Russian Subway Dogs is an incredibly unique arcade-style title that excels in short bursts. With a wonderfully zany presentation and great mission diversity, there is little else like this game. Its score-chasing, shawarma-munching action is diluted somewhat by its stunted game flow and superfluous unlockables, but neither flaw results in Russian Subway Dogs being anything short of good.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure has a lot going for it, but even more holding it back. The story and characters are mostly fantastic, but the game does so much to get in the way of enjoying it both through dialogue and gameplay it becomes hard to recommend to those not already invested in the world.

Just like Gollum, I'm a bit split. The Lord of the Rings: Gollum features a great story that adds to the lore, along with a terrific stealth system, but it misses the mark in other areas. A finicky and redundant platforming system, mixed with a dialogue system that lacks bite makes for a combination that drags the rest down. Gollum is always so close to The Ring, but ever so far.

Destroy All Humans 2 Reprobed is a beautifully done remake of a cult classic that fans are sure to enjoy. There are some bugs and glitches that still need to be ironed out and the boss battles are more exhausting than truly challenging. But, praise be to Arkvoodle.

If you have friends, Ark: Survival Evolved is a fun survival game, with options such as PvP or PvE servers to make every player happy. If you primarily play alone, however, this game will require a heavy set of grinding and repetition, turning off any players hoping to just get a taste of some dinosaur action.

Freak Tower is a polished and fun tower game that has some unique and bizarre extras. The game plays how it should and feels very well put together. It can be rewarding if you are willing to play it over a long period of time in short spurts, but the slow pacing and pay to win feel hold it back from being something great.

A stellar interpretation of Bruce Wayne and Gotham can’t hide that Batman is one of Telltale’s biggest technical messes yet.

Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 is an excellent fighting game with an amazing pool of characters and finely-tuned gameplay. Its original release in 2011 is a critical and commercial darling still enjoyed by fans and pros around the world, but there isn’t enough new content or technical upgrades in this edition to justify a purchase for anyone that isn’t already a devoted fan.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge feels like it’s designed from an Ninja Turtles arcade beat ‘em up template, which strips it of creativity and originality and makes it feel predictable and familiar. But the fluid combat continually sucks me back in, even though that also suffers from combat designs that should’ve been left in the past.

Himno is a relaxing 2D platformer where death only comes from falling. The levels are dark and ruin-like, yet emit tranquility and beauty as well. It's best played in short bursts, but if you just want to turn off your brain and relax, here's your chance.

It’s not going to set the gaming world on fire, but Puzzle Puppers is a nice little game to work your grey matter on the Switch. It helps that its puppies are adorable.

Argonus and the Gods of Stone is an ambitious game that recreates a world that is rich with lore and beauty. Playing a game that is narratively driven and offers a different style of gameplay is refreshing and necessary in a world where sequels and copycats are too frequent. The story and musical score are top notch as it helps set the mood for a game that you’re a part of. The performance and the way you interact with objects in the world are the biggest dilemmas to overcome in this title.

Session: Skate Sim is the most authentic skateboarding experience you can get from a video game. Though you will fall down (a lot) and may get frustrated, you will undoubtedly leave this experience with a greater appreciation for skating and the culture that surrounds it.

Operation Eagle adds new pieces to the board but has trouble justifying their existence outside of a challenging new campaign.

For 15 nights you'll need to hold back the darkness or embrace it as the sole lifeline of those on the sea. Even if the scares aren't that high, Static Dread still manages to tell the eldritch story it wants to in a reasonably fun way.

Cyberdimension Neptunia: 4 Goddesses Online is the MMO experience you’ve been dreaming of for Neptune and her friends, though it does come with a lot of shortcomings. The game does a novel job of producing a quick paced action JRPG that looks and feels incredibly like an MMORPG in almost every way, down to a text chat box. There are some issues with combat and that drags the experience down. Despite that, the game provides a fun and basic online mission mode, and provides a lot of fun and fast paced action in a pretty package.

One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4 introduces some great fighting mechanics, overhauled systems from previous iterations, and smoother and more rewarding gameplay to the franchise. While it doesn’t do anything new to uplift the Musou genre of games, it’s a good game to pick up and beat the crap out of pirates as Luffy tries to become the king of the pirates.

3000th Duel is an amazing action-adventure game that pulls out all the stops to give us the experience of nostalgic gameplay with current videogame nuances. With a rich world to explore, visuals and audio hints that make you believe that the world is constantly evolving, and boss battles that shake you to the core, this is a must on the Switch.

The Callisto Protocol is a unique and often good game which is hindered by its own ambition. The fighting system is sure to be hit and miss with audiences, and the difficulty coupled with the slow movement and weapon swapping will surely turn a few people off. Despite this, Protocol builds a unique world that would benefit from further entries diving more into its backstory and is brought to life with incredibly detailed graphics, fantastic sound design, and gorgeous lighting. The Callisto Protocol may not be the survival horror game many had hoped for, but it does successfully carve out its own niche.

Dungeon of the Endless is a challenging and rewarding game that allows you to learn and grow with it. The more time you put in, the more enjoyment you will find.

Berserk and the Band of the Hawk, like its source material, isn’t for everyone, but underneath its many flaws lies a solid core combat system and a great campaign mode that does a good job adapting the long-running manga to fit the Dynasty Warriors structure.

Apex Construct provides some excellent exploration and exposition in a compelling and beautifully bizarre world. While there is a fully-baked experience here, the engaging story and compelling gameplay is marred by PSVR’s limited control scheme. It represents a step forward for the platform, and for storytelling, but a bit of polishing or patching would bring the controls to heel.

While offering a lot more varied content from previous installments, Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach is unfortunately riddled with a myriad of technical and design issues. As a result, it’s a title I can only recommend to hardcore series fans and survival horror fanatics after most of its issues have been fixed.

TMNT: Mutants Unleashed has the makings of a good game for those able to sift through the grime of the early hours, but ultimately attempts to do too much, while never mastering any of its ideas. It is not the beat ‘em up we’ve come to expect from the turtles, but is a serviceable light RPG with an in-depth, though not complex, story, a robust ability tree to unlock, tons of collectibles, and a unique ally system which rewards players who are willing to invest in helping the Turtles’ friends succeed. Despite my initial hesitation and the abysmal camera, I found myself giving in to the game’s eternally optimistic story and characters, and that was enough to compel me to complete the nearly 15-hour adventure.

Tales of Kenzera: ZAU rests on a solid foundation, yet prioritizes its narrative at the expense of its game design. Rather than allowing its gameplay and narrative to support each other, it discards some of the medium’s unique strengths for a competent if bland experience that fails to give full weight to its subject matter.

Mighty Fight Federation is a wild and wacky 3D arena fighter with more complexities than its subgenre normally has. While this unfortunately causes it to lose its identity and muddle its gameplay, the free-for-all fighting mode and wonderful music is worth the asking price.

If you don’t have these games yet, this is a perfectly sensible way to get them, but, really, you should make sure you have online access to enjoy them to the fullest.

At $17.99 on Steam at the time of writing, it’s hard to beat up The Academy: The First Riddle too much. It’s a lot of fun, it’s value priced, and the developers are actively engaged with the community and prepping patches for much of the things I’ve mentioned. Could it be better at launch? Certainly. Does it deliver a compelling stack of puzzles that’ll have you scratching your brain for hours? Absolutely. We have to give credit to Pine Studios for trying something new, even if they might have gotten a C on that “Debugging” class.