Fire Emblem: Three Houses is, quite possibly, the most ambitious JRPG you’ll play this year. And perhaps the most impressive part about the whole game is that it actually manages to deliver on that ambition.
Cadence of Hyrule might not be the challenging follow-up that Necrodancer fans were looking forward to, but it serves as a charming homage to the music of The Legend of Zelda series, and as a celebration of its classic 2D formula.
Days Gone is an alright first step for Bend Studio. It’s a competent open world game with massive, diverse environments for you to explore, even if there aren’t actually a lot of interesting things to do. It’s also very vanilla, and there just isn’t much substance beneath its glossy surface.
As you've probably expected from FromSoft at this point, Sekiro is a game that relishes in its ability to challenge and punish the player with little to no room for error. The developer's methods of storytelling may start to feel a tad stale at this point, but the game still manages to capture that immense feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment like no other.
In an age where it's become all too common for live service games to release as incomplete products that require a few months' worth of patches to become the game we were "promised," The Division 2 is a revitalizing breath of fresh air.
Far Cry New Dawn is a standalone sequel to Far Cry 5, but it adds nothing of meaning or value to the original story, and it certainly doesn't provide the kind of closure to FC5's insane ending that you might've been hoping for. If you just want more Far Cry, this is worth checking out. Otherwise, you're not really missing much here.
The wait has been worth it; Wargroove is absolutely a must-play title for fans of the genre and just Switch owners in general.
The Resident Evil 2 remake is, indeed, the best Resident Evil game ever released. I see that now. It brings back everything that fans loved from the PS1 classic, and presents it in a fresh way that's both exciting and nostalgic in a modern age. Survival horror isn't dead, inform the press that Resident Evil really is back.
Thankfully, aside from the frame rate cap in puzzle segments, the audio issues can be resolved easily through patches if Sega and Atlus decide to address them. Catherine Classic continues to be one of the most fascinating and unique games of last generation. And the good news is, you no longer need to hook up your last-gen console to enjoy this gem of a game.
Ashen feels like it's trying to be too many things at once, and perhaps because of that, it ends up tasting like a bland pot of soup without any punchy flavors to really catch your attention.
As a one-off experience or one-time playthrough, GRIS is certainly one of the most artistic and provocative experiences I've seen in video games. While I would've liked to see a more fleshed out world, with meaningful collectibles and more puzzles to solve, GRIS is still worth a look for anyone who has an interest in platformers or silent stories.
Katamari Damacy REROLL is a condensed, but immensely enjoyable experience. The controls are the main roadblock for sure, but they're not quite enough to detract from just how fun this game is. REROLL is a simple port of a simple game, refreshed for a newer audience, while also keeping all its charms and quirks intact. There's no better way to roll.
Even now, looking at the Kanto region on Switch still leaves me in awe at how far the series has come. We'd always known that Game Freak had created a world that was truly special when the original games first released on the Game Boy, and that vision's finally been brought to life with Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee.
Arguably the biggest flaw with Overkill's The Walking Dead is just how generic and bland it feels. With a popular brand like The Walking Dead, you'd expect there to be a bit more flair or pizazz when it comes to world-building and characterization, but there's nothing like that here.
Diablo III: Eternal Collection is everything I could've asked for from a proper Switch port. The graphical downgrades are noticeable in handheld mode, but it doesn't detract from the experience at all, especially when it runs so smoothly.
All in all, Black Ops 4 is a really solid and polished package of multiplayer goodness. As I made my way through the multiplayer ranks, I found myself thinking about the missing single-player campaign less.
The World Ends With You: Final Remix is a solid port overall. Still, unless you're an absolute diehard fan of the game who has to see the new story content, I have a hard time recommending this to anyone who's already played it on the DS. And for newcomers, if you can push past the awful touch controls, The World Ends With You provides a gripping tale that will consume you from start to finish.
It's strange, because Odyssey barely even feels like an Assassin's Creed game. Take away Layla Hassan and the "Assassin's Creed" brand from the title, and I'd just look at this game as a really strong, standalone historical fiction video game.
Overall, The Messenger is a really solid game for fans of the platformer and Metroidvania genres. Had the first half of the game been a little more condensed, and the second half not been too dragged out, the game could've been near-perfect. Even so, if you have even an appreciation for retro or old-school games, you can't go wrong with The Messenger.
At its core, Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate is an absolutely fantastic game that excels when you take your hunts online. Despite being thoroughly impressed with how Capcom handled Monster Hunter: World, that didn't dampen my experience with Ultimate at all.