What are you playing on your Switch?

As of this morning I'm working my way through BOTW. I never did finish it on Wii U, but I'll definitely do it on the Switch. Apart from that I've been having my backside kicked repeatedly on Super Meat Boy.

Lucky man!  What stopped you last time sir?  Speaking of rock-hard platformers designed around wall-jumps...

Balladeer's Switch Game Audition 2: Celeste

You know when sometimes you fire up a game, and within the first fifteen seconds or so you know you're in for an utterly magical experience?

Yeah.  That happened.

It's the music.  The beautifully tinkly music.  I can't say I appreciate the pixel art much (laugh it up boyos), but the music is chuffing gorgeous.  And Madeline moves so smoothly, and the level design's great, and the second level's plot thing, and Madeline's character and and and.

I am worried this is going to get a bit... too hard, for me.  Chucking the Switch across the room hard.  And I won't turn on the assist mode because I'm stubborn.  Also annoying is that at certain points, you can't go back through the level - fairly damning for a platformer that plays like a Metroidvania.  Take a wrong route and that's your strawberry count down.  But I'm looking forward to giving this another shot once the auditions are over.

Enjoyability: 5/5
Coming-back-ness: 4/5

Drunkalilly wrote:

I am unemployed

Not for long, XC2 is a full-time job!

...that makes it sound like a bad thing.  Like a really good full-time job.  Only that still doesn't sound great, but... (Stop digging - Ed.)

So we're both into Celeste at the moment. Hold on, let me just do a thing.

Well... I will be.  For now...

Balladeer's Switch Game Audition 3: The Sexy Brutale

Huh.  I was sure I wouldn't be into this game.  My first experience with it suffered from time pressure and cluelessness.  The game relies on having the patience to track people around the place and explore.  And it's dogged by terrible loading screens.

And yet... the art style's charming, and I am genuinely curious to work out what's going on behind the scenes of the eponymous Sexy Brutale.  Clearly I'll just have to keep going.  This might actually be the first one I come back to, since I reckon I'm quite near the end already.

Enjoyability: 3/5
Coming-back-ness: 5/5



EDIT:

Balladeer's Switch Game Audition 4: Skyrim

Yawn, yawn, yawn, yawARGH WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON

Which I guess is pretty representative of how it'd actually feel to be attacked by a dragon. But I think in the confusion I've blundered down the wrong path, joining up with Legion McLegionface when I wanted to join the Stormcloaks. I've now killed several of my would-be allies. And it's all been a bit dark and horrible, environment-wise - only when I reached the end of my trial period did I see something that looked like it might be the open-world beauty of the Skyrim I've heard about.

I think I've made a grave misstep (not being a lilac lizard-thing with yellow paint, that was a stroke of genius), and I'm not quite sure if I can be bothered to go back and make the necessary corrections. Can someone tell me whether I can re-join the rebels down the road? Might genuinely make a difference as to whether I continue with this one.

Enjoyability: 2/5
Coming-back-ness: 2/5

Is it just that you followed one guy and not the other during the opening bit with Alduin? If so, no that doesn't matter; you've not picked a side at this stage, and the actual civil war business is a lot more obvious than that. Don't give up yet!

It is just that!  Phew.  I'm now being asked to join the Legion... I'm guessing I don't have to join the Legion?  

Either way, it can take a nap for now.  Current priority in between further auditions: save the penultimate pair of guests in The Sexy Brutale, despite their chronic case of 'too stupid to live'.

Yeah, you've not committed to a side in that questline just yet, so you're all good. It might be worth experiencing both sides and to see their pros and cons first.

I bought Wulverblade in the Share The Joy sale. My first impressions are quite positive. It's absolutely brutal, with both it's violence and it's difficulty. I'd say that it's too hard in single player actually - it's definitely designed for two players. There seems to be more depth to the combat than most other games in the genre though, so maybe I've still got a lot to learn. What I've managed is very entertaining though, and I appreciate the history lessons too. It seems very well made and very well researched...it's just hard as fuck.

I've heard good things about Wulverblade, the main reason I've avoided it being - yep - its baw-booting difficulty. While that summary's not likely to make me go any closer to it, I'm glad you're enjoying it sir.

Balladeer's Switch Game Audition 5: Owlboy

While Owlboy feels like an exploration game with platforms rather than a platform game with explorey bits, it's hard not to compare this 2D retro-style vertically based game to Celeste. Almost inevitably perhaps, it comes off worse. It doesn't have the magic. I didn't go 'wooooow' when the game started. The attempts to make me feel sorry for Otus near the beginning feel ham-fisted and clumsy. And despite being higher-res than Celeste, it doesn't look as nice somehow.

That said, it's cute enough. You can fly, which is always good, and the mechanics seem well-used. It's a bit by-the-numbers so far, but it feels like it could open up later.

In fact, it somehow feels like the Shantae games, only with wings instead of breasts. If that doesn't get Zero interested, I don't know what will.

Enjoyability: 3/5
Coming-back-ness: 3/5

Balladeer wrote:

In fact, it somehow feels like the Shantae games

Balladeer wrote:

only with wings instead of breasts.

In all seriousness, I had the same thought after seeing a video of the game: aesthetically, it looked like a slightly more polished version of Risky's Revenge. I'm as interested as I ever was and will probably get the game once I've got through some of the backlog.

I do like the look of Owlboy but its at the bottom of the list under Celeste, my whole backlog, completing the other campaigns on Shovel Knight and anything else that comes out in the meantime.

Balladeer wrote:

Lucky man!  What stopped you last time sir?  Speaking of rock-hard platformers designed around wall-jumps...

I had been playing it on and off on the Wii U, but when I moved house in the resulting chaos I never unpacked it since it was only supposed to be a short stay. I wish I had carried on now, though. It's bloody brilliant and looks amazing on the Switch's screen.

It's not so bad, you get to play it all now for the first time on Switch!  BotW may be better on the big screen, but it's more astonishing on the bus.

Drunkalilly wrote:

I do like the look of Owlboy but its at the bottom of the list under Celeste, my whole backlog, completing the other campaigns on Shovel Knight and anything else that comes out in the meantime.

Based on my hour or so with it, that's probably about fair.

Balladeer's Switch Game Audition 6: Night in the Woods

Well this is something completely different.  Among all my auditioned games, I guess this is closest to The Sexy Brutale.  It's talky as all heck and rather slow... but I think I like it.  The characters seem rounded, and it's dealing with stuff like sexuality and economic downturn and work stress... all through the medium of a rather simplistically drawn cat.  

Also there's an electric guitar mini-game and a dungeoneering mini-game.  And potentially impactful choices.  I'm not so hot on the choices, but everything else they've packed in here feels quite special.  But it does feel very slow, I should stress.

Enjoyability: 4/5
Coming-back-ness: 3/5



Auditions Close

Already finished: The Sexy Brutale
Up next: Celeste
Probably will: Night in the Woods, Owlboy
Might do: Steamworld Dig 2
Probably won't: Skyrim

Sorry for briefly monopolising the thread, hope it was at least vaguely interesting for some of y'all...

Games like Nights in the Woods are normally slow but is a genre I enjoy.

Celeste, eh? Good choice.

I started Slime-san earlier and I've finished the first world, even though your move set is very simple the controls take a little bit to get used to since you're usng A to jump, L to slow time and R plus a directional input to dash so it can a recquire a bit of finger gymnastics. Sadly there doesnt seem to be any way to customise the controls.

That said the level design is very good and new mechanics always pop up to keep things fresh.

I've heard good things about S-S... but I've also heard it's dead tough. Intrigued to know how you get on with it, Jas!

It is one of those instant death platformers in the super meat boy mold so I can see it getting way harder than it currently is, so far though the collectible apples seem to provide most of the challenge as they are put in hard to reach places.

...that sounds a looooot like Celeste. Except Celeste has strawberries. And less slime.

There's a bit of time attack element too but I've been ignoring that on my first playthrough.

EDIT: There's so many homages to other platformers past and present too, I'm really enjoying this game a lot now.

Well, Question, I am playing Dragon Quest Builders. I'm not enjoying it very much because I'm not used to the building aspects yet and the real-time combat is limited due to my character's terrible current weapon. Fortunately I also have SteamWorld Heist: Ultimate Edition in for review, which is a real treat.

I have been spending some time with the witch on Switch - more specifically, her first outing. This game is bloody bonkers. I feel I've yet to properly get the combat system but like most of the spectacle action games I'll no doubt find a few combos that work well and really start to click with the game.

This isn't your first time with Bayonetta is it, Jay? If so you're in for a treat!

As for me, I'm currently in a capsule hotel where I've got a nice TV over my bed which I can easily hook my Switch up to, so I've been making the most of that. Unfortunately, I don't have wifi that's quite stable enough to play online.

I started two games last night. Both gripped me pretty quickly and I'm excited to go back, but they're also both games I reckon I'll mostly want to play docked. Those games were Celeste and L.A Noire.

Celeste: Gorgeous visuals and music, controls as smooth as butter and perfect bite-sized chllenge levels. Finished world 1 and immediately wanted to go back in for the remaining strawbs.

L.A Noire: Fantastic sense of place, really captures the 40s cop drama feel. Gameplay is slightly stiff, and I worry the open world is going to be little more than a long drive between missions, but I'm hooked on the actual story and the police work.

I was going to say that Celeste feels perfect to me in handheld mode. Then I remembered the slight lack of precision to her direction of dash, my failed attempt at using uncomfortably placed button directions, and the existence of the Pro Controller... so you may be right.

I forgot to pack my Pro Controller or my Joy-Con Grip, so I've been playing everything with split Joy-Con. It's ideal for lying in bed, as my hands don't have to connect, but it isn't the best controller.