Patapon 1 + 2 Replay may be throwbacks to another time, but their gameplay is pretty timeless, and whether you played them the first time around or not, it’s a good time to go back (or go for the first time) and lose yourself in the rhythm.
Eternal Strands isn’t a game to pick up if you’re after an entirely original experience. However, if you want something that captures its influences well and does a good job of imitating them…in that case, you might just be in luck, because that describes it perfectly.
I feel like I should temper my praise of Donkey Kong Bananza, but at the same time, if I did, I’d be lying. This is one of the most enjoyable games I’ve played in a long time. If you’ve been holding out on buying a Switch 2, this is the game that should make you buy one: it really is that phenomenal.
You might look at Oceanhorn: Chronos Dungeon and see the top-down view and pixel graphics and think that the franchise has taken a turn for the very retro, looking to the very earliest Zelda games for inspiration. And while that’s sort of correct – it’s definitely got more of a retro flavour than either of the previous Oceanhorn games – at the same time, it’s also totally wrong. Oceanhorn: Chronos Dungeon looks like any number of dungeon crawlers from decades ago – and that’s its biggest problem.
It’s easy to forgive a little jank, though, when the overall package is this impressive. Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon is an epic RPG that aims high and that, much more often than not, succeeds in what it sets out to do.
You’ll be left wondering why Beyond the Ice Palace 2 exists in the first place. You’ve absolutely played plenty of games like this before, and there’s nothing this game has that you can’t find done better elsewhere.
It may be influenced by a whole host of games from 25 years ago, but it never borrows from any of them so blatantly that it just feels like you’re playing a clone or a lesser version of a much better game. It’s its own game, with its own identity, and that’s enough to set it apart.
It runs well and it looks great, and it gives hope that, at least for the next little while, Switch 2 ports won’t require you to make a few allowances for subpar performance.
It may not feel original, but The Precinct knows how to take that familiar beats and give you room to uphold law and order/cause chaos to your heart’s content.
It definitely shows promise, and if it were to add in more objectives for solo players or game modes for multiplayer I could see it achieving that promise. At the moment, it’s definitely not there, but it may be worth keeping an eye on the game to watch how it evolves.
Its hard to really dislike Power Sink, even with those wildly varying levels of difficulty. It’s a gorgeous game set in a well-imagined world, and even if its gameplay isn’t as absorbing as its environments, it’s still a solid puzzle-platformer.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown shows that even when (Strange Scaffold) are working with a more known quantity, they’re still adept at finding an approach that no one has ever taken before – and at making that work.
Most of what goes on in Promise Mascot Agency is utterly insane if you view it with any kind of detachment. This game is unquestionably bonkers. But it’s also the kind of game you can sink your teeth into in many, many ways, and if you want a unique experience, Promise Mascot Agency offers exactly that.
Once Upon A Puppet reminds me of Puppeteer because of its overall aesthetic – not just the fact both are about puppets, but the whole gorgeous look of the game, and the way that it’s able to go from light and whimsical to dark and mysterious without breaking stride.
Aureole – Wings of Hope isn’t a particularly complicated game – but it doesn’t need to be. It’s built around a great idea for a simple-but-addictive platformer, and it pulls it off nearly perfectly.
It’s not a good game – and again, the voice acting and cutscenes and script are abysmal – but on the whole it’s not interesting enough to generate really strong feelings. It’s a bad game that’s also incredibly boring, which is just about the worst combination imaginable.
It’s definitely an improvement over its predecessor, but some annoying design decisions mean that it’s still not as good as it could be.
Really, it’s just worth playing if you want a love letter to late 2000s action games – or, I guess, if you want a time capsule from the same era that never saw the light of day due to a confluence of crazy factors. Either way, if that applies to your very specific gaming interests (and, weirdly, it does mine), then Captain Blood is a game you need to play.
As a piece of video game history, Jaleco Sports: Bases Loaded is a pretty interesting time capsule. It offers a glimpse at how baseball games looked and played in the infancy of the medium – and probably gives a renewed appreciation for MLB The Show for anyone (myself included) for whom Sony’s series has felt like it’s treading water in recent years. I don’t know that Jaleco Sports: Bases Loaded is necessary for anyone other than video game historians and baseball diehards, but I’m still glad it exists.
Because SpellRogue is structured and plays out in a way that’s so similar to Slay the Spire – you get three dice rolls (more if you get the right charms), you move your way up a board that features enemies, shops, havens in which to rest, and lots of random encounters –it’s hard to say that SpellRogue comes out on top when you make that obvious comparison. There’s a little too much grinding to go through for not a lot of reward, and while some people may love the challenge, it makes for a less addictive experience.