Cursed to Golf balances harsh roguelike elements with playful and endearing level design and game mechanics. This, combined with the gorgeous art and excellent tunes make for a beautifully well-rounded package that’s hard to put down.

Cronos: The New Dawn is an excellent addition to the survival horror genre, featuring an intriguing story that continues to mystify even as you get further in. The enemy design is good, and the combat is sure to please fans of Dead Space.

Ultimately, we think Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is a fantastic festive gift for a younger audience; particularly if you and your fellow parent friends can group up to get karts for your four kids. It’s a game that sparkles with creativity, and kids will easily lose hours to this while creating ever more outrageous courses.

The Crown Tundra brings back some fan favourite Pokémon and provides some much-needed end-game content. However, it’s content felt skin-deep and could have fit easily into the main game.

While Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins isn’t all that mysterious for a found phone game, it does act as an enjoyable, well-produced epilogue to one of Who’s greatest episodes.

In the time I had with it, I saw a lot of potential, but not too much interesting or challenging happening in the first hour or so. The slow pace is also a blessing and a curse: easy to handle with touch controls, but often dragging out basic movement in ways that kill the pace of the game. Your goals are also not entirely clear, which can be a motivation-killer in a wide-open game like this.

While Coromon takes some of the needless complications of the Pokémon series away, it also leaves out some of the most engaging mechanics, and only stands on its own two feet in certain moments. It’s sure to engage anyone looking for a fix of old-school monster-taming RPG goodness, but don’t expect any innovative elements.

An impressive port that struggles with performance issues towards the end of the game, Wild Hearts S delivers an action-packed twist on this sub-genre of ARPGs, and the brilliant Karakuri adds a great element of strategy to the tried-and-true monster hunting fun.

Playing Caverns of the Snow Witch feels, for the most part, like stumbling around half-blind in a blizzard. But it’s one hell of a blizzard.

The lack of content undermines the feeling of exploring beyond the final frontier and the limp combat is an awkward step back from the elegant Ace Patrol.

Last Voyage is a puzzle game which is uncharacteristically comfortable with—and perhaps cautiously optimistic about—the unknown.

It should be immediately evident to anyone who plays or even looks at the game what an incredible effort went into making it. Unfortunately, the tedious and frustrating nature of many of its puzzles undermine the considerable charm State of Play cultivated through their craftsmanship.

Playing solo may lack challenge, but otherwise, this is a terrific game.

Road 96 is a fantastic coming-of-age and socio-political tale, told in an interesting way that only video games can deliver. Stick your thumb out and hitch a ride with this fantastic adventure, and make sure to turn the music up loud.

With a fresh take on the puzzle genre and gorgeous aesthetics, bringing a barren world back to life with plants is more fun than it has any right to be. We hope for a couple of small updates down the road, but there is already more than enough great content here for any player to enjoy for days.

A game all about recapturing the energy of the 90s beat-em-up, Final Vendetta works hard to take you back in time and delivers a great game in the process. Combat feels right, plowing through enemies is fun, then, to top it off, the visuals and music sell it all wonderfully. I wish there was a little more modern flourish and a touch more imagination, but what we have is still a great game at its core.

Magical Delicacy brews up the perfect mixture of Metroidvania exploration, cozy game farming, and narrative intrigue to keep you hooked. You’ll easily spend hours helping Flora in her quest and enjoy every second of it.

Fear the Spotlight is a love letter to iconic 90's horror games, and although it delivers a juicy dose of nostalgia with blocky graphics and a tried-and-true narrative, it transports everything we love about the oldies into the modern age.

WarioWare: Move It! is a festival of frantic fun, offering the sort of minigame madness we’ve come to expect from the series. However, the reliance on standing poses presents something of an accessibility issue, and one the game has little answer for.

Death Coming is a fun lightweight puzzler with great art and creative environments. It's frustrating the devs didn't trust their core gameplay enough to avoid gumming it up with unnecessary frustrations.

A barking great time for dog fans everywhere, with only a few hiccups along the way.

Assassin’s Creed II is a great game and this is the only way to play it on the Nintendo Switch, and it’s a good enough way to do it. To simply explore Renaissance Florence while on the bus or lying in bed is a real treat. If that’s what you want, that’s what you’ll get.

Travis has never looked so good or felt as slick to control, while Fu and his minions serve as memorable antagonists throughout. When I look back on the series I’ll always remember the outstanding, insane action, and this latest entry could well be the best it’s ever been.

As it is now Mr. Robot:1.51exfiltrati0n.apk feels like a simple cash grab piggybacking of the show’s popularity instead of something with actual time and effort put into it.

There’s just enough crunch here to offer a thrill of nostalgia to anyone who’s ever pasted up an article by hand or worried about whether the Opinion pages were getting bloated. If you’re dying for a hardcore newspaper management sim, you’ll have to wait.

A major difficulty curve will turn off some, but don’t let this gorgeous yet tense rougelike pass you by.

Emio - The Smiling Man is both a great continuation of the classic Famicom Detective Club series, and a strong standalone visual novel. It may not be for everyone, but its twisting narrative, vibrant characters, and thoughtful gameplay systems make it a treat for new and returning fans alike.

Swap Heroes 2 is smart, but slight, and could have been much improved if its main mechanic was given the proper room to stretch.

A clever dance to excellent music in beautifully colorful world. But over time this initially compelling and graceful experience deteriorates into a dissapointingly rote routine.

The Star Named EOS offers a lovely experience filled with puzzles of differing difficulty, on a background of hand-painted art and a delightful piano-filled soundtrack.

This all-time classic has great gameplay, looks good, and runs decently on mobile - but the controls aren’t always the easiest thing to navigate on a tiny iPhone like mine. I recommend that you consider using an iPad.

Famicom Detective Club has a wonderful art style, intriguing characters, and compelling mysteries to solve. However, the one aspect that lets the game down is its repetitive gameplay aspects.

High speed chases and spectacular police take-downs provide plenty of thrills, but a lacklustre remaster, and a couple of annoying quirks let the arcade racer down.

Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland is a fun time for Rugrats and platforming fans alike, featuring solid level design, a enjoyable story, and good enemy design. The game performs perfectly on Switch and is arguably more fun to play in handheld mode, though there’s something special about seeing 8-bit graphics on the big screen.

Poppy Playtime Chapter 5 is the best entry yet, with fresh yet familiar mechanics, thoughtful puzzles, an engaging narrative, and the most polished gameplay to date. It takes both the characters and story to new heights, ending on yet another showstopping cliffhanger that'll leave you reeling.

We Are OFK is sort of a visual novel that presents itself like you’re watching Netflix. The story is good, the voice acting is great, the characters are excellently flawed, and the cast is effortlessly varied. However, performance issues, tacked-on gameplay elements, and the weirdly indifferent emptiness I was left with at the end made it struggle on a fundamental level.

Inmost is a short yet powerful adventure that tackles difficult themes in a delicate manner, through a haunting story about pain and loss. The pixelated graphics lend themselves to an unsettling atmosphere, while the sound design complements the gameplay and surroundings quite nicely.

Princess Peach: Showtime turns the Mushroom Kingdom’s monarch into a digital Barbie, filling any role she’s given with personality and charm. Some levels place you on the edge of your seat, while others leave you praying for the interval. A very good game for a highly specific demographic - adult Mario fans, be warned.

A new contender for the best wholesome game on Switch, Ooblets matches smart farming mechanics with satisfying creature collecting, and the vegetable critters known as the Ooblets are the star of the show. Dance battles are thrilling, and there are endless amounts of ways to customise and improve every aspect of the game but don’t expect to get anywhere quickly, as with so many different gameplay elements it’s easy to get buried under the workload.

Super Gridland is a solid match-three offering with a cool day/night cycle.

Mix together the Legend of Zelda, Crash Bandicoot, and Banjo-Kazooie, with a few other ‘90s classics and you get Frogun - a game that may press a few nostalgia buttons, but which provides a unique and innovative experience. I reckon it will be the next big indie hit.

Potion Permit is a cosy, magical experience that blends the best features of the RPG, adventure, and life sim genres into one soothing, medicinal brew. With plenty of puzzles to solve, potions to distil, and patients to heal, your time in Moonbury is as eventful and exciting as it is stunning.

Is Flutter Away particularly graphically impressive? No, but it’s brimming with butterflies and is a wonderful short little adventure. I’m now fully converted to loving capybaras, all thanks to CapyBarbara.

Famicom Detective Club has a wonderful art style, intriguing characters, and compelling mysteries to solve. However, the one aspect that lets the game down is its repetitive gameplay aspects.

Let’s Build a Zoo reminds us why tycoon games were once an industry monolith, but also why the genre couldn’t stay at the top forever. Morality mechanics, plenty of animals, and an appealing visual style all make this Zoo one you want to visit, but some tired systems and a slightly clunky Switch control scheme means you might not stick around for more than a few breeding seasons.

An incredible game that holds up just as well as its 2018 release, but is held back by the Switch’s handheld performance.

Silent Hope brings classic isometric JRPG dungeon crawling into the modern age with its adorable characters, slick combat, and heartfelt narrative about protecting the people we love. The seven protagonists and hundreds of potential load-outs offer endless ways to play and replay this magical story.

A flawed but beautiful JRPG with farming sim elements, Harvestella boasts a unique and emotive narrative, gorgeous art direction, and an ambitious range of mechanics to explore. It’s slow to start but, with a bit of patience, blossoms into something truly memorable.

Trinity Trigger is a familiar, fun-filled fantasy that features a unique yet simplistic battle system, a cosy, fantasy-fuelled narrative, and a cast of adorable characters. It certainly lives up to its goals of being a nostalgic and moving revival of 90s-era RPG classics, and makes for a brilliant, bite-sized adventure for RPG fans and newbies alike.

Storyteller has an alluring concept and some great visuals but doesn’t engage you fully until it’s almost too late. While providing some laughs and including some solutions that modernise fairy tales and tragedies for today’s audiences, the puzzle aspect doesn’t boggle the brain consistently enough for my liking.

Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition’s Nintendo Switch 2 port is fantastic, running as smoothly as butter and offering even more of you the opportunity to experience the first entry in the Survivor Trilogy. However, while it supports mouse controls, the game falls just short of fully embracing the features of the Switch 2.

Although the conversion is excellent, there are some things that you simply can't capture in digital form.

Though its monsters genuinely scare me at times, Dragon Quest Tact is a fun-filled tactics gacha with some appealing retro vibes.

Despite a slightly gimmicky appearance and card packs finally being pulled for all-out gacha mechanics, the well-executed risks of Cross Duel outweigh the issues by offering a selection of varied game modes, each with its own nuance, and a new way to play with the beloved cast of over twenty years of anime adventures.

Despite a somewhat rocky launch, Wuthering Waves introduces us to an exciting new world with plenty of potential, where dodge mechanics make for incredibly fun combat, and engrossing exploration keeps us coming back.

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl is a fun adventure, and the Grand Underground is bound to keep you busy. However, it fails to reach the heights of Pokémon Platinum, with a limited Pokédex that excludes several great Pokémon unnecessarily.

Rather than capitalise on the John Wick IP with a generic shooter, Bithell Games has carefully captured the spirit of the franchise.

A fun twist on the platforming genre, Togges does a lot with a little and presents a charming world full of secrets to explore, and a satisfying gameplay loop at its core. While improvements to controls and visuals would be nice, there’s still a lot to love here for fans of classic titles like Pikmin or Super Mario.

Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse is an intuitive entry in the franchise that takes everything that makes the other games so great, and cranks it up to 11. The introduction of the spirit torch adds a new dimension to combat, while the photo mode ensures you can create some memories. With little in the way of performance issues, and a story keeps you guessing, this is a game for all horror fans.

SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake is a charming and hilarious 3D platformer that’s a joy to play, with excellent level design, fun environments, and a story that captures the essence of the show. It’s a must-play for any SpongeBob fan, or anybody that just wants a new platformer to play.

Fun JRPG with a fair amount of complexity, marred by sub-par story and too many currencies.

If you’re looking to explode daemons and eviscerate space marines, then Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun is a blast from the past that honors both the legacy of the boomer shooter and the 40k franchise. However, repetitive level design, occasional performance, and a lack of motion controls are holding it back. I hope some patches or a sequel can help the series set a new standard for the genre.

If you want the full-fat Monster Hunter experience, this isn’t quite it, but it shouldn’t be either. Instead, like a Diet Coke, Monster Hunter Now is a fantastic companion to the series fans know and love, and it’s got plenty of ways to pull in newcomers as well. We hope to see more monsters and features down the line, and this live-service game is surely set to provide them, but this is a thrilling and satisfying twist on the geo-location format that every mobile gamer should try out for themselves.

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl is a fun adventure, and the Grand Underground is bound to keep you busy. However, it fails to reach the heights of Pokémon Platinum, with a limited Pokédex that excludes several great Pokémon unnecessarily.

Space Age loves its endless inane cutscenes a lot more than you will, and it tops them off with a completely discordant endgame boss that fulfills Space Age’s cinematic aspirations while throwing the game bits out the airlock.

A new contender for the best multiplayer title on Switch, Battle League is here to dispel any doubts you had about the future of Mario sports titles. With balanced gameplay that includes all the classic gimmicks, plenty of depth in character and world design, and a modernised online matchmaking system, Mario Strikers: Battle League is a red-letter day in the modern history of the moustachioed plumber.

A lovely learning experience that offers satisfying brain-teasing puzzles, but doesn’t quite have enough to keep players coming back for weeks. Fun multiplayer adds some mileage, though some extra options would really sweeten the deal.

A strong sense of mystery, puzzles which are either inoffensively brief or intriguingly maddening, a considerate user interface, and a promise of future updates add up to a generally pleasing experience.

Though its puzzles can be quick to complete, Inked is an amazing story of love and loss that questions what people are willing to do for the ones they care about.

While the core gameplay of Desta can deliver hours of entertainment thanks to nuanced core gameplay and a likeable lead, the touch controls can be a little frustrating and those looking for a challenge may be hard-pushed to find one out of the gate. Still, this game knows its demographic and those who belong to it are almost guaranteed to feel right at home in the dreamscape streets of Desta’s London.

A rambunctious, treasure-filled adventure with that classic DQ charm, Dragon Quest Treasures embraces the world of its predecessors perfectly, while still setting itself apart. Its mechanics are unique and engaging, it’s full of personality and charm, and, above all, it’s just great fun. A wonderful entry into a popular series for returning and new players alike.

Zenless Zone Zero is an electrifying urban ARPG fuelled by fluid, fast-paced combat, quirky characters, and gripping gameplay. A departure from Hoyoverse’s usual M.O., it pulls you into a fresh yet familiar futuristic world, blending threads from different genres into a truly unique universe.

A great dating-sim, dungeon-crawler hybrid that takes you on a journey of self-acceptance, love, and facing your fears - all while smooching some cute swords. It’s a short but sweet tale that will leave you wanting more.

There's nothing wrong or broken about Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning on Switch, it's just an uninspired experience that pales in comparison to the genre greats.

Demonschool is a great turn-based tactical game with puzzling combat, dazzling aesthetics, and engaging writing. It can get a bit samey in places, especially in the early game, but for the most part, it’s a delightful demon-slaying adventure that’s sure to be a hit for fans of games such as Fire Emblem, Advance Wars, and other strategy delights.

Nintendo Switch Sports scores a few points for successfully revitalising the heart of the original Wii Sports, with impressively gorgeous graphics and wonderful online performance. I only hope it can keep up pressure in the second half, by eventually adding enough content and sports to make it feel like a full package.

John Carpenter's Toxic Commando is a throwback to co-op shooters of yesteryear, filled with bombastic action, 1980s cheese, and a wicked soundtrack. It impressively holds its own on the Asus ROG Ally, making it an ideal handheld experience that's worth sinking a few hours into. If you're eager to relive the glory days of Left 4 Dead and classic era Call of Duty Zombies, then Toxic Commando gets you closer enough.

A fun beast slaying experience that new and existing fans of The Witcher will enjoy, even if loading times are a little slow

Though there are some performance issues, an incoming patch intends to tackle them so that you can fully enjoy what is set to be one of the best indie games of the year. With a mysterious yet gorgeous world backed by a hauntingly brilliant soundtrack and fun combat that keeps you on your toes, Strayed Lights is a gem of a game that I can’t stop playing.

An underwater adventure with a sombre twist, Silt is host to some fantastic platforming and puzzle-solving that dares you to explore its terrifying depths even further. Not everyone will have the patience to uncover its mysteries, but those who do will be rewarded.

A modernised and remade classic – Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life – provides a very laid-back and pleasant journey through farming, raising animals, and finding a partner to spend your life with.

Banksy wannabes and those not familiar with this style of game should check this out. For everyone else, Vandals could prove to be underwhelming.

Cris Tales on Switch is a unique gem of a game with stunning visuals and music, interesting mechanics, and a beautiful story. It is only held back by load times and its somewhat frustrating combat.

It’s impressive both visually and mechanically, showcasing lots of innovation to get the most from its minimalist mechanics. The fact it doesn’t do better is, I suspect, more a comment of the difficulty of making satisfying real-time strategy on mobile than it is on the game itself.

My Time at Portia makes for a strong mobile title with plenty of content and quality of life changes, but lacks charm and polish.

Wrapping a rhythm game around a heartfelt indie works wonders for Loud, elevating the gameplay and delivering a short but sweet musical experience that’s well worth the price of admission. Occasionally clumsy controls and a brutal difficulty curve are an issue, but rhythm fans will get a kick out of this one.

Nintendo continue to take another safe step in their mobile gaming journey. Fire Emblem Heroes is enjoyable, but largely forgettable.

Bear & Breakfast is a delightful, laid-back management sim with heaps of personality. Despite some fumbles with pacing and controls, it’s an enchanting experience that oozes charm, and offers plenty of unique challenges to explore as you delve deeper into its world. Thanks for the wonderful stay, Hank!

It’s just a shame that Buried leaves some of its greatest potential, well, buried on the table.

Armello plays like an American-style board game with loads of dice rolls and player conflict. It has some neat ideas, with asymmetric player powers and multiple paths to victory, adding long-term interest, all of which are explained in a very well-presented tutorial. My biggest problem with the game is that at the moment it seems quite difficult to arrange matches with reliable players. Mutual enjoyment relies on all players sticking to a code of honour that involves seeing the whole game out and not ganging up on a single player.

While the game will win now awards for innovation, it takes the tower defence and real-time strategy genres, and turns them into a fun experience for Star Wars fans everywhere. Even if victory proves to be too easy at times.

The game’s sheer style and approachability will draw players in, but for seasoned gamers there is a distinct lack of challenge.

While the controls and combat can be frustrating at times, this is due to the Tomb Raider I-III Remastered collection being the faithful trilogy of remasters that it should be, allowing you to revisit where the iconic franchise all started.

The game has got a couple of UI glitches, a tendency to crash, and a prodigious appetite for battery power. More abstract concerns arise from the basic limitations of the genre — these micro-session games are too far diluted from the formulas of Dungeon Keeper and Sim Tower to have any real bite to them.

A faithful recreation of the original Final Fantasy Legend titles. Perfect for fans looking for a nostalgia trip, but not a great first entry into the series for new players.

With stellar multiplayer gameplay and an intelligently crafted difficulty curve, Manic Mechanics offers hours of engaging content to race through. While there is space to improve in terms of controls and boss battles, there’s enough here to add this one to your list of party night titles.

Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town is an outstanding life sim with in-depth farming aspects, adorable romance options, and gorgeous ferrets. However, the fiddly controls and backtracking can be tedious.

Initially quite fun, with some neat ideas, but the repetitive nature of the gameplay will soon irk all but the most patient of players.