Where Star Fox stamps its value is in the new part of the game. The multiplayer is exceptional and will have some real lasting power, especially given that space dogfighting games with multiplayer modes are almost shockingly uncommon. With any luck, this release is an example of Nintendo testing the waters for what’s next, and we get even more Star Fox with even more of this multiplayer in the years ahead.

None of these enhancements and new features make Xenoblade Chronicles substantially better. They merely refine a game of almost incredible scope and direction. If nothing else, this release has been an excuse to play a JRPG that has grown on me to become one of my favourites of all time. It is and remains one of the most intelligent, emotional, beautiful and expansive visions in the genre’s history, so I’m not complaining about its release at all.

With clean controls that support pick-up-and-play football, a staggering number of teams, and very moreish gameplay loops, backed by a much lower price tag than its immediate competitor, eFootball Kick-Off is a perfect reminder that while a truly rancid host nation can undermine the delight of a World Cup, nothing can destroy the love for the sport.

Typically, a weak narrative would matter to me. Even with my action games (see: NieR), I like to play something that has something to say (and that’s why I don’t quite hold Zelda in the same esteem as some others). However, with Elliot, the gorgeous production values and entertainingly breezy action roped me in anyway. This is a charming, if transient little game, and has the added benefit of demonstrating that HD-2D is a versatile engine that developers have only really started to play with.

Of course, there’s absolutely no point in playing this if you haven’t played the original, so like all reviews of a fan disc, this one is largely pointless (although if you haven’t played Birushana yet, you should absolutely do that and then consider diving into this one as well). If you really enjoyed Birushana, you’ll love the playfulness and additional story arcs of Winds of Fate. None of these stories are essential unless you did love the original, but I’ll never be one for criticising a developer for giving the fans their fanservice.

Which brings us back to how fundamentally impressive it is that this is on a handheld console now. I might be on the older end of the millennial generation, but I remember how exciting it was to have Final Fantasy IV, V, and VI on the go thanks to the Game Boy Advance. This is the kind of on-the-go experience that was pure science fiction not so long ago.

007 First Light is, ultimately, a better game for the Bond nerd than I expected it would be. The team at IO Interactive clearly love the property and have done for it what Larian Studios did for Baldur’s Gate 3; provide a level of dedication to the source material that’s so fastidious that you might argue with a decision here or there, but it’s difficult to get too cynical about a game clearly made by genuine fans of the property.

This is one of those games where the leaderboard dominates the experience, and Sektori’s scoring is complex and nuanced enough to reward true expertise in play. Whatever position you earn on that leaderboard is entirely earned. In my case it’s a very low place indeed, but I can’t stop playing and trying to beat my own score, let alone anyone else’s. I might never reach the top of Sektori’s leaderboard, but I can recognise the utter design brilliance that has gone into making this game. I can’t believe that so many people are overlooking this thing.

This is an excellent port of an essential, thought-provoking JRPG. Tales of Arise’s ambitions to deal with a weighty, pressing theme slightly outpace execution, particularly in the latter half of the story, but the effort is noble, and the game is certainly capable of generating thought and discussion like a great work of art should. Also, Rinwell’s just the best.

You just know that Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is speeding face-first into a relatively muted response from critics and consumers alike. They will appreciate the art style and energy, but we don’t really have a framework in gaming to properly celebrate the kind of experience that the game is. Less challenging than Mario, less expansive than Donkey Kong, and less intricate than a Hollow Knight, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is best thought of as a toybox, filled with playthings for the imagination and rewarding if you approach it that way, rather than as a traditional “game.” I personally think it’s utterly wonderful, but then I spend my entire life chasing creative whimsy.

Because the developers were so inept at resolving this tension, I lost interest in Mouse: P.I. For Hire within the first level, and each subsequent stage found me disliking it more and more. It’s a competently and even entertainingly made game, but a dismally cynical work of art, and it never manages to shake the impression that the only reason that it looks the way it does is that the marketing team thought that it would be a good way to “stand out” and shift units.

Supermassive Games has brought the Dark Pictures Anthology back with style and panache. Directive 8020 suffers from being a little too generic in concept and letting itself down with gameplay elements that are at odds with the cinematic quality, but the game does work as popcorn horror and doesn’t overstay its welcome.

Saros is a good game, and I need to be clear about that. The sheer speed and kinetic energy of the combat, the visual design, and the moreish nature of the roguelike loop come together to make something that is, by any objective measure, well-made and something that consumers clearly like to play. But on the other side of the coin, I really can’t stand Saros because I look at it and all I see is the cynical Sony studio formula slapped over the top of what was, a half-decade ago, a pretty fine game. In fact, I think I’ll dust Returnal off for a replay.

It has been a very long time since a game has been that compelling that I’ve lost track of time so much that I see the morning sun come through my window. I’m getting too old to manage that. Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era did that to me. Yes, it’s in Early Access and therefore feels like it’s limited compared to what the final game will be (though I’ve yet to have a crash or see a major bug), but the developers would have to do something catastrophic to ruin this, and I choose to have faith: This is going to be one of my favourite games of the decade. [Early Access Score = 100]

So we’ve got a game that has zero respect for aesthetic traditions, gameplay that is no more than a shallow grind, and a game about Japanese demons that somehow fails to be interesting to a guy that has a library shelf filled with books about yokai, yurei, oni and the rest. What an intolerable disgrace this is to video games as an art form.

It’s beautifully produced and absolutely in line with the way that Jansson’s Moomin works ran. They’ve always left me wanting more, and I can’t wait until the next Moomin game comes my way.

Under Par: Golf Architect is charming and very welcoming, and that first golf course you create will be a truly fun process. After that, though, you’ll realise that Under Par has nothing else to offer and is such a disappointing missed opportunity. It’s all the more strange that the developers would do this because the same team previously created Hundred Days, a vineyard business simulation, and that one was genuinely interesting and engaging, and had proper tycoon simulation challenges built into it.

Of course, Minos’ fans – and the game deserves to have a lot of them – will tell you the plot isn’t important. What is important is its creative sandbox and gleefully gory approach to what is essentially a tower defence game. And on that I would agree with them. Minos is really difficult to put down once you start finding yourself daydreaming about new ways to combine your trap arsenal together.

It is worth noting that I gave Hidden Around the World’s predecessor, Hidden in my Paradise, a great score. But for some reason, Hidden Around the World resonates less with me. It’s cute. It’s fun while it lasts. But with the frustrating bugs and very little narrative, it is also easily forgettable. One major problem I’d like to forget is that the game didn’t improve on Hidden in my Paradise: the same issues persist, which were easier to overlook the first time around. When there are already problems, don’t just copy and paste them into another game. It’s just the same, and that doesn’t cut it for me.

Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream is somehow both a satire of all these life simulator games and also the most wildly entertaining one that I actually want to keep coming back and playing. It’s truly madcap, chaotic fun, and every second of it is a delight. I wish I could share screenshots of just how silly the relationship between Dee Dee and “me” really got. Unfortunately, though perhaps wisely, Nintendo’s made it very hard to get screenshots off the Switch 2 for sharing with Tomodachi Life. Nintendo knew exactly what direction many people’s little communities of Miis were going to go. Nintendo knows us all too well.

I haven’t been able to put this game down, though, because through its weaknesses, it is a clever spin on the basic idea of Scrabble, and thanks to all those items and board variations, a nearly endless variety to make each new game its own experience. It might not be the “level up” on Scrabble, I imagine the developers went into the project aiming to make, but they certainly have come up with something that is perfect to pair up with a coffee on a Sunday morning. And I do love my Sunday morning coffee games.

Many people assume that the only point of otome is the romance, and the appeal is minimal beyond your interest in male fan service. Anyone who has played otome games realises that this is not the case, and Homura: The Crimson Warriors is a particularly strong example of this. It’s both “girl and reverse harem of pretty men” AND quality historical fiction, and that’s a combination that’s hard to put down.

A great effort, overall. Don’t let this one disappear in the swill of shovelware on the Switch’s online store.

Those amusing bugs aside, Greedfall: The Dying World is an earnest project by one of the most earnest game developers out there. It’s a game that is trying hard to say something important about a topic that is of great importance, while structuring it into an RPG that builds on the truly interesting world and lore conceived in the original. Spiders remains the best of the B-tier European RPG developers, and that’s a compliment. Belonging outside of the big-budget blockbuster developers affords a creative freedom that Spiders has never been hesitant to embrace.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder is arguably the finest Nintendo platformer ever, for the way that it managed to perfectly capture Nintendo’s entire philosophy towards platformers. This review might sound flat on the game, but that’s only because the “DLC” that’s been added to the Switch 2 upgrade is difficult to be quite so enthusiastic about. Still, if this is your first time with Super Mario Bros. Wonder, it’s adding more to an already brilliant package, and if you already have the game, the “DLC” is only $20, which is more than reasonable as an excuse to dust it off for another whirl.

It’s just a really nicely designed and executed game. I don’t think Ariana and the Elder Codex will be the kind of experience that sits in people’s memories for months and years after finishing it. I also don’t think that it’ll be something people are recommending and writing essays on a decade from now. It’s a bright, charming game made for easy consumption right now, and sometimes that’s all you need.

The “remaster” is good because the game itself is, but given some of the work we’ve seen in remakes and remasters in recent years, this one is far too pedestrian for its own good. I can’t help but wonder just how incredible Tales of Bersaria could have been if it was given a full-on remake to bring it to parity with the most recent new game in the series (Tales of Arise). That could have been something truly special.

Ultimately, Path of Mystery might not have the impact that a Famicom Detective Club, Phoenix Wright, or Danganronpa might, but this visual novel has plenty going for it. A cast of characters with a brilliantly written and believable set of dynamics between them, a clever mystery, told well and surprising enough to keep its hooks into you, and truly gorgeous art and presentation. Aksys picked a good one to localise, and the game deserves more attention than it’s getting.