For an homage to a game from the 80's, faithfully recreating a gameplay system that was invented 40 years ago, Pretty Girls Panic! feels like a modern, funky game. The anime aesthetic is gorgeous and current, although the developers really should have done something about the quality of the sprites, and the fussy outlines from the relatively low resolution of those sprites are unforgivable given that they are the entire hook behind the game. There are also not that many stages, but with that said Pretty Girls 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 is the kind of game that doesn't need developers to mess around with it, and to the great credit of Pretty Girls Panic!'s developer, they've let the base game stand for itself.

Kitaria Fables is a warm, genuine delight. It’s not trying to tell you something deep about the world. Nor is it looking to spark debates over hard modes or subversion. It’s not aiming to challenge, belittle, insult or offend. The game’s just there to give people of all ages a chance to go on fun little quests together, as adorable little animals, with a garden of veggie delights to look forward to coming back to. It might just be the sweetest and most innocent Rune Factory or Harvest Moon I’ve come across, and that’s really saying something, since this entire "genre", such as it is, is entirely built up around wholesomeness.

Interestingly, this game participated in the Japan Media Arts Festival back in 2019 which, as far as I can tell, is quite well recognised across the broad scope of Japanese arts. It doesn't surprise me that it earned some attention there though. Nostalgic Train is an art work first, and a game you play second. Beyond even the "walking simulator" quality, this game reflects on the Japanese experience of summer in a meaningful and deeply resonant way. It might be surprising that this got a localisation, but it's a welcome one. Especially for people that are interested in learning something meaningful about Japan.

Credit must go to Nintendo for supporting this project, though. Yes, it might be the “safest” game that Goichi Suda has produced in quite some time, and the energy is just not the same when he’s retreading old ideas rather than creating something new. But then Goichi Suda on a flat day is still more creative than 99 per cent of the auteurs out there, and No More Heroes III is still big, colourful, bold and filled with surrealistic humour. With the energy dialled right up to the maximum, it’s hard not to love something this brash.

King’s Bounty II is excellent, and much like The Witcher 3, having this thing on the Switch, portable, and playable wherever is very much worth dealing with the drop in visual fidelity. Hugely expansive in scope, and deeply traditional as a fantasy RPG, for fans of fantasy RPGs, King’s Bounty II is a rough gem in so many ways, and the lack of budget compared to what the big guns can achieve is evident at every step. Ultimately, however, that tactical combat system is impossible to put down.

Tormented Souls isn't trying to be a necessarily accessible horror game. It embraces the retro heroes of the genre, and throws challenging puzzles and combat at players. More than that, though, the game has a nasty, hard edge, and ends up sitting at the loud and extreme end of the horror genre. If you enjoy your cathartic horror experiences, however (as I do), then you'll love the gauntlet of pain and torn flesh that this one throws at you.

Twelve Minutes is slow-burning, despite being about such a short time loop, but it will seep into your mind and refuse to leave. I actually dreamed in a time loop last night, which has literally never happened to me before. The concept is solid enough to stand on its own among dozens of other popular time loop media (television, film, games... it is everywhere). The intrigue and deeply flawed characters are enough to keep one invested for hours, and even worth putting up with irritating console controls.

I actually feel terrible that I haven’t enjoyed WitchSpring3 more. In isolation it has a lot going for it – I love pastel aesthetics, I love cute witches. I love the CG art. I really love alchemy JRPGs. Unfortunately, WitchSpring3 is a little too obviously a “mobile JRPG best practices” game, so a lot of its potential is let down by less-than-enthusiastic storytelling and a mechanical approach to gameplay systems that left me feeling very cold.

Curious Expedition 2 might not be too much of a step up from its predecessor, but then it also didn’t need to be. The original was already an excellent foundation in the way that it provided players with a challenging roguelike focused on exploring exotic lands and discovering incredible wonders. Now, with Curious Expedition 2, not only is that gameplay fine-tuned and refined, but the art matches the wonderous beauty that your characters are meant to be witnessing.

Despite these criticisms, there’s a lot to like about Fort Triumph. XCOM is a good thing, and Heroes of Might & Magic is a good thing. Mashing those two good things together in a way that does justice to them both is a noble effort by the developers, and the presence of skirmish mode does mean that the poorly conceived narrative can be ignored. You’ll bounce off Fort Triumph quickly enough, but it’s a good time while it lasts.

Someone I know summed up the game perfectly: this seems like the kind of game Tina Belcher (a character in Bob's Burgers) would write. And I am fully here for it. I am head-over-heels for six weapons, something I never thought I would say. The narrative, the gameplay, the music, the animation – it's all wonderful. Any complaint I have lies in the fact I am greedy and want more. Thankfully, more is on the way!

I’m really happy to see Cygames take the console adaptation of Shadowverse seriously and, rather than try and shovel a free-to-play thing on players, use this as an opportunity to broaden the appeal of Shadowverse, give the card game itself some context, and give fans the same kind of joy that they took out of Pokémon TCG all those years ago. With taut mechanics, a fun, light-hearted narrative, excellent production values and an almost obscene level of depth Shadowverse: Champions Battle is a genuinely impressive effort, and the best digital card game currently available on the Switch.

I was hoping for more from Zengeon. “Chinese Diablo” or “Hades but Asian” are keywords that should have translated into one of my favourite games of the year. Unfortunately, while the effort on the part of the developers is clear for all to see, and the aesthetics are there, Zengeon otherwise struggles to meet the highs of its peers. It is a perfectly workable game, and I could easily see a better-resourced sequel from this team delivering, but as it stands, this is a touch too shallow and mundane for its own good.

Altogether, Crimson Spires was a surprise. “Otome VN with vampires” is – and I say this with all the love in the world for both otome and the gothic – something so utterly trope-y that I had no interest in playing it. Even after reading Matt C’s review on this very website, I had no interest in it. Given that (other Matt) is the only person on Metacritic with a review of it, I suspect that many other people were put off with how blandly common the elevator pitch is. But then you start playing it and it really gets its teeth into you (sorry, I almost got to the end of the review, but I just couldn’t resist a pun). Superb characterisation, a richly woven tapestry of mystery and the smouldering sexiness of it all combine to make Crimson Spires noteworthy. There’s even a reason to buy it on Switch if you owned the PC release, since this version includes a new game plus mode with even more content to bite down on.

Toodee and Topdee could have been something truly essential if the developers had have funnelled the creative energy that they put into the puzzles and mechanics into some other areas of game design, too. Unfortunately, the game doesn't have the personality, aesthetics or energy to stand toe-to-toe with the big guns. But the puzzles themselves show a confident understanding of good design and creativity. Ultimately that is the most important thing for a puzzle game, so hopefully, the developers get the chance to revisit what they've done here with a slightly broader vision. This team clearly has talent in spades.

My suspicion is that Dragon Star Varnir will be remembered as one of Idea Factory’s greatest. There are some corners cut with the gameplay, and the Switch port isn’t ideal, but the concept, theming, art and narrative are all so different that this stands as one of the more interesting and narratively innovative take on the Grimm brothers tradition.

As the PR reads "the official version of one of the best board games!" I think that's a bit of a bold claim. It's certainly an official version, but it's not one of the best games that I've played this week, let alone of all time. I honestly don't see the appeal in Rails to Riches. It's a competent enough game, but it's far too standard for Eurogames to be mechanically interesting, and the videogame adaptation is presented blandly. In addition, the Switch port suffers from a cheap and unintuitive interface, brought over with too little thought from the PC original. If you really love your board games, then this is perfectly fine, but it's less "one of the best board games" as it is "just another one of a huge library of options that you may, occasionally, be in the mood for."

112 Operator is ultimately a niche game let down by some bad design choices on the Switch. While the premise is interesting, the UI immersive and the gameplay compelling, the control options and confusing visuals on the Switch make it hard to stay focused. This is a game best played on a workstation with no distractions, and that’s about as far away from the Switch’s capabilities as one could imagine. If you’re the kind of player who can stomach the game’s flaws and dry moments, you’d still be better off to try it on another platform.

Idol Manager really needs a console release - the scope and design of the game makes it perfect for the Nintendo Switch in particular - but in the meantime, I can see myself spending a lot of time playing this on the PC. I'm not the world's biggest fan of idols (at least, idols that aren't digital and with aquamarine twintail hair), but I do find the culture behind them fascinating to study. Idol Manager is a far more thoughtful take on all of this than I was expecting, and consequently, I've found the whole thing to be fascinating.

Everything else about NEO is sublime, though. Once the introductory ten hours are pushed through and the game starts proper, it’s an efficient burst of energy and excitement, with one of the best soundtracks you’ll ever find in a game, one of the most explosive, dynamic combat systems you’ve played in a JRPG, and a colourful, energetic, and exciting celebration of Japanese youth culture and Shibuya itself. No doubt this will be the final roll of the dice for TWEWY as a franchise, and hopefully, it has done enough here to graduate from cult status.

You don't need to have played any other Phoenix Wright games to enjoy The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles. It is related to the broader franchise (Ryūnosuke is the ancestor to Phoenix), but it's a completely separate adventure. The historical context makes Ryūnosuke's adventure particularly compelling, but even if you're just looking to let that wash over you and be entertained, there's enough humour and style to The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles that the only real problem with it is that it outstays its welcome by just a little too much.

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 - I mean, Bishoujo Battle Majong 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.

Bustafellows is part crime caper and part otome romance, and those are common enough things, but it's the quality of the writing and the strong thematic core that helps to set this one apart. It might be perhaps a little too long for its own good, and so some of the impact of it is softened via desensitisation, but even then, there's no real lull in the storytelling, and it's one of those rare lengthy games that isn't simply throwing content at players. The best crime fiction stories are page-turners, filled with excitement and drama. Bustafellows adds several proverbial tonnes of charm, humour and panache into the mix, and thanks to all of that, it is one of the most dynamic and exciting visual novels you can find.

Samurai Warriors has been one of the most precious things to me for years now. Not only have I loved the games themselves, but they've led me to another passion in Japanese history, and given me ideas for things to do while travelling across Japan that I would never have had otherwise. As it turns out, travelling to old battleground sites and Sengoku-era castles really is a great tourism activity. Samurai Warriors 3 was the start of all that and, with Samurai Warriors 5, Koei Tecmo has produced its finest effort yet. I would be incredibly surprised if this doesn't inspire a lot of people to go out and learn more about one of the most fascinating periods of warfare, contested by some of the most fascinating individuals that the world has ever seen.

As confusing as it is that this game happened at all, I loved having the chance to play it. Akiba's Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed might look like a game that should have stayed on the PSP, but the satire and humour is there, the grainy rendition of Akihabara is still enough to make this homesick otaku miss Japan, and the action remains on the right side of simple and entertaining that you can enjoy it while it lasts. Akiba's Trip isn't going to win GOTY awards, but I sure enjoyed collecting a big pile of skirts.

Of course, Red White Yellow is a micro-scale project by a developer, being sold at a minimal price. It feels almost cruel to be critical of it, but this game does have flaws that undermine its very premise, and while it's a technically proficient little puzzler, there's already a much better-realised effort that pitches in this space, called Akihabara: Feel The Rhythm. That is, of course, if you're not going to simply buy Lumines.

Death’s Door is a tremendously well-designed game, with superb production values and a tight core gameplay loop. I was immersed and impressed the whole way through, ready to rise to any challenge the game would throw at me, because I was so in love with its design and its world. You don’t have to be a fan of Zelda-style games to see the appeal of this one: Death’s Door is simply the tried and true fundamentals of game design, refined and polished to the ultimate degree.

I really hope the other platforms that Cris Tales has been released on have better performance, because those loading times alone take something special, and unfortunately undermine it. This is one of those rare times to me where technical issue really do mess with the experience, disrupting the carefully-structured panic and pulling players away from the breathtaking art. There's still a lot to love about Cris Tales, and the vision is beautiful and evocative. But we are in 2021 and battles in an JRPG shouldn't require a loading screen. No matter how beautiful and heartfelt they are.