Galak-Z: The Void and Skulls of the Shogun: Bone-A-Fide Edition Platinum Pack

Genre: Compilation / 2D Space Shooter / Roguelike / Turn-Based Strategy

Players: 1-4 Competitive (Local / Online), Online Leaderboards

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Review:

Galak-Z: The Void and Skulls of the Shogun: Bone-A-Fide Edition Platinum Pack, released in physical form only on Nintendo Switch in 2020, is a Compilation that includes the 2D Space Shooter and Roguelike Galak-Z: The Void: Deluxe Edition, and the Turn-Based Strategy Skulls of the Shogun: Bone-A-Fide Edition, both previously released separately on the Nintendo Switch in 2019.

I have reviewed both of these games. Here is what I thought of each of the games in this collection:

Game	Genre	# of Players	Grade
Galak-Z: The Void: Deluxe Edition	2D Space Shooter / Roguelike	1, Online Leaderboards	B+
tl;dr Galak-Z is a 2D Space Shooter with Roguelike elements. The game’s protagonist is a twerp, and the difficult controls may not appeal to everyone, but those who work to learn those controls will find this is a deep and rewarding game with excellent gameplay.
Skulls of the Shogun: Bone-A-Fide Edition	Turn-Based Strategy	1-4 Competitive (Local / Online)	C
tl;dr Skulls of the Shogun is a Turn-Based Strategy game that has you taking the role of a feudal Japanese warlord gathering troops to take over the afterlife, with the Switch version including all DLC from previous releases. This game does a few fairly unique things for the genre, but multiple design choices make it a messy, frustrating affair where it’s too difficult to see what’s going on. Genre fans may find this worthwhile, but most are better off skipping it.

In short, the only thing these two games seem to share in common is being originally created by developer 17-Bit. Otherwise, these are two very different games, both in terms of how they play and in terms of quality – I definitely feel like Galak-Z is the better part of the package here.

Then, as always, we get to the question of value, and this is much harder to pin down, because it’s difficult to find a standard price for this game. As I write this, this Compilation seems to be selling for $35, but it seems to fluctuate both up and down. However, at that price, it is virtually identical to the cost of the two included games, meaning that the only thing of value you’re getting in this package is having these games on a physical cartridge. However, given that both of these games regularly go on sale on the eShop for far less than that (you can regularly find each under $5 in sales), the value in this bundle becomes even more suspect.

And of course, all that is if you even want to get both of these games, and personally I would only recommend getting Galak-Z. As a result, the only reason I can ever see buying Galak-Z: The Void and Skulls of the Shogun: Bone-A-Fide Edition Platinum Pack is if you really, really want one or both of these games in physical form. For most players, that simply will not be worth the price.

tl;dr – Galak-Z: The Void and Skulls of the Shogun: Bone-A-Fide Edition Platinum Pack is a Compilation containing the two named titles, the excellent 2D Space Shooter and Roguelike Galak-Z, and the mediocre Turn-Based Strategy Skulls of the Shogun. However, even if you want both of these games, the price of this bundle makes it a pretty poor value. Unless you absolutely must have these games in physical form, you’re better off getting the digital versions of these games on sale instead.

Grade: C+

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