Infernium is a beautiful, strange first-person adventure that draws its inspiration from an eclectic range of sources. It's frequently frustrating and maddeningly vague, but those with the determination to crack its secrets will be richly rewarded.
Urban Trial Playground may not reinvent the stunt bike wheel, but it does provide an extremely fluid and inviting arcade experience for Switch owners. Tactile controls and pacy, highly replayable levels make this an accomplished cut-price racer package.
Outlast 2 ramps up the tension and the technical achievement from the original, with one of the most stunningly atmospheric game worlds around. The level design has expanded along with your stealth options, creating a handful of truly memorable moments. It definitely isn't for everyone, though. Themes of religious perversion and abuse make Outlast 2 (un)comfortably the most horrific experience on Switch, while the limitations of its stealth mechanics can try the patience.
Kona is a walking simulator that makes an admirable attempt to increase the usual level of interactivity and player agency. While not all of those attempts pay off, and it suffers from some disappointing technical issues, it remains a highly absorbing and atmospheric adventure-survival experience.
A quirky 2D adventure with hints of psychological horror and some classic puzzles. Though its gameplay is riddled with glitches and its narrative full of flaws, The Long Reach keeps tempting you to peer around the next murky corner.
Despite appearances, Midnight Deluxe is a completely different game to 36 Fragments of Midnight before it. While it's a solid enough casual golf game, however, it lacks the precise control, generous level design and joyful spirit of the best examples of the genre.
Fear Effect: Sedna is a flawed amalgam of disparate parts. It fails to wholly convince as an action, strategy or stealth game, and the delivery of its story is a little stilted. However, the sheer variety of its mix and its fresh visual style may prove enough to keep you playing through.
Outlast is a generous package of finely crafted survival horror thrills. It looks and sounds great on Nintendo Switch, and while its brand of hide-and-seek gameplay occasionally falters, it'll still keep you playing right until the grisly end.
Hollow is an incredibly ugly game with the kind of plentiful technical issues that make it actively difficult to play. Those with a masochistic streak might derive some pleasure from its abrasiveness and its downbeat tone, but most Switch-owning horror fans would be much better served playing through Resident Evil Revelations and its sequel for the umpteenth time.
Typoman remains a refreshing combination of platform-adventure and word puzzler, with a particularly creative use of words and letters as physical tools. It's undoubtedly spoiled by frustratingly clunky platforming mechanics and a lack of clarity in some of its design, but those after something a little bit different and cerebral should give it a spin.
The Fall Part 2: Unbound continues the story from The Fall with an interesting angle on familiar sci-fi concepts, but the game that underpins this darkly cerebral world is somewhat lacking. Both its action and adventure elements suffer from stilted controls, and the imaginatively conceived point-and-click sections don't always leave a satisfying breadcrumb trail for the player to follow. The result is a game that's as frustratingly flawed as it is thought-provoking.
Dandara is a 2D Metroidvania platformer that's admirably intent on doing things differently, from its Brazilian folklore-infused narrative to its unorthodox and touchscreen-friendly controls. It can be a little awkward to play as a result, and it's got its fair share of structural niggles, but Dandara provides a genuinely fascinating world to spend some time in.
Her Majesty's SPIFFING is a lovingly made tribute to the point-and-click adventure genre of the early '90s, with a likably cheeky and surprisingly topical sense of humour. Its traditional underlying mechanics, however, can't quite cash the cheques its script is writing, and it's all over a little too quickly.
Darkest Dungeon has always been an RPG that finds ways to make life uncomfortable for the player, and this Switch version manages to add a couple of usability issues to that list. However, this remains a dauntingly deep, thoroughly absorbing dungeon crawler that will swallow you up for hours at a time.
Shu is an elegant, attractive and thoughtful 2D platformer that strips away a lot of the excess of its genre rivals. It's still not ripping up any rulebooks or reinventing the wheel, and it's far from the best platformer on the eShop. If you're after a more sedate alternative to Sonic Mania and company, however, it's an enjoyable way to spend a few hours.
Nightmare Boy throws a whole heap of platform-adventure ideas at the wall, but only a few of them manage to stick. It's a Metroidvania with a distinctive style all of its own, but there are some glaring issues with its narrative, controls, pacing and performance. If you're after something completely different in the platformer category and have a high frustration threshold, however, there's a certain amount of quirky fun to be had here.
Furi's series of dauntingly challenging boss fights are capable of turning all but the most committed of player into a gibbering wreck. It's a deceptively clever game that combines shooter and and beat-'em-up mechanics, all wrapped up in a stylish anime-influenced shell. It's not for everyone, with numerous difficulty spikes and an over-reliance on repetition. But it's refreshing to see a game rewards patient observation and persistence, as well as mastery of a carefully calibrated control system.
The Escapists 2 is an ingenious, multi-layered clockwork sandbox that offers you a wide range of routes to freedom. Its tough demands and myriad competing systems can lead to frustration, but a winning sense of humour and knock-about fun always brings you back for another jailbreak attempt.
Bloody Zombies brings a fresh visual style and a couple of interesting touches to the classic scrolling beat-'em-up. Unfortunately it doesn't flourish where it matters most - the quality and scope of its combat.There's still a fair amount of mindless fun to be had in local multiplayer, even if Bloody Zombies lacks the fluidity and variety to become a true regular on your co-op Switch game roster.
Guns, Gore & Cannoli is a reasonably proficient side-scrolling shooter that grows somewhat tiresome through repetitive combat and unpleasantly clichéd character design. It's an enjoyably brainless diversion - especially in multiplayer - but it's one that only really works in small doses.