Dead End Job is a great mash-up of Luigi’s Mansion and The Binding of Isaac, only family-friendly and very colourful. Despite its rather simple premise of picking a stage and cleaning the floor of all ghosts, then returning to your base and choosing the next area, the game itself is quite challenging and offers a lot of replayability. If going for the platinum, the playtime will be much longer than the three-hour single playthrough as there’s a lot of skill-based and collectable criteria which you must meet. This was one of my most wanted games which launched with Apple Arcade, I’m so happy it came over to consoles for us all to enjoy.
With an interesting story, beautiful visuals, and a great soundtrack, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is the best Star Wars game in years. The game has its flaws with performance issues, boring characters, the occasional glitchy jump, and overuse of the sliding mechanic, but the positives easily outweigh these, resulting in a very enjoyable and entertaining 15-20 hour narrative adventure. If you’re a fan of Souls-like combat and Metroidvanias, you should already have this game, whether you’re a Star Wars fan or not, as the gameplay alone is worthy of picking it up. Free of Microtransactions and focused on the Single-player experience, THIS is how you make an engaging and interesting Star Wars game.
Space Pioneer is another very addictive Nintendo Switch title which originated as a Free-to-Play Mobile game. The game has been fully adapted to the hybrid console, removing all the microtransactions, rebalancing the rewards and combat difficulty, adjusting the UI into something much more pleasing, and implementing dual-stick controls with the physical Joycons. Although there isn’t that much variety or diversity with the enemies and planets, the gameplay shakes things up with multiple quests, missions, and trophies, as well as requiring strategic thinking around what weapons, gear, and armour to use. Whether playing on your own or with friends or family locally, if you’re looking for a game you can play in short-bursts then Space Pioneer will certainly keep you entertained.
Edna & Harvey: The Breakout – Anniversary Edition is the remaster this game deserves. Not only have the visuals been redone into a new cleaner art style, but the animations have been improved, the controls have been overhauled to become more modern, and the game now fully supports widescreen monitors. The game itself is a fun adventure into the crazy world of Edna and her talking bunny, Harvey, which is filled with strange people and eventful situations. Although some solutions may seem confusing or unbelievable, sometimes doing the wrong thing results in more fun and hilarious dialogue than getting it right! Despite the lack of bonus features for the Anniversary, fans of the game or genre will love this graphically beautiful remaster.
AVICII: Invector is the perfect tribute to the late Tim Bergling, celebrating the music he left behind for everyone. Although initially releasing in 2017 on the PlayStation 4, this re-release can now be enjoyed by PC and Xbox gamers, with the Switch getting a release early next year. Although I initially thought the music may get old fast, due to the songs all being from the same person in a genre I don’t listen to, the different vocalists and brilliant music quickly proved me wrong. As one of the best rhythm-based games I’ve played this gen, this game deserves far more exposure than what I think it’ll get – it’ll take you on a journey which you’ll want to experience over and over again.
Despite the combat and gameplay becoming slightly monotonous if going for the platinum (due to a lot of grinding), CRYSTAR is a beautiful game which evokes a lot of emotions through its brilliant narrative and haunting Memoirs. Just when you think the game is over, you realise you’ve barely begun as you get whisked back to the start in order to build upon the experiences you had the first time and pick new paths to uncover a new narrative each time. This brilliant mechanic along with the memorable protagonists, absolutely superb voice acting, mesmerising music, and truly disturbing lost Memoirs of those you execute, all combine into an experience you shouldn’t miss if you love action RPG games with an emotional narrative and fantastical visuals.
If you’re looking for a unique take on the ‘found footage/phone’ horror genre, SIMULACRA is perfect for you. The puzzles you need to complete, in order to descramble and reveal messages and photos, are fun to solve and interesting to read/look at. Although I wish there were more FMV sequences and meaningful choices which changed the narrative more dramatically as the story progressed, the quality of the videos and writing were both top-shelf.
New Super Lucky’s Tale is one of the best 3D platforming games on the Switch today – the quality and presentation is Nintendo first-party level. If you’ve played the game previously on PC and/or the Xbox One, there’s so much more than simply ‘New’ added to the title as there are adjusted visuals, new skills, re-designed levels and hub areas, new cinematics, a rotatable camera, and even more precise controls. As a Switch owner, I’m glad this game was able to branch outside of the Xbox console exclusivity and I’m hoping, considering the game is so different to its initial release, that we’ll also get it on other platforms too. It may be quite easy for seasoned gamers but it’s just so much fun to play, everyone should buy it.
Headspun has a very interesting concept and narrative, but it’s let down by the technical side due to the bugs and glitches. As of version 1.09, I’ve been able to complete the game and achieve the platinum, but I have played the game seven times in total, unlocking a few trophies with each playthrough until prior versions hit a wall and glitched out on me. The use of FMV was, in my opinion, a really smart thing to do as it perfectly depicts the human viewpoint (FMV) as real life and the cartoon-like ‘Brain control people’ as a much more fantastical concept. The narrative itself is well written and acted, delivering a story which was very interesting and fun to play through.
A clever puzzle mechanic makes WILL: A Wonderful World stand out from similar multi-story visual novels. Become a God and help out those in need by, amusingly, swapping out aspects of one person’s life with another or simply alternating the order in which certain events occur. Despite the game being rather linear with its main narrative and triggers for progression, there are numerous outcomes to each and every letter you interfere with, temporarily changing the writer’s life until you opt for the best possible outcome. The writing is brilliant, the characters are interesting, and the overall concept of the game is fascinating – what more could you want from a fifteen-hour puzzle-based visual novel?
Offering more puzzles, more scenes, and a deeper story, True Fear: Forsaken Souls ~ Part 2 is a fantastic sequel to Part 1. Dropping the Hidden Object puzzles in favour of over 40 standard puzzles was a great choice as the game is now a full-on exploration and puzzle adventure game combined with a psychological and visual horror narrative. The inclusion of various difficulty sliders for each gameplay aspect also allows the game to be enjoyed by players of all skill levels, helpful for those with little experience and challenging for those who want to really think about things. I strongly advise you to pick up and play Part 1 first as it’ll allow you to enjoy Part 2 much more with its continuation of the story.
If you’re looking for a modernised classic which doesn’t stray too far from the original concept, Bubble Bobble 4 Friends is fun to play both solo and with friends or family. Although the first fifty levels are rather easy and family-friendly, the proceeding fifty within the hard mode will certainly challenge you if you decide to face the evil Bonner alone! The various powerups and abilities you gain throughout your adventure are sure to help out in the trickier levels, with the game offering a safety net via the activation of invincibility to ensure everyone of any skill level can play the game and have fun. This game was my introduction to the franchise, an introduction which made a really good first impression.
If you’re looking for a Tactical RPG game which stands out with unique features, Narcos: Rise of the Cartels is for you. Having the ability to only move one unit at a time both increases the difficulty and strategic element of the game, forcing you to think ahead and plan your moves effectively if you don’t want to permanently lose the units you’ve been training up. Similarly, the manual Overwatch ability ensures that if you miss during a crucial pre-emptive attack, it’s most likely down to you and your ability at being accurate and fast. The game will clearly appeal to fans of the show, but newcomers are also welcomed and kept well informed as you proceed through the story. It’s certainly a game which all TRPG fans should try out.
Despite not technically being a ‘simulation’ game, Bee Simulator is a fun edutainment title which was enjoyable to play through. Although there are many side-quests to complete once you’ve finished the main story, there are only a few mini-game formats included, meaning you’ll quickly grow tired of them unless you really like the games they offer. Visually I thought the game looked okay, for a ‘simulator’, but some of the assets are a little basic and the game is deprived of life – it’s like you’re within a theme park full of models or animatronics. If you have a few kids, the multiplayer mode will entertain them for a while as up to four players can play at the same time – which is a welcomed addition.
Woven is a game which wants you to take your time and explore the bright, colourful environments whilst solving puzzles. The combination of standard puzzles and environmental ones, which requires you to build your own FrankenStuffy, are a great balance and really get you thinking about your appearance as well as your inherited abilities. Woven doesn’t hold your hand and point you in the right direction like almost every other exploration-based game today, you must explore and uncover the secrets with little to no help. Although looking very child-friendly, especially with the brilliantly rhyming narration, I feel some younger kids may require support and guidance from an adult with certain puzzles due to the hands-off approach the game delivers.
Root Letter: Last Answer is clearly the definitive edition of this mysterious and captivating story about a murder and a missing girl. I love how the game has eight chapters which are identical and then, based on how you talked to Aya in the past, the final two chapters are very diverse and offer completely different endings to the game. This is further enhanced with the new epilogues that offer more story after the credits roll on a particular ending. Although light on the ‘interaction’ side, the narrative itself keeps you hooked and entertained throughout, with an Ace Attorney-like segment which breaks up the reading every now and again.
Psychotic’s MechaNika is a great self-contained follow-up to Agatha Knife, this time focussing on the brilliant-minded Nika instead of the blood-thirsty Agatha. Despite it’s short playing time, at around one to three hours depending on knowledge and skill-level, the price has been set accordingly and the game is overflowing with humour, parodies, references, and crazy narrative. The game may look cartoony and like it’s meant for children – but don’t fall for this – the game is just as dark as Agatha Knife at times and it meant to be played by adults and not little kids – think South Park and Family Guy concepts.
Despite the issues with the soundtrack in the main menu (which is going to be fixed in the next update), Disney Classic Games: Aladdin and The Lion King is a rather nice collection for both older gamers looking for a bit of nostalgia and new gamers wanting to play some decent movie-based games of yesteryear. Although a remaster or remake would have been great, simply allowing us to replay the original versions of the games on multiple platforms, and even some never-before-released editions, is a nice treat to those who grew up with these games. All of the bonus features were interesting and the ‘watch and play’ mode is very unique and something all these older games should support. This right here is why Disney shouldn’t stop making games, even if it’s only as a collaborator to another developer.
Although there are a few aspects I didn’t like, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD was a fun game to play for the first time. I’m not the biggest fan of the controls, as the wobble-camera made things a little confusing and frustratingly more difficult that it had to be, but the nostalgic gameplay left me with a smile – when I wasn’t shouting due to an unfair death or tumble. The Time Attack and Decathlon modes will keep you busy if going for the platinum, and allows you to prove you really do have the best handle on your Monkey Balls! The party games are a nice bonus but considering forty of them were removed, I wouldn’t consider this a multiplayer game anymore, you’ll get the most entertainment out of playing it on your own.
Although The 7th Guest: 25th Anniversary Edition isn’t as spooky or creepy as I remember it being, it’s still a very good puzzle game with ridiculously hard puzzles. The special edition has implemented a bunch of quality of life updates which makes the game much more accessible and user-friendly for both nostalgic gamers like me and newcomers alike. The cheesy FMVs and disturbing narrative makes the atmosphere much more enjoyable and immersive than your average adventure game from the early ’90s. If you’ve yet to step foot within Stauf’s mansion, you’re missing out on experiencing a piece of history, the birth of interactive horror puzzle games on CD-Rom.