Giant Kings padded out some of Age of Wonders 4’s remaining weaknesses. Archon Prophecy, on the other hand, further honed the strategy game’s strengths — it’s a robust end to Expansion Pass 2, greatly increasing the game’s role-playing opportunities and variety.

2K did the right thing by launching it at a relatively budget price, and the release date means there’s little for it to compete with so I’m sure it’ll do well. Still, there’s something here. It’s a solid B game. It’ll keep you pushing through for its short runtime and then you’ll turn it off and you’ll fuhgeddaboudit pretty quickly.

If you’re someone who loves this kind of logic puzzle, then Is This Seat Taken? is a must-buy. It uses simple rules to create complex scenarios that feel great to solve as you untangle the web of conflicting desires. It only makes me wish I could do the same whenever I have to get on public transport.

Apex Legends now is a very different game to when it first launched in 2019 – we certainly didn’t envision being able to play it on a handheld then – but that means if it didn’t appeal to you before, there’s a good chance that the game now offers something you might like. This is still one of the best battle royale games you can play, and the Nintendo Switch 2 version is incredibly solid. If you’re looking for a fast-paced FPS to play on Nintendo Switch 2, look no further than Apex Legends.

It all comes together to make a game that is definitely on the right track. While the lack of roguelike elements might mean I don’t play this game quite as much as I do the original, Descenders Next shows that the series is still the pinnacle of momentum-based gameplay. Going downhill fast has never been so much fun. [Early Access Review]

Dear Me, I Was… is a short but incredibly bittersweet story about life, the things we all love and fear, and human connection. If you’re a fan of animation, then it’s hard not to recommend.

It’s messy, as it should be, because life is messy, and creating art is messy. I’d probably stop short of saying that Surgent Studios has created a masterpiece, but if ever there was a need for proof that games can be art – something that has been proven countless times before and will be countless times again in the future – then Dead Take is as good a proof as any. It’s an unmissable, tense experience, and one I’m glad I got the opportunity to have.

Hunter x Hunter: Nen x Impact is more jank than janken. Maybe a definitive edition with DLC characters will become a fun distraction for Hunter x Hunter fans that also play fighting games, but in its current state it’s hard to recommend to anyone.

Altogether, Eremite Games learned a lot from the slightly controversial Keepers of the Stone — the content offered in Nightwatchers is not only great, this time there’s plenty of it: Redemption complete. Can we get, like, armadillos next?

This is one of the most inventive, exciting multiplayer games in years — a proper remedy for all the copycat hero shooters we’ve had to contend with. It might look like one of those at a glance, but Wildgate is something else, an experience we haven’t had before. Get three mates, choose a ship, and head out into the rift for the most fun you can have online right now. If Wildgate's post-launch plans come to fruition, it's only going to get better.

Unfinished Business is a bit of a weird one. It improves a lot of foundational stuff from the main game, but it also tries some new things that don’t quite land. It has better combat encounters, but its side missions aren’t as well thought out. Its lack of hubs is also a disappointment after watching Detroit and the PD change throughout the main game. Still, Teyon is the only studio doing these love letters to classic movies at this quality level, and there’s a lot to like if you go in with your expectations in check and your brain turned all the way off.

Ultimately, you already know if you’re going to like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4. If you played and enjoyed the last remake, it’s basically an essential game on any platform. While I don’t care for the litany of customization options, the core gameplay is fantastic and the classic levels have been recreated beautifully. 3 + 4 has almost everything you’d want from a remake of Pro Skater 3 and 4.

I quite like Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, but when I’m not playing it, I’m not eager to return. Soulslike games are a dime a dozen in 2025, and need a truly unique aesthetic or hook to capture an audience. I’m not sure Wuchang has enough of either, and the changes that are present don’t really elevate Wuchang’s combat and progression above its contemporaries. There are far worse Soulslikes than Wuchang, but there are better ones too.

It’s a little messy and definitely has a few missed opportunities, but the core gameplay is so much fun that I couldn’t put it down. It captures the thrill of exploration that made Odyssey so compelling while taking the gameplay mechanics in a completely unique direction that kept developing in ways I didn’t see coming, and that’s exactly why I love Nintendo’s fun-first approach to design so much. If you’ve been waiting for a reason to buy a Switch 2, it’s just arrived.

I’d go so far as to call Odyssey RimWorld’s best and most essential expansion — it widens the scope of this already fantastic story generator to a truly planetary scale and even beyond.

Persona 5: The Phantom X does a great job of giving you main story content of a quality that is as good, if not better than Persona 5, and uses that good will to tempt you over to the more gacha-ified aspects of the experience. To do this, it makes a few compromises to the Persona formula that I don’t like, mostly in how it deemphasizes the life-sim elements, but I still think it is a very enjoyable experience that will keep you well-fed if you’re gagging for more Persona content and are impatiently waiting for Atlus to get on with making Persona 6 already.

Still, there’s nothing quite like this — especially since Ubisoft turned Rainbow Six into an online hero shooter. No one makes proper hardcore military sims anymore; that door has been closed for a while. Well, Ready or Not kicked the door right in and proved there’s still a massive audience for them on PC. With a few patches, I’m sure it’ll do the same on console.

Every Day We Fight is an interesting, refreshing take on turn-based tactics games — one that will shine all the more once Early Access has worked out balancing issues and added content for greater variety. The fundamental mechanics and ideas are already in a great place. [Early Access Review]

Yakuza 0: Director’s Cut is the best way to play one of the best games in the series. It looks great, runs well, and the new English dub is very good — with a few exceptions here and there. It stumbles in a few places, but it rarely sullies the charm of the game that millions adore.

So it’s a bit of a faff to find the right setup for you, but once you have it, Nintendo Switch 2 is a perfectly cromulent way to play Cyberpunk 2077. It’s by no means the best way, as it has performance issues and limitations that the other current-gen versions don’t have, but it’s still Cyberpunk 2077; it’s still one of the best western RPGs in recent memory, and the novelty I get out of playing it on a handheld device never ceases to make me smile.

Every single criticism I had of Death Stranding has been addressed, allowing this sequel to show the full genius of Hideo Kojima’s vision. His favourite music, the recurring themes he explores, his famous friends, the tribute to Low Roar’s late frontman Ryan Karazija, the nods to his previous work, the post-COVID anxiety imbued into the story, and even the Kojima-made trailers leading up to release – playing Death Stranding 2 feels like making a personal connection with the man himself. He’s reaching out his hand from the other side and there’s little you can do but grasp it. You can feel the brush strokes, and now and then, that wink. A Hideo Kojima wink.

Fortnite is better on Switch 2 than it’s ever been on a handheld device, and a night and day improvement over the original Switch version. It’s more than serviceable in both docked and handheld modes, and it’s almost certainly going to be my main way to play going forward.

Sonic gives me hope that my 34th year will be my best year too, and Sonic X Shadow Generations feels like a great way to send off the old era of Sonic while welcoming a new one.

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma stands as one of the better life-sims out there, striking a good balance between the village, its people, and the outside world you can explore. The town-building elements make it really feel like you’re regrowing these places into prosperous societies, and it’s a lot of fun getting to know all of the colourful personalities that reside there. Combine that with simpler farming and a solid main narrative, and you have the perfect place for Rune Factory newcomers to start.

FBC: Firebreak is a first-person PvE shooter that wears the skin of a game that people actually like. It’s not bad, it really isn’t, but none of my teammates want to play it again. I just hope that when Alan Wake 3 and Control 2 roll around the characters of FBC: Firebreak won’t be important, because I’m going to forget that this ever happened in less than six months, and it’ll just be another paranatural event for the conspiracy mags.

Street Fighter 6 is the most popular fighting game of the generation, seeing almost seven times the entrants of the next most popular title at EVO Japan 2025. It supports an aggressive playstyle and in its first two seasons has introduced characters that feel more bold and daring than anything we saw in Street Fighter V until its final days. It is, undoubtedly, the best fighting game to play in 2025, and it’s shockingly good on Nintendo Switch 2.

Survival Kids is better than I ever expected it would be, and it’s brought me an enormous amount of laughs as my friends and I stumbled through surviving on and escaping a tropical island. It’s held back somewhat by its limiting puzzle design, but when it all clicks and you’re laughing it up with friends and family, it’s hard to pay much attention to the few flaws it has.

Image quality aside, Fast Fusion is a speedy racer with a lot of content, and it’s also one of the cheapest Switch 2 launch titles, only being beaten by Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour. It’s a minor shame that there’s no real online matchmaking, but at the price point, Fast Fusion still presents the best deal you can get at launch on Switch 2. If you’re still eager for a new F-Zero, Fast Fusion will fill the void in your heart for now.