GameSpew's Reviews
Hugely inspired by Castlevania, Chronicles of the Wolf offers a fairly lengthy gothic adventure where players explore a dark, interconnected world to take down an evil menace. It looks nice, has a great soundtrack and is mostly fun to play, but there are some balancing and design issues that hold it back from greatness.
Rooftops & Alleys: The Parkour Game lets you live out your parkouring dreams across numerous environments. There are time trial and trick rush events to complete, but they can be frustrating thanks to finicky controls and mechanics. This is a game best enjoyed simply chilling out with others.
One of my favourite roguelikes of recent years, Lost in Random: The Eternal Die takes the world of 2021's excellent Lost in Random and turns it into something new. It's a whimsical, action-packed adventure, with combat that feels smooth and satisfying. Even facing the game's ferocious bosses is seriously exhilarating. It's just a shame there's not a little more variation between runs, but that's to be expected.
Bundling up the base game along with two years' worth of characters, stages and more, Street Fighter 6: Years 1-2 Fighters Edition is a must-have for fighting game fans who have picked up a Switch 2. While new modes such as Gyro Battle and Calorie Contest are a bit gimmicky, the only real disappointment here is fights in World Tour playing out at 30fps.
Being a simulator, Star Trucker won't be for everyone; flying through space making deliveries sounds simple, but in actuality there are lots of plates to spin. Those that get on with it will likely find themselves engrossed, however, but it does verge on becoming a little repetitive.
Sonic x Shadow Generations feels right at home on Switch 2. Both Sonic Generations and the new Shadow campaign look fantastic, and performance is solid, making these fast-paced platforming experiences a joy to return to time and time again. It's just a shame there's no upgrade path for those who already own the game on the original Switch.
In most regards, Mario Kart World is the best entry in the series yet. There are a wealth of characters to race as and lots of vehicles, with many more to unlock, and the courses are absolutely brilliant. On top of that, a Mario Kart game has never felt so good to play. It's just a shame that its open world feels like an afterthought for the most part, and that it's so expensive.
Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon is an open-world action RPG that fans of the likes of Skyrim are likely to fall in love with. It has some technical issues and bugs that can annoy, but they're easy to overlook thanks to its enjoyable and rewarding gameplay systems as well as a genuinely interesting story with important choices to be made.
An adventure game with puzzle, stealth and horror elements, The Midnight Walk isn't all that complex mechanically. Its dark, intriguing world will grab your attention, though, and you'll soon come to love your companion, Potboy, making you want to see your journey through to its end. If you have the required hardware, you can play in VR, too, which is a nice touch.
Copycat is a game that tackles some serious issues, but its characters are hard to warm to and will make you angry at times. Still, being a cat and doing cat things can be fun, despite clunky controls and uninspired gameplay.
You likely won't have played anything like Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo before. Combining puzzles, combat and adventuring, this game is an utter joy — and using a yoyo as both a weapon and a tool never gets old. Well written and incredibly accessible thanks to its difficulty options, this is a true indie gem.
Spray Paint Simulator is rewarding and relaxing in the same way that PowerWash Simulator is, with you bringing new life to a range of objects and locations. Some jobs are better than others, though, and it can be finicky when it comes to completing some smaller part of jobs, but it's still thoroughly enjoyable on the whole.
There's fun to be had with Elden Ring Nightreign, especially if you're a skilled Elden Ring player who loves a challenge or can get a good team together, but it does have a range of issues. The fact that there's only one map means repetition quickly creeps in, for example, and the Relic system simply doesn't feel as impactful as it should. Being a multiplayer-focused game, the lack of cross-play is also egregious.
EA sports F1 25 features the usual iterative improvements when it comes to visuals and physics, and LIDAR technology has been used to make a number of tracks as accurate as can be. But it's the return of Braking Point as well as a substantial overhaul of My Team that really makes this an impressive package, and a must-have for both casual and ardent F1 fans.
Take God of War, Dark Souls and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, put them in a blender along with some new elements such as being able to craft weapons and target specific body parts, and you have Blades of Fire. Its map design can be devious at times, and its enemy placement a little questionable, but overall it's an engaging, and rather epic, adventure.
Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny is a bold sequel that adds RPG elements into the mix and has more of an action focus. Awkward fixed camera angles add unwanted frustration to combat, though, and the new weapon switching mechanic is troublesome to use in the heat of battle.
The Duck Detective is back, and his down-and-out personality is as wonderful as ever. Unfortunately, the mystery on offer here isn't quite as good as last time, but there are still plenty of pleasing puzzles and investigations to get your beak stuck into.
An isometric action game set in a highly destructible world, Deliver At All Costs puts you in the shoes of a courier and tasks you with completing a range of chaotic and often challenging delivery missions. It's good fun, but it doesn't quite fulfil its potential, thanks to annoying loading screens and a range of other issues that spoil the experience to some degree.
Featuring fantastic voice acting, excellent puzzles and a narrative that keeps you gripped, Kathy Rain 2: Soothsayer deserves a place in the point-and-click adventure hall of fame. Those who prefer grounded, realistic stories might rue its sharp turn into cosmic horror towards the end, but it's hardly a dealbreaker.
The combat of Yasha: Legends of the Demon Blade is enjoyable enough, and it's great that there are three unique playable characters, each with a range of weapons to unlock. A lack of variety when it comes to stages and enemies really hurts the game's longevity, though, as the story at the heart of this adventure isn't enough to carry it.