Quake II (Switch eShop)

£3.19 (-60%)

Quake II arrives on Switch in the form of one of the very best remasters we've ever had the pleasure of digging into.

With enhanced graphics and audio, refined AI, all-new animations, the iD Vault, a brand new episode, and all previously released DLC in the mix — plus the N64 version — this is an exhaustive package that Quake fans are absolutely gonna eat up.

Add in crossplay support, gyro controls, and lots of co-op and competitive ways to play locally and online, and you've got an outstanding release.

qomp2 (Switch eShop)

£11.69 (-35%)

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qomp 2 is an excellent and worthy reimaging of Pong that honours the classic arcade game's legacy while providing a unique experience for folks with no nostalgia for Atari's seminal masterpiece. It offers a consistently interesting and engaging means of traversal with a great variety of obstacles and puzzles to overcome throughout the 30 stages.

We would have liked a few more levels in the end, but this is really just an indication of the quality on display here. If you're into quirky action-focused puzzlers with a unique hook, then qomp 2 is definitely worth your attention.

Rune Factory 4 Special (Switch)

£3.74 (-85%)

There’s something here for everyone in Rune Factory 4 Special, but its greatest strength is how it ties together everything into one thoroughly enjoyable package. Varied gameplay, strong writing, and an emphasis on progressing at your own pace make this one of the best farm sim games available on the Switch.

We’d give this one a high recommendation to anyone looking for an engaging yet undemanding game for their Switch. the new features do little to justify the cost of entry for those who have already played it on the 3DS, but on Switch Rune Factory 4 Special proves itself to be a modern classic that melds farming and combat into a beautiful RPG experience.

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Severed (Switch eShop)

£3.37 (-75%)

A joy to behold from start to finish, Severed is an almost perfectly executed action-adventure game with RPG elements, real-time combat, and a whole lot of slicing the body parts from various creatures. With beautifully designed dungeons full of rewarding puzzles and a pleasing combat system, you’ll likely find yourself wishing you could play more of the game when it's over. That’s the only real downside – you’ll probably be finished with the main story after six hours and left wanting more – although wishing you could play more isn’t necessarily a complaint if you're a time-starved gamer with a backlog.

If you have the means to do so, we heartily recommend putting that backlog to one side and giving this one a go.

Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (Switch eShop)

£7.29 (-50%)

If you haven’t gotten around to it by now, the Switch version is certainly the best way to play Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse. Tight gameplay, detailed visuals, and charming writing combine to make this a Metroidvania that is a must-play for any fans of this genre.

Though there’s nothing groundbreaking about this re-release, it’s still the same great game that it was before, and the few minor additions are a nice bonus.

Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove (Switch eShop)

£17.99 (-50%)

Shovel Knight was excellent in vanilla form, but Treasure Trove includes absolutely everything that developer Yacht Club has created for the game since its Kickstarter success back in 2013.

That includes the extra campaigns Plague of Shadows, Specter of Torment, and the more recent King of Cards, plus multiplayer brawler Showdown which further increases the attractiveness of an already incredibly compelling package.

These games are fantastic odes to the glory days of 8-bit(+) platforming, and having the complete Shovel Knight experience in one spot makes this a must-have for Switch owners - especially those who have so far failed to dig into this game and its add-ons. Strike the earth!

Shovel Knight Dig also joins the sale at an impressive £11.24 (-50%), while Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon sits at £8.99 (-50%)

Slay the Spire (Switch eShop)

£6.79 (-66%)

Slay the Spire is an endlessly addictive roguelike card-battler that’s a perfect fit for Switch and is a beautifully balanced game. Its combination of ferocious battles, entertaining chance encounters, and selection of three impressively different player characters make every run to the top a nerve-wracking and totally absorbing affair.

Massively inventive sets of cards combine majestically into hugely destructive combos and attack and defence options fuse perfectly together, enabling you to use the information provided by the brilliantly transparent Intent system to strategise endlessly against hordes of foul monstrosities.

Yes, there are a few frame rate niggles here and there, but overall this is one dungeon crawler that will live long in our system memories.

Spelunky 2 (Switch eShop)

£7.19 (-60%)

Spelunky 2 is a masterclass in great roguelite game design, expertly combining crushing difficulty with a steady drip of new secrets and lessons to keep you coming back for more. Some may be put off by the steep challenge—this is certainly a game you have to work for a bit—but putting in the effort is sure to reward you with plenty of thrilling memories.

Splatoon 3 (Switch)

£33.29 (-33%)

*Sale ends 6th January

Splatoon 3 is more of the same, but refined to borderline mechanical perfection. It's the most fun we’ve had with an online shooter in years, and for series veterans it makes Splatoon 2 feel entirely redundant for all but its unique single-player content. The developers solved every problem the Splatoon community was bleating on about, and then fixed some more that we didn’t even realise were problems.

There's nothing revolutionary about it compared to its predecessors, and it's perhaps missing a Big New Idea™ that you might have expected, but Splatoon 3 is the pinnacle of the series, and the pinnacle of shooters on Switch.

Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster (Switch eShop)

£14.99 (-40%)

Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster brings back this 1995 'Doom clone' in style — another resounding success for Nightdive Studios (who also handled the excellent Quake and Quake II remasters, among others). It returns LucasArts' curious, nostalgia-laced FPS with loads of new bells and whistles, including enhanced gameplay, revamped visuals, and a wealth of accessibility options.

This is easily the best way to experience Dark Forces and revisit an oft-forgotten era of Star Wars before the prequel trilogy - and before the sequel trilogy booted the Expanded Universe out the 'Legends' airlock.

Streets of Rage 4 (Switch eShop)

£8.99 (-60%)

Streets of Rage 4 is the very best the series has ever been. Its hand-drawn graphics breathe new life into Wood Oak City and its inhabitants, the soundtrack is outstanding, and the combat feels better than ever. Lizardcube, Guard Crush Games, and Dotemu managed to completely modernise the look and feel of Streets of Rage, expanding on the experience without losing sight of what made the original games so popular to begin with – and the handful of additions made to the action here serve only to enhance the classic core gameplay, resulting in one of the best side-scrolling beat 'em ups we've played in a long time.

And the Mr X Nightmare DLC is pretty tasty, too. A truly fantastic brawler.

Subnautica (Switch eShop)

£12.49 (-50%)

When Unknown Worlds announced they were bringing Subnautica to Switch we were hugely excited, this is one of our all-time favourite games after all, but it was excitement tempered with a degree of scepticism as to how on earth they'd manage to cram the entire experience onto Switch in a properly playable manner.

As it turns out, we needn't have worried as this is a super solid port that — besides a few loading stutters here and there and some scenery pop-in that's present in every other version of the game — successfully delivers one of the very best open-world survival experiences on any platform to Nintendo's hybrid console.

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury (Switch)

£33.29 (-33%)

*Sale ends 6th January

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury takes everything that made the cat-filled Wii U original special and throws in various small gameplay tweaks to make it even more enjoyable. The first four-player 3D Mario game fuses the freedom of the third dimension with the more constrained (yet no less imaginative) courses from his 2D games to wonderful effect.

The cooperative multiplayer element brought Princess Peach, Luigi, and Toad back into the fold, mirroring Super Mario Bros. 2's lineup, and both Cat Mario and Captain Toad were also introduced here. It's the additional open-world-y Bowser's Fury mode that makes this Switch version a must-buy, even if you 100%'d the Wii U original.

The only real mark against the awkwardly acronymed SM3DW+BF is patchy online multiplayer implementation, but this Switch release is otherwise up there with the very best of the plumber's portfolio.

Bowser's Fury is probably the best Mario game for people who have never played a 3D Mario before, serving as an unintimidating introduction to a larger three-dimensional Super Mario world that can also be played with friends and family.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge (Switch eShop)

£14.61 (-35%)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge is the best Turtles beat 'em up ever made. It looks delicious, sounds superb, and rekindles childhood memories beyond all expectations, time-warping you back to 1987.

Its combat system is so much fun to mine that you feel compelled to keep coming back to try new strategies, and with its awesome co-op multiplayer, the experience evolves again and again. Like many a beat 'em up, it does get repetitive as you enter the last third, but that’s more a fault of the concept than the game. Shredder’s Revenge really is an unprecedented, ahem, shell-ebration.

The Dimension Shellshock DLC (also currently on sale for £4.89) adds new fighters and a Survival mode, too, and if you can't get enough of your Turtle-filled co-op brawlers, there's also Digital Eclipse's TMNT: The Cowabunga Collection, which features a boatload of Konami classics to keep you busy for hours.

Tetris Effect: Connected (Switch eShop)

£17.99 (-50%)

Tetris Effect: Connected is perhaps the best iteration of the classic puzzler yet.

While this Switch port doesn't offer a great deal over existing versions in terms of features, it delivers the one key ingredient that its rivals cannot: portability. Sure, some will argue that Tetris Effect: Connected's unique brand of synesthesia only really comes alive when played on PSVR or an Oculus Quest headset, but we'd argue passionately that this game benefits far more from the ability to pick it up and play whenever, wherever.

Just as the Game Boy and Tetris combined to create an irresistible, world-conquering fusion back in 1989, Tetris Effect: Connected found the hardware that allowed it to truly shine, making this an utterly essential purchase for all Nintendo Switch owners. Don't forget those headphones.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero (Switch)

£25.19 (-30%)

In a series renowned for its stellar writing, twisting plots, and wonderful characters, The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero is a stand-out RPG. Narrowing the focus of its story to one state, and honing in on a smaller cast of characters, makes for a fantastic and engrossing adventure that is about both intimate relationships and huge, secretive scandals.

The fact that this is just one half of a duology means that, while the story wraps up nicely here, we have tons of questions that we’re itching to get answers to in Trails to Azure. If you haven't played Trails, it's time to overcome that barrier, because there’s no better place to zero in on this fantastic series than in Crossbell.

Fortunately, Trails to Azure is also on sale for the same price of £25.19 (-30%)

The Mummy Demastered (Switch eShop)

£7.19 (-60%)

They say don't judge a book by its cover, and you shouldn't judge this game based on its tie-in movie. WayForward's The Mummy Demastered deserves to stand on its own as one of the best examples of not only a retro-styled pixel art aesthetic, but as an excellent combination of run 'n' gunning, platforming and exploration.

The game benefits from paying homage to multiple 16-bit ancestors rather than strictly sticking to its celluloid source material; The Mummy Demastered is a polished, accomplished and satisfying adventure that will entertain more than just Metroidvania fans.

The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe (Switch eShop)

£11.99 (-40%)

A thoroughly enjoyable expansion of an already classic game treated with love, care, and most importantly a meta awareness that pays tribute to everything that made the original so beloved.

The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe may leave a small few questioning more than they’d like, but we wouldn’t want it any other way.

The Talos Principle: Deluxe Edition (Switch eShop)

£4.04 (-85%)

Croteam, the creator of The Talos Principle, was previously known primarily for their silly (but fun) Serious Sam titles. The Talos Principle shows a remarkable maturity and depth of scope that's perhaps surprising, but in a very good way.

It poses interesting questions, allows the player to progress at their own pace — mostly in a non-linear fashion — and is a hugely satisfying piece of game design. Utterly entrancing and highly recommended.

The Touryst (Switch eShop)

£10.79 (-40%)

The Touryst is a joyous little adventure that sinks its blocky hooks into you and doesn't let go until it's done.

It's got a perfect balance of atmospheric puzzling, leisurely exploring and minigame madness that'll keep you thoroughly entertained from start to finish, and its collection of tiny little voxel islands are a joy to discover, bursting with surprises to uncover and presented in a truly dazzling art-style that's achieved whilst performing flawlessly on Nintendo's console.

The puzzles might not be the most taxing you'll ever come across and you'll blow through the whole thing pretty quickly, but overall this is a top-notch – and perfectly priced – little gem.

Thumper (Switch eShop)

£3.19 (-80%)

Thumper is a fantastic video game, an extravagant rhythm experience that's also a brutal assault on the senses. It's extremely difficult - painfully so at times - yet we feel the need to persevere, retrying tough stages over and over again. Even when that's done, the drive for better ranks remains simply because the game compels us to play on.

The only real flaw of Thumper, in actual fact, is that it offers so little respite and no 'easy' mode for players. Some may scoff at that, saying it's a game designed to be tough, but the downside is that without that optional concession the game will be inaccessible and impenetrable for some players. That's a pity, as for those up for the challenge it's a wonderful — albeit gruelling — gaming experience.