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.

Cathedral is a fine Metroid-like in terms of level design, but I just can’t shake the feeling that it doesn’t hit the balance between exploration and combat—the latter so often gets in the way of simply enjoying the former. If you’re a big fan of the genre and are itching for a fresh take, Cathedral is a fine choice that, for the most part, gets it right. Just expect to get tired of fighting your way through every room.

Mail Mole is a very interesting concept that is largely executed well. It forces the player to adjust their brain to a new kind of 3D platforming in a way few games do. Its only real failing is that these ideas could benefit from being pushed further. Repeated concepts with only minimal iteration can make the mid game a bit slow. That being said it still represents a surprisingly original 3D platformer whose concepts I’d love to see taken even further.

In a city the size of New York, you’d think there’d be two things: a massive city and all kinds of people. Taxi Chaos doesn’t really have either at the end of the day, and it leads to a barely-above-average experience as a result. I suppose you could rip through a podcast backlog just driving around the city, but if I wanted to do that there’s plenty of options for open world driving on Switch as it stands.

The Blizzard Arcade Collection is a product of not only slavish devotion to the original releases, but also a glow up that presents the trio of classic games with its best presentation yet. The addition of rewind and save states lets newcomers experience them without having to beat their heads against the wall. Even better, the tome of special features and developer interviews shows a devotion from Blizzard to make this collection a true historical document that too many classic game collections lack. Even for those who haven’t played the originals, this is a package I’m happy to recommend to anyone.

Fallen Legion: Rise to Glory had its share of boss encounters that seemed unbalanced, but I never felt as frustrated as I did with Revenants. I found myself much less interested in the characters or plot of Fallen Legion Revenants, and it’s probably safe to just say I liked everything about this game less than its predecessor. I’m honestly disappointed. If developers YummyYummyTummy announce another Fallen Legion title, I promise they’ll get my attention, but I’m going to have to wait a little longer this time before I let myself get excited.

Hellpoint is an action RPG that takes a lot of inspiration from the Souls series. While the combat is engaging, the framerate is a major detraction. Hiding the story as breadcrumbs in hard to find logs or cryptic messages is detrimental to what could be an interesting story. As well, the environments and enemy design did little to stand out overall. The bugs, framerate drops, and rare crashes were present, but as of this review the developers have plans to address these issues in future patches. While this is a new addition to the Soulsborne genre, there are far more successful examples out there. Fans of the genre may want to look elsewhere.

As a game viewed independently from platform, Override 2 is a functional if not exceptional arena fighter that is brimming with charm and strong visual design. As a Switch game, it has a few too many rough edges to strongly recommend. It isn’t downright bad; this version just doesn’t carry with it any of Override 2’s strengths, leaving you with an ugly arena fighter that struggles to find originality or unique mechanics.

Anodyne 2 is a game that the farther away I’m from playing it, the more I’ll think about it fondly. In a year I’ll only remember the amazing atmosphere and setup that led to the scary chase sequence and forget how difficult to control that section of the game was. Right now, I’m living with all the great things and the frustrations simultaneously.

To summarize, it’s a little hard to slam-dunk recommend any of these three packs. The collection of games as a whole is nice, with very few true stinkers. If you haven’t dabbled in any of the other Capcom collections, maybe it’s worth seeing the wider assortment of genres here. Strider (in the second pack) and Progear (in the third pack) are the two clear standouts to me, especially since they aren’t also available in another more fully featured package on the platform. I hope Capcom builds out Capcom Arcade Stadium more, because at the very least, it’s a really cool place to mess around with different arcade cabinets.

Overall, while SNK vs. Capcom: Match of the Millennium is dated in many aspects, there is a real sense of charm and fun to be had with this entry. Seeing such a large roster faithfully recreated on the Neo Geo Pocket Color, with the addition of local multiplayer, is worth the price of admission on its own. While it is a shame that the Switch controllers struggle to work well with fighting games, for casual play this should not be a huge issue. If you have any interest in SNK, Capcom, or fighting games in general, you owe it to yourself to check out how one of the biggest fighting game crossovers began.

Curse of the Dead Gods could have easily been an also-ran to solely capitalize on an upcoming release that has a lot of buzz (think Antz to A Bug’s Life). Instead, I’ve been greeted with a roguelike that, while definitely sharing DNA with other dungeon crawlers, has enough interesting backdrops with a few neat combat ideas to make it its own. Curse of the Dead Gods’ unique features don’t all hit dead-on, but what’s here is a game that while not as refined is still plenty of fun in its own right.

It’d be nice if the Shipgirl fights were more visually interesting, but Crosswave looks a little too much like a mid-tier Playstation Vita game for my tastes. All of the dialogue is fully voiced...in Japanese, which is something (and also diagnostic of most Vita games). On the other hand, Crosswave already features Neptune from the Neptunia franchise--and I have to assume that the other Goddesses will move in eventually. That’s probably not enough to keep me coming back, though. If you like anime-based visual novels, you might get something out of Azur Lane: Crosswave. For me, though? I like a little more “game” in my video games.

Ghosts ‘n Goblins Resurrection is much more frustrating than fun, and it’s unfortunate because the look of the game, and the amount of replayability is quite high, with 31 in-game challenges to shoot for.

PUSS! is an absolute trip and manages to take a bizarre concept and turn it into a solid experience. If this is what the cat dragged in, it’s welcome here anytime.

The Unexpected Quest is unexpectedly short with only eight chapters and no variance offered upon replay. It is a decent time-waster of an RTS, but it is far from deeply engaging or exciting. Limited controls, the inability to place buildings where you want and one-on-one unit battles put a damper on the experience. This is not the game that will take the place of Warcraft as it feels like it never quite takes the training wheels off and there are better RTS experiences to be had, making this really only good for newcomers to the genre who need a gentle, simple pace.

If you can put yourself in an academic, emotionless state of mind, there really is some fun to be had, arguably moreso than in Gal*Gun 2. But you do have to wade through some…questionable…content.

Halloween Forever is a fun retro platformer that struggles a bit with some unfair difficulty spikes due to level layout in combination with the in-game camera. That being said multiple options are available for those who aren’t eager to return to the brutality of 80’s gaming. Boss fights are a highlight, and Pumpkin Man handles excellently. Some rough music doesn’t take away too much from the overall presentation which is otherwise very strong. Halloween Forever is a solid retro platformer for those looking for some authentic NES style challenge is running, jumping, and barfing.

Overall, Astrologaster is a fun romp through 16th century England. It chose its lane and fully committed to going full farce, turning out to be a very well conceived and interesting game. I enjoyed it, even if I felt at odds with some of the conclusions the game took from dialogue choices. The gameplay was always intriguing enough to keep me going. And somehow, in a world of pandemic and astrology TikTok, this game feels relevant even while it lives in the past. If you’re looking for something a little different, with unique gameplay, and a very entertaining soundtrack, I’d definitely suggest giving Astrologaster a try.

Glyph is perfect for a 15-minute pick up and play session or something you can struggle with for an hour. It's a rewarding experience when you have mastered its controls. Soaring through the sky to the exit like a golf ball in flight is a satisfying feeling. Its difficulty spikes can be dramatic, but if you're up for the challenge and craving some 3d platforming this one is worth a look.

Blue Fire is everything I didn’t know I wanted out of a 3D platformer. Instead of consisting of just platforming challenges, the combat kept me engaged. Secrets and collectibles aren’t there to block off parts of the map, but make exploring a joy due to how well they interact with Umbra’s abilities. 3D Mario feels good to play, but at the end of the day you are most likely still rescuing a princess and collecting meaningless stars. Blue Fire gives you a narrative thread but leaves it up to you to decide how you want to explore the Penumbra. This metroidvania-like approach really clicked for me and made this 3D platformer feel special, which few others have over the past decade. While performance on Switch is definitely not fantastic, with constant suffering through crashes, I still wanted to go back every time to discover what else was hidden in this world. I certainly cannot wait to see what these developers have in store next, because Blue Fire has definitely awoken a burning passion in me to see what lies ahead.

Tohu is a beautiful and fresh iteration on one of gaming’s old school genres. Cursor-based movement in docked mode, a short playtime, and shallow story aren’t enough to hold back the top-notch art and animations, intelligent puzzles, and incredible soundtrack from creating a memorable experience from beginning to end. For those fans of LucasArts and Double Fine, Tohu is worthy of your time, while probably not changing the minds of those who haven’t discovered the secret of Monkey Island or defeated those dreaded tentacles.

Aground surprised me with how much I kept wanting to get back to it the more I played. It won’t win any awards for its visuals and could certainly do well by limiting battling. That said, it hit the mark with tranquil digging, incentivizing crafting with small goals in its missions, and gradually pushing you along to explore the wider world around your starting grounds. If you like your crafting but want a guiding hand for your experience, Aground is a good place to start.

There are dozens of hours to be spent with UnderMine, and many more if you want to complete the 96 in-game achievements and find every partner familiar, item, and potion. Without question, Thorium Entertainment has struck gold with UnderMine, and it’s a worthy addition to the Switch’s stable of rogue-ish titles.

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury might be one of the strongest Mario games available on Switch. The base game is fun and varied, while Bowser’s Fury offers a distinctive, inventive, and superb open-world 3D Mario experience.

I like it a lot, and I felt really happy with it when I finally finished it. It’s a game that I want to recommend, but that recommendation has to come with a big caveat: if you’re a Persona fan that loves the Phantom Thieves but you’re just not interested in the gameplay, it may be more worth your time to just play Persona 5 again.

Overall I really would recommend NUTS if you are into narrative-driven games with a solid and interesting game mechanic. However, I cannot in good conscience recommend the Switch version. The UI is very hard to manage without any touch controls. The visual design harms the experience, and there are frequent framerate stutters and hiccups while playing the later levels. I enjoyed the premise and the ideas the game presents, but within this context the Switch version does not do the game justice. There is nut much to be gained here.

I stuck with Haven, throughout the crashes, the glitches and the slightly repetitive exploration, because I really fell in love with these characters. I cannot overstate how much I enjoyed being in their presence. Hearing them talk about their feelings for each other, their choices, their background and their doubt about fleeing the Apiary just made me connect with them. It feels good to see a relationship that comes across as more mature and developed in a video game. Something that isn’t there to satisfy people that ship in-game characters or gives them additional stats, but two characters that live together and struggle together. They each have a complete personality and to see that flourish, to see them flourish together, is something I have rarely if ever experienced in a game. Haven is not perfect, certainly not on Switch, but I would follow these characters to the edge of space and beyond.