Depending on how you play the story, you’ll solve Verity’s dilemma in a few hours. I had moments where I thought I had everything figured out and just needed to trigger the right dialogue options, but even still I wound up getting surprised more often than not. Expelled is a tightly wound narrative puzzle game that makes me excited that it’s labeled “An Overboard Game” because hopefully that means Inkle makes a game like this every few years to wrinkle my time-loop-loving brain and completely delight me.

I enjoyed my brief time with Ninja Five-O. If you’re feeling nostalgic for the heyday of the GBA, this is a great way to experience an apparently rare entry in its library.

If you’ve never played Suikoden II and consider yourself a lover of Japanese-made RPGs, you should already have this game pre-ordered. This is a game that belongs on the podium near the ‘90s classics from Square Enix. I’m not nearly as hot on Suikoden I, but the first game is more like the NES Final Fantasy entries to Suikoden II’s SNES Final Fantasy entries. It’s cool to see the evolution, but we all know what game has ascended to all-timer status.

Everhood 2 upgrades every element of the first game and even streamlines the experience to create a more well crafted, captivating, and pulse-pounding adventure. The enjoyment of the battle system is underscored by its simplicity and the way each encounter feels fresh, with the major boss fights crafting some truly legendary moments. There’s a bit of repetition built into seeing every single thing under the hood, but repetition is no real issue when it’s so darn groovy. While I may have completely forgotten that this sequel was announced in 2023, I’ll make no such mistake if developer Foreign Gnomes deigns to go for a three-peat. It’s undoubtedly a beautiful day in this neighborhood.

Outside of combat, Omega 6 The Triangle Stars is an exceedingly charming and funny adventure game. The excellent writing is accompanied by Imamura’s iconic art design and a fantastic soundtrack. While progression can stutter somewhat along the way if you can’t quite figure out exactly what it is the game wants you to do, the vast majority of your adventure is fun and endearing. While combat lets down the experience somewhat it can generally be powered through with efficient use of your bonsai tree. The rest of Omega 6 The Triangle Stars is a wonderfully stylized adventure that is certainly worth taking.

Who is Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days for? Well those looking to relive the glory days of Yu-Gi-Oh! will probably find some enjoyment here. The amount of games looks impressive on paper, but in practice it is hard to say that these titles will keep your attention. I did find myself returning to a few as pick up and play experiences. Rebuilding decks and reinventing strategies for the tweaked, but ultimately same card games wasn’t really keeping my attention by the time I arrived at the later GBA titles. It could’ve been fun to explore this with a friend, but as only one game would support online play I’d find it hard to recommend to even the most dedicated of Yu-Gi-Oh! players. But lowering your expectations and going in blind, especially for some of the more unusual titles in the collection, could still be fun. Just know that there is a high likelihood that by the end you’ll be happy that you’ve moved past those early days.

River City Saga: Three Kingdoms Next starts with the baseline understanding of what makes a River City game, then plays experimental jazz with the rest, to varying levels of success. There’s a lot of good in its presentation and core combat elements, but the dings of bland music and the slog of traversing the world are glaring and kneecap the experience. There’s still plenty of fun to be had for fans of a good beat-em-up, but expect to be playing this more as a curiosity than your next favorite game.

From the characters’ squawking voices to their amusing dialogue, Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip is a joyful vacation to a nonsensical playground where its small world is your oyster. The Switch performance isn’t perfect, but for a game with a fair bit of jank built in, it didn’t detract from the experience. At a time when the desire for escapism is at its highest, I’ll gladly recommend a trip to Sprankelwater for the best medicine that money can buy.

The characterization and writing are top notch. I felt a genuine connection with the members of Sigmund Feud and the world of Afterlove EP. That’s what games like this and Coffee Talk are built on, connections. Whether it's just listening to your friends vent frustrations or finding common ground with someone new, there’s something special about what these games bring to the table. I for one recommend everyone pull up a stool and listen for a while. You may find a new best friend.

It’s one of my favorite games of its type, maybe ever, and I am really dying for similar games from this developer. This is a unique, incredibly well made experience that came out of nowhere for me - that might be an urban myth of its own.

Trails through Daybreak 2 is the first time I’ve ever thought to dissuade anyone–be they casual RPG fan or Falcom diehard–from playing a game in the series. The new mini-games like basketball and a hacking maze add almost nothing to the package, with the latter actually being more of a net negative, and there’s a lack of charm and vitality to the character interactions and story as a whole. Gone are the cross-country tours of Cold Steel 1, and in their place are an overuse of familiar surroundings and lackluster bonding events. Van is a memorable protagonist, but he doesn’t have the poignant character moments he did in the first game. It may be that these Trails have simply run out of road, which is sad to say given the RPG heights the series has achieved.

At the end of the day Macross: Shooting Insight is a passable shooter, and a fun treat for fans of the franchise. But an oftentimes inscrutable, poorly told story is unlikely to win over any new fans.

Moons of Darsalon has some rough edges, but its charm and level design is usually enough to shine through. This is a game that builds upon a lot of old ideas, but manages to make them feel incredibly fresh. While it can trip over itself now and then, the end result is a memorable and fun puzzle experience that feels truly out of time.

As someone new to the Hello Kitty franchise, I have fallen in love with Hello Kitty Island Adventure. It provides the charm of an Animal Crossing game, but focuses on the exploration, creating moments of adventure and fun across the way. Taking a mine cart ride through a volcano with your friends is a blast, and wandering through a haunted house with Kuromi the goth character is hilarious. The frame rate and visuals have seen a vast improvement from previous demos. While I do wish there were more of certain activities like the dungeons, I cannot wait to log back in to see what new adventures will await my next year of updates.

There’s a lot about Farmagia that I liked. I like a lot of these elements that are put together; the character design is great; some of the writing is funny and charming. It also ran very well on Switch, which is impressive given how many monsters could be on screen at one time. I enjoyed a lot of the writing with the elemental spirits, for example, and I think this is an incredibly solid concept. Ultimately, for having so many mechanics, all of them ended up feeling half-baked. Farmagia in a lot of ways feels like a first draft, and I’d love to see these mechanics pared down and refined in a future game. Farmagia needed a little bit longer to grow, and I hope another game can pay attention to this in the future.

Achilles: Legends Untold is a functional isometric souls-like that plays well enough and has plenty of territory to explore but falls short in its Switch port. It isn’t completely unenjoyable by any means and mechanically it is quite solid. But ultimately through the combination of a rough Switch port, poor voice acting, and a general struggle to do anything that stands out, it winds up being a forgettable journey.

Symphonia represents a welcome starting point for players who want to cut their teeth on a more approachable precision platformer. Its difficulty curve is a gentle one, so those looking for something a bit more fiendish may want to skip this concert. The softlocking was frustrating but I enjoyed my time with the fairly brisk campaign.

Worlds of Aria is a highly accessible, well written, tabletop inspired adventure. It can make for a fun adventure with your regular party (near or far), or an intro to people who are completely unfamiliar with this style of game. Veterans may find some mechanics a bit too simple to get heavily invested in, but it's clear that isn’t Worlds of Aria’s goal. It is definitely at its best the more human players you have, as empty slots ultimately just become extra characters for your party to manage in addition to their own. The UI is a little clunky and can take some getting used to. But Worlds of Aria is ultimately a charming adventure that bridges the gap excellently between tabletop RPG and party game.

All told, Tales of Graces f Remastered is an impressive game, with some of my favorite game characters and gameplay in some time. It looks and runs like a dream on the Switch, too, which made for a wonderful visual experience. Reportedly Bandai Namco is looking to remaster more of the Tales series, and after Graces f Remastered, I hope we’ll see those sooner rather than later.

Freedom Wars is definitely something I’ll go back to over time, because I’ve never managed to actually “complete the sentence” and I’m sure there’s something insane at the end of it. If you think you can grasp the combat and missed it the first time around - the latter’s most likely true - then it’s time to plead guilty.

While I’m a little less over the moon about this game in 2025, I’m still very happy that Oath in Felghana is out on a modern console in the west. From the era of its release, it’s one of the best action RPGs of its style and even to this day, it’s still a very enjoyable one. I might recommend some of the later Ys games ahead of this one, especially if you want a more true 3D adventure, but if your goal is to check out the highs of the storied Ys series, Oath in Felghana is a must-play.

I appreciate that Night Dive chose this game to remaster because I’ve held it in such high regard for so long. Despite all my complaints, it was fun to revisit this 2002 game in part because I came to appreciate how far squad-based shooters have come in the 22 years (good lord) since. There is one more nice feature worth bringing up: you can access a bundle of concept art from the main menu, which is fun to peruse. And like I said in my Shadow Man review, I’m glad Night Dive didn’t “fix” the game. It was a great game in 2002, and, like so many games of that era, was a product of its time. And that’s how it should be experienced.

Nine Sols as a whole was such a delightful experience that it is quickly moving up my Game of the Year list as I take further reflection on my time with it.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita's Rewind does an admirable job of channeling the ‘90s show and video game era. The Rangers themselves are a bit hard to distinguish in terms of how they play, which makes subsequent playthroughs a bit less enticing, but there are stage objectives to complete for those so inclined. While the different stage types keep the action from getting stale, the Megazord segments are a bit of a letdown in terms of both gameplay and presentation. All in all, seeing another decades-old property brought back for another ride that plays well and hits those nostalgic notes is a welcome fourth quarter addition to the Switch’s stable of brawlers.

Rollercoaster Tycoon Classic is as faithful of a translation of the original management classic as you can possibly get. While it stumbles a bit when it comes to its controls and certain performance issues it is one of the most extensive and elaborate versions of RCT you can find. I know the die-hard RCT-fans will probably stick with Open RCT2 on PC. But for the more casual player that is looking for a thrilling dose of nostalgia this version on Switch is a great way to re-experience the game. For the true newcomers, it could be a bit of a bumpy ride, but the design choices, enormous amount of challenges and freedom and creativity available in this package makes the admission ticket worth it. Who knows, perhaps this time I’ll finally get good at designing my coasters and build one of those dream parks that the title screen always made me fantasize about.

IronFall: Invasion was a perfectly solid third-person shooter wrapped in an incredibly technically accomplished shell back on 3DS. I would list it as one of the most technically impressive 3DS games ever made, up there with Resident Evil Revelations, Star Fox 64 3D, and Nano Assault. Without the context of the 3DS, IronFall: Invasion on Switch sorta just winds up being a perfectly acceptable third-person shooter. It is still technically excellent, but it isn’t as remarkable now as it was back in 2015. Still if you want a cheesy Gears of War-like game developed by a small talented indie studio, IronFall: Invasion is worth checking out.

I was genuinely shocked by how much I wound up liking MST. It’s bizarrely true to the source material while somehow succeeding in being a completely different game that’s still super fun. I’d talk more about the roguelite aspects of the game but they aren’t intrusive, which is honestly a surprise, because roguelites tend to overemphasize the “roguelite” aspect. How many times have I said “does this have to be a roguelite?” on this website? It’s a lot! But not today. Not today!

There is plenty to enjoy here, but the brilliant pacing, focus and storytelling from Case of the Golden Idol looms large over its sequel. It’s a shame it doesn’t live up to that potential, while still reinforcing the great ideas that are the foundation of the gameplay. Let’s hope the Golden Idol shows up once more in the future to bring both styles together for a spectacular conclusion.