The free-to-play open-ended nature of Sky might be slow-paced, especially if you're not planning to empty your pocketbook, but the gentle pleasantness of exploring visually engaging worlds wordlessly with a new online friend or two is soothing and relaxing. If you even have a passing interest or fondness for Journey, checking out Sky on Switch is absolutely something you should do. It's delightful.
You might not be able to see every hair follicle on Chad Muska's head, but you'll be able to do the Muska Nose Manual and land a sick combo without any issue. That's what is important in a Tony Hawk game. Whether this game is seen as the next great portable skateboarding game or a less visually pretty home console game, the most cogent point is that it plays incredibly and with so much to do across both of the remade games, this is one of the best skateboarding games ever made.
I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to PlayStation Mana past, even with a handful of antiquated ideas and nagging frustrations. Legend of Mana is a game I would recommend to anyone hankering for an RPG that's a little off the beaten path. And even if you just wish this was a bread-and-butter Mana adventure, we can all appreciate the incredible soundtrack.
Even with those bouts of frustration, Stonefly is a thoroughly unique game that has novel gameplay ideas and a wonderful story. Dancing around the world while piloting your mech, trying to find emotional catharsis for your heroine while also beating up some bugs so you can get more resources to upgrade your current ride is a heck of a gameplay loop. It's well worth experiencing if you want a chill adventure.
Overboard is a brilliant narrative video game through and through. The unique premise sets up a tangled web that is engrossing to figure out, as you take your villainous widow through all sorts of scenarios where she does everything from kill again to perfectly set up someone else to take the fall. This might not be as altruistic as other time loop games in the pantheon, but it's certainly one of the most ingenious in its design.
Pathway still overall does a great job of feeling like a procedurally generated Indiana Jones adventure, as you take a motley crew of 1930s adventurers on a quest to beat the crap out of Nazis and prevent cultists from unleashing doom. The variety of options, whether it's the lengthy list of characters, possible events, or combat scenarios, help make this game a joy to play and even revisit. There might only be five campaigns, but the well-done procedural generation makes each run unique enough to warrant a repeat viewing.
It's debatable as to whether or not playing this remake would trump playing the original, which makes the remake feel a little less special. Luckily, if you go physical, you can make that decision for yourself. Either way, this remake is good, even if it's overall lower in the rankings of Wonder Boy revivals.
The idea of Trenga Unlimited seems neat at face value, as it twists the concept of a 3D Tetris game. While it’s certainly cute, the game never meaningfully clicked with me and after wrapping up the short story mode and spending time with the multiplayer and survival modes, I don’t know if more content could salvage the underlying mechanics.
There isn't anything else beyond the 60 stages, but that doesn't take away from Tiger Trio's Tasty Travels. This is just a super cute puzzle game that does a good job of being gentle while not necessarily letting up on the difficulty. Mirroring the goals of the puzzles, this is a game that figured out the most efficient way to deliver a cute programming puzzle game to the Nintendo Switch.
Even without online leaderboards, it's a game designed for speedrunning. The distinctive look and feel make it stand out overall. If you're looking for a dope, stylish runner, look no further than this never-yielding game.
Fly Together is just a purely enjoyable game with easy-to-learn gameplay ideas that develop in complexity over the course of dozens of levels. It works best in multiplayer, especially if you can get eight people together, but even as a solo game, this works as an enjoyable and chill puzzle game where you play the role of navigator, sending flights all over the place.
Picross S6 is still an excellent puzzle game packed with just shy of 500 puzzles from a handful of different modes. Even if it's stagnated, I still wholeheartedly recommend the latest game. I just hope Picross S7 is more a leap forward than more of the same.
The way the game opens up as you play, revealing secrets on top of secrets is something I've never seen another game land quite as well. What stands out most to me about Fez after nine years is that I'm in the midst of my third playthrough and even with some of the sheer novelty being lessened, I'm as enthralled as I was back in 2012. Fez stands as a truly unique indie game that draws inspiration from classics but is wholly its own precious and maddening experience that needs to be played.
I enjoyed Rain on Your Parade, largely due to its consistent creativity and invention. This is a profoundly silly game that operates in that often untouched comedic space in video games. Sure, not every joke lands, and sometimes the goals are underexplained, but that also just sounds like how I could describe every comedy I've ever experienced. I welcome more video game comedies like Rain on Your Parade.
undefined.Lost Words: Beyond the Page is an emotional story with an enjoyable wrapper of art, music, and gameplay that lasts about three or four hours. Turn back if you want an immense challenge or brain-wrinkling puzzles, but if you're looking to shed a tear or two and take in a well-written story where you move a character around and occasionally solve some clever but basic word puzzles, this is a great game to experience.
Signs of the Sojourner is a refreshing game, succeeding largely in how well it takes eternally relatable ideas like talking to other people and transforming them into a very sensical card game that has a surprising amount of depth despite a straightforward presentation. The way playing cards represents conversations is genius, making this a standout for how unique it feels.
If you haven't dabbled in any of the other Capcom collections, maybe it's worth seeing the wider assortment of genres here. Strider (in the second pack) and Progear (in the third pack) are the two clear standouts to me, especially since they aren't also available in another more fully featured package on the platform. I hope Capcom builds out Capcom Arcade Stadium more, because at the very least, it's a really cool place to mess around with different arcade cabinets.
If you've never played 3D World before or haven't touched it since the Wii U days, this is well worth the price of admission. Prospects get a little tougher if you're not interested in going through 3D World, because while Bowser's Fury is amazing, it's still approximately less than 10 hours of gameplay even if you do everything. But no matter what: Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury might be one of the strongest Mario games available on Switch. The base game is fun and varied, while Bowser's Fury offers a distinctive, inventive, and superb open-world 3D Mario experience.
undefined.Through it all, Cyber Shadow knows why people have fond memories of NES-era action platformers, whether it's the thoughtful level layouts, unforgettable boss battles, or eye-catching visual embellishments. This is not a game for the faint of heart, but more for the persistent. I came away from this retro romp satisfied, primarily because it harkens back to the classics while still carving out a distinctive game that rightfully deserves to enter the pantheon of stellar 2D ninja games that includes the likes of Ninja Gaiden and The Messenger.
Dicey Dungeons is an amazing game that I'd almost call a roguelike game for people who don't like roguelikes. You do have to like turn-based combat, though. And dice.