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Splatoon Raiders surprised me in the best way possible. I expected a fun solo experiment, but Nintendo turned it into a surprisingly deep spin-off with raids, smart loadout choices, great bosses and a fun co-op system. Some raids might feel repetitive after a while, but the constant stream of weapons, gadgets, mods and upgrades kept me hooked from start to finish. This isn’t just something to play while waiting for Splatoon 4, it’s proof that Splatoon can work really well outside of its usual multiplayer comfort zone.
Star Ocean The Second Story R remains a fantastic remake. It brings back an old-school JRPG without making it feel dusty; the 2.5D style still looks great, battles are fast and fun, and the mix of fantasy and science-fiction still gives the game its own flavor. On Nintendo Switch 2, everything simply feels cleaner and smoother, making this the best Nintendo version of the game by far. It’s just a shame that Square Enix made the jump from Switch to Switch 2 more annoying than needed. No upgrade pack and no save transfer are hard to defend, especially for returning players. But if you missed the game the first time around and you’re looking for a classic JRPG to play on Switch 2, this is a very easy recommendation. Star Ocean: The Second Story R was already worth playing, and this version makes that journey among the stars feel even better.
The Mound: Omen of Cthulu is a gripping Lovecraftian co-op experience that excels in atmosphere, sound design, and its brilliantly unsettling insanity system, creating genuinely unique moments with every expedition. While the combat and progression systems still need refinement to sustain long-term engagement, the game’s eerie charm and psychological horror make it a memorable and highly promising adventure for fans of cosmic terror.
Fitness Boxing 3: Your Personal Trainer – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition makes a good fitness game even better. The smoother visuals are welcome, the camera support is clever, and Boost Up adds a surprisingly intense extra challenge that really tests your stamina. It’s not a huge upgrade, but everything it adds makes sense. If you already own the base game, this might feel a bit underwhelming, but for newcomers, this is easily the best way to start throwing punches.
Moonlight Peaks won’t redefine the genre in the way Stardew Valley once did, nor does it need to. Instead, it successfully carves out its own moonlit corner by combining familiar mechanics with world-building, charming writing, and an aesthetic that feels wonderfully in tune with today’s love for cozy fantasy and romantasy. Its occasionally overwhelming opening hours prevent it from reaching the very top tier of farming simulators, but once the game settles into its own, it’s remarkably easy to lose yourself in. For anyone who has ever wished their farming simulator came with glowing crops, lovable vampires, and just enough gothic charm to make every evening feel like autumn, Moonlight Peaks is well worth a visit. Just don’t be surprised if your first year feels less like a peaceful moonlit stroll and more like trying to organise a harvest festival planned by an overenthusiastic coven of witches.
The Caribou Trail is one of the titles that I am most conflicted about from recent years. Although I didn’t really like playing it, I loved the narrative that was presented over this game’s three-hour runtime. Even though it might be tedious, especially in the first hour, I think it is a story that you must at least experience once.
Denshattack! turns the ridiculous idea of doing tricks with a train into one of the smoothest and most creative games I played this year. Some transitions between rails and walls can be frustrating, but the great flow, absurd levels, and constant chase for better scores made it very hard to put down.
Communicating your inspirations in the marketing of your game may cause people to compare your title to the ones you reference. In the case of Celestial Return, it isn’t a matter of copying those who came before, but of wearing the similarities as a badge of honor. While the gameplay and art direction may be inspired by other intellectual properties, Celestial Return takes them and builds on them even further. The way you generate new dice might need some extra balancing, as their use as both a resource for investigations and currency for shops makes you lose them a bit too quickly. But the strong narrative and visual design elevate this game to be its own source of inspiration for future teams to build upon.
D-topia successfully combines a casual adventure with four enjoyable types of logic puzzles and a surprisingly thoughtful story about AI, happiness and social control. Its clean visual style and carefree soundtrack create a calm atmosphere, while the Block Side and the residents’ personal struggles add an unsettling edge beneath the surface. I would have preferred more puzzles and a faster way for the story to unfold, but the variety of side activities helps support its slower pace. D-topia may not offer a perfect version of puzzle-based happiness, but it comes close enough to be worth a visit.
Cat Mail Co. is an absolute delight. The game revolves around the simple yet satisfying concept of sending and receiving mail, and it keeps things fresh by gradually introducing new mechanics throughout your day and night shifts. While a few minor issues, like the slow rollout of new locations and repetitive customer randomization, could use some tweaking, the game’s strong foundation makes it easy to overlook these flaws. At its core, Cat Mail Co. offers a cozy, engaging experience that lets you fully immerse yourself in the charming life of a mail-delivering cat. And really, what more could you ask for?
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag Resynced keeps the spotlight where it should be: Edward, the Jackdaw, and the pirate life. The missing DLC and multiplayer are worth mentioning, but the improved visuals, smoother gameplay, and stronger solo focus make this one of the best ways to replay one of Ubisoft’s finest adventures.
Echoes of Aincrad is a flawed but fun (re)visit to the flying castle of Aincrad. The choice to make the main character of the game a random player in the world of Sword Art Online might be one of the best decisions in recent anime games. The action RPG combat is standard, with a large focus on the weapon you wield, offering the option to pull off some flashy attacks. However, the world and dungeon design have some odd choices built in, like the inability to venture outside a quest area in the open world or the lack of enemies for large chunks of dungeon and world map. But the moment you let go of the believability of this world, the fun starts to come in the monotony, making the experience oddly relaxing. After all, you’re playing a game within a game.
Rhythm Paradise Groove never overcomplicates things. It’s all about feeling the rhythm, reacting at the right time, and trying again when you mess up. There are no sprawling skill trees, endless checklists, or unnecessary progression systems designed to artificially extend the experience. Instead, Nintendo places complete faith in a deceptively simple idea: if the music is catchy, the gameplay satisfying, and the presentation charming enough, players will naturally want to improve. And turns out, Nintendo was right. Looking back, I realized something that genuinely surprised me. I never became particularly good at Rhythm Paradise Groove. Even after dozens of completed minigames, countless retries, and more than a few bruises to my musical ego, I still wouldn’t describe myself as someone blessed with impeccable rhythm. The results screen continued to remind me of that often enough. Yet somehow, I never really cared, because somewhere along the way, I stopped worrying about chasing perfect scores. I started enjoying the process of getting a little better each time. That’s a difficult feeling to manufacture, and it’s one Rhythm Paradise Groove captures beautifully. Perhaps that’s the biggest compliment I can give Nintendo’s long-awaited return, since it didn’t transform me into someone with perfect rhythm (sorry to my family). It transformed someone with absolutely no rhythm into someone who couldn’t wait to press “Retry.” And if a rhythm game can accomplish that, it’s doing something very, very right.
It’s ambitious, stylish and full of promising ideas, yet it never quite finds the balance needed to turn those ideas into consistently enjoyable gameplay. And sometimes expectations are unfair, but this time, I don’t think they were. Dark Scrolls looked like the kind of game I’d happily lose dozens of hours to. Instead, it became a game I admired far more than I enjoyed, and somehow, that’s the greatest disappointment of all.
Overall, I was expecting a classic Monopoly with a generic Star Wars theme slapped onto it. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The game breaks its own classic conventions and adds teamplay, the chance to challenge enemy locations in an assertive way, by adding a competitive dice game into the mix. All of this and the added Star Wars GO-events are dynamic and really change the way the game is played. Furthermore, the abilities and how you balance them in your team will decide if you either win or lose with your favorite team. The UI is a bit all over the place in the beginning but after a few games you will see more clearly in this fun game where tactical dice play and classic Monopoly meet the Star Wars family!
By the time the credits rolled for the first time, I realized something that surprised me even more than the remake itself. I wasn’t thinking about the review anymore; I was thinking about Star Fox, and more specifically, how unfairly I’d judged the series over the years. I’ve always held Star Fox Adventures close to my heart because it represented such an important part of my childhood. In many ways, it was my entry point into the franchise rather than Star Fox 64. Revisiting Fox McCloud’s most celebrated adventure on Nintendo Switch 2 made me appreciate that connection even more. It also made me wonder whether I had been too dismissive of Star Fox Assault, a game I hadn’t thought about in years but suddenly found myself wanting to revisit with fresh eyes. Perhaps that’s the highest compliment I can pay this remake. It didn’t simply remind me why Star Fox 64 became one of Nintendo’s defining classics; it made me excited about Star Fox again. That may sound like a subtle distinction, but I believe it’s an important one. Great remakes preserve great games. Exceptional remakes reignite enthusiasm for entire franchises. After spending countless hours chasing medals, discovering alternate routes, and hearing Peppy remind me to “do a barrel roll” for what feels like the thousandth time, I found myself wanting more, not because this remake feels incomplete, but because it reminded me how much potential the series still possesses. If Nintendo’s intention was to determine whether Fox McCloud still has a place alongside Mario, Link, Samus, and Kirby on the Nintendo Switch 2, I sincerely hope it has found its answer. Because when I finished this remake, I didn’t immediately start another run through Corneria. I started hoping for a return to Dinosaur Planet. And that, perhaps more than anything else, proves just how successful this remake truly is.
Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition somehow manages to improve a game that already felt complete. The additional content may not dramatically alter the experience, but the cumulative effect of the improvements is undeniable. The Ether Jet speeds up exploration in meaningful ways, the newly voiced Heart-to-Hearts strengthen character interactions, and the Nintendo Switch 2 hardware finally gives the game the technical foundation it deserves. More importantly, the core experience remains extraordinary. Shulk’s journey is still one of the finest stories in the JRPG genre. The combat system remains engaging and layered. The world continues to inspire exploration at every turn. Sixteen years later, Xenoblade Chronicles remains a benchmark for the genre. This might be the second definitive edition, but this time, that label finally feels impossible to argue with.
Dead or Alive 6 Last Round is still a fun fighting game. The combat is fast, the roster is better than before and the new Photo Mode is a great little addition for fans of the series. If you never played Dead or Alive 6 before, this is easily the best version to start with. For returning players, it’s a lot harder to recommend. The new costumes and Photo Mode are nice, but not enough to make this feel like a huge upgrade. The lack of crossplay is disappointing, and the game still carries some of the same problems as before. Dead or Alive 6 Last Round is a better version of a good fighter, but not the perfect final round it could have been.
Devil May Cry 5 Devil Hunter Edition is a great way to play one of Capcom’s best action games on Nintendo Switch 2. The game still looks impressive, the combat still feels fantastic and the included extras give returning players enough reasons to jump back in. Vergil is a great addition, the Mega Buster and other bonus weapons are fun to use and the 60fps performance makes sure the action remains fast in both docked and handheld mode. If you never played Devil May Cry 5 before, this Devil Hunter Edition is an easy recommendation.
The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales is Team Asano’s take on the action RPG genre. Their signature 2.5D art style brings this vibrant world to life. This is especially clear in the attention to detail in both the art and the vocal performances. Although the combat is button-mashy, it feels responsive and fun. This is especially true after augmenting your weapons with Magicite. Dungeons are quick and snappy, offering loot without becoming stale, and exploring off the beaten track is highly rewarding. However, the talkative companions and the reuse of enemies for long parts of the game sometimes hinder immersion. The story may lack depth, but the gameplay always keeps me coming back for more. Is there a better feeling than the satisfaction you get from finding a new artefact in the depths of an ancient cave?