A terrific execution of a merely okay idea is still a lot further than most developers get, however, and the VR implementation heightens the immersion factor just enough to make The Persistence worth checking out. Those with a headset will find The Persistence a considerably more refined product than the average VR title, but anyone who intends on playing it flat may find it a bit too routine.

Book of Demons isn’t likely to hold the attention of hardcore dungeon crawl enthusiasts or those who don’t care for loot-heavy titles like this one. However, players who are new to this style of game or those looking for something on the simpler side would be well-served to check this one out.

Playing solo can still be entertaining, but the moments of loneliness hang over the player like a cloud while they’re traveling from point A to point B. In the end, it comes down to personal preference — some will enjoy the solemn journeys found in Appalachia, while others will only play when friends are online, but even without them, the Wastelanders update is a step in the right direction.

In the end, Pirates Outlaws is a hidden gem of a game. It’s easy to pick up, has a wide variety of characters and strategies, and also offers enough depth for deckbuilding players players who really like to dig in. Strongly recommended!

For those craving some deliciously cheesy B-movie flavor wrapped around a concise open-world core, Maneater delivers.

Telling Lies is a fantastic game…On PC. On consoles it’s playable, and for those who don’t have any other alternative it’ll do in a pinch, but playing with a mouse and keyboard is the way to go. The experience is so thematically intertwined with the pretense of using a personal computer that a lot is lost in the translation to home consoles. Considering the low system requirements, anyone with a relatively recent laptop should be able to run the PC version, making the console versions obsolete on arrival. The devs did the best they could with the port, but it’s still a distant second best to the original.

There are tons of games out there that play fine, but Atomicrops offers little to make it a memorable, worthwhile experience amidst so much stiff competition on the Switch. I’m guessing that with another year and a few content updates, Atomicrops will be a fantastic little actioner, but in its current state it comes across like an Early Access release that’s hit the eShop too soon.

While the graphics are on the simple side and getting someone excited about the petroleum industry is a hard sell when we’re concerned with global warming and the future of the planet, I still found a great deal to like about Turmoil: the Heat is On. I appreciated its approachability, it led to a few good conversations about economics with my son, and it also helped that the oil I was drilling was just pretend — with no ecological damage being done, I could just relax and enjoy the systems.

Overall, Construction Simulator 3: Console Edition is clearly meant for those who enjoy sims of this caliber. Myself? As a first-timer to this genre, I found it to be enjoyable, if a bit lacking. The moments where I was essentially role-playing as a construction worker were exhilarating, and the moment-to-moment gameplay kept me hooked. Unfortunately, the visuals hold it back and a little more polish on little things would go a long way. For now, though, I’m not quitting my day job to join a construction crew…

As a fan of character-driven stories and making choices in games, Yes, Your Grace stood out as one of the best I’d played in a long time — even after the credits rolled, I still felt regret over some decisions and joy for others. The creators did a fantastic job weaving their interconnected stories together and deliver more emotion and intrigue than most triple-A studios manage. I’ll be thinking about this one for a long time to come.

Players who value length in a title might be disappointed, as it’s possible to get one of Calvary’s worse endings in about 15 minutes. Even diligently working through all the puzzles the “right” way won’t extend the campaign to more than a few hours at most, but to me, this matters little. The Procession to Calvary may not be an epic, but I enjoyed looking at it, playing it, and the things it made me think about. That’s more than I can say for many games that sustain whole weeks of playtime.

For players who have yet to pick up the game, it’s hard to beat the value provided in this package. That said, it’s safe to say that this is for genre fans only — this game scratches a very specific itch, and not everyone will want to scratch it.

It is a massive shame to feel like I can’t enthusiastically endorse Wartile — it has a winning visual style and the seed of a novel idea, but that seed doesn’t bear a fully-formed fruit.

Despite the super armor mechanic, there’s still an absolute ton to love about Streets of Rage 4. The enhanced combo engine is a neat addition that can lead to some seriously insane beatdowns, four player local co-op’s great, and the sleek graphical style, fantastic music and bonus retro characters are all excellent accompaniments to an undeniably strong entry in the 2D beat-’em-up genre. It’s a truly wonderful return to form for a beloved gaming franchise that’s been absent for far too long.

I finished Later Daters in less than two hours and wasn’t sure that I experienced the entire game. After doing some follow-up research I discovered that this release is only the first half of the full experience. It’s good to know more is coming later, but this content is just too brief and the chapters offered don’t come to any strong conclusions. Unfortunately, this brevity hurts Later Daters in its current iteration. I suspect a full review of the entire game would be positive, but this ambitious visual novel simply feels incomplete at the moment — I suggest anyone interested wait until later this year when they’re able to experience the narrative in its entirety.

The Eternal Castle Remastered isn’t for everyone and I can easily imagine many prospective players being turned off by the controls or the abstract visuals, but there’s no denying the fact that it’s a strong addition which adds depth to the Switch library, and it comes absolutely recommended to anyone with a taste for those bygone classics or eccentric art-house titles.

Tortuga Team is the real deal when it comes to turn-based tactics, and this entry is a perfect fit for the Switch — I loved every minute of it.

I would recommend any Doom fan give Doom 64 a try if they missed it the first time around, and in some ways it’s become my favourite Doom game. For me, it scratches that simple classic Doom itchthat Doom Eternal can sometimes lack, and does so with a unique visual style and atmosphere that makes it feel fresh, whilst also aping my early memories of Doom.

Neverwinter Nights deserves better than this tragically compromised port for the Nintendo Switch. With no supplemental content to help explain the tabletop fundamentals or to describe the immense impact it had when it originally released, players are left with precious few reasons to struggle through a creaky real-time combat engine hampered by countless technical hitches and clunky controls. Even though its tale of plague-ridden devastation is especially haunting with the coronavirus lingering at the forefront of our collective discourse, everything else about this game fares poorly in modern times.

I find Alder’s Blood in a very strange position. The aesthetic, combat, and ideas drew me into the shadows of its world. However, the bugs, design issues and general lack of polish have killed my drive to continue playing. I might come back to it in the future once it’s been patched, but not until it’s had a lot more time to polish off its rough edges.

While I’m sure developer Hello Games is still tweaking things and perhaps even creating more content for No Man’s Sky, the current state of affairs is a strong one. This galactic opus still offers an infinite amount of content for those who want to lose themselves among the stars, but now also contains a concrete throughline that will satisfy a wider array of players. It can be irritating at times, but it’s also full of stunning moments and the satisfaction of building a virtual life among the stars. Four years after launch, it’s finally a journey worth taking.

Despite thoroughly grasping rules of Tharsis and even being able to offer advice on how to be more successful to others, my winning runs were entirely due to luck. Chance might be a solid basis for gambling or having a good time with friends, but when it comes to single player games, I should have a bit more say in whether my crew survives or not.

Even with all its technical flaws and strategic hiccups, Phoenix Point manages to pull together some of the best aspects of classic and contemporary turn-based tactical design and, in doing so, it somehow leaves me wanting more. It’s not a recommendation that comes without caveats thanks to the bugs and hiccups, but the struggle is worth it.

Hyperparasite is a blast to play. The sheer variety of characters, each with their own style to learn, kept me coming back hour after hour. I liked the look, the endless references, and the multiple routes through each level. If only the developers hadn’t been so hellbent on making it into such an uphill slog I probably would have finished it! As it stands, it’s just too unfriendly to players and I can’t recommend it.

Stale references aside, 60 Seconds! is incredibly entertaining in short bursts, and an easy recommendation to those looking for short, cheerful bursts of desperate apocalyptic survival.

I zipped through The Inner Friend in under two hours, but I’d imagine it could be completed even more quickly — I wasn’t good at the chase scenes, and kept getting kicked back to checkpoints. However, even with a short running time, this beautiful story about loss, trauma, and finding the strength to rebuild oneself after falling to pieces is a beautiful experience. It’s stunning, in a broken, decayed way, and I’d recommend it to nearly anyone who’s willing to take a chance on a game built around storytelling without words.

Overall, Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late [cl-r] is a great fighting game with a verbose and tiresome visual novel added in. The combat is enjoyable, there’s tons to unlock, and there are numerous characters to master. Some of the chatter might be a chore to get through, but getting to the meat on these bones is worth the effort.

If Half-Life: Alyx sold as many VR headsets as it should have, every new adopter needs to make Saints & Sinners a priority. Although it obviously lacks the polish that Valve was able to bring to their juggernaut, it’s another hearty single-player offering that was not only built from the ground up for VR, but showcases the exciting advancements unique to the platform. It’s an easy recommendation, even to people like me who thought they were sick of zombies.