The Wild At Heart

• Release Date: November 16, 2021
• Developer: Moonlight Kids
• Publisher: Humble Games
• Price: $24.99 USD (digital); $29.99 (physical)

The Wild At Heart has you play as two runaway children, who amass a gaggle of adorably strange Spritelings to help them break things, find some loot, fight enemies, and help them find new paths to make their way through the Deep Woods! 😱 The Deep Woods contain a variety of environments for you to explore, where you can solve puzzles and gather ingredients for crafting.

You’ll battle aggressive wildlife and face supernatural threats as you make your way through the Deep Woods. Huddle with your Spritelings at campfires at night; the woods pose a danger at all times, but especially so at night. The residents of the Deep Woods have a saying: “The dark is bad.” Light up the woods (metaphorically, of course) and your life with some wholesome gameplay when The Wild At Heart releases tomorrow!

Root

• Release Date: November 16, 2021
• Developer/Publisher: Dire Wolf Digital
• Price: $19.99

Root is a digitized version of a board game featuring woodland warfare. Two to four players will try to compete for control of the woodlands, where the meowlevolent malevolent Marquise de Cat has been ruling with an iron paw fist.

Gameplay appears to be card-based, with resource management included. The company behind the digital adaptation of the Root board game, Dire Wolf Digital, has prior experience with digitizing this kind of game, and was involved with Pokémon TCG Online. Will you allow this game to “take root” (😉) on your Nintendo Switch?

MARSUPILAMI – HOOBADVENTURE

• Release Date: November 16, 2021
• Developer: Ocellus Studio
• Publisher: Microids
• Price: $29.99 for both physical and digital

MARSUPILAMI – HOOBADVENTURE: a lengthy name for a cute looking game. Much like Joojee’s Journey from last week’s post on upcoming games, MARSUPILAMI is based on a character from another country’s pop culture. Marsupilami first debuted in a 1952 issue of a Franco-Belgian comics magazine entitled Spirou (Wikipedia). The character – and fictional species – was created by André Franquin. In 1995, a Marsupilami game was released for the Sega Genesis. I’ve never heard of it myself, but the series has remained relevant for nearly 70 years.

Random trivia for anyone interested: The name “marsupilami” is said to be a combination of the word marsupial (obviously), the French name for “Eugene the Jeep,” Pilou-Pilou, and the French word for friend, “ami.” The Jeep bit seems a bit odd, but the rest makes sense.

Anyway, now that we have the background explained, MARSUPILAMI – HOOBADVENTURE is a “2.5D” platformer where you travel through the jungle, a coastal city, an abandoned temple, and more by swinging around like real marsupials do. The game may seem like it’s for kids, but there are Time Attack modes available to really challenge yourself! There are also collectibles to unlock art in the art gallery!

The Kids We Were

• Release Date: December 2, 2021
• Developer/Publisher: GAGEX
• Price: $15.99 (On sale for $12.79 until it releases on December 2nd)

The Kids We Were focuses on a boy named Minato, who is searching for his father in a time traveling adventure in the late Showa era of Japan (the 1980s). The eShop listing describes the game as a narrative-centered cinematic adventure game. Time travel is one of my favorite kinds of plot lines, and I also enjoy games set in Japan (I’ve been there twice and always feel nostalgic exploring the country in video games). I think the art is kind of cute in its own way as well. I’d be interested to see how the plot of The Kids We Were unfolds. The Switch version contains a bonus episode set after the main scenario, as well as additional collectibles in game.

Reminder: Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Pokémon Shining Pearl Releasing In A Few Days!!!

For the forgetful among us, don’t forget that the new Pokémon games are coming out in a matter of days! I’m super excited for this! I know the art style is a somewhat polarizing subject, but I personally like the chibis!

If you haven’t preordered the game(s) yet, make sure to do so! And the official website states that there will be an update available to download on release day, so keep an eye out for that!