Countdown: 3DS eShop Spotlight – escapeVektor

#31 – Trace and survive.

For the month before the 3DS and Wii U eShops close for new purchases on 27th March, each day we’re going to highlight a specific eShop game for one of those consoles and give a short pitch as to why we think it deserves your love and attention — before it’s too late. The chance to add these to your library will be gone for good soon and, for one reason or another, these eShop-exclusives are close to our hearts.

Today, Liam reflects on the earlier years of the 3DS eShop with escapeVektor…

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RPS@PAX 2023: Animal Well’s subterranean world is both beautiful and unsettling

Animal Well’s solo developer and publisher Bigmode about creating their eerie subterranean world. We then had a chance to go hands on with the PAX East demo, and wow, we were both incredibly impressed. Watch the video below for our enthusiastic impressions:

If we could give an RPS ‘Bestest Best in show’ award to a game, is would be Animal Well. Liam and I loved the game’s dense atmosphere, spider-web of interconnected caverns, and creepy creatures that lurk in the dark. We also loves the effects the game has, which reminded Liam of Octopath Traveler’s visual flairs. If I had to compare it to one game, it would be Hollow Knight, which is very exciting.

We have plenty more PAX East indies for you to check out so make sure you have a peruse through our RPS@PAX tag. A couple of our favourites have been chaotic rouguelite Pizza Possum, Resident Evil-like Alone In The Dark, and island exploration game Mythwrecked.

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Feature: 8 Switch Games We’ve Played At PAX East 2023 – Here’s What We Thought

Hands-on impressions of the show’s Switch offerings.

PAX East 2023 is happening — right now, as you’re reading this! — and Nintendo Life is there sampling lots of juicy upcoming Switch releases.

The Boston event is running from Thursday 23rd to Sunday 26th March 2023 and in this feature we’ll be recording our hands-on impressions of the various games, large and small, that we play while we’re running between appointments and roaming the expo hall.

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Hands On: The Lord Of The Rings: Gollum Plays Like Small Taters

It was tricksy, precious. Very tricksy.

Lord of the Rings: Gollum has naturally garnered quite a bit of interest as its initial release date approaches on other platforms in May, with a planned Switch release later this year. Fans of LotR and J.R.R. Tolkien’s work have been eager to see how developer Daedalic Entertainment would craft a game based around such a beloved character, and lines to test the demo at PAX East were hours long by the weekend.

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RPS@PAX 2023: We chat with the WrestleQuest devs about broken noses and busting RPG traditions

WrestleQuest last year at PAX West, and this time at PAX East we finally cornered them in the ring for a proper interview.

Watch below to learn about how the developers created their zero to hero story, how they’re addressing myths and persaonl issues in the world of pro wresting, as well as sharing a story about how one of the team got their nose broken in a wrestling accident during development.

My main take away from the interview is how much of the RPG incorporates all aspects of Wrestling, not just the ring fights we see on TV. Another interesting thing is that Mega Cat reached out to a handful of real-life wrestlers to ask their permission to use their likeness in the game – not an easy feat to secure, I’m sure.

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RPS@PAX 2023: Hell Of An Office is a fiendishly fast action-platformer in the vein of Neon White

PAX East, but none left my head reeling as much as 43 Studios’ fiendishly frantic action platfotmer Hell Of An Office. It’s a super fast parkour adventure in the vein of Neon White, and after ten minutes with the demo my heart race was through the roof. If I owned a fitbit it would have been screaming at me to have a nice sit down with a cuppa. Check out my full impressions in the video below:

Hell Of An Office puts your platforming reflexes to the test as you’re tasked with sprinting ad jumping your way straight outta hell. With only a stapler as your means of survival, you need to navigate through each level before it slowly sinks into the burning lava. React quickly, or fall victim to Hell’s scorching pools.

If you love the blood-pumping, sweaty palm inducing action-platforming of Neon White, make sure to keep an eye on Hell Of An Office as it makes it’s way through Early Access.

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Random: Smash Bros. Melee HD Unlikely To Happen, According To Former Nintendo Employees

“It’s only going to cause more headaches”.

There have been a lot of requests over the years for Nintendo to revive the GameCube hit Super Smash Bros. Melee, but according to former Nintendo employees Kit & Krysta, it probably won’t happen. In a recent episode of their podcast, the pair responded to a question asking about the possibility of Smash Bros. Melee in HD – completely ruling out the idea of it.

Krysta is confident “it’s absolutely 100% never gonna happen”, with Kit reiterating this – stating how Melee was a “Mother 3-level game” at Nintendo, where if it was mentioned, “you kind of tense up”. Apparently, the perception of Melee “inside Nintendo” and having to deal with it was considered to be a “nightmare”.

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Have A Nice Death has left early access after a year of updates

Have A Nice Death‘s dark art and quick-slashing combat bring Hollow Knight to mind, but it has more in common with Hades and Dead Cells. One of the things it has in common with those games is that it was released in early access. After a little more than a year, version 1.0 arrived this week, bringing a final area, a new boss, and the end of its storyline.

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