It’s the combination of well designed levels, hauntingly picturesque visuals and a consistent overarching tone which make this game hard to put down. I admire the developers’ ability to keep the player fixated on a pensive mindset, so that regardless of how difficult the levels become, they always have something deep to ponder on as they repeat each level until the correct button timings are ingrained into their fingers.

Its striking monochrome art style and juxtaposition of atmospheric peacefulness with wince-inducing violence lends to a dreamlike quality that is utterly entrancing. The first few hours of this game had me terrified, wondering how the environment was going to turn against me in ever more creative and depraved ways. I loved the graphics and music which still manage to feel unique despite the game’s age. For the puzzles and atmosphere alone, Limbo is worth a try. Once the ordeal is over however, I found myself wishing for a larger narrative to delve into, or a deeper exploration of themes that the game teased but never fully committed to.

Sphinx has aged relatively well. This is the perfect way to introduce newcomers to the game, even if it’s a series that didn’t take off.

I think I would have appreciated My Next Life as a Villainess so much more if I was an existing fan of the property. Otomate seems to have created something that is a fascinating observation of the otome genre and a very funny, character-driven “romance” story to go with it. Unfortunately, too much of that washed over my head. While I totally respect that developers of games can assume that players have read or seen something else first, and that their game is a continuation of an existing story, I would suggest that giving newcomers the option of a 10-minute summary to catch up first would be a helpful way for those of us coming in fresh to at least understand the basics before we’re thrown in the narrative deep end.

Secret Files: Tunguska is entertaining stuff, and adventure game fans who have somehow not played this yet should have a look at it. By the same token, it's difficult to look at this game and argue that it's as timeless as Monkey Island. It's simply too limited.

Experience the game with the mindset of wanting to get lost in a virtual world, though, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised by Hollow Realization’s hidden charms.

For anime fans, it's literally pulling together some of the brightest minds in the industry and allowing them to run free with a very creative format. Short stories are always less inhibited than full-length projects, and if nothing else, everything that we find in the Short Peace package is very creative indeed.

Whatever platform you play Roguebook on, its sheer quality helps elevate it to the top of a genre that has become far too overused over the past five years. The precision balancing and depth of the gameplay, the entertaining design and varied exploration elements combine to overcome the fact that you’ve probably played what Roguebook is offering a few times over by now.

The Station is a wonderful example of how a game’s atmosphere can impact and influence the narrative. The space station felt believable, although the few characters that lived aboard fell a bit flat for me. As a sci-fi walking sim, The Station is more than successful enough.

What’s most important is that the game works without giving me the slightest bit of motion sickness, and as a fan of trash B-grade science fiction, I was really able to appreciate the inherent silliness of it all. There might not be much depth here over the long term, but for some short bursts of frenetic action, it absolutely has the lightgun genre nailed.

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.

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.

Super Toy Cars is a fun game to play, providing a series of increasing racing challenges, the ability to play with friends and to create custom tracks. All of it is wrapped up in a nostalgic package that calls back to my childhood days, zipping around and letting my imagination do the majority of the work.

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.

The battling is very accessible, meaning that the fantastic story can be accessed by anyone.

But perhaps 2D platformers aren't the future for her now. Perhaps it's some for something a little more narrative-focused rich in the worldbuilding, to play to the properties' actual strengths, because after five 2D platformers, I'm now getting tired of being teased that there's more to all this, but never actually getting the promise of a fully realised Shantae fantasy.

I’m going to get dozens of hours of play out of Cricket 24 on Nintendo Switch, of that I’m sure. I am very disappointed in how the development team has gone about optimising the game down to fit on the more modest hardware, and the portability of the Switch has to be a major selling point for you to go for this version over the objectively superior console versions. But it’s still Cricket 24 on the go, and that’s a critical hit right to my weak spot.

But those are all very minor gripes and given the extremely niche nature of Lair Land Story it’s not something the people that would be drawn to play the game will hold against it. The main thing is that Lair Land Story gets the most important element of the genre right. Chilia is adorable and you will be invested in her story, and builds around it a fun set of characters, some nice aesthetics, and a good sense of humour. This is a simple and modest kind of game, but it is very warm and warming, and sometimes, those are enough in games.

Even though that narrative isn't quite of a quality we want to see, it's a step forward for the new franchise, and after the bugs are fixed up, Evoland 2 will be a whole lot of simple, but effective, fun.

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 gameplay loop is truly satisfying. Realistically all I was going into Dungeons 2 with was the hope that I would get something vaguely reminiscent of Dungeon Keeper on my PlayStation 4, and I wasn’t disappointed there by any means. I can’t see myself pulling this one up quite as often as I do the other two Kalypso games I have on my PS4 – Tropico 5 and Grand Ages: Medieval, but by the same token I don’t regret my time spent with this in the slightest.

Unfortunately, it’s not a very complete package largely alienates anyone who isn’t already familiar with fighters, making it a tough sell for people looking for a casual experience.

Playing a bunch of matches in a row against random opponents online is a great way to spend an hour or two at a time. The online infrastructure is robust, matches are quick and sharp, and the time flies. You can’t ignore that eBaseball is a bigger (and better) series than this, and it is disappointing that it’s going to be the first introduction to it for a lot of people, but the fact it happened at all is such a positive sign of Konami’s intentions for the future.

Battle Chasers: Nightwar is a quality JRPG throwback. It's grindy and can be difficulty, but for people looking for a more casual experience the lower difficulty settings are a good introduction to the genre as a whole. With plenty of lore and heritage behind the game to further build it out, it's a fresh new franchise and a good proof that western developers can emulate the JRPG style when they want to.

I don’t usually like marking a game down for bugs, because when the patches come in the review becomes dated. However, Wildermyth really is a bad example of bugs letting the experience down to the point that the game, as wonderful and moreish as it is, is difficult to recommend right now. Add a point to this score in a few months when, in theory, the worst of its crippling bugs have been patched out, and then settle in for the perfect tabletop RPG experience when you haven’t got friends around to play a real session of Dungeons & Dragons with you.

Those little gripes aside, Neko Navy is a delightful little indie shmup, full of cute characters and oddball humour. It may lack the depth of some of its more established peers, but it’s got plenty of challenge to offer nonetheless, while a smooth difficulty curve means newcomers aren’t entirely left out in the dark. It’s probably not going to go down as one of the shmup greats, but its quirky charm alone is enough to warrant a look.

Gryphon Knight Epic might not be the most mechanically sound shooter to hit the PlayStation 4, but its raw ideas are abundant. It’s a humble game that somehow manages to stand out in the face of competition of all eras and styles, from R-Type to Mamorukun Curse. Players out of the loop with shoot ‘em ups won’t necessarily appreciate the adjustments its deviations from the formula, but there’s enough here for the game to take to the sky like the titular gryphon.

Ciel Fledge could have been more robust... indeed, it really should have been. There's just not enough substance to go with the charming presentation and concept. However, it's still one of those things that's difficult to put down, not least because its gameplay loops and feedback are tight and engaging. Like the daughter you're tasked to manage, there's room for this fledgling series to grow, and plenty of potential if it's managed well.