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Spin Rhythm XD is a straight forward package. It knows it's humble origins, and isn't trying to reinvent the wheel. Better still, this is a game that shines a new light on several artists and songs you may never have heard. Challenging and unforgiving at times, in all the best ways. The only drawback is that there is zero multi-player. Still, while I am late to the party, I'm now within the spin cycle. Pick this up.
As a solo player there were many moments where Bungie was clearly leaving my ilk behind. But on the other hand, they've finally unleashed the power fantasy and given players the tools to be the space wizard gods we've always dreamed of. The narrative the campaign delivers is a worthy and satisfying conclusion to all of those years spent loving this game. With Bungie already starting walking back some of the changes that hurt solo players the most, it's fair to say The Final Shape probably eclipses The Witch Queen as the best this game has ever been. Ten years on and we've arrived at the summit the journey deserved.
A short and simple horror game about a man having the worst Christmas ever in quite possibly one of the most claustrophobic and isolated areas imaginable. Fantastic atmosphere, great characters, and some pretty intense moments make Still Wakes the Deep a must play for horror fans. That said, don't go into this expecting some super in-depth story with twists and turns and whatnot. Your journey through the game and the will of the characters to survive is the main story, and it was one I really enjoyed experiencing.
A little rough around the edges with traversal but there is so much charm and fun with this game that I can easily overlook the negatives. Each level is like a trip down memory lane and reminds me of when I had epic battles that left a complete mess of my bedroom, living room and more. With lots of replayability and fun game play, Hypercharged: Unboxed will be one of those surprise hits for me of the year. A game I didn't even know existed that ended up being one of my favorites of the year.
Good track design and a blistering sense of speed are not enough to compensate for relatively mindless racing. Horizon Chase 2 serves as an ode to arcade racing classics that reminds us just how far the genre has come.
XDefiant will likely divide competitive shooter fans, as it did us here at Gaming Nexus. Fans of classic competitive shooters will find a lot to like in the Ubiverse shooter, even its take on hero abilities. But it may not go far enough in any direction to truly stand out in a crowded market.
What makes a must-play game? Is it adding more levels to an already stacked list of platform worlds from which to collect items? Is adding a commentary you can turn on and off at will worth it? How about re-drawn art? All of those things are here, any one of which could be argument enough for the need of a Braid Anniversary Edition. It just happens that Braid Anniversary Edition is a near-perfect way to try out Braid, if you haven't before. As someone who hasn't played before this edition, I think this is a great way to introduce yourself to Braid. Everything looks, sounds, and plays great.
Rainbow Cotton is a fun arcade-style shooter, but it has a couple of flaws. While the game plays pretty well and I did enjoy my time with it, the lack of any information on even the basics of the game's mechanics as well as it sometimes being hard to see what Cotton's shooting at can make the game a bit more difficult than it should be, even on the easiest of difficulty settings. It's still an enjoyable game, but a few additions could have made it even better.
There is nothing revolutionary in Max Mustard, but that doesn't mean that this game isn't very well made, and very entertaining. The story is cheerfully bewildering, but the game is so familiar and comfortable, you aren't likely to care. With solid platforming mechanics, Max seems to borrow a bit of this and bit of that from other VR platformers in order to deliver a very polished experience. In a genre that is woefully underserved, Max Mustard is a breezy breath of fresh air.
Kudzu is a fun outing inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening but it's not perfect. While the adventuring and puzzle solving are well done, the combat can be a bit clunky between the weird knockback when you get hit, the hitboxes themselves being a bit inconsistent when sprites overlap, and the enemies resetting to their spawn points when you pause, including some bosses. Still, Kudzu is definitely worth checking out on the Switch if you're a fan of these kinds of games.
Even when I'm not playing TopSpin 2K25, I'm thinking about playing TopSpin 2K25. I'm obsessed with its gameplay, despite its online play being held back by some inconsistencies. TopSpin is a clear contender for the best sports game of 2024.
Stacklands is a really enjoyable game. It combines a clever survival loop of exploration and optimization, it is easy to grasp the core concepts and get your runs moving, and it definitely grabs your attention with the "just one more turn" hallmark of the best of these type of round, time, or turn based games. The only real drawback here is the Switch, or rather how uninterested this game is of making use of what makes the Switch great. It's fine when docked on to your tv or monitor, just as if it were still running on the PC. I'm thankful the developers have brought it over so Switch players can get to play it, I am just recognizing not optimizing it for a 6.2 inch touchscreen is a missed opportunity.
Sand Land immediately caught my attention due to its ties to Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball and character designs in the Dragon Quest series. With a manga, anime, and now a video game adaptation, Sand Land has quietly become a full-fledged franchise, seemingly over night. Despite its simple premise-a search for water in a desert wasteland-Sand Land offers a mix of action RPG, vehicle combat, and stealth gameplay that's just plain fun. The game stays faithful to its source material while offering surprising depth and variety in gameplay mechanics. Despite some challenges with the stealth sections, Sand Land provides a fun and engaging experience and retains the nostalgic charm of its origins in Toriyama's work.
In a nutshell, Stellar Blade is just that – a game with exceptionally stylish combat that is both challenging and accessible. The narrative and characterization won't land with every audience, but developer Shift Up has made a noteworthy console debut.
It's not the best trilogy in the series, but it's still a very fun set of games. It suffers a bit from spotlight sharing issues and the puzzles maybe aren't the most well-thought out, but the stories will pull you in and has some memorable characters to add to the full cast from the series. The visual upgrades are wonderful in almost all cases and makes it worth picking it up just to play on your PC monitor.
Planet of Lana is a joy to behold, having been crafted with aplomb by a team of artistic and musical virtuosos. The gameplay itself is nothing you haven't seen from other side-scrolling puzzlers, but it gives a wide berth to the stunning art and musical score that reach Disney levels of quality.
Minishoot' Adventures is a non hand holding, bullet hell, Legend of Zelda like shoot-em-up with Smash TV elements. If you want a game with all that thrown in, then this game is for you. Don't sleep on this one. It's so good. You're guaranteed to lose your ship.
Children of the Sun is short, sweet and doesn't outstay it's welcome. Despite it's short length, this is a very fun puzzle game that has a lot of replay value, especially if you want to get the high score on the leaderboards or via speed running. There is a lot of potential here with this concept and id love to see the developers expand upon the idea in the future.
Planet Zoo: Console Edition does not completely pull off the PC-to-console transition from a control standpoint, leading to bouts of frustration. But it has enough charm and depth that will make it difficult for genre fans to ignore.
I would love to say that I loved South Park: Snow Day. But the shallow combat, light story, and general lack of depth made me feel like this game was just scraping the surface of what it could have been. Grab it on sale to play with buddies, but beyond that, stick with the classics.