What are you playing on your Switch?

I think it's a grower, if you look back at my votes around chapter 3 or so it was below Owlboy & SWD2, by the time I'd finished it easily jumped above them. I'd even consider putting it above Bayo 2 (but I'm going to wait until a bit of time has passed before deciding that)

I'm the same as Zero Jones, just hanging about until Kirby Star Allies comes out. I'm sort of finished with Scribblenauts Showdown. I also stuck on Fast RMX after seeing it reviewed on Classic Game Room 2085, but it's honestly a game that looks so much better than it plays. It's just a great, big, hulking pile of all right.

Not, I stress, directed at Cappa, or even at Mas... rather at the sad inevitability of Mas' response.

See, I don't agree that Celeste is a grower. Celeste grabbed me at the end of the prologue, with a moment I can only describe as 'magical'. And I can't say perhaps why that is. Timing? Soundtrack? Controls? Aesthetics? I think more than these are needed. After that moment, though, I was hooked, and the game just had to keep being good (which it was). So few games have that indescribable 'magic' quality: nothing that I've played on the Switch, not even SMO, has had that to the same extent since... er, Breath of the Wild.

So the people I didn't expect to get this game around here were Mas and Andy (Andy doubly so, because I think the soundtrack is absolutely key to that 'magic' moment). They didn't get the 'magic' last time, why should they this time? But Andy says that it grew on him, so perhaps there's hope for you, Mas. Although frankly you've shown me a good example as to why the eShop shouldn't have a refund policy: it works against slow-burning games.


Like Cappa and Zero, I'm not really playing anything much at the moment; unlike them, I'm not going to be picking up Kirby. Bit stuck right now, I feel. Ironically, the game I'm meant to be playing right now is the one Mas would trade in Celeste for: Owlboy. After Celeste, its particular brand of 2D adventuring feels so mediocre. Lacking magic, lacking subtlety, lacking any punch to the controls and combat... Perhaps I should give NitW another shot, this isn't doing it for me and I must be a good few hours in by now.

But... is Celeste a grower? I've had a few hours to think about this now and I would say "No", overall. The quality of the levels is too uneven for that to be truly true, for me, with its slightly saggy middle (really need to go back into Chapter 3). What happened to me was that I became more invested over time, reaching the pinnacle moment relatively late on that sustained me through the rest of the game's traps and challenges.

And I'm still in the Kirby Star Allies waiting room with Cappa. Not even the news of the imminent rerelease of Shantae and the Pirate's Curse on the SweShop can dissuade me from my sittin''n'chillin'.

I'm constantly tempted by Kirby mainly for the fact it's a new game and I'm a sucker for those, never get muxh repeatability out of Kirby games though so I'm reluctant to buy at full price.

I am now onboard with the Celeste train having polished off Bayonetta.

Volgarr The Viking - this is very old school at heart but mechanically and controls wise it's bang up to date & I do like it but man the checkpoint system is just unfair and unnecessary. Let me save and quit at them rather than have to restart the entire game from the beginning.

That's brutal! Some design decisions from the NES era should be kept in the bin and never unearthed again.

You also can't get access to the world select menu until you defeat the first boss which I tried to do for about 2 hours & on top of that if you use this you are locked out of the "A" ending. I did get the game for about 4 quid though so it'll be fun to dip in and out of it trying to improve my runs, plus considering the difficulty I'll settle for just finishing it rather than getting "the best" ending.

Oh also the first achievement I unlocked was called this.

JayMoyles wrote:

That's brutal! Some design decisions from the NES era should be kept in the bin and never unearthed again.

Thing is that's what people backed it for being a 16-Bit (not 8-Bit) game though.

Another reason why backed games aren't always a good thing? I mean, I do like the game but as I said and this goes double for Switch if playing in handheld mode just give us an option to save and quit at a checkpoint or maybe have them as 2 separate modes so it'd be normal (where you can save) or old school.

This wouldn't even make the game any easier as you'd still have to complete levels and sometimes a boss in one go.

It's a catch 22, might not of got backed if like that but because it is like that you get old school design which isn't great.

I hated Volgarr, it just seemed needlessly difficult and not overly satisfying.

masofdas wrote:

It's a catch 22, might not of got backed if like that but because it is like that you get old school design which isn't great.

True but it's also something that could be patched just to make it a little more accessible.

Balla was right about Celeste and I'm now done with it.

Leaves me playing Spla2n, North and my £3.50 of gold coins run out the end of the month that I'm looking at Detention or Gorogoa or Ace of Seafood or Yono to maybe use the £3.50 on, I did tweet that out with both Fronk & Papa saying to go for Gorogoa.

Golf Story! It does seem rather charming from first impressions, and I'm glad to get into Mario Golf-but-not again. After this, though, I really will be stuck for substance. Keen to hear how Jas gets on with Fe for just that reason...

A combination of Shu and Owlboy, whilst studiously avoiding Dragon Quest Builders. People have asked me about both those games, so here are some early impressions.

Shu: aesthetically quite pretty, though it is one of those that suffers from level furniture cluttering the screen and obscuring the path for Shu. This is vitally important when the game’s big mechanic kicks in. The first half of a world lets you play about with said world’s power (or powers) before The Storm catches up with you. The Storm chases you viciously for the remainder of the world. This is immensely frustrating as it boils down to memorising the level until the next checkpoint. The generosity of these vary ludicrously. Still, a slight recommend because it doesn’t cost much.

Owlboy: too early to tell but it feels pointlessly awkward and the lovely aesthetic y’all have no doubt seen hasn’t varied an awful lot yet.

Balladeer wrote:

Golf Story!  It does seem rather charming from first impressions, and I'm glad to get into Mario Golf-but-not again.  After this, though, I really will be stuck for substance.  Keen to hear how Jas gets on with Fe for just that reason...

Going to wait until I finish the game (which will be tonight) before I post my thoughts on it.

Balladeer wrote:

I really will be stuck for substance.

Must be something the Switch now has more games then the Wii U or some stat like that. Anyway, I'm nearly done with Kirby and thoughts will be coming soon.

What can I say, I'm picky. Not having got on with Spla2n, ARMS (probably), or M+RKB has stymied me a bit too.

ZeroJones wrote:

Owlboy: too early to tell but it feels pointlessly awkward and the lovely aesthetic y’all have no doubt seen hasn’t varied an awful lot yet.

I don't think it does really - not in the parts I've played, anyway. A real disappointment, that one.

The absolutely final piece of Shantae: Half Genie Hero DLC just landed and at least one of your fellow forumites has got it. I’ve died in Beach Shantae Mode and got weird flashbacks in Officer Shantae Mode (about which I am prepared to be crazy enthusiastic). I’ve not tried Ninja Shantae Mode yet because the plumber arrived (not Mario; a genuine plumber who came to fix some taps). More on this story later!

This should tide me over neatly until Runbow.

A mix of games at the minute, just started on Dragon Quest Builders which seems good fun to start with. Went back to Celeste after completion to try and get all the strawberries and work through the B-Sides.

The 3rd game I'm playing is Binaries which is a puzzler where you control two balls at the same time to make it to their respective goals. It's both tough and very satisfying when you complete a level although I don't think I'll ever get 100% as some levels have me completely stumped, good concept though and I'd definitely recommend.

I started on Rive this afternoon & I've played 6 missions and it's a very slick shooter/platformer so far.

Cautious early-days recommendation then?

Treesmurf wrote:

A mix of games at the minute, just started on Dragon Quest Builders which seems good fun to start with. Went back to Celeste after completion to try and get all the strawberries and work through the B-Sides.

The 3rd game I'm playing is Binaries which is a puzzler where you control two balls at the same time to make it to their respective goals. It's both tough and very satisfying when you complete a level although I don't think I'll ever get 100% as some levels have me completely stumped, good concept though and I'd definitely recommend.

Colour me intrigued, sir! It's been an age since I played a good puzzle game (okay it was Picross 3D 2). Also: yay more Celeste praise. I've shunned food and started existing purely off enthusiasm for Celeste. What was your overall view on the story bits, Papa Smurf?

Balladeer wrote:

Cautious early-days recommendation then?

I'd be very surprised if anyone on here truly hated it, so yeah.

(side note: If anyone does get it make sure to turn screen shake off in the settings before you begin)