This is a strong, strong game by Koei Tecmo, and does the Attack on Titan franchise a great service. Sadly, that's a franchise that doesn't have the pulling power that it did a few years ago, but older fans will enjoy the opportunity to get a new look at the distinctive setting and world, and who knows? The game might just find one or two new fans for the bloody, brutal, but ultimately dazzling franchise.

If there’s any justice in the world Yakuza 6 would sell millions of copies. It’s smart, sharp, often surreal, and always hugely entertaining. The game maintains the series’ penchant for reproducing the experience of being in a Japanese city to exacting details, and then overlays a brilliant, labyrinthine, wildly funny B-grade yakuza drama over the top. It’s the kind of game you just “live” in, and the perfect example of open world game design done right.

HAL Laboratory may not be innovating here, but they’ve once again delivered an incredibly polished platformer that should appeal to all. Those looking for some cooperative fun will definitely want to check it out, as there are few better reasons to separate the Nintendo Switch’s Joy-Cons.

Taken as a simple and cheap "solitaire" (i.e single player) game, Poisoft Thud Card is enjoyable, easy playing. I do say that as someone who spent many, many hours playing Hearts on my old Windows PCs over the years, though. I like time wasting card games. As such I'll probably keep coming back to Thud Card as long as I have my Switch. Or, at least, until a developer releases a Hearts game on the console.

There are not many games in this world that I can say actually made me grow as a person, but A Normal Lost Phone is definitely one of those titles.

Acceleration of Suguri 2 succeeds by having the complexity of a fighting game while rewarding quick thinking, reaction speed and dexterity.

It's not going to be forgiving on any level for players in their first couple of hours. Move past that, though, and you're left with one of the greatest examples of sheer precision in rhythm game design, and, let's face it, there's nothing more important to a rhythm game than that.

Unsatisfying ending aside, North is an interesting, insightful game that's worth a look. It doesn't ask a lot of your time (or wallet), and when it's firing on all cylinders, it has something genuinely important to say.

The tiniest of oddities and issues keep me from loving Edo Blossoms quite as much as I love Kyoto Winds. But then, the latter is a game I would have played a half dozen times by now, if not more. Being a slightly weaker sequel to that by the tiniest of margins still means that Edo Blossoms is one of the best visual novels out there.

Dragon Sinker's strength is that, in being such a slavish homage to one of the greatest JRPGs ever made, it too manages to be more playable than many of the original story JRPGs that Kemco produces. It is an endlessly replayable formula that the developers are copying wholesale, after all. But then, in being a slavish homage, the Dragon Sinker also opens itself up to comparisons with the game it's derivative of. And, sadly, it doesn't come out well in those comparisons at all.

If you’re really after a taste of something different, take a walk on the wild side with Neptune and the CPUs. After all, no other MMO has all its flaws on display quite like 4 Goddesses Online; if you’re going to sit through toxic players, boss fights, and an unfathomable plot, you might as well do it with cute girls who acknowledge the genre’s flaws and enthusiastically attempt to make them entertaining.

World Conqueror X is a hugely rewarding strategy game. It's not as refined or committed to the history of the conflict as the more serious wargame fans would like, but then it manages to depict the truly complex, global conflict in a streamlined, accessible, and, for the most part, authentic manner. I am beyond delighted that the Nintendo Switch has something like this on it.

As a demo, it actually works; when I played it for ten minutes in a controlled environment last year, I came away quite impressed with it. But those first ten minutes are Bravo Team's limit, and Sony should have realised this and pulled the plug on the project as a commercial game a long time ago.

The game despite the obvious padding is a great length for both casual gameplay and for someone who wants to finish it in one sitting. The misfiring humour and weak standard of the environments however make for a poor narrative, and generally, an experience that isn’t particularly memorable.

To say that The 25th Ward is niche would be an understatement, but that’s what’s so impressive about it. It respects the intelligence of its players, allowing them to wade through the feverish surrealism that the game often depicts, and melds that perfectly with a traditional noir thriller than Raymond Chandler himself would have been proud of. Goichi Suda might be known for his action games today (and they’re usually very fine games in their own right), but what I wouldn’t give for him to go back for another spin or two at the visual novel.

Its bare-bones design philosophy means it’s perhaps not the best title for survival genre diehards, but it’s a refreshing title to hit the Switch and one you might find yourself playing for way longer than planned.

Totes The Goat takes one of my favourite retro games, and does a decent job of modernising it. The developer would have benefited from the actual Q*Bert license, and some creativity of their own so that the game didn't seem like such an earnest attempt to cash in on one of the biggest and most influential mobile titles, but yes, Totes is genuine good fun, and I imagine I'll get many months of play out of this one.

It's that sort of depth that makes Fe's story so affecting, even if it seems quite straightforward and even predictable on the surface. I saw every twist from a mile out, and yet I never felt like the story suffered as a result. Rather, Fe is a fairy tale: the sort of story that finds charm in its simplicity and familiarity, but has a lot to say to anyone willing to dig beneath the surface. In that, it's a resounding success.

These games are important because, as the dominant entertainment industry, games are a way to inspire audiences to learn more about something, and the more people learn about cultures other than their own, the better. Mulaka might not be your favourite game in 2018, but what you take away from it will be far more valuable than the couple of hours of entertainment you'll get from it.

It's a B-grade Dead Space clone that follows the "rules" of horror without actually understanding any of them. Sure, it's a good thing that developers want to continue that "horror in space" tradition of Dead Space, but this team simply wasn't up to the task. On any level.

Zwei! The Arges Adventure is a lovely little title from Falcom that I am very happy was localised after the success of its successor. If you’ve been been needing some lighthearted dungeon crawling or have already played the localised sequel and want to know how the series began, than you'll appreciate this one a great deal.

Where the Water Tastes Like Wine is an incredible achievement, and the latest in a growing body of games that really push the bounds of what the medium can do. It is, at its heart, a game about stories, and the incredible power that they have, brought to life in the most beautiful way possible.

For a debut game, Moss is a remarkably mature, intelligent, confident and purposeful game by Polyarc...Moss really is the best VR game we've seen to date.

Immortal Redneck is a blast of a game in a genre that we don’t see enough of. It’s not the first roguelike FPS that we’ve seen on PlayStation 4, and I wouldn’t say it’s the best, either. It does, however, have an exceptional aesthetic, clever level design, clean action, a decent difficulty curve, and plenty of longevity. A very worthy action game indeed.

Despite the issues with balance, juvenile moments in the writing, and the occasional bug that suggested the ambition of the game slightly overextended its budget, Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet is the best video game entry in this particular franchise.

It’s an insult in existing at all. I'd rather castrated myself with a rusted spoon than think about this game any longer.

Proof that bigger isn’t always better. The additional gameplay mechanics only get in the way of how fun the original was, and makes the screen a busy mess at times. The saving grace is that the Switch version of the game is perfect for short play sessions, which makes it a decent purchase for those that want Pac-Man on the go.

It's a workable enough take on the game. Like I said at the start, pool is ideal for a handheld platform, and I can see myself playing Premium Pool Arena a lot while on trips or during short breaks. It's a clean, efficient, and largely no-frills take on the game, and in all that it's pleasant and enjoyable. And that's really all that can be said about a game like this.