Whoosh! What that was? April, mate. Which means it’s time to look back on the gems that glittered on Switch eShop during the most foolish of months.
As if your wishlists weren’t already groaning with the sheer number of great games you’re waiting to pick up, we’re here with our monthly reminder of ones you may have missed in the last month or so. Below you’ll find Switch eShop games that we reviewed in April which scored 8/10 or better, plus Team NL’s cumulative top three picks.
But Gameloft will “continue to monitor the situation”.
There have been some concerns raised about the upcoming F2P release Disney Speedstorm, with early access players claiming the Monsters, Inc. racer Mike Wazowski is too powerful. His unique skill “Hold the Door” allows him to teleport himself forward and rival racers backward.
RPS will mostly be slumbering this Monday, May 8th, as the UK has a national holiday for some reason or other. That means I won’t be around to tell you about a stagecoach’s journey across a decaying land. I’m referring, of course, to Darkest Dungeon 2 hitting 1.0 and arriving on Steam for the first time.
I’m telling you now, instead. Helpfully there’s already a launch trailer and Red Hook have shared some details of their post-release plans.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is getting an official launch event livestream and Nintendo Treehouse: Live with gameplay on May 11, the day before the game is finally released to the world.
Nintendo announced the news that will hopefully make the wait for May 12 just a little bit easier on its website, and it confirmed the livestream will begin at live.nintendo.com at 6:45pm PT/9:45pm ET on May 11. That time translates to 2:45am BST/11:45am AEST on May 12.
“Get ready for a livestream on 5/11 starting at 6:45pm PT, beginning with a Nintendo Treehouse: Live presentation featuring gameplay from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom,” Nintendo wrote. “Following Nintendo Treehouse: Live, stay tuned in for more livestream content counting down to the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom!”
It may be hard to believe, but we are now less than a week away from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Unfortunately, that also means that spoilers have begun leaking onto the internet. So, be safe out there, friends!
On the bright side, you can now preload the game digitally to be ready for launch day and we recently got a hands-on preview of the latest entry in the beloved franchise and have plenty of content to keep you busy until then.
In our The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom hands-on preview, we said, “What truly caught me off guard with my time playing Tears of the Kingdom wasn’t just how much there was to do – and there was certainly tons – it was just how much creative freedom I had as I attempted to take on every corner of it so far.”
Hogwarts Legacy has finally arrived on PS4 and Xbox One consoles and there’s never been a better time to dive into the wizarding world. There is a lot to explore in Hogwarts Legacy and there are a ton of secrets hidden throughout the castle and beyond. If you’re just getting started with the game, there are plenty of resources to help you make the most of your magical adventure.
Our extensive Hogwarts Legacy Wiki guide dives into walkthroughs, locations, and beginner tips for just about everything. To help you with your playthrough, we’ve gathered the best tips, guides, and secrets you need to know about.
Choose the Right Hogwarts House
This may seem like a no-brainer for fans of the Harry Potter series who have known their Hogwarts house for years, but the house you choose can affect the storyline of the game. Each house is obviously associated with a different characteristic, but they also come with access to a common room and additional dialogue options from characters in your house.
The main difference between the houses in the game is that each one has a different quest leading up to a meeting with Richard Jackdaw. Check out our guide to choosing your Hogwarts house for more info.
Attend Your First Classes Before Exploring
The map in Hogwarts Legacy is enormous. Even just exploring Hogwarts Castle can be a seemingly endless endeavor. Because of this, it can be incredibly easy to get distracted very early on. Because your completion of the main story quests is directly connected to learning spells and unlocking additional areas, it’s best if you work your way through the storyline before wandering off.
Prioritize Getting a Broom
Although there isn’t any Quidditch in Hogwarts Legacy, that doesn’t mean there isn’t broom flight. There is nothing more satisfying than zipping around Hogwarts on an enchanted broom. Unfortunately, however, you don’t start the game with a broom right away. You’ll need to progress to the Riding Lesson quest to learn the basics before being able to purchase a broom of your own.
One of the coolest things about Hogwarts Legacy is just how big the map is. You could spend an entire day wandering around Hogwarts Castle and still find things you missed before. That also means that keeping track of where everything is located is essential to the game. With many collectible-based quests in the game, it is extremely helpful to have a map that tells you where all of the different items are located across the map.
When you first start the game, you will have 20 gear slots available. While this is fine for a while, you’ll find as you continue exploring that 20 is not nearly enough gear slots. There is a seemingly endless amount of gear lying around Hogwarts and even underwater. And unfortunately, once your gear slots are full you’ll need to remove items or sell them before you can collect any more.
Once you start to get the hang of combat in Hogwarts Legacy, the fights start to get a lot easier. One of the best ways to improve your combat prowess (and make it a little more custom) is to take advantage of the various talents and abilities available.
We recommend taking a look at our guide to the best talents to unlock in each of the 5 categories. Whether it’s additional spell sets or higher spell damage, it’s worth thinking about the talents will aid your playstyle the most.
Max Out the Alohamora Spell
Although there are quite a few secrets hidden in plain sight throughout Hogwarts and Hogsmeade, you’ll notice pretty early on that there are a lot of locked doors as well. To gain the spell Alohamora and start unlocking locks, you will need to complete The Caretaker’s Lunar Lament quest. This requires you to find 9 Demiguise moons in Hogwarts castle.
The first iteration of Alohamora will allow you to unlock level 1 locks, and you will need to find even more Demiguise Statues to move on to level 2 and 3. With a maxed out version of the spell, you’ll be able to open any locked door you encounter and the secrets within.
Find All Three Hogwarts Secrets
There are plenty of hard-to-find Field Guide pages throughout Hogwarts, but those aren’t necessarily secrets. There are in fact 3 secrets hidden behind puzzles within Hogwarts Castle that you can find and solve.
Mimimi Games, the developers of upcoming supernatural pirate stealth-strategy Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew, have warned that they’re being “targeted by a phishing campaign.” Apparently some nefarious party is sending out emails with a link to a website that looks nearly identical to the official Shadow Gambit site with the promise of beta access. Mimimi say that the email is not from them and that there is no beta.
Nintendo games are filled with royals and, for the most part, they are significantly less controversial than any real-world monarchs. You won’t catch HRH Princess Zelda yawning during a Hylian military parade, or King Boo claiming he’s physically incapable of perspiring (although that might make sense in his case).
Nintendo Land tabloids seem to be a great deal more respectful and courteous, too, compared to paparazzi hiding in bushes with six-foot lenses to catch how many sugars Lady Patricia Bourgetout Heffington-Heffington takes in her Darjeeling.
We are so nearly there, folks. We have hit our final What Are You Playing discussion before all of our entries become “Tears of the Kingdom, duh” from next week — relish the variety in our plans while you can!
