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On that note, there's little you can get from The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II that you couldn't get from other titles that likewise do it better. The narrative is winding and confusing, the characters are off-putting, and the visuals are a sore sight for the eyes. While the music and gameplay show some glimmers of promise, they ultimately end up feeling lifeless and overcomplicated, respectively. At the end of the day, Trails of Cold Steel II ends up feeling like a middle-of-the-road shonen anime that's a little too scatter-brained, and you have to slog through the off-screen battles.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses is a very strong contender for the best Fire Emblem game. Pretty much every change to the systems is a smashing success, the storyline is fun and engaging, the characters are likeable, and the presentation is excellent. It's possible that the combat changes won't work for every fan of the franchise, but they feel like the series' strengths have been refined, without the plot weaknesses that hurt Fates. Three Houses is a must-have for tactical gamers, fans of the franchise, or anyone who's looking for a solid JRPG on the Switch.
Neptunia Shooter gets the core mechanics right for an 8-bit shooter, and it adds bullet hell mechanics and character-switching to spice things up. It's length also isn't a bother due to the lack of continues, stretching out a very short experience to a more acceptable one for the $5 price tag. What makes the game feel hollow is its bare-bones approach, including the lack of music and a dearth of enemy variety. If you're willing to overlook this, you'll find Neptunia Shooter to be decent enough for a quick spin. If you're expecting something grand with the trademark Neptunia charm, you'll come away disappointed.
If you dismiss the more apparent flaws, then you'll find The Wizards: Enhanced Edition to be an average adventure title. The quest itself plays out fine and enemies are fun to defeat, even if they don't pose too much trouble. However, the accuracy issues are simply too great that they transform what could be a game-changing VR wizard experience into an exercise in flailing limbs. It isn't a terrible game, but don't expect something top-tier in the VR space.
Run the Fan does a good job of running with its concept. It's a simple game in execution, and it may not be the flashiest title, but it provides some good challenge without feeling impossible. It may not have anything beyond its campaign mode, but the level size is decent, and the fact that there's no other puzzle game like it on the Switch makes it intriguing. Given the title's very low price of $4, puzzle fans can enjoy Run The Fan as a good appetizer leading up to meatier puzzle fare.
If you're looking for good-to-great football, you'll likely find what you're looking for in Madden NFL 20.
American Fugitive is fine if you can overlook its slew of flaws. From shaky AI to an overzealous crime detection system and spotty controls, there's enough here to make one quit the game rather quickly. It helps that the core aspect of the open-world gameplay and the small town setting are enough to keep some people interested. If you really want a throwback to the old GTA system, then this will do, but don't expect something as polished and varied as Retro City Rampage.
Woodpunk is mechanically sound in the roguelike and twin-stick shooter elements that it mashes together. Its presentation is fine, and the difficulty is much higher than expected. It doesn't do anything that could be considered unique, and the co-op feels rather imbalanced. While Woodpunk may not be the first game to run to for a roguelike twin-stick shooter fix, it's a safe enough title that you won't feel so bad for giving it a shot.
Sairento is fun, and it's highly recommended if you own a PSVR headset — assuming your stomach can handle the erratic movements and jumps.
Playing through the games on offer in the Castlevania Anniversary Collection is somewhat like opening a time capsule. Those old enough to remember the original releases of these titles will enjoy going through them again, while players who grew up on PlayStation and Xbox get to enjoy these classics as they were meant to be played. Either way, there is plenty of value here for your gaming dollar.
The Switch already has a number of terrific fighting games, and Blazblue: CentralFiction Special Edition is certainly in the upper portion of that list. The more offense-minded system, along with the different control styles, make it great for fighting fans of all skill levels, and the deluge of modes means that it can take a very long time before you come close to exhausting it all. The best part is that relatively little gets sacrificed in the port, so there's nothing to reacclimate yourself should you decide to play this on multiple platforms. In short, CentralFiction is a must-have for fighting fans.
All in all, Darksiders: Warmastered Edition is a great port of a good game. While it's not necessarily innovative, it is well executed and uniquely presented, something that still holds up well after almost 10 years since its original release. Not everything in the title has aged well, but it still plays and works as well as intended. The only letdown is the price tag of $30 when the Warmastered Edition arrived for $20 on all other platforms almost three years ago. In any case, Darksiders: Warmastered Edition is a great game that's worth experiencing for the first time – or once again on the Switch.
Despite some big changes to the overall formula, Wolfenstein: Youngblood remains another solid entry in a very reliable series.
The SNK 40th Anniversary Collection is an essential title for retro enthusiasts. It may be very heavy on shooters, but most of the shooters here are decent. Meanwhile, the other genres represented have compelling entries of their own, but Street Smart can be seen more of as a curiosity rather than something you'd actually want to play constantly. It is the Museum mode, however, that makes this collection shine, as there is a ton of content here for retro historians. Anyone who likes retro games should absolutely own this title.
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order can best be summed up as average.
As the game's iconic merchant might say, buy at your own discretion, especially when there are "a lot of good things on sale" elsewhere on the Nintendo eShop.
As a whole package, The Fate of Atlantis is a nicely sized DLC package that could stand alone as a spin-off. Individually, Judgment of Atlantis is the strongest part of that package, so it goes out on a high note.
All in all, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is exactly what it was marketed as: the revival of the Igarashi Castlevania games. It might not have Konami's IP, but it has the feel, the gameplay, and the style that no other game has quite been able to replicate. You'll love it if you're a fan of the franchise, and it's a great place to start if you're a newcomer. Some annoying design decisions and general performance issues hold it back. In the end, morning has come to vanquish the terrible night, and Bloodstained is hopefully the start of a new generation of Igavania.
The story in Layers of Fear 2 is decent, even if you can see the narrative twist coming, but you need to sit down and analyze the pieces for it to really come together. The same tricks used in the original to distort the environment still work here, as do the jump-scares despite their predictability over time. The longer playtime robs the title of the crispness of its predecessor, while the element of an active pursuer doesn't mix well with the game's need for more involved door and switch mechanics and the precision needed to activate those action spots. It's still worth checking out for fans — but sometime later, as opposed to immediately.
The Hong Kong Massacre teeters between magnificent to mediocre quite often. Its gunplay mechanics are good, but the dodgy AI will ruin the experience due to your very high fragility and their impeccable aim. The levels look awesome at first, especially when the action gets kicked up, but the environments blend into one another after a while. The trial-and-error nature can get tedious, but if you don't mind that, then you'll find lots of high-tension action here. The Hong Kong Massacre isn't a must-have, but it isn't a bad title to play, either.