The various unique systems blend together quite nicely and help to take the traditional danmaku action in a slightly different direction. There are times, though, where this STG could have been a little more creative and really embraced the fact that it's a spin-off. Even with the unique barrier and stun mechanics, it feels a little too familiar. Still, that's not likely to bother someone who just wants a good challenge, because they will find plenty to test their skills on here.

Even accounting for its tough AI and problematic online mode, Fast Beat Loop Racer GT is still quite impressive. Races are just as intense and fun as fans of the genre could ask for. Dealing with traffic while trying to overtake rivals creates an awesome dynamic. It's especially satisfying to make those minor nudges and miss other vehicles by inches. The RPG aspects aren't too intrusive and actually help add to the challenge. After all, a faster car is harder to control. All in all, this arcade racer is a success.

For everyone out there who has been beaten down by the relentless pursuit of thrills and high scores, Yoku's Island Express is going to feel very refreshing. It's a charming vacation filled with beautiful locales. Taking the time to explore everything is highly recommended. The emphasis on pinball lends the game a superbly-realised identity. Utilising an array of bumpers and flippers to get around is somehow more fulfilling than tapping a jump button repeatedly.

Dillon and his adorable little hamster friend Russ roll back into the Tower Defence scene with fresh and futuristic tale of Western adventure. Dillon's Dead-Heat Breakers builds on the previous games, heightening the action with intense races and expands the universe with an intriguing cast of characters/recruits. There is a steep learning curve and a lot of investment needed into the main tower defence gameplay, but it is worth rolling into in order to save those adorable Scrog critters.

STAY starts as an nail-biting adventure that's hard to let go of - literally and figuratively. Soon enough, however, it will become an exercise in frustration, partly because of the slow pace of it all, but mainly due to some bad design choices, with the aggravatingly cryptic, and speed-bumpy puzzles taking the biscuit.

While the Enhanced Edition does make for a more tolerable experience, Space Hulk: Deathwing is still held back by an incredibly under-designed campaign, along with clunky mechanics that ooze into the multiplayer. The aesthetic, and overall tone, does shine, but the core gameplay loop feels severely lacking. While it's by no means bad, the combat simply isn't engaging enough to justify long playthroughs and the improved performance does nothing to fix the fundamentally inconsistent level design.

Little Nightmares: Complete Edition manages to do what it couldn't do when it wasn't complete: it satisfies the hunger for adventure. It is still not a game for everyone because of Tarsier Studios' complete devotion to telling a story in the most vague and dreamlike way imaginable, with no dialogue at all. It may be a bit obtuse for some people, but the intent of the developer has always been to allow the player to take what they will from the imagery and to consider it on a deeper level.

A shining example of graphics not making a game, players who look past this issue and some user interface designs will find in Lost Technology a game with multiple, well-written plots, engaging strategy, and an entire system that encourages multiple replays. It is rare to have a story that is actually unique, compounded with a simple, yet deep strategy layer that combines into an overall package highly recommend for strategy fans that can handle a little anime flair.

Evoking the sense of classic Arcade gaming, Don't Die, Mr. Robot! DX embodies the strengths of pick up and play games to their fullest, providing mere minutes or many hours of satisfaction as needed. Much more of a solo offering than a crowd pleaser, Mr. Robot's ease of play and addictive high score trophy collecting ensure the game's icon will find a recurring place on the Switch's home menu.

As a jumping in point, it would be difficult to recommend Assassin's Creed Rogue. However, as a product in and of itself, it is a cohesive experience with hidden levels of depth and progression possibilities, backed by exceptional presentation values and fun fighting and seafaring mechanics. Completionists looking for an irresistible challenge and franchise fans who missed out the first time around will find a lot to love here.

It struggles in the RPG department, giving players little-to-no reason to care about any of the events, and offering barebones levelling and equipment. More imagination in these areas would have made this easily one of the best games in its genre. Instead, the general repetitiveness and lack of role-playing, lore, or decent equipment or skill systems make it a run-of-the-mill roguelike that happens to have an absurdly clever combat system. In the end, though, it's easily worth its price, and definitely worth keeping an eye on the people involved to see if they can improve upon its format in the future.

Super Dungeon Bros. is one of those games that is best described as inoffensive. It doesn't do anything wrong, but at the same time it doesn't do anything right, either. It is a perfectly fine multiplayer experience for roughly an hour or so, before things start to get boring and blend together. Single-player is not nearly as enjoyable, and the online player-base is essentially completely dead, but if you can wrangle up a friend (or three), there are certainly worse ways to spend an afternoon.

For just under a tenner, Octahedron is a mightily impressive package. Its '80s-derived neon-aesthetic is a very cool backdrop for one of the most impressive 2D platforming experiences on offer so far this year. The sense of challenge is very finely-tuned and progressive, being unforgiving while still managing to keep the player coming back for yet another round.

While the procedurally-generated campaign does leave much to be desired in the way of level and mission design, the core gameplay loop is solid and the missions themselves emphasise the action more than anything else, keeping consecutive playthroughs engaging. Controlling the plane is easy to pick up and hard to master, but it all pays off due to just how satisfying the gameplay is. Rogue Aces is a by-the-books arcade experience that offers a fresh take on dogfighting.

Break Arts II is a deceptively complex racing game that is sure to create a dedicated and hardcore fan-base. Complex construction mechanics allow for the creation of machines that can be wholly unique to their builder. A high skill ceiling serves as a fine complement for the construction, as all the time spent in the garage will pay off as that machine navigates the small sampling of challenging tracks. While the combat interactions can feel unsatisfying at times, mastering those elements with the others provides players with a worthy challenge.

With attention to detail within every nook and cranny, watching how their two stories diverge and converge at integral moments of the game is a fascinating experience that needs to be played through twice. Playing as both Leo and Vince will offer two unique story paths, as they both have different roles in solving puzzles, while narrative-forks provide a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure element to the story.

The most impressive thing about this is its pleasantly corny, '80s-esque name, because, besides the fact that Raging Justice is a brawler of below average quality, it makes the mistake of being way too much in love with its source material, and doesn't stray one bit from it.

As bizarre as the idea of Grim Reapers, turn-based battles and Scrabble-like wordplay all together sounds, Letter Quest Remastered really makes it work, and enjoyably so. The harsh difficulty hikes in later story missions can be jarring for the wallet-grinding they then necessitate, and there isn't a great deal of diversity in enemy design and environment, but once the addictive nature of word building gets its hooks in, prying them off isn't easy.

From beginning to end, Dark Rose Valkyrie feels as if it has every flaw of the JRPG genre combined into one package. The characters are stereotypical instead of memorable, the story sort of… sits there, and the battles are slow, and depend more on grinding than tactical thinking. Apart from all this, Compile Heart's creation is audio-visually unimpressive, a technical mess, and feels as if it hasn't spent the right amount of time in the oven.

Earth Wars is not particularly creative or brilliant, but it works entirely within its limited means to deliver a comfortable, enjoyable experience. Every minute is spent engaged in fast-paced combat, and there's just enough to keep players occupied until something else catches their interest.

Warmind seems to indicate that Bungie is serious about getting Destiny 2 back on track, although a lot of that could be the result of better updates between expansions, rather than any real excellence from the expansion itself. Still, Warmind is a significantly better expansion than last year's Curse of Osiris and brings back a little of the mystery that made uncovering secrets in the original title so compelling. The Destiny 2 experience might still be a little off, but this is a pretty good place to jump back into the action.

With several secrets to uncover in each stage and a risk versus reward checkpoint system, FOX n FORESTS comes off a creative action platformer with a strong identity of its own.

The vast, beautiful world delivered through complex geometry and loads of lighting effects is truly compelling and the relaxed pace of the exploration is nicely complemented by the quirkiness of the dialogue. Character models are a bit on the weak side but this just adds to the quirkiness of the in-game universe.

Not only will Episode 2: Hide and Seek not turn the heads of those who didn't like the first part of The Council, but it will probably disappoint the ones that did, as it takes a couple of steps backward. The journey through the realm of mystery thrillers it offers remains a somewhat engrossing one, but it surely needs to think a lot about its next step if it is to succeed.

Along with being the definitive way to play Strange Journey, Redux stands out as one of the best games in the Shin Megami Tensei franchise all around.

It might have taken a couple tries to get the formula right, but Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition is exemplary. Much can be said about the absurd amount of content, but what really takes this game to the next level are the various refinements. The item card shop alone makes a world of difference for dedicated adventurers. There's also the enhanced frame-rate, which lends a better sense of control and situational awareness to the player. They are better equipped to notice those subtle changes in enemy behaviour, or realise when a massive attack is coming.

Although Saturday Morning RPG certainly captures the feelings of playing a Saturday morning cartoon, that quality may very well be its downfall. The episodic format, coupled with the fairly involved battle system, make for a breath of fresh air in the early game, but they quickly become repetitive and rather dull, much like a typical '80s cartoon.

There is plenty here for newcomers of the series to enjoy, as well, as long as they don't care about minor things like character introductions. Along the way, they will encounter some fun and often self-referential humour and some challenging puzzles in a colourful and sugary sweet package.