SwitchArcade Round-Up: ‘Astrune Academy’, ‘Monolith’, Plus Today’s Other New Releases and the Latest Sales

Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for June 13th, 2024. It’s Thursday today, and while it’s not a particularly busy Thursday, it’s a lot better than what we’ve been dealing with for the last few days. We have several new releases to check out, and while none of them are going to burn the barn down or anything, there are a few that are at least worth considering. After that, it’s time for the lists of new sales and expiring discounts. Again, both a bit healthier than yesterday. Let’s get to it!

Select New Releases

Astrune Academy ($14.99)

This is where we are at during these lazy days waiting for the next video presentation: headlining a Thursday with a KEMCO/EXE-CREATE RPG. This one is about magical girls at a magic academy. Perhaps they’ll save the world along the way? That seems quite likely, given the usual pattern. Anyway, the usual provisos are in place. You can get this at around half the price on mobile if you don’t mind playing there, but I think there’s value in the button controls here so you do you.

Arcade Archives Vs Star Luster ($7.99)

So, you know Atari’s Star Raiders? The cool space action/adventure game created by Doug Neubauer for Atari’s 8-bit computers and then ported to various other platforms? Imagine that, but on the Nintendo Entertainment System, but then ported to the arcade. Look, Star Luster is fine. It’s a fun game, even if Namco did a terrible job of hiding its source of inspiration here. But there aren’t many differences between this and the version you can find in the frequently deeply-discounted Namco Museum Archives, so I recommend buying that instead.

EGGCONSOLE Sorcerian PC-8801mkIISR ($6.49)

We’re just jumping all over the Dragon Slayer series now, aren’t we? We got the second game, the fourth game, and now the fifth game. Sorcerian is a very well-regarded game in Japan, but it has rarely been localized for the Western market. And unfortunately, that is the case here as well. This isn’t a game drenched in text, but the quest descriptions are completely in Japanese and are probably necessary to comprehend to actually get anywhere. I’ll review this one as I always do, but I’d tread cautiously if you can’t understand Japanese.

Willy’s Wonderland – The Game ($4.99)

Hmm. QUByte sometimes makes games that are more fun than they appear to be, and I hope that is the case here. It’s a beat-em-up that is clearly inspired by Five Nights at Freddy’s, tasking you with punching the heck out of rampant animatronics. There are two different characters to use, and you can play with a friend via local multiplayer. I’ll stick to my old reliables, but I can easily imagine some taking the cheap punt on this. Let us know how that goes for you if you do.

Monolith ($14.99)

Tessa Carter is a space explorer trapped in a dangerous world. You have to help her escape in this point-and-click style adventure game. You get some nice looking visuals, and a sassy robot sidekick. What more do you need? These is the team behind the Secret Files and Lost Horizon series of adventure games, so if you liked those then I think you’ve got a solid chance of being happy with this one too.

Path to Purge ($14.99)

A roguelite shooter that is inexplicably selling on Switch for three times the price it’s going for on Steam. Okay as a cheap bit of fun, but at this price it’s a no way, Jose.

Sales

(North American eShop, US Prices)

Certainly a better selection than yesterday, with games like Dungeon of the Endless, Furi, and Wingspan trying to grab a few of your dollars. The outbox is housing a few shooters among other things. Nothing super-interesting there, but you might as well check it after going through the new stuff.

Select New Sales

Arcadia: Colony ($9.98 from $14.99 until 6/17)
Furi ($7.99 from $19.99 until 6/25)
Haven ($9.99 from $24.99 until 6/25)
Squids Odyssey ($2.24 from $14.99 until 6/25)
Dungeon of the Endless ($3.99 from $19.99 until 6/26)
The Sorrowvirus ($3.74 from $14.99 until 6/28)
Burrow of the Fallen Bear ($6.99 from $19.99 until 6/28)
Until the Last Plane ($3.49 from $9.99 until 6/28)
Alpha Particle ($3.99 from $9.99 until 6/28)
Diorama Dungeoncrawl ($3.99 from $9.99 until 6/28)
Mugen Souls Double Pack ($45.49 from $69.99 until 6/28)
Recursion ($2.39 from $7.99 until 7/1)
Veritas ($3.59 from $11.99 until 7/1)
A Short Tale ($1.99 from $5.99 until 7/1)
Ferris Mueller’s Day Off ($1.99 from $5.99 until 7/1)

Station 117 ($2.09 from $6.99 until 7/1)
Incoherence ($2.09 from $6.99 until 7/1)
Forever Lost: Episode 1 ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/1)
Drift Legacy ($1.99 from $19.99 until 7/1)
Wingspan ($9.99 from $19.99 until 7/3)
STAB STAB STAB! ($2.99 from $9.99 until 7/3)
Immortal Planet ($4.49 from $14.99 until 7/3)
Cook, Serve, Delicious! 2!! ($2.00 from $12.99 until 7/3)
Thea: The Awakening ($5.39 from $17.99 until 7/3)
Fight Club ($4.49 from $14.99 until 7/3)
Die for Valhalla! ($3.59 from $11.99 until 7/3)
Steamburg ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/3)
The Smurfs 2 ($19.99 from $39.99 until 7/4)
Survivor Castaway Island ($14.99 from $29.99 until 7/4)

Sales Ending Tomorrow, June 14th

Bot Gaiden ($5.99 from $14.99 until 6/14)
BroodStar ($3.30 from $11.00 until 6/14)
Dreamcutter ($9.89 from $14.99 until 6/14)
Dungeonoid 2 Awakening ($5.84 from $8.99 until 6/14)
GyroBlade ($3.74 from $4.99 until 6/14)
Horizon Chase 2 ($19.99 from $24.99 until 6/14)
Moero Crystal H ($19.99 from $39.99 until 6/14)
Omen of Sorrow ($9.99 from $19.99 until 6/14)
Rainbow Skies ($9.99 from $19.99 until 6/14)
Seaside Driving ($2.49 from $4.99 until 6/14)
Super Woden GP ($5.99 from $11.99 until 6/14)
Sword & Fairy Inn 2 ($12.99 from $19.99 until 6/14)
TP Bullet ($3.99 from $4.99 until 6/14)
Wings of Bluestar ($5.99 from $14.99 until 6/14)

That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back tomorrow with the remaining releases of the week, which are actually considerably more interesting than what we saw today. Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance and Monster Hunter Stories are leading the charge, and there’s an assortment of other stuff in the mix as well. We’ll also have whatever new sales roll in during the course of the day, plus any interesting news that pops up. I have to go to the fancy hospital for some scary tests, but as long nothing goes too badly I should be home with plenty of time to do the article. I hope you all have a thrilling Thursday, and as always, thanks for reading!