Serial Cleaners is an interesting puzzle game covered in blood and grunge with a fun ’90s spin. Pop on your yellow rubber gloves and get to cleanin’.

Mario Party Superstars completely rebuilds some of the Nintendo 64 era’s best Mario Party boards of varying difficulty and gives them a gorgeous modern veneer. The game plays exactly as you’d expect from a Mario Party with smooth yet simple controls. The frustrations stem. from the fact that your opponents can benefit from the same perks that just helped you take a lead, equating to more first-to-last-place moments than Mario Kart itself. A lot of the older mini-games can end in a matter of seconds so if you’re playing it mostly for the mini-games, it can be a bit of a letdown when a game ends in under five seconds.

Despite its occasional cringeworthy moments, the story hits the nail on the head when it matters most. While this introductory episode starts off a bit slow, by the end it will have you longing for more.

Lies of P is a fun game with solid combat mechanics and a really pleasing aesthetic. A creepy factor is aided by unique twists. But it falls short when compared to the finesse and balance of other games in this genre.

Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 Plus offers a fun twist on a classic gaming formula along with some great two-player action on the go or on the big screen, it just seems oddly rigid in how it lets you play.

Arise: A Simple Story provides heartfelt storytelling and stunning visuals that will make anyone fall in love.

While Natsuki Chronicles doesn’t add anything new to the genre, it definitely has a lot to offer those who are fans of bullet hell games. Despite a very distracting story mixed with equally distracting visuals, the game is a real fun time with plenty of unlocks to keep the replay value high.

As is the case with Paper Mario: The Origami King, Nintendo’s ability to make consistently beautiful games will almost always manage to keep their scores above average; but, their recent refusal to make a game that does not insist on dragging the player through extremely easy gameplay, holding the player’s hand the entire time, will continue to keep their score low. This is not even mentioning the abysmal battle system.

Eight years after its initial release, VVVVVV is still fun, still challenging, still weird, and still sadly short. There’s nothing new to see here if you’ve already beat the game, but as a cheap, quick pick-up-and-play title, VVVVVV has found a fitting home on the Switch eShop.

Approachable, but surprisingly deep, Knockout City is one of 2021’s biggest surprises and a refreshing take on the team-based competitive multiplayer genre.

From the music to the visuals, from the gameplay to the story, this game packs quite the punch. Scarlet Nexus is a game that has definitely had a lot of love put into it. It isn’t some kind of one-and-done, generic feeling hack and slash game that people vaguely remember six months after launch. It’s a game that deserves the attention from people who like anime games and those on the fence about it.

The gameplay rewards you with lots of variety, while the graphics are still top-notch. WWE fans will feel like the wrestling lords have blessed them with tons of content. The single-player modes are easy to dominate (if you want them to be) but not all of them are worth sticking around for. The hustle and grind of Showcase mode might be a turnoff to some.

Knights and Bikes is a great and a beautiful way to kill a handful of hours with a friend. You can play solo but as a game with such a heavy focus on friendship, it only seems right to have a friend by your side, either physically or virtually, to go on a colorful adventure and deal with some real life heavy subjects.

The game looks amazing, the combat system is great, and some of the comedy is extremely funny. But in terms of plot and humor and even customization, it feels like a step back from the first game, which should never be the case for a video game sequel.

The Touryst overcomes its considerable flaws thanks to its vibrant personality and resplendent environments.

Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe offers the classic 2D Kirby experience: simple platforming, plenty of secrets, and fun power ups with a variety of different moves. The inclusion of new modes and new powerups give even players who played the original on the Wii something new to discover and play with.

Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA MegaMix for the Nintendo Switch is a fun musical romp through the virtual idol’s massive library of songs. Though there are minor graphical issues and new modes that don’t quite hit, it’s hard to take away from the fact the base game is phenomenal.

Yoshi’s Crafted World never pushes back on the player, squandering its charm through a lack of reward or challenge. Even if you’re looking to do nothing other than kick back with a relaxing game, it’s hard to feel motivated enough to return to. Yet it remains mechanically pleasant and is an easy recommendation to anyone with young children.

If you were still playing Pokken Tournament on the Wii U or intend to play competitively, you shouldn’t miss this version’s five new characters and slight tweaks like Daily Challenges and Team Battles. But if your copy of the original was gathering dust, you’re not missing anything more than the equivalent of a DLC patch.

Minit’s constant deaths are far from discouraging; they’re addicting. It’s far too easy to tell yourself “just one more try” in a world so densely packed with curiosities and no fluff. Minit is another wonderful reminder that you don’t need a million systems for a game to be great if you can do one novel idea very, very well.

Dynasty Warriors: Origins is a fun action game to start 2025. If you’re a fan of the previous entries in the series, this is a great pickup to continue the momentum. If you’ve never played a Dynasty Warriors game, Origins can still be fun but you may want to wait until it’s available on sale. The action will keep you hooked, but you’ll want to look away from the screen during the boring story scenes. 2025 is set to be a big year for gaming, and Dynasty Warriors: Origins is a great way to start things off.

Taken together, Prey is a brilliant but flawed descent into a world of science gone wrong, driven by a well told, cerebrally satisfying story which makes up for the mechanical inconsistencies of the experience. Comparing Prey to Bioshock only reveals the relative cracks which explains why the former doesn’t quite live up to the expectations set by the latter, so it’s instead best to enjoy Prey as its own thing, forgiving its flaws to marvel at the results of Arkane’s intelligent approach to game design.

When the Past was Around is an emotional roller coaster of a story told exclusively through gorgeous art and stirring violin music. The puzzles are clever and fun but a little immersion-breaking at times. The addition of touch screen support in handheld mode on Nintendo Switch adds to the experience as well.

Little Rocket Lab succeeds as a welcoming entry point into automation games. It also succeeds as a thoughtful experiment in merging mechanical depth with human-scale storytelling. It may not satisfy players looking for endless complexity, but for those who want to tinker, rebuild, and unwind, it’s a quietly confident success.

While the graphics are slightly lackluster in small areas, like grass, New Pokémon Snap is gorgeous as a whole. The controls are solid, the design is adorable, and the game gives you a wealth of tools to work with. Combined with the fact that each path has more than eight ways to go about it and the professor wants four pictures of each Pokemon, you end up with something that has more replay value than I thought would ever be possible. And that’s coming from someone who still pops in the Nintendo 64 original. This is such a pleasant surprise that I was hyped for this game and it still exceeded my expectations.

Pokemon Let’s Go is one part nostalgia trip, and other part re-imagined classic. It’s familiar enough for those who have previously adventured through Kanto but contains some new additions to keep them busy and engaged even after the main adventure ends.

The King of Fighters XV is great game with awesome animations and deep systems, but it lacks beginner friendly, or any form of, learning tools to let newer players get in the game.

A really fun playing baseball game that mixes arcade with authenticity while featuring some of the sports most legendary players while featuring satisfying pitching and batting mechanics. The new and returning ballparks look great too and add to the environment. However, lack of features like a proper create-a-player mode, Home Run Derby mode and even something small like Replay Mode leaves Super Mega 4 Baseball just shy of a Grand Slam but is a good solid swing up the middle for a base hit to give the team the lead.