Dragon Quest Treasures is a lot, with tons of treasures to collect and quests to complete, and should keep players busy for weeks.
Lover Pretend is a surprisingly good Switch otome game that features fun characters and a lighthearted story.
A Little to the Left is often a calming way to tidy up both stages and your thoughts, but occasionally it gets a little too easy or obtuse. PC version reviewed.
Goat Simulator 3 remains an absolutely bonkers game, albeit one with occasional hiccups, and it's still great to be a goat. PS5 version reviewed.
Yes, it is a farming life-sim and action-RPG, but Harvestella is more enjoyable when you're not comparing it to its contemporaries.
Lonesome Village feels like a low-stakes game for people who want to solve easy puzzles and interact with cute characters.
Ultra Kaiju Monster Rancher does a good job of infusing Ultraman essence into an established series, all without potentially putting people off of it.
It almost feels like Star Ocean: The Divine Force’s existence is some sort of miracle. Even more so because, while there are some elements that can feel a bit dated and it isn’t exactly perfect, it’s generally a joyful and solid experience.
When you pick up an otome visual novel for your Switch, you figure you are getting a game that will feature intricate romance stories with detailed characters, but Paradigm Paradox doesn’t exactly fit into the typical mold. Which is fine! The problem is, the game as a whole feels rushed, with the world’s lore and characters’ relationships speedrunning their way to good (and bad) ends.
Bayonetta 3 is over-the-top in every possible way, and I get the feeling newcomers and long-time fans of the series will appreciate that.
Last Call BBS is a collection of games that may or may not seem familiar. After all Exapunks’ Hack*Match and Eliza’s Kabufuda Solitaire are both here. There’s also a take on Solitaire called Sawayama Solitaire. But they’re all puzzle games designed to make someone think.
Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes is a Musou game that asks a lot of “what ifs.” What if Byleth didn’t come to Garreg Mach as a teacher? What if someone else ended up aiding Claude, Dimitri, and Edelgard when the three encountered bandits? What if, instead of a traditional tactical game like Three Houses, Three Hopes was a more active one? The answers to all of them, perhaps not shockingly, are rather fascinating.
Fishing Paradiso is the kind of game you get if you like fishing in Animal Crossing or Story of Seasons.
AI: The Somnium Files - nirvanA Initiative is another fascinating Kotaro Uchikoshi game that builds on the original's foundation.
There are certain otome games in which the romance is absolutely there, but might not always feel like the main focus. For example, Hakuoki is absolutely romantic, but it also a thriller offering an alternate, supernatural take on the Shinsengumi and Bakumatsu period. Birushana: Rising Flower of Genpei feels similar, due to it being a Heian period piece offering its own alternate take on the events after the Heiji rebellion.
TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge feels like a time capsule. You can tell going into it that the people at Tribute Games deeply respected the source material. They did their research, both in terms of watching the show and playing past titles.
Even if Tempest is one of those Switch otome games that dares to be different, in terms of its gameplay, story, and tone. I appreciate what it does, even if that does mean I needed to spend a lot of time with it to unlock routes and endings. It’s just a shame that I encountered so many crashes.
Card Shark is a game that made me feel daring, and I was glued to my Switch trying to outsmart my opponents. Yes, every once in a while I’d come across a con I didn’t enjoy as much as the others. But considering the assortment of tricks you learn and the way the challenge grows, it still can feel very satisfying.
Touken Ranbu Warriors is an odd sort of Musou game. It’s a completely single-player experience, for one. Its cast is small, which is surprising given there are over 200 characters in Touken Ranbu proper. While it focuses on historical battles, it chops things up to focus on parts of a whole. It’s a very niche entry in a series that itself is on the edge of the mainstream. Not to mention it is one that simplifies the situation. Perhaps even excessively!
Have you ever looked at a crossword and thought, “This makes me think, but not as much as I’d like?” Perhaps you played a few KenKen puzzles and considered it not your thing due to the use of numbers? Maybe you started getting into puzzle games with Wordle and want to move on to something new like it. Knotwords combines elements from all three into something that feels distinctly refreshing.