WORTH CONSIDERING - Koral brings us on a journey to better understand the destructive nature of certain fishing practices, climate change, and more. The journey is a gorgeous, but humbling one. Highly accessible controls let you control the current of the ocean to solve lightweight puzzles and revitalize the ocean. With 10 chapters to explore, there’s a reasonable amount of content, but it won’t have much in the way of replayability once you’re done, although it’s still a worthwhile journey to embark on.
GOOD - Out There Ω The Alliance offers plenty of new content for its Switch release. Small text in handheld mode is a bit problematic, but I still had a fun time. Easy to learn resource management should engage most players, but the RNG will usually get the best of you so don’t be surprised to start over a lot. This one will allow you to explore the dire and bleak adventure of solitary space travel and the mental impact that follows.
BAD - Godly Corp entices players with the premise they’ll be playing a tentacle of Cthulhu stuck in an office building performing mundane tasks in an intentionally goofy physics-centric experience. The problem is that the controls suck and the difficulty is way too high. There’s simply no fun to be had here and you’d be better off with Goat Simulator on the Switch.
GREAT - Reigns: Game of Thrones is a clever choose your own adventure-styled title with highly accessible mechanics and a very robust dynamic narrative experience. Fans of the series will find a lot of canon to play around with and forge their own paths not seen before. Although not part of our typical rating system, I’ve given a higher total score also primarily due to the staggeringly low price point of $3.99, making it the perfect companion game to enjoy the last season with.
GOOD - Bow to Blood: Last Captain Standing delivers an immersive airship combat experience coupled with relationship drama and alliance building with your arena opponents. The thematic premise of this being broadcast similar to a show of Survivor works to the game’s favor and creates added decision making apart from the core gameplay. Not enough randomness leads to some repetition after a few seasons, but the game is still very fun to play!
MEDIOCRE - Ultrawings ports over a VR flight game to the Nintendo Switch. Unfortunately the developers didn’t tweak the controls to fit the platform, so there are some odd gameplay elements. A lack of a map means you’ll really have to enjoy your time flying over large swaths of water to reach possible destinations. Only a few event types means a redundant experience pretty early on. Flying felt good and respective of the different aircraft, but with only 4 total planes to use and lengthy unlock requirements to get them, there’s just not the right balance to make this games soar.
WORTH CONSIDERING - Golf Peaks blends logic-based puzzle gameplay with golfing aesthetics for the visual presentation. The game is neither a great golfing game, or really a challenging puzzle game as most of the levels are fairly easy and straightforward to solve, and the sport serves primarily as just window dressing. That doesn’t mean to say that the overall experience still isn’t polished and fun. Golf Peaks lands on the Nintendo Switch for a meager $4.99, and for that you’ll get a few hours of relaxed puzzle fun. It’s a decent alternative to hitting the real links on a given Sunday afternoon.
EXCELLENT - Swords & Soldiers 2 Shawarmageddon, while not being an entirely new game, does come to the Nintendo Switch with trusted pedigree. Tailored for the platform, and utilizing its local co-op play means this game is countless hours of fun with friends. Solo players need not worry, as the Campaign, AI versus modes, and Online offer a highly compelling gameplay experience chalked full of strategy, great cartoon stylization, and humorous puns and writing around every corner.
GOOD - Cinders is an interactive novel that retells the classic Cinderella story from a more mature perspective of each of the four women involved. Seemingly countless decisions, a variety of endings and a well-written story make up a solid foundation. Couple that with beautifully made 2D art scenes and well-planned mechanics in the game and Cinders comes out as strong game in this genre.
EXCELLENT - X-Morph: Defense brings a visually stunning and polished tower defense meets twin-stick shooter game to the Nintendo Switch. I loved the dynamic free-form tactics I was able to employ in every mission, and there’s just a lot of refined gameplay here. That coupled with so many visual effects happening in every battle, it created one of the most chaotically fun experiences I’ve had yet on this platform. For an MSRP of $19.99, I consider this a steal for an excellent game.
GREAT - Glass Masquerade delivers an accessible, clever and elegant jigsaw puzzle experience with stunning art deco stained-glass pieces to be built. The game performs great on the Nintendo Switch utilizing both main control methods, and I only had one minor criticism of the gameplay. In the end, I’d love to see more content added to really bolster the lasting appeal for this game.
GREAT - Airheart delivers a reasonably balanced roguelike experience with a dieselpunk art style that looks great on the Nintendo Switch. Gameplay comes in the form of twin-stick arcade shooting & collecting, coupled with a trial & error crafting system that I found to be a bit annoying, but not enough to detract from the overall game. If you’re in the market for a thematically different roguelike, this game has a nicely structured game loop that delivers hours upon hours of fun.
MEDIOCRE - Bombfest is a physics-based brawler that, while visually cute, falls short of bringing much in the way of strategic gameplay, coming off far more random in outcomes than desired. There’s a lot of content that can be unlocked which is wonderful, but when it comes to new bombs, they just don’t stand out as meaningful, resulting in more of a bland execution than desired.
GOOD - Holy Potatoes! We’re in Space?! brings an easy to learn, but difficult to master turn-based strategy space game to the Nintendo Switch. It includes a quirky cast of vegetable-themed characters and plenty of puns to go with it. Gameplay can get repetitive as there isn’t a ton of depth, but this is mitigated by a slew of customization and upgrade options along with well-planned missions to create a solid experience.
GOOD - Everything is an interpretive experience game, and one that’s quite hard to score, as so much of it will come down to personal engagement. The collection and exploration mechanics are well defined, and getting to hear some of Alan Watt’s speeches is a treat and further adds to the gravity of the game. For many, this will be too random of an experience, but I implore giving it a go as it’s a relaxing game to enjoy.
GREAT - Knights of Pen & Paper 2 Deluxiest Edition brings everything great about the series to the Nintendo Switch. Tongue-in-cheek humor is present every step of the way, and accessible gameplay with fun quests hold this game together wonderfully. Players will be delighted at how expandable this game can be with the amount of content that is offered using the in-game currency too. Some minor bugs and slight clunky controls aren't enough to mar the experience. I'd definitely consider this a staple game on my Nintendo Switch.
Crimson Keep is a game that just doesn’t have the right focus on any area it aims for. It’s filled with roguelike mechanics that don’t really fit the genre in a meaningful manner, first person combat that’s partially broken and just clunky, and RPG lite elements that come off amateur and unbalanced. For any of these targeted genres, there are just better games out there on the Switch for this $19.99 asking price.
Party Hard is a controversial stealth slasher game that aesthetically shadows much of Hotline Miami. It finds some of its own identity in places, and tries hard not to take itself very seriously. You’ll get the gist of gameplay in the first couple of levels, and then it starts to feel like a monotonous grind.
If you’re up for a slick local play arena shooter for your Switch, Varion comes to the table with prominent visuals and easy controls. However the core game mechanic of ricochet-only kills will definitely turn off some players, as it feels more luck-based than skill.
Car Quest led on a promise of an epic adventure, but with highly monotonous gameplay, coupled with a visually dull world, and car handling that felt less like a sports car and more like a boat, there just were not enough redeeming features for me to say it’s worth $9.99. You’re better off not buying this car from the lot.