Tim B

Should we be too bothered about the “focussed on 2019” part? I know Luigi’s Mansion 3 and Animal Crossing were announced in last year’s equivalent Direct, so I guess not...

As I predicted, Astral Chain has gone in at No.1. It’s the sixth Nintendo Switch game to reach the top this year! GAME in Telford had sold out of it by Saturday afternoon, so perhaps there are stock shortages. Zelda should be next, Luigi’s Mansion 3 might also make it and Pokémon Sword (the two versions will be counted separated for chart purposes) must have a chance as well. And Mario & Sonic, depending on exactly when it’s out.

The sequel is definitely coming at some point. Ubisoft were running focus groups about the first game in February, if I remember correctly. I’m surprised it’s taking so long though.

Thank god there is more training later on after the initial set. I struggled with the last couple of battles and felt out of my depth in the last one particularly.

Casual or Normal(?) please?

WOW! This game is so incredibly stylish. It looks totally unlike anything else on Switch and feels more like a PS4 release in its presentation. It really is like being in a movie, the cut scenes, overall impression and music are just so good. I was a little worried at how daunting the combat looked in videos I had seen, but there is a tutorial at the start. I've only played for a couple of hours but I already had difficulty defeating the first big boss. There are only slight similarities to Bayonetta from what I can tell. I've enjoyed the exploration/detective parts just as much as the action thus far. I cranked the difficulty up to the harder setting when I was given the option, which seemed like the right thing to do. This game is going to do very well commercially.

It’s arrived! I’ll try and write some impressions later.

Surprise!!!

Astral Chain is still selling more than Control on Amazon UK, even though Control was released today. Could be a very close chart race! Is Amazon the biggest games retailer in the UK? I would imagine it is.

I snuck off to play this yesterday at Insomnia when I should have been working. It’s really really great! The controls took some getting used to, including switching between Luigi and Gooigi. The game is actually packed full of secrets. The Nintendo rep had to point out loads of secret areas to me when I was playing, and I probably wouldn’t have discovered them otherwise.

I’m working very very *very* near the Control demo at Insomnia 65 and there doesn’t seem to be much interest in it, FYI. Played it this morning before work and it’s pretty good though.

This is almost selling as much as Super Mario Maker 2 on Amazon UK now. Could well be No. 1 in the UK next week.

I’m working at Insomnia 65 this weekend (unfortunately not for Nintendo, but the other huge gaming brand with a presence there). As I was walking into the hall for work this morning, all I could hear was the Fire Emblem: Three Houses music blasting out of the Nintendo main stage. Not because they were playing that particular game, but Tetris 99 in the Fire Emblem promotional mode. Was a pretty awesome start to the day, I have to say

That’s the thing with this demo. I’m dying to play it, but if I do so now, I know I’ll get to ten hours fairly quickly and then have to wait a whole month to dive back in. There might be some free gaming time in between Astral Chain and Link’s Awakening, or in between Link’s Awakening and the actual release of Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Definitive Edition *shrug*.

And I oop - it scored 9/10/9/9 from Famitsu. The same as Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Super Mario Maker 2 very recently.

*tumbleweed* Are many people still interested in this game? It seems to me like it could just be a filler release between everything else, score average reviews and sell relatively poorly. Is this Nintendo’s Starlink of 2019?

This is my most anticipated game of the year. I absolutely adored the second game on 3DS. It was full of charm and was very funny.

They said at the Gamescom presentation that the demo is up to 10 hours long!

Interesting. I read differently elsewhere, so thanks for checking. I still think I will go for a physical version as it’s only a 15 hour game, 20 max.

I know it's only out in just over a week, but did Nintendo not want to make this game playable at Gamescom and Insomnia 65? Seems a curious omission.

The Golden Deer House? Completed it mate. Took around 45 hours, which seems about the same amount of time as it took others. Though this is way shy of the 60-70 hours that some of the reviews seemed to suggest it might. Hmm. Normal mode is too easy, and this is coming from a former Fire Emblem virgin. I did play through Mario + Rabbids this time last year, which may have honed my strategy skills somewhat, but I do think that the amount of items and things you can do in the monastery makes you generally overpowered for a lot of the game. Only a handful of the mission battles gave me any trouble whatsoever. I also got a little bit fatigued by the end of my play through. The exploring in particular became a bit of a chore, so I'm in no rush to try one of the other two Houses. I admire the stamina of anyone who jumps straight in for another go! CEX are offering £32 for a trade-in right now, so I'll probably sell it to them tomorrow and just start looking forward to Astral Chain. I'm not ruling out picking it up again in a couple of years and playing through another route on Hard difficulty, and/or if the paid DLC turns out to be unmissable. A fine gaming experience overall. Would strongly recommend anyone picking it up later to play through the game on Hard. I really wish this series hadn't passed me by now. Oh well, better late than never etc.

I just realised that this is going to be a lot of people's first ever Zelda game. The art style will appeal to kids and families especially. As a game it's a hell of a lot more accessible than Breath of the Wild, for example. Can you imagine not having played a Zelda game before? I'm kind of jealous of such people!

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening won best Switch game at Gamescon. Is a remake of a 26-year-old game really better overall than brand new games like Luigi’s Mansion 3 and Pokémon Sword and Shield? Seems somebody thinks so. If I remember correctly, it also won IGN’s Switch game of E3 this year.

Are there any indications yet on how many hours this might take to complete? Honestly it’s getting slightly stressful trying to beat everything before the next major release comes out.

So where is everybody up to? I’m on Chapter 10 of The Golden Deer, at just over 25 hours. Someone I follow on Twitter claims to have completed two of the Houses already (and said he had finished the first after three days). Someone else said they finished The Black Eagles (I think) in 36 hours. This is the first game in a long time that’s made me think I’m *really* playing something special, so that’s nice.