Fire Emblem: Three Houses is far from just an upscaling of the 3DS games. It’s an evolution for the series which makes it appealing and accessible even to those who aren’t crazy about strategy RPGs. It’s a great gateway for the genre and another excellent addition to the Switch library.

Ultimately, your enjoyment of Metal Wolf Chaos XD will come down to how much you are willing to stick with some archaic design choices in order to see more of the ridiculous story and the few levels that do hold up. And because of its dated foundation, Metal Wolf Chaos needed a remake instead of a remaster.

It’s a wonderful halfway point between full-on walking sims like Gone Home and murderous first-person shooters.

If you’ve been scared off of Cage’s work before and you don’t mind a tale that takes itself much too seriously, you might just be hooked by Jodie’s journey.

There’s plenty of enjoyment to be had just beating up baddies as Wolverine, Deadpool, Spider-Man, and co., but considering the 10-year wait, Marvel fans could be forgiven for wanting a little more.

The new Face of the Franchise mode is totally underwhelming and fails to tell a meaningful story and the X-Factor abilities are helpful for newcomers but don’t really change how a solid player would play the game any. These changes are all a positive for long-term but it lacks any selling point and has launched in a frustrating state that undermines the solid football mechanics that EA has refined over the past several decades.

Intentions to do something different are appreciated, but the way these additions sabotage the previously pristine core mechanics will only make your blood boil instead.

It’s a solid brawler that hits hard and delivers a fun action movie good time for a few hours. However, that admittedly standard gameplay doesn’t make up for all the problems, and nothing from this equation makes it worth a $30 asking price.

Senran Kagura: Peach Ball is briefly enjoyable, but is bogged down by a lack of things to do aside from skipping through tedious dialogue. Senran fans may find themselves content with the ways you can, ahem, interact with its cast, but for the rest of us this is a passably decent pinball game and little else.

Beating Blazing Chrome is a badge of honor, the latest test of skill tossed onto a pile of old cartridges. You can spend hours and hours grinding out this handful of stages, experiencing both intense frustration and the rush of victory. In a world where there are so many options for your free time, the thought of grinding away at a game like this just seems insane. But to all the crazy people who disagree and want a throwback like this, I raise my glass.

I’m ecstatic that Square Enix took a gamble on this series. Dragon Quest is one of the oldest and most popular JRPG franchises, and its a perfect vehicle for this sort of gameplay. It’s colorful and friendly while still having enough adult themes to keep you hooked. I was glad to see a lot of the issues from the first game were rectified, and I can’t wait to see where the series goes from here.

In essence, it’s a boat that looks nice from the outside until you jump inside and notice all the holes actively trying to sink the whole thing.

SolSeraph‘s greatest strength is that it’s essentially a new ActRaiser game in 2019 and there is no other game quite like it currently on the market. If that’s enough to grab your interest, then you’ll have a good time with ACE Team’s latest title. However, if you lack the nostalgia for Quintet’s 1990 Super Nintendo game then you will be left with a clunky genre hybrid that feels as dated as the game it is based upon at times. There is no real evolution of the formula going on here, and that is a pretty disappointing aspect considering how far other genres have come in the past 30 years.

Metroidvanias are seen as niche games, but Bloodstained proved that you can craft a title in that tradition while making it incredibly appealing to a general audience. Ritual of the Night is one of the best games released so far this year, and even if you don’t love 2D platformers, the excellent exploration elements, movement, and combat are good enough to win anyone over.

Super Mario Maker 2 is a joyous celebration of the intricacies that go into designing the perfect level. It’s a game where you can invest hours creating and playtesting one short section of one small level, or decide to do away with creation altogether in favor of playing through its ever-growing number of courses. Despite recurring technical problems that have become synonymous with Nintendo games, Super Mario Maker 2 is still an essential Switch purchase, building upon the groundwork laid by its predecessor and adding so much more.

It does just enough to get the job done. As we’ve seen with many releases on Switch, that’s usually enough for most people.

Despite having some awkward control quirks while playing with a mouse and keyboard, the PC version of Heavy Rain is just as solid as the PlayStation 4 re-release. Both versions look superior to the PS3 original, but still have a few issues that make none of them the definitive way to play David Cage’s best title. The important distinction here is that this is now playable outside of the PlayStation ecosystem for the first time ever, so it’s being introduced to a new audience. For them, it’s a totally serviceable way to track down the Origami, Origammy, and Origarmy Killer.

The Sinking City is certainly more involving and had more care put into it than last year’s official Call of Cthulhu game but besting its spiritual predecessor doesn’t mean it reaches its full potential. The detective work is quite involving, but the combat is a mess and the pretty open-world doesn’t have enough in it to justify its existence. It would’ve been better suited as a series of locations you hop between, rather than dull jaunts to get to places of interest or the various archives of information.

Although it has its shortcomings and a bit of an archaic framework, it’s even more interesting to explore now simply due to how much the series has changed since its inception.

No matter whether you’re just touring through these realms of magic or going for full mastery, Amid Evil is a blast from start to finish. Everything from the moody soundtrack to the heart-pounding circle strafing just clicks.

Simply put, F1 2019 is fantastic. There’s enough here to take you well into next season (and beyond), while the Career Mode has finally shaken off the cobwebs to emerge as a genuinely thrilling highlight that players will pump hours and days into.

Both a respectful reimagining and a superb, modernized kart racer in its own right.

SNK has a lot to celebrate with the release of Samurai Shodown as it’s a triumphant return to form for a series that hasn’t had a mainline release in over 15 years. Not only does it keep the calculated and punishing gameplay in tact, it manages to offer up a great tutorial that allows for newcomers to understand the nuance of its depth.

Any fan of Zelda will be able to enjoy this digital title thanks to its optional modes, although the best experience will be embracing its rhythm elements that make it so unique.

Much like the laid back quips of our banana buddy, it's too easy to leave My Friend Pedro without many strong feelings.

Even if you’re not huge on dungeon exploration Persona Q2 is a great game. It contains plenty of fanservice and references for fans of the main Persona titles and has a complex and rewarding combat and exploration loop that makes it worth playing even if it’s your first Persona game ever.

If you’re willing to put in the time, you’ll find a complex experience that’s satisfyingly tough to get a grasp on and equally hard to put down.

The gameplay underneath all the standard trappings is impressively solid.