This is a game that's easily overlooked amongst the hundreds of other games in the eshop sale right now.
Currently on sale for $1.75, was $7.50, so it's not a huge AAA title or anything.
Just looked up a couple of YouTube reviews and decided to take a gamble.
The Mario (and Nintendo) influence is apparent after playing the first level.
I'd recommend it above most sub-$2 that constantly get reduced too.
Heck, you may even have enough gold points to get it for free
Do you mean on that end of the price spectrum?
Mutant Mudds Collection (2 platforming games plus a 2 player puzzle game) just dropped to $1.95 from $19.50. has an 85 on Metacritic.
Looks cool, bought.
Yeah I was after some cheapies / good games under $15. I’m not big on paying more than $15 for something that’s digital, unless I know it’s going to be awesome like Stardew Valley or Steamworld dig 2. It’s good to get a fellow ozbargainer’s recommendation of what is actually worth spending money on. That Magicat game is really cute, playing it now :) thanks.
So a list of the cheapest games I've bought and enjoyed are:
SteamWorld Dig - $4.50
911 Operator - $1.62
Membrane - $1.50
The Way Remastered - $1.59
Oxenfree - $6 (I think)
Castle of Heart - $2.29
Gunman Clive HD Collection - $4.50
Earth Wars - $6 (that's the RRP on Switch. Is $30-$40 on PS4 and XB1 and under a different name)
Games that have been roughly $15 or less that I recommend are:
Towerfall
Fast RMX
Bastion
Hollow Knight
Mind: Path to Thalamus
Pikuniku
Thumper
Death Squared
Art of Balance
Mantis Burn Racing
Splasher
Snake Pass
Golf Story
@Ninternet: Thanks for your recommendations. I appreciate the effort you went to in compiling a list. I will check out the ones I don’t have. I will definitely get golf story when it comes on special again - I’m really into golf games right now since I started playing “golf with friends” on the pc, but most of the ones on switch look bad or are overpriced.
@Some Human: Golf Story is great fun. Especially if you're into the old Mario Golf games or any old golf games in general that didn't try too hard to be a simulator.
Plus the game was made by a couple guys in Brisbane and is filled with great Aussie Humour.
Not sure if it is on sale, but a game in that price spectrum which is well worth playing is VVVVVV. It's bloody hard at times (none of this easy kids stuff like Kirby or Yoshi), it's unique, and the joy of exploration makes you feel like a kid again - do you remember that magic feeling you would get playing a game as a kid? Well you get that again even as an adult with this game. Besides VVVVVV , I haven't felt that feeling since I was around 14.
You not played Botw?
Yes I am playing it now - it does not have any magic feeling at all, just feels like a normal game to me. Maybe at the beginning when link runs to the cliff and you see the view. I bet it would have felt magic if I was 12 years old though. That's what being an adult does to you sadly. I felt major magic playing Banjo-Kazooie and OoT at age 11-13
@Quantumcat: When I first played BOTW at 22 on launch I got the magic feeling throughout the first 80 hours. Perspective-based.
@Ninternet: LOL BOTW is crap. I'm a massive Zelda fan and Nintendo nerd but can't hide the fact that they got it wrong. Expect to see at least 80% of the gameplay mechanics scrapped in future games. BOTW was pretty much just an experiment from Nintendo.
@SlavOz: Are you living under a rock? They literally announced a direct sequel to BOTW at E3…
Just sounds like you're an angry gamer who struggles with the concept of change.
@Ninternet: A direct sequel doesn't mean a replica of the original. There's already been mention that BOTW2 will have more of a focus on dungeons as opposed to 4 crappy optional dungeons in the original. So there's a major change from the original already. I can't imagine they'll keep many of the other gimmick features which everyone hated either - 900 useless korok seeds to find, weapons breaking after 3 hits, enemies and puzzles being recycled through 90% of the game, motion control puzzles, and and way more.
So yeah like I said, BOTW was more of an experiment to see which changes will work and which won't. BOTW2 will be much more polished and traditional as opposed to the 10-year old's tea party game the first one was.
@SlavOz: Being one of the most successful critical and commercial games of all time does not make BOTW an "experiment" just because it didn't personally appeal to you.
You also don't speak for "everyone" when referencing your personal gripes with the game that you've also seen other people complain about scattered across the internet.
Please do some more research before spraying your opinion as objective fact.
@Ninternet: Every Zelda game is going to make a lot of money, especially the first one on Nintendo's newest and most hyped up console to date. They could've put cow poo in the case and still reach tremendous sales numbers as long as the name "Zelda" is on the box.
In one instance you're saying that my opinion, as well as the opinion of many other people who agree with me, doesn't speak for everyone, yet you use the fact that other people liked the game (ie, other people's opinion) as some sort of evidence that it's a good game. Keep it consistent. The people who liked the game don't speak for everyone either. I'd say the split is very close to equal in the community. Many hardcore fans of the series hated BOTW.
There has been pretty clear confirmation that BOTW2 will be very different to the original, at least in terms of how the dungeons are handled (which has always been the core of a Zelda game). That's evidence enough that they used the original as an experiment. They're going to take what worked and scrap what didn't work. In other words, they're going to do what every smart game developer does. Sorry if BOTW is your favourite game of all time but you need to accept the fact that there will be a better game made sometime in the future because it has some terrible problems. When the Switch hype train dies down and Nintendo starts facing increased competition, expect to see them revert to the classic Zelda formula which got them this far in the first place, instead of trying to appeal to the casual kids who want to pick up and play a Zelda game.
@SlavOz: You're not providing any evidence to back up your claims defending your opinions
12418 USERS have reviewed the game on Metacritic for an average of an 8.5 user score
10,203 have been positive (82%)
739 were mixed (5%)
1,476 were Negative (11%)
This is far from the 50/50 split that your bias perspective suggests.
Also, seeing as you were self professed as being "out of the gaming loop", you wouldn't be aware that the Wii U flopped hard and that BOTW was meant to be an exclusive to it. The early Switch sales were 100% reliant on the quality of BOTW and NOT the reverse which you seem to suggest.
I'm not going to bother rebutting your claims made in the last paragraph because they're, again, all based on your opinion without any facts or sources, but instead I'll leave you with an interview with Eiji Aonuma (Head of Zelda) stating he plans to maintain the open world design of BOTW:
https://www.nintendoenthusiast.com/2017/12/31/eiji-aonuma-on…
Links Awakening is getting a release to satiate the nostalgic fanbase of traditional Zelda, but I believe the sequel to BOTW will, shock horror, maintain almost everything the original had
@Ninternet: Evidence to back up an opinion? Not sure you understand how opinions work mate. Fun fact: just because a lot of people hold a similar opinion, doesn't mean it's right.
You want objective reasons? Fine. Botw had 4 dungeons. That's already less than other Zelda games. On top of that, these dungeons each took no more than 20 minutes to complete. Another objective inferiority compared to most Zelda games which are famous for long, hard dungeons. On top of that, the damn dungeons were optional. You could easily complete the game without even entering them. I'm no expert at game design, but this would be like Pro Evolution Soccer or FIFA making goal-scoring optional. "Don't feel like doing what the game has always been about doing? No problem, here's a free pass to ignore it".
That's 3 objective reasons already why Botw is inferior to other Zelda games. And that's just the dungeons. There are countless other areas where objectively speaking, Botw doesn't match up to the previous games in the series.
I never said Botw was a bad game so not sure why you're bringing up the quality scores anyway. What I said is that it's obvious Nintendo did what every game developer does and used it to test the waters and try new things. Just because they're sticking to the open world design for the next game, doesn't make this untrue. They also said they're scrapping other aspects of Botw for the sequel so yeah. Think you're letting your glaring sense of fanboyism get in the way of having a constructive discussion here. Newsflash - being "out of the loop" on gaming isn't nearly as bad as being so hyped on sensationalism and personal bias.
@SlavOz: All of your "objective" points are still subjective. And, again, you've provided no sources for what you believe Nintendo have "said".
And again, you're going back to that straw man fallacy with your closing point.
Even when I disprove your arguments, you're still persisting. I no longer see any value in this argument.
@Ninternet: What have you proven? You proved that a lot of people who liked the game decided to leave a review online for it. That doesn't speak for the entire community. Many people don't bother leaving reviews regardless of whether they liked or hated a game. Case in point: your source cites 12, 000 user reviews. The number of copies the game sold is much higher than that. Therefore most people who played the game didn't leave a review. Unless you can point me to a structured study which was done on Botw, with opinions collected from balanced and representative sample pool, all you're doing is saying "Opinion A is correct because a lot of people on one website have Opinion A". That's a logical fallacy.
You also proved that Nintendo is planning to make BOTW2 an open world game like the original, which also doesn't refute anything I said.
Number of dungeons in a Zelda game isn't subjective mate. It's maths. 4 is a lower number than the usual amount of dungeons in other titles. And on top of that, other Zelda games also had a much higher number of enemies in each dungeon, which made them more challenging and varied. Some dungeons in Botw contained a grand total of 1 enemy, which is the same enemy you would find anywhere else. Again, this isn't subjective because you obviously know how to count. Botw had a lower number of the things which make the series so great. That's a fact. I'm sorry if you don't like it.
@Ninternet: Spoken truly like someone who can't refute an argument and resorts to attacking the maker.
Oh look, another fallacy. It's hard to feel embarrassed next to someone who claims 12, 000 user reviews constitute the collective opinion of all people who purchased one of the most widely purchased games of all time.
@SlavOz: Okay I just found that you've only recently adopted a Nintendo Switch after being out of the gaming loop for some time. That explains your perception vs. reality of what your jaded and misguided experience of BotW meant to you.
I'm not going to argue any more.
If you like the look of Magicat, as well as the retro and trippy style of VVVVVV (a game another user suggested below), definitely pick up Celeste. I've never seen it on sale though. The full price is like $15-20 I think. It's a really great game. A well-made, fun, puzzling, fast-action, and EXTREMELY hard platformer with a dark adult story at the centre of it. A really cool game to pick up. The way they explore depression and self-esteem is artistic.
Celeste has been on sale several times now for $21. The game retails at $30.
The game is not "EXTREMELY hard", but rather challenging, but rewarding with incredibly forgiving checkpoints to encourage the user to persevere which brings me to me third point -
The core concept of the game is with crippling anxiety. It's about fighting through and persevering against something that seems so real, but is entirely something we create within ourselves. Depression may be referenced, but is definitely not the core concept, nor should it be confused with anxiety.
But it's the winter sale, on the 3DS eShop it has the Winter Sale banner, but on the barebones Switch eShop nothing.
I'm so surprised about how bad the Switch eshop is in terms of navigation still.
I can easily and competently navigate it now, but someone new to the system would be completely lost
I even compiled a "tutorial" for navigating it on YouTube so that newbies at least have some idea of how to find things a bit easier.
Also I'd be lost without DekuDeals
I will give it a go. Any other recommendations? It’s hard to find decent games with so much rubbish in the store.