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Vampyr is a brilliant take on the vampire fantasy, focusing more on drama, relationships and inner conflicts than on sucking blood. The temptation at its core can lead to frustration, as the challenging boss fights feel designed to urge you towards killing more innocent NPCs. Anyone attempting a no-kill playthrough may struggle unless they're willing to invest the time, but if you're enjoying the story and characters, it's time well spent.
It’s hard to recommend a game such as Disgaea 4 Complete+, as it’s the sort of game that you either love or hate – there really is no in-between.
Doraemon: Story of Seasons is an enchanting, relaxing romp through a world that is so much simpler than ours. With gorgeous visuals and a never-ending list of things to do, it's unlikely that you'll get bored while playing it. While its slow-pace might turn off some, it's incredibly welcome to play a game where the fate of the world isn't at stake, and you can instead just sit down and decide what plants you might want to grow for the upcoming year.
AeternoBlade II is a mess of overly-complex mechanics and ill-fitting systems that struggles at all times to keep up with itself.
Destiny Connect: Tick-Tock Travelers is very much a "My First JRPG" type-affair.
Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth: Complete Edition is a content-packed RPG with plenty to see and do. Its evolution system feels wholly unique when compared to another monster-breeding game series you might find on Nintendo hardware, and while the grind may be too much for some, it's comfortably one of the best creature-catchers on the Switch – although Pokémon still holds the crown, of course.
Anthill may be several years old at this point, but it's still a fun little game that showcases Image & Form's talents before the Steamworld series gathered, er... steam. There's a decent amount of depth here as you explore various strategies to defend your anthill, and there's good replay value with the delightful Infinity mode. It falls down a bit on graphics, as it can look a bit overly simplistic at times, and we would have at least liked the option to play on the TV, perhaps with pointer controls.
Return of the Obra Dinn lives up to the hype, and then some. It's a beautifully crafted and intricately constructed detective mystery unlike anything you've played before with a harrowing narrative at its centre. Unravelling its secrets takes time and requires patience, but you'll be glad you allowed the story to play out at its own pace. What we have here is a thoroughly unique experience that will stay with you, and is among best this genre has ever had to offer.
A Hat in Time is a hugely enjoyable take on the classic 3D platformer. The tight, familiar controls and varied, innovative levels result in one of the most fascinating and entertaining games out there. The issues with performance and the camera do little to wipe the smile from our faces while playing through this; if you adore the likes of Super Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie, then you'll fall utterly in love with A Hat in Time.
Cat Quest II is a charming little action RPG. Its simple mechanics result in a game which is hugely enjoyable for literally anybody to pick up and play, all backed up by some fantastic design work and infectious humour which never fails to bring a smile to your face. Diehard RPG fanatics might find it's a little on the easy side, but that doesn't take away from the fact that it's genuinely good fun to play.
Freedom Finger is a completely unexpected retro shooter banger. Its unique hand-drawn style, amazing soundtrack, highly offensive humour and various unique and clever gameplay mechanics all come together to deliver a beautifully anarchic ride through a madcap campaign that backs up its brash stylings with solid and challenging gameplay.
Spirit Hunter: NG is a fascinating, dark and brutal game which is hugely gripping thanks to its strong plot, spooks and protagonists. Sadly, the Switch version of the game is scuppered by crippling technical problems which make it borderline unplayable at times. The core game is strong enough that it is still worth a look if you can endure these issues, but you should play this on something else if you can – or hope that the developers can fix the issues in a future update.
If you're a gym addict you probably shouldn't throw out your membership card just yet, but for everyone else looking to get fitter, this is a fantastic way to do it that won't bore you senseless. Play it properly and you'll definitely feel it the next morning – a sure sign that it's at least doing you some good – while the compelling adventure mode with its RPG elements will ensure that you'll keep coming back for more.
Tangle Tower is an exemplary addition to the point-and-click genre, providing superb puzzles and very well written dialogue, backed up by some of the finest voiceover work in recent memory. A few of the character interactions may drag on a bit too long in places as you try and uncover every piece of evidence available to you, and there's little reason to play through the game multiple times. But to be honest, these are very minor gripes considering just how much fun we had in the company of Detectives Grimoire and Sally.
Zombieland: Double Tap - Road Trip is everything you've come to expect from a lazy movie tie-in. Its gameplay is mechanically competent but it's bland beyond belief, short, cynical and lazy. It has the most tenuous of links to the actual film it portrays and is ultimately a very basic twin-stick shooter with a tired-looking Zombieland skin tossed carelessly on top – it also costs far more money than it has any right to. If this was a free mobile game you might get an hour or two of braindead time-wasting out of it, but as an almost full price console release, it's pretty much indefensible.
Killer Queen Black does for Nintendo Switch what TowerFall Ascension did for PS4, offering up a 2D multiplayer extravaganza that’s easy to pick up but devilishly tricky to master.
Instead of being a brand new platformer, Ice Age: Scrat's Nutty Adventure feels like a remaster of a game from the early 2000s, and not a very good one either.
If parachuting onto an island with 99 other people (or, alternatively, staring at a black hole for hours) is your exclusive definition of Battle Royal(e), we can be fairly certain that you weren't around at a time when Kunio’s 8-bit, 4-player multitap-enabled Famicom rumbles coined the expression.
It’s worth a go if you’re in need of a decent run-and-gun title after the intensely disappointing Contra: Rogue Corps.
Into the Dead 2 is a pretty fun, well-made auto-run zombie survival game that arrives on Switch at a ludicrous price point that makes it very hard to justify picking up.