Fedora 33 switches the default DNS resolver to systemd-resolved. In simple terms, this means that systemd-resolved will run as a daemon. All programs wanting to translate domain names to network addresses will talk to it. This replaces the current default lookup mechanism where each program individually talks to remote servers and there is no shared cache.

If necessary, systemd-resolved will contact remote DNS servers. systemd-resolved is a “stub resolver”—it doesn’t resolve all names itself (by starting at the root of the DNS hierarchy and going down label by label), but forwards the queries to a remote server.

A single daemon handling name lookups provides significant benefits. The daemon caches answers, which speeds answers for frequently used names. The daemon remembers which servers are non-responsive, while previously each program would have to figure this out on its own after a timeout. Individual programs only talk to the daemon over a local transport and are more isolated from the network. The daemon supports fancy rules which specify which name servers should be used for which domain names—in fact, the rest of this article is about those rules.

Split DNS

Consider the scenario of a machine that is connected to two semi-trusted networks (wifi and ethernet), and also has a VPN connection to your employer. Each of those three connections has its own network interface in the kernel. And there are multiple name servers: one from a DHCP lease from the wifi hotspot, two specified by the VPN and controlled by your employer, plus some additional manually-configured name servers. Routing is the process of deciding which servers to ask for a given domain name. Do not mistake this with the process of deciding where to send network packets, which is called routing too.

The network interface is king in systemd-resolved. systemd-resolved first picks one or more interfaces which are appropriate for a given name, and then queries one of the name servers attached to that interface. This is known as “split DNS”.

There are two flavors of domains attached to a network interface: routing domains and search domains. They both specify that the given domain and any subdomains are appropriate for that interface. Search domains have the additional function that single-label names are suffixed with that search domain before being resolved. For example, a lookup for “server” is treated as a lookup for “server.example.com” if the search domain is “example.com.” In systemd-resolved config files, routing domains are prefixed with the tilde (~) character.

Specific example

Now consider a specific example: your VPN interface tun0 has a search domain private.company.com and a routing domain ~company.com. If you ask for mail.private.company.com, it is matched by both domains, so this name would be routed to tun0.

A request for www.company.com is matched by the second domain and would also go to tun0. If you ask for www, (in other words, if you specify a single-label name without any dots), the difference between routing and search domains comes into play. systemd-resolved attempts to combine the single-label name with the search domain and tries to resolve www.private.company.com on tun0.

If you have multiple interfaces with search domains, single-label names are suffixed with all search domains and resolved in parallel. For multi-label names, no suffixing is done; search and routing domains are are used to route the name to the appropriate interface. The longest match wins. When there are multiple matches of the same length on different interfaces, they are resolved in parallel.

A special case is when an interface has a routing domain ~. (a tilde for a routing domain and a dot for the root DNS label). Such an interface always matches any names, but with the shortest possible length. Any interface with a matching search or routing domain has higher priority, but the interface with ~. is used for all other names. Finally, if no routing or search domains matched, the name is routed to all interfaces that have at least one name server attached.

Lookup routing in systemd-resolved

Domain routing

This seems fairly complex, partially because of the historic names which are confusing. In actual practice it’s not as complicated as it seems.

To introspect a running system, use the resolvectl domain command. For example:

$ resolvectl domain
Global:
Link 4 (wlp4s0): ~.
Link 18 (hub0): 
Link 26 (tun0): redhat.com

You can see that www would resolve as www.redhat.com. over tun0. Anything ending with redhat.com resolves over tun0. Everything else would resolve over wlp4s0 (the wireless interface). In particular, a multi-label name like www.foobar would resolve over wlp4s0, and most likely fail because there is no foobar top-level domain (yet).

Server routing

Now that you know which interface or interfaces should be queried, the server or servers to query are easy to determine. Each interface has one or more name servers configured. systemd-resolved will send queries to the first of those. If the server is offline and the request times out or if the server sends a syntactically-invalid answer (which shouldn’t happen with “normal” queries, but often becomes an issue when DNSSEC is enabled), systemd-resolved switches to the next server on the list. It will use that second server as long as it keeps responding. All servers are used in a round-robin rotation.

To introspect a running system, use the resolvectl dns command:

$ resolvectl dns
Global:
Link 4 (wlp4s0): 192.168.1.1 8.8.4.4 8.8.8.8
Link 18 (hub0):
Link 26 (tun0): 10.45.248.15 10.38.5.26

When combined with the previous listing, you know that for www.redhat.com, systemd-resolved will query 10.45.248.15, and—if it doesn’t respond—10.38.5.26. For www.google.com, systemd-resolved will query 192.168.1.1 or the two Google servers 8.8.4.4 and 8.8.8.8.

Differences from nss-dns

Before going further detail, you may ask how this differs from the previous default implementation (nss-dns). With nss-dns there is just one global list of up to three name servers and a global list of search domains (specified as nameserver and search in /etc/resolv.conf).

Each name to query is sent to the first name server. If it doesn’t respond, the same query is sent to the second name server, and so on. systemd-resolved implements split-DNS and remembers which servers are currently considered active.

For single-label names, the query is performed with each of the the search domains suffixed. This is the same with systemd-resolved. For multi-label names, a query for the unsuffixed name is performed first, and if that fails, a query for the name suffixed by each of the search domains in turn is performed. systemd-resolved doesn’t do that last step; it only suffixes single-label names.

A second difference is that with nss-dns, this module is loaded into each process. The process itself communicates with remote servers and implements the full DNS stack internally. With systemd-resolved, the nss-resolve module is loaded into the process, but it only forwards the query to systemd-resolved over a local transport (D-Bus) and doesn’t do any work itself. The systemd-resolved process is heavily sandboxed using systemd service features.

The third difference is that with systemd-resolved all state is dynamic and can be queried and updated using D-Bus calls. This allows very strong integration with other daemons or graphical interfaces.

Configuring systemd-resolved

So far, this article talked about servers and the routing of domains without explaining how to configure them. systemd-resolved has a configuration file (/etc/systemd/resolv.conf) where you specify name servers with DNS= and routing or search domains with Domains= (routing domains with ~, search domains without). This corresponds to the Global: lists in the two listings above.

In this article’s examples, both lists are empty. Most of the time configuration is attached to specific interfaces, and “global” configuration is not very useful. Interfaces come and go and it isn’t terribly smart to contact servers on an interface which is down. As soon as you create a VPN connection, you want to use the servers configured for that connection to resolve names, and as soon as the connection goes down, you want to stop.

How does then systemd-resolved acquire the configuration for each interface? This happens dynamically, with the network management service pushing this configuration over D-Bus into systemd-resolved. The default in Fedora is NetworkManager and it has very good integration with systemd-resolved. Alternatives like systemd’s own systemd-networkd implement similar functionality. But the interface is open and other programs can do the appropriate D-Bus calls.

Alternatively, resolvectl can be used for this (it is just a wrapper around the D-Bus API). Finally, resolvconf provides similar functionality in a form compatible with a tool in Debian with the same name.

Scenario: Local connection more trusted than VPN

The important thing is that in the common scenario, systemd-resolved follows the configuration specified by other tools, in particular NetworkManager. So to understand how systemd-resolved names, you need to see what NetworkManager tells it to do. Normally NM will tell systemd-resolved to use the name servers and search domains received in a DHCP lease on some interface. For example, look at the source of configuration for the two listings shown above:

There are two connections: “Parkinson” wifi and “Brno (BRQ)” VPN. In the first panel DNS:Automatic is enabled, which means that the DNS server received as part of the DHCP lease (192.168.1.1) is passed to systemd-resolved. Additionally. 8.8.4.4 and 8.8.8.8 are listed as alternative name servers. This configuration is useful if you want to resolve the names of other machines in the local network, which 192.168.1.1 provides. Unfortunately the hotspot DNS server occasionally gets stuck, and the other two servers provide backup when that happens.

The second panel is similar, but doesn’t provide any special configuration. NetworkManager combines routing domains for a given connection from DHCP, SLAAC RDNSS, and VPN, and finally manual configuration and forward this to systemd-resolved. This is the source of the search domain redhat.com in the listing above.

There is an important difference between the two interfaces though: in the second panel, “Use this connection only for resources on its network” is checked. This tells NetworkManager to tell systemd-resolved to only use this interface for names under the search domain received as part of the lease (Link 26 (tun0): redhat.com in the first listing above). In the first panel, this checkbox is unchecked, and NetworkManager tells systemd-resolved to use this interface for all other names (Link 4 (wlp4s0): ~.). This effectively means that the wireless connection is more trusted.

Scenario: VPN more trusted than local network

In a different scenario, a VPN would be more trusted than the local network and the domain routing configuration reversed. If a VPN without “Use this connection only for resources on its network” is active, NetworkManager tells systemd-resolved to attach the default routing domain to this interface. After unchecking the checkbox and restarting the VPN connection:

$ resolvectl domain

Global:

Link 4 (wlp4s0):

Link 18 (hub0):

Link 28 (tun0): ~. redhat.com

$ resolvectl dns

Global:

Link 4 (wlp4s0):

Link 18 (hub0):

Link 28 (tun0): 10.45.248.15 10.38.5.26

Now all domain names are routed to the VPN. The network management daemon controls systemd-resolved and the user controls the network management daemon.

Additional systemd-resolved functionality

As mentioned before, systemd-resolved provides a common name lookup mechanism for all programs running on the machine. Right now the effect is limited: shared resolver and cache and split DNS (the lookup routing logic described above). systemd-resolved provides additional resolution mechanisms beyond the traditional unicast DNS. These are the local resolution protocols MulticastDNS and LLMNR, and an additional remote transport DNS-over-TLS.

Fedora 33 does not enable MulticastDNS and DNS-over-TLS in systemd-resolved. MulticastDNS is implemented by nss-mdns4_minimal and Avahi. Future Fedora releases may enable these as the upstream project improves support.

Implementing this all in a single daemon which has runtime state allows smart behaviour: DNS-over-TLS may be enabled in opportunistic mode, with automatic fallback to classic DNS if the remote server does not support it. Without the daemon which can contain complex logic and runtime state this would be much harder. When enabled, those additional features will apply to all programs on the system.

There is more to systemd-resolved: in particular LLMNR and DNSSEC, which only received brief mention here. A future article will explore those subjects.

Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit might not be the Mario Kart sequel you were expecting in 2020, but it’s sure to become one of the year’s hottest products. You use your Switch and the wonders of “Mixed Reality” technology to control a RC car and race it around a custom-built track in your living room, kitchen or bedroom.

The bundle containing a remote control car and other bits and bobs is available as we speak, and for anyone wanting to get their hands on it, we’ve rounded up the best Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit deals on both sides of the pond.

The game data itself is a download available from the Switch eShop from that date, so make sure you’ve got some memory space (check out our Micro SD guide if you’re looking to expand your console’s memory).

Please note that some external links on this page are affiliate links, which means if you click them and make a purchase we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Please read our FTC Disclosure for more information.

Buy Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit (Switch) In The UK

ShopTo is offering a full £10 off the pre-order prices available elsewhere in the UK and is currently the best deal going.

Buy Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit (Switch) In The US

The pages are up, although it appears that the pre-orders still aren’t live in the US at the time of writing. Price-wise, it’s utterly even across the board in the US at the moment, but we’ll keep our eye out for more offers.

We’ll update this guide when more retailers are stocking this collection. Let us know in the comments if you spot any others live and if you plan on transforming your home into Rainbow Road.

Project Cars Go, the one-touch racing game from Slightly Mad Studios, is now in closed beta for iOS and Android users. The closed beta period started on October 14 and will end on October 27, giving players plenty of time to test their racing skills against the toughest opponents the road has to offer.

Unlike Slightly Mad Studios’ console games Project Cars 1 & 2, which focused on being a fully fledged driving simulator, Project Cars Go aims to simplify the complex mechanics of racing while maintaining an aspect of realism. Project Cars Go allows players to take a spin in 50 licensed cars on 12 unique tracks, three of which are based on real-world races.

The one-touch racing mechanic in Project Cars Go allows players to drive with ease no matter where they are. Here’s what Ian Bell, CEO at Slightly Mad Studios has to say about this feature: “Condensing the key moments of what a driver does out on the track—brakes, entry-points, exit points—into a ‘One Touch’ mechanic was an interesting project for us at the studio, as we wanted to retain the authenticity of the Project CARS franchise but cater for what our fans want on a racer they can play on the go.”

Unfortunately, if you didn’t sign up to the closed beta then it looks like you won’t be playing Project Cars Go any time soon. Currently, there is no release date for the full game. In the meantime, check out this trailer, which debuts new gameplay.

If you weren’t one of the selected players to join Project Cars Go closed beta, definitely check out our best mobile multiplayer games list, which features a number of racing games. There should be something you fancy on that list no matter what device you happen to own.

Business applications are rapidly evolving to meet the needs of an increasingly digital and complex world. The era of form-based software and simple business logic is history–replaced with data-first, intelligent applications that proactively guide critical business outcomes across the organization.

The 2020 release wave 2 expands our vision to help you unlock the agility, innovation and resilience to adapt and thrive. More than 500 new and updated capabilities join an unparalleled breadth of intelligent, modular and seamlessly-integrated SaaS applications for the front and back-office; all atop the world-leading Power Platform to enable anyone to create apps and business processes.

In this time of unprecedented disruption—from remote workforces to changing customer expectations to supply chain challenges—this release wave extends investments to help your organization quickly adapt to any conditions with speed and agility—to build resilience into the fabric of the DNA of your company.

Connected customer experiences

Managing today’s omnichannel customer journey is no easy feat. Customer engagement requires constant attention at every touch point, whether human-assisted, self-serve, or automatic, and doing so requires visibility and collaboration across marketing, sales, and service. The 2020 release wave 2 updates further our vision to seamlessly connect data and insights across departments—breaking down the siloes that limit innovation and connected, personalized experiences.

Microsoft customer data platform (CDP)

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Insights, the Microsoft CDP and fastest-growing Dynamics 365 application, is a foundation for modern customer engagement, all on a trusted platform with unmatched privacy and security. Updates in the 2020 release wave 2 cement the solution as uniquely able to connect data holistically across departments and teams, with AI-powered insights to drive better outcomes.

Your teams will enjoy the new engagement insights capabilities, which give them a more comprehensive view of customers—easily accessible across teams, and always up to date. Audience insights boost the ability to analyze cross-channel customer interactions from websites, mobile apps, and connected products using engagement insights. And with seamless integration of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Voice, your team can track customer feedback signals across channels to proactively identify insights and drive meaningful engagement when customer sentiment and behaviors change.

Read more: Announcing new innovations for the Microsoft customer data platform

Marketing

We’re dedicated to delivering solutions that bridge marketing, sales, and service departments, seamlessly connecting ushering customers from first touch to acquisition to exceptional support. The 2020 release wave 2 updates take steps to connect that journey.

Over the next six months, we’re providing marketers with tools to build relationships and interact with customers at scale in this new world. New capabilities will help them orchestrate customer journeys, align sales and marketing, and make informed decisions. In response to increased demand for digital channels, this release integrates Microsoft Teams for digital events, improves social posting, revamps the customer journey designer, and lets teams use natural language to create target segments easily. And enhanced integration with Dynamics 365 Customer Insights helps teams discover segments and use them directly in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing to make campaigns more targeted and effective.

Read more: 3 new ways to build customer relationships using Dynamics 365 Marketing

Sales

Customer buying experiences are increasingly digital. In fact, 80 percent of enterprises expect a sustained shift to digital buying and selling methods, where sellers guide and collaborate with customers remotely. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales will help to further streamline the work of sellers and deepen their engagement with customers.

We’re ramping up AI-infused intelligence capabilities to deliver contextual insights that guide sellers to the next best action. Features like sales accelerator, advanced forecasting, and pipeline intelligence help sellers understand the health of the business and make accurately informed strategic decisions. Conversation and relationship intelligence helps sellers focus on activities and interactions that connect with buyers. And sellers can leverage Dynamics 365 Customer Voice to measure sentiment and Net Promoter Score (NPS) metrics to better track and act on customer concerns around sales processes, products, and experiences.

Read more: Digital selling and customer engagement with Dynamics 365 Sales updates

Service

We’ve invested in the critical scenarios that businesses need to optimize support delivery and enhance customer satisfaction, reflected in the expansive scope of features is heading to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service, and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Remote Assist.

Dynamics 365 Customer Service introduces a milestone in Microsoft’s first-party service solution. The addition of a native voice channel to existing omnichannel capabilities, built on the Microsoft cloud, empowers service teams with a seamless, end-to-end customer service experience across every channel within a single solution.

Dynamics 365 Field Service updates continue to drive productivity aligned to increasing technical success with first-time fix rates, optimized scheduling, asset tracking, and management. Plus, updates to Dynamics 365 Remote Assist give technicians even more ways to troubleshoot and resolve customer issues including the ability for allowing technicians and external customers to join a mixed reality call; expanded support for non-AR phones and added call analytics to surface challenge areas and opportunities for improvement.

Read more: Innovation on the service suite of Dynamics 365 applications

Connected operations

Effectively running a complex organization requires the seamless sharing of data, consistent business processes, and close collaboration across finance and operations departments. That’s why we are dedicated to ensuring cross-app capabilities across Dynamics 365 operations apps. This release wave continues the journey of making finance and operations data and business processes seamlessly available to Dynamics 365 applications, Microsoft Power Platform, and Azure Data Lake.

Finance

For Dynamics 365 Finance, we continue to focus on adding insights and intelligence and automating common processes. Intelligent cash flow forecasting, which previewed in 2020 release wave 1, will be released for general availability along with additional intelligence and automation in vendor invoicing.

We’ll also enhance core financials by adding asset leasing. This helps automate complex processes and eliminate risk, by making sure the system stays compliant with changing accounting regulations.

The Electronic invoicing add-on (preview) expands the invoicing capabilities in Dynamics 365 Finance, Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, and Dynamics 365 Project Operations to help organizations save money and reduce risk. The add-on simplifies adherence to the latest electronic invoicing standards, and provides consistent experiences in electronic invoice processing and exchange across different geographies.

Read more: Optimizing financial processes and reducing risk with Dynamics 365 Finance updates

For this release wave, Dynamics 365 Business Central investments center on delivering a world-class, comprehensive business management solution for small and midsized organizations.

We are expanding scenarios across Microsoft experiences—which today includes integration with Excel, Outlook, Word, and others—by introducing Microsoft Teams as a way to interact with coworkers and improve productivity, workflow, insights, and results.

A host of additional updates help meet the demands of a rapidly growing customer base, improve the handling of file storage, and address top customer requested features; and service security and performance improvements further safeguard business data and improve application performance.

Read more: What’s new and planned for Dynamics 365 Business Central

Supply Chain

The pandemic took a toll on supply chains, from suppliers to consumers. Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management is introducing new capabilities to keep the production line running and ease the day-to-day work on the factory floor.

Building on the Cloud and Edge innovation announced at Microsoft Ignite, we’re rolling out a new Engineering Change Management add-in, improving the ability to handle changes throughout the lifecycle of a product and ensure they are produced and released in a controlled manner. The new production floor execution feature provides more flexibility with a modern UI and a touch interface that makes managing complex jobs easier, even under the demanding conditions of the production floor.

New integration with Dynamics 365 Guides gives frontline workers interactive, guided instructions right at their workstation. This helps manufacturers adapt to operational complexity on the factory floor with a new set of features focused on usability, so complexity can be managed in real time.

Read more: Overcome disruptions in your supply chain

Service-based operations

Dynamics 365 Project Operations is now generally available—the business application for service-based businesses that operate in a highly competitive market where winning new deals, retaining the best people, and increasing profit margins are significant challenges. Project Operations is designed to transform and modernize the project delivery lifecycle by bringing together cross-functional teams to deliver differentiated customer experiences.

In a single application—seamlessly connected to other Dynamics 365 applications—you can bridge your sales, resourcing, project management, and finance teams to win more deals, accelerate delivery, empower employees, and maximize profitability.

Read more: Optimize your project-centric business with Dynamics 365 Project Operations

Human Resources

Dynamics 365 Human Resources provides a comprehensive personnel management solution, including performance, leave and absence, and payroll integration. For the 2020 release wave 2, we’re focused on updates that further help HR professionals empower and engage their workforce, provide modern benefits packages, and stay compliant.

New self-service capabilities include the ability for employees to manage leave and absence directly from Microsoft Teams. Employees can view time-off balances and submit leave requests, and managers or HR will be notified when a request needs attention.

A benefits management workspace will provide administrators with a single experience to view items that require action or to track the enrollment progress for a single employee or groups of employees, including progress and associated actions for new hire enrollment, qualifying life events, and open enrollment.

Other highlights include an enhanced leave and absence workflow experience enhancements and simplified integrations and extensibility, including LinkedIn Talent Hub and Azure Active Directory.

Read more: Overview of Dynamics 365 Human Resources 2020 release wave 2

Commerce

We’re heavily investing in innovation for retailers—including updates in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Commerce to further empower retailers to know how best to serve customers’ needs, ramp up digital commerce and contactless shopping, and efficiently run operations across the value chain. Read more about 2020 release wave 2 updates to enhance omnichannel shopping with Dynamics 365 Commerce.

Connected Store

We’re also continuing to evolve Microsoft Dynamics 365 Connected Store to offer benefits to retailers that are traditionally available only to online retailers, and to help bridge the physical and digital divide. For instance, you will be able to define a Power Automate workflow that makes inventory recommendations based on dwell time around a specific product, or make shift changes based on queue-length trends. To assist with social distancing, store managers will be able to understand shopper density and social distancing status in monitored areas, and set up notifications when the appropriate safety conditions are not being maintained. Read more about what’s new and planned for Dynamics 365 Connected Store, as well as updates announced in July.

Fraud Protection

At the point of sale, updates to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Fraud Protection will help protect from purchase and payment fraud, account fraud, and shrinkage fraud while delivering a smooth experiences to online shoppers. Building on the new account protection and loss prevention capabilities announced in July, you’ll find tighter integration with Dynamics 365 Commerce and a new “manual review” capability that allows users to flag transactions for review, and then allow expert human agents to consume and adjudicate those transactions. Read more about what’s new and planned for Dynamics 365 Fraud Protection.

Catch up on the 2020 release wave 2

Review the Dynamics 365 release plans for specific details for each update and additional resources.

Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy will launch on Nintendo Switch early next year, with a 29th January release date now locked in for Europe.

The game is the 22nd entry in the franchise, and follows Ryza and friends as they embark on an all-new JRPG quest to discover the secrets behind the ancient ruins and the truth behind the lost legends inside the Royal Capital. Here’s some PR:

In Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy, Ryza is not only joined by returning fan-favourites like Lent Marslink and Tao Mongarten, she also meets a number of new characters who will help her throughout her adventure. Inside the Academy District café, Ryza meets a young woman by the name of Zephine Baudouin. Zephine manages the request bulletin board inside the café, and the bulletin board becomes a key part of Ryza’s day-to-day exploits – it’s used by citizens of the Royal Capital to post jobs ranging from delivering materials to defeating monsters – and as Ryza completes these tasks, she will be compensated with monetary rewards, materials, and even Skill Points.

Other intriguing characters inside the Royal Capital include the talented blacksmith and engraver, Dennis Holland; shopkeeper and former acquaintance from Kurken Island, Romy Vogel; and farmworker Cassandra Cappelli, whose father owns an obscene amount of fruitful land inside the Royal Capital’s Farming District.

It’s also been revealed that fans will be able to pick up a Limited Edition of the game exclusively through the KOEI TECMO Europe Online Store. This version contains an art book, deluxe cloth poster, mini acrylic charm, Japanese clear file folders, and an exclusive DLC costume all packaged into a collector’s box.

Koei Tecmo recently confirmed that the game wouldn’t be censored in the west following fan concerns, and a $25,000 statue of its protagonist was also recently unveiled. Players who decide to purchase any version of the game, physically or digitally, during the first two weeks of release will receive an Early Purchase Bonus – the Summer Fashion Costume Set.

Are you thinking of picking up this latest Atelier title next year? Tell us below.

The latest Nintendo Download update for Europe has arrived, and it’s bringing new games galore to the eShop in your region. As always, be sure to drop a vote in our poll and comment down below with your potential picks for the week. Enjoy!

Switch Retail eShop – New Releases

9 Monkeys of Shaolin (Koch Media, £24.99 / €29.99) – In this beat ‘em up game you‘ll play as the Chinese fisherman Wei Cheng who wants to avenge the death of his friends and family. Get your battle staff ready for a challenging adventure in Medieval China and for merciless fights with hordes of various enemies.
Invite your friend to help you fight through waves of enemies and complete the game together.

Cloudpunk (Merge Games, 6th Nov, £15.99 / €19.99) – A neon-noir story in a rain-drenched cyberpunk metropolis. It’s your first night on the job working for the Cloudpunk delivery service. Two rules: Don’t miss a delivery and don’t ask what’s in the package. Your name is Rania. This is your first night working for Cloudpunk, the semi-legal delivery company based in the sprawling city of Nivalis. You go everywhere, from the Marrow below to the spires that pierce the grey clouds high above before scraping the edge of the troposphere.

G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout (Game Mill, 13th Oct, £34.99 / €39.99) – G. I. Joe and Cobra are back! G. I. Joe: Operation Blackout is a classic team-based third-person shooter where you play as your favourite characters from Team G. I. Joe and Team Cobra. Experience the action from both sides as you help G. I. Joe restore order and lead Cobra to world domination. G. I. JOE VS COBRA – Play with 12 of your favourite characters from both sides including Snake Eyes, Duke, Roadblock, Storm Shadow, Cobra Commander, Destro and more in 4-player PvP and across 17 epic campaign story missions. Includes voice acting for over 20 iconic characters in the G. I. Joe universe.

Hunting Simulator 2 (Nacon, 15th Oct, £44.99 / €49.99) – It’s open season! In stunning natural environments, choose your gear from the best official weapons and accessories and set off with your dog in search of a variety of animal species in this hunting simulation. Explore the plains of Colorado, the Texan desert and the forests of Europe in vast open worlds. Track down 33 animal species in their natural environment by using the best hunting techniques. Hunt animals with realistic behaviours and advanced artificial intelligence. Use your hunting dog to track your prey. Labrador Retriever, German Shorthaired Pointer and Beagle, each dog has its specific hunting attributes. Kit yourself out with over 160 weapons, accessories and clothing items from the best brands, including Browning, Winchester, Bushnell, Kryptek and Verney-Carron.

Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit (Nintendo, 16th Oct, £99.99) – Ready, set-up, go! Turn your home into a race track with Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, a brand new way to experience Mario Kart on Nintendo Switch! Drive a kart in the real world using familiar Mario Kart controls and see the action from your kart’s on-board camera displayed on your Nintendo Switch or TV screen. Watch as your home is transformed into ocean depths, a sandy desert and more from the world of Mario Kart! – Read our Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit review

My Universe – School Teacher (Microids, 15th Oct, £35.99 / €39.99) – Play as a young teacher with a mission: bringing your new school back to the top! Motivate your pupils, improve their results and organize school contests and festivals. Become a model teacher as you take care of more difficult classes, win prizes and complete the director’s objectives, unlocking new items along the way. Manage your classroom and your pupils Teach your pupils about geometry, biology, art and much more – each discipline featuring its own minigame. Every student in your classroom has unique strengths and weaknesses: adapt your teaching to make sure they can follow and learn in the best conditions.

Remothered: Broken Porcelain (Modus Games, 13th Oct, £29.99 / €34.99) – Broken Porcelain brings an abundance of welcome changes to the series, introducing new gameplay and storytelling elements that breathe new life into the characters and an unprecedented level of immersion in this haunting adventure – perfect for both new and returning fans to the series. The truths buried in the Ashmann Inn will not be discovered easily – its many mysteries are intertwined and guarded by the looming threat of the stalkers, powerful hunters trapped in time and the confines of its walls. Survival will take more than just quick reactions as a strategic and resourceful approach will quickly become critical in this haunting adventure.

Tin & Kuna (Numskull, 16th Oct, £22.99 / €24.99) – Spin and smash through the colourful, chaotic worlds of Tin & Kuna. Explore levels filled with puzzles and peril. As Kuna collects power crystals, he obtains special abilities; jumping higher, catching fire, and attaching to magnetic objects to rescue Tin. Use all your skills and abilities to bring the world into balance and defeat Chaos!

Zoids Wild Blast Unleashed (£34.99 / €39.99) – Unleash the wild mecha power and animal instinct of Zoids, in spectacular head-to-head battles on Nintendo Switch. With stunning graphics faithful to the Zoids Wild anime, and an intuitive 3D combat system that lets you chain incredible combos instinctively, Zoids Wild: Blast Unleashed is the ultimate showdown between your favourite pilots and their Zoids!

Switch eShop – New Releases

Along the Edge (Nova-box, 15th Oct, £14.99 / €16.99) – Along the Edge is an interactive graphic novel set in the European countryside, where your choices impact the main character’s personality and appearance. Story: Daphné is at a dead-end. She’s unsatisfied by her personal and professional life. So, when she inherits an old family house in a remote part of the country, she jumps at the opportunity to start anew. Does she decide to embrace her legacy or does she hang to her old way of life?

Alpaca Ball: Allstars (Badland Publishing, 15th Oct, £17.99 / €19.99) – Goaaaaaaaaal! Play the craziest kind of football with the furriest alpacas around the world. Block, ram your opponents and dive-kick your way to that dream goal! Enjoy the frantic local multiplayer for up to 8 players. Take your alpaca to glory in solo career mode, or share the credit with the local two-player co-op! Enjoy all the different arenas and stadiums inspired by famous locations such as South American Machu Picchu!

Batbarian: Testament of the Primordials (DANGEN Entertainment, 1st Oct, £15.09 / €16.79) – Batbarian: Testament of the Primordials is a snarky action-adventure puzzle game with a good dose of humour. Explore hundreds of secret-filled rooms, fight big bosses, gather companions for your party and use the powers of Pip -your bat buddy- to solve puzzles and escape the eldritch abyss! *Crash*… That was the sound of you landing face-first in an abyss filled with monsters, traps, and eldritch secrets.

Bright Paw (£9.99 / €10.99) – A gunshot rattles the house and now your owners are dead; clearly murdered. But why? And where’s the culprit? These answers won’t be easy to come by, especially because you’re the family cat! Guided by the omniscient Narrator, play as the feline hero Theo as he embarks on an epic adventure to solve the crime and exact revenge on the evildoers. The quest will take you through more than 70 bespoke levels, each an escape room puzzle with unique hazards, and an intriguing, fully voiced narrative full of twists and turns.

Brunswick Pro Billiards (FarSight Studios, 14th Oct, £15.29 / €16.99) – Brunswick Pro Billiards is the most realistic and immersive billiards game available for any platform. This is an officially licensed Brunswick product featuring real pool tables, pool cues, and billiard ball sets. Compete against friends or other players online for Brunswick Bucks! Use those winnings to upgrade equipment and tables. Players can also hone their skills against A. I. opponents, battle friends in local multiplayer matches, and play single player Challenge Modes offering a variety of gameplay options.

Burst Shooter (Funalter Games, 15th Oct, £1.49 / €1.69) – “Burst Shooter” is a fun and creative game developed by one person. Control this little cute bird to fight against waves of armies of balls. Only when the balls hit the edges of the screen will they burst! You can push the balls to the edges with the bullets you shoot or with the bird itself. The more balls burst, the faster you level up, the faster the bird upgrades and evolves, and the faster you can shoot!

Cardpocalypse (Versus Evil, 12th Dec, £22.49 / €24.99) – Make friends, play cards, twist the rules, become a Mega Mutant Power Pets master, and try to save the world in this single-player RPG about being a ’90s kid. On her first day at Dudsdale Elementary, 10-year-old Jess accidentally gets everybody’s favourite collectible card game banned, forcing the kids to take their card battles underground. Troubles arise when mutants from the game invade the real world, and it’s up to Jess and friends to stop them.

Castle of no Escape (TERNOX, 15th Oct, £1.88 / €2.09) – The game won’t let you exit the castle, no matter how you try. Technically you can win, but there is no end.

Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?! (Vertigo Gaming, 14th Oct, £15.09 / €16.79) – Hit the road in this massive sequel to the million-selling Cook, Serve, Delicious! series as you travel across the United States to participate in the Iron Cook Foodtruck Championships with your trusty robot crew Whisk and Cleaver. Set in the radically-changed war-torn America of 2042, play through an all-new story-driven campaign where you cook hundreds of foods—including many brand new to the series—across hundreds of levels in a new gameplay structure that has been completely redesigned to deliver fast-paced action, or take it easy with the all-new Chill Mode that can be toggled on or off at any time!

Crown Trick (£14.99 / €19.99) – Crown Trick is a beautifully animated rogue-like RPG adventure characterized by turn-based combat and skill-item interactive strategy. Enter a labyrinth that moves as you move, where mastering the elements is key to defeating enemies and uncovering the mysteries of this underground world. With a new experience awaiting every time you enter the dungeon, let the power bestowed by the crown guide you in this challenging adventure!

Dadish (Thomas K Young, 14th Oct, £8.19 / €9.09) – Explore an exciting world, face off with fast-food themed foes, and reunite Dadish with his missing children in this challenging platforming adventure. A challenging retro platformer from the creator of Super FowlstDialog that is funny, but not TOO funny.

Dead Z Meat (isTom Games, 15th Oct, £8.99 / €9.99) – Grab a gun and get blasting – these zombies are as vicious as they are silly. It’s the apocalypse again! You may very well be the last person on Earth! Grab your gun and get blasting – these zombies are as vicious as they are silly. Survive day to day, upgrade your arsenal and supercharge your powerups to wreak havoc on the horde of dead meat shambling in your neighbourhood.

Dream (Winking, 15th Oct, £8.99 / €9.99) – You wake up and find yourself locked up in the morgue of a strange hospital. You’ve finally escaped and all of the people you meet are strangers. You can’t figure out how you got there and you don’t know why you’re there. Not only are you stuck, but strange events occur one after the other — patients are killed, strange figures appear, there are rooms that shouldn’t exist, children are missing… what happened to this hospital? Dream is a mysterious and dramatic puzzle game where the players play the protagonist that has woken up in an unfamiliar hospital.

Dustoff Z (£13.49 / €14.99) – Dustoff Z is a game about manoeuvring combat-helicopters in one of the harshest weather conditions possible – A Zombie Apocalypse. Hire gunners to ride along and engage in a variety of missions such as rescue operations, convoy defence, and high-value target destruction. Train and improve a gallery of different shooters, as well as upgrade and maintain a bunch of different helicopters – all with their own unique playstyle. Use your chopper’s winch to interact with the environment. Pick up supply drops, place base defences, bring back the largest zombies for analysis, or why not use a shipping container as a battle ram?

Fight (Sabec, 15th Oct, £8.09 / €8.99) – Are you ready to Fight! Many fighters receive an anonymous message about the exact location of hidden treasure in the ancient ruins of Saqqar. As the fighters descend into the ancient ruins, driven by greed, little do they know an evil deception awaits them. The infamous Draegon is the creator of this deception, whose motive is to take the life force of the fighters by using mysterious illusions from other worlds to make them fight one another. Fight is a fun, easy to play one on one fighting game with many different fighters and scenes to choose from – no Fight will be the same.

Foregone (Big Blue Bubble, 13th Oct, £26.99 / €29.99) – Years after a devastating war, the city of Calagan is once again besieged by an all-corrupting force known as the Harrow. As the city’s strongest super-soldier, it’s up to you to investigate the Harrow’s origins and prevent its reanimated minions from destroying your home. But the Harrow isn’t just reviving the dead – it’s dredging up memories better left forgotten. Foregone is a fast and fluid 2D action-platformer packed with legendary loot and stunning pixel art. Collect an arsenal of powerful weapons and upgradeable skills, then use them to shoot and slash your way through hand-crafted pixel environments hiding a treasure trove of secrets. Unravel a compelling story of regret and conspiracy as you slice your way through hordes of enemies and carry out your mission to save Calagan from total annihilation.

HARDCORE MECHA (£17.99 / €19.99) – HARDCORE MECHA is a 2D platformer action game, full of enthusiasm for classic robot designs, aiming to maximize the game feel by focusing on the detail and feel of each mecha. Experience an immersive story with Campaign Mode, which focuses on rich level designs and a seamless transition of gameplay and animation cutscenes. Survival Simulation Mode and Multiplayer Mode will keep the game on after completing the main chapters! Unlock and drive in total of 42 mechas, upgrade and gain new skills and attributes for an ultimate battle of steel!

Johnny Rocket (Restless Corp, 15th Oct, £3.79 / €4.21) – In this game, your main goal is to help Johnny Rocket fight ‘Evil Forces’. To do that, you can run, jump, double jump, shoot enemies. Don’t forget about Johnny’s secret movement – destroy obstacles or enemies with his head. All levels are unique and have a big variety of enemies. Boss fights are tough. After each boss fight you get rewarded with a comic cartoon movie telling you more about Johnny’s adventure. Game is hilarious and has a lot of toilet humour, don’t forget to collect the paper!

Petal Crash (GalaxyTrail, 12th Oct, £7.69 / €8.59) – Easy to learn and rewarding to master, Petal Crash is a brand new puzzle game in the tradition of the arcade action puzzlers of the mid-90s. Like the games that inspired it, Petal Crash features a variety of single-player challenges in addition to an intense head-to-head versus mode. The rules are simple – push a block any direction, and it’ll keep going until it hits a wall or another block. If it hits a block of the same colour, the blocks will burst, sending any other blocks next to them flying! Line them up just right to create huge chain reactions, racking up points and burying your opponents in garbage!

Postal REDUX (£8.99 / €9.99) – POSTAL Redux is a high definition remake of The Postal Dude’s infamous first foray into the world. Prepare to experience his psychological journey with faithfully recreated high-resolution visuals, remastered music, sounds, and dialogue, and revamped and modernized gameplay. Crazed gunmen out for your blood await you around every corner.

Prinny 2: Dawn of Operation Panties, Dood! (£17.99 / €19.99) – When the mysterious Phantom Thief steals Master Etna’s panties, the Prinny horde must rise up once again to retrieve them…or suffer the consequences! Slash and Hip Pound your way through chaotic stages full of devilish foes, and build up the Combo Gauge to unleash powerful moves like Prinny Cyclone and Prinnykaze.

Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero? (£17.99 / €19.99) – Master Etna demands the ultimate dessert, and it is up to a legion of lowly Prinnies to make it! Jump, slash, and combo your way through different stages of the Netherworld, devastate enemies and bosses with special attacks, and encounter both new and familiar faces in this explosive action adventure from the twisted minds behind the DISGAEA series!

Ring of Pain (Humble Games, 15th Oct, £16.19 / €17.99) – Enter the Ring of Pain… Delve into randomly generated ring dungeons where encounters come to you! Observe and plan your route. Will you go for the loot or backstab a creeping horror? As you scavenge, fight and sneak to new encounters, the ring reacts to your actions. Play as fast or slow as you like in this challenging, turn-based roguelike. Just be careful where you tread – You may find yourself ambushed, or worse…

Rock ‘N Racing Bundle Grand Prix & Rally (£17.99 / €19.99) – Enjoy 2 games in 1 with this irresistible speed games pack!

Röki (United Label, 15th Oct, £17.99 / €19.99) – Röki is an adventure game inspired by Scandinavian folklore; a dark contemporary fairy tale underpinned by a touching narrative, alluring art style, ancient puzzles and atmospheric exploration. We join Tove on a fantastical journey to save her family. A journey that takes her deep into a hidden and long-forgotten world of lost folklore filled with strange locations and even stranger creatures. Explore the ancient wilderness, solve its mysteries, save your family in this modern adventure game for all.

Seers Isle (Nova-box, 15th Oct, £14.99 / €16.99) – Seers Isle is an interactive graphic novel, set in a fantasy version of medieval northern Europe, where your choices impact the fate of a group of characters. Story: “The island… It was my prison. For ages, I roamed the land, helpless, looking for a way out. And then, they arrived. ” A group of shaman apprentices set foot on the shores of a sacred island to be initiated to magic. As they progress through the wilderness, looking for the “Seers”, their spirit-guides, they realize they’re not alone.

Space Crew (Curve Digital, 15th Oct, £14.39 / €15.99) – Captain’s Log, Star Date 2152. This is Space Crew. Its continuing mission: To defend Earth and humankind, to eliminate the extraterrestrial threat and to boldly go where no Crew has gone before! Space Crew is the brand new sequel to acclaimed strategic survival simulation game Bomber Crew. Your Space Crew Needs You! Enlist today and blast off to new heights! The United Defense Force will allow you to set across the galaxy on a campaign to defend Earth. It will be your responsibility to help stop all of humankind being wiped off the intergalactic stage by the mysterious extraterrestrial threat known as the Phasmids.

TERROR SQUID (Try Apt, 15th Oct, £8.99 / €9.99) – A bullet hell with a sinister twist. Think fast and strategically as you weave through a bullet hell of your own making. Easy to learn and hard to master, TERROR SQUID is an arcade experience unlike any other. Create your own bullet hell Conduct your symphony of destruction. Dodge tantalising bullet patterns of your own design. Survive for long enough to release a primordial blast of dark energy, detonating your projectiles in gloriously satisfying chain reactions. Perfect your strategy to squeeze every precious second out of each run.

The Jackbox Party Pack 7 (Jackbox Games, 15th Oct, £23.99 / €25.99) – Five new incredible party games to liven up any gathering! 1) The say-anything threequel Quiplash 3 (3-8 players). It’s a head-to-head battle of the wits as you give hilarious responses to quirky prompts while everyone else votes for their favourite! 2) The collaborative chaos game The Devils and the Details (3-8 players). You’re a family of devils working together to survive in suburbia. Can you handle the daily torture of human life? 3) The drawing fighting game Champ’d Up (3-8 players). Create absurd characters that will battle over unusual titles. Can you take down the heavy favourite? 4) The on-the-spot public-speaking game Talking Points (3-8 players). Give a speech responding to picture slides you’ve never seen before or be the Assistant and approve pictures as fast as you can. Just keep talking whether it makes sense or not. 5) The pop culture guessing game Blather Round (2-6 players).

This is the Zodiac Speaking (Klabater, 15th Oct, £17.99 / €19.99) – This is the Zodiac Speaking is a fact-based single-player psychological thriller based on the story of Zodiac, one of the most famous never-caught serial killers. It mixes vintage ’70s California visuals and an original epic cinematic soundtrack with gameplay elements that include classic horror, investigation, stealth mechanics, and multiple endings to discover. – Read our This is the Zodiac Speaking review

Two Parsecs From Earth (£7.99 / €7.99) – Robot Z3-L1’s ship has crash-landed on an inhospitable planet called Dimidium filled with alien landscapes and hostile surroundings. To escape and return home, Z3-L1 (/zeli/) must gather clues, gain powers and discover artifacts needed to fix a space ship. Explore the planet in this Metroidvania-style exploration game where the environment is your enemy! Like a super-intelligent space robot, Two Parsecs From Earth gameplay is remarkable interactive and adaptive to you!

Vigil: The Longest Night (Another Indie Studio, 14th Oct, £19.99 / €21.99) – Vigil: The Longest Night is a 2D action RPG with precise, technical combat and a strong narrative. Vigil: The Longest Night aims to challenge players with its difficulty while compelling them with a tale of eldritch horror. Follow Leila on her quest to save her hometown from the creeping evil infesting the surrounding countryside. Navigate a world that wanders between dream and reality, sanity and madness, and uncover the secret of the longest night and the monstrous entities invading their world.

3DS eShop – New Releases

• Atlantis-6
• Escape From Forest
• Maze Breaker 3
• snake3d

Switch eShop – Demos

DLC / Add-On Content

Nintendo Switch games with new DLC this week:

So that’s your lot for this week’s Nintendo Download. Go on, be a sport and drop a vote in the poll above, and comment below with your hot picks!