Players familiar with titles such as Odin Sphere or Valkyrie Profile will probably be curious about this one. Fallen Legion: Rise To Glory offers faster real-time action with tactical choices needing to be made. There's some depth to the battle system which at first glance may look a bit hack & slash, although it's anything but. Proper execution of your actions matter. The art and sound holds its own. The game is fun to play. The story is so-so. The game needed more time to be balanced, but fans of action-rpg's that offer a unique system not commonly found will certainly enjoy bursts of this. Each version can take 5-10 hours depending on the player's style, so a total of 20 hours can be found.
Yomawari: The Long Night Collection includes two titles, Yomawari: Night Alone & Yomawari: Midnight Shadows. It may contain cute, chibi characters whom you play as, but the creepiness factor sinks almost immediately. If the idea of exploring a town at night with monsters lurking in the shadows intrigues you, it's definitely worth checking out. The towns and locations are fun to go through just in general. Add a survival element with your flashlight, some tense moments, atmospheric sound design and collectables to the mix. Japanese culture and setting may also be a good reason to experience this horror adventure.
The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince is a title that easily grabs peoples attention. The art style invites one to seek it out and uncover what it's all about. The game succeeds in delivering on its visual presentation. Furthermore, it's nice that a touching story is able to pair perfectly with it. The game's length and puzzle-platforming might be its biggest detractor from being an overall amazing experience as those are just *okay*.
Lumo definitely caters to specific crowd and may not be for everyone, but it's easy enough for anyone to be able to play. It creates isometric gameplay which is forgotten in this day & age. Lumo offers a pick-up and play experience and has collectibles worth seeking for those who enjoy going after them.
Mulaka is an ambitious title coming straight from Mexico. Lienzo managed to bring the long living Sierra Tarahumara culture into the forefront and created a solid game around it. All of the elements come together in a complete package that is fun to play. The only downside to it all is that some of those elements aren't fully realized. Still, I stand by calling this game Okami-lite. The painterly textures on humans and enemies, an ancient myth of demigods and saving the world, the Zelda-esque gameplay. For those seeking the tidbits of the Tarahumaran culture, it's a slight education; at the very least, an awareness worth the venture.
It seems Touhou Project games are a dime a dozen if you've ever heard of the series, but they're all about having fun with characters and using them in different ways. Gensokyo Defenders is a little rough around the edges, but the mechanics in place make for some fun gameplay. It keeps things interesting by adding new characters to join your party who play differently from each other, new map ideas, introduction to new traps and an upgrade system that requires skill points to be spent and applied in any way you see fit. It's a tower defense that feels like more than the usual tower defense and it certainly scratches an itch or two.
The Fall is the first game of a trilogy where the subject of artificial intelligence - what it means and its consequences - are a heavy focus of. Over The Moon excels in this department. For a point & click genre with shooting, they've done the job quite well providing a believable atmosphere and notable plot surprises. It's a pretty short game, but it is sweet. It's worth seeking out its playtime for those interested getting into this series. If you enjoy The Fall, you'll want its sequel as well.
Storm Boy is charming, cute, touching and very accessible. It's designed with a younger audience in mind, but can be experienced at any age. Some tales are for everyone. Being very pickup & play, both parents and children can experience an easygoing journey together in this faithful retelling of a classic story of a boy and his pet bird; but mainly his friend.
InnerSpace started off with me not knowing what to expect, but continued to get better and better. It's not perfect. It feels clunky when you keep crashing into walls when you don't want to. Flying around feels satisfying, though. It's beautiful to look at and relaxing to play while maintaining a fun factor. It's a unique game that is well executed and we need more of these.
Death Road To Canada is a nice modern throwback to The Oregon Trail with a morbid twist. It can get challenging and the action/exploring gameplay is fun and intense. It's a great co-op game for sure, if you're prepared for unfair RNG and repeating it until you've actually won. Still, the replay value is there and there's plenty of fun moments and unlockables.
World to the West deserves to be praised for its charm and personality. The varied characters all bring something to the table in terms of gameplay and some personalities are easy to love. The music compliments your journey very well. The aspect of character switching is more of a problem than it needs to be and a certain scavenge hunt, while integral to the back story, feels like a shoe-in. It could use more polish, but it's a good game worth checking out.
One indie gem that I thoroughly enjoyed was 2018's Moonlighter. Sparklite is the "outdoor" version of that game, but doesn't succeed as well as it. This is a 2D Zelda roguelike that implements so much for its own good that it turned out a bit underwhelming in the end. The pixel graphics hit the spot, the music is soothing and evokes previous eras of gaming, and the controls are responsive. There's so much here, however, that no one particular element feels exceptional to another or as a whole, leaving many features of Sparklite feeling like they can be ignored. Red Blue Games is talented and sparked something good, but one should take the "lite" for its word.
Shadow Bug is a fun, arcadey platformer which is very simple to pick up. The level design is decent. Some enemies and ideas keep it fresh along the way. That's good, because the game isn't that long.
If you're looking for an RPG with robust customization and a deep battle system, Heroland won't offer that. Without it, Heroland is still fun. If you are looking for sharp writing and charming characters, then Heroland will offer that plenty. Hilarity ensues. This game is all about taking on something a little lighter in scope and still wanting to be entertained throughout your 20 hour journey. You can see the passion and fun that went into creating it. Heroland's creators is an ensemble with credible pedigree and it is a success.
Mega Man X lovers should rejoice when it comes to nailing down how the game feels because 20XX absolutely nails it. The tight controls and platforming feel great. Adding to that the various upgrading and online play, there's plenty of fun to be had here. Taking your Switch anywhere and X'ing through a different stage each time is kinda cool. It's too bad there's not much of a story and while the procedurally-generated levels offer limitless replay value, predictable layouts with only 4 themes wears out the novelty. If you're in it simply for the endlessness of it and fantastic controls, then you're in for a good time.
SpiritSphere DX is a retro callback, both visually & audibly, and feels like a lost gem from an old era. It takes any old tennis match and uses magic to spice things up, resulting in matches to play out in a multitude of ways. It's straight up a great local multiplayer game and one that's great for playing in the backseat of road trips if there's only one Nintendo Switch around. Plus it's $10 which isn't too shabby, either. Still, with no online functionality and being a game that is best with friends, the single player doesn't add much replayability. However, if you got the peeps around and Mario Tennis Aces is a stretch to your budget, this should be a good fix.
Pool Panic's level of weird creativeness and silly humor is commendable. Not knowing what you'll see around each corner of the map and within the levels themselves is a huge factor in its enjoyment. The "pool" aspect is not as good as it could be and there are some control issues hampering the enjoyment which get in the way of your proficiency or getting the best score, but the levels presented almost make you not care. Over 100 levels and weird scenarios to put yourself in, regardless of a couple of flaws, puts Pool Panic in a league of its own.
God Wars The Complete Legend is a solid strategy RPG. Following the turn-based mechanics of classics and incorporating a jobs system with many different skills makes for a good time. The characters can also be fun. The story is alright enough. The graphics are outdated, but the art design does a good job of standing out. Overall, it's pretty by-the-books when it comes to the genre. With a wealth of content, it's definitely recommended for the strategy purists.
This game is meant for people looking for top-down arcade shooting and people who don't mind having their reflexes tested.
At Sundown: Shots in the Dark gets mostly everything right. Responsive controls, a variety of weapons with their own gimmicks, plenty of matchmaking options for any type of player and all the good modes you want in a multiplayer shooter. The stealth mechanic where players can take advantage of the dark certainly adds tension to the fight. It's not the best looker. Maps are themed, but feel rather bland and uninspired in their design. Still far from bad, however. What may separate players are those who got the gameplay down to the meta with not as much wiggle room to show off versus anyone who just wants a good time. In the end, having a good time is what it's all about.