Nintendo Blast

Once again, Picross S8 is an excellent example of a logic puzzle. Its main novelty is the co-op mode, but, at least right now, it doesn't feel like a major new feature for the fans of the genre, as solving these [mental] challenges is usually a lonesome, reflective and intimist experience. Even so, the elegant design, simple Portuguese tutorials, quality of life resources and rich content make it a phenomenal experience and consistent [in quality] with its predecessors.

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Return to Monkey Island brings another high quality Guybrush Threepwood journey, clearly demonstrating the charisma of the series that captivated many players and was deeply important to the development of point-and-clicks. Especially for those who have ventured to Monkey Island before, this is a very captivating adventure.

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The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero is an excellent JRPG and a perfect entrypoint to Falcom's franchise, which yearly renovates its ambition to be the biggest and best story of the genre. Its release on the west, even if late, shows that some things are worth waiting; and a good adaptation to Switch makes this adventure practically perfect on Nintendo's hybrid system.

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Despite again reusing many features of the predecessors in its series and the level design not having evolved (even regressed in some aspects), the audiovisual remains fresh and brings a good balance of previous experiences in the series. In addition, combat is more customizable and the new capture mechanic is worked intelligently and critically into the game's narrative.

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Freshly Frosted is a satisfying, charming and positivity-filled puzzle. Its mechanics are extremely simple to understand and yet the challenges presented are quite varied, with a good amount of puzzles ranging from the obvious to the extremely challenging, providing relaxing entertainment and a lot of desire to run out to taste a donut.

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Beacon Pines is an inspiring adventure that manages to show an emotional narrative and entice the player with its plot. With a charming 2D ambientation, the title offers a good experience of its genre, though it ends up not exploring its main mechanics as well as it could.

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As a sequel to Fated Memories, Piofiore: Episodio 1926 manages to offer an even more intense narrative that gains depth as it reflects upon the social and political aspects of the historic period represented. Though it has some dependence on its predecessor in order to offer a complete experience, this is one of the best games in the genre available on Switch, a really impressive feat when we can even say high quality is the current norm of those visual novels.

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With a fun single player campaign and a frenetic online mode, Splatoon 3 easily enters the gallery of the best games in the Switch library, even surpassing its predecessor. So, with the possible arrival of fixes to reduce the connection errors, we can say that the release displays all the glory of the Inklings, Octolings and Mammalians series, appearing as the apex of the shooter franchise that emerged in 2015.

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Ooblets makes a good effort in innovating on the numerous and currently highly popular farm sim genre, creating an interesting mix of genres in the process. The result is a game that doesn't dive deep into any of its elements but presents all of them in a light and dynamic fashion. Even if it's bound to a repetitive cycle of gathering missions in a world that can be adorable to some [players], the title offers a lot of content for the collectionists.

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Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling into Darkness is an excellent game adaptation of the original material. It definitely allows [the player] to live the experience of being a cave raider in the relentless Abyss with all the challenges this job presents. Unfortunately, its merits almost entirely end here. Making the most out of what made Made in Abyss such an enticing story is hindered by obstacles such as a tutorial campaign of dubious efficacy and mechanics implemented without the due care to add features that contribute to good gameplay instead of doing the opposite [, that is, bad gameplay experience]. Fans of Akihito Tsukushi's work will probably be able to ignore these issues and make the most out of the moments in the universe of Riko, Reg and the other characters, but thinking outside this niche, we don't have a good example of action RPG.

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Anno: Mutationem is a great action RPG that can, and should, win over any player who wants to give its rich Cyberpunk world a chance. Even without shining so much, the combats work within their purpose and the narrative manages to deliver a thought-provoking story with charismatic characters and deep moments. The game's performance on Nintendo Switch isn't the best, but the game is still worth it as a whole.

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Piofiore: Fated Memories is a high quality otome game that shows the conflicts between rival mafia gangs, with special care to show the characters as morally questionable. Though it has some text issues related to its trnaslation, it manages to develop its themes well, offering a compelling atmosphere and a must-play for fans of the genre.

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Kaichu: The Kaiju Dating Sim is a dating sim parody that tries to make jokes about relationships and gender itself. However, its superficiality and little understanding of what really makes a dating sim interesting considerably compromise the experience, which ends up being worth no more than a quick playthrough.

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Prinny Presents NIS Classics Vol. 3 is a great pick for fans (and even non-fans) of the company and, in my case, I liked getting to know games that came to shape, in a way or another, the structure of current day NIS games. Even though neither La Pucelle: Ragnarok or Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure offer much of a challenge compared to the titles in previous collections (or even the most recent NIS ones), they are gems from the PlayStation era that are worth revisiting, especially with all their audiovisual quality.

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Even though Kirby's Dream Buffet is a lot cheaper than most first-party Nintendo Switch offerings, the longevity of activities is low for a party game. The lack of variety in the rules causes the game to quickly lose its freshness and lag behind other offerings of the genre on the console. Yes, there are times when contests are fun, with high doses of risk, reward and chaos. The amount of unlockables is also impressive and warms the heart of any Kirby fan. However, the bulk of the game doesn't captivate enough.

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection establishes a respectable standard when it comes to collections. Bringing back so many TMNT classics to current systems already makes it an important milestone in preserving old games, but the extra content gallery elevates this work to the status of one of the best products in the game industry in 2022.

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PAC-MAN World: Re-PAC is a competent 3D platformer, but there are certainly better alternatives of its kind for the Switch. Its gameplay is extremely faithful to the 1990s original and although it is a virtue for those who are looking for the title for nostalgia, the gameplay from two decades ago seems a little dated these days, lacking basic features such as camera control. However, if you enjoyed the PlayStation original and would like to relive its gameplay, this title is what you are looking for.

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JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R is a competent fighting game and a must-have for fans of the manga and anime series. Despite having elements that make it less interesting for newcomers to the genre and people who still don't know JoJo in depth, the title knows who its audience is and delivers what it promises.

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Yars: Recharged is a great remake that vastly improves the gameplay of the original classic, featuring new weapons, more challenges and more balanced difficulty, with original graphics and music that reinforce its modern retro spirit. Unfortunately the gameplay can become repetitive over time, in addition to having a bug that reduces the music as we go through the levels and that spoils the experience a little. Still, it's a solid, fun game for anyone who wants to challenge themselves with a simple, mechanically satisfying indie game.

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Though it lacks some polishment and refinement in the audiovisual aspect and has an underdeveloped level design, Gerda: A Flame in Winter (Switch) offers a good narrative and metanarrative proposal and a satisfactory result when it comes to historical fiction script. It's a shame it doesn't manage to be more immersive, but, due to its strong points, it's a recommendable title for historical fiction adventure fans.

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