaming sim is coming next week.

Marvelous’ Silent Hope

This week, Marvelous announced their new action RPG, Silent Hope. The game will be released on October 3rd on the Nintendo Switch and on Steam.

In a world without words, what hope is there for humanity? Silent Hope takes place in a once-peaceful land, silenced by the former King who stole people’s speech before escaping into the endless chasm known as The Abyss. Following these events, the Princess mourned her father’s actions and wept until her own crystallized tears entombed her. Now, years after these events faded from memory, seven heroes find themselves drawn towards the Princess. To break her free from her luminous prison, they must brave the depths of The Abyss to find the long-lost King and reunite the royal family.

Silent Hope harkens back to the glory days of isometric dungeon crawlers while infusing them with a modern approach. Players will take the role of seven unlikely heroes, each with their own unique weapons, fighting styles, and non-combat jobs. After diving into The Abyss to battle enemies and collect materials, the heroes return to Base Camp to craft, cook, and rest up for their next adventure. Each journey into The Abyss will be a fresh experience, with randomized layouts ensuring every excursion has the element of chance, with even greater dangers lurking the further the heroes dare to venture. Sounds interesting huh?

Paleo Pines Has a Date And a Demo

Paleo Pines has a release date: of September 26th, plus there’s a demo on Steam now where you can check out the gameplay. The game will come to PC, PlayStation 4 & 5, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. You can download the demo here.

In Paleo Pines, you arrive on an island populated with friendly dinosaurs and welcoming townsfolk. When you arrive in Paleo Pines, you’ll move into an old ranch that you must fix up. You can enlist the dinosaurs you befriend to help fix it up and grow crops too. Make your own patch of paradise with the help of the townsfolk of Pebble Plaza and the newfound friendship of the wild dinosaurs of the region. And aside from farming, it’s up to you and your trusty Parasaurolophus, Lucky, to uncover the lost history of Paleo Pines.

Faefarm Cuteness

Cuteness overload coming when Faefarm releases on Steam and the Nintendo Switch on September 8th. I must say it looks great, and the description sounds lovely. More info about the game is already on the Nintendo eShop page here.

Escape to the world of Fae Farm and create your own cozy home in the enchanted world of Azoria. As you nurture and grow your homestead, you’ll get to meet charming characters, foster deep relationships and discover ways to infuse magic into everything you do. Customize your character, master the arts of crafting, cooking, and potion-making and discover so much more.

You can unfold the mysteries of the island on your own or with up to three other players. You can invite your family and friends or visit their homestead to progress together, playing beside you or online. As the seasons change, you’ll be able to unlock new areas and restore the world around you.

Developer Phoenix Labs now has a pre-order bonus up: you can kick-start your magical journey into Azoria with the Cozy Cabin Variety Pack, which includes recipes to craft a garden birdhouse, casual cozy farmer outfit, animal portrait, and more. These items are exclusive to the pack, and will become available as soon as players start their adventure in Fae Farm.

Hidden Through Time 2: Myths & Magic

Back in 2020, Paula reviewed Hidden Through Time and gave it a score of I Like it a Lot. Now, the sequel is well into development as you can see in the trailer below. You can also play a demo from a section of Hidden Through Time 2: Myths & Magic; find the link here, courtesy of the Steam Fest.

Whether you are console or mobile focused, the sequel will eventually drop on your platform. The demo on Steam will give you a good idea of what’s ahead!

https://youtu.be/CHzO6HFhrWM

First Venture onto Nintendo Switch For Rusty Lake

Even though co-op point & click game The Past Within is one of 16 games developed by Dutch studio Rusty Lake, it’s the first one venturing onto the Nintendo Switch on July 6th. This game can be played across all available platforms (PC, Mac, iOS, Android and soon, the Switch) and does not require an active internet connection. As long as both players have a copy of the game and can talk to each other in some way, they can play on whichever platform they prefer.

This is what the game, which changes the perspective from 2D to 3D halfway through, is about:

A father dead but not forgotten, a daughter wading thought The Past to unravel a sinister plan, an unknown presence looking back from The Future…in this adventure you must work together and communicate across time and space to solve the mystery left behind by Albert Vanderboom.

The Past Within is on sale, too, for a discount of 40% until July 13th.

Public Playtest Go-Go Town!

A few weeks ago, I wrote my thoughts on the demo of Go-Go Town! (find that here) And now, there is a public playtest scheduled beginning July 3, 2023.

So, want to revitalize a run-down borough as the new mayor. Construct eye-catching shops, farm vast orchards and plan a network of roads to bring together the town’s populace with many customizable options. All this to make your town into a thriving tourist destination!

You can sign up here for the public playtest!

Palia Free to Play

This week, in the Nintendo Direct, the cozy MMO Palia was announced. It is expected to be released on the Nintendo Switch as a free-to-play title during the Holidays in 2023. The game will focus on building communities with loads of social interactivity. This means you can go fishing, gardening, cooking, and farming, among others.

Set in a magical fantasy world you will have complete freedom to decide what your role in the game’s open world will be. Sounds very interesting to me. I wonder how the game will be if you just want to play alone. Plus, if there will be any microtransactions. Anyway, we will keep an eye out; for now it looks pretty good!

Test Your Knowledge: Zelda Quiz

If you haven’t gotten around to it yet, don’t forget we have a Zelda Quiz up, made by Paula. 30 questions to test your knowledge, so see if you know them all! You can find the Quiz here.

That’s it for this week; thanks for reading!