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  • svgOct 26, 2022News

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    The humans hide, the monsters seek!

    A perfect game to get into the Halloween spirit, Obakeidoro! is playable by up to four players and has online or offline capabilities. So, grab your friends and play a spooky game of cat and mouse, and keep away from the monster.

    The humans have three minutes to organize themselves, work together to escape the monsters, and run! Get captured, and you’re put into a locked cage. Your fellow humans must then push two buttons to release you. But be careful! If all humans are captured, they lose! However, the humans aren’t only limited to running. Each one carries a lantern that can be used to shine a bright light on a monster as it closes in. The light temporarily stuns the monsters, giving the humans more time to run and hide.

    Obakeidoro! Isn’t limited to playing as humans, though. One player can also play as the monster! As the monster, use your skills to capture the humans and throw them in the locked cage. Remember, if you capture all humans, you win! Float through obstacles like walls and trees to get at the humans easier. Or even use the Track skill to find them. 

    As you progress through the different levels of the game, players can unlock different lanterns they can then buy and use. Some even have special skills to help the humans avoid the monsters. You can also unlock different monsters to face off against, who also have different and new skills to use against the humans. 

    Free to Play for a limited time through Trials for Nintendo Switch Online members 

    Obakeidoro! Was originally released August 29, 2019, but right now it’s free to play for Nintendo Switch Online members through the Trials program. From Today, October 26th, 2022 to November 1st, the game is free to play. And there’s a handy little timer countdown on the game icon to keep up with how long it has left! Otherwise, you can buy the game on the Nintendo Switch shop

    For other cute games good for Halloween, check out our list here, Love, Ghostie for a ghostly good time, or even Beacon Pines for more of the creepy, mysterious vibe.

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  • svgDec 27, 2019Feature

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    I had a chance to look back at all of the games I’ve reviewed this year and started off with the Most Wholesome Farming Sims of 2019. There have been some great first-party Nintendo Switch games as well as so many great indie gems I had the chance to play thanks to all the amazing indie developers and publishers! Below is a list of games I’ve played the most that are both online and local multiplayer, which you can play with family and friends during the holidays!

    Luigi’s Mansion 3

    It’s been really great that Nintendo has been adding a cooperative feature to their latest games and Luigi’s Mansion 3 was a wonderful surprise with the addition of Gooigi. This game is so much more fun with another player and adds some unique puzzles and maximum vacuum power! Want to play with even more players? You can do so with 8 others online or locally with ScareScraper and ScreamPark modes.

    Unravel Two

    Unravel Two technically released for the first time on PC, PS4 and Xbox One back in late 2018. However, I played it upon its March 2019 release on the Nintendo Switch. It’s only a 2-player game but with features like PlayStation’s Share Play and Steam’s Remote Play Together, you can play locally or online. This game has the highest review score I have ever given for its fantastic physics-based mechanics and cooperative play when it comes to platforming and solving puzzles!

    Tools Up!

    I’ve only had this game on the Nintendo Switch for a short while but I still find myself thinking about it foundly and hoping for some DLC or extra levels. Play up to 4 players on local co-op and renovate homes according to the blueprints! Much like Overcooked, it can be chaotic but extremely rewarding when you perfect your coordination. It’s available for Steam’s Remote Play so you can play online with friends.

    ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove

    This remastered classic is just as silly and laid-back as ever now on PC and all major consoles. Play this locally with 2 players or online with 4 players if you want something a bit more relaxing and without puzzles. I recommend ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove for younger kids to play this holiday season!

    Of course, all of those games mentioned above are the games I had a chance to play in 2019. There are still so many cute wholesome games available now, and more multiplayer games to look forward to in 2020 like Trash Sailors, Pile Up!, and Grabimals. Stay tuned for more reminiscing!

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  • svgDec 18, 2019Reviews

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    Tools Up is a local cooperative game about home renovation developed by The Knights of Unity and published by All in! Games. Wait! I promise you it’s a lot more fun than that sounds. With up to 4 players you can make your way up several floors of a skyscraper and play a level in every apartment. You must successfully follow the instructions of your blueprints (i.e. by painting the right walls the right colors) in a race against the clock! The game released on December 3rd, 2019 on the Nintendo Switch, Steam, Xbox One, and the PS4. I’d like to thank the creators of Tools Up for supplying me with a Nintendo Switch code to write this review!

    Choosing Your Mode and Renovator

    The game starts with a short but hilarious opening scene displaying the utmost incompetence by a team of renovators. You have your choice of Party Mode where you can just play the levels you unlocked in Campaign Mode for fun or attempt said main game and achieve as many golden stars as possible. You can choose your avatar from a small pool of pre-set characters and then change their skin tone. These characters all look a little silly and it’s too bad I couldn’t play as someone…a little cuter. Although you can unlock more characters as you progress and I was slightly happier to be a chubby alpaca.

    Read Those Blueprints First and Always Refer to Them!

    Instead of going through a tutorial level or having instructions shown clearly before entering a level, you’re kind of on your own with figuring out what to do. With a lot of trial and error, I eventually got the hang of the controls and requirements to pass a level and it got a easier from there. One player should always go get the rolled up paper that are blueprints in order to know what work needs to be done.

    There are images showing in color either walls or floor with the name of the room in the top left-hand corner. I found it to be strange that text doesn’t also appear above the rooms when looking at the blueprints so you know which rooms are which. However, after careful examination, I noticed that while the blueprints were being viewed, they were showing the end results of your rooms, not their current state. The rooms that need to be done pop-out ever so slightly but it’s really easy to miss. Switching back and forth from looking at your blueprints helps to spot the differences.

    Rotate Your Camera the Way You Like Before Moving on

    In a couple of levels, the game decides to throw you a curve ball with the blueprints where one gives you a second one to work with which was fun, and the other had 3 from the start all saying different things which wasn’t so fun. There was no explanation as to which one we were supposed to follow so I tried all of them to see what stuck. Another thing that will keep you going back to your blueprints is the fact that it’s the only way to rotate your camera and see different angles of your rooms. For the most part I never bothered as objects are highlighted unless I missed a spot and couldn’t see where. It’s such a simple thing, rotating the camera, that I think should be accessible at all times in order to relieve a world of frustration.

    Know Thy Tools and Objects

    Surprisingly there is a lot of variation with your renovation just like in real life which keeps things fresh and entertaining. With floors you can use carpet, laminate or tiles, and walls you can use paint or wallpaper, all in various colors. You’ve got your paint cans (which could be a little more obvious as to their colors), a garbage can for recycling, your grout, glue, or whatever else those bag and boxes were, and the items mentioned above. Sometimes it could be hard differentiating between your mixing items because the labels are small, they’re all white, and I also have no idea what certain things are used for because I’m not a real-life renovator and need a little more hand-holding.

    Aside from that, and a hammer for later levels, you have no actual tools that need grabbing. For example, your character can walk up to a paint can to load up their roller and walk up to a wall to paint instantly. The difficulty lies mainly with your recycling can because there’s only one and you need to share. Meaning, you need to carefully plan what you and other players will be doing. Figure out what order you will be doing things as grout is needed to put down first before your tiles, or glue needs to be applied to the walls before you put your wallpaper.

    The Recycling Can is Your Best Friend

    The recycling can is portable and you need it to strip old flooring or walls or to pick up messes, but you also need to use it to pour mixing stuff in it. You can’t do both at the same time so the can needs to be emptied outside after use in order to switch to something else. The can also needs to be emptied when it’s full from recycling, or re-filled if empty when using it for mixing.

    Most of the time, you won’t even have all of the items needed to do your work from the start. A delivery man will show up at the entrance and ring the doorbell. You need to respond quickly before they leave (don’t worry they return later) and grab your stuff! It’s pretty easy knowing the difference between a roll of carpet, a square box of tiles, or a long box of laminate. However, sometimes the patterns printed on one side of the boxes are hard to discern if they resemble others too closely. Perhaps that’s supposed to add to the challenge because you can add the wrong wallpaper to the walls but can always strip it and redo it.

    Various Challenges, Environmental Elements and Themes

    Where the game starts to resemble Overcooked, in a good way, are the crazy apartments where people would never actually live. Moreover, there are levels where there are lava pits to avoid and ice that will send you flying. There were also slight changes in theme, such as with how the doors to rooms looked like. Not every room had a door in all directions so the apartment can be quite the maze to navigate, especially when only one player can walk through a door at a time.

    Don’t Let the Door, or Dog, Smack You on the Way Out

    Speaking of doors, I hate them. You have to make a point to open them and can’t do so while holding something else, even if it’s just trash for the recycling can that you can’t get rid of. Which means there were times I need the other player to bail me out. Other times you can swing through them but they can get stuck on objects or people that are in the way. Then there were times where I accidentally punched the doors right off their hinges which is probably for the best, even if you need to put them back before ending the level. Something that would have abated my hate for doors I think would be to have opening or closing them be its own separate button.

    The difficulty of the floors you’re on in the skyscraper isn’t so much linear as it is just random. There are a total of 30 apartments (levels) and you use an elevator to progress to another floor. Somewhere in the middle of the game was the hardest level which included an annoying little dog that would chase your around or knock stuff over. It was chaotic, but I also appreciated the fact that the levels were so varied. That, and the fact that there’s a high score system, keeps me coming back for more. You only need a certain amount of points to get 1 star out of 3 to pass that level so I love trying to perfect every one of them. Stars are also added up overall so you may need a certain amount to unlock the next area.

    Strategize and Communicate With Others

    There are strategies you can form in order to get things done as quickly as possible. Each player can work in a separate room or you can help each other out in the same room. Some rooms are smaller than others so it can get a bit crowded, especially if there are also objects in that room that you need with you. Where to place those objects is something you need to take into account as well, because putting them in front of a door isn’t the greatest idea. You may come across some furniture that you need to move out of the way to access the floors and the walls but it’s nice that you don’t have to put them back afterward.

    Clean Up, Clean Up, Everybody Do Their Share!

    When you’re done renovating, you do need to “tidy up” withing the time limit before finishing the level! I mean, it’s the respectable thing to do anyway. You can throw all things, and people, which can create a mess such as paint spills. Or just flat out run into your paint cans from rushing and knock them over. Then you can slip and fall in those paint spills and lose a lot of time that you could have used, you know, doing something productive. If that happens you need to use your portable recycling can, as mentioned above, or go outside with it. All objects that you used must also be brought outside so that nothing is left inside the apartment. I like putting say, my carpet, to the curb once I’m done with it anyway to get it out of the way and to see what’s left.

    All in all I really enjoyed playing Tools Up and it offers several hours of gameplay with your friends and family. You might not even want to strangle your loved ones with such nice classical music playing in the background in-game. The complaints that I had have even already been addressed on Steam and will coming with a new patch for the Switch soon. It’s well worth the price and it’s also the perfect time of year to play those wintry levels right now! Here’s a link to purchase the game on the Nintendo eShop. Overcooked 2 also currently has festive free DLC you can find out more about in my article here. If you’re already a fan of Overcooked, you’ll definitely love Tools Up!

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  • svgNov 1, 2019Indie Highlight

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    It looks like I’ve strangely made it my mission to find multiplayer games where the premise is “chore-like” if it were a real-life scenario. Not only do I find these types of games hilarious, but I’m also certain that they’ll make for great fun with friends. Especially if they are anything like Overcooked. May I present to you, Tools Up, a cooperative game about renovating homes. Paint walls, lay some tiles, move a bit of the furniture around in some pretty weird places. Developed by The Knights of Unity and published by All in! Games, Tools Up is coming soon in late 2019 for Steam, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One.

    About Tools Up

    Gather up to 4 players for this fun couch co-op experience for people of all skills! Renovate the apartments in the mysterious skyscraper while the tenants are away. Be sure to follow their wishes left behind on the blueprints. Tear off wallpapers, bring down walls, bust down doors, and cover the floor with vibrant carpets and panels – just be sure to do it in time and clean up after yourself!

    Key Features

    • Work hard – paint walls, lay tiles and throw everything you need to other rooms.
    • Play better together – join up to three players to move couches against the clock.
    • Expect the unexpected – environmental elements spice up things. Have you ever renovated a building surrounded by lava?
    • Lead the team – whoever holds the blueprint is in charge of the camera angle.
    • Join in the fun – simple controls and a low entry level make Tools Up! a perfect party game for everyone.

    For more information about this game, you can check out the official website here.

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  • svgSep 28, 2019News

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    Now that it’s the fall, I’ve been in a very festive mood for Halloween. That’s why I found OBAKEIDORO available now on the Nintendo Switch eShop for only $19.99! This creepy-but-cute party game (up to 4 players) is developed by FREE STYLE and was the winner of BitSummit 7 Spirits Popular Selection Award. In this PVP game fun for the whole family, you have 3 minutes in which three Humans face off against one Monster. Gameplay can be as deep or casual as you want to make it!

    About OBAKEIDORO

    As a Human, don’t just simply run away! Use your Lantern Attack to fend off the Monster. If you time it just right, you might be able to turn the tides in your favor. As the Monster, utilizing your powerful skills is key to your victory. Use skills like Glide and Track to capture the Humans. Can you escape the Monster? Can you hunt down the Humans?

    The Story

    “The demon world comes to light in the dead of the night.”

    Two children, lost in a world full of monsters.

    Can they make their way home unharmed?

    For more gameplay information on the game, you can check out the official website here. For another game with a similar dark atmosphere, check out our article here: A Juggler’s Tale – A Sidescrolling Puppet Theater Game.

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  • svgSep 2, 2019News

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    Moving Out is developed by SMG Studio in collaboration with Devm Games but now they have announced today that they are partnering with Team17 as their publisher! Team17 has published amazing games such as Overcooked, Automachef, Yooka-Laylee, and more, so we’re very excited that they’ll be helping out this hilarious cooperative action and simulation game! Moving Out is now coming out sometime in 2020 on PS4, Nintendo Switch, PC (Steam), Xbox One. If you’re going to PAX West this weekend, you can even try the game for yourself at Team17’s booth on the show floor! The luckiest among you can receive these wild free plushies.

    Below we have a new trailer in the form of a training video to becoming a F.A.R.T. and we are so here for it. Looks like we can customize the heads of our characters (i.e. a lizard’s and flower-pot head). Also new in the trailer is the rounding up of farm animals, because farmers can move out too. Expertly move furniture with friends, get creative, and enjoy the beautiful frustration of this physics-based game! Moving in this game also seems to be quite the dangerous affair with the running through traffic and being chased by ghosts so we’re in for a good time.

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  • svgAug 29, 2019Feature

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    With PAX West 2019 starting tomorrow, August 30th, 2019 in Seattle, we’ve been keeping an eye on the Indie MEGABOOTH. Maybe we were just hungry at the time but we happened to find a few indie games releasing sometime next year that look absolutely adorable and mouth-watering. If you’re attending this large gaming convention, you can find Cake Bash at booth 37 and Boomerang Fu will be featured among 9 other indie games at PAX 10 Showcase. Besides being able to see gameplay footage from these tasty games, you will have access to other treats such as pins. We’ve WHIPPED up a list of games you’ll certainly KNEAD to save your DOUGH for.

    Boomerang Fu

    Boomerang Fu is a frantic physics fighting game. Choose from an adorable cast of food characters and slice up your friends with boomerangs and a ridiculous range of stackable powerups. Each match of Boomerang Fu can be a finely-balanced ballet of blades or a comedy of errors. Simple controls let newcomers grill, chill and tenderise their opponents within seconds, while advanced players will uncover the hidden depths of this lost martial art by learning to deflect attacks and curve boomerangs around corners. And everyone can use the environment against their foes, setting off traps, hiding in bushes, or pushing one another into treacherous koi ponds. Boomerang Fu is created by indie studio Cranky Watermelon and is coming soon to PC/Mac. You can wishlist the game now on Steam here.

    Cake Bash

    Fight to be the tastiest cake! A party game for up to four players with very unique hazards – bash your friends, dash away from danger and have a delicious time! Cake Bash is a manic party game where the goal is to make yourself as irresistible as possible. Cover yourself in chocolate, jelly beans and all manner of sugar-studded goodies to become the tastiest cake, but watch out – your rivals will do anything to stop you, whether it’s by clouting you with a spork, knocking you into pigeon poop, or covering you in all manner of gunk! The game is developed by High Tea Frog and published by Coatsink, the publishers behind the adorable game PHOGS! Cake Bash is baking until early 2020 for consoles and PC. You can wishlist the game now on Steam here.

    Cranked Up

    In this platforming game, an evil Hawaiian pizza rules the world. He has kidnapped your favorite cup of coffee and threatens to cover all the food with pineapple. Your mission will be to save the cup (and the world at the same time). Discover a quirky universe, with colorful characters and a script written by a 6 year old child. A clever rocket system allows you to move, but despite its simplicity it remains challenging. You have to activate the right rocket at the right time, otherwise you risk going back in the wrong way. Once mastered you can then go from roof to roof, jump chasms and create your own way to the coveted coffee. Cranked Up is developed by BBlack Studio and is releasing sometime in 2020 on Steam Early Access here.

    We’ve contacted the developers of Cranked Up if they will be attending PAX West but we just couldn’t leave it out of this smorgasbord. If you’re interested in other games that are coming to the con, check out our article here: Developers of Moving Out are Teaming with Team17.

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  • svgAug 1, 2019Reviews

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    Astro Bears is a competitive arcade-style party-game created by indie developers SONKA. This is an updated version of Astro Bears Party that now includes new Bears, planets and play modes for the Nintendo Switch which released this July 19th, 2019. If you already owned Astro Bears Party, you will get this re-release for free. Below is a quick review of Astro Bears on the Nintendo eShop which you can purchase here for $6.99 US.

    How to Play

    You play as a Bear of your choice, with the mode of your choice, which have access to the following abilities: jumping/flying and dashing. Your Bear will run automatically so you have to have quick reflexes while controlling the direction of your Bear. Jumping and flying is useful if you don’t want to run into your opponent. Dashing is more difficult to master in terms of usefulness because you can rush to corner or “cut-off” your opponent quickly if you see the opportunity. Moreover, every time you jump, you leave an “archway” which gives the game another layer of strategy.

    What you want to avoid is the colorful “ribbon” that trails behind your opponent which becomes longer the more you move. Honestly, I get some real Care Bear vibes from how cute and colorful the Bears are in this game with these ribbons. The ribbons will follow every action you take so if you jump, it will also leave a line higher up. Depending on whether you choose your ribbon to be finite or infinite, it will change how long the ribbons get the longer you play. When your ribbon is infinite, it starts getting really hard to even avoid your own ribbon which you can also run into and lose.

    The planet sizes were what disappointed me the most about Astro Bears because even the biggest planet is rather small. This is why the game can last mere seconds because you don’t have very far to go. I understand that that’s the point but I still feel like having more of an open and bigger planet to play on like Mario Galaxy, would have kept me more interested for longer. Although, it is an interesting concept to have the planet by see-through as you can see where your opponent is going.

    Different Types of Modes

    Astro Bears has 3 modes to choose from: Party, Competitive, and the new Jetfish Hunting which is a local 1-2 player team-up to beat online high-scores. All modes are basically the same with minor differences save for the last one which I will discuss in more detail below. As mentioned previously, the main objective for all modes is to make sure you don’t run into your opponents’ ribbons which are trailing behind them as they automatically run around your chosen planets. You can jump, dash, fly and control which direction you want your little space-bear to go.

    Party Mode

    This basic mode lets you play up to 4 local players where you each have your own screen (i.e. 2 players is split-screen). Choose how many points it will take for you to win the session between 20, 40, 80 and 160, the planet size which goes from small, medium, big and huge, if the ribbon is finite or infinite, and the theme. You get 4 points every time you win a round so it can take very few minutes or even seconds to get to 20 points total. The themes only have you changing the lines of the planets to a couple different colors which is a little pointless.

    Competitive Mode

    You have the same choice of 2-4 players in this mode but this time you must select 3 Bears each with their own unique stats. In order to win the overall match, you need to at least win one round with each one of your Bears. You will not be able to choose your planet size or whether your ribbon is finite or infinite as the game will randomize it for you. Furthermore, it seems that the larger planet sizes are excluded from this mode. I can see that being the more competitive approach as it is fairly chosen with no one having to fight over which options to pick. The point system is also a little different so this mode is better if you want the matches to last a little longer.

    Jetfish Hunting

    This mode is a great addition if you’d rather play with your friends and not against. Rather than trying to get your opponent to run into your ribbon, you are trying not to run into each other while collecting as many Jetfish as possible. There is no time to communicate with each other to coordinate who is going after the closest Jetfish as the game is too fast-paced. However, it doesn’t take long to get more skilled at playing this game as the rules are quite easy to learn.

    When playing Jetfish Hunting, you can either compete for the highest score locally or on online leaderboards. The former is more like playing against yourselves if no one else in the family will be playing this game. My partner and I got very meager scores together before we died several times so as you can see we have no chance in competing online as of now.

    Choosing a Bear

    You have to choice between 8 Bears: Bishnu, Wojtek, Neil, Cybear, Xiaoli, Randy, Igor and Aki. All Bears will have varying stats of Speed, Turning, Jet Capacity and Jet Regeneration. Basically what you want to do is figure out what are your strengths when playing and maybe do as I did and choose the Bear that will either compliment those strengths or compensate with higher stats in the area you struggle with. An interesting feature I noticed with Cybear and Randy is that Cybear can get hit twice before losing as he has an extra layer of protection, and Randy’s stats are randomized. Here is a list of the descriptions we get for each Bear:

    • Igor – the proud husband and father,
    • Bishnu – the crazy one everyone likes,
    • Xiaoli – the fastest runner of them all,
    • Neil – the one who likes to eat while swimming,
    • Wojtek – the pierogi-loving war vet,
    • Cybear – the villain with an extra life,
    • Aki – the cosplayer and tech geek,
    • or Randy – the one we know nothing about!

    More Information

    For the low price of Astro Bears I wouldn’t dissuade people from picking up this title if you want to easily grab and play a multiplayer game with friends. Although, don’t expect to have hours of fun playing this game or to replay it often. Rather, expect to have minutes of fun playing this game as the concept is unique, the controls respond quickly as needed, and the 3D graphics are quite nice. The soundtrack is also worth noting that it was very nostalgic to retro gaming and was inspired by the 80s. For as long as I played this game, and again that’s not very long, I did enjoy it. Below you can see a little bit of gameplay including the Jetfish Hunting mode.

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