VGamingBargains – Nintendo Switch – February 2021 Sale

Okay folks, we’ve had another pay day but COVID still has a strange-hold on a lot of jobs and money still isn’t coming easy to a lot of people – cue another edition of VGamingBargains for Nintendo Switch!

Unfortunately it’s rather slim pickings on the Nintendo eShop right now – but we made a promise to offer you some top-end, low-cost gaming every month and, dammit, that’s what we’re gonna do! We’ve had to stretch the limit *just* over our usual £10.00 maximum to squeeze some Level 1 games in, but believe us – they’re worth the extra few pennies, we promise!

As always, the games are split into three levels, based around their price points:

Level 1 – games in Level 1 cost between £7.50 and £10.00 and tend to be the larger titles available in our price range – they’ll take most of your budget here but offer the most full-game experience for a small amount of money

Level 2 – costing between £3.50 and £7.49, games at level 2 give you a little more flexibility on how to spend your money but might be a little shorter or perhaps a little older than games in the top level

Level 3 – rounding out the list are our cheapest games, from those that are absolutely free up to a cost of £3.49. These games tend to be made by independent developers and are often a shorter experience, but make no mistake – while they might only be a few hours long, the games in Level 3 still offer a lot of enjoyment – even better, you can mix-and-match a few for your money

VGamingBargains is a monthly feature, published near the start of each month to highlight a few good deals available on the eShop soon after each pay day. Keep an eye out for future editions and we’ll do our best to put you onto a couple of great games that won’t break the bank!

 

Level	Title	Cost	On Sale Until
Level 1	Resident Evil	£10.39	11/02/21
	UnderHero	£9.17	28/02/21
Level 2	Deponia	£3.59	27/02/21
	Frost	£3.50	28/02/21
Level 3	Deponia Doomsday	£1.79	27/02/21
	Chaos on Deponia	£1.79	27/02/21
	Figment	£3.41	10/02/21
	Mana Spark	£0.89	07/02/21
	Ovivo	£2.13	14/02/21

 

Level 1

A doozy of a game headlines the list; the granddaddy of all survival horrors, Resident Evil is on sale at just over a tenner. This port of the GameCube remake has had a couple of modernisations strong-armed in, but remains a faithful replaying of the most atmospheric game in the franchise until Resident Evil 7: Biohazard stole the crown some 15 years later. You play as special forces members Jill Valentine or Chris Redfield, separated from your teammates and trapped in a literal house of horrors filled with zombies and other frightful monsters. Blast your way through the undead horde and uncover the mysteries of the Spencer Mansion where not everything is as it seems. With wonderfully grimy visuals paired with a great score, you’ll be kept on edge between some great surprises. The archaic controls might fluster some new players, but if you’re a fan of the series then I urge you to persevere – you HAVE to see where it all started.

Kicking off where most RPG’s finish – with the hero marching through the big baddies castle – UnderHero is a side-scrolling turn-based RPG where you play as one of the faceless minions instead of the shining hero! The story here is really out of the ordinary and you won’t be able to help but keep playing just to see what ridiculousness is coming next! Charged with returning the three magical doodads that opened the castle to their rightful hiding places, the late hero’s talking sword convinces you to break away from your evil master and become a hero. Travel through loud, colourful, and wonderfully detailed environments, set to a great soundtrack, and enjoy turn-based combat inspired by Paper Mario and witty writing reminiscent of Undertale. High praise indeed but entirely warranted.

Level 2

Frost is a deck building, single-player strategy card game where you act as the leader of a group of nomads eking out a living in a frozen wasteland. You’re tasked with managing your tribe’s resources, such as food, weapons, and materials, whilst outrunning a lethal ice storm known as the Frost, in the hopes of reaching the legendary Refuge – a haven from the storm. You’ll have to overcome the environment, enemies and your own fatigue, and combine your resources to upgrade your tribesmen in order to succeed, and you definitely have to weigh the odds of every action before committing to anything. With its minimalist graphics and eerie soundtrack, Frost is a fun single-player experience with a great pick-up-and-play style that’s certainly worth the price of a latte.

Here’s hoping that you took our advice from the last column when we told you to pick up Goodbye Deponia for the bargain price of £1.79, because the rest of the series is now on sale! Set on the junk planet of Deponia, you play as Rufus, a crotchety bottom-dweller attempting to secure a life for himself on the upper world of the super-rich, Elysium, and then the tales beyond. Beautifully drawn and hilarious point-and-click adventures, filled with quirky characters, wacky locations and some great voice-acting – it’s a series not to be missed.

We’ve got the first in the franchise, Deponia, in Level 2 for £3.59, and the second and fourth instalments, Chaos on Deponia and Deponia Doomsday for £1.79 each in Level 3. That means you’ll have the entire series (assuming you for the third part, Goodbye Deponia, as recommend in January) for £8.96 – not bad for some-30 hours of gameplay!

Level 3

Figment is an artistic adventure set inside the traumatised mind of the protagonist, Dusty, who along with his companion, Piper, must unpick the puzzles in his psyche in order to heal. Everything is painted with a surreal, dreamlike brush where nothing quite makes sense, and utterly weird locations and characters greet you at every turn. Cleverly designed, you’ll explore the rigid, clockwork structure of Dusty’s logical mind and the more fantastical elements of his creative thinking, uncovering more about yourself as you go. As you might expect with the games setting, there’s some thought-provoking, and perhaps dark, subject matter at times, but there’s enough playful visuals and puzzles to ensure it never gets too bleak.

Rounding out our recommendations we have another pixel art roguelike in Mana Spark. Procedurally generated levels mix up your experience and a well-rounded combat system asks you to battle through some interesting intelligent enemies who will collaborate to try and kill you, as you attempt to rescue your fellow villagers from a group of orcs. I mean, what else are you going to spend 89 pence on in 2021? And finally we have OVIVO, a physics platformer set in a beautiful monochrome world with a story is steeped in metaphor and ambiguity. Take control of OVO and manipulate gravity to navigate folklore-inspired murals set to a wonderful soundtrack – a feast for the eyes and ears, to be sure! And if you’re not sure it’s worth your money, you can always try the demo and see what you think too.

*Game requires Nintendo Switch Online membership to play online

The recommendations made in this article do not come from any paid promotion and are solely influenced by our enjoyment of the games highlighted and their perceived value for money

 Prices accurate at the time of publication