Murder on Eridanos is an entertaining final slice of DLC that leans into the narrative elements of Obsidian's action RPG, delivering plenty of well-written dialogue and characters in the process. Yes, the combat is pretty much played out at this stage and the whole thing feels a little bit too linear, but this is still an enjoyable return to one of our favourite action RPGs of the past few years that's well worth picking up if you enjoyed the core campaign.
Ultra Age is a solid indie hack-and-slash effort that delivers some fast-paced combat and a handful of unique mechanics to keep its battles interesting. It may have some ropey voice-acting, the graphics have predictably been dialled back on Switch and there's the occasional frame rate wobble here and there, but overall this is a surprisingly decent budget effort that's well worth taking a look at if you're hankering for some Devil May Cry-style action.
WarioWare: Get It Together! is a triumphant Switch debut for the subversive series that makes some daring changes to core gameplay, resulting in the best entry in the franchise to date. With a generous roster of playable characters, lots of solo and multiplayer modes to dig into, and stages that cleverly adapt to your choices on the fly, this is a superb compilation of hilarious microgames that delivers more ways to play than ever before. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll dodge bird droppings on a skateboard. So grab a few friends or family members, break out the controllers, and gather round the TV - WarioWare: Get It Together! is essential stuff.
Baldo: The Guardian Owls is a beautiful looking Ghibli-esque adventure that draws you in with its wonderful art style and atmosphere and then beats you into submission with its bewildering gameplay. This is an excruciatingly frustrating game filled with bad design choices, clunky combat and traversal, a terrible UI and map and instant, unfair death waiting around every corner. For a small number of gamers who thrive on pointless, unfair punishment, there may be some joy to be found here. For everyone else this is one adventure you'd do well to avoid taking.
Rustler attempts to take us back to classic top-down GTA action in a neat medieval setting but poor performance, shoddy controls, weak humour and a dull, short campaign hold it back from reaching its potential. There are glimmers of good stuff here, a few fun pop culture references, those beat-boxing bards and a good-looking world to stomp around in, but the game underneath is just so underwhelming and uninspired and, in the end, it all feels like a big step back from its most obvious inspirations.
Quake returns in a feature-rich remaster that delicately updates the classic FPS, adding lots of optional bells and whistles, packing in a ton of content and delivering the definitive way to play this 25-year-old masterpiece in the process. There's a wealth of online and co-op options here, a glorious new expansion to blast through from MachineGames, super slick performance in both docked and handheld modes and it's all available at a cracking price point. This really is a stellar port of one gaming's true greats and an absolutely essential addition to your Switch library.
Aliens: Fireteam Elite mostly delivers the goods with a super solid squad-based shooter set in the Aliens universe. There's plenty to enjoy here, lots of fun nods to the movies, tons of lore, impressive attention to environmental detail and slick Xeno-slaying action that's enhanced immensely by taking the fight to the alien hordes with a couple of friends. It may be a little repetitive, there aren't nearly enough surprises and the campaign fizzles out towards its end but, grab some buddies, get your headsets on and crank up the difficulty and there's hours of properly intense, team-based action to get stuck into with this one.
Samurai Warriors 5 takes the long-running franchise, gives it a wonderfully vibrant lick of paint, throws in some excellent new combat mechanics and fills its story mode with well-directed cutscenes, resulting in a slick and stylish addition to the series that's sure to please fans and newcomers alike. Yes, it makes a few fumbles here and there - we aren't fond of its grindy system of upgrading your Dojo and Blacksmith, it limits your character choices at times in the campaign and that stripped back roster is sure to irk some - but, overall, what's here is a fine addition to the Switch's line-up of Musou titles. This is a fast-paced, flashy hack and slash effort that looks and plays fantastically well and, most importantly, performs almost perfectly whilst doing so.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD introduces a raft of technical improvements and quality of life updates that reinvigorate and revitalise this ten-year-old game. With motion controls more precise than ever before, an alternate button control scheme that totally works, crisp HD graphics, smooth 60fps gameplay and a bothersome sidekick who's been streamlined into something altogether more useful, this really does feel like Skyward Sword as it was meant to experienced. Yes, the locking off of instant travel behind the official amiibo is a misstep, but beyond this one issue what's here is a sublime experience, a technical triumph and an absolute must-play for Switch owners and Zelda fans.
Destroy All Humans returns in a remake that refreshes the original's visuals, modernises its controls and adds a few new weapon and traversal upgrades to proceedings, all whilst failing to make any meaningful changes to the game's rather outdated core gameplay. What's here is still silly fun, for sure - decimating dullard humans with Crypto's high tech alien gadgets and unstoppable flying saucer can still provide some chaotic catharsis - but there's no denying this one's showing its age mechanically and newcomers to the series may well be left feeling a little underwhelmed.
Destroy All Humans returns in a remake that refreshes the original's visuals, modernises its controls and adds a few new weapon and traversal upgrades to proceedings, all whilst failing to make any meaningful changes to the game's rather outdated core gameplay. What's here is still silly fun, for sure - decimating dullard humans with Crypto's high tech alien gadgets and unstoppable flying saucer can still provide some chaotic catharsis - but there's no denying this one's showing its age mechanically and newcomers to the series may well be left feeling a little underwhelmed.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 on Nintendo Switch is a rock solid port of a pair of genuinely fantastic remakes. These really are two of the very best arcade sports titles of all time, revamped, reworked and re-imagined for modern audiences with all the graphical bells and whistles, collectibles and game modes we've come to expect in this day and age. With flawless performance in both docked and handheld modes and visuals that still look the part after a few necessary concessions here and there, this is one collection we highly recommend you kickflip right into as soon as possible.
The Persistence is a unique and unsettling sci-fi horror roguelite that does an excellent job of transferring its tense atmosphere and absorbing gameplay loops from its original VR form to the Nintendo Switch. There are tons of weapons and toys to tool around with as you run the gauntlet, the permanent aspects of the gameplay are refreshingly generous and survival mode and New Game+ provide a properly stiff challenge for those who prefer their roguelites to be tough as nails. Firesprite Games has done a fantastic job of porting the entire ghoulish affair over to Switch, with flawless performance in both docked and handheld modes; overall, this is another very strong addition to the console's ever-expanding collection of excellent roguelite experiences.
Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection gets off to a promising start on Switch with a decent port of Ninja Gaiden Sigma that performs well in both docked and handheld modes. However, as soon as you boot up parts two and three it's all downhill, with dynamic resolution resulting in a pixelated mess in places as the frame rate consistently struggles to keep up with the action. All we needed here was a solid, no-frills port and this collection would have been an instant recommendation. As things stand, it's a disappointing experience that needs patching ASAP and should be the last version you opt for if you've got the choice to play elsewhere.
Maneater is a great idea for a video game, a ridiculous shark revenge fantasy in an open world setting with plenty of humour injected through its unique narrative framing and the vocal talents of Chris Parnell. However, as much as terrorising beach goers and snatching hunters from the bows of their fishing boats is a pretty good time, and as much as we enjoyed watching our orphaned bull shark grow from helpless pup to apex predator, the whole thing is let down by poor combat and the very worst kind of busywork side quests. With a little more variety in missions and a few refinements made to combat, this could have been a killer action-RPG. As things stand, however, it's all a little toothless.
King of Seas gets off to a pretty decent start with a promising story and combat mechanics that are initially fun to engage with. However, the repetition isn't long creeping in. This is a game that's seriously lacking in any sort of depth, jettisoning much of its early promise in favour of a bog-standard narrative, hugely repetitive side quests, overly punitive combat that thinks nothing of wasting your time and a constant, mind-numbing grind that very quickly becomes a tedious waste of effort. If you're absolutely desperate for a high seas adventure, there's still a measure fun to be had with the combat in brief stints here but, beyond that, this one really is more of a Sir Francis Drag than a Sir Francis Drake.
Knockout City is an absolute blast, a colourful arcade sports game that's easy to jump into for newbies with plenty of depth and strategy for crews looking to become the ultimate dodgeball champions. With four modes and five stages currently on offer, tons of unlockable cosmetics, daily challenges and cross-play/cross-progression included from the get-go, this one has hit the ground running and there's absolutely no reason not to jump into the free trial and see how you fare.
Layers of Fear 2 is a rather disappointing follow-up to 2016's interesting and effective psychological horror effort. There's a decent premise here, a strong setting and an opportunity to tell an interesting tale, but it feels wasted for the most part. Despite looking and sounding great, predicable scares, repetitive gameplay, disappointing puzzles and a story that just never makes a decent connection result in a game that's pretty hard to recommend overall.
Aerial_Knight's Never Yield is very obviously a passion project that's had a ton of love poured into its super stylish aesthetics and excellent soundtrack, however, it's also one that's rather sorely lacking in the gameplay department. Wally's runs through this futuristic take on Detroit needed more in the way of challenge and variety in order to keep things interesting - more obstacles, more twists and turns and opportunities to show off your skills as you improve and take on higher difficulties. As things stand, this is one slick looking and sounding game that just doesn't manage to provide an incentive to keep playing for very long.
However, slight niggles aside, Below Zero absolutely delivers in providing more of the excellent deep sea survival antics that we know and love from the original Subnautica. This is a super solid port too, a joy to sink time into in both docked and portable modes, with only a little stuttering here and there as you enter new biomes - and the series' ever-present scenery pop-in - to mention in terms of technical shortcomings. Unknown Worlds has served up another superb slice of survival shenanigans here, one that we highly recommend diving right into.