Fantastic. The Vorpal system is a clever twist on the format, adding a neat extra layer of strategy to the game, but it's the cast that really makes Under Night In-Birth stand out. There's so much love and creativity gone into the roster, and that, more than anything else, will make or break a fighting game.

A dearth of hints, an enormous plethora of potential leads and an overall lack of narrative urgency means that only the dedicated players will see the game through to the end. A good detective novel can spellbind its readers with only words. A Case of Distrust can too, if you have the patience and concentration to make it through the whole way.

This is quite simply the best Monster Hunter game I have ever played.

The gameplay isn't enough to carry the simple story and Vesta shouldn't be played in anticipation of the engrossing dystopian tale that it initially promises.

It's a clever mix of sentimentality and satire, structured in a way that's quite unusual for JRPGs. With most games in the genre, the end boss is the goal and triumph. The Longest Five Minutes is a love letter to the genre that wants you to remember that you're meant to enjoy the journey in a JRPG, too, and I certainly walked away from this game with a renewed appreciation for the spirit of adventure in these games itself.

Nothing about Space Invaders Extreme is fundamentally different to how it was in Space Invaders, but it is the greatest arcade game packaged up in a way that the modern audience will find it palatable. Hopefully people are still playing this 40 years down the track, as I am still playing the original, because it deserves to be. It's just that good.

Perhaps Insult Simulator won’t be the game you play longer than Persona 5, but I have no quarrel whatsoever with games that know what they can deliver and avoid overstaying their welcome. Insult Simulator is one such game, and it is no insult to say I had much fun with it.

By and large EA Sports UFC 3 is the best offering from the series yet. The standing combat is well nuanced, and most of the choices made for career mode felt like steps in the right direction. Ultimate Team feels a bit out of place and unnecessary, and the overall lack of roster inclusions and modes makes this a slightly more shallow offering, but the key is the combat... which words far better when a fighter is on their feet and not down on the mat. I was engaged for several days, spending plenty of time playing the game, but the reasons that most people continue to play an EA Sports title until the next iteration comes along just isn't as strong in EA Sports UFC 3.

There’s no fun to be had in Baseball Riot, just monotony.

The game may not do too much more than tick the boxes of what one expects of a platformer, and stumbles a few times on level design and coherence, but the wrapping of the game is a masterfully neat bow that will really help to draw in an audience.

This is, genuinely, the first time I’ve ever been hooked on an online-orientated competitive game.

Shadow of the Colossus is, in a way, overwhelming. It’s not just that the beasts that you are fighting are so massive, and the challenge in taking them on with nothing but a sword and bow can, at first, seem monumental. It’s overwhelming for its emotive power, its rich themes, and its uncompromising vision. There’s nothing genuinely like Shadow of the Colossus out there, and hopefully this new, pretty version, as superficial as that prettiness is to what makes the game so important, encourages a new generation of players to try it for themselves.

Most importantly of all, you really can ride the trains, and the game is absolutely gorgeous. About the only thing that would have made the experience even better is if you could jump off the train and explore the stations and cities that wouldn’t be developing were it not for you. That aside, the game plays beautifully, is perfectly comfortable with a controller, is expansive, and is both enjoyable and illuminating. Everything that a good simulation game should be, really.

I can't stop screencapping because it is all just so adorable or hilarious, or both. Now I have a folder with hundreds of cat-loving screencaps that nobody will ever see again. I feel like Floofybutt hoarding goodies he finds on the island. I have a cat problem and I'm proud of it.

It costs $15. That's the most galling thing of all. This thing is free on mobile, and yes it supports microtransactions, but for people who just want to play a cheap and nasty clone of Monopoly once in a while, "free" is about the right price for it.

Lost Sphear, as with I Am Setsuna before it, is a beautiful, heartfelt bit of classical Japanese videogame storytelling. It’s not a game that you should be playing for the gameplay in so much as it wraps nostalgia and some more modern ideas together in order to tell something that is both memorable and soulful. It’s a beautiful, emotive game and with it Tokyo RPG Factory has cemented itself as one of my favourite JRPG outfits going around.

It’s got all the hallmarks of a successful JRPG, but dressing it up in beautiful hand-drawn maps and a stunning soundtrack hasn’t gone far enough in helping to conceal its flaws. It’s a shame, because the bones of a great game are there. They’re just too bogged down in a shaky delivery to be enjoyed in the manner that they deserve.

Despite moments of brilliance and an overall lovely aesthetic, there are mechanics which seem to be at odds with each other and thus the game seems conflicted. One moment you’re slowly following an enormous, glowing beast through an oceanic tunnel, and the next you’re chaining drifts together to zip through tight caverns while breaking through cracked glass panes.

It's energetic, exciting, fast, and also highly technical. It's everything that a fighting game needs to develop a core of competitive players, and in that regard it's the best Dragon Ball game that has been produced in quite some time. But - and it's a big but - when I first saw this game in action I had hoped that the appeal of it would be broader than just to existing Dragon Ball fans, and the developers have really struggled in that regard. The game relies too heavily on you already loving the characters, and already understanding the logic and lore of the Dragon Ball universe, before it starts to open up and allow you to love it.

Ultimately, The Red Strings Club tries and succeeds to be deeply thought provoking. Whereas other sci-fi games can tell a great story and make the player fear for a hypothetical future, few have made me question my personal definitions on fate, ethics and humanity. Maybe it’s because The Red Strings Club isn’t weighed down by all the empowerment that traditional action sci-fi games wear on their sleeve. Maybe it’s because the writing is simply out of this world. Either way, I can imagine this game is something which sci-fi and narrative game fans alike have been waiting eons to see – so try it out for yourself and just try to come out unchanged.

The spirit of competition is alive and well here, because Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition is a complete game, which feels a little strange for me to type, because in some ways it took us two years longer to get here than it should have.

If nothing else there is genuinely nothing else quite like Ambition of the Slime, and the concept of actually leading weak, largely defenceless units into battle is such a clever way to flip the tactics RPG on its head that it’s well worth looking into for fans of the genre, purely as a curiosity if nothing else.

As a game, Beholder is really well made. It has an interesting aesthetic, clever, challenging mechanics, and plenty of paths through the game. Its real struggle is in getting you to genuinely care about what’s going on, and it’s hard to get there; the gameplay too often makes it too clear that you need to make decisions that have little to do with your moral core.

SpellForce 3 is a great addition to the series. With an engaging storyline, interesting characters and gameplay mechanics it manages to straddle the line between genuine RPG and RTS better than most other attempts, which generally end up strongly weighted one way or another.

The bigger screen and better resolution of the Switch makes Of Mice And Sand the game it wanted to be. The extras added into this edition makes it the definitive version. It’s a very pleasant, enjoyable and entertaining little game, but its biggest problem is hard to get past; I wanted it to be far more memorable. It simply struggles to take its excellent foundations and turn it into something truly special.

All together, Azkend 2 is a perfectly workable and enjoyable match-3 game. If you’ve played quite a few of these in the past then you’re probably going to question whether you need even more of them, but then again, this is the first match-3 game of its kind on the Switch to date, so perhaps there’s an audience for it. It’s not going to be your game of the year, but you might just get a lot of play out of it.

The Nintendo Switch hardware itself is just perfect for Mouldy Toof’s endlessly entertaining vision.

Planetbase is good, and I’ll never complain about having more simulators to play on my PlayStation.

Fallen: A2P Protocol wants to be XCOM meets Mad Max, but the development team lacked the ability to truly understand either the apocalyptic setting that it borrows from Mad Max, or what XCOM does to work as a tactics game. Derivative and bereft of any meritorious ideas of its own, Fallen: A2P Protocol is the first really big disappointment of 2018, because in the hands of a mature, talented developer, that idea could have been brilliant.

What Tiny Metal, as a clone of Advance Wars, does unfortunately abstract things too far, to the point where there’s no real strategic depth left.

You’ll feel deflated – if not outright miserable – after playing it, but it’s also a truly masterful example of writing and storytelling, and it’s the kind of game that people should play, because it will prove to be genuinely challenging and, hopefully, encourage them to think a little more critically of the world around them.

This is one of the nastiest video games ever made.

Stikbold lacks any kind of narrative or gameplay substance to be a compelling single player game. Sadly, it’s all too simple to be an effective multiplayer title, either. It’s passingly fun.

The Coma doesn’t outstay its welcome, and tells its story over five or so hours. Sadly it’s just not frightening enough. The implications of the story it’s telling are terrifying, and certainly this will discourage anyone who thought they wanted to do a couple of years education in South Korea, so the themes that form the basis of game are potent. But where Creeping Terror had me gripped with its aesthetics and tension and never let go, The Coma is simply too inconsistent and clean to really work as a piece of horror.

For a game made by such a small team, Plague Road drips with genuine quality. Mechanically, it’s a tight, efficient roguelike that gets the core gameplay loop down perfectly, which means that it can be very hard to put down. Some misfires in how the game is themed and presentation let it down, however. It’s not quite as cohesive as I wanted it to be, and while the art style is tantalising, the game ultimately fails to build the lore and fiction that it needed to give it the depth it needed to be something truly special.

The fact that this is a terrible port on the Nintendo Switch only makes things worse. All I can hope for at this point is to have a developer show up with a vision, a way to turn the WWE series around and begin from scratch. Perhaps next year. The Nintendo Switch would be a perfect platform to start from scratch and create something truly magical that does the art of pro-wrestling the justice it deserves.

Sadly the limitations that it has leaves Tactical Mind as a game that only holds long term value as a local multiplayer experience.

Gorogoa is quaint, expressive and beautiful, delivering a lush narrative full of different potential interpretations carried by game mechanics which challenge players to think in unfamiliar and creative ways.

For what it is, Feral Fury is a lot of fun, building upon established arena shooter conventions with high production values and vibrant, kinetic gameplay. While I admit more could have been done with the game’s interesting story and setting, I found every other facet to be immediately enjoyable. If you don’t mind some things feeling like a retread of prior games, Feral Fury is a competent entry in a universally enjoyable genre.

It has all the presentational and gameplay elements it needs to be really great. But this developer's track record isn't there, so what we’ve got here is a game with a translation bad enough that it effectively breaks the game.

If you’re a fan of shooters and relish the challenge, Enter the Gungeon is absolutely at the top of its genre. This is a game with meaningful, complementary mechanics and a tight gameplay loop which will have you playing for days.

Overall, Omega Quintet is a game that good-naturedly tries to punch above its weight.

Hiragana Pixel Party is a game with an identity crisis – it’s too shallow to be a serious learning tool but it’s too serious about learning to be just fun. It’s on a console with more than a few proper rhythm games which feel more intuitive to play, and honestly you’ll pick up about as much Japanese from this game as you would while playing Project Diva with dual language subtitles on. I would have loved it to be more ambitious, and to find more ways to be a useful language acquisition tool, but as of now it’s only useful to players who want to learn just hiragana and katakana.

Road to the Olympics is a solid addition to Steep. Even if the story mode is lacking, the Olympic events and new Japan-based massif are more than enough to make this worth your time, especially with the PyeongChang games on the horizon. It might look like one of those weary licensed games of the PS1 and PS2 days, but fret not, because Road to the Olympics is the real deal.

This is one of the more unheralded Super Nintendo JRPGs, but the update is of a high quality, and while I don’t think it’s a classic example of the genre by any means, it is still a very enjoyable game. A clean, enjoyable combat system, plenty of enemies to fight, and a bit of exploration and puzzle solving on the side; this is the kind of classic JRPG experience that I’ll never get tired of.

It's Worms, and Team 17 has done a good job in restraining itself this time around so that the only gimmicks within the game genuinely add to it. What's important to note here is that the Nintendo Switch is absolutely perfect for Worms, and that fact alone makes this the best entry in the series in years.

SeaBed is a beautiful game. Some pacing issues aside, it's a poignant exploration of love and heartbreak that manages to feel both grounded and ethereal. One thing's for sure: this isn't a game I'll forget in a hurry.

There's nothing of value in Wonder Boy Returns. It's the weakest platformer I've played for years, and were it a free Flash game, as it so closely resembles, I still wouldn't recommend it.

I found Dead Rising 4: Frank’s Big Package better put together than the original release. This time around you don't need to worry about the real conclusion being behind a paywall, and there are two new modes to enjoy. Especially for those who didn't previously own an Xbox One and thus missed out of the original, the result of this package is that you've got something genuinely good fun to play this holiday season.

It’s the most enjoyable Kemco game I’ve played to date. More of this and fewer generic RPG Maker-like “retro” JRPGs and I will become a real fan for this company.

Despite my irritations with the combat system, Ōkami remains very playable throughout, and given the beauty and power of the rest of the game, I wouldn’t let a trifle like a slightly cumbersome and chaotic combat system get me down over the whole game. This is a real, bona fide masterpiece and is, if anything, getting better with age. Ōkami is not a “Zelda-like”, and deserves far more respect to be compared to a series that, arguably, it’s superior to.

As someone who has every intention on buying his own pinball table at some point (or, hopefully, more than one), the appeal of having real pinball experiences is such that I’ll buy all of the tables in Stern Pinball Arcade, but it’s lacking the features and robustness to allow it to properly compete with Pinball FX 3, and the lack of leaderboard features just kills its long term appeal.

Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock serves a particular niche; it’s for people who are both strategy game fans and Battlestar Galactica fans. I don’t know how many of us are out there, but I hope there’s enough that the entire development team gets rewarded for the excellent work that they’ve done. Yes it’s a budget game and a really authentic Battlestar Galactic experience really should also have solo flight and ground missions, but as a complement to the overall franchise, I couldn’t ask for more. This game is brilliant.

It's addictive stuff, all up. I've been playing Zen Studio's various releases for years now - in fact, aside from Hatsune Miku games I can't think of anything I've played more than these, and with the Nintendo Switch I imagine I'll continue playing long into the future.

Although short in duration (my meticulous approach lasted two hours plus), and it really needed more to the game for the kind of story that it was telling, Attentat 1942’s poignancy managed to stir me on several occasions, and its ending in particular was touching.

Tokyo Xanadu is good. It’s a lot of fun and Nihon Falcom has a real touch with combat systems that its developers deserve real respect for. The biggest challenge I found with the game was finding the motivation to actually finish it; it might not get anything wrong, but it’s such a lengthy quest that it really needed a greater thematic depth to maintain my interest, and unfortunately it wasn’t quite able to replicate Nihon Falcom’s own, brilliant, Trails of Cold Steel in offering that.

Caveman Warriors is a competent platformer weighed down by the problems of a game which wants to be Metal Slug, and Trine, and Joe & Mac, but hasn’t synthesised a unique mechanic or gameplay loop to set itself apart.

Games like Hidden Agenda are what we need to see more of. The game itself isn’t perfect, but it is a perfect example of games that try new ways to tell a story. Full credit to Sony for trying something new with the mobile phone linking system.

Knowledge is Power is an entertaining quiz game, and based on my multiple playthroughs I’m yet to hit a question for the second time. It's Mario Kart-style item system ensures that most games are close, no matter the quiz knowledge. At the same time, the questions themselves are entertaining and varied enough that this one comes highly recommended for trivia heads.

SingStar used to be a tremendously fun party game way back on the PlayStation 2, and I still have some fond memories of the PlayStation 3 incarnations. SingStar was a beast, but the lack of backwards functionality, latency issues and a rather generic song list is no way to “celebrate” what made SingStar so great back in the day.

Uurnog Uurnlimited is a Nifflas game through and through, but unless you’re a diehard fan of his puzzle design philosophy, this isn’t a game which will win you over.

The lack of narrative hasn't stopped me from pouring hours and hours into Sky Force Reloaded, and I don't doubt I'll put in a great many more—I have to perfect every level on Insane difficulty, after all. This is a game that doesn't do anything new, but it takes a classic genre and delivers on it so well that it's hard to fault the lack of innovation. If you have even the slightest interest in shoot 'em ups, this is a game you don't want to miss.

Make no mistake – despite my criticisms, Apollo Justice is an unforgettable entry in the Ace Attorney series. It serves to push the series’ overarching plot forward in meaningful ways while hammering home the value of truth to a world that so desperately tries to avoid it. It even represents the peak of comedy in a series that is renowned for it.

Star Ocean 4 looks incredible on the PlayStation 4, too.

It'd be easy to write off New Style Boutique 3: Styling Star if you're not interested in fashion or fashion games, but I'd recommend at least trying out the demo. If even someone as void of style as me found it as enjoyable as I did, you might just find your perfect fit.

Hopefully, in the not too distant future, THQ Nordic will see fit to bring out a new de Blob game that takes the core idea of what makes de Blob an enjoyable time, and builds upon it by modernising the more archaic elements of the game.

It’s simple enough to pick up and play while waiting for the bus, yet also deep enough to put in marathon sessions when you should be asleep.

So I enjoyed my time with Xenoblade Chronicles 2 a great deal, but it saddens me that I ONLY enjoyed it a great deal. I honestly can’t believe that a studio of Monolith’s size and prestige would somehow miss that its narrative is rife with tonal inconsistencies, and leave me wondering whether I was playing something serious, or a shift by Nintendo and Monolith to capitalise on the recent success of Compile Heart’s Hyperdimension Neptunia.

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 is in an odd spot where only diehard comic book fans will really appreciate all of its references, but those that already care about these characters will want to see them interact in more meaningful ways. Instead of giving players an interesting original story, it’s just yet another by-the-numbers LEGO title that will leave players occasionally laughing between bouts of frustration between its dull combat and often counterintuitive puzzles. Ultimately, this is one brick that doesn’t have to be collected.

Once you’re into the right mindset though, this is a game which will capture your attention and keep you guessing even after the credits have rolled.

Of the two, I give the tip to the first Revelations, as that boat setting really is up there with the original Resident Evil’s mansion, and Resident Evil 0’s train as a distinctive and brilliantly designed environment. Otherwise I find these games to be unremarkable. Entertaining, but unremarkable.

Of the two, I give the tip to the first Revelations, as that boat setting really is up there with the original Resident Evil’s mansion, and Resident Evil 0’s train as a distinctive and brilliantly designed environment. Otherwise I find these games to be unremarkable. Entertaining, but unremarkable.

I appreciate that Kemco does its business by tapping into people's nostalgia for games from the SNES and PlayStation One era, but insulting fans that have fond memories of those games with trash like Antiquia Lost needs to stop.

There’s not a lot about this expansion that reinvents the wheel; the franchise has been around for almost two decades now, and each iteration essentially gives you flashier and more refined ways to enjoy old systems. The animals are realistic, have their own inscrutable temperaments, and sometimes live to frustrate; that’s their charm. You’ll be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t love hanging out with cute critters, and Cats & Dogs is yet another great addition to a consistently high-performing saga.

Releasing another version of this game doesn’t feel like it adds anything to the Pokemon franchise as a whole, and just makes me want a new Pokemon game on my Switch all the more. It’s still a very, very fine game, but as a product release, this one is quite disappointing from Nintendo.

Releasing another version of this game doesn’t feel like it adds anything to the Pokemon franchise as a whole, and just makes me want a new Pokemon game on my Switch all the more. It’s still a very, very fine game, but as a product release, this one is quite disappointing from Nintendo.

It’s a relaxed, laid back and generally amusing side story to the Final Fantasy XV universe, and it throws some great variety and boss battles into the gameplay mix. It’s not the essential VR experience, but it is a delightful little game that fundamentally benefits from the VR platform.

The sheer precision that Superbeat offers, whether you’re using the touch screen or buttons to play, allows the developers to really ramp up the challenge, but do so fairly. The way each track is scored also perfectly fits with the music theme, and so each track feels different to play. And, consequently, each player is going to find tracks outside of their comfort zone difficult to get a feel for. I can nail that Latin American track, but damn I’m terrible at sludge metal. So, yes, Superbeat is superb, but as a result of my desire to avoid a number of tracks like the plague, there's not as much in there as I might have otherwise liked.

Of course there are a lot of top down shooters on the Switch now. Some, such as Jydge or Mr Shifty, actually do some interesting things with the structure. Crimsonland is the polar opposite. It’s the safest, most generic example of the dual stick shooter in years. There’s no denying there’s a visceral thrill in the action that it offers, but let’s just say it’s just as well the game’s priced to be a cheap bit of throwaway fun.

What lets Uno down is the online infrastructure. There aren’t many players, for a start, and it hurts the appeal of playing online when it ends up being against one human player and two AI. You may as well just play the single player, especially considering how frequently drop outs happen. Conveniently this happens most frequently when the other human player is close to losing. There doesn’t seem to be a punishment in place for that. At least AI players have honour.

Monopoly on the Switch works, much as it did on PlayStation 4. There are some nice little elements, like themed boards, which don’t change the gameplay in any way, but are fun to see. All the popular Monopoly house rules are in there too, so however you like to play the game you’re covered. Loading times are a bit long, and the AI takes its sweet time to take each turn, but otherwise it’s a very clean, visually appealing take on the board game.

It may seem like I’m being extremely harsh on The Frozen Wilds, but it needed to offer something new. Guerrilla Games has made an excellent world with some very interesting lore behind it, and I am definitely keen for a sequel, but at the end of the day, unless you are a huge fan, and really want to know more about the Banuk tribe, there’s no real point to this DLC.

With a bit of touching up, Zwei:The Ilvard Insurrection looks good for a game that came out almost a decade ago. With a great combat system that is supported by a good deal of lighthearted storytelling, this is an action RPG that people who have enjoyed games brought on by Nihon Falcom’s recent rise in prominence in the west shouldn’t miss out.

I really like Gear.Club, though it is overly simple as far as “serious racers” go, while also lacking the personality and spirit that makes an arcade game soar. It’s a game that’s hampered by being on the Switch – a console that’s not really mechanically built to enable serious racers. At the same time it benefits from being on the Switch, where there isn't any real competition just yet.

Sadly, Busby: The Woolies Strike Back barely meets the quality standards and expectations of the genre in its infancy, let alone all these years later.

I love Far From Noise. It's one of my highlights for the year. Not as a game - because it's barely a game. I love it because it's genuine bona fide art, made with that explicit intent and, importantly, successful at it. It's a game that weaves a masterful story, and would only really work as interactive art, because ultimately, what this game is about is a conversation... and it wants to hear your answers as much as it wants to pose questions to you.

Star Wars Battlefront II gets a lot of things right. The presentation is absolutely top-notch, the gameplay is fun and well-executed and the choice of property is among my fall-time favourites. Where Star Wars Battlefront II has hurt itself is in a lack of care around the ability to play with your friends and a progression system structure around microtransactions. While those optional purchases are (currently) turned off, they will be back in some form or another and in the meantime, players are left with a hell of a slow grind in making progress... slow to the point that it's just not entertaining.

The process of investigating and ruling out the traitor is an engaging, multi-part affair that feels meaningful, and the fact that traitors are randomised means that no two playthroughs are going to be the same - the replay value of the game is through the roof. However, for everything good about it, it’s inevitably let down by the unfathomable frustration that is the combat in this port, and there will be those who are unable to look past that to the gem hidden underneath.

I know which game I’d rather play. School Girl / Zombie Hunter is not the longest game, which makes it ideal for quick bursts of fun. It has a brilliant little gameplay loop that certainly has its bugs and low-budget irritations, but never stops being utterly entertaining. Throw in the most perfect take on trashy B-grade horror that I’ve ever seen in a game, and there are not many other games released this year that I’ve had more fun with than this one.

I cannot see Ace of Seafood lasting beyond the hangover that will follow you and your mates playing it together, which is probably the only valid occasion for trying this game out. Ultimately, Ace of Seafood is a one trick lobster.

I wasn’t really playing Hyakki Castle for the “gameplay” so much as the opportunity to run through a gauntlet of stunningly-rendered yokai, and the game really scratched that itch. This is the first game for Asakusa Studios, and with it, the team has announced itself as a real talent, and a group of artists and coders with a real understanding on how to meld Japanese tradition with very modern gameplay.

This is a game that offers such poignant and relevant social commentary, and after many years of being either PC-exclusive, or released in a very watered down fashion on game consoles, it’s great to see that this great experiment in giving us the tools to play around with humanity is finally on console in a full and unabridged way.

The Just Dance franchise hasn’t grown a lot since its heyday, but it doesn’t need to. Most of the songs included are a lot of fun to dance to, even if pop music isn’t your thing. The gashapon reward system offers an incentive to keep dancing without making it feel like rewards are constantly out of reach. Grab a friend and clear the lounge-room, because it’s time to get addicted to dancing all over again.

This Is The Police aims to be something of a higher production values take on Papers, Please. For the most part it succeeds, and certainly Lindsay loved in, as you can see from her perfectly fair take on the game. But truth be told the simulation/ strategy gameplay isn't that involved, so what I was left with was the narrative storytelling, and while every moral conundrum gave me real pause to think, too often I thought my emotions were being exploited and toyed with by a game that was going to play out the same way regardless. That in itself is worth talking about in the context of a conversation around determinism, but I was still left feeling a little cheated, truth be told.

The experience also naturally fits with the Nintendo Switch and handheld gaming.

It remains true that Cat Quest is a hugely reductive game that strips the RPG formula to its very roots, and that lack of depth becomes tiresome towards the end. I'm glad that this is not a game that outstays its welcome, but at the same time it's not a game I'll remember, beyond that adorable skipping run of my adorable little furrball.

It isn’t what I was expecting, and initially it was confounding, but the more time I spent with it, the more I came to love it for its grungy underground spirit.

Far too shallow to stand up to the crop of other tactics JRPGs released this year, in what has been a really good year for the genre.