I thought going in that it would be something special. I think it still probably is something special. But with the console and television set up that I've got, and no apparent way to make the text and font more legible, I wasn't able to experience what makes this game the stand-out horror experience that the other reviews suggest that it is (and I've got no reason to believe that those reviews are in any way inaccurate). Unfortunately for me Darkwood is unintelligible, and I'm genuinely sad that I wasn't able to appreciate the many merits of a game because I simply had no way of actually making sense of it.

Team Sonic Racing is a decent kart racing game. It’s very unfortunate that Sumo Digital decided to fixate solely on the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. The lack of SEGA’s wide variety of franchises makes the game feel very samey throughout, and only fans of Sonic will get a kick out of the use of the IP. On the plus side, the team elements of the game works really well and that offers a unique way to play a kart game. It’s not the best or most interesting racing experience out there, but there’s some entertainment to be found in Team Sonic Racing, particularly for younger fans of the blue hedgehog.

Blood & Truth, however, lacks an experimental spirit. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but it’s too easy to look at this, look at what conventional games achieve unburdened by VR, and still think that these “AAA”-minded developers are struggling with the limitations of the platform.

It’s testament to the charming quality of Kairosoft titles that you’ll keep playing them, even after realising how utterly pointless they are. Pocket League Story is another example of this. You’ll keep telling yourself that there are better options on the Switch for both football management and simulation… but then you'll find that you keep coming back to this because that good-natured charm and colour is simply irresistible.

We don't get many games that aspire to be true and honest works of art, but Observation is one.

If you’re planning to play a grindy dungeon crawler in short bursts over a long period of time, you’d be in the best position to get something out of Lapis x Labyrinth – but if you’re looking for something a little deeper than a button masher you might walk away disappointed.

Atelier Lulua's an interesting one from Gust. On the one hand it's certainly the most visually impressive and detailed effort we've seen from the series to date. Gust has always had limited budgets to work with, but the team has really pushed themselves here to make something that does look very "next gen". It also plays very cleanly. On the other hand, Atelier Lulua is a very traditional game, and is an effort to bring fans back to trilogy that has had two other full trilogies developed in-between. It's almost painfully delightful, warm, colourful, and completely charming in everything that it does, but its reliance on nostalgia and series tradition means that I'm just not sure that this will be one to win the series new fans.

OTTTD is a quality example of the tower defence genre by SMG Studio, and it is no wonder that the original release of OTTTD scored favourably enough that a Switch port, years later, would make sense. Is it essential? No, this genre was never about being “essential,” – it’s tailored right down to the core as a simple way of passing time with accessible challenge. But SMG Studio has nailed that brief, and this game does deserve to be considered among the very greats of the genre.

Castlevania Anniversary Collection is an excellent, high quality retro collection. It is of a collection where too many of the games don't hold enough value beyond their nostalgia, and it's lacking titles I would have considered to be key. However, with a great set of features, and plenty of classic dark fantasy platforming, this package is a useful reminder of just how prestigious the entire franchise really is.

On the surface, Akane is a super difficult game that requires absolute dexterity with a controller. It has some fantastic ideas which sadly are all cancelled out by mechanics and design choices that fight against the good stuff. It looks gorgeous, and can be enjoyed in really short spurts, but unfortunately there’s just not enough substance in this game to consider recommending it above the vast array of games available on the eShop right now.

Regardless of which way you choose to play, you get a supremely balanced, intelligent, and deeply strategic game in Total War: Three Kingdoms.

Re-playing Blades of Time in 2019 is surreal. There are assuredly many better games from the previous generation of consoles that deserve to be on Switch ahead of this one. I can’t even imagine the developers have any hope of using this re-release to springboard the franchise back as they work on a sequel, because no one is going to want a sequel after playing it. Time hasn’t been good to Blades of Time, and and other than for the morbidly curious, I can’t see anyone being masochistic enough to derive any value out of it.

World End Syndrome does more than enough as a visual novel - it's hard to put down, well written, and the art is gorgeous. I just hope people don't give up the first time, when the "bad ending" it mandatory. In hindsight it's a brilliant way to introduce the depth of choices that come after that scene, but it's the most poorly executed trick the game has up its sleeve.

On the one hand, A Plague Tale: Innocent tells an intense, and highly interesting story of one of the darkest moments of European history, and the impact that it had on its youngest people. It's evocative, interesting, and benefits from the highest calibre in production standards. On the other hand, it's so committed to a stock standard, safe approach to gameplay that so much of the great work done in the narrative is undermined. A Plague Tale comes so achingly close to the brilliance of a Hellblade, but sadly where Ninja Theory's "blockbuster indie" project is a masterpiece, Armicia's story is "just" a page-turner.

It's the perfect blend of a classical, nostalgic love letter to the genesis of the tactics RPG, while at the same time offering just enough to subvert expectations so that even genre veterans will have trouble putting this one down.

Something about the survival genre has taken all those brilliant ingredients and spat out a failure of a meal, however, and that's an depressing reflection on the entire genre.

European Conqueror doesn't really work as a historical wargame. Its predecessor dealt with it loosely enough, but European Conqueror takes the abstraction one step too far for its own good. With that being said, this is still a very fine tactical wargame, with good scope, and certainly so much to do that you won't be putting it down in a hurry.

Sadly Shadowgate remake falls into a trap of not adding anything to Shadowgate, making it rather redundant to play. With that being said, Shadowgate is still Shadowgate, and there's an inherent classic quality to this adventure that, coupled with the dark fantasy atmosphere and general difficulty, also makes it inherently rewarding.

What really lets Our World Is Ended down is its lack of narrative focus. On the one hand you'd got a compelling discussion about fluid reality - something that, much like AI and robotics, is quickly falling out of the area of "science fiction" and into "we actually need to talk about this, because it's happening" territory. On the other hand, you've got a lot of stories about a bunch of generally unlikable characters and their obsession with breasts. With the way Our World Is Ended is designed, these don't mix anywhere near as well as they needed to to take this to the upper echelons of the genre.

I do think the Castlevania retro collection that Konami has coming soon will do a better job. Focused as it is on a single, more mainstream franchise should help elevate it in the same way the Street Fighter collection was elevated by the sheer quality and consistency of the brand. Haunted Castle would have been more fitting in that collection, though. Konami really does make some odd choices at times.

It is impossible to put down.

Cytus Alpha is one of the finest playing rhythm games you'll ever come across. It's abstract, minimalist and focused, but it delivers such vibrant rhythm game action that it's impossible not to love.

Despite a lack of originality and questionable controls I found myself coming back to Giga Wrecker Alt to tackle that puzzle, overcome that boss or just explore its world. If you are looking for a ground breaking new entry in Game Freak's reserve or something similar to the Pokémon titles then this may not be the title for you. However, Game Freak's team has stepped out of their comfort zone and developed a game with some rather satisfying qualities which may just tide you over.

On the one hand SteamWorld Quest is a frustrating experience. Image & Form really needs to track down some writers that can weave tales into its intriguing and impeccably-designed SteamWorld universe. There's so much potential there that it's becoming tiring waiting for the team to tap into it. At the same time, SteamWorld Quest is also a delight to play, with a well-developed card-based combat system, gorgeous art and production values, and elegant gameplay structures. It's a game (and franchise) that wears its indie credentials on its sleeve, and it's hard to be too disappointed by its flaws for that reason.

The concept of Panty Party is hilarious, though once you move past making jokes about finally getting your hands on Hatsune Miku's underwear, the humour of the game doesn't exactly sustain itself either.

BoxBoy! + BoxGirl! tells a beautiful, minimalist story that can appeal to everyone. Like everything else, it's brilliance is in its simplicity.

Moero Chronicle is so completely unabashed about its fan service and endless innuendo that it's oddly charming, in its own way. There's absolutely no way that people who don't enjoy fan service for the sake of fan service will get anything out of this game. The dungeon crawling is executed well enough, but it's traditional to a fault.

For its strengths and its faults, I kept finding myself drawn back to the game’s evocative narrative all the way through. Even after the open world shenanigans and tedious emphasis on combat wore me down, I carried on at the thought of finding out more about characters who at that point were starting to feel like real people. And at the centre of it all, is Deacon St. John – a callous, cold-blooded ex-biker ex-military mercenary, but he’s got an enormous heart, and that makes all the difference. The whole game is a joy to play, because of the optimism which he and his friends build up over the course of what is otherwise a bleak and empty landscape. And this is more than a fitting summary for Days Gone – a zombie game in 2019 featuring open-world mechanics we’ve all seen before – but like Deadon, the team at Bend Studio have got an enormous hearts, and, just like with Deacon, that makes all the difference.