Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for January 23rd, 2024. In today’s article, I’ve got a review of another one of those simulator games for you, and it goes as you might expect. After that, there are three decent new releases to check out. A nice change from yesterday on that front, I’d say. We wrap things up in the usual manner with the look at the new and expiring sales for the day. Let’s get to business!
Reviews & Mini-Views
Electrician Simulator ($19.99)
Just once, I’d like to fire up one of these myriad simulator PC-to-Switch ports and be pleasantly surprised by the interface. Just one single time would be nice. Unfortunately, today is not that day. Electrician Simulator has the usual problems we see in these games on Switch. The UI was designed for someone who has their monitor right in front of them, and is too small all around as a result. This is particularly an issue in handheld mode, where I almost felt the need to pull out the Switch’s magnification feature just to read the on-screen text at times. It’s irritating that we’re just about to head into the eighth year of this console’s life and this still happens.
The controls also suffer from this slapdash approach, and you can immediately feel that the game was clearly built around a mouse and keyboard interface. The movement of the cursor is too sensitive for the precision the game requests, and this is a game where you constantly have to accurately point that thing at the tiniest of bits. On top of all of that, the game also suffers from a variety of performance issues, with the framerate going up and down like a sugar-loaded kid on a trampoline. Again, a problem we often see with this kind of thing.
As to the game itself? It’s fine. It does what it says on the tin, albeit in a rather curious fashion. You’ll be doing a lot of electrician work like wiring up houses and fixing lights, but you’ll also be doing things like repairing appliances and other gadgets. Is it a perfect simulation? Probably not, but it goes through the motions with enough mundanity to feel kind of realistic most of the time. It’s enjoyable enough working your way up, gaining experience and expanding the types of jobs you’re able to handle. It gets a bit tiresome at times, but such is the genre. It comes across as a very average game, neither dropping the ball nor running with it.
If you’ve been able to put up with the UI annoyances and performance problems of most of the simulator games released on Switch thus far, you’ll probably get on with Electrician Simulator well enough. It does a reasonably good job of offering the experience it promises, with the usual compromises for the sake of playability. Those interested in this game would do well to play this on PC if they have the option, but as far as the Switch version goes this is, regrettably, on par with most such games on the platform.
SwitchArcade Score: 3/5
New Releases
Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters ($49.99)
Here’s another port of a Neptunia game to the Switch, once again landing long enough after its release on other platforms for there to be plenty of reviews out there with regards every aspect save the actual porting job. It’s an action RPG featuring the Neptunia crew, and it once again lightly parodies the game industry while also offering up a fair amount of general comedy. Some will love it, some will hate it, some will be utterly bored by it. But which one will Shaun be? Keep an eye out for my review to find out.
Lil’ Guardsman ($19.99)
A comedic, cartoonish, fantasy take on the Papers, Please concept. You play as a guardsman and have to choose who you’ll allow in and who you’ll deny. Based on those choices, there will be consequences. I think this game brings enough ideas of its own that it feels like its own thing, but I’ll let our pal Mikhail give the final word on that one when his review is ready to go.
The Legend of Steel Empire ($24.99)
The remake of Hot-B’s cult favorite Mega Drive/Genesis shooter is now available on Switch. Choose from an agile yet low-powered airplane or a slow but strong zeppelin and battle your way through a steampunk world. While it’s not the finest shoot-em-up from that console’s library, it’s quite fun. The aesthetics certainly can’t be denied, with some cool enemy designs and a great soundtrack featuring contributions from a pre-Lunar Noriyuki Iwadare. I’ll be reviewing this one as well, and probably rather soon.
Sales
(North American eShop, US Prices)
My Time at Sandrock just got a new update with some fresh content to play, and it’s on sale to celebrate that I assume. The Aeterna games certainly have their fans in the Metroidvania community, and perhaps you might become one too. Dead Cells expansions at a discount? Why not? Over in the outbox, things are quite small. But maybe you want Born of Bread while it’s still on sale. Something to consider.
Select New Sales
My Time at Sandrock ($31.99 from $39.99 until 2/1)
My Time at Sandrock Deluxe ($39.99 from $49.99 until 2/1)
Summer Daze: Tilly’s Tale ($7.99 from $14.99 until 2/5)
Dead Cells: Medley of Pain Bundle ($27.99 from $39.99 until 2/6)
Solitaire TriPeaks Flowers ($1.99 from $5.99 until 2/12)
Paradise Lost ($2.99 from $14.99 until 2/12)
Elderand ($9.99 from $19.99 until 2/12)
Liberated ($2.99 from $19.99 until 2/12)
Liberated: Enhanced Edition ($3.99 from $19.99 until 2/12)
Aeterna Noctis ($11.99 from $29.99 until 2/12)
Summum Aeterna ($14.99 from $19.99 until 2/12)
Figment 1 + Figment 2 ($13.99 from $39.99 until 2/12)
Bus Driving Simulator 22 ($2.99 form $27.99 until 2/13)
Sales Ending Tomorrow, January 24th
Born of Bread ($23.99 from $29.99 until 1/24)
Golazo 2: Soccer Cup 2022 ($3.19 from $15.98 until 1/24)
That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back tomorrow with more new releases, sales, and perhaps some news or reviews if the mood strikes. I’m feeling really lethargic today for some reason. I probably need a rest, but resting doesn’t bring in the bucks. I hope you all have a terrific Tuesday, and as always, thanks for reading!
