I can't make this clear enough; Snakes & Ladders is a terrible, terrible game.

Nintendo first released a Clubhouse Games way back on the Nintendo DS, about 15 years ago now. It was a brilliant example of the company's ability to appeal to a broad audience then and now, a decade and a half later, the company has backed it up resoundingly. Putting aside the presence of Ludo - which will forever be the worst board game ever made - 51 Worldwide Games is a pristine package of some of the most valuable cultural properties we have, and it is truly masterful at explaining even the most complex of them to a completely new audience. This is a rare opportunity to learn something about artefacts as wide-ranging as Chess, Mahjong, Hanafuda, and Mancala. That's not something you should miss out on.

I'm actually disappointed that I didn't like Golf With Your Friends more. I enjoy party games, I enjoy minigolf, and I do think that the fundamentals of good minigolf are in there. However, it's worth remembering that right back at the start with the Nintendo Switch Zen Studios released Infinite Minigolf - a minigolf game with character avatars, personality AND the ability to create and share courses, giving it much greater value as a single-player experience. It doesn't have the ability to provide the kind of wildly entertaining large party experience of Golf With Your Friends, though, so I guess the question then becomes which of the two scenarios will more likely describe how you're playing games most of the time?

This is now the fifth time I have played Xenoblade Chronicles, and I've enjoyed it every time in the same way that I enjoy re-reading a good book. The game's themes, storytelling standards, and tone are all spot on. This is an interesting and fundamentally deep game that highlights the best of what is possible within the JRPG structure. It's a little disappointing that the developers didn't take this opportunity to tackle some of the superfluous stuff that is at odds with the better elements, and I've yet to be won over by the new narrative arc and whether it does anything to actually build on what was already a perfectly dense work. However, the core of the game is that powerful that the main reason to buy into this - that visual re-work - is more than enough to be worthwhile in itself.

It’s an unrelentingly bitter game, one which has the power to incite a strong reaction in anyone who plays it. Just as much as I liked it, I’m sure there are others out there who will come to hate it with a passion. But then again, what’s worse - playing Arrest of a Stone Buddha for five hours and leaving with a negative (but powerful and thought-provoking) reaction, or playing a blockbuster for forty bland hours and not feeling a sliver of genuine emotion the entire time?

All together Utawarerumono is a lengthy game, and while I usually advocate for games to be shorter, in the particular case of this series, I do think the narrative justifies the length and experience that it's looking to share.

This game is a creatively broken, anti-intellectual insult. Bethesda spat in our faces and, because saliva is a kind of "content," figured that it could monetise it. Sadly, the success that Blades has seen on mobile - and will no doubt translate to success on the Switch as well - just goes to show that when it comes down to it, consumers actually like being spat on, because it means that they are getting content.

Super Mega Baseball 3 feels like the baseball games I used to love from a few generations ago. Liberated of the "depth" of modern sports games, there's an efficiency to the action that is appealing, and the gameplay modes that it does offer are all compelling. On the pitch, the difficulty curve is perfectly tuned, and while the game doesn't innovate and is ultimately destined to be the kind of thing that you pick up for short bursts of play at a time in multiplayer, the accessibility makes this one so much more appropriate for that than most other sports games out there. It's good, honest and clean entertainment, and that's something a lot of sports game developers have lost sight of in their efforts to monetise every moment of their content.

The whole point of transgression is to shock you out of complacency and that isn't always comfortable. The obvious example there is any transgressive artwork that offends people since that has clearly made them uncomfortable. The Eternal Castle isn't ever offensive, but it will certainly make you uncomfortable. Instead of relying on something as relatively mundane as causing offence, the developers have instead done everything to challenge the senses and everything we understand about video games. Right down to the very idea that a game's value can be found in completing it. I'll never finish The Eternal Castle, and I think that that is simply magic. I truly love that the game is so utterly and completely happy to do that to me.

What The Golf? is by no means a bad game - it's actually highly entertaining - but while the developers have done everything that they can with it, at some point hitting anything but a golf ball around a golf course loses its lustre as a joke. It'll only take you a couple of hours to work through everything in What The Golf?, and you'll have a generally good time as you do, but I can't see this being a game that you ever return to.

John Wick Hex is a fascinating example of a developer making compromises in order to make the game fit with the license. Sometimes those compromises are quite substantial indeed. They also end up being a non-issue, however, because in delivering a true John Wick experience, Mike Bithell and his team have given us something intriguing that adds to the film property. That is a refreshing change when most licensed tie-in games simply look to capitalise on a popular thing to the profit of the developer. For something based on such an unapologetically dumb film property, there is some truly intelligent and thoughtful game design that went into the making of John Wick Hex.

This is a warm, funny, moving visual novel, with a delightful cast of characters to get to know and potentially fall in love with, dressed up in a loving celebration of arcade history.

The Dresden Files: Cooperative Card Game is such a fundamentally flawed concept, and the execution is so lacking, that it offers nothing whatsoever of value.

Spirit of the North almost nails it. From the art to the characterisation, and even the wordless narrative structure, the developers have clearly put a lot of thought and creative energy into this, and it shows. You might want to play on another platform to get the full scope of the vision, because on Switch it is a little limited by the hardware, but even then, Spirit of the North has moments where it soars. It's just unfortunate that it keeps crashing into walls along the way, as the developers tried to justify the existence of the game by what can only be termed "gameplay bits", and every time that happens the motor takes a while to get going again. If you can handle the clumsy pacing and arbitrary puzzles and collectibles, though, Spirit of the North really is beautifully earnest in what it is looking to achieve.

This new release of Gals' Fighters is, of course, a game with a very specific audience. You've got to really love your fighting games to get much long term value out of it. And yet, for something so "retro", Gals' Fighters feels incredibly modern, with few of the quirks and design flaws of yesteryear that you generally expect going in to an "old" game. Rather, this feels like something produced by a team that deliberately limited themselves as a creative challenge. You may not get long play sessions over extended periods of time from this one, but as a curiosity, it is fascinating... and so much cheaper on Nintendo Switch than trying to track down a physical copy for your actual Neo Geo Pocket Color.

Kogado is perhaps the most under-appreciated visual novel outfit out there. You've almost certainly only heard of this developer's work if you're deep into the visual novel space, and while in terms of presentation there's a distinct "low budget" quality, there are two things that help to set Kogado apart: firstly, they're a gorgeous application of the idea that aesthetics are more important in art than technical wizardry. Secondly, Kogado tells stories that are an impeccable blend of tantilising fan service, intense mystery, and subversion to keep players on their toes as far as expectations go. On that basis Yumetsutsu is a perfect follow on to the Nurse Love series.

While it never manages to rise beyond being a fastidious clone of a beloved series, Daymare 1998 is not as terrible as some might have you believe. Sure, it doesn't have a creative bone in its body, and that is a problem, but it does show that the development team has an understanding of classic video game action/horror, and were they to come back with an original idea and distance themselves from existing, better properties, this developer could end up becoming a solid B-tier players in the space.

Moving Out is a simple game with an easy to understand premise, and even without its superficial similarities to games like Overcooked, it’s likely to be welcomed warmly by any couch of friends. SMG Studios has designed an interesting set of challenges for teams to tackle, textured with interesting gameplay gimmicks that are just as likely to elicit a groan as they are a chuckle. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to share a game like this, which is just so effortlessly fun in every facet of its design.

One would hope that IllFonic's past struggles would lead to it delivering more polished games in the future, but Hunting Grounds has many of the same problems that Friday the 13th launched with. Returning players will feel the same sense of déjà vu they would upon watching a disappointing movie sequel... and to be blunt that's something that Predator fans know all too well at this point.

I do recognise that as far as the subject goes, I am not the target market for a game about esports. On the other hand, I am a big fan of the simulation genre, and this one is so unpalatable from that perspective that I have to wonder at its existence. If you're just looking for esports, there's no need to play a bad simulator that is largely unrepresentative of the experience of esports anyway. Just go and watch the real thing on Twitch.

STATIONflow is an interesting experiment in urban space design, with an eye for the utilitarian and an ultimately sympathetic outlook on the bureaucracy. All in all, meeting the demands of thousands of commuters is difficult, and the game is effective in teaching the player why inefficiencies tend to occur. It’s a very particular kind of person who would enjoy this – they’d need to like thinking on their feet, and coming up with practical (if a little boring) solutions to complex problems, only to be rewarded by the reassurance that nothing’s gone wrong. But as with most games which target a niche audience, there’s bound to be a dedicated following eager to enjoy what DMM Games have to offer.

Sakura Wars was a surprise - from all the promotional material SEGA would have you believe it's some kind of action JRPG hybrid. The combat stuff turns out to be its weakest element. It's not bad, but it's also not where the magic happens. No, what this game does quite beautifully is the character development and romance. From the perviest moments of fan service through to the most heart-wrenching moments of insecurity that each of the characters displays, Sakura Wars offers a real emotional gamut, and whether you call it a blockbuster visual novel or an interactive anime, it's a rare thing for a game like this to be done to such substantial production standards. SEGA took a risk localising this after many years of popularity in Japan. Hopefully it pays off, and we see more localisations in the future.

Legends of Amberland succeeds in capturing the appeal of those old Gold Box-era RPGs from SSI and their ilk. This was my childhood growing up and as such much of what the game offered fit like a particularly comfortable and well-worn glove. Unfortunately, the developer also decided that for whatever reason the game would have every issue from the RPGs of yesteryear as well, and it's an odd thing for a developer to do - capture the same aesthetics and rhythms of retro games, fine, but why go to all the effort to also emulate all the flaws that the genre has moved on from for good reason?

Unlike the remake of Final Fantasy VII, Trails of Mana doesn't take the opportunity to rework the story, nor does it aim to add to the existing world that anyone who played the original will experience. It's more akin to Nintendo's own Link's Awakening remake in that it's a traditionally-minded remake that simply seeks to give fans a beloved experience through a modern lens. And yet, it still goes well above and beyond what was strictly necessary for a remake. This is a game that feels decidedly modern and could (and should) appeal to a much broader audience than "existing Trails of Mana" fans. If the lengths that Square Enix has gone to with this remake prove to resonate, then dare I hope for the same treatment to Chrono Trigger or Final Fantasy VI?

Being so critical of indie games never makes me feel good. There's just no hiding when you're an indie - games like Make War are crafted by a tiny team of developers and it's always deeply personal to everyone involved. And yet, when you think about all the masterful, creative, deeply artistic indie games that have been crafted by equally small numbers of people - Papers, Please, Tokyo Dark, Untitled Goose Game, Mini Metro, Undertale, and so many more - it's so hard to resolve Make War. There's the genesis of a good idea in there, but the execution is so far beyond uninspired that there's simply nothing that can redeem it.

Billion Road isn't perfect. The interface makes it difficult to track some of the finer points of detail, particularly around property ownership, and a lack of minigames and other events of excitement mean there's a draining level of downtime in the game where you're just waiting for your next turn to roll around. However, for the board game enthusiast this is a true Japanese experience. Under the bright colours and ridiculous wealth being thrown around (you'll be worth billions in just an hour) lies something that has clearly been created by people who love the unique micro-cultures with Japan, and the sheer delight that you have in simply travelling across the country.

Ultimately, Boot Hill Bounties just doesn't do much of anything. It does succeed in being a retro-themed JRPG set in the Wild West, but it's not a particularly interesting Wild West, the combat system is functional, rather than interesting, and it was really hard to maintain interest in anything that the game offers. Boot Hill Bounties doesn't do anything wrong... other than be so uninspired that it doesn't give anyone a reason to play it either.

You could also say that too much of Pirate Warriors 4 is a retread of the three existing games, and as a result fans of One Piece and the previous titles (at this point, who else would even be looking at Pirate Warriors 4) might come away feeling like this doesn't deliver as much new stuff as they'd like. I don't think that's much of an issue, though. The new battlefields, improved combat system, and sheer action that goes on makes it every bit as much fun to run through those battles again, and One Piece has so much character and personality that the antics of Luffy and his crew never seem to get tiring. With that being said... do Gintama next, Koei. We're still waiting.