Alvastia Chronicles is, like so many other Kemco RPGs before it, as generic and forgettable as they come, with the only difference between this and most of its other publisher-mates is that this one looks further back than most for its inspiration.

Once you settle into Yoshi’s Crafted World there’s a good time to be had. It feels weird to call it a mixed bag in the visuals and gameplay department but it’s a mostly good bag with some stuff you just have to get through to enjoy more of the good stuff. Like Chex Mix! And with lots to do after the big boss there’s a good amount of value past the main game. But if you’re unsure then there is a demo on the eShop and you can decide for yourself if it’s worth a whole $60. I just hope if we have another adventure with Yoshi maybe he returns to his roots.

It’s a “blast” to play for those who want a great action game whether or not you’re a fan of retro games. But by now with so many retro inspired games on the eShop both this and the first Blaster Master stand at the top of the offerings as true must-haves.

Gain Ground is also one of those games people either love or hate even back in the day. And if I’m being honest it hasn’t aged well but my nostalgia allows me to enjoy it, so while $8 isn’t a big investment I also can’t recommend it to everyone. Why this is in the AGES line might just be for M2 to show off the vertical mode and join the ranks of only a few games which take advantage of this on the Switch because otherwise it’s more of a very well ported historical piece. Will I spend more time with it? Probably not after I put my big screen TV back in an upright position.

This is a very worthy version of Final Fantasy VII as it originally appeared and still worth playing today. If the few bugs are patched out it’s an even better deal. Whether you want to play it on the Switch with its unique hardware abilities or pay less on a different platform is up to you but I’m glad we even have these options. So it’s a good recommendation and we even got through the review without making a pun about the AVALANCHE of Final Fantasy releases now moving over to the Switch.

I’d like to say that there’s some redeeming quality to balance that out, but there’s really not. I mean, on some level, it’s kind of neat to see how well the game mimics the Game Boy platformers to which I devoted countless hours during my youth, but that’s hardly reason to recommend the game. There other games out there that inhabit the exact same space (did I mention Super Life of Pixel enough?), and they do it much better than what you’ll find in Awesome Pea.

As with the current offerings of SEGA AGES games on the Switch you will be getting a very faithful version of Alex Kidd in Miracle World with a couple extra features and very good emulation. It’s a classic title which is definitely outdated in some ways but also worth checking out for a kind of history lesson.

Telltale’s The Walking Dead has a great conclusion, and I’m happy the team responsible for it was able to see this through to the end. It’s a shame that their original parent company marred the overall experience significantly, but their ability to bounce back under another publisher and deliver to this degree is exceptional. I’m both sad and happy that this is the conclusion of Clementine’s tale, but the character arc is so well delivered, you won’t be disappointed.

Death End re;Quest is the sort of thing that Hyperdimension Neptunia would have skewered mercilessly — and, for the most part, that skewering would have been deserved.

Maybe I just had lowered expectations because my initial experience was so bad, but it was fun to play a platformer in which constant death wasn’t a given, but rather a side effect of choosing to take the more difficult route. Couple that with a retro vibe that’s spot on, and you can see why Daggerhood is a solid choice for anyone in the mood to play an old-school platformer that doesn’t seem to want to punish you just for playing it.

If you want a true-to-life baseball experience, this is almost certainly it. But when you get so close to doing everything right, what you do wrong stands out more. With MLB The Show’s track record, I have no doubt that, come MLB The Show 20, they’ll fix the niggling little issues that prevent MLB The Show 19 from being a truly great game — but for now, those issues still exist, and they’re what prevent the game from making the jump from very good to great.

I would highly recommend Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 to just about anyone, even if you weren’t a huge fan of the first game. This feels like a much better attempt all around, and certainly scratches the same itch that games like Diablo and Destiny did for me. It also has plenty of initial content to explore, making it feel like a worthwhile purchase while the developer irons out the finer points. So absolutely give The Division 2 a chance, you won’t be disappointed.

It’s not quite the very best the nonogram genre has to offer, but it’s still a solid entry in the series, and if you’re like me, you’ll undoubtedly get your money’s worth if you choose to check it out.

It’s hard to imagine anything here sticking with you much beyond when you’re playing it. You’re sure to enjoy Mages of Mystralia while you’re playing it — and if you’re a fan of isometric RPGs, it’s certainly worth thinking about playing it — but I can’t imagine it’ll stick with you once you put the controller down.

London Detective Mysteria is silly fan fiction where Sherlock Holmes and Queen Victoria and Miss Marple and Jack the Ripper (or at least their proxies) all interact and no one bats an eye. But sometimes, you don’t need to bat an eye, and you just need to go with it. If you’re a fan at all of visual novels, this is definitely one of the times to just go with it.

While more difficult initially, it becomes more approachable and easier the further in you get and the more you adapt to the combat. Since you are not leveling in the same way as the other games, scaling does not work the same way. Once you master the basics, you can master the game. Sekiro is an absolute must buy for From Software fans and anyone willing to put in the work to really get a grasp of the flow of combat.

It’s a great addition to a fun game and I like seeing this little port get continued support. Still it might be nice to see a full-fledged sequel if the team comes back with more ideas.

If you want COD on the Switch, this definitely isn’t that. If, however, you want something that’s fun in short bursts and allows you to blast away at bad guys, then Modern Combat Blackout will scratch that itch.

How did Kirby’s Extra Epic Yarn stack up against the original? Well being a port with some added features and missing the co-op from the original it’s not really definitive. It’s just here on a handheld and not the Switch. So if you’re not planning to play with a friend then it might be a good bet, but it also reminds me how much I enjoyed the original and both have their merits. But for what we got it’s in a weird place that makes me wish we got a ground-up sequel or remake instead.

Unless you played Hotline Miami and wished it featured more people shooting you dead from offscreen where you couldn’t even see them, you’re better off passing on The Hong Kong Massacre, because style is really all this game has to offer.

R.B.I. Baseball 19 is probably never going to match the polish of one of PlayStation’s flagship franchises. But, for the first time ever, it’s solid enough that baseball fans who just have an Xbox or a Switch don’t have to feel totally left out for yet another year. It may not be the greatest game ever, but neither is it anywhere close to being the worst — and seeing as some of its predecessors actually have a legitimate claim at that worst title, R.B.I. Baseball 19 represents an enjoyable and welcome step forward.

I liken One Piece World Seeker to a filler arc or a movie for the series. It’s non-canonical, but nonetheless can be an enjoyable experience. The game leans heavily on the player to be knowledgeable to the series and might be a turn off for those not familiar with the series. This is a competent title, but it falls short of what the teaser trailer promised.

Trials games have always been all about that feeling of “just one more try…”, and Trials Rising is no different. This is the best game of its type on the Switch, and one that’s sure to get its hooks into you and keep them there.

Dropping the puzzles in favor of a more streamlined, combat focused experience is another good change, and really helps the game have more of a laser focus. With plenty of content to keep you busy, as well as both free and paid DLC in the works, Devil May Cry 5 is well worth your time, and hard earned dollars.

Heroes Trials is blandly terrible in a way that will slip from memory now that I’m done with it.

Dead or Alive 6 continues the trend of being a fun title that has a low barrier of entry, but offers those who wish to go deeper a lot of tools to accomplish that. The title remains one of the more visually appealing fighting games out there in the market. Team Ninja has created the framework for a tournament ready title, It’s tough to have to appeal to a mass market, the fighting game community AND the community that stuck with them for all these years. They just need to avoid unnecessary controversies, maybe pump the breaks sheer amount of paid cosmetic DLC.

Personally, I can’t say I find it all that appealing. I get that the whole point of the subgenre is to make games as hard as possible, and if you’re craving a platformer that punishes you for playing it, you’ll find it here. But at a certain point, it all feels like a bit much — and in Necrosphere Deluxe, that point is where puzzles with no margin for error meets two-button twitch controls.

I can’t recommend God Eater 3 to everyone, you’ve got to be able to put up with a certain amount of dry exposition, lackluster VA line reading, a whole host of menus, and some obtuse crafting mechanics. But if you think you can either get past that or aren’t opposed to diving in and reading up on mechanics via in-game tutorials or through other resources, there’s a decent-to-great game here. Obviously if you already enjoy God Eater as a series, then I’d say God Eater 3 is a no-brainer for you. But for everyone else, if you have the option to try before you buy, I’d do that first, just to see if God Eater is a series you’ll enjoy.