Sifu ₩13,500, Gordian Quest ₩2,640 — Only the Switch Deals Worth Buying This Week (from ₩2,640)

This post is the record of our Nintendo Switch eShop sale episode for the first week of October. The prices on the cards above are the eShop prices at that time, while the price graphs on each game page are Steam (PC) prices — a different store. If you’re reading this later, the deals may have ended, so treat what follows as a guide to what to pick first.

Four new-to-us indies and three long RPGs dropped at once

Under ₩5,000 sat four indies we’d never covered before: Gordian Quest (₩2,640), The Strongest TOFU (₩2,800), What Lies in the Multiverse (₩3,600), and Karate Survivor (₩4,560). The names may be unfamiliar, but all four are Very Positive on Steam — a week where a coffee’s worth of money buys you a vetted unknown. At the other end sat three RPGs that ask for dozens of hours: Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, Digimon Story Time Stranger, and Gordian Quest, which is coffee-priced but far bigger than that. This lineup splits almost perfectly into “things to taste quickly” and “things to sink into.”

The three long RPGs want different things from you

All three eat time, but they spend it differently. Gordian Quest spends it on growth and loot. You fight with cards, but it’s not a one-run deckbuilder — you raise three heroes’ stats and gear over the long haul, to the point where a reviewer with 202 hours wrote “음.. 아직 엔딩을 못봤습니다..” (“Hmm.. I still haven’t seen the ending..”). Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter spends it on story. Cutscenes are heavy and many say the start is slow, but reviews keep saying it grabs you from the middle on. Digimon Story Time Stranger spends it on collecting and evolving. Gathering 450+ Digimon is a clear joy, but opinions split over evolution-rank gating and grindy stretches. If card battles and number-crunching are your thing, Gordian Quest; if you follow stories, Trails; if you have a favorite Digimon, Time Stranger.

For co-op, check the player count first

Several games support multiplayer, but the numbers and vibe differ. Operation: Tango needs exactly two players, and only one has to buy it — your friend can join for free. The main story runs three to four hours, so it’s closer to a one-night co-op event. Farm Together is the opposite: a campaign of hundreds of hours, and reviews joke — accurately — that when the friend who promised to play bails, your expanded fields become pure burden. Smalland: Survive the Wilds takes up to 10 players and gets easier with more hands. Dinkum is widely called fine solo, but on multiplayer, a reviewer with 103 hours points out “멀티가 멀티 같지 않음” (“multiplayer doesn’t feel like multiplayer”) — you live on the host’s island, so temper expectations if co-op is your main goal.

Busy hands vs. laid-back

Sifu demands the most from your hands this week. Without parries and dodges in your muscle memory you’ll stall, and the system that ages you on every death keeps score of your mistakes. Karate Survivor keeps your hands busy too, but each run is 15–20 minutes, so the pressure is short. ENDER LILIES tests your patience more with navigation than with combat — as one review put it, “레벨디자인을 이정도로 개떡같이 만들어도 아트, 브금, 연출이 좋으면 아무래도 상관없다는걸 증명하는 게임” (“a game that proves even terrible level design doesn’t matter if the art, music and direction are good”). You need to enjoy getting lost as part of the mood. On the other hand, Hello Kitty Island Adventure and The Strongest TOFU barely punish failure — good picks for a tired evening.

Games with separate Switch 1 and Switch 2 versions

Several games this week showed up as two different products. Hello Kitty Island Adventure was on sale as both the Switch 1 version (₩26,400) and the Switch 2 Edition (₩33,000), and Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter split into ₩42,950 and ₩44,350. If you’re on Switch 2 and care about image quality, go Edition; on Switch 1, only the base version runs. Dinkum cost the same ₩19,200 either way, so no dilemma there. Smalland: Survive the Wilds, meanwhile, was Switch 2-only in this sale and won’t run on the original Switch.

Well-reviewed, but where opinions split

The review that best sums up Digimon Story Time Stranger is “‘디지몬’ 게임으론 최고 디지몬 ‘게임’으론 최악” (“Best as a ‘Digimon’ game, worst as a Digimon ‘game'”). For fans it’s the best Digimon game there is; without that love, the repetitive stretches and dated design show first. Smalland’s bugs are so realistic that for anyone who can’t stand insects, that alone is a barrier. And What Lies in the Multiverse has darker scenes than its cute pixel art suggests, so it may not be the one to play with young kids.

Two new releases heading to Switch 2 — Earth Defense Force 5, Hell is Us

Earth Defense Force 5 is the B-movie shooter that first launched on PC and PlayStation, now coming to Switch 2 on October 8. Four-player co-op mowing down giant bugs is the core, and this Asian edition supports Korean subtitles. The Nintendo pre-order discount took it from ₩44,400 down 10% to ₩39,960. Hell is Us came out on PC and consoles last September; its Switch 2 version was delayed to October 27. It’s a game where you find your way with clues alone — no minimap, no quest markers — so it’s divisive, and Korean-language reviews run colder than the overall rating. At the same time the Steam version was 70% off at ₩15,900, so if you can play on PC, compare that first.

If you’re reading this now

This episode’s deals ended on different dates per game, from October 7 (Hello Kitty Island Adventure, Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter) to October 22 (Farm Together, ENDER LILIES). eShop sales run long once they start, but the gap before the same game drops again tends to be longer than on Steam. Indies tend to get shallow, frequent discounts while big RPGs drop deep during seasonal sales, so wishlisting and waiting for the alert is the safe move.