WWE 2K18 Switch.jpg

It's one of the busiest weeks yet on the Switch eShop, which is saying something. We have two retail titles followed by a huge number of interesting download-only games. The 3DS and Wii U don't miss out entirely either, so there's a lot to choose from - let's get to it.

Switch Retail Downloads

WWE 2K18 (2K Games, $59.99USD) - This is promised as a fully-featured version of the game, including the full MyCAREER mode and character customisations, along with the season pass and all those extras. The idea of having that on the go is exciting, but we'll pin it down for a full review soon.

Party Planet (Mastiff LLC, $39.99USD) - The big offering here is 30 minigames for multiplayer shenanigans, including the likes of Fruit Invaders, Viking Defence and Super Vegan Anaconda - the latter of which wins the award for best-named mini-game of all time. Available from 12th December.

Switch eShop

The Sexy Brutale (Tequila Works, $19.99USD) - This critically acclaimed puzzle adventure has the twist that you play the same 12 hours over and over again, each time trying to solve and prevent murders in order to get closer to solving the mystery. It's certainly an eye-catching game and premise - we'll let you know what we think in a review.

The End is Nigh (Nicalis, $14.99USD) - A game by Edmund McMillen, this follows protagonist Ash and his attempt to navigate a post-apocalyptic world packed with hazards and enemies. A mature hardcore platformer that boasts of "600+" levels and lots to collect, this is sure to be on plenty of wishlists. Available from 12th December.

Dimension Drive (2Awesome Studio, $12.99USD) - A shoot 'em up with the twist that you have to switch between two sides of the screen. You have limited energy on each side, meaning that you need to alternate back and forth while trying to deal with the various things trying to kill you. It has four difficulty settings and 13 stages (with another 13 to play 'mirrored') along with support for local co-op. Developed by two engineers that once worked at the European Space Agency, we spoke to the studio's David Jimenez a little while ago.

Floor Kids (Merj Media, $19.90USD) - Since its big push in a Nindies Showcase broadcast as a Switch console exclusive, this 'breakdance battle game' has had us intrigued. With a distinctive visual style and fresh music from Kid Koala it's hard to miss, and we'll find out whether the end result lives up to the evident potential.

Teslagrad (Rain Games, $14.99USD) - An action platformer with a nice dose of puzzles thrown in, this makes you engage the brain as you utilise various abilities that riff on magnetism and electricity. It's stylish and quite challenging, and we enjoyed it a lot in our Teslagrad review.

Vostok Inc (Wired Productions, $14.99USD) - This offers a quirky mix of colourful twin-stick shooting and a simulation approach where you try to rapidly expand your businesses on multiple planets to make a lot of money. It looks like it goes heavy on satire, but the mix of sim elements, minigames and shoot 'em up action with customisable weapons could be a lot of fun.

Plague Road (Arcade Distillery, $10.00USD) - A game of strategic turn-based combat with rogue-like progression. Set in a world engulfed in disease, as a doctor you seek survivors to help but also recruit them to build up your farm or accompany you on your travels and assist you in combat. There are four regions, five 'types' of survivors and plenty of challenges to face as you head for the end goal. We'll look for a cure and bring you a review.

Human: Fall Flat (Curve Digital, $14.99USD) - A puzzle adventure game that puts physics and related shenanigans at the heart of gameplay, making it all about manipulating the environment for 'hilarious results'. Local co-op will also be a feature, and we'll check it out for a review.

Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds Overdrive (MAGES, $9.99USD) - This side-scrolling brawler has four playable characters and showcases moves like burst gauges, dodges and guard breaks. You'll be able to level-up your character as you progress through the game's 8 levels, spending skill points to gain new moves and increase your power. 4 player online and local multiplayer is also promised, as are online leaderboards.

Embers of Mirrim (Creative Bytes, $19.99USD) - This adventure platformer involves a mythical creature "with the ability to split into light and dark embers", and you control each of those with the two analogue sticks. Here's hoping the execution delivers on what could be an enjoyable concept.

Gunbird (Zerodiv, $7.99USD) - A shmup classic originally released in 1994, Gunbird was later ported to the Saturn and PlayStation and was followed by a 1998 sequel which saw release on the Dreamcast. More recently, the two titles were bundled together in a PlayStation 2 collection. It's certainly a treat to see this one land on the Switch at a reasonable price.

ACORN Tactics (TACS Games, $11.99USD) - A turn-based strategy title, this sees mechs go to battle with alien blobs over a 25 level campaign, seemingly also offering some nice customisation and depth. We'll dive in for a review.

Tennis in the Face (10tons, $4.99USD) - This is a physics-based game in the style of Angry Birds and many others, albeit with some charming tennis spins and presentation. Our review will be with you on 8th December.

Riptide GP: Renegade (Vector Unit, $9.99USD) - We recently had a retail-priced water racing title on Switch, and now this entry arrives as a budget-priced contender. It promises a 'deep career mode' along with local split-screen and online races; we'll see whether it successfully rides the waves in a review.

Slain: Back From Hell (Digerati, $19.99USD) - A game that was a Kickstarter success and once pegged for Wii U, it brings hugely stylish retro visuals (albeit 'new retro' due to the complexity of animation) and the promise of old-school challenge. Unfortunately we felt level design let this one down badly in our Slain: Back From Hell review.

Plantera Deluxe (Ratalaika Games, $4.99USD) - A rather cute and relaxing game in which you tend to a garden and some animals; it's rather simplistic but can be a pleasurable game with the right mindset. We gave a modest recommendation to the Wii U version.

Touch Battle Tank SP (SilverStar, $4.99USD) - We've seen plenty of tank games over the years on Nintendo's download stores, and now we have one for the Switch. This offers a few different tank types and a whole lot of missions to take on, though surprisingly it appears to be single player-only.

Yōdanji (KEMCO, $4.99USD) - This cutesy rogue-like dungeon crawler tasks you with capturing and summoning various Yokai, then using those characters in your runs. It opts for a chunky sprite look and features turn-based battles; we'll check it out for a review.

Red Game Without a Great Name (iFun4all, $2.99USD) - Another title from the developer that promises a significant challenge and plenty of deaths as you try to guide and teleport a bird through some tough stages. We weren't particularly impressed with this in our review.

Top Hunter: Roddy & Cathy (HAMSTER, $7.99USD) - A 'grab 'em up' in which you hop between two planes, you take control of the titular bounty hunters to take on the evil space pirates. Pick one of the four available biomes (the perfect excuse to have varied elemental themed levels) and off you go punching, grabbing, smashing your way to the end level bosses, who just happen to be wanted criminals on your bounty list.

Switch eShop Demos

Lost Sphear (Square Enix, free)

Robonauts (QubicGames, free)

3DS eShop

80's Overdrive (Insane Code, $9.99USD) - An OutRun-style racer with music by Vectorwolf, this certainly gives us a nostalgic feeling. There's a Career mode in which you can earn car upgrades, Time Attack, and even a built-in track generator for making your own courses that you can then share. We'll hit the accelerator and bring you a review soon.

Squareboy vs Bullies: Arena Edition (Ratalaika Games, $4.99USD) - A beat ‘em up that was once on mobile, you can brawl alone or with a friend to beat up wannabe tormentors. A reasonable game, albeit one perhaps lacking a little overall, we gave it a modest recommendation in our review of the Switch version.

Japanese Rail Sim 3D Travel of Steam (Sonic Powered Co., $19.99USD) - The return of the niche but relatively popular series in which you drive a train along simulated routes in Japan. This starts are "Shinkanaya Station" and ends at "Senzu Station" on the Oigawa railway.

New Nintendo 3DS eShop

Christmas Night Archery (Petite Games, $1.99USD) - It looks pretty much the same as other archery games from the publisher on the 3DS, albeit this time there's a Christmas theme.

3DS HOME Theme

Pokémon: Winter Hide-and-Seek

Wii U eShop

RTO (nuGAME, $9.99USD) - Previously on New 3DS, this is a gallery shooter in which you control multiple characters to shoot a whole lot of scary aliens, though the developer describes it as an "FPS survival horror game with permadeath".

As always Nintendo of America wants you to browse the eShop and check out the official sales and deals website for discount details; remember that the Cyber Deals end on 12th December.

That's a lot of options for this week - let us know what you'll be downloading in the poll and comments below.

What will you be downloading this week?

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