Call of Cthulhu manages to deliver a game that’s ripe with atmosphere but is built upon tried-and-true tropes of the genre that never really manage to evolve beyond the scope of what’s already been seen and heard before. Paired with some technical hiccups, we can say that Call of Cthulhu is only really for truly dedicated fans of Lovecraft; everyone else is advised to look elsewhere for their entertainment.

The Bradwell Conspiracy offers an intriguing take on the first-person puzzler formula, even if its USP lacks the simple creativity of other similar puzzle games. The story itself has some real potential, but it ultimately fails to really flesh out some of the more interesting beats hinted at in news reports and audio logs. More interactive than Firewatch but far less challenging than The Witness, this is a puzzler that’s ultimately more style than substance. And with so many issues with performance in its launch state, The Bradwell Conspiracy on Switch doesn’t prove itself to be the ultimate portable version it really should be.

Nearly two years on from its initial release, The Alliance Alive HD Remastered proves to be a perfectly competent port of an already fantastic handheld game. A well-written story, a smartly interwoven and complex system of gameplay mechanics, and a distinctive visual style makes this a no-brainer for anybody looking for a consistently high-quality RPG experience on their Switch. It may feel a little simple, given its origins on the 3DS, but don’t make the mistake of passing up on The Alliance Alive HD Remastered, it’s well worth your time.

A Knight’s Quest brings a much needed light-hearted take on the action-adventure fantasy genre, with a genuinely funny sense of humour running throughout and plenty of world to explore. It’s marred by a poor navigation system, inconsistent visual quality and an overall lack of polish. There’s plenty of fun to be had on this quest, but there’s very little to write home about when the Switch is full to the brim with similar titles that provide superior experiences.

Valfaris is a much better game than its predecessor, introducing new systems and ideas to help keep its action-platformer formula engaging and interesting. The hand-crafted pixel art style and the brutally joyous soundtrack really elevate the whole experience, even if it ends up falling back into some bad habits. An unpredictable difficulty curve mixed with an occasionally messy approach to enemy spawning can make some levels a blood pressure-spiking experience, but when it’s not trying to undo its own achievements, you’re left with a linear side-scrolling shooter that delivers a mosh pit of monsters, mayhem and metal.

Trine 4 had a lot riding on it given the effects of its predecessor, but we can confidently say that the course has been corrected and the series’ reputation restored. From start to finish, Trine 4 is a remarkably absorbing and beautiful experience that’ll keep you challenged and interested right through to the finish, while also offering a fair bit to keep you coming back for a couple hours after the credits roll. Though the combat needs some work, any failings here are easily rectified by the strong puzzle design that manages to stay both dynamic and challenging. If you’re looking for an easily accessible game to play in co-op or a game that’s a bit more reliant on brains than reflexes, Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince is just what you’re looking for. We’d give it a high recommendation, especially if you enjoyed some of Frozenbyte’s earlier work.

When it gets on with the bun-lobbing antics of classic BurgerTime, this is a great reminder of an arcade gem. But too many co-op cooks spoil the broth, and the recipe is overstuffed with extras that detract from the core flavour. That said, any game that lets you leave a trail of murdered pickles as you fight up the online leaderboard can’t be all bad. Just a tad overcooked, perhaps.

Enjoyment of Ghostbusters: The Video Game Remastered depends almost entirely on your affection for the movies – we love 'em, but if you don’t then knock at least one point off the score below (and perhaps take a long hard look in the mirror). For the rest of us, this is a wonderful form of time travel. It has no business calling itself a remaster and is best approached as a straight port of a ten-year-old game, but it’s a fine one. Mechanically-speaking, there's little you haven’t seen elsewhere, but it’s a good-looking, fun third-person romp dripping in slimy nostalgia, and the chance to spend time in the company of these old friends – some of them dearly departed – is too good to pass up if you've ever strapped on your school backpack and gone out to catch ghosts in the garden.

Asphalt 9: Legends is a free and surprisingly fun arcade racing game with mobile microtransaction free-to-play gubbins that could potentially ruin the experience for you, unless you’ve played enough mobile games to know how to ignore it. The reasonably priced Starting Racer Pack significantly lessens their impact, making it feel more like a ‘normal’ premium product, so if you try the free version and enjoy it, this – and this alone – is the sole purchase you should consider.

One Night Stand is a very unique experience that will likely feel quite close to home for some folks. It’s a very honest, almost heartwarming glimpse into the lives of two complete strangers brought together by a heavy night of drinking. The presentation may be a bit lacking overall, and some may be put off by the short length of the game, despite its many endings, but if you’re after a visual novel that’s a bit different from the norm, then this is it.

With gameplay and visuals are not too dissimilar to Little Nightmares, Candleman could almost pass as a horror title, but this isn’t quite the case. There’s nothing to really threaten your life other than the odd trap and bottomless pit, and whilst it’s certainly dark, it’s filled with brilliant flashes of vibrant light and abstract shapes, making the game really quite beautiful to behold at times. Unfortunately, however, it’s also an incredibly easy experience, and despite the various puzzles you’ll find scattered throughout the game, there’s very little here that will prove too strenuous. But if that’s the kind of experience you’re specifically after, then Candleman is a worthy addition to your Switch library, offering a relaxing gameplay experience with ethereal visuals that will keep you busy for several hours.

It’s a straightforward and repetitive online affair that, if you're lucky enough to be matched with the right bunch of randoms or happen to be playing a custom match with friends, can deliver the goods in terms of frights and tension from time to time. However, it has also always been a pretty clunky affair, a fact which is amplified further here by the noticeable graphical downgrade, laggy menus and the exclusion of a bunch of DLC that we really feel should have been included for the steep asking price. Still, if you're a fan who wants a portable version to play on the go, this should satisfy your needs as long as you're happy to grind yourself back to where you were at and fork out for your favourite killers. For everyone else, this is the least impressive version of the game available to buy at its highest price.

Galaxy Champions TV is a delightful little tribute to Smash TV that perfectly recreates the hectic feel and relentless challenge of that classic while adding a nice little XP and unlock system that freshens things up and gives you something to work towards as you make your way through the forty levels on offer. It's just a shame it lacks any real personality and fails to deliver on its dystopian TV show premise in any fun or clever ways; it's also missing any sort of leaderboard system to give it a bit more longevity. As it stands, for a budget price, this is a still a slick little twin-stick shooter that nails the basics and is well worth your time if you're a fan of the genre.

More than a decade after its initial release, Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns is a worthy upgrade of a solid match-three RPG. It adds new quests and new classes for both veterans and newcomers to enjoy, and manages to resist the ‘freemium’ business model that plagues a lot of games in the genre these days. It falls down a bit on graphics and presentation, with the artwork particularly showing its age, but if you’re after a surprisingly deep puzzle adventure to get lost in, then look no further.

Chalk down Hexagroove: Tactical DJ as one of the year's biggest surprises. A wholly unique take on the rhythm genre, it’s challenging and enormously rewarding. The feeling of creating your own music for a virtual crowd to respond to is addicting, and while the multiplayer ultimately offers very little to the package, the single-player and the seemingly endless Freestyle mode will have you coming back to best those scores again and again. This is definitely one for headphones or a very loudspeaker system, and a must for rhythm action fans.

Yu-No: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of this World was clearly once an incredibly daring visual novel, but some of that sense of mystery is done a disservice when revisiting the concept via this remake. Games like Steins;Gate or the Danganronpa series have since eclipsed it. That said, there’s nothing as expansive or daring as Yu-No’s branching timeline system, which still comes across as impressive even today. Despite all of its archaic design elements, cringeworthy perverted dialogue and now-bland characters, you can’t refute the fact that the modern visual novel genre would simply not exist without Yu-No. It's just a shame that this remake feels like it has lost some of the soul of its original release, with nothing but bland character designs to refresh it for a modern audience.

Donkey Kong Country fans rejoice: this is the spiritual successor you’ve been waiting for. The worst thing you could say about it is that the overworld exploration may prove to be too involved for those who are in it purely for the runny-jumpy stuff, but those who are happy to mix platforming with top-down adventuring and don’t mind adapting to the constantly changing pace will find the best of both worlds here. Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair is a fantastic sophomore effort that pays tribute to Rare's past and establishes Playtonic as one of the UK's most exciting studios.

There are a surprising amount of variables to keep track of when you embark on your journey around the world, but ultimately this doesn't get in the way of the sheer joy of discovering a brand-new location and seeing what potential choices it might present to you. It's not going to be to everyone's tastes, but if you're a fan of Jules Verne, travelling, or culture, then you really need to check this out.

Its surprisingly deep and satisfyingly weighty combat engine combined with three strong and varied player characters and a host of cleverly-designed enemies elevate it above the usual button-mashing experience perhaps expected of entries in this genre. It’s got an excellent arcade mode that branches off in various directions as you make your way to the final boss battle, as well as a ton of unlockable modes and extras to keep you coming back for more. Whether you’re a learned fan of old-school beat’em ups or you just like pummelling the life out of mutant punk pussycats and monkeys dressed as Bruce Lee, you owe it to yourself to experience what Sebastian Garcia has created here; it’s easily one of the best beat’em ups we’ve played.

While the stealthy, ranged formula is still intact, those far more open maps allow for greater player agency and more systemic moments as you unleash hell from up close and afar. Improved stealth, an unoriginal yet satisfying XP system for cheap rewards and some ridiculously fun multiplayer modes make this a real series highlight that runs like a dream on Ninty’s hardware, but dumb AI, a rather boring storyline and a rather worrying focus on gratuitous gore all conspire to sully the experience somewhat. Having said that, there are few things in modern video gaming that are as perversely satisfying as popping a Nazi's testicles from halfway across a battlefield, so break out your M1 Garand and get reducing the Reich’s virtual headcount, because this game is well worth a look, despite its shortcomings.

Despite being a set that includes three entries in the same series, the Amnesia: Collection actually offers three very distinct experiences. The Dark Descent is a milestone for the genre that belies its own mechanical issues by offering some good, old-fashioned scares. Justine is a brief but experimental foray into gruesome puzzle-solving that’s well worth the detour, and A Machine for Pigs takes a more stripped-down approach to the original’s systems, but introduces a much more immersive story as a result. It’s a proper little time capsule that’s perfect for those who’ve already exhausted their fear glands with Outlast and Layers of Fear and want another means to chill their blood in the run-up to Halloween.

What we have here is a flawless port of a game which absolutely deserves all of the praise it has received. From start to finish, Ori and the Blind Forest is a real joy to play. Challenging yet never feeling unfair or discouraging, and almost relaxing to control. The mesmerising art style and musical score are the icing on the cake that makes the player actually care about the protagonist and want to keep playing to the game’s conclusion. It is a bit of a surprise to see this game make its way to the Nintendo Switch, but we’re glad that it has. The only shame is that the sequel seems unlikely to make the same journey, but this original outing is still an unmissable experience.

FIFA 20 is a cynical attempt from a publisher to completely cease support for the Switch while still having the gall to suggest it deserves to be rewarded with a near-premium fee for its lack of effort. If you want to pay good money to get insulted, go heckle a big-name comedian instead: at least you'll get a smile out of it. If you don't already own a FIFA game on Switch and aren't bothered about having the latest kits and team rosters, just get last year's version on the cheap.

It’s a perfectly fine platformer that will quite easily keep you occupied throughout its relatively short length. It’s not going to win any awards and it probably won’t become your favourite game of the year, but if you’ve exhausted all other stellar platformers available on Switch, you could do a lot worse than this.

Devil May Cry 2 is quite rightly regarded as a misstep for the now storied franchise; a confused and oddly bland game with a nonsensical story, boring level design, terrible enemy AI and a central protagonist who has seriously lost his mojo. There’s some fun to be had here and there by virtue of the fact it is a Devil May Cry game; that signature combat still intact, despite the fact it never really attempts to put your skills to the test. Still, there's no escaping the reality that this is one entry in the series you can absolutely skip without feeling like you missed anything. Roll on Devil May Cry 3.

Get used to Mario Kart Tour’s unconventional control system and ignore its overpriced and unnecessary subscription service and you’re left with a fun, free mobile take on the series. It was never going to replace Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, but by not including an energy system and promising regular new content Nintendo is at least offering a decent alternative to pass the time when you’re out and about without your Switch.

What we have here is a thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding action platformer which lives up to the quality as expected from the studio. Its minor quibbles do little to tarnish what is a charming game and all-round rewarding experience. The ride does end a little too quickly and veterans of the genre may desire a bit more of a challenge, but on the whole this is a great little game which confirms the studio as being perhaps the best in their field.

Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Definitive Edition is an achievement that Square should be proud of; this is one of the best games they’ve put out in years. A heartwarming, well-paced narrative supported by a cast of fantastic characters, a dense and interesting overworld packed with dozens of hours of content, and one of the finest soundtracks we’ve heard in a JRPG combine to make this an unforgettable modern classic. Whether you’re a newcomer to the JRPG genre or a returning vet, do yourself a favor and buy Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age as soon as you’re able. This is the epitome of a gift that keeps on giving, and it more than deserves a spot in your Switch library.