While Achtung! Cthulhu Tactics doesn’t quite capture the intensity of the tabletop game it’s based on, it still does an admirable job of doing something a little bit different with the tactics genre. By focusing more on story and the horror aspect of its lore, you get to experience intense close-quarters battles and ranged skirmishes while building on an unknown threat that could appear at any time, and in any form. Pacing problems and a lack of environmental variety can affect how well this all comes together, but if you’re looking for a more focused tactical/strategy title on Switch, this Lovecraftian odyssey awaits.

An aesthetic improvement over the original with a few added complexities that don't make much of a difference overall.

The Mysterious Cities of Gold: Secret Paths does not offer a great deal in terms of challenge or variety, but what it does provide comes in a beautiful package that is easy and intuitive to work with. It’s a viable, appealing option for younger and less experience players, and a practical no-brainer for long-time fans of the classic TV show. Those looking for something deeper may feel like they're heading down the wrong path with this title, but it's still worth investigating.

Castaway Paradise is hardly the first game to take inspiration from Animal Crossing, and it certainly won't be the last — but its unoriginal adherence to the Animal Crossing formula is bad enough, without the added veneer of in-app purchases, hastily reskinned and demonetised for a full-price release. It began life as a Facebook game back in 2014, and it still feels like one seven years later.

Look, there's no way to sugarcoat it — Snow Bros. wasn't worth bringing back. It's pretty much a D-grade arcade game with no interesting hook, and no amount of gussying it up can disguise that. The Monster Challenge mode sounds interesting, but it's DLC. All that was really needed was 'Arcade Archives: Snow Bros,' so that fans could get what they want at a decent price, the game was preserved on a modern console, and we could all just move on with our lives. It's gonna be a snow from us.

Dusk Diver 2, like the first game, has potential; the cast of characters and storyline are both engaging, and the world could definitely host more interesting stories in the future. However, this sequel sadly fumbles things on the gameplay front, with a disappointing mixture of damage-sponge enemies and drawn-out encounters. While we didn't enjoy Dusk Diver 2 as much as we had hoped, there is something there — a kernel of potential as yet unrealised — and there are going to be people who absolutely adore it despite its faults. For us, a potential Dusk Diver 3 will hopefully boast combat engaging enough to match the writing on display here.

Biomutant has a solid core. Unique enemy designs, a wide variety of weapons to use in combat, and flexible, fun combat are all highlights, but an arduous narrator and a monotone story filled with repetitive quests and tasks weigh the experience down. Pair all of this with the unpleasant visuals and low-quality textures, and we have to wonder if the game should have waited for Nintendo’s next console. The actual gameplay experience is great, but instead of feeling like a polished handheld version of the game, Biomutant feels like it has been rushed out the door and left standing on the porch a bit dishevelled.

Gates to Infinity is a fun, charming roguelike with beautiful presentation, accessible mechanics, and the warm, fuzzy feeling that can only come from playing as Pokémon.

Inazuma Eleven Strikers has some undeniable strengths, specifically when two or more players gather with the express intention of enjoying some mindless fun. Kids and big kids alike will get a kick from the cheerful visuals and bombastic special moves, making it a game of football as imagined by hyperactive five-year-olds. The charm struggles to last, however, with older gamers likely to become more irritated than excited as the hours drift by. Younger gamers may have more patience and enjoy it for longer; it really depends how much you like tornado shots and giant god-like goalkeeping hands, over and over again.

Equilibrio is one of those games that isn't overly flashy, but has it where it counts. The simple game play design and challenging level set will keep you busy for quite some time, and at a mere 500 Nintendo Points, it's actually a bargain.

Farming Simulator 20 won't be for everyone, but if you're after high-octane, instant gratification, why are you sniffing around something called 'Farming Simulator 20'? It requires time and devotion – if you're not one to enjoy the long, languorous journey you'd be better off sticking to more abstract farming sims. Once you get into its low-key repetitive groove, though, there's a wealth of wholesome, calming work to get lost in and a satisfying flow to cultivating a field, sowing seeds, harvesting, repeating and watching those numbers go up.

More than the sum of its parts, Liberated tells a rollicking tale with plenty of style. It doesn't run as well as it should do, and it's far from lacking in clichés (some of the "people would rather take selfies than open their eyes" stuff is a little eye-rolling) but it's a fantastic take on a dystopian platformer that avoids the major pitfalls that such games often fall into. With responsive controls, enjoyable shooting and strong level design, Liberated is an atmospheric, absorbing treat and far more than the sum of its parts.

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics is a pretty solid, if wholly unspectacular little tactical title. It does a decent job of incorporating events and characters from Netflix's spectacular TV series (and the 1982 classic movie on which it is based) into its gameplay, and fans of the franchise – as well as folk who simply can't get enough of this genre – will certainly find something to enjoy here, especially for the pretty reasonable asking price. In terms of presentation, we would have liked to see something more befitting of the spectacular source material and a few more flashy combos and opportunities to set your team up to blow enemies off the screen in style would have been nice. Overall, however, for such a strange (and somewhat late arriving) TV tie-in, this one really is quite a bit better than we expected it to be. Feel free to add one to the score below if you're a huge Dark Crystal fiend.

The whole package is undoubtedly polished and pleasing, and if you're looking for a solid platformer that zigs where a Mario may zag then this is a safe bet for an enjoyable time. But for all the charm and smooth polish, there's little texture here to make the game stand out from others in this genre.

There is a lot to love in the way Nd Cube brought back 100 beloved minigames from the Mario Party series, but this package falls short in the content used to deliver those bite-sized delights. Mario Party: The Top 100 may hold the record for the most minigames, but it certainly has the least amount of content and the lowest replayability. The game set out to compile a collection of the best minigames in the series; that goal was accomplished with great results. That makes the initial time spent with Mario Party: The Top 100 an awesome walk through nostalgia lane - unfortunately the rest is a rushed project; with that in mind it fails to live up to its full potential.

If you’re a fan of driving games and are able to look past its faults, then Crash City Mayhem may be for you; just be wary that it’s an incredibly short game with little replay value.

Blair Witch starts off strong, throwing its players into a setting that comes with some pretty terrifying baggage for anyone who's familiar with the film upon which it is based. It's got a handful of fun mechanics, including the absolute star of the show, Bullet, and its story comes on strong towards the end, injecting the final third with some real tension. However, this is also a game that plods along for the most part, making no real use of its spooky setting, instead hemming players into small areas and forcing them to partake in a string of simplistic and rather hackneyed puzzles and busywork at the expense of any real tension. Overall then, Blair Witch is something of a mixed bag; it's not the worst horror game we've played recently, but it also doesn't do enough to earn a hearty recommendation.

The intuitive and responsive controls do a solid job of allowing players of all skill levels to enjoy the game and although many enemies are repeated throughout the five levels, the unique bosses offer up plenty of incentive to keep coming back for more.

All in all, Ambition of the Slimes is a lovable little game. It takes a classic concept — the grid-based strategy-RPG — and infuses it with a fun new conceit, by placing characters in the role of the lowly Slimes that would be experience-point fodder in any other RPG. Even better, it runs with that idea to deliver fun twists on the gameplay — like the 'Claim' command that lets you take over your enemies — that make the most of the theme. Add in a fun old-school presentation and a heap of personality, and Slimes is an easy recommendation for SRPG fans looking for quick, quirky fun.

Surgeon Simulator CPR finally brings Bossa Studios’ slapstick medical ‘sim’ to Nintendo Switch, and while its use of Joy-Con motion controls is a little rough around the edges, they do make for some brilliant local co-op shenanigans. With plenty of patients to harm (sorry, we meant ‘heal’), all manner of scenarios to contend with and plenty of hidden secrets to be found both in theatres and in the interactive menu, you’re at least getting one of the better versions of this veteran title.

I had a good time with Alien: Rogue Incursion Evolved Edition. It finds a strong balance between the slower, more stealth-oriented gameplay of Isolation and the frantic action seen in Fireteam Elite, blending classic Alien combat with some light puzzle-solving. Visually, it lacks a lot of detail for my liking, but the faithful art design just about holds it together. Its biggest sin, however, is that the impact of the Xenomorphs quickly diminishes thanks to the frequency at which they appear. They also just look kinda goofy, I won't lie. Still, as a fan of the series, the story, atmosphere, and sound design hit the right notes for me.

It's regrettable that we have to be dismissive of a new shmup release, especially one inspired by Castle of Shikigami that does seem to be sincerely trying to offer up a fun experience. With that said though, when it comes down to the basic fundamental aspects of the genre – visuals, music, stage design, gameplay flow – Sisters Royale feels unfinished. It’s hard to care about the scoring system when the structure it is built upon doesn’t satisfy enough to encourage players to spend hour after hour routing and experimenting.

While its ambition should surely be commended and the time trials and multiplayer admittedly soften the blow somewhat, F1 2011 is, unfortunately, not the game to remedy matters. Unless you're a fan of frustrating ugly racers with brutally unrealistic and aggressive opponent AI, we advise that you steer well clear of it. Maybe next year, Codemasters will release the game that F1 fans deserve.

Infinity Runner offers some slapdash, silly fun for those that like the idea of a first-person runner with some werewolf segments thrown in. Rather like a straight to TV movie, however, its entertainment-factor is betrayed by sloppy presentation and some technical shortcomings. It's worth a punt if the concept is appealing, but falls well short of its full potential.

Struggling isn't the first game whose main gimmick is a protagonist who's deliberately difficult to control. Whereas other games do this for comedy effect, though, here it only serves to frustrate. It's difficult enough in single-player, but as a co-op experience you're far more likely to want to slap your friend in the face before you'll high-five them. Success does feel like an accomplishment, but the end rarely justifies the means, making this strictly a game for masochists.

With a bit more variation to its gameplay, Colossus Down could have been an easy recommendation. Despite its unlikeable main protagonist, there’s a heap of potential here that could well be realised if the developer decides to go for a sequel. As it is, it’s a great looking game that unfortunately falls foul to repetitive and shallow gameplay.

Gods Will Fall is a unique and challenging dungeon crawler that cleverly combines a handful of inventive gameplay mechanics, resulting in constantly tense and thrilling runs through some seriously tough death chambers and boss battles. This is a pretty brutal and unforgiving game – one some players are sure to bounce hard off – but stick with it until it clicks, explore, experiment, forge ahead through frustration and you'll be rewarded with one of the most addictive and original roguelikes we've played in quite some time.

RiMS Racing is a super complex motorcycle sim that provides players with a ton of depth in terms of tinkering, tuning and customising. However, once on the track, this Switch port is let down badly by performance issues that make it a frustrating, messy experience. There's definitely a market for this type of in-depth motorbike action on Nintendo's console but, in this state, it's very hard to recommend diving into this particular offering.