Matt Sainsbury
There's no other way to say this: by virtue of being two of the greatest games of all time, this combined edition pack is one of the best releases of the year.
As a “game” Death Stranding doesn’t do much. But as a work of art, Death Stranding is something mesmerising, intelligent, and powerful, and we never see genuine art within the big budget, blockbuster space. That alone makes it a rare treat to play, and I rather like this new-look, independent Kojima.
Throw in a functional, but hardly boundary-pushing combat system, and you're left with something that works, but at this particular time of year, a workmanlike experience is just going to drown under the weight of all the other really good stuff being released, sadly.
Boiled down it's a fairly simple riff on GhostBusters, but Luigi's Mansion has been produced with such a sense of humour and eye for detail that it has a personality and uniquely Nintendo quality all of its own.
Lethis had potential. The idea of a steampunk city builder is appealing and does delight the imagination on premise alone. In execution, though, there's virtually nothing of the steampunk concept, beyond the aesthetics, and the game is so stiflingly limited in how it plays that it becomes dull before measure far, far too soon.
I didn't think it would be possible, but Gust really has managed to craft three completely different Atelier games through 2018 - one for the traditionalists, one pushing new ground, and one purely for the fans - and all three have, in their own way, been of the astoundingly high quality and spirit that has made Atelier my favourite JRPG franchise for quite a few years now.
MediEvil is a rare bit of whimsy from modern Sony, and so while it plays a little bit too much like an artifact of yesteryear, it still got me smiling.
After briefly playing around with the arcade stuff I turned that it off, because PBA Pro Bowling really does work better as a reasonably dull and sterile, but accurate take on bowling.
With Conception Plus you get a really wonderful, albeit uncompromising and traditional roguelike dungeon crawler, with all that that entails.
It doesn't really matter how well Summer Sweetheart actually plays, though, because it's such an poor concept, and its executed so clumsily, that it's just not worth touching.
Destiny Connect: Tick-Tock Travelers biggest problem is that there are so many more memorable JRPGs available on Nintendo Switch. It's a sweet little entry-level game, and is refreshingly brief in length and scope. It also has a streamlined, nearly retro approach to its combat, and it has fun with its time travel theme. It might not be particularly profound, but it is sweet and cheerful and has a really good soul.
Mary Skelter 2 is more of the same, but given that no one else out there would touch this combination of fairy tale, fetishistic horror, and anime fan service, I can't complain one bit about what Mary Skelter 2 is.
I can't recommend this game enough. It tells a cracking Shinto werewolf story, and the drama of the game's "courtroom" scenes are every bit as compelling as we've seen in the likes of Danganronpa and Lost Dimension. The presentation is a little on the pedestrian side, but don't let that put you off exploring one of the hidden gems of the genre.
It is a truly impressive technical feat that a developer was able to get The Witcher 3 onto the Nintendo Switch in a working state at all. That doesn't necessarily mean that the port should have happened though.
Silk is a noble idea, presented nicely, and once you get the hang of it, the sheer scale of the game, as well as its exotic themes, make it a wonderful blend of history and adventure.
Unfortunately, as it stands, AeternoBlade is simply not competitive either on a technical or artistic level, and that is a real shame.
Doraemon Story of Seasons brings the best of the long running Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons formula together with a true cultural icon of Japan. It's rare that the Doraemon video games make their way out west, but this one works so well as a Story of Seasons title that if it is your introduction to Doraemon, you're in for a treat.
Soulslayer is an impressively ambitious indie visual novel.
Nothing redeems Asphalt 9. It's shallow, inferior game that has been built with the exclusive purpose of getting suckers to throw more money at it. This stuff should be left on mobile platforms or, better yet, never made.
Niche and quanit as it might be, Spirit Hunter: NG is a far more effective, intelligent and deep horror experience than all the jump scare games out there combined.