If you're fine with the game's length, Gunborg: Dark Matters delivers the kind of tough, skill-based experience that is currently en vogue. The various tools in your arsenal are enough to get high combos and more powerful attacks, while the controls give you enough precision to make tricky jumps and dance around your enemies. The level design gives you plenty of chances to put those skills to the test, while the high difficulty level feels fair but makes even the easiest difficulty level feel like anything but a cakewalk. If you don't frustrate easily, give Gunborg a try.
Like the original release on the 3DS, Disney Magical World 2: Enchanted Edition is fit for younger players who can't quite grasp Animal Crossing: New Horizons and the hardcore Disney fan. The simple activities, brisk pace, and overall Disney vibe is a perfect fit. For everyone else, it has a good amount to do but nothing that captures your attention like Nintendo's game. If you're tired of being on your own deserted island, then Disney Magical World 2 will briefly scratch the life simulation itch, but you can skip this one if you're still paying off loans, are deep in the "Stalk Market," or knee-deep in designing houses for other animal visitors.
In the end, Moo Lander is a solid adventure game that works despite the genre being mislabeled. The placement of more physics puzzles is a welcome one, even if a few can be a little frustrating. Combat is solid enough, provided you know beforehand that the boss fights tend to be a huge pain. The world may not have much in the way of exploration, but it feels anything but sterile, and the tools are quite fun to use. It's an enjoyable game overall and one that adventure fans might be interested in if they wanted something a little different.
Stray hits all of the right marks for a memorable adventure game. The ability to play solely as a normal cat with normal cat abilities is alluring. It's a great game hook, but every other element does their part to keep one playing. The familiar story remains fascinating, as do the characters you meet. The world is great to explore, while the game's overall pacing and mechanics keep you glued until the end. It's been a pretty good year for games thus far, and Stray is currently up there with Elden Ring and Tunic as being serious contenders for the best the year has to offer.
Gravitar Recharged shows the Recharged series in a good light. The mechanics take some time to master, but doing so feels rewarding while the game's score-based nature feels right for modern audiences, thanks to the randomization of planet layouts and objectives. It's artistically stunning and accompanied by a soundtrack that matches up with the visuals. Co-op is hit-and-miss, but based on everything else, it's a good pick for those who want an arcade game with mechanics that aren't emulated too often.
Shovel Knight: Pocket Dungeon relishes in the idea of punishing you. The roguelike nature and quick action puzzle elements can feel overwhelming, and it'll feel like a miracle when you beat the game for the first time. The solid mechanics are enough to keep you coming back, and the bevy of unlockable characters makes this similar enough to the original Shovel Knight in that the content will seem endless. For fans of unusual puzzles and Shovel Knight, Pocket Dungeon is perfect for you.
Matchpoint: Tennis Championships manages to release a game that presents an easy yet technical approach to the sport. It results in a game where you can make more mistakes than the more arcade-like approach of some older, well regarded tennis titles, but it results in a game that feels more responsive compared to most of its contemporaries. Yet it doesn't manage to do anything beyond that due to a lack of players and modes, so cross-play only benefits those who want a no-frills 1v1 experience. It's fine overall, but no one would blame you if you skipped this one in the hopes that someone can transplant the gameplay into a title with more to do.
Risk System is well done once you know what you're getting into. The game is tough compared to even the busiest of bullet hell shooters, but the combination of infinite lives with no respawning gets you acclimated to the classic shoot-'em-up tactic of memorization. The focus on projectile grazing and knowing when to deploy your barrier breaker makes the game feel strategic. Even though the experience doesn't last that long, an alternate storyline path and online leaderboards are enough to keep you motivated to continue once the credits roll for the first time. Shooting fans who want something more cerebral will find this to be right up their alley.
In the end, to The Top, Mammoth! is a mobile game that's found itself awkwardly ported over to the Switch. The core gameplay loop is enjoyable enough for some quick gameplay sessions, but starting things off with some devious level design doesn't endear it to the target audience. Several design decisions, from the menus to the vagueness applied to power-ups, don't help the game's cause, and the obvious padding in a few areas and some pretty big bugs leaves much to be desired. The more tactile controls make this better than the mobile iteration, but on a system that already offers a plethora of quick pick-up-and-play experiences, it's difficult to recommend this title.
Repetition aside, Capcom Fighting Collection acts as a great companion piece to the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection, bringing out all of the other non-licensed fighting games the company has done over the years to a variety of platforms. The overall selection is solid with a bevy of presentation options, while the extras feel comprehensive if you aren't looking for movies or the histories behind the games. The online play performs well thus far, so fans of 2D fighting games will be happy.
Weird West is a game that players can grow to love, provided you can forgive some of its issues and design decisions. The idea of going through five different protagonists with somewhat connected stories is fascinating, but the resetting of items and skills when changing characters doesn't contribute to the desire to explore. The lands don't vary much given the setting, but the changes based on your actions are fun to see. The combat is fine, but the enemy behavior can sometimes be laughable, while the presentation teeters between amazing and average. It's worth checking out if you're prepared to invest some time waiting for its magic to hit.
Breakout: Recharged features a standard brick-breaking concept that still resonates today, and the addition of power-ups is a nice touch. However, those changes only bring it on par with what others did in the space decades ago, and when compared to a few of the other brick-breaking games on the Switch alone, this feels rather bare-bones. You can give it a shot if the name Breakout strikes a chord, but don't be surprised if it doesn't draw you in like the other modern brick-breaking games.
Powerslave Exhumed is another solid conversion by Nightdive Studios that's improved by some smart changes. The merging of elements from all three versions of the game creates an experience that feels both familiar yet new, while focusing on the console version's exploration aspects makes for a more interesting game. The shooting remains solid despite the slow rollout of different enemy types, and the platforming is also good for a first-person shooter, despite your swift movement speed. Fans of the original will be thrilled to go through this version, but newcomers who love retro games will enjoy this more since they get to experience an early exploration-based, first-person shooter.
It is difficult to recommend MX vs ATV Legends under any circumstances. The opening moments are punishingly slow to get through, and the whole process of going through the events lacks any polish. The races all suffer from a myriad of issues - including bad track design, wonky physics, constant stuttering, and a fiddly handling system against braindead AI. With the ability to power up all three of your vehicles after only three races, the drive to progress is barely there. This is a case where there are plenty of other motocross racing games that are worth your time, unless you're willing to wait a year or two to see if the team can throw enough patches to make this somewhat decent.
Sonic Origins isn't a comprehensive collection of Sonic games, as some of the 16-bit entries are missing. It also isn't the definitive version of these games, especially since the music for Sonic the Hedgehog 3 seems to be the sticking point for re-releases. What you have are four games that add a good deal of quality-of-life changes without changing anything else that made the Sonic games classics in the first place. If you can get over the initial asking price and confusion over the versions and are a fan of the older Sonic games, this one is worth a spin.
Zorro: The Chronicles is a below-average game made worse by a litany of bugs. From an unruly camera to the ease with which you can get stuck in the environment, it tests the player's willingness to stick with it. If you are lucky enough to make it through a play session without any of these issues, you'll find an unrefined combat system that's accompanied by a childish approach that aims younger than the ESRB rating. It has the bones to be a kid-friendly version of the Batman: Arkham series, but the execution is more than lacking, and you'll be hard-pressed to give this a shot unless you know someone who just discovered the series or can find this title on sale.
Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Mega Mix+ is a great game PC-owning rhythm game fans. The music remains catchy across all of the genres it tackles, and while the playfield can be busy, the mechanics place you in a trance once you get into a groove. The basic arcade mode is enough for most fans, while more creative types will enjoy the ability to create t-shirts and dress up the vocaloids in costumes. The absence of two songs isn't too bad, but the frame rate stutter is going to be painful if you plan to perfect all of the songs at higher difficulty levels. Fix that, and this would be perfect, but as it stands now, unless you hate vocaloid music, Project DIVA Mega Mix+ is worth a purchase.
Syberia: The World Before is a very good adventure game that also serves as a touching capstone to Sokal's career. Most of the puzzles follow a sensible, logical path that is fun to figure out without making you question the solutions. The story is very well told, but the ending is frustrating for those seeking closure. The title also features a gorgeous presentation, so adventure fans who don't mind open-ended narratives will be pleased.
CrossfireX is a mess. If you manage to connect to a server and can deal with a menu that becomes sluggish after every game, you'll find an experience that is dulled by bad design decisions. From a pair of lackluster campaigns to a pittance of maps and modes, there's not much to work with. Combined with tiny maps and shooting mechanics that don't feel good, the shooter is only appealing if you only play free-to-play titles, only care for modern military shooters, don't care for Call of Duty: Warzone, and don't have the Xbox Game Pass.
Like the original, Cooking Simulator VR is best enjoyed in short sessions if you're playing the campaign mode. It takes such a long time for things to ramp up that you'll want short sessions so you don't get burned out on the game. The sessions are going to be filled with fun, as you're either crafting chaos or preparing dishes that closely resemble the techniques you'd do in real life. Cooking Simulator VR is a solid VR game and stands as a good example for how to port simulators to the VR space.