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Yet another fantastic rhythm game to add to the Switch's ever-growing repertoire. It may be a tad on the expensive side, but its core mechanics are rock solid, its minimalist visuals are a treat to behold and the fact it's got to much to play through and unlock means you'll be happily tapping your toes to this one for months.
Riverbond isn’t the most in-depth game on the Switch this year, nor is it the best looking. It does, however, boast an interesting art style, and its gameplay is simple yet engaging enough that almost anyone of any skill level can give it a good crack.
The short length and simple concept keep it from having much staying power, but it’s a thrilling experience if you’ve got a night to yourself and feel like giving yourself a good scare.
Yacht Club Games continues to impress with its support for Shovel Knight, and we’d highly recommend you experience Shovel Knight Showdown one way or another.
This is likely the last we’ll see of the ‘core’ Shovel Knight series for some time, and King of Cards acts as a worthy swansong for a now-legendary platformer. Bravo.
Translating a set of revered gamebooks from the '80s into video game form was always going to be something of a challenge, and while the version that's made the jump to Nintendo Switch under a new name doesn't bring anything particularly different to the tabletop party, developer Asmodee has retained the evocative world-building of Ian Livingstone's books while adding in some helpful features. It's a little lacking in the looks department, but if you fancy taking a trip back in time to RPG questing of old, Deathtrap Dungeon Trilogy certainly offers plenty of retro adventures of its own.
Pine could have been a lot better. There are genuinely impressive systems at play here – for example, the other creatures inhabiting this world are gathering resources in much the same way as the player, and will even snatch up crops and objects that you were making for. But its smarter touches are totally obfuscated by the shadow of absolute technical unsuitability to the Switch hardware.
What’s most baffling about Simulacra is why more wasn’t done to make it a more authentic mobile experience.
Here are two excellent swashbuckling epics ported to Nintendo's console in fine fashion.
While it makes a point of poking fun at the state of the games industry, SuperEpic is also a lot of fun to play.
Fans of Star Ocean will know what to expect here. This is a game that's pretty fun to blast through for nostalgia's sake or from the point of view of simply experiencing the game that kickstarted the long-running series. For anyone else this is simply a pretty old RPG that's showing its age in many ways.
Auto-runners don’t get much better than this, and it’s a blast to play through.
Farming Simulator 20 won't be for everyone, but if you're after high-octane, instant gratification, why are you sniffing around something called 'Farming Simulator 20'? It requires time and devotion – if you're not one to enjoy the long, languorous journey you'd be better off sticking to more abstract farming sims. Once you get into its low-key repetitive groove, though, there's a wealth of wholesome, calming work to get lost in and a satisfying flow to cultivating a field, sowing seeds, harvesting, repeating and watching those numbers go up.
Feral Interactive has done a stellar job with this Switch port and the excellent motion controls and inclusion of all previously-released DLC only go to sweeten the deal. This is essential stuff for survival horror fans.
There is space in gaming for narrative output like this, but they need to be carefully tailored to be games first and experiences second. You don't even want to know what this water tastes like.
Monkey Barrels is a great twin-stick shooter that perhaps plays it a little too safe at times.
Decay of Logos is a mess. It looks bad, has some crippling performance issues and is stuffed full of nonsensical and overly-punitive gameplay systems that make every minute you spend with it feel like a slog. The world that Amplify Creations has created here does occasionally feel like it could be an interesting and worthwhile place to explore, but there are just far too many bugs and problems that get in the way of you settling down to enjoy this game in any way whatsoever. Avoid.
The puzzles might not be the most taxing you'll ever come across and you'll blow through the whole thing pretty quickly, but overall this is a top-notch – and perfectly priced – little gem.
House of Golf is an entirely average addition to the ever-growing selection of mini-golf games, with good visuals but altogether uninspiring gameplay and level design.
Construction Simulator 2 is a celebration of the mundane; a relaxing game that reassures you with every repeated action as you patiently build your construction empire. And it achieves that with brilliance. It would be harsh to say the unpredictable driving ruins the reassuring regularity, but when every other nail has been hammered with such precision, this slight misstep sticks out like the sore thumb that the hammer hit instead. Still, this is a highly recommended way to spend a few weeks, despite that rather odd issue.