Despite its disappointing online issues, Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[cl-r] is one of the most impressive fighting games I’ve ever played. It’s oozing with style, it’s shockingly accessible, and the back-and-forth exchanges prompted by the Grind Grid system make for non-stop excitement in every match. There’s even a fifteen hour visual novel experience in the Chronicles mode that helps flesh out the world and characters of Under Night In-Birth, though personally I think I’m more afraid of understanding all the insane proper nouns in the plot summary than I am excited. This was a worthy addition to both the EVO lineup and the Switch lineup, and there’s nothing I want more now than to see the game finally reach the mainstream success it deserves.

Moving forward, any developer looking to create a point-and-click adventure would do well to look at The Journey Down as an example of the genre done right. My recommendation before you decide to pick up the first chapter is to ensure you’re committed to the long haul. By the end of the first chapter, you’ll be left wanting more, and it only gets better from there.

Moving forward, any developer looking to create a point-and-click adventure would do well to look at The Journey Down as an example of the genre done right. My recommendation before you decide to pick up the first chapter is to ensure you’re committed to the long haul. By the end of the first chapter, you’ll be left wanting more, and it only gets better from there.

The free-to-play open-ended nature of Sky might be slow-paced, especially if you’re not planning to empty your pocketbook, but the gentle pleasantness of exploring visually engaging worlds wordlessly with a new online friend or two is soothing and relaxing. If you even have a passing interest or fondness for Journey, checking out Sky on Switch is absolutely something you should do. It’s delightful.

If you want more interactivity or branching out of your visual novels, Ghostpia is probably not going to scratch that itch. For what it is, however, I found Ghostpia to be a delightful time both story-wise and aesthetically. The cast of characters is fun and varied, from the anxious Sayoko to the bubbly and optimistic Yoru, and all of them etch themselves into your memory immediately. Ghostpia never fully throws out an explanation for many of its mysteries, but with a season 2 apparently already planned it fits to leave some questions unanswered. Those looking for a purely narrative experience that may take you back to those late nights watching Inuyasha will find that weirdly precise desire in this town full of ghosts, and I have a feeling you won't regret your visit.

Shotgun King has a surprising amount of depth hidden under its fairly basic premise. It puts an entertaining roguelike spin on a well-worn board game, and the result is a match made in checkerboard heaven (not to be confused with Checkers itself). Without a doubt, there’s frustration to be found in drawing cards that don’t really synergize with each other, putting you into seemingly unwinnable scenarios. That said, runs are generally quite short, under 20 minutes in most cases, and so it’s easy enough to start right back up again after a loss. The presentation is quite clean and straightforward, but there’s a strong flash of light that accompanies the defeat of the enemy king–not something that normally affects me, but I did turn it off in the settings menu. It might not be a certain checkmate, but Shotgun King kept me in check more often than not, and it’s a pleasant and worthwhile distraction that deserves a spot among the higher tiers of run-based Switch games.

Your enjoyment of Wizardry in 2024 is going to depend a lot on the amount you’re willing to put into it. I quickly became obsessed with taking a quick run into a new corner of the dungeon every night before going to bed. But a lot of that was built on an existing interest in old western RPGs, an understanding of Dungeons & Dragons mechanics, and a willingness to look up the older rules. The game itself isn’t really interested in helping you with any of that. Instead, they’ve made some smart adjustments to smooth out some of the aging gameplay while still staying very true to the original. It is also worth noting that every quality-of-life change can be toggled on or off, so if you want this to play exactly like it did in 1981, that is an option. You can even swap to the dungeon layouts from the later console ports. This is an extremely faithful update of an important game. And if you’re willing to give it the opportunity, you find it is just as addictive today as it was forty years ago.

Against the Storm is enthralling and balances its difficulty with its rewards very well. That being said, if you’re not the type of person to find joy in managing an ever expanding deluge of resource types, you’ll likely be overwhelmed. The learning curve, even with a reasonably well handled tutorial, can be steep. This is only exacerbated by often-times awkward controls, though other elements of this port are very well done. This isn’t going to be a game for everyone, and it's almost certainly better played on a PC, but if you’re looking for a city builder that you can sink endless hours into on your Switch or Switch 2, Against the Storm is among the best options out there.

Overall, Space Invaders Extreme 2 is a very worthy sequel to the original. If you liked the first game, you should run out right now and buy this one. If you haven’t tried either one, this sequel is a better package overall.

At its core, Salt and Sanctuary is 2D Dark Souls. I say that not as any indictment but more of a very adept comparison. Ska Studios smartly transformed the core concepts of a Souls game and turned it into a side-scrolling action game with an ample amount of Metroidvania influence. The result is tough as nails, but doable with perseverance and gumption. Salt and Sanctuary is not for the faint of heart, but it’s a journey worth suffering through for those who think they are worthy.

The only downside of Vectronom is that it should only take a few hours to complete. Each beat of this experience is so jam-packed and the gameplay concepts switch up so frequently that I would love each one to be explored more. Don’t let that stop you from exploring what’s here, though — this gem is a design feat and one of the most delightful platforming games I’ve ever played.

I tend to get frustrated with twitch-based platformers where you end up dying an unimaginable amount of times, but with Slime-san, it’s different. The controls feel so good that I know if I die, it’s on me and not a fault of the game. Couple that with fun and interesting level design to make a foundation for a great game. Pile on a massive amount of stages littered with extra content and it’s hard not to recommend this game to fans of the genre looking for a challenging but fair experience.

Underneath the solid gameplay lies an interesting story and premise, with neither trying to steal the spotlight from the action and exploration. A not-imposing set of achievements and unlockables, in addition to map and items found percentages push the longevity score even higher, and ultimately I just had an incredibly tough time putting this one down. Anyone who loved whipping through games like Bloodstained, Axiom Verge, and similar indies should do themselves a favor and delve into the amazing adventure that is Astalon.

It's just a shame that what it has in excellent gameplay, it lacks in just about every other aspect.

Little Nightmares II successfully creates a series of titles that pair up splendidly. Through masterful environmental storytelling and world-building, Tarsier Studios steps up to the likes of Limbo and Inside to invoke a creepy, horror experience that will force its way into your memories. Even with some frustrating sequences and some perspective clunkiness, Little Nightmares II gets a helping hand with all the other ways it exemplifies the genre.

Not a game that will likely impress most dedicated gamers, except in the capacity that it is a movie-licensed game that doesn’t suck.

Sonic Rush is an excellent pick-up-and-play title that's as addictive as any in the series, and has better graphics, sound, and presentation than any title before it.

Pinball Hall of Fame is unapologetically faithful to its source material, and doesn't offer any olive branches to those who have never found pinball compelling. Nevertheless, FarSight Studios has crafted a wonderfully authentic pinball experience.

Overall, Art of Balance Touch! is a remarkable title, and one that would be hard not to recommend to any 3DS owner. It a polished experience, but also a great title to just pick up and play, and the added Endurance mode does a great job of extending the game's life well after all the worlds have been completed.

Character action games rely heavily on combat and style and Devil May Cry 3 manages to deliver just that in spades. While not being able to completely withstand the test of time, the addition of Free Style play to the Switch version gives the title a breath of fresh air, offering veterans of the series a fresh take on the classic while making it even more accessible to newcomers.

The question of whether I would recommend you getting the Borderlands: Legendary Collection is a simple one. If you haven’t played the Borderlands games before and don’t own another system that can play them, these ports are an amazing and great way to play the games. If you have played the Borderlands games before, this collection does a great job of presenting the games you’ve loved and adds the benefit of handheld play and all previously released DLC. But be aware that for the visual and performance aspects you will not get the same experience as on other consoles or PC. Still I commend 2K and Turn Me Up for giving the Borderlands series a great treatment on the Nintendo Switch.

Whether or not the combined offering of Sonic Generations and Shadow Generations is worth it will depend heavily on what your expectations for each half of the game are. For my part, I see this as a brand new game starring Shadow the Hedgehog with a remaster of an old game packed in, and by that metric I think it is a stellar package. Sonic X Shadow Generations may spend a lot of time looking at the franchise’s past, but it represents the best I’ve felt about its future in a very long time.

The sights, the sounds, and the interesting puzzles really set the game apart from anything else on WiiWare right now.

A score of 80 is a great score for any other developer, but disappointing coming from Rare.

SteamWorld Dig is a fresh game for the Nintendo eShop and one of the best digital games available on Nintendo's 3D handheld.

When it comes down to it, Spelunky feels dated. Since its initial release, roguelikes and lites have evolved a great deal. That evolution, of course, is due in part to Spelunky. A daily challenge seed with a leaderboard is something I first heard about in Spelunky. When comparing it to the modern members of the genre, what you get is lacking. This is still a perfectly playable game, which is a strong compliment for a remake of a freeware 2009 release. The concept of Spelunky is timeless, even if the game itself is not. I just think that recently developed roguelikes will give players more.

Parkasaurus satiated my dinosaur tycoon demands. For me, a dabbler in the management game arts, I found an enjoyable park designer where I had to balance finances and set up the coolest Jurassic Park-looking place I could muster. For my 4-year-old, he had a sandbox where he could screw around and set up whatever dream-like dinosaur scenarios he wanted to. We were able to do all this with a charming-as-heck visual aesthetic and a complex but workable user interface. Life finds a way.

Overall Ib proves that it is considered a classic among its peers for a reason, and for the most part it still holds up today. It may still have the issue many of this type of game have, being that anything and everything can hurt or kill you even if it’s not entirely obvious that it will do that, but this is not only not as prevalent as other games I have experienced and is also made less impactful by the fact that you are constantly finding save points as you go. Between the atmosphere, soundtrack, artwork, and characters, if you enjoy creepy experiences Ib is definitely something you should check out. This adventure through art that may or may not have it out for you managed to still find a way to scare and stress me out over ten years after its original release, and honestly I just find that impressive.