There are some areas in which Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town feels like it definitely needs a little more time and room to grow. The progress I’ve seen in the time I’ve played is encouraging, and I’m confident that it will offer plenty of opportunities down the way. People who enjoy these sorts of farming sims for the progress you can make and routines you can build will be pleased. Especially since it constantly offers new hallmarks to hit.

Pokemon Violet and Pokemon Scarlet certainly don’t put their best feet forward. They run rough. Visual downgrades are clear. But ultimately, once you settle in, they’re certainly full Pokemon games. We’re hoping some post-launch bug-squashing will help them run better, but in the long term, The Pokemon Company might need to implement a plan that offers Game Freak longer development windows for tentpole releases.

A Memoir Blue is a peek into someone else’s life. We don’t know Miriam. We don’t speak her language. But by the end of the game, the player will know exactly what she went through. It is touching and accomplishes a lot, in part thanks to its visual direction and soundtrack. Just know going in that it is more of an experience than anything else, and a brief one at that.

Fortunately, that means Legend of Mana is getting its own moment on the Switch, PS4, and PC with a remaster. While it doesn’t exactly address every issue present in the original game, it looks amazing and includes some features that might ease frustrations.

Sand Land shows what can be done with licensed manga and games. The game is a great vehicular action-RPG, and easily one of the best anime and manga games available. Despite some early pacing issues, the game is at its best when introducing a vast and engrossing world, accompanied by the beautiful visuals and great story penned by the late Akira Toriyama.

Cozy Grove is charming, to be certain. It definitely gives you a sense of purpose with its ghosts you can help find peace, collection to fill, and island to decorate. But there are also times when it can feel quite limiting. Once you complete your tasks for the day, you’re really done and your immediately available storage space can discourage you from prep work for ensuing days. Your supernatural neighbors aren’t good for socializing in the same way Animal Crossing’s villagers are. It can also feel a bit cluttered and difficult to find what to do, due to the color palette and environment. It is for certain a thing people interested in life sims would likely enjoy, but it feels very structured and interested in keeping you on its timeline.

For a text-heavy and narrative-focused game, Harmony: The Fall of Reverie is one in which the story is actually the weakest point. The game could have been shorter, because the latter half of the story kind of falls apart. (It’s already not a very long game though.) The writing style is plenty melodramatic and poetic, but it feels far too heavy-handed and can round to alienating. It wants me to feel something so bad, but it never gives me the chance to form these emotional ties to the plot or characters. Sometimes the metaphors don’t work, aiming for deep and landing somewhere in strange. Though I can see the various team members’ individual passion shine through in the game’s components, a tighter vision would have saved this particular reverie’s heart.

In the end, while Trek to Yomi is a small and deliberately limited affair, its taut structure and evocative visuals carry it well through its short lifespan.

Lonesome Village is pleasant. The world is bright and colorful. Despite things being Very Wrong around town, there’s no sense of pressing danger. It encourages you to take in the scenery and solve puzzles at your leisure. While that means it can feel a little too rudimentary, it’s generally a good time. Especially as villagers start to return and you get a chance to interact with more (virtual) “people” again.

For a game that would make most anybody do a double take because of its mixture of anime art style, action shooter genre, and soulslike gameplay, Little Witch Nobeta comes together very well as a whole. The shooter components are enjoyable to play with and offer enough diversity to give you several options for battles. The soulslike parts add fun and difficulty, as well as a tiny bit of a strategic element in the upgrade system. And though the story isn’t grandiose or deep, with most of the worldbuilding coming in the form of the stories attached to items found throughout the castle, there’s enough to carry the game forward, which is fine by me. It’s not perfect, but the game is nothing if not fun, and I’ll definitely be coming back to play some more of it.

Touch Detective 3 is a missing piece of a puzzle that is just as delightful as the previous two games, and it’s great to have the full collection of all three games easily accessible on the Switch as Touch Detective 3 + The Complete Case Files. There is a downside to the release, however. The port doesn’t feel optimized for the console, both when it comes to its graphics and the control scheme.

In many ways, your interest in a monster-catching game is driven by whether one focuses on aspects you particularly like. Like competitive play? Or meticulously customizing creatures? But Nexomon: Extinction puts its best foot forward, delivering the most polished version of itself it can offer. And often, polish is what many players miss when exploring outside Pokémon’s safe, well-padded confines.

While Wuthering Waves has improved since its lackluster launch, its weak story and lingering managerial issues persist to hamper it.

One huge graphical glitch in the game is that Derrick's appendages seem to penetrate enemy corpses when he's picking up items from them. All of the sudden parts of his hand seem to vanish, go through the enemy or both.

I’m genuinely disappointed. Star Trek seems perfect for a narrative-heavy adventure game, and Star Trek Resurgence’s bugs, design, and QTEs keep people from getting properly invested. I don’t regret my time with the game, and I did enjoy the tale it told. However it’s executed in such a sloppy fashion and littered with issues that draws a player’s attention away from what matters.

Knockout Home Fitness is a handy exercise game for the Switch and fills a niche. It isn’t as intensive or potentially lengthy as, say, something like Ring Fit Adventure. Rather, it invites someone to show up every day for a few minutes to be active. It isn’t too strenuous or demanding. The virtual trainers are clear and easy to understand. It’s generally peppy, which people might appreciate if they want something to quickly check in with each day.

Ultimately, RPGolf Legends could be a suitable distraction for those who have been waiting too long for a game like Sports Story. It’s forgettably pleasant and largely inoffensive, a stopgap for those who need it. If ArticNet continues to work on the franchise, we’d really like to see a focus on mechanical depth in the next installment.

There is absolutely a fun and maybe even great experience somewhere in Mineko’s Night Market, but right now it is hidden behind balancing issues and Switch performance problems. I could absolutely see Meowza perhaps patching it and making any criticism I have for the title irrelevant over the coming weeks and months. But at launch, it can end up feeling a little too tedious and costly.

I didn’t expect to enjoy Dairoku: Agents of Sakuratani as much as I did. With so many Switch otome games out now and it being another date supernatural boys game like Cafe Enchante or Hiiro no Kakera, I wondered how it’d set itself apart. But it’s such a genuine visual novel, and one where the relationships gradually grow between the heroine and bachelors. It’s really quite lovely.

When you're running away from a zombie flinging what ever items you're carrying in your hands it feels like something out of a horror movie spoof. What is even funnier is that attacking the zombies with weapons other than a gun is surprisingly effective.

I adore the Tiny Garden aesthetics. It’s such a charming little sandbox. Frankly, it made me wish I still owned some of my old Polly Pocket sets. You know, the more detailed ones from the 90s that ended up more intricate than the ones being sold today. There are some times when it isn’t exactly user-friendly, and I do wish the demo was still present in case others experienced the issue getting it to run that I did. But it’s definitely a cozy way to relax.

If you’re looking for a fresh take on the formula, Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX ain’t it! It’s very much the game it once was, just with some handy quality-of-life upgrades. But that in itself has a lot of merit these days.

When it comes down to it, The Hundred Year Kingdom’s greatest failing is that it doesn’t make you think. Each session ends up feeling the same.

On the whole, I enjoyed Process of Elimination. The story kept me guessing like a good mystery should and it had some brilliant ideas. However, my frustrations with it all came from feeling it could have pushed those ideas into even more exciting territory. Mystery enthusiasts will definitely find something to love here. But those looking for a meaty strategy experience may feel a little disappointed.

Rhapsody: Marl Kingdom Chronicles allowed me to check out and rectify a glaring hole in my PS1 JRPG history. The story of Kururu, her mom Cornet, and the other colorful characters from this kingdom is a charming, but highly simple one. Though the gameplay and combat is a bit too simple at times, there’s no denying the catchy Japanese songs and cheery environments kept me playing in both games.

Grace and the rest of the Greek pantheon in Stray Gods are brought to life by expert voice over performances, great art direction, and an affecting story that is intriguing from start to finish, and, but the game is brought down by its performance on the Nintendo Switch. The game tries to harmonize musical elements with choice-driven mechanics, and fails to hit that note well due to an awkward soundtrack. Nevertheless, I had a blast with Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical and visual novel fans looking for something unique will absolutely find this a charming game worth experiencing.

Howl is a simple blend of genres that offers a lot of fun. It is fast and easy to pick up, but can be pretty hard to master. The game can be on the shorter side, taking approximately 5 hours to reach 100% completion. And while I loved what I played, I still feel like there were a lot of really cool ideas that could be explored further, or enemy variety to improve. In the end, I think that Howl leaving me wanting more and making me think about it far after I finished it speaks more about the quality of the game than about what the game might be lacking. Fans of the puzzle genre and light tactics RPG are sure to have a great time with this one.

Kamaeru: A Frog Refuge is a letdown, as it doesn’t feel compelling or rewarding to collect frogs, acquire money, or build up the frog sanctuary. I got more out of games like Usagi Shiima, even though it featured no quests and less “gameplay” to it. The thing is, it’s easy to see how it could have been better. More unique frogs, eliminating the tedious minigames, and making specific pieces of furniture feel more important could have all fixed it. As is, it feels like a boring job instead of a relaxing game about cute frogs.