Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 Plus takes an already fiendishly addictive arcade game and adds a fantastic multiplayer mode. At $20 it's an impulse buy for any Switch owner.
Castle of Heart goes for that Souls level of challenge but without the nuance and balance needed to make that kind of difficulty satisfying. It's visually striking for an indie game but it needs some fine-tuning; for now it's mostly just frustrating.
Red Strings Club is more of a visual novel than a true adventure game, but its roughly four-hour story will give you some topics for your brain to chew on. The conversational gameplay, not to mention the drink mixing minigame, are a lot of fun.
Embers of Mirrim has a fantastic core concept: controlling two characters simultaneously in a 2.5D platformer. Developer Creative Bytes have leveraged this concept against a deep variety of puzzles and challenges, and wrapped the whole thing in a majestic, understated graphical style.
Resident Evil Revelations Collection bundles two of the better entries in the long-running survival horror series. The first game is hit-or-miss but the sequel is legitimately great, and the added portability and motion controls make the Switch port the definitive versions of these two games.
Earth Atlantis mixes exploration and scrolling shooter elements to create a challenging, if occasionally frustrating experience. The map-inspired visuals are the most unique and eye-catching aspect of this game, but under the hood it's a good distraction that works best in portable mode when you have some time to kill.
Observer is a tad clunky as a straight detective game but its story, setting and mind-diving conceit make it much more than that. It's gorgeously depressing, uncomfortable in a number of ways, and you won't be able to shake it from your own thoughts for some time.
Skyrim on Switch is the same excellent game it's always been. It doesn't support mods but the fact that such a massive, engrossing game is now portable is justification alone for another purchase.
Doom on Nintendo Switch is visually pared back compared to other versions, but it's still fast, addictive and gorgeous. Seeing it run on a portable is truly a sight to behold. Nintendo fans should not pass this one up.
Another great indie title makes its way to Switch where it's a perfect fit. Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime is wonderful in both multiplayer and played solo. It might take some time to get your friends acclimated to its synergistic brand of gameplay, but the sense of teamwork you get from a few well-played levels just can't be found anywhere else.
Minecraft New 3DS Edition isn't a bad game at all—at its core it's still the same brilliantly addictive creativity sandbox. That said, its complete lack of multiplayer and the availability of the vastly superior Nintendo Switch version for the same price unfortunately makes Minecraft on 3DS functionally obsolete.
Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions is still a fantastic RPG fourteen years later. The Bowser's Minions side story is an enjoyable, if occasionally tedious, diversion. But the main quest is better than ever with the same addictive combat, laugh-out-loud story, and a few modern polishes to the gameplay.
Dusk has the backwoods setting of Blood and Redneck Rampage, the forbidding atmosphere and murky palette of Quake, the tight, sharp action of Doom, and the subtle sense of place and interactivity of Duke Nukem 3D. Essentially, Dusk is a retro shooter fan's dream come true.
MercurySteam have pulled Samus from the jaws of death and delivered one of the best games in the series. Samus Returns perfects and reimagines the gameplay of 2D Metroid games and delivers one of the best titles on the 3DS. Every self-respecting Nintendo fan should own Metroid: Samus Returns.
Death Squared might have launched on Steam, but it feels like this game and the Nintendo Switch were made for each other. Deceptively smart puzzles, an endearingly smarmy sense of humor, and organic, instantaneous multiplayer all at a great price make Death Squared a must-buy on Switch.
Hey! Pikmin is a radical shift for Nintendo's quirky RTS series. It changes or eschews many of the series' longtime mechanics in favor of a 2D platformer-adventure. Longtime fans might be disappointed, but Hey! Pikmin has the same charm and quality that garnered the original games a cult following—just in a more accessible, bite-sized form factor this time.
Serious Sam: Bogus Detour does a fantastic job of distilling the Serious Sam formula down into a twin-stick shooter. While there are a couple hitches along the way, the game is a surprisingly robust package and a lot of quality content for a great price.
Conarium is hauntingly beautiful and competent as an adventure-puzzle game with some light horror elements, but as a true H.P. Lovecraft survival horror game it isn't long or scary enough.
Strafe is a game where you need to know what you're getting into before jumping in. It looks like Quake but it absolutely is not; it's a roguelike FPS with a retro art style. It's a harsh mistress, and masochistic players will love that, but Strafe personally left me frustrated and cold.
2Dark is a compelling horror game that tackles some truly horrific subject matter. But cheap deaths and uneven level design hold it back from being truly great.