Hello dear readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Roundup for January 31, 2024. In today’s article, we actually have a few new releases that are worth taking a look at. First time this week! Before that, I have my review of the game from Feral Interactive Hitman: Blood Money – Retaliation, which I really liked. After that, it’s time to check out the new games, and it’s an interesting bunch. We’re wrapping things up in the usual way with new sales and expiring discounts to take into account. Let’s go for that!
Comments and mini-views
Hitman: Blood Money – Retaliation ($29.99)
Confession time: Until I received this game for review, I had watched as many Hitman movies like I had played Hitman Games. I only saw one Hitman movies, and this game is Hitman Come on. Yes, this remake from Feral Interactive Hitman: Blood Money is my first hands-on experience with one of the main Agent 47 games. I think I watched a friend play Hitman 2 a little back in the day? Well anyway. I just wanted to let you all know where I was going with this. I can’t really speak directly to what’s new here beyond what I’ve read, nor can I compare it to contemporary games in the series. I’m sure there are other reviewers who can speak to these things.
So, what did I like? Well, I certainly wouldn’t mistake it for a modern game, but aside from the visuals, I wouldn’t have guessed it was from 2006 either. Hitman: Blood Money gives you a surprising degree of freedom in how you want to complete each of the missions. You’re incentivized to do things as quietly as possible, as gaining notoriety will make later missions more difficult, but there’s nothing stopping you from going in with guns blazing if that’s your preference. But even doing things more stealthily, you have plenty of options. The results of your work are presented via a journal after the mission, which is pretty nifty. I was impressed by the creativity you have and the sheer number of crazy ideas you might not have thought would work. It’s quite enjoyable to replay the missions and find new ways of doing things, trying to improve your rating.
From my understanding, there are a lot of additions in this remake. You can toggle most of them on and off if you prefer to experience the game as close to the original as possible, which is nice. A version of Instinct Mode from later games in the series is here, allowing you to use your Hitman-Sense (they are not stinking lines!) to see enemies, objects, and various other things with more clarity. There’s also a mini-map, and I’m a little surprised it’s not there to begin with. This is very useful, as it reduces how often you have to open your map and helps you deal with enemies. You also get gyroscopic controls, a feature that many people appreciate. I’m not big on this in any game, but it seems to work pretty well.
On the technical side, the game looks good for its age and it generally runs pretty well on Switch. This should be a given for a game from this era, but you never know. I noticed a few occasional hiccups here and there. It’s brief and doesn’t cause much trouble, but it’s noticeable and somewhat curious. The controls are nicely mapped by default, and you have a wide range of options to customize the game to your liking. Again, I can’t really compare it to other versions of the game, but I found the presentation to be good aside from these issues, and the gameplay worked wonderfully.
Hitman: Blood Money – Retaliation is a game clearly ahead of its time, which means it holds up very well in this Switch incarnation. Feral Interactive has done its usual solid job here, borrowing elements from later games in the series and giving the player the choice of whether or not to use the big new additions. If you’re like me and have never played a game in this series before, this seems like a good place to start. If you’re more familiar with the newer games, it can be a little difficult to go back to this game in some ways, but I think there’s still a lot of fun to be had with its clever structure for its age.
SwitchArcade rating: 4/5
New releases
Eastbound: Octopia ($5.99)
This add-on DLC brings back Sam and John for an all-new, more relaxing adventure. They live a slow life in the countryside, farming, tending livestock, and just having a good time in a parallel universe where things aren’t as stressful. Build the town of Octopia and who knows what vaguely familiar faces might appear? Yes, it’s more or less To the east Does History of the Seasons, but it’s good, isn’t it? I think so. You don’t need to play the main game to access it or anything, because you can access it directly from the main menu.
Miniland Adventure ($10.99)
It’s one of those sandbox survival games, and it’s decent in that regard, aside from its low content content overall. You start with a small island, and at different intervals you get new tiles to lay down. As the island grows, so do the things you can do. The pacing is quite slow and there’s not as much going on here as you might see in other games of this type on Switch, which makes it a little harder to recommend.
Tale of the Immortal ($16.99)
Those who enjoy modern Chinese films and fiction will likely be familiar with the Cultivator genre, in which someone trains to an absurd degree to bring out their ultimate power. This is an unusual action-RPG style game that builds on that theme, and perhaps unsurprisingly that means it’s a gritty affair. The English translation is also pretty poor here. But if you want to play something unusual or like Cultivator stories, you might want to try this.
Turret Rampage ($4.99)
We’ve all played tower defense games before, but how many times do you get to be the tower? Now you can live your dream, even if the result is just an unorthodox shooter. Enemy waves are coming and you have to move between the tunnels they are coming from, choose the right weapon and do what you do. It doesn’t seem very deep, but for five bucks it could be a good slice of action for a quiet evening.
The group of trash cans
Big Watermelon Match ($3.99)
Kubic ($3.99)
Seven ($3.99)
Sales
(North American EShop, US pricing)
Well, the list of new sales is not very long today. Infinity Dungeon It’s cool, if you don’t already have it. As for the outbox, there are several good games in the list, but I’ll highlight Tinykin as my main choice. I still really like this game. Take a look at both lists yourself and see if anything stands out, though. After all, my tastes are not yours.
Select new sales
Dead by daylight ($14.99 from $29.99 until 2/11)
Infinity Dungeon ($3.99 from $19.99 until 2/13)
Cultist Simulator ($3.99 from $19.99 until 2/13)
Pix the cat ($1.99 from $9.99 until 2/13)
Chasm: The Rift ($7.99 from $19.99 until 2/20)
Blood will be shed ($1.99 from $14.99 until 2/20)
Feudal alloy ($1.99 from $16.99 until 2/20)
Little Devil: Foster Mayhem ($1.99 from $14.99 until 2/20)
Alpaca ball: Allstars ($2.99 from $19.99 until 2/20)
The company man ($4.99 from $19.99 until 2/20)
Toby: The secret mine ($1.99 from $11.99 until 2/20)
Super sports explosion ($7.49 from $24.99 until 2/20)
Super Soccer Blast: America vs. Europe ($4.99 from $9.99 until 2/20)
Spy chameleon ($2.99 from $9.99 until 2/20)
Extreme forklift ($2.99 from $9.99 until 2/20)
Sales end tomorrow, February 1st
Afterimage ($14.99 from $24.99 until 2/1)
Ary and the secret of the seasons ($3.99 from $39.99 until 2/1)
Bear With Me: The Lost Robots ($1.99 from $4.99 until 2/1)
Beholgar ($4.99 from $9.99 until 2/1)
Black Skylands ($11.99 from $19.99 until 2/1)
Cattails: Wildwood History ($15.99 from $19.99 until 2/1)
Tales of Screams ($3.99 from $39.99 until 2/1)
Despot game CE ($11.49 from $22.99 until 2/1)
Double Dragon Gaiden: RotD ($17.49 from $24.99 until 2/1)
rock god ($8.99 from $29.99 until 2/1)
Gordian Quest ($11.99 from $19.99 until 2/1)
Cemetery Guardian ($4.99 from $19.99 until 2/1)
Hello engineer ($8.99 from $14.99 until 2/1)
Hello neighbor ($9.99 from $39.99 until 2/1)
If my heart had wings ($7.99 from $19.99 until 2/1)
In a healthy mind ($3.49 from $34.99 until 2/1)
Lost Words: Beyond the Page ($1.99 from $14.99 until 2/1)
Lovekami: Divinity Stage ($8.24 from $14.99 until 2/1)
Lovekami: Healing Harem ($8.99 from $14.99 until 2/1)
Lovekami: Useless Goddess ($8.99 from $14.99 until 2/1)
Low story ($3.99 from $7.99 until 2/1)
My time at Sandrock ($31.99 from $39.99 until 2/1)
My time at Sandrock Deluxe ($39.99 from $49.99 until 2/1)
Override 2: Super Mech League ($2.99 from $29.99 until 2/1)
Paleo Pines ($22.49 from $29.99 until 2/1)
Pinku Kult: Hex Mortis ($4.99 from $9.99 until 2/1)
Punch Club 2: Fast Forward ($11.99 from $19.99 until 2/1)
Rhythm push ($8.99 from $14.99 until 2/1)
River City: showdown between rivals ($19.99 from $24.99 until 2/1)
Rock of Ages 3: Making and Breaking ($2.99 from $29.99 until 2/1)
Cattle thief ($2.99 from $29.99 until 2/1)
Skull ($2.99 from $29.99 until 2/1)
SpiderHeck ($8.99 from $14.99 until 2/1)
The Streets of Thief ($4.99 from $19.99 until 2/1)
Super Trunko Go ($4.99 from $9.99 until 2/1)
Teslagrad 2 ($11.99 from $19.99 until 2/1)
Teslagrad remastered ($5.99 from $9.99 until 2/1)
Tinykin ($14.99 from $24.99 until 2/1)
Trash sailors ($4.99 from $19.99 until 2/1)
That’s all for today and this month, my friends. Tomorrow is Thursday, and that means we’ll have a pretty big list of new games to check out. We’ll also have major sales and news coming in throughout the day. I’m a little hungry for junk food tonight. However, I suspect I won’t be eating junk food tonight. I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday and, as always, thanks for reading!