Overall, if you want to play Ys VIII on TV, get the PS4 version by far. The Switch visuals are inconsistent and the framerate isn’t stable in some situations. The drop to 30fps would’ve been fine if it looked better but the variable resolution makes it look quite ugly in some situations. Shadow flickering is a big annoyance. On the portable side of things, this is better than playing on Vita in every aspect but shadows.

Backfirewall_ is a fun, interesting mix of exploration and puzzles in a setting that feels different and enjoyable to explore.

A mostly well designed, methodically thought out puzzler that ends up being too easy due to early checkpoint issues.

Drone Swarm is a simple strategy title with great combat set amongst some pretty backdrops, where battles provide plenty of excitement.

If you're looking for something action-packed you'll be better served elsewhere, but for fans of Lovecraft's universe or head-scratching detectathons, The Sinking City is more than worth a shot.

If its level of challenge is your bag, you'll have a great time with The Lamplighters League. If not, then the easy charm and likable characters might just win you over anyway.

As a straight, old-school stealth experience Serial Cleaners certainly delivers. There's very little fluff or filler, with compact mission areas, clear objectives and little reason to deviate from the plan.

Short, undemanding and nicely constructed, Inked: A Tale of Love is a couple of hours well worth exploring.

While Home Sweet Home doesn't bring anything new to the table for first person horror puzzlers, it does stand out with the inclusion of Thai horror folklore which is truly terrifying. It's let down with a couple of bugs but it's not a bad way to spend a few hours.

Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader is a huge, deep, vast, sprawling CRPG that's sometimes a little too ambitious for its own good.

Get to Work introduces some brilliant interactive careers with workplaces being brought to the table for the first time, but is let down by its barely-average retail system which leaves you wanting so much more.

A unique game that's visually distinctive and at times quite beautiful, but it suffers from a little unevenness in some levels which distract from the meditative experience it has been pitched as.

Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise will undoubtedly appeal to fans of the series. For others, the wacky combat is the main draw, which should be enough to offset some pacing and story issues.

Toukiden Kiwami isn’t going to win any prizes for originality, it wears its influences on its sleeve and isn’t ashamed to parade them. It’s not the best looking game ever, but the visuals are functional and don’t falter when things start to get hairy.

While far from perfect, Monster Energy Supercross 3 is an exciting slice of dirt bike racing fun, packed with content.

Empire of the Ants is a true celebration of our natural world that just happens to be disguised as a real time strategy game.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits features simple combat and often feels repetitive, but there's plenty of charm that keeps you playing.

Essentially this is a less-polished Hades but with the Turtles – not a bad thing at all – and certainly a fun and worthwhile use of a tremendous license.

Horrifying environments and enemies keep you on your toes, but a few choice mechanics can be frustrating and detract from immersion.

The stunning world Graceful Decay has built in Maquette is perpetually gorgeous and dream-like throughout its short time, never failing to blind you with its beauty. The puzzles utilise size manipulation to provide you with a satisfying mix of challenges, too.

Another combat-heavy title that doesn’t really offer anything different than other Omega Force titles, but the story is certainly worth following and Arakawa’s artwork is stunning.

It is fast becoming the case that the formula is becoming a little stale, and although the games are nice and inoffensive enough, it’s becoming harder and harder to shake the feeling that you’re just playing the same game, again.

Episode Three provides some fantastic moments, but it’s such a shame it takes so long to introduce them.

Stray is a fantastic game that really captures the energy of our feline friends, but the Switch version of the game is a significant downgrade.

A rare innovative Musou game, with tons of content but a handful of issues. If you can wrestle the camera into submission, and especially if your One Piece fan, One Piece Pirate Warriors 4 is full of treasure once you dig past its flaws.

Super Bullet Break is a fun deck builder if you don’t mind a challenge, but the amount of barely dressed girls is a bit embarrassing.

A more structured and restricting experience than New Leaf, Animal Crossing Happy Home Designer offers similarly addictive mechanics but much less freedom and control.

Despite a few technical issues, Metal Hellsinger VR is an exciting way to experience the original game, with one of the best soundtracks ever.

Despite some flaws that are too big to ignore, Weird West is an ambitious, intriguing, sometimes unique action-RPG set in a nightmarish world.

While action on the pitch feels great, much of the modes offer little variation from the last few years. Madden NFL 24 is starting to become untouchable gameplay-wise, and the SAPIEN technology, combined with FieldSENSE, offers a fluid and realistic time across the four quarters. Presentation is sublime, and the addition to detail across most positions and how they act to their real-life counterparts is stunning. It’s just a shame there’s little to shout about besides this. The minigames are fun for a while, and I did enjoy the Superstar Showdown mode, with the online mode pitching me against a wide range of different players and playstyles.

While Cersei and Ramsay's omission is felt and backdrops still haven't improved on episode one, the story remains strong and Castle Black sticks out as a big highlight for Game of Thrones fans.

Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince brings back all the monster raising you could ever need, but the performance lets it down massively.

Kamiwaze: Way of the Thief is a very silly stealth game that makes sneaking fun as long as you can tolerate the graphics.

There may be a lot of first person puzzle games on the market, but this has something that warms the soul. The world is interesting, the puzzles are challenging, and there's always something to see.

This year's game feels like a transition year. Small changes make it better overall, but other issues drag it down with a bang.

Although it runs and looks worse than on PC and PS4, Persona 5 Strikers is still fantastic on Switch, with a great story, superb combat, and more Phantom Thieves, which is always going to be a positive for me.

Balls-out fun with the undisputed King of carnage, but it won't win over new players.

Ultimately it’s too expensive for how long it is, but if you have invested in PC-based VR, it’s hard to imagine you’ll baulk at the price. I hope this isn’t the only dalliance with VR we see from Rick and Morty, because despite being a bit of a shallow, short experience, what is here is excellent. It’s funny, self aware, and has the same great voices from the TV show. It may be the most niche VR game ever, but if you’re a fan of Rick and Morty you owe it to yourself to find a way to play it (for less than it costs to buy a new PC and VR).

A great way to re-experience the first season of Attack on Titan in game form, and Omega Force have done a fantastic job making you feel like a complete badass despite repetitive missions.

LEGO 2K Drive has some impressive features, and while the competitive elements could do with a little work, there's still fun to be had.

Liberated’s distinct, comic book style adds atmosphere to its simple, fun action. It’s just a shame that it’s so plagued by technical issues, particularly on Nintendo Switch.

I had got plenty of enjoyment out of Dangerous Driving. Handling is excellent, the different modes give you plenty of reasons to keep playing, and watching your Takedowns is as addictive as it gets.

HeistGeist isn't all that original but it's an enjoyable adventure with plenty of action and intrigue to keep you engaged in the campaign.

If you like these artistically pleasing platform puzzlers, then this is going to be something you'll enjoy. It's not very challenging, and it has a few issues that will frustrate, but this is a fine one-and-done game, and for the price, it's well worth investigating.

A fine game that is let down by the main character being a bit drab. This is the same version of the game, but on Switch. Make of that what you will.

With its creativity in the pool ball variety and levels spread across a massive open-esque world, Pool Panic manages to be interesting all the way through.

Hooked on You is an amusing spinoff that Dead by Daylight fans will get a kick out of, but it isn’t able to stand on its own.

Chronos: Before the Ashes is an enjoyable Soulslike that doesn't feel as unforgiving as most other games in the genre

A competent map pack featuring two that are very good, one that's extremely popular, and one not very good map.

The world is gorgeous, the characters are well written, and there are some grand moments throughout, but there are some significant issues with pacing and linearity.

Descenders is a little rough around the edges, and it can be punishing, but there's a lot to get stuck into, with a satisfying gameplay flow and a brilliant soundtrack.

Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem offers the similar carnage and heart-pounding action of its predecessors, with some cool new weapons to boot.

With some nicely-detailed visuals and decent voice-acting, Sniper Ghost Warrior: Contracts 2 is a polished offering from CI Games.

While Darkestville Castle may not ultimately signify the rebirth of point and click,it’s still an enjoyable adventure, and the Switch optimisation makes it an even more enjopyable experience.

A superb game for any arcade style fighting game fan who is looking for fun mecha action but one that could’ve done with a better set of offline modes.

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 is a really entertaining fighting game with loads of characters, but it does have some issues.

Birushana: Rising Flower of Genpei is a charming Otome game with an engaging historical setting and plenty of feudal hotties to fawn over.

A fun multiplayer brawler hampered by some lag issues and a lack of game types. With an update or two to iron out the kinks, this utterly charming game could go from good to great.

Clem is an engaging adventure game with some genius puzzles and a whole lot of charm, but the movement will be a little too slow for some.

Maneater on Nintendo Switch is still the same silly, irreverent offering it is on the other platforms, but it doesn't look quite as pretty and there's nothing to shout about here if you've already played it.

While not hugely different from last year's, Supercross Park and the tweaks to gameplay make Monster Energy Supercross 6 worth checking out.

Sherlock Holmes The Awakened combines horror and Holmes to create a wonderful adventure game, but don't expect it to hold your hand.

Despite having a silly name and a pretty well-worn premise, Evotinction is a solid debut from Spikewave.

Pikuniku is quirky, funny and more than a little bit mad, all adding up to a short-but-sweet, colourful platform adventure.

Final Fantasy Explorers may tread a new path for the franchise, but it doesn’t offer anything new for the genre.

Dying Light keeps the best bits of Dead Island, forgets to get rid of the bad, but makes up for it with awesome parkour and a tense day/night dynamic.

Warhammer: Age of Sigmar - Realms of Ruin is a genuinely likeable RTS game that would benefit from a slightly faster pace.

No longer a Tiger Woods game in name, but you do wish they had retained more of the older ideas. But while there's not much content here, it still plays a superb game of golf.

Those who crave a good logic puzzle and get their kicks from solving logistical nightmares will find a lot to love in Railgrade.

A solid dungeon-crawling RPG with enough inventiveness to keep you entertained for a fair while.

Payday 3 is designed around those emergent moments that only come with friends, when you're trying desperately to stay in control.

The Darwin Project is a fun experiment with some solid ideas, but doesn't quite feel fleshed out or feature-rich enough to entirely recommend without caveat.

Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth is a great turn based RPG that successfully borrows from the best in the genre to deliver one of the best old school RPGs I’ve played in recent times.

Revelations 2 continues at a rate of knots, upping the action in favour or slowing the actual story exposition a little.

EA delivers on a truly dynamic, next gen hockey experience in NHL 25, but neglects the modes that bookend the package.

If you can overlook these issues, and are a fan of stuff like Rune Factory, Stardew Valley or even the slept-on Level 5 title Fantasy Life – the latter a definite kindred spirit in terms of its JRPG tropes, action, farming and jobs – then you will get a lot out of Harvestella.

The Patrick Star Game is the perfect way to celebrate 25 years of SpongeBob, with lots of silly activities and a lovely world to roll around.

Goat Simulator: Remastered offers players plenty of fun via various DLCs and the original game, with great new visuals as well.

Foregone offers a consistent and enjoyable experience but doesn’t do anything you can’t find elsewhere.

Although frustrating and oppressive by design, Jump King brings a level of satisfaction in victory rarely found in gaming. The varied level design and sheer amount of content within will provide hours of falling for those with the patience to continue.

If you’re after a snooker game for Switch then this is your only option, but it is at least a good one.

It's a lot of fun, and you're never stuck for something to do. It's also the perfect game to play with your friends and family, and the sheer amount of characters means there's someone for everyone.

For newcomers who haven’t experienced it, this is still a very good game; one that’s aged well. But for returning players, there just isn't quite enough to warrant another go.

Stikbold finally gives the sport of dodgeball a credible representation in a video game. It nails the simplicity and mastery of the sport while remaining fun and humorous, but it lacks online capabilities and is just a bit too short.

Togges is a weird and wonderful 3d platformer that puts the focus on exploration, but sometimes the size of new worlds is just overwhelming.

It won’t be for everyone, but this is a brutal and unwavering assault on the senses, made for the most hardcore of racing fans.

Verses of Enchantment is a deck building game that pumps out AI generated poetry as you play, but repetitive battles hold it back a little.

A good management sim with an interesting style, but it may be a bit grim for some.

While When Ski Lifts Go Wrong can be laugh-out-loud funny, it also provides a huge number of challenging puzzles as you try (and often fail) to build reliable structures on unforgiving mountainsides.

eFootball PES 2020 has gameplay that feels much more realistic, and each game is more about careful approaches than counter attacks. Most of the modes remain relatively unchanged, but the actual game is lots of fun to play as long as you're not having issues with the AI.

A solid, functional episode, but one clearly aimed at a younger audience and therefore less involving than previous Telltale adventures.

PixelJunk Scrappers Deluxe is a decent enough game on your own, but playing with others makes the most out of the various mechanics.

If the single-player had been better put together, there would be a lot more to scream and shout about, but the combat and online multiplayer is excellent at times.

Tomb Kings is a solid first DLC offering, though it's a little short. If the devs are going to continue producing expansions of this quality, though, I'm in.

A confident first game from Indian studio Nodding Heads Games. Raji: An Ancient Epic features a thematically appropriate player viewpoint, which unfortunately hampers some of the platforming elements, but a simple and surprisingly versatile combat system keeps things interesting.

If you want a CRPG experience that feels a little less complex than many, you could do worse than check out Dark Envoy’s colourful fantasy world.

Sometimes you just want a bit of fun and a laugh, without needing a revolutionary experience, and Chocobo GP fits that bill nicely.

A solid enough party game that does little to encourage solo play.