Eastward may not be perfect, but it doesn’t need to be. The creativity on display is fantastic, and the gameplay is fun and varied. It’s an adventure you won’t be quick to forget.

Overall, King’s Bounty II was an enjoyable experience with some unique gameplay elements. It’s slightly let down by its frame rate and graphical issues and I can’t really justify it at its current price point, but if it goes on sale it’s definitely one to pick up.

Kitaria Fables does a lot of things well, and a few things a little less well. It’s cute and colourful, and the adventuring is absorbing, but the farming falls a little flat.

Willy Morgan and the Curse of Bone Town is a great callback to classic point-and-click adventure games but is let down by the frustration its puzzles can cause. However, a unique visual style and story are still worth discovering underneath.

Rustler won’t win any prizes for originality, but it largely succeeds in aping the GTA format and infusing it with all things medieval. Could the technical performance be better? Yes, but where else can you ride horseback with a beatboxing bard?

Arietta of Spirits buckles under the weight of its own premise. Telling such a detailed story in such a small game means no idea quite gets its due, and the moments of greatness are too fleeting to make a real impact.

TOEM is one of the many wholesome games available on Switch, but it is one that stands out thanks to its unique hand-drawn art style and enjoyable perspective mechanics. A short but sweet, frame-by-frame adventure.

Shing! is a unique beat ’em up experience on Switch, with a good presentation and fresh gameplay ideas that are mostly satisfying. Local co-op, unlockable costumes, and online high score lists give it additional replay value for fans of the genre.

Axiom Verge 2 doesn’t quite deliver the same thrill and nuance of its predecessor. There are great ideas at play and an engaging story if you can commit to it. But be prepared to come away slightly underwhelmed.

Mythic Ocean is a fun little adventure with a strong narrative and memorable characters, but it ends before it has a chance to really leave an impact on you.

Garden Story is such a wholesome game and the more time you put into it, the more you will get out. Its adorable cast of characters and varied gameplay makes for a great ‘relaxation’ game, if that’s what you’re looking for.

Curious Expedition 2 tells a story full of adventure and intrigue that sustains the game through its short campaign. The repetitive nature of the gameplay soon becomes stale however, offering little reason to extend your expedition beyond the main story.

Boyfriend Dungeon‘s unlikely mix of dating sim and dungeon crawler charms more than it irks, letting you romance your way through many a dungeon. Is it over too quickly? Yes, but this heartfelt summer vacation is fun while it lasts.

A Monster’s Expedition shakes up the puzzling genre with an enormous map, combining tiny individual puzzles with an empowering sense of exploration. Gorgeous graphics and witty writing mean it mostly succeeds, let down only slightly when its ambitious scale becomes daunting.

Islanders provides players with a sense of calm that no other strategy game can. It’s designed to help you feel relaxed while still giving you the challenge that comes with a strategic puzzle title.

It has its flaws, but there is absolutely no reason not to get on board with No More Heroes 3. It’s explosive, it’s sexy, it’s absurd, and it’s all created with a passion rarely seen outside of small-scale indie game development.

Ayo The Clown offers platforming antics by numbers, and it’s a crowded genre with some big jumping shoes for company. But there are enough fresh ideas to warrant a deviation from the well-worn first-party platforming path.

Creepy, disturbing, and just a little bit cheesy, Night Book is sure to provide a few fun evenings. If you’re a fan of choosing your own adventure, this game will get you playing and playing again to try and get the best ending.

Greak: Memories of Azur is a fine example of a 2D platformer on Nintendo Switch, with beautiful aesthetics and some interesting takes on gameplay. It’s let down by its lack of cooperative play and simplistic combat.

Metal Unit offers quick combat and a multitude of cool weapons, but beyond that it fails to leave much of an impact. It’s fun to play, but you’ll forget the storyline as soon as you turn the game off.

Ultra-stylised visuals and creatively crafted combat are the reasons to dive into the world of Shibuya. The quirky cast, muddled music and lengthy visual novel-esque text sequences? Not so much. I liked it, but I didn’t love it.

With a nice pixel-art style, Within the Blade may look like the perfect side-scrolling ninja adventure. While it offers huge replayability, its basic problems make it feel like you are fighting with a dull blade.

Super Destronaut DX-2 is about as colourful and manic a 2D arcade shooter as they come. What it lacks in content and competitiveness it more than makes up for with great style and tactile feedback.

Induction encourages players to consider cause and effect in each of its carefully crafted, time-bending puzzles. Though some mechanics could have used some explanation, it’s certainly no puzzle that fans of the genre should give this game a go.

If you can ignore heavily downgraded graphics for the sake of playing a game on the go, Last Stop can present you with an anthology of three different narratives that are fun, dramatic, and weird in very unique ways.

Sun Wukong VS Robot is a solid, enjoyable Metroidvania on Switch that uses the titular Chinese legend in an interesting way, utilising his many powers and abilities to modify gameplay. At an extremely affordable price point, it’s worth checking out.

Anna’s Quest manages to take the small child in scary world theme and keep it fresh and entertaining: great characters, excellent voice acting, and an intriguing story make this adventure game a worthy Switch purchase.

Super Cable Boy is a wonderful collection of contradictions: experimental yet familiar, accessible but challenging, linear with masses of choice. The game marries old and new elements of 2D platforming to near-perfection. A triumph stylistically, conceptually, and in execution.

The Falconeer: Warrior Edition is an impressive technical achievement coming from the mind of just one individual in Tomas Sala. It looks great and feels fully-fledged. Take that out of the equation, though, and things are a bit too unvaried and repetitive for our liking.

Promesa wanted to be so much more than it is. It very much feels as though the creator has the context that the player doesn’t, and the poor performance makes it difficult to muddle through to try and find it.

Monster Hunter Stories 2: The Wings of Ruin is a delightful addition to the Monster Hunter franchise. A compelling story, colourful cast of characters, and a cacophony of cute, cuddly, customizable monsties to befriend make this game a must-have for any Switch collection.

Cris Tales is a fantastic JRPG that blends enough traditional mechanics with new ideas to keep it feeling fresh and innovative. It features an engrossing world you’ll long for more hours to explore and absorb.

King of Seas is an ambitious and peaceful game. It’s perfect for pick up and play gameplay, let down only by numerous glitches and lack of voice acting. If you want to be a pirate on Switch, this is the game.

Motion control-fearing players finally have a way to satisfyingly play one of Link’s most misunderstood adventures. A few design elements can annoy and now feel archaic, sure, but Skyward Sword HD is well worth another stab on Nintendo Switch.

If you want to party with strangers, Crash Drive 3 is a great option for a party-like game that is mostly focused on online play. It has a good variety of modes and many unlockables to keep you hooked during short gaming sections.

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is well worth your time, offering one of the most compelling stories on the Switch. It’s refined, charming, and engaging, and a great experience for newcomers and fans of the Ace Attorney franchise alike.

Cosmic Top Secret is an enjoyable and surprisingly educational experience that tells an interesting story. However, it’s held back by the limited gameplay on offer.

Gutwhale is an intense yet underwhelmingly short action platformer, offering an afternoon of frustrating fun with no real reason to return once you’ve finished it. Gameplay is tight and music pulse-pounding, but it feels like little more than a demo.

Strange Brigade is a fun and exciting game that’s much better experienced with friends than alone. It does sacrifice graphics for performance and, although that’s not a bad thing, it would have been nice to have seen it not looking so dated.

The core concept of Infestor has potential. It could have been a quirky puzzle platformer, but there’s no challenge here. It’s far too easy, and there’s too little variation in what you’re required to do. Unfortunately, I’m recommending you avoid possession.

Winds of Change is a visual novel that presents players with an intricate and intertwining high-fantasy narrative full of twists and turns. With an eclectic cast of anthropomorphic animal characters, this visual novel will satisfy story lovers and animal lovers alike.

The premise behind Donuts‘n’Justice is undoubtedly solid, but any campiness ends up being short-lived, and there’s not enough meat on the bone for these supercops to chow down on. Sadly, these lethal weapons often need a holster.

One Escape is a mildly charming but ultimately disappointing game, with a few too many frustrating elements to make it worth a purchase. It’s not criminal, but it is pretty underwhelming.

While the core of Mario Golf is fantastic as always, there’s very little around it with Super Rush in either content or variety to keep players entertained. If you want to play a few holes with friends then this is everything you need, but anyone hoping to be blown away by new modes will find this latest release to be sadly just par for the course.

Short, but impactful. Interesting, but flawed. Umurangi Generation Special Edition is a photography-centered experience that is sometimes weird, sometimes contemplative, but thoroughly unique.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 does a decent job of bringing the game into 2021, however it falls short in a few unnecessary ways that might keep newcomers to the series from enjoying it.

Game Builder Garage takes Nintendo’s magic and adds charm to game-building tools to offer an incredibly powerful minigame creator. Sadly, the lack of discovery undermines the games you’ll create, making it a curiosity instead of a must-have.

Worms Rumble takes a few elements from the Worms series and recontextualizes them as a multiplayer-focused and action-based title. On top of failing in its most basic gameplay elements, the Switch version also features many annoying bugs.

Aluna: Sentinels of the Shards sadly doesn’t offer anything of interest. Its uninspiring story, gameplay and combat leave the player wanting more than what they got which is a shame because it has so much potential.

An addictive action-sports hybrid with plenty of customisation options, rotating gameplay modes and an exciting roadmap ahead, Knockout City earns its spot as a multiplayer mainstay in valuable Switch SD card real estate for the foreseeable future.

Super Magbot rewards perseverance. Initially the challenge is daunting, but when the rhythm clicks, you’ll be darting back and forth with a grin. The retro visuals are matched with a refreshingly unique control system to create a tough but addictive journey.

Dungeon Escape is a game that absolutely nails its core concept and mechanics, resulting in a very playable, addictive, and positively frustrating experience. Unfortunately, there’s very little added value, and some flaws prevent it from being an essential purchase.

Fans of retro gaming will revel in Mr Tako’s adorable take on Game Boy style and gameplay. But, despite its qualities, and some well-delivered polish, this game may struggle to win over modern gamers.

Overboard! is a short but sweet murder mystery adventure with lashings of sophisticated style and an addictive gameplay loop. There’s always something new to see when playing the same day over and over again by making different choices and decisions.

Gross, weird, and consistently hilarious, Sludge Life is a satirical lens on very particular types of youth culture, but it’s also an experience I won’t forget anytime soon. Plus, it’s almost worth the price for the soundtrack alone.

With a strong focus on the narrative department, Relicta presents an enjoyable first-person puzzler experience where you need to bend the gravity rules. If you can ignore a few technical issues, you may find a relic in the rough.

Maneater is far from the fin-tastic open-world RPG we all want it to be, but when treated as the goofy shark simulator that it is there’s a lot of fun and laughs to be had. The ocean is your playground.

Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World should be looked upon as an example of what a 25-year-old game could look like with the graphical technology of today. It doesn’t veer far from the source material, though, so the game itself feels basic compared with what the modern-day gamer is used to.

Alba: A Wildlife Adventure is as much educational as it is relaxing. It’s a short experience but it is one that you can learn a lot from as well as having a wonderful time.

A Little Lily Princess is a character driven visual novel with great art and wonderful music. The life-simulation aspect is a bit random but if you’re a fan of a good story you’ll want to pick this one up.

A dose of old school gaming with a fresh new face, Space Otter Charlie is plenty of fun once you’ve mastered the gravity-free controls. It’s an enjoyable action puzzler offering a few hours of entertainment – and otters!

The Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection is a no-holds barred, hack and slash experience that offers fun and challenge in equal measure. It isn’t perfect, but it really doesn’t need to be. Just enjoy it for what it is, as it was intended.

Miitopia is an RPG adventure that uses Miis as a way to let players express themselves. Despite choosing to simplify some of the classic mechanics, it does offer goofy and funny moments for those willing to pay its increased price.

Famicom Detective Club is a fantastic revitalised visual novel, let down only slightly by its lacking narrative options and gender selection. I would say that this is the best visual novel game I have had the pleasure of playing.

Famicom Detective Club is a fantastic revitalised visual novel, let down only slightly by its lacking narrative options and gender selection. I would say that this is the best visual novel game I have had the pleasure of playing.

Balancing a 50/50 between overly simple indie and pro skater itself, Skate City doesn’t offer anything we haven’t seen before. However, its intuitive controls, presentation, and overall flow of gameplay make it endlessly replayable.

Pathway flexes plenty of stats amongst its RPG elements, but the turn-based combat can become quite repetitive. The presentation is gorgeous however, and there’s plenty of adventuring on offer if it’s the sort of ride you’re looking for.

Rabisco+ is an endearing precision puzzler. Although it’s short and a little on the easy side, it’s a very accessible game that plays great in handheld. Green Dinosaur Games has recycled its own prior work with much success.

El Hijo – A Wild West Tale is a charming stealth adventure game with an amazing story. However, some latency issues can lead to more frustration than fun. Fingers crossed for a patch, and then it will be well worth a purchase.

Palindrome Syndrome is a competent if short puzzle adventure. Compact and not too difficult, it’s tough to get lost or stuck with this one, but you will be finished with the game in two or three hours. It’s one to pick up when on-sale.

Mundaun didn’t quite grip me the way I would have liked, however it’s clear to see why it has for so many. There’s an appreciation that stems from bold new efforts, and I recommend seeing if it’s for you.

R-Type Final 2 is a bombastic if relatively safe continuation of the horizontal side-scrolling shoot-em-up. It has visual flair in spades and packs in plenty of customisation options, both of which make blasting away endless enemy waves fun.

A hilarious point-and-click presented seamlessly, There Is No Game parodies a cavalcade of video game genres in its futile attempt to stop you from playing even one. Fans of absurd, paradoxical humour will get a kick out of this one.

With a rewarding gameplay loop and charming aesthetics, The Colonists is a simulation lover’s dream. There are perhaps too many systems and not enough guidance, but once it clicks you’ll have a blast watching your robot explorers build your own settlements for hours.

Rogue Heroes: Ruins of Tasos is a game that I didn’t expect to love as much as I did. With an in-depth upgrade system and the perfect mix of adventure and rogue-lite elements, fans of those genres will find themselves at home here.

Monster Jam Steel Titans 2 is by and large a pretty bland experience. There’s not a lot of personality on show, and the handling of the vehicles leaves much to be desired. Some interesting open-world designs later on aren’t enough to justify a higher score here.

Rain on Your Parade is a quaint game full of bright colours, jokes, and nostalgia. The puzzle variety, level design, and mechanics will deliver hours of entertainment. Who doesn’t like causing a little chaos, now and then? The price is right, too!

New Pokémon Snap offers fan service to those who were there when it all began. Unfortunately, it doesn’t do enough to engage and retain new players, failing to make full use of the niche genre it invented.

Kosmokrats is essentially Tetris in space wrapped in a tale of intergalactic capitalism versus socialism. A witty script combines with 1960s tech and an ever-evolving story (with multiple potential endings), resulting in a uniquely crafted tale. To outer space, comrades!

Tinker Racers makes the act of racing across sinks, chairs, and printers every toy car fan’s delight. It lacks the polish seen in other miniature driving games, but trying to survive against foes is a joy in bite-sized bursts.

With great presentation and an entertaining narrative, Poison Control is a weird mixture of dungeon crawler, visual novel and third-person shooter. It could have been the next great niche title, if not for its problematic shooting mechanics.

Inventive and exciting, Astro Aqua Kitty is a wholly satisfying ride. Not revolutionary, but nevertheless a must-have indie gem on Switch. It’s an underwater RPG shooter with – ahem – plenty of depth.

Fez was originally released at a time when indie games were exploding, and it’s a perfect example of why that happened. Fez is a gorgeous work of art, both effortlessly accessible and masterfully complex, and even nine years later, it’s practically perfect.

If you are a fan of Dark Souls and/or Bloodborne and are looking for a soulslike game on the Nintendo Switch then Hellpoint is absolutely for you. It is an expansive world that is destined to be explored with a fair but challenging difficulty. If you’re not so much a fan of this genre then I would say to give this one a miss.

With its unique premise and enjoyable art style, Deiland: Pocket Planet Edition could have the potential to be your next fave farm sim. Unfortunately, its clunky structure transforms part of the experience into an aimless chore.

Despite its formulaic structure and simplistic visuals, NoReload Heroes makes the act of firing creative guns endlessly thrilling, thanks to great HD Rumble integration and so many different firing types. It’s worth going for the win as a true team of four.

Turnip Boy is an attractive, accessible Link to the Past-like with some nice touches and an original premise, but its execution provides nothing new and it’s over very quickly. It’s Great for a short burst of handheld action, though.

Disappointing performance issues and an overall dated design make it a harder sell for new players, but Republic Commando’s unique, exhilarating Star Wars campaign is still a ton of fun in 2021, and one that nostalgic fans will get a kick out of alongside the Bad Batch animated series.

Dreaming Sarah makes for a fun adventure with atmospheric music, but you will spend the entire experience thinking, ‘what on Earth was that?’. It’s a shame that it’s so short, as I’d have liked to see more of it.

Say No! More is a brief title that makes up for underutilising its core mechanic with some hysterical moments and a lot of heart. If you could do with a game to cheer you up after a hard day, don’t say no to this one.

There is an evident charm to the visuals, but Stitchy in Tooki Trouble mimics Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze while offering much less substance: an inferior clone. This adventure works as a simplistic platformer, but nothing more.

Cozy Grove is a game with tons of unfulfilled potential. A case of style over substance, it may give completionists plenty of reasons to come back on a daily basis, but every time you do, you have to deal with technical issues and repetitive quests.

RetroMania Wrestling is simply the best wrestling game available on the Switch. Appealing to both hardcore wrestling fans and old-school gamers, it’s a hark back to a forgotten era of gaming. The Switch still needs a new AAA wrestling game, though.

WRC 9 is representative of what happens when development teams are stretched too thin and care little about the platform they are developing for. Here’s to hoping this is a one-off and we see a return to form soon.

Lost Words: Beyond the Page is a phenomenal experience, one that I’m not likely to forget anytime soon. The gameplay is simple but the narrative more than makes up for that. An incredibly relatable story that really had me lost for words.

Narita Boy is a neon-infused 80s fever dream, casting you as the hero of a microscopic digital system. The aesthetic and audio presentation nails this vibe. Just don’t expect engaging combat or a coherent story.

Twin-stick shooters occupy a crowded genre, and Ultra Goodness 2 is likely to get lost in the battle. Like the main avatar, the game has good intentions, but there’s not enough variety or originality to sustain interest.

Bob Help Them is an easy to pick up and put down little strategy game that marries the relaxation of a farming-sim with the frantic pace of a countdown timer. 35 levels, 6 NPCs, and 105 stars, this game is perfect for bus rides.