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Overall, while Code Vein II's narrative leaves a lot to be desired, and the lack of multiplayer is disappointing, the gameplay is incredibly engaging and satisfying. With a few gameplay and performance adjustments, the game stands to be among the best Soulslikes this year.
Don't Stop, Girlypop! swaps gritty realism for pink chrome and chaos, and brings the bold, feminine energy the FPS genre was missing.
Heroes Battle Awakening delivers a competent and sometimes surprisingly challenging tower defense experience. While some of its puzzle-like restrictions and minor glitches prevent it from feeling entirely polished, there is still a lot of enjoyment to be had for fans of grid-based strategy games. The game doesn't offer much in terms of replayability or variety beyond its core levels, but the foundation is solid and could make for a promising sequel if expanded with additional units, mechanics, and perhaps more dynamic enemy behavior. For anyone who enjoys games in the vein of Plants vs. Zombies and is looking for a fresh take on the formula, Heroes Battle Awakening is worth checking out, even if it occasionally demands patience and careful planning.
City Tales - Medieval Era 1.0 steps into familiar city-builder territory, placing you in the role of a newly appointed ruler.
I Hate This Place is a strong survival horror experience with smart mechanics, great monster design, and a compelling soundscape. Its flaws-pacing issues, stiff movement, and occasionally forced dialogue-hold it back from greatness, but they don't derail the experience. For fans of survival horror who enjoy tension, stealth, and atmosphere, this is absolutely worth your time.
FFVII Remake Intergrade slams onto the Switch 2 with a superb port that shows what Nintendo's new system is capable of
Cakey's Twisted Bakery is a smart, focused horror experience that keeps its scope tight and effective and delivers solid value for its asking price. It's not especially difficult, and its AI and mechanics can feel a bit too accommodating at times, but that accessibility also makes it easy to recommend. For horror fans looking for a tense but manageable experience, there's a lot to like here. It's short, replayable, and packed with charm, and while there's room for improvement, particularly in enemy behavior and atmosphere, it's easy to imagine a sequel expanding on these ideas in exciting ways. As it stands, Cakey's Twisted Bakery is a sweet, unsettling treat.
MIO: Memories In Orbit stands as a confident, artistically driven Metroidvania with thoughtful design, expressive movement, and thematic cohesion. Exploring the Vessel feels less like checking off objectives and more like uncovering something forgotten, piece by piece. For a studio stepping into new territory, Douze Dixièmes delivers an experience that feels assured and purposeful. With its evocative world, elegant mechanics, and emotional undercurrent, MIO: Memories In Orbit emerges as one of the strongest early releases of the year, earning a well-deserved place among the genre's modern standouts. It is memorable, distinctive, and absolutely worth the journey.
Another beguiling brawler that's better than the sum of its, admittedly fantastic, parts.
The Nintendo Switch 2 edition of Skyrim is flawed, consisting of several compromises to playability while trying to squeeze a more traditional console-like experience into the portable console. The visuals are great, but the performance is unacceptable for a game that was released in 2011. With that said, however, it's still Skyrim. The game we all fell in love with in 2011 is still as great as ever, with hundreds of hours of gameplay to dive into.
Gridz Keeper is a game I enjoyed on a basic level because I genuinely like this style of puzzle. However, it's hard not to feel that the experience stops short of its potential. At $4.99, the price is reasonable, but given the game's simplicity, short runtime, lack of meaningful difficulty escalation, and unused zombie theme, it may still feel slightly overpriced for some. While the presentation is cute and the puzzles are functional, there's very little here to sustain long-term interest or justify revisiting once the credits roll. Gridz Keeper works best as a gentle, kid-friendly logic game or a brief distraction that's pleasant, but ultimately limited.
Whether you're a fan or an old hand at Mortal Kombat, the Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is unmissable. There is a vigorously faithful and feature rich adherence to preserving the core aspects of the original arcade versions of the Mortal Kombat games, as well as bringing along intriguing PS1 spin-offs and early 00s Gameboy Advance titles. If you're looking for more modern entries you will be disappointed, but if you appreciate the legacy and the history of the Mortal Kombat franchise, this is an impressive and essential collection that ought to be a precedent for other retro videogame collections developed in the future.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora From The Ashes transcends the base game and its previous DLCs by delivering a gripping narrative with improved gameplay.
It's easy to get muddled in the endless sea of roguelikes, but occasionally, you wander on one that feels really special. Forestrike ticks that box. With a simple premise and a great combination of pick-up-and-play combat and involved strategy, Forestrike makes for a mighty fine martial arts adventure.
I quite enjoyed Terminator 2D: No Fate. Having been a big fan of the '90s Terminator 2 game, this was a touch of nostalgia mixed with a modern twist (almost like someone went back in time and altered the original game). I'm not entirely sure it's worth the price tag… even with the different difficulty settings and the occasional points where you can choose how to proceed… it's still mostly the same basic game. That's not to say it isn't worth getting… just maybe wait for a sale, unless you are a super fan and just want all the T2 goodness you can get… in which case, go for it.
The classic Weird West shooter lurches onto modern consoles thanks to another mostly solid port from Nightdive Studios
Stars In The Trash is a small but heartfelt game.
No amount of misty-eyed nostalgia can save this stinker of a remake.
Unbeatable brings so much flavour and distinct personality to what is inherently such a simple game at its core that it's hard to dislike. If you're still on the fence, a demo is available as well as the White Label demo from 2021. The latter lacks a lot of the final product's visual polish, but will still give you the exact feel of what to expect from the final game's mechanics and narrative style.
Kiwami gets it second Switch port in so many years, and is a great excuse to take this compelling epic for another spin. It would be criminal not to.