ArcRunner is a competent third-person roguelike shooter that works best as a co-operative experience. With more variety and a bit of scaling, it could easily accommodate individuals, too.

Whether played solo or with two non-compulsory local partners, Trinity Trigger channels the enjoyment of a ‘90s-era action role-playing game. From interacting with each town’s NPCs to delving into dungeons, almost every part of the game distills a sense of enjoyment.

Labyrinth of Zangetsu revisits the fundamentals of classical function crawling. Peer past the attractive ink-wash-styled visuals and you’ll find an experience that’s a faithful adaptation of board gaming with graph paper and pencil. Largely, this should satisfy purists looking for a timeless crawl where a deluge of crits are ready to punish the imprudent.

Although this is a proficient port of Mitchell’s 1996 arcade title, the pricing feels prohibitive. As such, only the most fervent Strider fans should consider a purchase of Cannon Dancer – Osman until a sale arises. This six-stage jaunt is likable, at least until the last level, but it also feels inferior when measured against Capcom’s classic title.

A Light in the Dark’s central refrain is how unfair life can be. Although that might sound like a cheerless premise, the visual novel effectively cultivates the complicated emotional state of a hostage. Whether the writing was just that good or I bonded with my captors, I didn’t want my confinement to end.

Combat can be fatiguing rather than stimulating, and frustrations are plentiful. But underneath it all is a game with potential, influenced by an assortment of classics. Hunt the Night, but only if you are tolerant and can forgive some conspicuous imperfections.

Before long, expanding your basic oceanic oil rig into a complex city grows tedious. That leaves random events to maintain interest, which is a short-term solution. When coupled with issues arising from the lackluster Switch port, that means you might want to pass on Drill Deal – Oil Tycoon’s offer of an offshore career.

Tower defense games have grown a bit stagnant recently. Although Witch Explorer isn’t perfect, the game offers a curious blend of strategy and shooting. Customary for the genre, it’s grind-heavy, but not prohibitively. The perks you earn provide perceptible upgrades, justifying the extra exertion.

If imitation is indeed the sincerest form of flattery then Wall World is bestowing lavish praise toward Dome Keeper’s blend of defensive shooting and subterranean drilling. Essentially, it’s the exact same concept but with a slightly better sense of progress.

Following nearly a decade-long retreat, EA Sports PGA Tour has returned. But instead of attempting to beat its competitor with a decade and a half of honed experience, the game often focuses on flash. The 30 courses here all look beautiful and lifelike, while the golfers all mug convincingly after bungling a nine-foot putt. But essentials like smooth swinging and the ability to customize a competition are missing at launch.

Delightful visuals and rigid controls make Curse of the Sea Rats a decidedly uneven experience. The Don Bluth-looking animation is superb, which might be enough of a draw for some. But more particular players will be disappointed by conventional navigation and combat which is often a chore.

Trading tanks for talismans and infantry for imps, GrimGrimoire provides a painterly style to the real-time strategy genre. With an intriguing plotline that tweaks expectations and a remaster that fixes some (but not all) of the game’s faults, OnceMore is worth revisiting or tackling for the first time.

Likely, the road to revenge is lined with dozens of retries, as SIFU injects a bit of permadeath into its martial arts-driven brawling. But given the game's robust new Arenas mode, walking the warriors' path at least offers a compelling value, with the game's story augmented by a collection of challenges that reference some of the greatest moments in action movie history.

Assault Suits Valken: Declassified offers a worthwhile reinvigoration to the best 16-bit mecha title ever made. While the game is rooted in 90’s design decisions, details like a sense of weight and the ability to inflict environmental damage make Valken a must-play experience.

Crafted by a team of ex-Ubisofters, Have a Nice Death offers sinuously animated visuals that recall Rayman Legends, while your moveset channels the dynamism of Devil May Cry. But despite a year in Early Access, the roguelike is tainted by some odd balancing issues that will eventually wear down your incentive or another run. Fear the reaper’s resistance toward growing stronger.

Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key provides a poignant send-off for Gust’s audacious alchemist. Old friends convene and loyalties are tested, resulting in a payoff that rewards commitment to the trilogy. Despite some performance issues, the biggest reward is watching a matured Ryza make her way across an open world, expressing confidence and charisma that’s genuinely inspiring.

Without a set of mock instruments, rhythm games don’t always capture the feel of musical performance. Spin Rhythm XD resists that trends with an innovative control scheme that might have your sliding mice or flicking the analog stick - providing a physicality that cadenced button tapping can lack. A 60-song EDM track list is a pleasant surprise given the asking price.

With an adorable cast and near-perfect performance, Alice Gear Aegis CS Concerto of Simulatrix makes a stunning visual showing on the Switch. But the graphical beauty isn’t tantalizing enough to disguise the game’s gacha roots. Mechanized maiden battles aren’t well balanced, resulting in little more than a grind for cute costumes.

Caverns of Mars: Recharged lingers on the low-end of Atari revivals. SneakyBox adds in elements like different types of weaponry and the ability to slow your descent, but none of these profoundly expand on a rather basic formula.

Catan- Console Edition does a decent job at adapting the game into a digital format, offering a high-definition sheen to the tabletop classic. Expect a serviceable base game that’s elevated when facing off again humans. Given the lack of any campaign or unlockables, playing against CPU-controlled opponents might give you a case of island fever.

From capturing monsters on the battlefield to producing heirs back at home, Record of Agarest War is an eccentric epic. Five generations of characters will do the fighting while your dialog responses help determine the qualities of your offspring, offer some novelty to an unevenly paced 140 to 160-hour campaign.

Some might take issue with Tiny Troopers: Global Ops’ vague stereotypes or its glorification of war. The real problem is the simplicity of the game, where you’ll face eight hours of near-continuous circle strafing. It’s incentivized by a multitude of upgrades, which not be enough of an incentive for enlistment.

Trails to Azure offers both closure to the Crossbell arc and an introduction to some of Cold Steel’s characters. But the game functions as more than just connective tissue for Nihon Falcom’s prolific property. Spending time with Lloyd and the rest of the Special Support Section exemplifies role-playing at its best, courtesy of compelling combat, a delightful cast of characters, and more geopolitical intrigue than a stack of history books.

Armed with a quartet of spells, Nobeta is one-witch-army, prepped to take down a castleful of antagonists. The presence of stamina and mana gauges means that the game draws from Souls-like formula. But this little enchantress offers more than your usual swing- and slugfest, extending the energy of a solid third-person shooter.

Meg’s Monster’s succinctness might put off traditionalists accustomed to role-playing epics. But give the game a shot, and you’ll likely find more laughter, tension, and sentiment than in most forty-hour journeys.

This Gal Gun spin-off threatens to outshine the series that inspired it thanks to taut, timeless, two-dimension action. Soloists can trade off between the gun-toting Shinobu and her melee-combo-using sister, Maya. However, having a partner for local co-op play makes Grim Guardians: Demon Purge truly shine.

If you’re not a fan of combat focused on the precisely-timed parry, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty isn’t going to change your mind. But masochists who are mesmerized by methodically studying enemy tells should find quite a bit of enjoyment in the game’s fantastical adaptation of Warring State peril.

A bit too often, Mystery Dungeon-style games lack a compelling impetus. void tRrLM(); //Void Terrarium 2 provides one but requires a bit of persistence from players.