A Highland Song is another winner from inkle, and despite being a complete genre shift from 80 Days it has a lot of the same things going for it. It’s a beautiful game to be sure, and the writing is both meaningful and a pleasure to parse. But the gameplay itself uses what are fairly basic mechanics to create a surprisingly complex journey, one that offers so many secrets and branching paths that you’ll almost certainly want to play through it again the minute you arrive at the conclusion for the first time. A real joy, in every sense of the word.

Ghostrunner 2 ended up surprising me. While I wasn’t too pleased with the opening levels initially, it ended up hooking me quite a bit throughout, and I love how it feels on Steam Deck. This will likely be the only portable version of the game for a long time now, so I’m glad the team at One More Level made it such a great experience on both Steam Deck and PS5.

A fresh take on two classic formulas with hours of content that should please the puzzle fans out there.

If you love platformers, you have to pick this beauty up. It really is a standout in all categories. The only possible turn off I can see is the difficulty, but maybe that's just a fine excuse to bone up on your skills. Get that itchy trigger finger ready and come out of the gate with guns blazing, and you should do just fine.

Throwing Chuck into danger is a great pastime, even if we're the ones that suffer when he fails. As the game deepens in difficulty, there's a real satisfaction to be found in slipping around the opposition, taking them out when they're not looking.

If you're interested in classic games, especially fantasy and/or strategy games, Lords of Midnight is a must-have. On the other hand, if you are an action gamer whose idea of "old school" is Goldeneye 64, you'll want to give this one a pass.

If you loved the Mikey games, you owe it to yourself to check this out, especially since the original Mos Speedrun [$0.99] was a fantastic game that heavily inspired that franchise.

It’s a little hard to deal with initially, but the game is forgiving enough with its difficulty options that you should be able to get the ropes sooner or later. Once you do, it’s tremendous fun. All up it’s not the longest game around, but you certainly won’t regret the time you spend with it.

Might & Magic – Clash of Heroes: Definitive Edition doesn’t add very much to the original game, but it was already a strong game that stands for itself quite well in modern times. Dotemu has done a capable job of bringing it to the Switch, and it fits the platform almost as well as it fit the Nintendo DS. If you’re looking for a cool new puzzle game that offers both a substantial single-player mode and enjoyable multiplayer gameplay, you’ll likely be quite satisfied with what this game has to offer.

There’s just enough flexibility in Fly Together! that various strategies can work, and whipping your team together to find a winning one for each new challenge is great fun.

If you’re looking for a cool action game and have both sharp reflexes and considerable patient, you’ll want to consider Sifu. It’s a lot of fun to learn, and while you will probably take your fair share of lumps, it’s all in service to getting your skills to the level they need to be to take you through the game. Once you’ve got everything down, it makes you feel like you’re Neo at the end of the good Matrix movie. Dodging and weaving around attacks that used to knock you out, and landing that vital counter-attack that sends your former tormentor flying, is the kind of feeling that hard games aim to deliver. And Sifu does indeed deliver.

At the very least, you should start with the original Trails of Cold Steel, something that isn’t possible on Switch right now. But when I think of all of the time and effort you’d have to put in to get to the ideal state to enjoy this game, all I can conclude is that it’s probably not worth it. If you’ve come this far, by all means: this is an ending, and you might as well experience it. But had I known back in the day how it all would turn out, I’m not sure I would have gotten into Cold Steel in the first place. I was really hoping for something better than “well, it’s fine". Well… it’s fine.

Children of the Sun is fantastic. Not only does it encourage replays to climb up the leaderboards, but it is exactly what I want to see from Devolver Digital with its vibe and awesome gameplay. I hope it does well while also coming to consoles in the future. Right now, it is a perfect fit for Steam Deck and shines on the OLED screen. Don’t skip this one.

A great game to pick up if you are bored of other match three games but don't want to give up on the genre.

Definitely one of the best virtual pet games I've played, largely in part due to how much it utilizes Plus+ for building relationships between dogs. It adds a completely unexpected level of depth and complexity to the game that will likely keep me playing it for quite some time.

It might sound a bit like this is a case of style over substance, but while House of Mice's wrapper is certainly its most delicious part, the gameplay inside still gets by as an enjoyable, easy to grasp concept that offers enough of a challenge to keep it interesting.

If you're willing to roll the dice on Bean's Quest and the developers following through with their update plans, Bean's Quest is an effortless recommendation.

Whether you have reason to be nostalgic for Gridrunner or not, it's worth checking out. It's a best-of-both-worlds sort of remake: faithful to its forebearers but filled with clever modern enhancements. If you're dead-set on believing that the original is best, you can go ahead and play that instead.

Amoebattle succeeds wonderfully at creating a touch-based RTS for iOS. When you take into account the deep gameplay, beautiful visuals (iPad-retina compatible, no less) and approachable control scheme, Amoebattle is a title well worth checking out and joins the short list of great iOS RTS titles.

Hairy Tales is still an enjoyable puzzler and a great example of how to integrate a variety of puzzle elements with real-time action, all in a title wrapped in a fantastical weird shell. Suffice to say, puzzle fans should take heed at this latest addition, as I don't think you'll be disappointed.

So if you want faster progression without setbacks, well, Noodlecake is happy to take your money.

Smile For Me is a unique experience, and one that adventure game fans looking for something a little different should really enjoy.

Barring the few features I’d like to see in potential patches, Venba delivered in spades, and I can’t wait to see what Visai Games works on next. Venba is a great 1 hour or so long experience that will definitely have you salivating at some of the food while probably thinking of your own family or friends while playing.

World of Horror would’ve been an easy 5/5 if it had touchscreen support on Switch or had better controller support on the platform. Barring that, I have no hesitation in calling this a must-play horror game if you enjoy the genre and are up to try something interesting. Right now, World of Horror is amazing, but I really wish it controlled better.

It's incredible how well this game was handled, as playing it on a Retina Display feels identical to any other platform.

Dungeon Encounters is not going to be for everyone. It’s not even going to be for most. But if you relish the idea of a challenging, no-frills dungeon crawl with a familiar yet slightly novel battle system, a game that cuts the genre right down to its gameplay skivvies? This is it. I can’t imagine a better realization of such an objective, no matter how niche a target it may be. Maybe if it had better music. Just be warned that the game may well bring you closer to spiking your controller than you’ve been in a while.

This unique sphere-tossing game has awesome cube-explosions, and that's always worth paying for.

This isn't a game for the easily defeated, but if you're willing to persevere then Stardash will leave you well rewarded.