CrossKrush is just the right amount of quirky and challenging to make it well worth an hour or so.

What’s frustrating is that this game could have been really good. Setting aside the freaky true crime aspect of it all, the game creates a deeply unsettling atmosphere, as if you’re walking through a nightmare with a mysterious, unstoppable killer lurking somewhere in the shadows. If that doesn’t frighten you a little, I don’t know what will. But again, none of that matters all that much, since the game here is a buggy mess. Whatever creepiness or unsettling story This is the Zodiac Speaking is trying to convey doesn’t really matter all that much, not when the game is literally falling apart before your very eyes.

You definitely need to be a puzzle game fan to enjoy Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 and if these styles of games do not interest you then this one will probably not turn you. Since both franchises are played differently it’s difficult to merge the two into one experience, but how they did it here works great and it’s easy to jump into and play. There is enough offered in Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 that even if you are a fan of just one type of puzzler you will probably still find something to like. If you are a puzzle fan and missed the first one then this is a perfect pick up… and if you have experienced the original there’s enough new content to be found in the sequel to keep you entertained.

If you’ve got a group of not-easily-offended friends together and you’re looking for something a little different, it’ll definitely do the trick.

It’s been done better by plenty of games plenty of times over the past couple of decades, and you’d be much better off playing any of the games from which Jet Set Knights draws inspiration than playing it instead.

To be fair, it’s not as if arcade bullet hell shooters lend themselves to all kinds of different gameplay styles, but it still makes the game feel a little lacking in content. Of course, if you just want some retro-y arcade bullet hell action, then that’s not going to bother you too much. Terror Squid may not have variety, but as I said, it does one thing very well — which is one more thing done well than many games can muster.

Genshin Impact is part of a wave of titles from China that is slowly eroding the bad stereotype that Chinese devs are devoid of creativity and skill. While the initial comparisons are there, Genshin Impact does go beyond to distinguish itself…now if only the gacha rates and the free primogem are better I would have no hesitation recommending the title.

Two Parsecs from Earth does have one mechanic that deserves mentioning: when you unlock a new skill, you have to choose between two, rather than simply getting one, and the skill you don’t pick is blocked off for the rest of the game. Consequently, different choices — say, choosing to dash rather than double-jump, or vice versa — will mean means the game plays out a little differently, which is an interesting wrinkle. Or it would be if the rest of Two Parsecs from Earth was that interesting. Unfortunately, it’s pretty dull beyond that, and only people who really like Metroidvanias need apply.

Demon’s Souls is an incredibly faithful and gorgeous remake of one of the greatest games of all time. Bluepoint pulled off something incredible, all while under the pressure of being a launch title for an entirely new generation of hardware. Demon’s Souls feels genuinely Next-Gen and is in no way held back by the bones of the PS3 version. Demon’s Souls is the perfect PS5 launch title and the definite From Software game. For long-time Souls players, Demon’s Souls feels like coming home. For new players, there has never been a better time or a better entry to find your way into the dark fantasy worlds that From Software creates.

A Short Hike really is a perfect experience. It’s easily one of the best games I’ve played this year, and I loved every single moment.

The end result is like a weird take on Cold War spy movies, with a jaunty soundtrack, competing global organizations, and lasers. Obviously, given we’re talking about a subgenre within a subgenre, Blind Men isn’t going to be for everyone…but for those to whom it even sort of sounds appealing, it’s well worth your time.

It’s a pretty joyful take on open-world action, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s a late contender for Game of the Year.

It’s one of those games where the journey matters at least as much as, if not more than, the destination — and, thankfully, it makes that journey as smooth and seamless and pleasant as possible.

To me, this is the type of demo I would show off the graphics to a friend that would come over and get them hyped for what the console is capable of. In that department, it does a good job. Due to the length being so short, there isn’t much else to discuss other, make sure you understand what you are paying for before purchasing Bright Memory.

It would have been nice if the gameplay were anywhere close to being as great as the premise. If we were going by looks and ideas alone, Bartlow’s Dread Machine would be an easy GOTY contender. As it stands, it’s simply a great-looking game with more than a few flaws — but those looks are so good, they might just be enough to make this game worthwhile.

At the end of the day, video games are about personal preference. I do not have the time I used to for mastering individual games, and Black Ops Cold War doesn’t demand it of me. I have already reached first prestige in the week it has been out, and that is in addition to playing the campaign AND tackling launch titles on the PS5. Cold War would seem perfectly positioned for the casual Call of Duty player if it weren’t for Warzone. Warzone is entirely free, and offers an experience that has been built upon for over a year, and will continue to be built upon and supported long after Cold War is not the “current” Call of Duty. For the more hardcore players, I think after a few weeks in Cold War, they will be returning to Modern Warfare (2019) to wait for the next installation.

With Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Demon’s Souls dominating the PS5’s launch lineup this season it would be very easy to overlook Sackboy: A Big Adventure. I’m here to try to make sure that doesn’t happen, as it satisfies that family friendly, co-operative platforming adventure quota, and it’s definitely a colorful, creative and enjoyable next-generation adventure worth taking.

Still fun, despite its age, and despite the fact these games aren’t being played the way they were probably originally intended. This year’s version faces an obstacle that could’ve killed it — since the whole point of party games is to play them at a party — but it’s come out as strong as ever.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon is a perfect jumping in point for anyone who’s ever been curious about the series, however it does not abandon long time players as it includes enough call backs and familiar elements that they expect. Just as we are in a console generation change, this series is going through drastic changes and manages to pull it off seamlessly. I look forward to following the exploits of the Dragon of Rock Bottom for years to come.

It’s exactly the same game as before, only with slightly different levels. Given that there was nothing wrong the last time around — and that the game is still less than $5 — that means that Birthday of Midnight is a pleasant enough diversion if you’ve got a couple of dollars and an hour to spare.

Really, just about the only thing Costume Kingdom has going for it is that there’s no Pokémon on the PS4 (though, I’ll note, there is a Digimon game or two). So if you’re insane and want to experience Pokémon without going to the trouble of buying a Switch, I guess this is the game for you? That, however, would be an absurd course of action, since Costume Kingdom is very, very bad. Save yourself the trouble, splurge on a Nintendo system, and just get Pokémon instead, because this game certainly isn’t worth anything.

It’s surprisingly touching, and the way the tension slowly ramps up makes for a really interesting experience. Interesting enough to make up for all the ways Cloudpunk is lacking, though? Your mileage on that will obviously vary. For me, it was, if only barely. There’s some engaging stuff going on here, but you need to dig through some pretty iffy stuff to get there.

The controls are kind of wonky — as enjoyable as it is to soar, the birds here aren’t exactly the most agile things in the world, so you spend a lot of time banking around and coming in for a new pass, and doing that over and over again until you finally shoot down all your enemies. All of this is probably fine if you want to do is aerial combat for a couple of hours. The Falconeer really only does that one thing, so if it’s your thing, then you’re in luck. Don’t expect anything more than that, though, because there’s pretty much nothing else to do.

Basically, just about the only thing wrong with Guard Duty is that it’s thirty years too late to have the kind of audience it deserves. It’s a charming, likeable adventure game that borrows from the best parts of the genre’s past, and it’s very easy to get sucked into the couple of hours it’ll take you to finish it.

Beneath all the ugly/stylish trappings, you have an open-world mystery game, where you have to search for clues, question suspects, and figure out whodunnit. In that sense, the game is fairly rewarding, and it even challenges you in a way that most other games of this ilk don’t, in that it leaves the “who” of the whodunnit up to you, and makes it clear that the decision of who to convict is in your hands. Given how frequently most mystery games only offer one path to a solution, it’s intriguing to see a game that takes such an open-ended approach. But as far as I’m concerned, it’s a great idea wrapped in a nauseating package. No judgment if Paradise Killer’s hyperstylish aesthetic appeals to you, but I’m going to have to pass on this one.

As far as I’m concerned, what set Hot Pursuit apart was the combat — and honestly, if you’re after high speed racing, big crashes, and a remastered game from a decade ago, I don’t know why you wouldn’t just get Burnout Paradise Remastered instead, since that blended them a lot better. Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Remastered is still above-average as racers go, but if you’re like me, you’ll probably come away from it feeling like it’s not quite as great as you may remember.

If you’re in the mood for another open-world action game, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is a fine choice. It is a little too similar in aspects to the last two games, making this feel like the point where Ubisoft may want to consider re-evaluating the series once again, but the settings, characters, and overall world are enough to overlook most of the repetitiveness. So provided you don’t have open-world burnout from the other like-minded games that released this year, I think Valhalla is certainly worth checking out.

We probably would have preferred a $40 price point for what’s included in Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales but at $50 it’s still a great buy, and also one of the cheapest launch PS5 releases. So if you were disappointed by Avengers and were waiting for the return of Spidey, it’s time to suit up with Harlem’s newest hero.

For the most part, you can just be happy in the knowledge this game even exists, rather than feeling compelled to play it. If, however, you’re a fan of Genesis-era run & gun platformers with a hint of Metroidvania to them, Ultracore is about as essential as a game can possibly be.

To recap: the characters are bad, the story is dull, the visuals are uninteresting, the music is awful, the gameplay is repetitive even by the standards of the genre. Basically, there’s nothing good about Roommates, and there’s no reason whatsoever to play it.

There are three stages to playing Georifters. First, your eyeballs get assaulted. Then, briefly, you get used to the hideousness, and you can focus on playing the game. This, unfortunately, is the shortest stage, and quickly gives way to boredom, as you realize there’s not much here worth doing for any length of time. Given all the excellent puzzle-platformers on the Switch, that means you can safely avoid this one.

The XCOM 2 Collection is a pretty welcome addition to the Switch library. It’s got a great reputation for a reason as being a key part of arguably the best tactical RPG series out there, and that reputation survives the game’s jump over to the Switch almost entirely intact.

Star Wars: Squadrons is a tight, laser-focused experience that knows exactly what it is and exactly what it isn’t. This focus causes it to be a little bit light on content, but with a launch price of $40, it is a much easier pill to swallow. I can say that the flight is just as enjoyable on hour 20 as it was on minute 1, and if you are looking for a gorgeous flight simulator, without the in-depth knowledge and practice that a game like Microsoft Flight Simulator demands, Star Wars: Squadrons is it.

To be sure, I wouldn’t say that Steam Tactics is a GOTY contender or anything. It’s far too simplistic for that. But when that simplicity is enough to keep me going back to the game again and again, even when there’s plenty of other stuff I probably should be playing instead, that’s more than enough to make the game worthy of a recommendation.

If I’d paid full price for it on release day, I’d be wondering why I paid so much money for a game that feels closer to EDF or Goat Simulator than anything else. Obviously, I had fun with it, so I wouldn’t say never buy it or never play it — but you may be better off waiting it bit for it to come down in price. Then you hop in, and start crashing cars and causing mayhem to your heart’s content.

It’s pleasant to see the game get more colourful as you go along, and the skins are undeniably cute. Don’t go into Monochrome World expecting something to reinvent the wheel — or, I guess, the marble — and you should enjoy it just fine.

It doesn’t matter how little action there is on the screen, it’s fairly common here to have everything slow to a crawl as the eponymous heroes do crazy things like moving from left to right. But that would be forgivable if Mushroom Heroes was otherwise a good game — and by “good,” I mean “fully playable.” If it were (or if it gets patched after this review is written), it would definitely be worth recommending to puzzle platformer fans, but in this state, it’s just a game that needs to be avoided.

To be sure, none of this will be that new if you played Slayaway Camp. But this is one of those cases where that doesn’t matter. It basically comes down to “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” — only with the added bonus that everything that was broken when it came to Slayaway Camp is entirely fixed in Friday the 13th: Killer Puzzle.

I wish I could wholeheartedly suggest checking out G.I. Joe Operation Blackout, but I don’t think a solid roster of playable characters and an enjoyable story is enough to put up with the lackluster gameplay.

Whether it is unraveling the mystery of the disc, trying to last over 20 seconds each room, or completing it’s Pokedex-ish compendium of discs, or completing the 8 hardcore challenges Disc Room packs a lot for a variety of players. It seems Devolver Digital has been a beacon of light in an otherwise dreary 2020, putting out another title which will likely land on my personal year end list. So let’s hope we’ll see “the scientist” cross over in another Devolver published title where he’ll be grabbing a crown.

Much like its predecessor, Caveman Tales almost certainly isn’t worth paying extra just to play on your Switch, but also like its predecessor, if you can live with the price you’re getting a perfectly tolerable time-waster in return.

Thanks to an insane number of hours spent playing previous NHL games over the last several months, I do know what a good hockey game looks like, and NHL 21 definitely fits the bill. The on-ice product is as fast-paced and free-flowing as the real thing, and there are enough options here to keep you occupied for months on end — which, given the circumstances, is exactly what you may need right now.

When a) you can see everything a game has to offer in 30 minutes, and b) you’re left feeling like you’ve played this exact game somewhere before, it’s hard to be too enthused about Tamiku. There’s an interesting idea here, and kudos to Joysan for nailing the retro feel so perfectly, but it’s hard not to feel like there should be something more here.

I can’t think of a better platformer released in the past several years. Crash 4: It’s About Time is an absolute must buy and it’s truly about time that Activision returned Crash to his former glory. Hopefully we don’t have to wait another 20 years before we get another sequel.

Golf Zero won’t be the best golf game or platformer you’ve ever played, but, if nothing else, it’s kind of interesting.

Here, nostalgia probably adds to your enjoyment, but even if you strip all that away, you’re still left with a pretty solid kart racer that adds one or two things to the usual formula.

On some level, I guess, Tamarin is sort of amazing, in that I can’t think of when I last played a game that was this much of an outright disaster on every level. I’ve played plenty of terrible games recently, but at least in those cases you could see what they were going for, and you could imagine what good versions of those games might look like. In Tamarin, the game is an absolute fiasco at a conceptual level. That doesn’t mean you should play it, of course, but the game gets points for effort, if absolutely nothing else..

Obviously, you could just play Nicole as a traditional VN, but that feels like it’s missing the point — and, moreover, if you do that, it’s not like the story or the characters are all that interesting. Which means your two options here are to either read through an incredibly tedious novel, or add to the tedium by turning the game into a life-sim/visual novel. Whichever way you choose to play Nicole, one thing is certain: it’s going to bore you.

In the end, it’s kind of telling that all the commentary around Crysis — and Crysis Remastered — focuses on the graphics. As shooters go, there are plenty of better options out there, regardless of what platform you’re playing it on. In terms of looks, though? On that front, this is still one heck of an achievement.

Even if it’s not an all-time classic, it’s still a very good game, and if, like me, you’ve never played it, the Switch remaster is an excellent opportunity to dive in and discover what you missed.

While I’m not usually a huge fan of tactical RPGs, I can totally see how fans of the genre would get a lot out of this game. Between the roguelike nature of the levels and the fact you’re basically creating your army from scratch, no two playthroughs of Othercide will ever be quite the same. Provided you’re cool with dying a lot, that makes for a pretty unique experience.

Prehistoric Dude is for when you want a Metroidvania platformer that doesn’t require a whole lot of thought — and when you want that, it’s just about perfect.

It’s the big things — like, again, the 8 main characters and the 100+ hour story — that really define Romancing SaGa 3, and on that front, the game is…well, it’s an acquired taste, for sure. But if you’re a fan of JRPGs and you want to see an interesting time capsule from the genre’s evolution, it’s well worth investigating.

Despite my qualms with elements of Spelunky 2, I still can’t help to get “one more run” in hopes of getting that elusive win (over 1000 attempts and still a 0% victory rate). Even if I’ve achieved a victory, there are plenty of secrets waiting to be discovered! Rescuing the Spelunkys might end up in my list of unfulfilled rougelike checklist, but at least I’ll have had plenty of fun while I was attempting it.

Mask of Mists is certainly nowhere near as good as its influences, but it’s still a pleasant way to pass an afternoon.

One thing about Urban Trial Playground that I remember pretty vividly is that I was getting pretty sick of it by the end, because it started feeling a little grind-heavy and all the levels felt the same. With Urban Trial, that feeling started to kick in somewhere around the second track. This is not an enjoyable game, and even if its predecessors didn’t set the bar all that high, Urban Trial Tricky comes nowhere close to clearing it.

Honestly, to me WWE 2K Battlegrounds is a good start for a new engine and possibly a new franchise from 2K. Many of my issues can be corrected with patches or game updates. The gameplay is fast, fun, and easy to pick up. I really wish the game wasn’t so microtransaction heavy as this could have been a stronger recommendation, but that could change over time depending on fan and critic feedback.

However you want to classify Metro: Last Light Redux, there’s no denying that it’s an excellent game. Both it and Metro 2033 feel right at home on the Switch, and combined, they make for a fantastic — and incredibly gloomy — experience.

I honestly have no criticisms for Active Neurons. It’s a short, enjoyable puzzle game you can finish in an hour or two, and you’ll walk away feeling more relaxed than when you started.

So while yes, these are three games that Mario fans around the globe will likely love, it’s also a little hard to wholeheartedly suggest rushing out to pick up this collection simply because it feels like a barebones kind of thing, especially for a franchise and anniversary milestone that deserves better. The ports are well done, the emulation feels spot on to me, and it’s fun to go back and revisit all three of these games. But I don’t think it’s unfair to expect a little more from Nintendo as the owner and caretaker of these historic titles, and would hope that we see big improvements on that front for future collections.

Given that RogueCube is around $5, it’s hardly going to break the bank for anyone, and I’ve certainly played much, much worse games than this one. Still, it would be nice if the game had any personality to speak of, and without that, it’s hard to muster up strong feelings towards the game one way or another.

Raji: An Ancient Epic is a gorgeous game, and it would be nice to be able to appreciate everything about it. As it stands, though, it’s the equivalent of the prettiest box you’ve ever seen containing an utterly forgettable present.

Demon’s Tier+ is a solid twin-stick shooter, and even if I wouldn’t say that it’s elevated Cowcat to the point where you can say that they’re making essential games, at the very least they’re making good games.

As criticisms go, “it was too addictive and I finished it in a few hours” isn’t exactly the worst thing you can say about a game. In fact, as someone who prefers quality over quantity, I’d much rather leave a game wanting much, much more — which was exactly the case with One Line Coloring. There are much worse ways to spend part of an afternoon.

It’s one of the better roguelikes out there, and makes for a great action-adventure in general, with an engaging story, excellent writing, beautiful music, and some amazing art to go along with it.

If Hotshot Racing were just a little more balanced, it would’ve been something special, but as it stands, it feels more like a missed opportunity.

While some of the early puzzles are pretty easy to solve, the further in you get, the more you need to be able to think in terms of 3D space, since you can shift gravity to get a different perspective on everything. As someone who’s terrible at spatial reasoning puzzles, I’m not going to lie: there were times when I felt like my brain was pushed to the breaking point. Even so, it still felt like there was a pretty sizable discrepancy between what Manifold Garden achieves artistically, and what it achieves as a game. The latter is pretty forgettable, whereas the former occasionally borders on breathtaking. I leave it up to you how much weight you place on those two halves, but for me, it added up to a somewhat uneven whole.

When Lonely Mountains: Downhill works, it works pretty well. It’s far from perfect, but if you want a game that captures the zen of cycling, it mostly does a decent job of that.

Tangle Tower is built around an excellent whodunit mystery that moves along at just the right pace. There’s a great balance of plot, puzzle, and humour, and it does a good job of keeping you invested all the way to the very end. In this respect, you could say that the game carries on in the traditions of the very best adventure games from a few decades ago — but it manages to do so in a way that feels undeniably fresh.

As someone who plays nearly all superhero games, watches all the movies, and still reads the comics, I can’t help but be let down by the Avengers. Square Enix was in development way too long to turn out something that’s just fine and I didn’t even get into all the bugs and glitches that this launched with. I am optimistic though, that this game will grow if the community continues to support it. Avengers is meant to be a “games as a service” after all and once we start seeing some DLC and the type of support that Square Enix gives we can get a better idea how this franchise will grow. If you’ve played all of the Arkham games, Ultimate Alliance games, and Insomniac’s Spider-Man, you really have no other choice for a Marvel experience, but if you haven’t I would sadly recommend any of those other games over this.

Obviously, seeing as this is a visual novel, that’s secondary to whether the story itself is any good. And on that front, Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen really demands that you be invested not just in the 30+ hours of story here, but also the 80+ hours that have come before it (er, after it?) in Mask of Deception and Mask of Truth. That’s a big commitment to make, and I’d be lying if I said I thought the time investment was worth it, but if you’ve come this far with Utawarerumono and need to see it through, Prelude to the Fallen is probably a must-buy.

Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 and 2 is easily one of the best remasters available on the market today and does an excellent job of retaining the spirit and feel of the PlayStation era classics while adding on new features, music, and other options to propel these two entries into the modern era. The gameplay is still timeless and is sure to capture the attention of a whole new era of skateboarding fans that might not have grown up on the Tony Hawk series to begin with. Here’s hoping Activision and Vicarious Visions have plans for additional releases, as there are still more excellent entries in the franchise that are worth revisiting, especially if done so with the level of care and attention to detail that is present here.

Sure, this is the first time they’ve graced a Nintendo platform, but that only means that if you’re in that elusive “Nintendo-only gamer who likes shooters” demographic, you owe it to yourself to pick up the Borderlands Legendary Collection. For everyone else, though, it’s harder to see the value proposition. Pick it up if you want these games on the go, but be aware that you’ve had up to ten years to play some of these games on other platforms, and this doesn’t bring anything new to the table.

I wouldn’t say that A Summer with the Shiba Inu is too complicated to understand by any means, but it’s definitely not as lighthearted and silly as you might expect from a game where dogs dress and act like people. But complexity isn’t a bad thing, and neither is A Summer with the Shiba Inu. It may sound like a joke at first, but if you’re a fan of visual novels, you’ll find that it’s far better than it has any right to be.

As it stands, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered is a tough game to suggest for everyone. Playing through the game alone works perfectly fine, you’ll still get a pretty good experience provided you are willing to put up with the repetitive nature of the action combat and revisiting dungeons over and over. And the online multiplayer component works well too, I had no real issues connecting with other players, no problems with lag or disconnects. But the core co-op experience feels decidedly empty and does a poor job of echoing back to the experience I had with the original game, so much so that I leave the game a tad disappointed overall.

I know I’ve probably done a horrible job of capturing what makes Indivisible so wonderful, but you’ve got to believe me: it really is a fantastic game. If I can love it despite it featuring a whole bunch of elements I usually dislike, I think that speaks to just how good it is — and it means that you already are a fan of anime-inspired graphics, metroidvania platforming, or turn-based combat, then you should find even more to enjoy here.

Jisei: The First Case doesn’t do a whole lot, even by the standards of visual novels, but what’s here is done very well. Even if you aren’t a fan of visual novels, it’s different enough that it might just be worth your time.

It’s certainly one of the more memorable video game experiences this year, and if you have any love for classic RPG’s in general, it should be right up your alley.

Black Rainbow is a deeply, deeply stupid game. If someone told me that the game was made by throwing a bunch of random point & click adventure tropes into some kind of AI adventure game generator, I would have no problem believing that. It’s just that lousy on every level. But at least it’s short, and at least it didn’t put me to sleep, right? Black Rainbow could always have been worse. Not much worse, though. There’s a whole lot of genuinely bad elements here mixed in with a couple of head-scratching decisions, and they add up to make a game you simply shouldn’t play.

Reed 2 is pretty much exactly the same as the first game. However you felt about Reed Remastered — whether it’s love, hate, or complete and utter indifference — will be exactly how you feel about this one, too.

Simply being pretty and functional isn’t enough to make Windbound any more interesting. It’s built around a survival gameplay loop that’s not particularly deep or fun. It may be great if you enjoy sailing, but beyond that, there’s not a whole lot here.

All in all Madden NFL 21 is a major case of deja vu. Is it bad? Not in the least. Is Madden NFL 21 a great advancement in football simulation that some might be looking for? Not in the least as well. The hope for me is that the next gen versions (which is included with the purchase of this years’ release for current gen versions) will be a significant upgrade and not just a higher res version with faster loading times. So this is one of the more difficult scores I’ve had to give a sports title. On one hand you get to versions of Madden NFL 21 (current gen/next gen) and it’s a great football release. On the other hand if you play/buy Madden every year I find it hard to fully endorse buying this year’s release based on just how similar it is to Madden 20.

Really, whether you should spend your money on this game comes down to whether you have $5 or so burning a hole in your pocket, how much you want to play a Mega Man clone, and if you feel like spending 30 minutes or so on an easy Platinum. If your answers to those questions are yes, very much, and yes, then Clash Force might just be worth checking out.

No Straight Roads is like an indie band that if given a chance, you’ll end up being a fan for life. It’s not perfect, but there’s enough there to ensure you have a good time. It certainly stands out in a crowd of titles where colors are muted and personalities are lacking. In a battle of Rock vs EDM, I’ll side with rock every time!

Mortal Shell is a true love letter to Dark Souls and feels like a distilled version of the From Software masterpiece. Unique mechanics serve to separate it a bit and enhance the experience, but there is nothing here that will sell a person that just downright dislikes Souls games. Available for a modest $30, though, I strongly recommend it to any Souls fans or anyone who has ever been interested but hesitant to pull the trigger.

I usually grow tired of Metroidvanias pretty quickly, but Carrion had me hooked. There’s something to be said for putting players in the metaphorical shoes of a literal bloodthirsty monster — and that something is: it’s super fun.

I’m just judging Alicization Lycoris based on what’s present in the game, it’s hard to see it as much more than a glitchy, boring mess that doesn’t do anything that you can’t get from other, significantly better games.

We’ve waited 25 years for a proper Battletoads sequel, and Rare finally delivered. It’s art style may put off some players in the long run, but the overall solid game play can hook you quickly. If you can overlook the slightly strange control combos, you will have fun playing through this alone or with friends with local co-op. It definitely won’t appeal to everyone, but I can recommend giving this one a try, even if it’s through Xbox Game Pass. Once you play it for yourself, you are likely to see it’s charm.

Country Tales isn’t going to light the world on fire — and at $10, it’s more than a little overpriced — but if you’re looking for an easygoing time-waster, it does the trick.

Ultra Hat Dimension is a throwback in the best sense of the word, a retro-infused puzzler that fully understands the era it’s trying to mimic. If you’re looking for a game that’s weird — but also fun — as heck, this will most definitely do the trick.

Awesome Pea 2 works just as intended — apart from that weird thing about saving progress — and it does so in a way that makes it genuinely enjoyable. There are certainly tonnes and tonnes of other retro-y platformers to choose from, but this one does enough right that you certainly couldn’t go wrong in playing it.

Focusing on combat in a game like Metro 2033 is kind of missing the point. You’re here to survive to see the next day, not go in with guns blazing and rack up body counts. It’s a dark, tension-filled experience, and it’s well worth checking out on the Switch if you haven’t yet had a chance to play it.

The game touts itself as a bite-size ‘pick-up & play’ action title and by all counts it absolutely delivers on that promise, however once you’ve done everything there’s no real reason to go back…yes the title does unlock a hardcore difficulty level which you must get through the game with only 1 heart, but the effort required will probably not reap a bountiful reward. Nonetheless, the title is worth a taste, and could absolutely be a comfort meal.

As far as DLC goes, this initial offering for Cadence of Hyrule does feel a little light, mostly because there are only two characters that really brought anything new to the table for me. Thankfully both of those characters are pretty great and provide new ways and mechanics to play through the story or dungeon mode.

Super Soccer Blast isn’t a particularly deep game. Notwithstanding the existence of a player/team editor, you can’t really control that much. You don’t get to swap in new players (either during or between games) and you can’t change your tactics or formation. What you see what you start up the game is what you get. But that’s what makes Super Soccer Blast so refreshing. It knows what it wants to be — a slightly more modern-looking version of a ‘90s-era soccer game — and it gives players just that.

The existence of Fall Guys is a boon for those who wish to partake in the battle royale craze, but lack the dexterity and fast reflexes a shooter requires. The highs are high and the lows are low. Games flow pretty quickly and there’s definitely a playerbase for the title for now. Let’s hope Mediatonic will develop more features such as new events, the ability to create private lobbies, crossplay and make it available on platforms it didn’t launch on. If this first week is any indication, we’re in for a lot of Fall Guys this Fall, guys!

Where Angels Cry is just kind of there, existing without really doing anything, taking up space on your SD card. It’s not aggressively bad, so you could do far worse, I guess, but I don’t know why anyone would want to play it when they could play literally anything else.

It’s really all kind of shame that Those Who Remain is so flawed, because it’s got such a good idea at its core. In better hands, this probably could’ve been a much better game, but as it stands you’re safe avoiding it entirely.