All in all, I found the new additions introduced in Tetris Effect: Connected to be well worth playing and experiencing. The new Connected mode was an experience with Tetris I’ve never had before and is a must-play for anyone interested in Tetris at all.

Obviously, Bone Marrow’s developers should be applauded for trying something new with such a familiar formula. There’s a good idea to be found here, for sure. But if you want something with any depth, this definitely isn’t it.

Obviously, there are dangers in leaning into being weird — not only can it be alienating, lots of games aren’t half as strange as they like to think they are. But Scrap Garden has a deeply oddball heart beating at its core, and it’s too bad that the game mostly ignores that in favour of its dull, competent respectability.

It’s very nice to look at, and, visually at least, the game feels just at home on a console as I imagine it did on a phone. Add in the whole environmentalist robot angle, and the game manages to borrow some charm from Wall-E. But it’s not enough to make Doomsday Vault a must-play game. I’m sure it’s great on a phone, where your play sessions may be a little shorter, but it doesn’t feel substantive enough to be worth any major investment of time or money now that it’s on the Switch.

I wouldn’t say that Mind Maze is some brilliant puzzle game, or even a crazy new take on a durable genre. It’s as basic as they come. But it works, and it’s addictive, and that’s really all it needs to be.

It’s definitely got heart, but it needs a lot more than that to make it worth recommending.

RGG Studio’s greatest strength is it’s writing and characters and Lost Judgment delivers in spades. Characters are fleshed out and their motives feel grounded and believable, but you will also meet plenty of wacky and memorable folks as well. You grow attached to the people you meet in Ijincho and when bad things happen you genuinely hope everyone escapes unscathed.

Even if it’s not lengthy or challenging, Fire Tonight still wins you over on the strength of its personality. The game does an outstanding job of giving Maya and Devin personalities within its limited time, and it’s easy to root for them to achieve their modest goal. Even more importantly, the game looks and sounds incredible, with visuals that scream 1990 without being too obnoxious about it, and an incredible synth-pop score. It’s those things — the great music, the engaging characters, the nice graphics — that make it easy to overlook Fire Tonight’s short length. It’s not the sort of game that will swallow up days and days from your calendar, but if you’re looking for a fun way to spend an hour, Fire Tonight is definitely that.

There are glitches almost everywhere, and even if they’re almost all niggling little details like occasionally getting stuck while moving forward, or not being able to attack, or inconsistent hit detection, they add up to make the game pretty frustrating.

I’ll add that The Heir of Glen Kinnoch looks very nice. Again, we’re only talking about static screens, but given how ugly some hidden object games can be, it’s nice to find one that actually puts some effort into how it looks. To be sure, none of this makes Faircroft’s Antiques: The Heir of Glen Kinnoch an essential buy, nor does it mean you need to load up on the other games in the series, Faircroft’s Antiques: Treasures of Treffenburg and Faircroft’s Antiques: Home for Christmas — though both of them have the same mixture of nice visuals and interesting (by the genre’s standards) puzzles. But if, like me, you have a soft spot for a pretty innocuous genre, then this game should be right up your alley.

Setting aside the inherent creepiness of it all — if Hellbound & Debriefed represented the first time we’d ever seen the mechanic, it might be noteworthy. But seeing as it was done much, much better in Undead & Undressed, here it just feels clunky and awkward. I get that in the absence of Undead & Undressed on the Switch, Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed might seem tempting if you’re after this sort of thing. It shouldn’t be, though. The series may have (very briefly) gone on to more interesting things (before promptly taking a nosedive back to mediocrity), but you’re not going to see any of that here.

Overall Tales of Arise has a great premise and story, and is one of the better Tales games Bandai Namco has produced. If you are a JRPG fan, or a Tales fan give this game a good look.

Despite the word salad definition of it’s acronym (Seriously what does Forged in Shadow Torch mean really?), F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch is a competent and challenging title for fans of metroidvanias. I was definitely invested into the plight of the furtizens of Torch City and would love to see the conflict which led to the current situation explored in some means. If this is the first title to come out of the China Hero Project, I am definitely interested in the other titles they are curating.

Life is Strange: True Colors is a unique game, unlike anything I have played before. It is a departure from the other titles in the series, while also retaining the soul of what made people enjoy those games so much. With a stronger focus on interpersonal relationships and genuinely empathizing with those around you (both friend and foe), it feels like the series is finding its footing and pushing forward to bigger and better things. The decision to switch from the episodic format to a full upfront release pays off and I think Life is Strange: True Colors is much better for it. Once I got invested in the story, I did not want to stop playing, and I think a lot of the decisions and connections you make would start to lose their meaning if there were an extended break in between chapters.

As I said up, though: good unique? Bad unique? Even after finishing it, I’m still not sure. Still, leaving me feeling so uncertain must be a sign Heal is doing something right, and for that reason, I’d probably recommend puzzle fans check it out.

Overall I had a fun ten or so hours uncovering the “truth”, the DLC’s final encounter was an adequate challenge that had me at the edge of my seat. Although what slightly mars my experience was the several Unreal Engine crashes I experienced during gameplay and one of these crashes actually created a soft lock which I cannot recover because of my reliance on the game’s auto save system. So while my Truth Quest Progress will never reach 100%, I can only hope other players will not have completion slip from their grasp. At the price of $14.99, Maneater: Truth Quest is a good extension to the Maneater experience and for those inclined…it’s out there.

Sonic Colors: Ultimate is exactly what it claims to be, an Ultimate version of an already decent Sonic title. Many gamers dismissed it the first time, but if you are a Sonic fan, you owe it to yourself to check this one out. Blind Squirrel Games did an excellent job, changing what needed to be changed and leaving what worked originally intact. Super fun, challenging, and reasonably priced (even for the deluxe edition), this is a perfect title to celebrate Sonic The Hedgehog’s 30th anniversary.

Even if Ys games are more action-packed than most other titles that fall within the very broad JRPG umbrella, Ys IX has less action than it probably should. Again, I don’t want to leave you with the impression that Ys IX is a bad game, because it’s definitely not. But it’s also not a great game, either, and given that we’re talking about a series that has produced a couple of those, that means Ys IX can’t help but fall a little short of expectations.

However you want to look at it, though, between its solid story and its just-the-right-difficulty puzzles, It Takes Two is a perfect game if you’re looking for something that will interest non-gamer[s].

Again, Train Station Renovation is very, very niche. To fully enjoy it, you’ll have to want to do the same actions hundreds — if not thousands — of times, and you’ll have to do so keeping in mind these are things that, in real life, would be mind-numbingly boring. But as long as you approach it with that caveat, you may discover that this is a pleasant way to pass the time.

All and all No More Heroes 3 gave me what I wanted, in another blood filled romp in the world of Santa Destroy. This entry is getting a little too close to Saints Row 3 in terms of wackiness, but that said I did like Saints Row 3. In the lead up to the release, Suda51 has said it might be a while before we see Travis again. With that said this was one hell of a ride even if there were bumps along the way, let’s hope we haven’t reached our Final Destination with our leather clad assassin.

Space Invaders Invincible Collection is definitely worth your time even if you never heard of the games included before. Their simple concept and gameplay is suitable for every type of gamer out there, even the hardcore ones. Forget what was released before, this is a fantastic collection of great games that should not be missed by fans and newcomers alike. Pick this one up if you can, highly recommended!

Synth Riders is a perfect way to experience a VR rhythm game. It’s a simple concept that is still fun regardless of your skill level. Most people will be able to pick up and play this for hours on end with no complicated instruction. If you found the music in Beat Saber or REZ not to your liking, than you’ll feel right at home here! For the best experience, I highly recommend you download the available music tracks for some more great music choices. This is one game that definitely belongs in your PlayStation VR collection.

Psychonauts 2 took over 16 years to reach the masses, and while it was an agonizing wait to return to the wondrous world that Double Fine has crafted, it was definitely worth the wait. Double Fine didn’t deviate from the formula they had crafted many years ago and still retained the humor and heart that the first title had. While this title doesn’t posit anything that remained unanswered, let’s hope we won’t have to wait as long to find out what happens to Raz in the next couple of days in his life.

If you haven’t picked up Madden in a few years, there’s nothing glaringly wrong with this year’s release and I would recommend it. On the other side of the coin, if you’re a diehard and you play every year and might even have the free next gen release from last season, I’d say this year is a safe skip and just download this season’s roster.

Honestly, I don’t know what else there is to say about Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut other than that it’s a must-play. That was true of the game last year when it first came out, and it’s just as true now that they’ve refined and perfected it on PS5.

So while I’m not quite ready to slap a score on this just yet, I will say I’ve had a lot of fun with Aliens: Fireteam Elite, and I’m hoping the online experience holds up really well at launch. As a fan of the films, I’d like to see this one do well, and it’d be neat to see what the developers could potentially introduce in future updates considering the foundation of the game is so solid at this point.

You still build in the spaces the game wants you to build, meet objectives that are identical to what they’ve been in the last few games, and basically do everything you could do in Country Tales, and Caveman Tales, and Kingdom Tales. Admittedly, none of the games are awful, and that goes for Fate of the Pharaoh as well. They’re all mostly competent in what they’re trying to do, which is a cut above what this publisher usually puts out. But unless you’re really in the mood for a bland, overpriced resource management game, there’s really no reason to check this one out.