Jump in Chu’s wooden car for an adventure in Summer Catchers, a beautiful little game from Noodlecake Studios. Venture from the cold, snowy north down south in pursuit of warmer weather and sandy beaches. The best part is that you can pick your platform of choice: PC (Steam), Mac, Nintendo Switch, iPhone, or Android.
Since I’ve been without my PC for a while, I requested a copy for the Switch to review (Thank the gods for mobile solutions!). I honestly didn’t have any idea what kind of game to expect, I was just drawn in by how pretty the screenshots were. Sue me, I like pretty games. And after playing several hours of it, I can report I am not at all disappointed!
Pros and Cons
Obviously, the biggest draw to this game is how gorgeous it is. I mean, look at it! Each of the different segments in the road trip has a different atmosphere and the art never stops being satisfying. The interface is clean and fits in with the style so well.
The only con I can find to Summer Catchers is the repetitive nature of it. You race through different areas to complete tasks before moving on to the next segment of your journey. I feel this type of gameplay is really good for mobile applications and the Switch is definitely the largest platform I’d want to play something like this on. I’ve found it to be a great game for short spurts (under an hour) when I am just wanting to chill or waiting on something. I imagine it would be really good on a phone as the UI seems designed well for touch input.
TLDR
Gorgeous game! Pick up a copy of Summer Catchers on your phone or Switch to make waiting on your next appointment more enjoyable. Be sure to come back and let me know your thoughts in the comments!
Ever wanted to see if you could do a better job running the education system?! Well now you can with Academia: School Simulator! Let’s see if you can make it suck less than your actual high school did. Academia gives you all the tools you’ll need to design, build, and welcome in students, teachers, and staff. You’ll work towards goals to earn grant money and increase the reputation of your school, passing up any rival schools in the rankings (I hope). The game just released on steam so grab it while it’s fresh!
First Impressions
If you’ve watched the trailer or seen the game at all you’ll of course get some very familiar vibes from a game called Prison Architect, which is developed by a completely different company but has the same artist Personally, I haven’t played it and have limited experience watching the actual mechanics so I’ll have to leave it at face value. From what I’ve seen, however, I’d say Squeaky Wheel has done a good job of taking the style and making it their own.
I really like this style of game. I like the art, I like the challenge of it, and overall I had a lot of fun playing it. I’m looking forward to playing a lot more of it and hope they continue adding to it over the months to come.
Gameplay
At the beginning of the game, you are able to choose all your school’s basic attributes: title, motto, colors, uniforms, principal type, and difficulty level. There is a decent amount of customization to change the gameplay and I started on just normal default to test things out. I didn’t really see a lot of tutorial type pop-ups or guidance but that could have been me not paying close enough attention. As a result, I felt a little thrown into the game ut since it’s not my first time playing a builder game it wasn’t too much of an issue. If you aren’t however it might take you a few minutes to get acquainted with the UI and hotkeys before you feel comfortable.
In order to make money in the game, you will have to select grants and do the objectives to earn funding. You’ll have more money to start building with if you start on easy mode, which I highly recommend if you’re new to this style of game.
The first thing you’ll need to do is build an office and hire your principal. There will be 15 students in each class (freshman, sophomore, junior, senior) so you’ll build 1 classroom for each and hire a teacher for each school subject. Be sure to pay attention to the grants in your list so you know what you should be building/aiming for. Be sure you read everything because that’s where to tips are on how to find things in the UI!
Check! Done! Woo!
Do you like that dopamine hit of accomplishing goals and checking things off lists? If so you’ll love this game! Seriously, I was plowing my way through objectives for grants for the few hours I played. It felt gooooooood y’all! Very satisfying. I totally built my school in perhaps the most inefficient way possible but hey, it was still a fun time. Lessons were definitely learned for playing through it next time.
In addition, there are little scenarios and events that pop up throughout the game that give you a little extra to break things up and add something new. You’ll get an end of the year report to give you stats of how you did in several categories and give you a rank. A lot of information can be found out during the year via the different UI and charts.
Aesthetics
I really do like the graphics in this game. Everything is simplistic but nice and clean. Text is easy to read and nothing hurts my brain. There’s even a warning at the title screen which is animated to make it static to avoid dizziness/illness – something I greatly appreciate as someone who’s got pretty sensitive sim sickness.
Grab yourself a copy!
Grab yourself a copy on Steam or via my Humble Bundle(Disclaimer: I get a kickback, thanks guys)! Academia: School Simulator on sale for 30% off for the next 5 days!
We never play Fortnite to win, just to have fun and enjoy games casually. Oddly…we do win quite often. Probably because of all the bots in Fortnite now? Or we’re just getting good. You be the judge.
Natsume Inc., a worldwide developer and publisher of family-oriented video games, and Lucid Dreams Studio, a French-Canadian indie developer, today announced the launch of Legends of Ethernal on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC/MacOS.
The day we have been working towards for the past three years is here! Lucid Dreams Studio, with the assistance of Natsume through the Natsume Indie Program, has launched our first title, Legends of Ethernal,” said Maxime Gregoire, Founder and CEO of Lucid Dreams Studio.
“Every member of our team has contributed their expertise and vision to create a special game that embodies our mission: tell fascinating stories, offer gameplay that is accessible to all, and design immersive worlds. We hope that players will enjoy getting to explore Wilfred’s mysterious story as much as we have enjoyed creating it.
A well, a cat, and a cute little town.
It was a lazy summer day like any other for Wilfred… However, after returning home, he finds his house ransacked, and his parents gone… Who or what has taken them? And to where? Wilfred puts his fears aside and sets off on an adventure to find them, an adventure that will span the entire world of Arkanys.
In Legends of Ethernal, it is up to you to uncover the truth about your parents’ disappearance. Explore beautiful hand-crafted environments, solve challenging puzzles, and battle frightening creatures. Using the crafting power of ether, new powers and weapons will be unlocked to you, allowing you to explore more and more of the world of Arkanys!
Legends of Ethernal features:
Enjoy mechanics that unlock with weapons and items that you find.
Solve puzzles and unleash your fighting tactics against boss battles in multiple dungeons.
Gather ethers and use items during the course of your journey to help you progress through the game.
Admire beautiful 2D hand-drawn art covering multiple environments, scaling up to a resolution of 4K on supported platforms.
Experience a compelling and linear storyline with great characters.
Listen to the wonderfully crafted score; produced and recorded by veteran musician William Gough.
Try Hardcore Mode for an intense experience, or enable Relaxed Mode to help you or your little one complete the game.
Legends of Ethernal Launch Trailer:
Players can follow the latest news for all of the beloved Natsume franchises at www.natsume.com and get a scoop on all of the latest Natsume updates, contests, screen shots and more at:
Hold the whole world in your hands with Doodle God: Evolution; now a bundle on PlayStation 4 of Doodle God and Doodle Farm (because every self-respecting God needs a retirement plan)
Team17 and Ghost Town Games are today serving up fresh new content for Overcooked! 2 players to celebrate the start of the annual Mid-Autumn Festival, celebrated across China and East Asia.