I might constantly rail against the industry's obsession with content, but that's because I firmly believe that artistic quality comes from any artwork being only as big as it needs to convey the full weight of its themes and ideas. Most games are far too long for that, trying to spread too little thematic depth over too much gameplay. This is a rare example of things being the other way around. There's so much potential here that the developers should have done a lot more with it. It's genuinely good fun while it lasts, and that's why I'm scoring it this high. Just don't expect to get more than an hour or two of game, with another hour or so for finding the best locations for topless photo sessions with this game's large... levels.

Variety in stories and settings could have gone a long way to making Siege Survival Gloria Victis a more compelling game. As it stands, while those who enjoy a mix of strategy and deliberately melancholy narrative threads may find it engaging for a while, it’s all a bit too uneven to really recommend.

With that being said, Maid of Sker is still hugely entertaining, especially for people that are aware of the literary traditions that it's tapping into. As an aesthetic, it's probably a little nuanced and subtle for its own good (let's face it, the video game sector isn't big on rewarding nuance and subtlety), but it's great and distinctive. It's just disappointing that the development team struggled so hard in their efforts to make a compelling game to go with it.

The reality is that if you're going to make an arena score-attack game featuring zombies, you're going to need to do something really different at this point. Undead Battle Royale doesn't get there. It's not even close. There's nothing outwardly wrong with it, but there are so many other games you could be playing instead, and every second that you spend in this game you will most definitely be thinking that exact thing.

Miitopia is the right kind of silly nonsense. It's oddball, but never random for the sake of randomness. There's method to the madness, and in giving players such control over the experience, Miitopia ends up becoming something resonant on a personal level. Part of the reason I had so much fun with this game was because I had a direct hand in crafting what I experienced. I rarely laugh out loud as much as I have had with this one, and that is more impressive of a feat than Nintendo will get credit for. It's hard to get humour right over something as extended in length as a JRPG, and Nintendo nailed it.

Biomutant's concept of a colourful post-apocalyptic kung-fu adventure is an intriguing one, and when all the pieces come together, it can be a riveting ride. The world is rich and exciting to explore, with plenty of hidden secrets to find and an important, convincing environmental message tied into it and a lot of freedom in how you build your character. But poor pacing holds back the narrative potential, and for all its open-endedness, a lack of finesse in the combat system leaves Biomutant feeling messy and awkward instead of hitting those stylish action high notes it's shooting for.

There's nothing outwardly wrong with Arcaea. The presentation is beautiful, there are some foot-tapping tracks in there, and there's certainly a generous amount of content to enjoy. It's just way too late to the party for something that isn't meaningfully different to its peers. The music's enjoyable, but not stand-out, the gameplay is too-familiar and while it does have a lot of pretty girls and that is a very nice thing, is not going to help it become a memorable, standout example of a genre that the Switch is already over-subscribed with.

Rise Eterna is not terrible by any means. It's a perfectly playable effort to emulate Fire Emblem. But it's also incredibly shallow, lacks character and meaningful narrative, and misfires in several critical areas with the gameplay. On the other hand, since Nintendo and Intelligent Systems are showing no haste in announcing a new Fire Emblem, I guess we've got to take what we can get.

This is precisely the kind of small, warm story that is fundamentally impossible in our bombastic, capitalist conception of the games industry. If all we celebrate are the big games, the ones that leave us feeling like we got our money’s worth, the ones which have us posting screenshots on Twitter and the ones which blow up on Twitch – if this is the zeitgeist of our medium’s discourse, then what place could there be for the ordinary, the mediocre, the quintessentially human? I don’t know if Essays on Empathy will find an audience. If anything, it incorporates numerous design decisions which seem to impede its ability to find an audience. But it is a game which I, personally, am thankful for, and will be for a long time to come.

Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne was one of the first games I ever reviewed as a game critic, back on the PlayStation 2. I was mesmerised by it then, because I found it to be a deeply challenging, but also deeply rewarding JRPG, and its dark, genuinely adult theme wasn't so common for JRPGs back then. 18-odd years later, my interest in games has shifted slightly, and I'd like to think my capabilities and depth as a critic has matured. However, this game continues to compel me. It is thought-provoking, deeply creative, and a genuinely serious JRPG. Oddly enough, one of the qualities that drew me to the original has drawn me back to the remaster: we still don't get so many of those.

I'd love to encourage more developers to leverage 1-bit aesthetics. The high contrast and level of detail that can be worked into the art, using modern technology, makes for a distinctive and highly appealing art direction. However, it's still got to be playable. A fast-paced strategy game that is almost impossible to follow because everything is so tiny on the screen, coupled with high levels of contrast that end up encouraging eye strain, is just not on. Death Crown would be brilliant on PC, where you can see everything that's going on (I imagine). This lazy and ill-conceived port to the Nintendo Switch is almost worthless, sadly.

As much as I loved my first few hours with The Colonists, it did, unfortunately, wear out its welcome after a while. The technology tree, while expansive, is also quite linear – most missions will have players eventually congregating towards the same end game resources. The different maps do provide some strategic depth, but even then the game is low on new ideas by the end of the thirteen missions. While a random-map option would have been nice, I’ve had all the enjoyment I think I’m ever going to get with this game. It’s great while it lasts, but I would have loved for the developers to further explore the idea of complex resource trees in a more open-ended way.

Space Commander: War and Trade isn't bad. If there's one thing that can be said about mobile games, it's that developers are hugely incentivised to make sure players enjoy what they're looking at, and there's no possibility of being frustrated by the gameplay. The core mechanical elements are rock-solid, and transfer over to the Switch well. The game's biggest problem is the setting. Space should be an exotic location filled with adventure and discovery. That entire experience in Space Commander is truncated to the point that it loses that essential quality, leaving the overall experience feeling quite hollow.

In many ways survival games represent the ultimate conclusion of the open-world ethos - the experience is entirely about moving around a large space and scouring it for "loot", while largely doing away with elements like storytelling, character and any purpose beyond existing with that big space. In the interest of being entirely frank, this kind of thing just isn't for me, but with that being said I do think that Subnautica: Below Zero is one of the better examples of it in motion. It's not perfect, and the game is so weighted towards aesthetics that if you've got an alternative to the Switch you're better off seeing the full, uncompromised creative vision on that platform instead. However, this Switch port is still more than adequate, especially for those that want to craft, build, mine and craft some more while on the go.

The Famicom Detective Club games are excellent, highly traditional detective mystery stories. Some might see that as "quaint", "old", "antiquated" or even "simple." That's simply our cultural experience talking. The reality is that these games are highly relevant to the Japanese understanding and interest in the genre, entirely modern, and the core storytelling experience is so modern it's easy to forget that they're remakes of NES-era classics. Throw in some of the most stunning VN art from the very masters of the genre, and this little collection of two titles has every chance of becoming one of the sleeper hits of the year. And, who knows? If it finds the audience it deserves, it might just inspire Nintendo and Mages to make a new one. I'd be up for more Famicom Detective Club.

The Famicom Detective Club games are excellent, highly traditional detective mystery stories. Some might see that as "quaint", "old", "antiquated" or even "simple." That's simply our cultural experience talking. The reality is that these games are highly relevant to the Japanese understanding and interest in the genre, entirely modern, and the core storytelling experience is so modern it's easy to forget that they're remakes of NES-era classics. Throw in some of the most stunning VN art from the very masters of the genre, and this little collection of two titles has every chance of becoming one of the sleeper hits of the year. And, who knows? If it finds the audience it deserves, it might just inspire Nintendo and Mages to make a new one. I'd be up for more Famicom Detective Club.

Total War: Rome was the really big breakout moment for the series, and as a bona fide classic, the remaster makes sense - even if it is just for the sake of nostalgia. I don't think the strategy genre necessarily lends itself to modernisation when the thing that needs moderising the most would have taken Rome Remastered and turned it into Total War: Rome 3, but if you remember what it's like to enjoy older strategy games like Rome, the remaster is going to be quite the rush.

Neither the competent structure nor reasonable aesthetics are enough to save Beach Bounce Remastered. Once again: fan service is great, when it's in service of something. A game like Max's Bigger Bust, despite being all-in with the fan service, writes in plenty of excellently Australian humour to contextualise it. Date A Live: Rio Reincarnation is one of my favourite visual novels of all time, and it, too, is very heavily focused on fan service, while still giving me a reason to actually want to see the girl's skirts blow up (I heart you Tohka). Beach Bounce Remastered has absolutely nothing going for it, other than those spread legs. It's utterly boring.

All of this leads to a game experience that doesn’t quite feel as polished as it could have been, but with enough of that core R-Type DNA to keep me engaged enough to keep on unlocking ships. Although, once again I come back to that silly title, because even R-Type Final 2 isn’t the final R-Type. There’s DLC to come, and a premium edition just of this game if you’re particularly keen.

As someone who does enjoy poker and likes fan service, Poker Pretty Girls Battle checks off all the boxes, and as a budget-pitched Switch title, I had a ball with this. It's the perfect low-demanding game to play while watching TV or between more dense games, and given that I've been playing murder mysteries like Famicom Detective Club, the grindy (however delightful) New Pokemon Snap, and the existential nightmare that is Shin Megami Tensei III on my Switch recently, Poker Pretty Girls Battle has been the perfect "in-between" thing. It also gets even better with a couple of beers... just like the real thing!

New Pokémon Snap is a delight to play. It's bright, colourful, and overflowing with personality and while it does become a little too "grindy" for its own good, the core gameplay hasn't evolved much from the N64 original, and that's a very good thing indeed. Nintendo may have launched this in and around a lot of big blockbuster stuff (Returnal AND Resident Evil Village has been a big win for Sony over the last week), but then those games are so darned hardcore that New Pokémon Snap is exactly the antidote to them that I have needed.

A few years ago, if you had have told me that there would be a gothic horror Resident Evil, I would have laughed. What RE has traditionally done and the gothic tradition are so far apart they're almost antithetical. And yet, that is what Village has delivered. While this might be a direct sequel to the previous Resident Evil, that dramatic shift in atmosphere and theme makes this game, ironically enough, a Resident Evil for people who have previously not been Resident Evil fans. Don't worry, existing fans, there's still plenty there for you too, but Capcom's willingness to redefine its marquee horror franchise so substantially deserves real credit. The future of this venerable series seems bright when these are the moves that the developers are making.

World End Economica is written with great technique, and across the course of the trilogy it forms a true epic in structure and tone. It's really unfortunate that for a game with a lot to say it doesn't end up saying much, and I was left desperate for a character I could truly like as I played, but the strong, creative vision make this a visual novel that fans of good storytelling should add to their "to-do" lists.

It's a completely individual title that slides in nicely with what I shall, in the future, refer to as D'Avekki lore; it can be played alone, or it can be played before or after the other two titles in the "series," but any way you play it, it's a standalone experience. The noir feeling of the narrative means that choices aren't always delineated as "right" or "wrong", but, rather, a choice between bad and equally bad. The supernatural aspect somehow fits perfectly with the noir aspect. The gameplay is new yet familiar, with the developer mixing up how choices are made by going from text to video in a way that makes it perfectly clear how to play. Koehring and Cunard play off each other wonderfully, building off character stereotypes from past films and fiction when the men were "manly" men and the women were "dainty" ladies. Thanks to the trophies, it is relatively easy to explore all dark corners of the game. Basically, this is another D'Avekki hit game that I will probably never stop referencing or wanting to discuss.

Crime Opera's grand ambitions aren't limited to one game. This is the first of six (yes, six) titles that the developer has envisioned as a series. Having played this first chapter, I will be looking forward to the next one. It is a pity that the developer didn't consider presentation and aesthetics more closely for a game that is quite serious in tone and theme, but the narrative value of this game is excellent, distinctive, and original, and ultimately, for a visual novel, that's the first-and-foremost goal.

I do admire Returnal. From aesthetics and atmosphere, through to its structure, this is a game that is confident, and even brave in the “blockbuster” space that it will be playing in. You can see that the team at Housemarque had a creative vision and were prepared to lose players over it, in return for delivering a purity of that vision. And as a result, this is the first original PlayStation 5 title that I’ve found compelling, given that Demon’s Souls was a remake. When I look at why I find it compelling, it’s for the effectiveness of the horror and the slick vision for action games that it offers. Scratch beneath that surface and the game doesn’t say much to justify its existence, and it is going to be far too challenging for a lot of players, but within its fairly narrow scope, for the audience that it was made for, Returnal is going to be a vividly entertaining ride.

The point here is that Death End re;Quest is an excellent game, with a narrative with a depth that might surprise some players who go in assuming that fan service is the limit of it. And, sure, the Switch port is not the perfect version of the game and struggles to run smoothly at times, but that doesn't stop it from being highly playable, and for Idea Factory, putting this on a handheld platform is a worthwhile endeavour.

I just didn't enjoy my time in Infinite Adventures. The first-person dungeon crawl is a favourite genre of mine, and the Switch already has plenty of those, so for Infinite Adventures to stand out it was going to need to do something special. Sadly, misfires in terms of presentation and the mistaken belief that procedural dungeon layouts are something desirable to the dungeon crawler make this game flawed on every level, from concept right through to execution.

I know I've said this at least a dozen times now, but I do think Shantae deserves better than the platformer genre. She's just too good of a character to waste on a genre that doesn't really do narrative. Give her an RPG or something, WayForward. In the meantime, though, while this might not be the biggest release of the year, it's certainly a worthwhile celebration of one of the most niche - but loved - platformer heroes out there.

The big question we need to answer here is whether they're worth another dip? If you've missed the Mysterious trilogy so far (perhaps you're a newer fan due to Ryza), then absolutely. If you are an Atelier fan, then having Firis and Sophie on the Switch for the first time is a nice deal, and the photo mode and art books, in particular, are a bonus worth playing with. These are all genuine five-star games and that needs to be remembered... though its also worth remembering that these are all JRPGs, with time commitments to match, and we're being inundated with those this year. That's the only possible dampener for what is otherwise an excellent collection of wonderful games.

NieR is a remarkable piece of art, and this remaster touches up the issues people had with the original without compromising what made it such an impactful work. It’s going to be interesting to see if people give it the look that it deserves this time around, because this really is the greatest game of all time, and has always deserved more than “cult” status."

I've had fun playing this game again. It goes to show the strength of the material that Ravensword is based on that a low-budget, massively stripped-down take on the formula can still be enjoyable. I have fond memories of playing this through on my iPad over my Christmas holiday back in 2012, and there was a rush of nostalgia from doing so again on the Switch. However, the lesson that developers really should take from this is that it doesn't matter how technically impressive a game is if you can't deliver something memorable from the artistic side of things. Without a great narrative, interesting design elements, creative gameplay or similar, your game is dated the moment it has been released, and as a result every time you try to re-release it on new consoles and devices, you're going to experience diminishing returns and an increasingly tarnished legacy.

Livestream is on the cusp of being something really special. It has the right setting, the right concept, the right character designs and the right themes to give players something special. Unfortunately, the execution's a little off, and while the game is a lot of fun, it doesn't say as much as some of the greats in the genre do. It is, ultimately, just an entertaining and fanservicey horror game with some enjoyable puzzles to throw at the player. There's nothing wrong with that, and I must emphasise that this game is hugely entertaining. It's just unfortunate that it's too shallow to be remembered as one of the greats.

There’s not a lot of games like Gravity Heroes on the Switch, despite the console’s penchant for local multiplayer experiences. Most arena combat games on the system are throwaway in that they're great for chaotic fun, but lacking in true depth. Gravity Heroes bridges that gap, by offering a deep control scheme that takes time to master. The short campaign makes up for it in difficulty, and a Hard mode that is genuinely challenging. It’ll take a specific, patient playgroup for this to catch on, but I can see four friends who grew up on games like Metal Slug, absolutely loving this one.

The biggest pity is that the developers were so modest in their scope. Perhaps this little experiment is just to test the waters and get some money together for a more ambitious second project. I hope so, because Toree 3D has a lot of potential to be a more full-featured homage to B-tier platformers. As it stands here, though, it's a moment or two of fun. Nothing more, nothing less.

Even more than Monopoly, The Game of Life is a board game from a bygone era. Once upon a time, the nice, meandering journey through suburban life and expectations thereof that the game depicted was considered a representation of a happy, wholesome life experience, but in 2021 lionising that seems incredibly passe. Sticking a "2" next to the title while not doing much to address this dissonance doesn't paper over the fact that very few people actually want to play The Game of Life these days.

SaGa Frontier is a frivolous and irreverent little JRPG that eschews grand narratives and philosophies to instead focus on a charming sequence of absurd juxtapositions, genuine humour, and playfulness. It's a well-made game, and the effective, challenging and entertaining combat system stands as proof of that. It's just that it's also nothing like most other Square Enix JRPGs, because the developers clearly wanted to deliver something that defied the expectations of the JRPG genre. SaGa Frontier was such a resounding success at that that it has become a "cult classic" and while this will never appeal to the mainstream, hopefully it will find itself a new audience through this remaster.

There are moments where Fata Morgana becomes very uncomfortable to witness, and a little like when I played Saya no Uta, I did need to put it down from time to time. This game is nowhere near as explicit or extreme as that one, but thematically it is, if anything, more demanding of the player. It's a little like how the real Grimm brothers fairy tales are deeply uncomfortable to read, though it's certainly not of the extreme, overt violence of a Marquis de Sade novel. If you want to see how a visual novel could be elevated to something approaching "high art," you owe it to yourself to play The House in Fata Morgana. The fact that the Switch release comes with even more stories and features as a "complete" edition just makes it all the more essential.

Cyberpunk is a demanding genre, and Synergia is a better effort at it than we generally see. It's willing to tackle difficult moral questions, it shows genuine distress at the class systems and the hubris of corporations, and it's science fiction without being gratuitous about it. I can think of a certain big-budget blockbuster "cyberpunk" game that doesn't even come close to understanding the genre as well as this humble visual novel, and that's saying something.

There's a lot I want to like about Legends of Talia. A fantasy-themed visual novel that isn't an isekai is almost refreshing, and a morally conflicted, exhausted "hero" at the centre of the story is a nice idea. Unfortunately, this game is trying to do too much with too little, and in the end, it doesn't achieve much of anything. You can't achieve an epic narrative arc, culminating in an earth-shattering battle with a dragon, in a two-hour visual novel. The developers should have considered something a little more modest in scope and built up to this if they wanted to make this protagonist and setting really hit home.

Clea 2 is a confident step forward for a developer that has an original, interesting idea and set about turning it into something playable. It might lack the intensity of some of the horror games that it resembles, but its quiet moodiness and subtle challenges make it an interesting curiosity for those with a few hours to spare.

There are plenty of puzzles to work through of varying degrees of difficulty, and then there are daily puzzles to encourage you to log in each day. As with every mobile puzzle game, you earn experience points and "titles" as you play, which don't have any impact on the game whatsoever, but it's fun to see numbers going up. The real problem with Sudoku Simple+ is just how efficient it really is. Minimalistic elegance is fine, but this game doesn't even have a title screen, and the menu is just a block of text. Perhaps it's not a big issue for Sudoku, but there is a point where "no-frills" step into the realm of being just plain cheap.

The Apple Arcade version also includes online play with random match-ups, and these are great fun if you can't get a group of friends together but still want to test your music knowledge. SongPop Party might be a no-frills trivia game, but then that's all it needs to be, too. This is all about the music, and there's so much of that that it's not going to outstay its welcome any time soon.

It's the kind of game that can be played over extended periods of time, and all by itself it's going to encourage people to keep their Arcade subscriptions going, especially if they have a younger one in the house who won't want to lose all these levels and opportunities for play. It might not be as flashy as some of the other games released in the last week, but it might be the one that has the longest future ahead of it.

You've got to hand it to eastasiasoft for finding and bringing these fun little fanservicey games to the Switch. Delicious! Pretty Girls Mahjong Solitaire brings the fan service in spades, but it also plays a really good game of Mahjong Solitaire, and while the Switch has plenty of Mahjong Solitare titles already, none of the others have the pin-up aesthetic going for them. For just a couple of dollars, you can't go wrong here.

What saves it is the fun - if silly - story that is unlocked by completing "puzzles," the personality of the cats and characters, and the really gorgeous art style. I would never pay for something like this, but in the context of the thirty other games that got released on to the Apple Arcade in one go, I'm glad it's there as a relaxing time-waster.

Gameloft has made the game pleasant to look at, with a pixel art aesthetic that bubbles along with colour and verve. Unfortunately, it's impossible to hide that this is based on an incredibly old game, and we've certainly seen similar efforts that offer more of everything, including the all-important random events to experience on the journey. The thrill of exploring the unknown does wear away when, after just a couple of outings, you're now experiencing the thrill of the far-too-familiar events and occurrences. Still, the educational heart of the game is still there (the lives of these intrepid folks and the little pockets of civilisation along the road are a fascinating bit of history), and Gameloft has done a good job in bringing appropriate sensitivities into the game to make it something to give to the kids to play today.

The world is beautiful to explore, and apparently, it was created by building actual dioramas of the various environments and then scanning them into digital data. It's the perfect way to capture the isometric perspective of those PlayStation 1-era Final Fantasies, while also ensuring that it looks modern and a deliberate homage to those classic games of yesteryear. On every level, Fantasian is aware of itself, and also confident that there are still people out there that love the classic qualities of older JRPGs in such a way that they can deliver. It's a confidence that I certainly believe that the team behind this game has every right to hold.

I genuinely love Balan Wonderworld because it caught me at just the right moment to indulge its whimsy. I don't for a second think it's a great game or platformer, but then I also just don't care. It offers something much more viscerally engaging; raw creative energy, and I would rather a hundred games fall flat like this one has and at least give me something different than play yet another highly refined copy of something I've already played a hundred times. Sometimes, just sometimes, raw creativity is enough in itself.

There's all the usual Taiko charm in there, from the expansive range of silly costumes to dress your character in, to the explosion of bouncy energy in the background whenever you get on a roll. There's even online play, though I wasn't able to get a match going in my testing time (perhaps it's not the most popular of the 30 game drop to work through). I'm sure it'll catch an audience though. It is, after all, Taiko the Drum. That's a level of charm that is difficult to resist.

The game looks fine, though obviously paired right down over what you can eke out of your PlayStation 5 version of the game. Just what kind of graphical performance you get seems to depend on your device. On the Apple TV, for example, the crowds seem to have been turned off, which lends games an odd energy and atmosphere; the sounds are still there but the chairs are empty. I call it "COVID-19 match mode", though, so for now it's actually timely. Also, the crowds are there when playing on higher-end iPhones. Whatever the case the animation is smooth and the range of camera angles are great. This is a good game of basketball and strikes a good balance between depth and accessibility. I just wish that 2K didn't use this as a bare-bones demo for the full console experience and gave us that season mode.

Mixing, matching, levelling up, and forming strategies across such a massive, Pokemon-like range of monsters to collect and turn into special abilities gives World of Demons a level of depth and strategy that you would never expect at first, given how fast and fluid it is. Factor in the ukiyo-e-inspired art (which, no doubt, will be compared to Okami, but is much more appropriate to this game, given the narrative and visual arts traditions that Hyakki Yagyo belongs to), and a soundtrack that is heavy on the traditional Japanese instruments, and World of Demons is clearly a case of PlatinumGames looking to celebrate traditional Japanese culture and the arts. That is actually something that PlatinumGames hasn't done before, but the aesthetics, theme, tone, and quality of action here suits the developer perfectly, so, more of this in the future, please.

MazM: The Phantom of the Opera is what I would like to see more of in video games; it's a genuine effort to engage with a more meaningful side of art. It's less pop culture, easy content as it is an adaptation of a masterpiece of the gothic literature genre. The developer succeeded in capturing the aesthetics and generally representing the story, but there have been some big compromises made to hammer this nail into place, and the gamey elements and technical proficiency are just not there. Not for the Switch version, at any rate. As a Phantom of the Opera fan, I do highly recommend like-minded fans check this out, as it is a curiosity, but if you're going into this looking for a game... you'd be better off picking up a copy of the film adaptation of the musical.

When Evil Genius 2 gets it right, it gets it spectacularly right, and if you’re the type that can bury your brain into resource management while laughing at the deliberately cliched and over-the-top style of the game, you’ll have plenty of moments of fun taking over the world, one carved-out-of-mountain-rock room at at time. However, there’s still some rough edges here, and some game balancing that could have made it even more engaging, both for those who adore resource management and those who might just like the challenge of taking over the world with the help of a few shiny new doomsday devices.

Even if I could forgive the presentation and bugs, though, the reality is that is a gacha game without the real money involved, and to me, that's a bit like playing a video game version of a poker machine. The moment you take the excitement of real money being part of the experience is also the moment that you realise that these "games" are pathetic, and indeed the polar opposite of entertainment.

It's a brilliantly made example of golf and delight to play on every level. It's just a game that's also asking for a lot of patience at the rate of progress it offers.

Black Legend is not completely without merit, but it's a game that had better ideas than execution. The big, unique gameplay mechanic that dominates its combat system is also responsible for making each battle far too long, and while the game's atmosphere is excellent, the art direction is uninteresting and there isn't nearly enough of a narrative to actually make something of the setting. There are a lot of excellent tactics games being produced these days, and I fear that the developers of Black Legend won't even be able to use patches to bring it up to the standard of the least of their competitors. The flaws are simply too ingrained into the core experience.

I'm legitimately upset that I didn't enjoy I Saw Black Clouds more. It seemed to have so much promise. There were glimmers of hope – I really enjoyed the classic ghost story until that was yanked into another direction, one that I still don't think makes a whole lot of sense. Unfortunately, the entire story seems too far-fetched, minus the supernatural aspect of all things. As far as I can tell, there's only one general direction it ever takes in the end, although I remain hopeful for those other endings. The biggest problem with the game is that choices are literally the entirety of gameplay but they don't seem to matter half the time anyway, so the entire thing feels like an exercise in futility. And all that nonsense and non-decisions really dragged it down.

Spacebase Startopia is not completely without merit, but it does lack in charm and depth, and simulators need one or the other (and preferably both) else they're in big trouble. With that being said there is a very specific audience for this game; it works as a competitive simulator where you learn the perfect order for doing things and then execute on that to cruise through to easy victories. In almost any other context, however, Spacebase Startopia lacks the creative whimsy and data-driven depth that we usually expect from a great simulator.

I’m settling on the score that I have because I can’t reward work that is this derivative. But despite the score I find this one an easy recommendation for certain players out there. Kaze is a genuinely well-made game and if you like Donkey Kong Country you’re going to like this one, if for no other reason than it’s something of a greatest hits of the best Donkey Kong Country levels. If we see a Kaze 2 (and I hope we will), and the developers show us a little of their own creative ideas in there, then we’ll be looking at some really high scores indeed.

The whole collection features a promising ten games from a sorely underlooked handheld console, all of which hold up well today. The collection doesn’t have the same sheer value for money that something like the SEGA Mega Drive Collection does, but you shouldn’t underestimate how well all of these handheld titles told up today. While Volume 1 does lean heavily into the fighting game genre, it’s SNK – you knew what you were getting into. I especially liked the way that the handheld ports simplified and distilled the core of each property, but not in a limiting way: I felt like I was getting the proper Metal Slug, KOF and Last Blade experiences, but simplified down to be more accessible for a newer player. With an excellent multiplayer mode and opportunities for replay value across the titles, Neo Geo Pocket Color Collection Vol. 1 is a welcome addition to the retro compilations across the Switch eShop.

I really do love Monster Hunter. I might be terrible at it, but to me, that's secondary to the fact that it's a gorgeous, authentic bit of Japanese art. It’s like a modern take on the philosophy of ukiyo-e. It might be aesthetically different – completely different, in fact - but the ideas, storytelling tradition, and sense of wonder and awe at the natural world all translate across. In many ways, Monster Hunter Rise represents the purest execution of that idea, and from my perspective that makes it the best game in the series to date.

Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town is wholesome. It's a little naive in the way it presents the "grass is always greener on the other side" perspective on country living, but this series has been kicking around since the Super Nintendo and always gets away with it, on account of being so sweet and good-natured that it's impossible not to love.

Root Film tells a wonderfully winding, thrilling mystery in a true Edogawa Ranpo style, but what's more important is that Root Film is a gorgeous visualisation of an often-ignored but deeply valuable part of Japan. If you walk away from this game with a deep desire to see Shimane for yourself, then you've played it the right way.

It's a collection of nonograms, which play well on Switch. However, factor in that there are so many of them, that they're presented in an engaging and interesting way, and you're rewarded with something meaningful for every single puzzle completed, and Hatsune Miku Logic Paint S is well elevated beyond being "just" well-made nonograms. The Picross titles on Switch offer well-made nonograms. Logic Paint S is so, so much more than that.

I'm not sure why the developers figured they'd give the Nintendo Switch a crack with Noble Armada: Lost Worlds. When your game picks up just four user reviews on Steam in three years, it's clearly not resonating, and throwing a clumsy port onto a console isn't going to change that. If this kind of game does appeal to you, then I highly recommend Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock instead. It's on Nintendo Switch and it is infinitely better than this in offering the same kind of miniatures wargame in space theme.

You've just got to persevere with Battle Brothers to really appreciate it, and it really is the epitome of the saying "it's a marathon, rather than a sprint". Once you've overcome the horrible excuse for a "tutorial" and onboarding process, you've then got to deal with some really repetitive quest design and an astronomically unforgivable difficulty curve. But, slowly, the game starts to open up, and before you know it, you realise that you're really enjoying this thing. It's expansive, it's complex, it's nuanced and it puts complete control over the story and quest in your hands. It's everything good about Mount & Blade, but in a more compact, turn-based format. It's no wonder the game has become a beloved hit on Steam, with fans pouring hundreds - if not thousands - of hours into it. It's not quite the same experience on Switch, and yet I can't see a scenario where I tear myself away from it, now I've pushed through its various walls. A truly fascinating example of a game that's just worth the effort.

As I wrote in my review of A-Train on the 3DS: "I feel like sending a copy and a 3DS to our (then) Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, to point out to him that public transport grows cities, not the roads he is obsessed with building." A-Train: All! Aboard! Tourism is the same wonderful blend of genuinely enlightening and deeply rewarding simulation gameplay that will both make you realise the value of mass transit, and help you to understand just how hard it is to get all of it right. Even the cute anime aesthetic, which initially seems so out of place for something so complex, eventually makes sense, too. The Japanese have an understanding of the value of mass transport to a degree that perhaps eclipses any other nation. It's something that has become a source of pride to the Japanese culture, and the anime aesthetic simply solidifies the confidence that the developers have that the Japanese are the ones whose idea of public transport is most worth paying attention to.

Ultimately, Saviors of Sapphire Wings and Stranger of Sword City Revisited form a welcome package that’s sure to delight fans of dungeon crawlers. I like the way that Sapphire Wings’ moderate difficulty and focus on narrative serve as a good introduction before throwing players into the much more punishing Stranger of Sword City. I’m glad that Experience Inc.'s western partner, NISA, is seeing the value in releasing these niche games to a Western audience, and the added appeal of playing these games on-the-go is a plus for the genre. And speaking from a purely value-for-money perspective, you’re getting two full length, lengthy games for the price of one, and you’ll be happily dungeon crawling for weeks and weeks if you choose to pick this one up.

For a homage to a game from the 80's, faithfully recreating a gameplay system that was invented 40 years ago, Bishoujo Battle Cyber Panic! feels like a modern, funky game. The anime aesthetic is gorgeous and current, although perhaps a little too safe given that Azur Lane: Crosswave borrows from the same aesthetic while upping the fan service ante significantly. However, Cyber Panic! also has plenty of replay value and an excellent leaderboard system for such a minimal price. Most compelling of all, though, is the fact that the game is an uncomplicated and well-done take on Qix. Qix the kind of game that doesn't need developers to mess around with it, and to the great credit of Bishoujo Battle Cyber Panic!'s developer, they've let the base game stand for itself.

Gnosia might not be a new concept – there are so many video games out there that feature death games with deception at the core of them. Last year’s Quantum Suicide even set the scene in space and had a less-than-benevolent AI pulling many of the strings, just like Gnosia does. But Gnosia is something rare: it is really, truly different. The developers wanted to take this common-enough concept and craft something that was truly their own, and not only have you got here a game that you won’t forget in a hurry, it’s also going to have you actively thinking about just how smart it is for some time to come.

If you actually listen to what the game's saying, and pay attention to the literary genres that it belongs to, this is really quite a remarkable experience.

While I have some minor issues with Steam Prison, this is a glorious, thrilling adventure, told with expertise and panache. It goes to some very dark places, but never comes across as exploitative or "cheap" in how it does it. Backed up with gorgeous aesthetics and a distinct setting, Steam Prison blends some complex ideas together while ultimately keeping the focus on what people come to otome for - a great harem of men that are all so interesting that it makes choosing between them a real challenge.

Harvest Moon: One World is ultimately forgettable and limited, but I didn't regret my time playing it. Perhaps that is simply because I'm such a fan of these anime-casual farming sims, and have been since the "genre" emerged all the way back on the SNES, but as someone who has played an awful lot of these things, One World's effort to do something different by getting you to travel around, and the streamlining of the farming mechanics so you can focus on the best bits, is admirable. There's still a long way to go for Natsume and its development teams to catch Story of Seasons, and I question the wisdom in releasing this game to compete directly with the upcoming new entry in that series, but this is still a genuinely pleasant little world to lose yourself within for a while.

Is Ghosts ‘n Goblins Resurrection for everyone? No, it most definitely is not. It’s a very deliberate game that demands to be played on its own terms. That means accepting Arthur’s slower, more deliberate movements, the realities of a single jump, fixed arc system for platforming, and a brutal difficulty curve that rewards patient play, all the while gently mocking you when you cross one threshold only to be ground into a fine paste by the very next trap.

You do have to reward creativity, and Legal Dungeon is genuinely creative. This is not a job or process that you would have ever imagined could be gamified, but there you have it. It tells a fascinating story, especially as an outsider to the Korean legal system, and while it's not a particularly comfortable experience on the Nintendo Switch, and perhaps a little imprecise for a puzzle game, it is very difficult to put down.

Littlewood is charming and bright, and wears its “indie spirit” on its sleeve. The developer has created something highly playable that also acts as a lovely homage to the Harvest Moon tradition. By all accounts, Littlewood has been a commercial success, too, on its prior release on PC. That success is deservedly so, but hopefully the developer can invest some of that into some refinements for whatever their next project is, but there’s more ambition in Littlewood than the scope of the budget allowed.

Maquette - and the development team - deserve better. There's some real talent evident in the unique, interesting, contemplative and rewarding puzzle design here, and that kind of quality occurs less and less frequently in this vapid and action-obsessed industry. The development team also know how to write interesting and emotionally engaging narratives - we don't see stories about love told with this kind of sincerity anywhere near often enough. Unfortunately, the one and only problem that the game has is also the thing that almost breaks it; the two elements that the entire experience relies on are at near-complete odds with one another.

Neptunia Virtual Stars is an intelligent, relevant, topical and timely satire. It does represent a new direction for the series, and is clearly an effort to find a way to stay relevant now that the jokes that previously provided the foundation for the series have lost their relevance. In doing so Idea Factory decided to experiment with the gameplay, and while that wasn't executed to a particularly fine degree, the heavier focus on narrative and the sheer energy of the whole package means that I found it impossible to remain disappointed by the game's rough edges. The rest of it was too much of a laugh-out-loud delight.

Actually, to say that this game is an "insult" is an understatement. This is what happens when a bunch of manchildren get together and giggle at how edgy and "subversive" they are when they use Internet abbreviations and refuse to capitalise properly in a product that they've put on sale as though they are professionals. "Ooooh, we're so awesome," you can just hear them giggling at themselves as you play this. "We're like, totally deconstructing language."

It seems inevitable to me that there are going to be a lot of people that dismiss Bravely Default II as a “retro-style JRPG.” They’ll see the turn-based combat, the very “JRPG” design of the characters, and all the other genre tropes that the game indulges, and assume that that’s all it is. Nothing could be further from the truth. Nuanced writing, impeccable design and subtle subversion highlight that Bravely Default II is, instead, a game that uses its genre rather than allow it to become beholden to it. In many ways it's a highly metafictional thesis that explores what people love about JRPGs, and what is genuinely important to the genre. In doing so the game has become this wonderfully nuanced, beautiful, entertaining and emotive experience, and in my book, that makes it a masterpiece.

Room to Grow is a game that asks to be played on its own terms. And while it’s unlikely that every player will enjoy staring at the same grid-screen as the minutes turn to hours, carefully checking every permutation of movements to finally find the one golden solution, when the game finds its intended audience, the design here really sings.

So there are some very clear positives and very clear negatives to Little Nightmares II. The narrative is quite good, solid with lots of meaning flowing beneath the surface. The gameplay is mostly simple enough, the settings are ugly-pretty, the music enhances everything. Basically, it does wrap into a neat little package that can be unwrapped in layers. I can't ignore the issues, though, mainly with the lack of options and repetitiveness that can happen with failure. Still, Little Nightmares II does in fact feel like a conclusion to the first game in the series, yet still manages to turn it into a never-ending story so that someone else would be able to continue with the world. In that sense, it's actually quite clever.

Curse of the Dead God's biggest problem is simply that it exists in a ridiculously over-saturated space, and doesn't do anything meaningful to help it stand out. In a world post-Hades, it's hard to see where this one fits into the library of any but the most over-committed roguelike fan. That's not a fault of the game in itself. Once you understand how to play it and have learned its rhythms and studied its enemies, it's perfectly competent at what it's doing. It's just lacking a bit of verve and panache, so it will never have the same appeal as its already-storied peer.

If you've ever enjoyed a Metroidvania before, then you'll probably enjoy Cathedral. The fewer of the genre that you've played the better, however, as the lack of original creativity will wash over you easier with less experience and fewer points of comparison among Cathedral's peers. Otherwise, it's a perfectly competent example of the genre. It's just a pity that the Metroidvania genre, in particular, is so over-saturated that we just didn't need more of it.

You do also get to play around with photo modes and the like; Compile Heart play the fan service up to its maximum, and there are some little bonuses in there for people who already own the game on PlayStation 4. Really, though, there's not much to add above and beyond our review of the PlayStation 4 game; this is an almost surprisingly good port to Nintendo Switch, and thanks to those mobile roots it does feel like a game better suited for the comforts of a handheld than the "big screen" - the combat action lacks the sustained thrills for the big screen experience, but the dynamic twitch gameplay makes for the perfect commute killer.

I can only hope that this isn't the end of of this little project.

Ginga Force is one of the better shoot ‘em ups I’ve played. As someone who traditionally is not a fan of the genre, this game absolutely gave me reason enough to play each of the levels. It is a shame that the narrative is too difficult to follow as it happens alongside the action. The ability to upgrade weapons and purchase bonus items, even after failing a level, is a welcome ingredient to allow people who only casually play within the shoot ‘em up genre the ability to enjoy the game enough to get through to the end, but the fact that a lot of the good stuff is locked behind "for genre veterans only" difficulty settings does whittle down the game's potential audience a little.

teamcoil’s PUSS! is memorable for its visual style and bizarre aesthetics, but the gameplay sadly doesn’t match the creativity of its graphics. For any player excited by the surreal dialogue and fearsome bosses, there will be another player who won’t be engaged in navigating simple mazes. I anticipate the difficulty will also be prohibitive for some players, and it does feel like the challenge and repetition are the only things stopping the game from being overly short (and there’s only so much that can be done to spice up this style of gameplay, too.) I love that the Switch’s eShop is a home for strange games like this one, and I appreciate the nod to Newgrounds culture, but this one left me wanting a lot more.

With a second season pass to come, RoTK XIV is a significant investment, but it's one of those games that becomes a hobby all by itself. The portable platform suits it, as the clean aesthetics and design look resplendent on the Switch screen, and while it's not exactly a pick-up-an-play experience, it's also the kind of strategy game where you can get a lot done when you've got an hour's spare over lunch or before bed. This is going to be on heavy rotation for a long time to come.

Grey Skies: A War of the Worlds Story is one of the strongest arguments that copyright should remain on literature into perpetuity. I don't really believe that, of course, but when any hack can take a classic novel of such gravitas as War of the Worlds, and turn it into a delivery mechanism for a form of propaganda that the author stood diametrically opposed to, there's a problem. Not only has this developer completely insulted the author's memory and undermined the integrity of his work, but they've willfully delivered a game that completely misinterprets everything about the source material... and as a fan of Wells, good literature, and good video games that's just an insult to the intelligence.

For so many people, Super Mario 3D World is going to be an all-new experience, with the bonus of an all-new half-game in Bowser’s Fury. For the rest, it’s an excuse to play through a masterpiece of game design and then, as a bonus that almost overshadows the "main" event, there’s the new Bowser’s Fury to play through. Either way, this is an exceptional first release for Nintendo in 2021, and it’s a safe bet that the Switch is in for a big year, even as those new generation consoles from Sony and Microsoft start to pick up steam.

Persona 5 Strikers surprised me. I was expecting something down the lines of Hyrule Warriors or Fire Emblem Warriors – a game that was true to the franchise, but also explicitly a “Musou” title. But Strikers isn't that. Koei Tecmo has somehow crafted not only a genuine sequel to Persona 5, the JRPG, but the team has managed to equal it. Or – if action combat is your thing – perhaps even exceed it. That is no mean feat.

If you hadn't played the Nioh games previously - perhaps concerned over their difficulty - then don't let it miss you the second time. They are difficult, but that was essential in setting the desperate, nightmare tone and atmosphere. One other key takeaway that I've had from replaying both games for the remaster is this: what nearly made me quit the first time around has become comfortable now. The learning curve is glacially slow, but you do actually "learn" how to play these games, and there's a real sense of reward that comes from pushing through. Now, if you have played these title already, the upgrade isn't anything to write home about but, then again, perhaps you just want two brilliant games on your PlayStation 5. It's not like either Nioh is going to age poorly; you're going to want to revisit them at some point. You may as well play the best version.

If you’re going into Gal*Gun looking for some voyeurism, then you’re playing it wrong. At the same time, if you go in without a strong stomach for fan service then it’s going to throw you out too. Gal*Gun is for people who enjoy a kind of hyperbolic satire that borders on the transgressive and enjoy light gun shooters. It’s almost a dead genre these days, but Gal*Gun Returns is, all things considered, an example of it at its best.

Where Ys VIII took the series so close to becoming something that I could love, Ys IX gets it there. It tells a strong story with vibrant characters, has a great setting, gorgeous aesthetics, and slick combat, and most importantly, it balances all of that out in a way that is nuanced and engaging. I have reviewed three top-flight JRPGs in just the last week alone, and with a pile more to come in the coming weeks, 2021 is off to an incredible start for the best genre of them all.

Märchen Forest will be chalked up as something "weird" or "zany," I'm sure. It's not really. It's what would happen if you got Salvador Dali and Lewis Carroll together with the Atelier and Shiren the Wanderer developers, and while that sounds like a mix too eclectic to work, it does in a way that can only be described as "surprising" and "delightful." Märchen Forest is better in concept than execution, but that concept is so strong and original you're doing yourself a disservice if you don't grit your teeth through the more laboured gameplay bits.

But for myself, who liked every aspect of Olija, the whole package is a flawed but thoroughly impressive ride. There is a lot to enjoy here, in a game which lets the player feel alienated and disempowered one moment, and then agile and dangerous the next. It wins even more points for the way that it perfects the cinematic platformer formula which has a lot of nostalgia value, but not a lot of modern interpretations. I love that Olija arrives as a palette cleanser to the Metroidvanias and the rogue-lites of the side-scroller scene, and I wish all the success for it.