Aug 14, 2019
The publisher of Root Letter: Last Answer, Pqube, have announced on their Twitter page here that the game is releasing on PS4 and Switch in Europe on August 30th, 2019, while the North American PS4 and Switch versions are coming on September 3rd, 2019! The developers of the game, Kadokawa Games, have added new updates to this localization since their Japanese release of the game back in 2018. This includes: a new epilogue, improvements to gameplay, and a live-action mode. See below to learn about this upcoming visual-novel and to view the new gameplay trailer.
The Day-One Edition includes 100-page artbook About Root Letter: Last Answer
The return of the best-selling interactive mystery visual novel! Follow in the footsteps of Aya Fumino, a school penfriend allegedly involved in a tragic murder 15 years ago. Explore the prefecture of Shimane, uncover clues, and use the letters you wrote to each other to track down her childhood friends for questioning. But perhaps these friends, now adults living a peaceful life, will not be eager to let their painful memories resurface…
Key Features
- Solve a 15 year-old mystery – Many years have passed since the last correspondence with your pen friend Aya Fumino. While those memories have been long left behind, a confession of murder revealed in her last letter has resurfaced. It is now up to you to uncover the truth behind her disappearance.
- An interactive visual novel – Navigate your way around Aya’s hometown, search for clues in the environment, and confront her former friends that have now reached adulthood. Use the items and evidence at your disposal to make them confess!
- A story with different outcomes – Your replies to Aya’s letters will have lasting consequences, and impact your relationship. Choose your answers carefully and shape a story with up to five different endings.
- The complete experience – In addition to several gameplay improvements, Root Letter: Last Answer adds brand new epilogues that conclude Aya Fumino’s story and a live action mode.
New Live-Action Mode
The new live-action mode lets you experience the story in a whole new way! Meaning, 90 different real-life actors portray the characters from the original game. The backgrounds are even real-life screenshots of the city of Matsue in Japan. You can alternate between modes from the title screen at any time while playing to see Shimane Prefecture’s real locations.
If Root Letter sounds like the game for you, check out the Ace Attorney trilogy which also mixes a visual-novel narration with investigative gameplay. Furthermore, you can solve another murder mystery with this game here: Jenny LeClue: Detectivú – A Narrative Mystery About Detectiving and Choosiness.
- Aug 14, 2019
It’s medieval. It’s pretty. It has good music. It’s…gridless? Foundation is a city-building simulation game on PC. We’ve probably all played them, and they tend to be different variations of the same thing. But Foundation is a little different, right from the start. It operates on a grid-free system. And the monuments you place are not pre-designed…you make them yourself. So your town can look different from anyone else’s.
Innovative…
To allow them to create the game they wanted, Polymorph Games started by making their own game engine, which they call Hurricane. They also hired composers to give their game the beautiful soundtrack you can hear in the video below. It’s clear that Foundation is a labour of love, and that Polymorph Games is serious about seeing their vision come to life just as they envisioned it.
So, what does the game being grid-less mean for you, the player? It means that the way you shape your city, and the way it grows, will be organic, not snapped-to-grid. Foundation appears to be a much more natural, personal experience, compared to the standard city-building sims. We love that you can even get up close to the people of your town, and they all look like real little individuals whom you can watch going about their daily lives.
You can also take part in quests and events, which are often part of larger scenarios. Depending on how you manage your game, different scenarios, with different quests associated, can be triggered, giving your town a different story each time you play. (Unless you always play the same way!)
…Yet familiar
But Foundation isn’t so different that lovers of the city-building genre won’t have enough to love. The familiar exists here, too, with resource-managing and ensuring that your population grows while keeping the villagers happy and healthy.
Foundation has been in Early Access on Steam since February 2019, and is still receiving regular updates and improvements. At this point the game appears to have less than about half of the content they mean for it to have upon completion. We do not yet know when the full release will be, or if Foundation will become available on any other platforms after launch. The estimate for now is to have the game in early access for about a year, so if you aren’t the type to want to help shape a developing game or squish bugs, keep your eye on Foundation in early 2020! Foundation is currently available in English, French, Italian, German and Spanish. The game is also available on GOG.
If you like unusual takes on the city-building genre, then check out our coverage of Before We Leave, a city-building game that takes place across the universe.
- Aug 13, 2019
With still 23 days left to go on the campaign, Ayo has already reached his first goal!
Ayo The Clown is the cutest 2.5D side-scrolling platform game that we’ve ever seen, and we at myPotatoGames are absolutely dying to play it. For those of you that have not heard, Ayo is an absolutely adorable little clown on a huge quest to find his lost pupper, Bo. With his super squeaky hammer to pave the way, Ayo will experience many hectic moments and bop many baddies to reach his missing companion. It is tough to put into words just how cute the game is, especially once you see how the charming and bubbly graphics mesh so well with the whimsical characters and intricate levels.
The flowers seem so serene while they spectate some shenanigans. Ayo is almost there and needs our help as he pushes past his first goal, and looks to the future of some pretty cool unlocks down the line. Ayo has truly stepped up his game as he reaches out to his community to help expand the world in which he lives. Ayo has seen such a loving reception on Kickstarter, and has already completed his first goal after only a week. With so many great things in store for all those who support this wonderful project, one would not want to miss the opportunity to be a real part in this journey of “courage, love, friendship and the amazing things that happen when you never give up”.
Sometimes Balloon travel is the best way to go! For so much more information on the game, as well as the opportunity help Ayo become the best he can be, hop over to Kickstarter now! You can also follow CloudM1, the developers, on all social media platforms, as well as sign up for the newsletter on their official website.
Ayo The Clown Kickstarter Trailer!
- Aug 13, 2019
Video games are amazing and made out of so many components, sound, many lines of code and more often than not adorable graphics! There is something so soothing about looking at a game and enjoy the colorful pixels that all come together to create a visually pleasant experience.
This week we want to put the focus on YOU and your creative side! The potato family that makes myPotatoGames our favorite place for cute and wholesome games. Many of you enjoy creating art in any form possible. Clay work, painting, drawing or even a little napkin doodle, or a meme!
We invite you to send us your favorite piece of artwork you have created in admiration of your favorite video game. The piece of art can range from a doodle to a masterpiece or a simple meme you have made, the only thing we look for is originality, so make sure anything you send in is something you have created!
We will showcase every submission to the whole myPotatoGames community. We will then all pick the most unique and fun piece of artwork. The creator of the most upvoted piece will receive 300 Tater-Tots, a copy of the official Animal Crossing Sticker Book and be showcased on myPotatoGames.com and our social media platforms – Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!
How to submit my art?
You can tweet us your art @myPotatoGames and make sure to use the hashtag #ArtsyPotato so we can find your artwork!
You may also e-mail ( [email protected] ) us your artwork, or leave it in the comments on this Facebook post!
Make sure to leave a comment below to let us know you have entered the contest!
- Aug 13, 2019
For the ones who are not familiar with Doraemon Story of Seasons, it is a crossover game that combines the best out the beloved farming sim Story of Seasons and the more adventure driven Doraemon. The game was already released in Japan back in July and received overwhelmingly positive feedback from fans. Today Bandai Namco announced that Doraemon Story of Seasons will finally release in the west on Nintendo Switch and Steam for PC on October 11th!
Playing as a young boy named Nobita (who also features in Doraemon’s orginal manga and anime), the Story of Seasons aspect of the game sees players growing crops, raising animals, and improving their farm, which is located in a town called Shizen Town. The game also features the Harvest Goddess and other regular characters from the Story of Seasons Franchise, as well as Doraemon and his friends.
Check out the latest trailer for Doraemon Story of Seasons below! For more Story of Seasons related news, make sure you get caught up on Story of Seasons Reunion of Mineral Town – the remake of the much beloved Harvest Moon Friends of Mineral Town is finally coming to Nintendo Switch this fall!
- Aug 13, 2019
Liar Princess and the Blind Prince is a fairy-tale puzzle platformer that is like playing through the pages of an old, yellowing storybook. Developed by Nippon Ichi Software in Japan, it was localized by NIS America and released in February 2019. After playing the first two (of six) chapters, I’m here to give you my impression of playing this charming game on Nintendo Switch.
The Story
Liar Princess and the Blind Prince looks like a fairy-tale storybook, and reads like one, too. The basic premise is that a monstrous wolf sings in the forest every night, and a young prince of a nearby castle hears her, and listens, because he loves her voice. He applauds enthusiastically for her song every time, and the wolf is very grateful, though she knows she cannot go down and meet him, because she is a monster.
One night the little prince decides he must see the owner of this mysterious voice, and he braves the dangerous, monster-ridden forest to meet her. But when he finally crests the rise the wolf always settles on for her singing, the wolf reaches out to cover his eyes, because if he sees her, he’ll know! He’ll see that she’s a monster, and her happy little audience will disappear, and she doesn’t want him to go. She loves that he listens to her every night. But she IS a wolf, and her claws are long and sharp, and in trying to cover his eyes, she blinds him.
With the little prince now blind and alone, rejected by his family as useless, our story truly begins. The wolf is so remorseful that she seeks out the witch of the forest to gain a human form for herself. With that, she will be able to take the prince by the hand and lead him through a forest fraught with danger, to bring him to the witch so that she can restore his vision.
The Art
The style of Liar Princess and the Blind Prince is a beautiful variety of adorable. With dark sepia-tones over everything, it gives the feel of the deeply yellowed pages of an old book. The dramatic black outlines, thick and inky, add atmosphere, giving a feeling of darkness and danger to an otherwise pretty world. There’s a simplicity to the style, like a children’s book, even though the scenes, when brought together, are intricate. The animation is smooth but also simple. There’s no high-speed action to try to keep track of in Liar Princess, and that feels in keeping with the story and setting.
The Puzzling Platforms
The gameplay relies on you having two forms…both wolf and princess. If you jump too high, you’ll both plop to the ground when you land, being only small children without the athletic ability to handle such a thing smoothly. A short fall won’t hurt you, but you’ll take a moment to gather yourselves and get back up, so don’t fall when there is an enemy nearby!
In wolf form, you’re actually very tough and strong and can jump much higher, as well as fight the enemies that stand in your way. The prince himself is another crucial game-play element, because you can’t hold the prince’s hand to guide him with a paw full of claws, so you will need to constantly be swapping between princess and wolf forms to best tackle what lay before you.
The prince won’t move without you. He can’t see. He doesn’t know what’s around him, except danger. It’s no wonder that every time you take his hand, his look of worry disappears to be replaced with a sweet, reassured smile. If you let go of his hand, he’ll stay exactly where you left him (so please don’t leave him anywhere with monsters…they’ll gobble him right up!) He can’t see you, so you can transform back to a wolf at any time and do what you need to, to clear his path, and then the two of you can proceed onward again.
Protect this adorable pair! High investment
The game really makes you regret your mistakes. If you don’t jump far enough to catch the next platform solidly, the prince you’re pulling along behind you will fall helplessly to his death. The princess will drop to her knees in shocked realization at what she’s done, and she covers her eyes and weeps as the End Game screen pops up and starts the reloading process, to force you to start the level over again. You have to protect that precious little dumpling at all costs. Everything you’re doing is for him, after all!
In some games you might press Y once to take his hand, then press it again to release it, but in Liar Princess you must hold Y continually to keep hold of the prince’s hand. It’s a good choice of mechanic, in my opinion, as it really lets you feel how much attention you need to pay to your teeny buddy, to guide and keep him safe. It also means you sometimes have to act fast, such as if you’re walking toward a bouncy mushroom in an area with respawning monsters. You’ll have to release the prince’s hand, transform into the wolf to quickly dispatch the monsters, transform back to a princess so you can grab the prince’s hand again, and jump onto that mushroom to propel you to the ledge before the next monster can get to you.
So, is it worth playing?
Here’s a confession. I am terrible at platformers. I have no sense of timing, and, like my entire family (so there’s no hope I can escape it!) my reflexes are slow. So even though I’ve heard from others that the game’s platforming is simple or easy, for me, Liar Princess and the Blind Prince has actually been quite difficult. In fact, I’m stuck right now with my wee prince up on a ledge, and I can’t figure out how to get him back down, or how to go forward, and I’m only at the end of Chapter 2!
Normally this would frustrate me until I gave up, since if a game is more frustrating than fun, I want no part of it. Instead, after dying twenty times in a row, I’m going to look it up online, to figure out what I’m doing wrong, so I can go back and continue the story. I need to see these two brave little munchkins to the end! Even if one of the munchkins is actually an enormous wolf with claws like swords.
The game makes these two impossible to resist. It isn’t just the basic story. As you go along, you’ll get little interludes between the two. As an early example: the wolf can’t deal with fire, and the prince doesn’t like the wolf’s beloved raw meat, but does love flowers. So the prince will carry lanterns for the wolf, and the wolf will go out of her way to get flowers to give to the prince.
They are, quite simply, the cutest and most endearing pair of adventurers I’ve ever seen in a puzzle-platformer game. I cannot leave them alone. I will struggle mightily against my many defects as a gamer, and complete this game no matter what it takes!
Where to buy
The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince is available digitally on Nintendo Switch and Playstation 4, as well as in physical form at most game retailers. If you’re interested in this game, why not also check out The Way Remastered, another emotionally-charged platformer? Or try Another Sight, a story about a girl losing her sight when the tunnel she was exploring with her kitty companion collapses.
- Aug 12, 2019
In a recent Tweet from developers we learned that Knights and Bikes will release on August 27th!
For those that missed it, Knights and Bikes is a quirky action/adventure title that takes place in the late 80’s, a time period that never seems to get less popular. It is a single player or co-op game that takes place on a British island and features the most whimsical ways to dispatch your enemies. This title was developed by Foam Sword, a small studio comprised of some of the same amazing talent that helped create Little Big Planet. They have described their game as being inspired by the hit classic Goonies, and is a totally hand-painted adventure title that we are super excited about.
The Knights and Bikes release has finally been revealed to be August 27th, 2019, and will be available for PS4 as well as on Steam for PC/Mac/Linux. You can find all the information you need about Knights and Bikes by checking out their official website.
Knights and Bikes is being published by Double Fine, a company acquired by Microsoft which was part of a recent announcement of the possibility of Microsoft allowing them to continue to publish games for competing consoles. This means great things for Foam Sword, that is if they have the intention of staying with Double Fine for future titles.
- Aug 12, 2019
Littlewood is an adorable pixel simulation game is created by solo indie developer Sean Young. Customize everything from your avatar, to the town, to inside the homes! We previously had a chance to sit down with Sean Young and ask him some questions. If you’re interested in that interview, you can check it out right here. We’d also like to thank him for providing us with a Steam code to beta test his game before his Early Access launch June 18th, 2019! See below for our review and gameplay footage!
You’re Already a Savior!
When you first meet the only two characters in your village, they already know who you are. They call you the Hero of Solemn that saved them all from the Dark Wizard. However, you do not remember who you are so we assume that the Dark Wizard has wiped your memory. I find this to be quite a nice and refreshing change to the farming simulation genre to have such an interesting story to uncover other than the typical one of you moving in and restoring the farmland to its forming glory. It also sparks some great conversations with the villagers.
Dalton talking about the Dark Wizard Building & Maintaining Your Town
Every once in a while when you speak to your friends, they’ll tell you that the next day they will have something for you. These great ideas are blueprints for buildings or decorative items to help make the town a better and visually-pleasing place. Travelers will start to appear and ask if they can move into the town but you must first build them a home to interact with them more. This reminds me of Staxel although there’s no need to physically build the homes piece by piece but rather you must gather materials. You can decorate your home of course, as well as the homes of the villagers! Some villagers need to be found by exploring different areas and pushing the story along.
My house As for the other buildings, every one of them adds to the things you can do in your town. For example, build a Tavern and you can cook with your crops and make dishes for the villagers. This will reward you some money (dewdrops) if they buy the dishes. Most importantly, you need to build a Marketplace to sell your foraged items, fish, or bugs. You can even sell those nasty weeds that will occassionally pop up all around town! Every time you build something or “clean up”, you can go to your Office, once built, and get the town appraised. You can even do your mayoral duties by adding some decrees/town wishes ‘a la Animal Crossing: New Leaf’.
Tavern and cooking Events, Activities, Quests
The Town Square (which includes a glorious statue of the Hero) is where you’ll go to take part in events and some mini-games on specific days that you can view in the calendar. There’s a fun little chicken-catching game you can play in the Spring but other activities are still a work-in-progress. Next time I will be better at winning some items now that I’ve remembered you can and should run. Adding a Quest Board to your town gives you even more tasks to complete by fulfilling the wants/needs of your villagers and getting extra rewards. Another way to please your villagers, make a desk for their home and read their requests for their living arrangements.
Chicken Madness event Every single action you take, including chatting to the villagers, will take up some “stamina”. At first I thought my day was just progressing on its own, but as it turns out, it will become nighttime when you reach your max amount of energy. This is a new way of doing things that I find a lot more relaxing because you aren’t as pressed for time. You can take your time building and walking around without worrying that the clock is ticking. You can do quite a bit in a day and also not have to worry about needing certain things in specific seasons to progress the game.
Nighttime Getting to Know Your Villagers
At the start of every new day, you can check out your mailbox for rewards from the villagers based on your level gains with them and through leveling up via tasks such as mining, fishing, woodcutting, etc. Aside from those pretty handy rewards, I’m not sure what other advantages there are to gaining more experience but it may be too soon for that.
Mailbox rewards You can talk to the villagers every day and sometimes even compliment them or “Hang Out”. By hanging out with them, they will follow you everywhere and occasionally award you with extra items that you are currently working on gathering. The developer has confirmed that there will be a romancing option with all of the villagers so I can’t wait to start courting! I’m personally thinking Ash, the hard-working miner, is the one for me.
Hanging-out with Ash There are so many interesting characters and I’m looking forward to having more conversations with them once they are more fleshed out. Without giving away too much, there’s a witch with magical powers and a half-orc character. Therefore, there are supernatural elements to this game. Look forward to upgrading your Air Balloon Platform so you can access new places and meet new people!
Meeting Zana the half-orc Once you’ve unlocked the ability to travel to other areas via the Air Balloon Platform, you can immediately access a forest and a mine once a day which is filled with trees and rocks respectively. This saves you from having to keep a ton of trees in your village unless it’s for fruit. My favorite part, when you use your tools you can use them automatically! Meaning, no more scrolling through all your tools and having to equip the right one. For example, if you have an axe, just walk right up to the tree and go for it.
Air Balloon Platform Traveling to Different Areas
Every time you collect the ‘fruits of your labor’, you can always use those items to grow more of the same thing (if you have the required amount). Have a bunch of apples? Grow another apple tree. Have tons of the same crop such as carrots? Use them to plant another batch in your garden plots. Gardening is quick and easy and so far there’s no need to water your plants! Just harvest your goods whenever they are ready and keep repeating the process as the “seeds” will always remain there.
Planting carrots Gardening, Farming, and Changing the Terrain
I accessed a new town area, Port City Deluca, where there were merchants that sell different goods every week. There, I was able to purchase a sheep and a chicken. I’m sure I can fence them in at some point but it’s pretty cute to see them wonder my entire town. You can talk to them and occasionally grab their bi-products such as wool from the sheep. However, I’ve noticed that it doesn’t sell for very much so I’m hoping that will change.
My first sheep Your overall town is pretty easy to navigate and with the overview angle, you will never get lost. I find it absolutely amazing that you can actually go into “Build Mode” and affect the terrain just like Zoo Tycoon! Elevate and lower the ground to your heart’s content, and create slopes and even fishing ponds/lakes wherever you please. This took me a while to get right and align my paths properly but you can always destroy everything and get your materials back for a redo. You need Dirt for your paths, Tilled Soil for your crops, and so on.
Creating ponds and fishing I had a pleasant experience playing this game and want to keep meeting these strange and adorable characters and listen to their stories. All while learning about my own for that matter. You’ll also want to discover these amazing and magical areas and new buildings for yourself! Stay tuned with myPotatoGames for the release date of the Switch version of this game!
