The OUTLAWS OF THUNDER have arrived
Plus Wingspan, the latest in the world of nindies, and the Evercade family is growing
Hello there! Another weekend is almost upon us and that means more decisions about what we’re going to be investing our time and / or money in. Will we shamelessly indulge in the comfort food of 2015’s Rise of the Tomb Raider on Steam Deck (not pointing fingers at anyone in particular), or take a risk on a new indie? Either way, I’ll probably end up playing Balatro.
Below we’re running down some of the reasons to be excited about the latest Indie World broadcast even if there were no bug-based metroidvanias present, revelling in the silliness of the new Magic set, looking ahead at upcoming Evercade releases and playing digital Wingspan. Let’s dig in!
A big wide Indie World
By Tim
A Nintendo Indie World broadcast like the one that took place this week always has its work cut out for it, because large sections of the internet seem to judge them on a one-point scale depending on whether or not they feature Hollow Knight: Silksong. This week’s did not.
But it did have what practically all Indie Worlds have; a good mix of new announcements, new details, smiling developer faces and games previously seen on other platforms that are now heading to Switch. Here are my highlights:
This was my first time seeing Antonblast, a wild Wario Land style platformer coming late this year. It seems to have a lot in common with Pizza Tower, but there’s absolutely room in my life for two of these. There’s a free demo!
Also with a free demo out now is Europa, a very impressive-looking 3D platformer with heaps of gliding. The weird robots and lush setting (it’s a terraformed moon of Jupiter) give me big Ghibli vibes.
Wayforward was represented, and to nobody’s surprise they’re making a cartoony 2D action game with a cute lady protagonist. BUT the unexpected twist is that it’s somehow based on an ancient Atari 2600 shooter. Colour me intrigued. It’s called Yars Rising.
SteamWorld Heist, aka the third best SteamWorld game, is getting a sequel in August. (Don’t worry, I’m sure they’re working on a Dig 3 as well.) Heist II looks great and has more of that brilliant turn-based bullet ricochet combat.
Valley Peaks is a first-person rock-climber where you’re a frog and can shoot out your tongue.
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is something I feel like I’ve seen before but I also didn’t understand what any of it meant. It’s puzzles I think?
Everyone likes an “available now” moment, and this time it was a cosy-looking puzzle game called Stitch, which seems like a Sudoku or Picross except you’re creating embroidery hoops.
And some shout outs for games I’ve already played / demoed / was excited about on other platforms but are coming soon to Switch!
Wholesome cat exploration game Little Kitty, Big City.
Cute adventure game with a Paper Mario aesthetic Duck Detective
Strange platformer where you have to leap from shadow to shadow SCHiM.
Beautiful and haunting pixel platformer Animal Well.
Precision platformer BZZZT.
Narrative sticker selling simulator Sticky Business.
What to play
On Game Pass right now is brand new release Harold Halibut, a gorgeous hand-made narrative adventure game. Also on the service this week is strategy tower defence Orcs Must Die 3, and if you pay extra for Ultimate EA Sports NHL 24.
New on PlayStation Plus Premium this week is the sensational spear fishing / sushi restaurant manager Dave the Diver, as well as multiplayer party Oddballers, slick action game Raji: An Ancient Epic, Lego Avengers and a few others. If you’re paying for the Deluxe catalogue you also get a trio of PS1 games: MediEvil, Star Wars: Rebel Assault II and Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare.
Free on the Epic Games Store this week are The Big Con and Town of Salem II. The Big Con is set in the 90s, has Rugrats style art, and is about grifting your way across America. You need that, I need that, we all need that. Town of Salem II looks a bit basic and boring, but it’s also free, and you might like a Salem Witch Trial online strategy game.
Yee-haw Pardner
By Alice
Yee-haw friends, there’s a new Magic The Gathering set out, and this time it’s cowboy themed. Outlaws of Thunder Junction is possibly the funniest name they could have given this set, and it reminds me of Blazing Saddles in the best way.
To experience the set in all its glory, I went to my first pre-release in years. Back when I was a full-blown MTG nerd, pre-releases were unmissable events. But as life got in the way, I forgot how special they could be. There’s just this big room of people constructing their decks from their sealed packs, getting to play with these new cards together for the first time, and the excitement is palpable. These days I mostly just play Magic at home with friends, or at work events, so I had slightly forgotten the magic of being amongst the Magic community.
Of course, I was absolutely humbled by a better player with a better deck, but at events like pre-release, it’s not about the winning (unless you need tournament points), but about being around people with the same interests.
As for the set itself, it is a little uneven, because there’s just too many ideas in there that they don’t end up working together as well as I think was originally intended. Magic is starting to show the strain of putting out so many sets a year. When there were just four a year, product teams could presumably spend more time making sure all the cards were cohesive not just with this set, but with the others that came before. I wouldn’t be surprised if the pace of product launches slowed in the next year or two, because this treadmill can’t be sustainable.
However, that said, I think I’ll still go to pre-release again for the next one, just to get the energy from the room, and be a part of it.
Bricks, Boards and Beginnings
by Alice
There are some games on Steam that you just don’t want to see your play time on. Knowledge can be a curse. I have several of those, but the one that has the specialist place in my heart is, oddly, Wingspan – the board game about birds. My wife and I played that game for comfort at least once a day through lockdowns 2-5 in Melbourne, and we fired it up again this week when we got struck down by a nasty cold that would not die.
Over 550 hours is a lot of time to spend playing the same board game, but there is comfort in repetition, and sometimes the beauty of life can be found in mundane rituals shared. Or whatever nonsense you want to use to justify playing the same game over and over.
With the dragon-themed Wyrmspan sequel now out (and the board game sitting on my dining table, begging to be played), it seemed like the right time to revisit.
The art is still beautiful, the game still restricts resources slightly too much, and there are still a lot of overpowered birds, even though one player usually gets saddled with the underpowered ones early on, leading to lop-sided play.
What I love about it, though, aside from the art of pretty birds, is that there are enough birds with enough different powers in there that the outcome is always unpredictable, and you can pivot to several different strategies depending on your mood.
We do own a hardcopy of the game, complete with expansions. But when you’re sick, or need comfort, not having to set anything up and instead just slightly rotate the laptop to have your turn, can be just what the doctor ordered.
Few board games can be played for over 23 full days without feeling stale, so it’s a testament to Wingspan’s quality, and when we found it, that we keep going back.
Retro Esoterica
by Tim
Evercade has been around for four years, and while it has struck the occasional deal with a heavy-hitter like Capcom, in general it’s been a platform for niche classic games that have had their copyrights acquired by random holding companies. That’s beginning to change though, and new announcements this week point to big things ahead.
I love the Evercade EXP handheld, and the cartridges are great. Each one has multiple games, and comes in a nice shelf-ready box with a full manual which also acts as a mini retrospective booklet.
Given you’re unlikely to have nostalgia for a lot of these games directly it can be tough to choose which to get, and honestly there have been a few times I’ve gambled $36 on a cart of obscure, unfamiliar goods and regretted it. But the past two years have seen some incredible Evercade releases. Not from long-forgotten arcade companies but from modern indie developers making retro style experiences.
The Alwa’s Awakening + Cathedral cart is an incredible package for Metroidvania fans, while Demons of Asteborg + Astebros is a pair of great new Mega Drive action platformers. I also loved the adorable GBA adventure Goodboy Galaxy. The three Indie Heroes carts are all good value, with the most recent one containing the peerless Donkey Kong like Donut Dodo, the wonderful Chew Chew Mimic and 11 others.
You could definitely get these modern retro games direct from the developers at itch.io and play them on an old console or emulator, and it may cost you less. But I find having physical versions much more enjoyable. As for the OG games, recent carts have Blaze-developed specialty ports (like Duke Nukem 1+2) and even N64 games (Glover!), so the selection is definitely expanding beyond the NES and arcade offerings that dominated early carts.
Currently these games work on the VS home console and EXP handheld, which are around $250 each, or the adorable but less fully-featured Super Pocket systems at $110. But this week Blaze announced refreshed hardware for this year and (judging from the prices in euros) each should cost less than $200. The company also plans to offer slightly more expensive cartridges with enough storage to hold multiple CD-based games, with the first one holding the PS1 Tomb Raider trilogy. It will be bundled together with the new systems.