GREAT - Challenging from the start, two characters to choose from, and music that brings the entire package together into an excellent RPG experience. Ys Origin does have its share of little annoyances, like equipping items and repetitive backdrops, but the positives outweigh the negatives enough to call this a solid and enjoyable foray into the world of Ys.
GOOD - Silence is an adventure game in the point and click genre. The story is interesting and keeps you entertained even though some of the gameplay bits are annoying and don’t work very well. The voice acting and scenery is done very well and helps keep you engrossed. Definitely a good pick if you love this type of game.
If you are into the tactical RPG at all you may want to give this one a go. There is a bit of a learning curve with a lot of things to keep track of like jobs, sub jobs, and passive traits. Once you get the hang of them it should make for many hours of entertaining battle sequences along with a story that’s more compelling than many other titles on the digital and store shelves.
Death Mark is a survival horror interactive graphic novel with point and click adventure gameplay elements that is designed to give the player a suspenseful and scary experience. With a heavy emphasis on reading and paying attention to visual cues, it will give fans of the genre a lot to digest. Those who want more action and adventure will want to look elsewhere.
GOOD - When Ski Lifts Go Wrong is an entertaining game with funny predicaments that are often caused by the way you build your structures. This engineering puzzle game will appeal to a wide range of gamers and is an excellent fit for the Switch.
GOOD - Fate/Extella Link features lots of improvements over the previous release, but it still suffers from some of the pitfalls the last title had and does have a steep learning curve for those unfamiliar with the franchise. Hack and slash action aficionados will find a lot to like here!
GOOD - The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics is a fun and interesting tactics title that will keep you entertained for many hours and will give you as much enjoyment as you want to put into it. Take your time and explore all that it has to offer by way of secondary jobs and learning the strengths and weaknesses of each character type.
GOOD - If you’ve been hankering for a really good simulation game but are disappointed by the lackluster showing so far on the Switch, then give this one a go. It should give fans of the genre hours and hours of enjoyment and allows you to play it in a way that suits you. However, it’s not great on the portable version for those of us with less than perfect eyesight.
GOOD - Peaky Blinders: Mastermind is a good puzzle game with some cool time travel elements. If you’re a fan of the show, you can easily give it a half point extra for that since you’ll understand the characters and who they represent. For a non-fan, this game is still a solid puzzle experience and a good amount of fun.
The Adventures of Elena Temple delivers exactly what GrimTalin wanted to deliver: a solid platform adventure game full of puzzles, traps, and items to collect to feed that completion hungry beast. It’s an excellent title to sit down and play for 10 minutes or a few hours if you really get into it. The price is very good for what you are getting and I would recommend it for anyone who likes this type of game or is looking to recapture the old days without playing an actual old game from that era.
If you’ve ever felt the need or desire to possess a few dead Vikings and wreak havoc on a load of enemies with a friend, Die for Valhalla fits nicely. The co-op plays well and there are a lot of things going on during most battles. Other than the framerate hit and maybe losing track of where your player is on the screen, it’s a fun and satisfying hack and slash that can be played for 10 minutes or even a few hours at a time. Today is a good day to Die for Valhalla!
Fallen Legion: Rise to Glory gives you two separate 2D side-scrolling action-RPG experiences in one game. You can choose the Empire’s Princess Cecille or her rival Legatus Laendur. Having this choice gives you a good value for the purchase. With excellent hand-drawn graphics and good music, it’s a solid choice for the RPG genre. Check it out if you had it on the PS4 and want to play what you may have missed on the Vita or vice versa.
The Spectrum Retreats is an interesting and fun puzzle game. The best parts of the game are the color puzzles that lock and unlock panels that will allow you to move through the levels. It’s a well thought out and challenging game that will give you an estimated 5+ hours of fun.
Sleep Tight is a fun ride while it lasts. Blasting the pesky monsters that inhabit our closets and inspire movies like Monster’s Inc. is a great conceit. The controls are spot-on and the challenge is real. Your goal is to last as many nights as you can without succumbing to the onslaught of evil. Good luck!
While I do feel that playing through this entire game is worth it just for the comical story, it does drag a lot and it is better to play in small doses that to just hunker down in your favorite recliner and waken to the sound of you Switch Pro Controller. The game just doesn’t have a compelling enough battle sequence to join the ranks of much better RPG games on the market.
WORTH CONSIDERING - Catan is about what you’d expect from a board game translation to a video game system. It’s fun, challenging, and it really is excellent for strategy formulation in different situations. I liked it for testing out theories I had about how settlement placement would play out and whether or not certain tactics I thought up would actually translate into a win. If you are a fan of Catan, I think you’d be very pleased with this title.
WORTH CONSIDERING - With roguelike overhead maze levels that don’t punish you as much for failure, you can progress the game ahead every time you enter the gauntlet. If you’re really into taking care of a digital creature, searching for food to feed it and enjoy sweeping up poop then you’re in for a real treat. If none of these things sounds like fun, then look elsewhere for a fulfilling gaming experience. For what the game boasts to be, it does it quite well, it just wasn’t my personal cup of tea.
WORTH CONSIDERING - Neo Atlas 1469 is a simulator that shares a lot with graphic novels. You’ll be setting up trade routes, discovering new lands, and hunting for treasure. This is such a niche genre that not everyone will find enjoyment here, but it’s worth considering for those who love this style of gameplay or for those who are new to the genre.
WORTH CONSIDERING - Unless portable ARK is the number one reason for picking it up, I would recommend getting it on something other than the Switch. PC is really the best way to play it, but the Switch does offer portability, which the PC would only give you with an expensive laptop. I did have fun playing on the Switch and taking it with me when I left. But wherever you do go, remember it's an online game so you will need a decent connection to the web should you want to play on the official servers.
WORTH CONSIDERING - While not a ‘drop the mic’ action puzzle experience, Super Inefficient Golf is a fun and unique game that will entertain you for at least 4 hours before you may start to get a little bored with it. The game gives you a ball, a hole, and a bunch of charges. The fun may need to be supplied by you to try things that seem crazy. While there’s nothing here that’s mind blowing or particularly charming, the fact that failure is always an option gives enough reason to stick with it through a full course.