Wholesome Gaming Round-Up April 26th, 2024

Welcome to our Weekly Wholesome Gaming Round-Up, once again packed with news.

Investigate in Duck Detective: The Secret Salami, Crab God is releasing June 20th, there’s an addition for Bang-On Balls: Chronicles and in The Whims of the Gods you build with a friend. The Tales of the Shire announcement trailer is out, there’s a great Humble Bundle, “Down on the Farm” and we have a release date for Baladins. There are updates and QOL changes for Immortal Life, early access for Hotel Architect, and endless mode in Lake, Disney Dreamlight Valley brings a free update called Thrills & Frills, and city builder Imagine Earth is coming to Switch.

Investigate in Duck Detective: The Secret Salami

Happy Broccoli Games (Kraken Academy) has revealed in this week’s Nintendo Indie World showcase that Duck Detective: The Secret Salami is coming out on Nintendo Switch, with a demo to follow soon. (If you can’t wait, the demo is also available on PC). The game’s release date was also announced: it will launch for both Nintendo Switch and PC on May 23rd, 2024!

Get ready to quack some cases in this charming short-form mystery that allows you to investigate freely and is inspired by The Case of the Golden Idol, Return to the Obra Dinn and ducks in general. You play as Eugene McQuacklin, the Duck Detective himself, as he works to crack the case with the help of your supreme powers of deduc(k)tion. Inspect and interview suspects to learn their hidden secrets, then use the information you’ve gathered (plus your own de-duck-tive reasoning) to locate the suspect and bust the case wide open!

Crab God releasing June 20th

Crab God has a release date: it’s coming to Steam on June 20th. In this underwater strategic, resource-gathering gameplay of Kingdom is combined with the wholesome, oceanic aesthetic of Loddlenaut. The ocean-themed tactical side-scroller features the almighty Crab God herself, bringing a colony of adorable Crablings along for the ride. Assuming the role of their god, players must grow and guide their Crabling colony, assigning them to their daily duties (farming, worshipping and other important aspects of Crabling life) and helping to fend off enemy creatures. All the while, in-game actions will have a direct impact on conservation efforts through dots.eco.

Addition for Bang-On Balls: Chronicles

Exit Plan Games has news about their 3D open-world sandbox game, Bang-On Balls: Chronicles. The game will expand with a thrilling Wild West-themed update on May 10th. This massive addition will be available for free on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox, with a later release for the Nintendo Switch.

Players can explore five new Wild West regions: Mexico, Saloon City, Oil Fields, Beaver Town, and Gold Mines, each featuring unique sub-regions. The update promises a host of new adventures, including horseback riding, rail carts, train robberies, and canoeing across river-laden landscapes. With over 80 new customizable items, weapons like lassos, revolvers, and TNT crates, plus new bosses and mini-bosses, this update is a goldmine for fans seeking a nostalgic nod to classic Hollywood Westerns. Gear up for an action-packed journey through the lawless country!

The Whims of the Gods: It Takes Two to Build a City

Get ready for a divine challenge in The Whims of the Gods, a co-op city-builder that’s all about teamwork and ancient urban planning. Set for an Early Access launch on Steam in Q3 2024, this game invites two players to build, manage, and defend an ancient city from the forces of a volatile volcano. Whether teaming up locally or online, players will construct buildings, satisfy the needs of their city’s inhabitants, and fend off aggressors. Prepare to collaborate effectively and harness your collective strategic skills to prosper in this cooperation-focused adventure.

The key feature of The Whims of the Gods is that you play together with someone to jointly transform a village into a big city. Players are primarily tasked with creating production chains, utilizing their citizens to gather resources and move them to places where they can be processed. This starts from constructing simple gathering spots and warehouses but expands to growing plants, breeding animals, supplying energy to buildings, maintaining armies and trading with the gods. Monsters will emerge at times from the volcano at the heart of the island, threatening to damage the players’ city.

The combat mode in the game is based on auto-battler mechanics and features escalating levels of threat. Players will have to train soldiers and maintain their army to fight back. To influence the course of the battle, players can activate special abilities such as mass healing or increased attack damage. The land on which players will develop their city is full of unpredictable events that are revealed through a mystical calendar at the foot of the volcano. This will enable them to prepare themselves for various, often unexpected, situations such as epidemics or exceptionally bountiful harvests. Players can also turn to helpful gods, offering prayers in exchange for gifts and blessings.

Tales of the Shire Announcement Trailer

Tales of the Shire: A Lord of the Rings Game, developed by Weta Workshop Game Studio, has released an announcement trailer that looks every bit as good as we had hoped. The game will launch in the second half of 2024 on the Switch, Steam, PS5, and Xbox X|S. Personally, I’m really looking forward to diving into the cozy hobbit life-sim in Middle Earth! Check out the trailer below.

Humble Bundle Down on the Farm

Do you like farming games as much as I do? If there ever was a good time to go for a bundle of games for a nice price, then this is it. The Humble Bundle “Down on the Farm” is available now, focusing on cultivating the land, nurturing relationships, and building a legacy.

These are the eight games included in the bundle, and all of them have our heartfelt stamp of approval:

• Immerse yourself in the peaceful life of The Witch of Fern Island: making elixirs, farming, and decorating your mansion.
• In Immortal Life, you’ll wield powerful magic to both restore the land of your people and traverse the spirit realm in your quest for immortality.
• Littlewood tasks you with painstakingly rebuilding the world of Solemn following an epochal battle against great evil.
• Cornucopia With a broad assortment of activities and features, Cornucopia is a farm sim that lives up to its name.
• Cattails Wildwood Story In this cozy life sim RPG, you’ll lead your colony of cats into the mysterious Wildwood. Hunt prey, harvest herbs, collect magical treasures, & defend your new home from intruders.
• Ikonei Island Explore and gather resources. Farm the land, craft tools and gear, and build your base or a cozy home. Befriend magical creatures and fight monsters with your friends or solo!
• Everdream Valley By day, restore your quaint farm into a summer paradise. Explore, raise crops, care for animals and rebuild your home. At night, you can inhabit various creatures through your dreams and bring enchantment to the valley.
• No Place Like Home Humanity Trashed the Earth and left for Mars. Only a few remained. EXPLORE the world. Clean the environment, CRAFT with recycled resources. Domesticate animals. Rebuild your village. Restore the environment and run your own post-apo FARM, as there is No Place Like Home!

Pay what you want (with a minimum of € 18,64/ $20 for all these eight games and help support Kiss the Ground with your purchase. Kiss the Ground is a nonprofit organization committed to inspiring participation in global regeneration, starting with the soil.

Release date for Baladins

Baladins is an upcoming adventure tabletop role-playing game that features local or online cooperative play. We now have a release date on Steam on May 15th; the game will come to Switch and PS4/5 later in 2024.

So, what can you expect from Baladins?
“Buskers, party animals, troublemakers. They’ve been given many names, but they call themselves Baladins! These legendary heroes wander from town-to-town to fulfil their sacred quest: entertaining the masses! It’s a difficult task, but one the Baladins take in stride. From helping those in need to throwing parties, they bring surprises wherever their travels take them. All that matters to them is bringing joy to the people who inhabit the bright and lively world of Gatherac!”

Lottie wrote in her demo impressions (which you can find here) that Baladins takes the high fantasy of tabletop role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons and converts this concept into a simplified version of this as a game. Interested? Not long to wait now!

Updates and QOL Changes for Immortal Life

Immortal Life, the farming simulator with RPG elements that has a mythological Chinese background from publisher 2P Games and developer YiFang Studio, has brought a load of updates to the Steam game. First of all, there are three new in-game events.

In the Spring Crane event, you can guide the crane through a beautiful course of lighted rings to earn magnificent prizes. In the Dragon Boat Race during Summer Solstice, you have to keep a steady tempo to guide the rower’s pace and reach the finish line in record time. During the mid-Autumn Lantern Fare, you take in vibrant fall colours and ponder delightful riddles while solving the featured puzzle.

Maybe even more importantly, YiFang Studios has also harvested a fresh crop of quality-of-life changes with an optimized UI, Steam Deck optimization, and bug fixes. Time to check back into my game, as I really loved it when I wrote my review. 

Hotel Architect Early Access

Wired Productions and Pathos Interactive have exciting news for aspiring hotel moguls! Their new game, Hotel Architect, will enter Early Access in 2024. The announcement came ahead of the first gameplay reveal scheduled for Wired Direct ‘24. In this innovative hotel construction and tycoon game, players can either build their dream hotel from scratch or breathe new life into neglected properties. With a variety of unique zones to design and manage, players will become adept in both building and hospitality, crafting each room to perfection while ensuring staff satisfaction and efficient operations. Keep an eye out for more details as the gameplay reveal approaches!

Now Available: Endless Mode in Lake

Apparently, the developers behind Lake and Lake: Season’s Greetings had a lot of requests to make an endless mode in the game.

If you can’t get enough of driving around your favourite little laketown, get ready to deliver mail ad infinitum! And just to manage your expectations: there will be no stories, new dialogues, or any other mail carrier comedy-drama. Just a never-ending cycle of playable days with randomized delivery lists to fulfil at your own convenience. Endless mode is available for both Lake Classic and Season’s Greetings environments.

So start up Lake, hop in the mail truck, turn on the radio, and get cranking. Neither snow nor rain… as Frank Coleman would say: the mail doesn’t deliver itself!

Disney Dreamlight Valley Update Thrills & Frills

The next free content update for Disney Dreamlight Valley, titled “Thrills & Frills,” is set to launch on May 1st. This update will be available across all platforms, including PC and Switch. Adding even more magic to the day, “The Spark of Imagination”—Act II of the paid Expansion Pass, Disney Dreamlight Valley: A Rift in Time, will also make its debut.

The “Thrills & Frills” update for Disney Dreamlight Valley is set to bring delightful new features to the game on May 1st. Players will be thrilled to meet the highly anticipated new villager, Daisy Duck, and embark on a new Friendship Quest line. By assisting Daisy with her creative fashion endeavours, players can earn their very own personal Boutique. This new feature allows players to sell custom designs crafted with a Touch of Magic, unlock new customizable items, and even invite friends to check out their creations or visit others’ Boutiques. Additionally, the multiplayer aspect of the game will see significant enhancements, improving the ability to take selfies, fish, garden, mine, cook, and craft together with friends.

City Builder Imagine Earth Coming to Switch

Imagine Earth, a city builder game by German indie studio Serious Bros., is set to expand its horizons with an upcoming release for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4|5 on May 9th, 2024. The game, which is already available on Windows PC and Xbox, challenges players to design sustainable cities and civilizations in space, correcting the ecological mistakes made on Earth.

Set in 2084, players take on the role of a space colony manager, venturing into the cosmos to find new homes for humanity following the destruction of their planet due to corporate greed and resource exploitation. The goal is to build thriving cities on various planets, focusing on sustainability to avoid past mistakes. For a glimpse of the game’s future-set challenges, check out the latest trailer.

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