Overall Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water is a fun action horror adventure to play through, with the specters of Mt. Hikami providing an interesting backstory and a fun combat experience. While the characters are more bland than I had hoped, this doesn't necessarily take away from the story all that much. Some control issues do get annoying over time, but even they couldn't stop me from continuously returning to the beautiful and creepy environments of the mountain. If you're a fan of horror games with a bit more of an action feel, you could certainly do a lot worse than Fatal Frame, and now might just be the perfect time to dive in.

Without question, Voice of Cards represents a great entry point for RPG newcomers that employs a compelling and unique aesthetic. If you've shuffled your way through most of the RPGs on Switch, however, you might find this Isle Dragon more of a whimper.

DUSK’s arrival on Switch has been a long time coming. But I'm honestly relieved that the creator took his time sanding down and sharpening every little corner of DUSK for its Switch debut. It feels like a game that was meant to be played on Nintendo’s console and uses its retro inspirations to pump new life into this particular genre of games. If you ask me, it's the beginning of a new dawn.

If you are hankering for a campy, gory old school horror movie that you are in control of, you really can’t get much better than Murder House. It’s a game that doesn’t take itself too seriously and is not afraid to dump down a few buckets of blood every now and then. Dated things like tank controls or limited saves may be frustrating to a player not used to these types of games, but I honestly think this might be one of the better places to try those things out for the first time. The short runtime helps alleviate the stress of the controls and save mechanics, though the unfortunate crashing issues may replace that stress with frustration in the end. Hopefully a patch will be coming down the pipeline soon, but for now Murder House has found a good but technically troubled murder home on the Switch.

It’s actually pretty disappointing that Thea 2: The Shattering shoots itself in the foot on Switch. The world is unique and mysterious to me. There’s a ton of things to tinker with in the overworld sections, and the combat is engaging enough to mix things up. But this game proved to me what I didn’t want to hear — to me the inherent sluggishness of Thea 2 was enough to sink it.

Overall, UNSIGHTED is a game that I hope doesn’t fall into the “hidden gem” category. For the simple reason that it is a gem that should not be hidden and needs to be in the line of sight (get it?) of as many gamers as possible. Despite the stress of the lifespan gimmick, this unique element is what will keep you on your toes and panicking, worrying but ultimately loving your time as Alma. The narrative is beautiful, and characters are all full of life and loveable, making for a gaming journey that you will genuinely care about.

Despite its difficulty, Evertried is almost faultless in what it attempts to achieve. The gameplay is tight, the music and visuals are both fresh and nostalgic, and the roguelike tower aspect and difficulty will have you coming back for “just one more run” until you ascend to the top. And even when you do, this game will have you coming back for more as you attempt to better previous scores and times.

Jackbox Party Pack 8 brings a fresh slate of games that can liven up any party. The voice acting is as high quality as it’s ever been in both humor and characters but at the end of the day, I found myself wanting to go back to Jackbox Party Pack 3, 4, or 5 again. There are new twists on the drawing and quiz formula, but I doubt their staying power overall. These devs have a history of making high quality fun games so if you are a completionist or are new to the series, I would recommend it, just not over many of the older ones. Jackbox is like pizza, even when bad it’s still pretty good.

Mon Amour is straight to the point. It’s a bunch of Flappy Bird-like single-screen levels where you try to survive and kiss people while aiming for a high score. I enjoyed my time with it, even if the chase for the leaderboards didn’t grab me. This is a wild and wacky arcade game worth checking out if you’re seeking an afternoon of fun.

I haven’t had a game in which I’ve had to pull myself away from playing it for a while, but I spent a Saturday basically playing The Caligula Effect 2 and only stopping for supper. I really hope a lot of the other RPGs coming out before the year’s out on Switch can elicit that level of devotion.

Overall, Teacup certainly has its place, but I feel as though that place is very specific. If you’re looking for something to play with a child or even just looking for a short but slow experience to unwind at the end of the day, Teacup may be something you should look into. For most, though, a mixture of the complete lack of any challenge in the minigames and the very slow pace may turn them off from the experience. Its art style is gorgeous and the soundtrack to accompany Little Pond is a joy to listen to, but at the end of the day those can only do so much to help the experience. If this sounds up your alley, you should absolutely give Teacup a playthrough! If not, well you may just have to look into a different blend to fill your cup.

I don’t want to seem too down on Ruin Raiders, because the core strategy gameplay works well. If you’re willing to put in the time, it does start to have more variety and more customization after you build up blueprints and base facilities, but the road to that point can be pretty monotonous. It would have been much better served to have more variety in the early stages, which would have been a much better and easier to recommend game.

With 400 stars to earn, dozens of Blue Things to find, and countless secrets to discover, it turns out that A Little Golf Journey is actually much larger and content-full than its name would imply. I love having it to chill out with before bedtime as I need to wind down after multi-hour Metroid Dread sessions, and I think it might actually be my new favorite golf game on Switch, closely edging out Golf Story. I did encounter a few technical issues where my ball got stuck and I had to restart the hole, but this wasn’t a frequent occurrence. If you’re looking for a peaceful and zen-inducing golf experience, there might not be any better than A Little Golf Journey. I intend to relive this journey over and over as I shoot for the stars, and yeah, those little blue things, too.

The core gameplay is fertile ground for some great emergent moments in solo or multiplayer, and the game is chock full of content. Each mission has bonus challenges such as meal delivery or demolition, and there are escape missions, boss battles, difficulty options, loadouts, upgradable items, and cosmetics. Even if you only play strictly single-player, Embr has so much to offer were it not hampered by the visual noise, performance and control issues, and truly frustrating physics. In a lot of ways, playing Embr felt like playing a very promising early access game that would be worth waiting for the arrival of a polished 1.0 release. The devs even included an easy feedback system for bugs, framerate, controls, and gameplay issues in the main and pause menus. But I can only review the product in hand, which though built on solid foundation, quickly crumbles down.

I didn’t really click with Astria Ascending, and I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s an inability to relate to characters that are functionally immortal, or the hackneyed story, or losing about 60 turns of combat in one dungeon thanks to Omni-Stun. But I found myself fighting to actually boot the game up, which is something I haven’t had from a review in a while. If you’re ready to go all-in on Astria Ascending… well, you probably already have. If not, there’s plenty of fish in the RPG sea on Switch and some more marlins coming before the year’s out. You’ll be able to get your fill.

Overall, Disco Elysium is one of those games I feel like we’re still going to be talking about ten years from now. Technical issues aside, the writing and worldbuilding present in this game lift it high above a lot of the other entries in the genre. This is further helped by the fantastic voice acting and narration that was also recently added to all other versions of the game. The voice that narrates everything and also plays your different stats is really satisfying to listen to, keeping me around to hear it all even though I could personally read way faster than he could talk. If you enjoy games that lean heavily into their dice rolling foundations, you should absolutely put your time into Disco Elysium; you will not regret it. With its myriad of technical difficulties on the Switch, however, it may be a good idea to look elsewhere unless portability is your main concern.

Over the years I’ve heard many people demand a sequel, in terms of gameplay, to one 2D Metroid or another. No matter what sequel you’ve wished for, Metroid Dread is it. It is simply Metroid, in the best way possible. Metroid Dread is the culmination of 2D Metroid in its entirety. It is a testament not only to what the genre has always been, but the potential of what it could become. It is a triumphant return of Samus Aran as the undisputed queen of the genre. Long may she reign.

I love Tetris Effect: Connected because it keeps reminding me why I love video games. There’s really nothing else quite like it. If you think this is just another game of Tetris, I urge you especially to give this game a try. Who knows? It may even change your life.

I feel like I say this with a lot of games, but I really enjoyed Steel Assault until I didn’t anymore. Up to that point, it was really fun, and I have to commend Zenovia Interactive on their effective graphical filters, which are a big part of the appeal.

With over 200 monsters to collect, many of whom can be traded for with various NPCs scattered about the map, a helpful in-town quick travel system, and some interesting story beats, I have no doubt that Monster Crown could become a brilliant and shining example of how to make a Pokémon-like. Regrettably, it’s really nowhere near ready for prime time. Steam users are certainly more accustomed to early access, and I’m sure they enjoy being part of the process of fixing and helping to improve a game that they have high hopes for. The console audience can be more discerning, though, and it’s hard to ask Switch owners to pay money for a video game in this state. One day, it might actually be worthy of some royal headgear, but as of now, Monster Crown is much more pauper than prince.

The graphical downgrade on the Switch casts a pale shadow on what is otherwise a solid yet difficult game with occasional obtuse vehicle handling. If you are a bike-racing enthusiast and don’t mind a challenge in its single race, career or online play modes, this game is for you. Casual bikers (myself included) need not apply.

Outside of the obvious omission of a map, the simple act of playing Darksiders III is fun, challenging, and rewarding. The Switch port, save for the expected visual downgrades, is on par with the originally targeted systems. The only problem is it never ran particularly well on those systems either. If anything the Switch version actually improves on some elements of the original performance, but it can still be a bit of a rough ride. This was always a game that required more powerful hardware to push through its shortcomings and the Switch obviously can’t totally deliver on that. At the same time, with slightly faster loading and solid handheld performance, I’d probably still take this over going back to the original Xbox One version.

As a little nugget of arcade history, the first ExZeus is certainly worth having and is a good, though very straightforward port. The second game isn’t really worth it unless you're desperate. This is unfortunate as some basic quality of life updates could make it a much better game. There is some cool history here, and this is a collection that will appeal to arcade or rail-shooter enthusiasts, but is hard to recommend outside of those specific circles.

So while the bells and whistles aren’t necessarily anything to write home about, the GBA games at the core of this Castlevania Advance Collection are easily worth the price of admission. I remain flummoxed and annoyed that Konami is holding Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night hostage for the time being, but hopefully that will be resolved someday.

Although I can’t entirely fault the story in Warp Frontier or the voice acting performances, it was hard to engage in the narrative at all due to the frustrating puzzles and low-quality feel that the game presents. The almost randomness of solving puzzles to advance really did make for a negative experience overall that I can’t see many wanting to return to.

Overall A Juggler’s Tale is a very neat experience with fantastic aesthetic presentation, a fantastic medieval style soundtrack, and a heartwarming but simple story to tell. The only real issue I experienced were some readability problems when it came to figuring out what certain puzzles expected of me, but I was always able to figure it out on my own in the end. A playthrough goes quickly, only lasting around two to three hours, so it doesn’t overstay its welcome nor does it feel too brief. If you enjoy a good puzzle platformer, A Juggler’s Tale is a worthy addition to your collection, no strings required.

I have no problem recommending the Cloud-version of The Forgotten City, but as with any streaming version your mileage may vary. What will probably not vary is your enjoyment of this game, because as far as narrative driven adventures are considered, The Forgotten City absolutely deserves to be remembered for a very long time.

This is not the straight port or remake of the original GameCube Monkey Ball I might have asked for, but it’s a great game in its own right that brings to light a lot of what I loved about those earlier entries in the franchise. This is a lively, amusing video game that is stuffed with challenging marble-rolling stages, good-natured multiplayer games, and a lot of charm.