Hello there, my dear Patron! Nice to see you here in our latest Newsletter looking back at all that happened on the site since then, starting February 15th until February 21st of 2021.
So if you haven’t had time to read in the past weeks, here’s all that was published, all wrapped in a nice package. So get yourself a cup of coffee (or tea of course), kick back and enjoy!
Reviews
Halloween Forever Review (Nintendo Switch) – We Like It a Lot
Action Platformer (US $9.99 | UK £7.99 | EU €9,99)
James: Halloween Forever is a retro treat on Switch. It reminds me of the days when developers came up with wacky but original ideas and somehow made them work on the hardware. But while Halloween Forever has the originality and retro charm it also brings retro warts; like one-hit kill spikes and sending you back to the start of the game when your two lives are spent.
If you love your retro titles this one comes highly recommended. Halloween Forever is a game that can be enjoyed all year round and not just for Halloween.
Aground Review (Nintendo Switch) – We Like It a Lot
Simulation adventure (US $14.99 | EU €12,29 |UK £10.99)
Paula: Aground is a super fun game, with lots to do in it. Plenty of crafting, mining and so on to keep you amused. The story twists are interesting, your never quite sure where it will all lead to. It can get a little repetitive as regards the collecting of resources, but what game doesn’t.
If you’re a fan of games that focus on survival, collecting resources and crafting and at the price point for Aground I can highly recommend it!
Summer Catchers Review (Nintendo Switch) – We Like It a Lot
Racing Arcade (US $5.99 | EU €9,99| UK £8.99)
Paula: Summer Catchers is an enjoyable romp helping Chu see the ocean. When I first started playing Summer Catchers I wasn’t too sure what I thought of the game, but you know what? It grew on me!
As I’ve mentioned Chu has a can-do attitude which really does rub off on you and makes you want to try to succeed. I like the art style, and even the gameplay itself becomes highly addicting.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV: Diplomacy and Strategy Expansion Pack Review – We Like It a Lot
Simulation Strategy (US $69.99 | EU €69,99 | UK £57.99)
Paula: You won’t find the depth of territory or building development that you do in Civilization, but you will find a complete and engaging strategy game.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV is packed, full of different scenarios, with hours upon hours of quality strategy war gameplay. There is quite a lot of nuances to the game which I’m still learning, but if you do stick with it, I think it proves to be a very rewarding strategy game!
NUTS Review (Nintendo Switch) – We Like It a Lot
Puzzle Simulation (US $19.99 | EU €19.99)
Ash: NUTS is an adorable walk through a forest of tranquillity. The gameplay is fun and unique, and nicely paced. The game doesn’t feel too hectic or too slow, and the specific requests from Nina players must achieve for each level increase in difficulty and keep the game interesting.
The story is fabulous, especially if you love (or even just like) squirrels. A small group of people trying to protect animal habitat from a huge mega-corporation that wants to tear it all down in the name of profit.
It is a story that is, sadly, all too real in this day and age. You’ll be rooting for yourself, the forest, and the squirrels the entire time as you try to capture their adorable furry faces in your camera. Definitely pick up this game if you like: calm, relaxing games, squirrels, photography and unique art!
80 Days Review (Nintendo Switch) – We Like It a Lot
Interactive Fiction (US $12.99 | EU €11,29 |UK £9.99)
Elena: If you haven’t been playing much interactive fiction, just remind yourself to switch mental gears and put on your metaphorical reading glasses. After I made that switch and carved out time to enjoy 80 Days slowly, I really enjoyed the little stories that make up Passepartout’s grand adventure.
After six playthroughs, spending about two hours per playthrough, there are still many cities I’ve been thwarted from reaching and mysteries to fully uncover. Perhaps I’ll revisit old cities just to take in the scenery if I had rushed through them earlier. I’ve almost died, but I’ve yet to actually die. Who knows, perhaps I’ll stumble upon a plotline that lets me!
Silver Screen Story Review (Switch) – We Like It
Simulation Strategy (US $14.00 | UK £11.69| EU €13,00 )
CJ: I went back and forth on this one for a bit. It can be a bit dull until you get a lot of buildings going, and the constant interruptions that you can’t delay or skip entirely can be annoying. Ultimately, the charm of running my own movie studio won out and I am pleased to give this game a thumb’s up.
Bugvasion TD Review (Steam) – We Like It
Strategy Tower Defense (UK £5.19)
James: Bugvasion TD feels like a pretty standard tower defense game, which is unlikely to win over new fans to the genre. It’s a hard genre to really reinvent but the developers clearly put a lot of care and attention into this project. The game keeps you interested by making use of the environment and firing off skills at the right time to keep you engaged with the tower defense experience rather than sitting back and just watching.
If you don’t mind your insects then there is a solid gaming experience here. I sure won’t be able to look at bugs in my garage the same way again for a while.
30XX Early Impressions Steam
Roguelike 2D Platformer
James: Being in Early Access, 30XX is far from complete. At the moment, there are only a few levels and upgrades available. It looks like over the course of the year we will see more levels, upgrades, as well as NPCs added to the main hub world. The game is planning to release on all the major platforms in the future.
30XX looks to build on everything 20XX did but with more content, gameplay features, and a level editor that’s well worth looking into. I’ll be keeping a close eye on this project as the year progresses.
Editorials/ News
Bitfinity Games Indie Dev Interview
Patron Only, Tier 2 and 3
Time for another Patron only interview! BitFinity Games, developers of Tadpole Treble Encore agreed to chat with us.
MiiTopia: the Return of the Mii?
One of the things I absolutely loved on the 3DS was everything revolving around the Mii’s. Streetpassing people and finding their Mii in my Mii Plaza. Could MiiTopia be the first sign of the return of the Mii to the Nintendo console? I sure hope so. The game will be released on May 21, 2021
Monthly Q&A: Scoring Reviews and Number of Views
Patron Only, Tier 2 and 3
Last month, James and Elena talked about how they scored their reviews. This month, Paula and Yvonne talk about reviews, scores but also about how they can effect the number of views we get on any game review. Because sometimes you’d expect a game to get a fair number of views from our audience and they end up going mostly unnoticed. And sometimes a game review we didn’t expect is a huge hit!
Kickstarter Beacon Pines, Steam Demo Impressions
Paula takes a look at the Steam demo of Kickstarter Beacon Pines. Already fully funded and expected to land on Switch as well. A cute and creepy adventure game set within the pages of a magical storybook!
