Switch Game Reviews
The sky's the limit
There’s something magical about the first time you dive from the Sky to the Surface in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. That one moment feels like a complete distillation of what made Breath of the Wild feel so special to so many – the freedom, the thrill, and the scope are all captured perfectly as you careen to...
Review Teslagrad 2 (Switch) - A Fine Follow-Up That Leaves You Wanting More
Lighting strikes twice
When the original Teslagrad released in 2013, the indie game scene was in a very different place. Long before modern Indie Worlds and Nindie Showcases and games from small developers put out by billion-dollar publishers, indie games still felt very much independent. The original game — recently re-released in Remastered form...
Review Bramble: The Mountain King (Switch) - Solid Puzzle Platforming In A Horrid Nordic Mythscape
Step aside, Hansel and Gretel
A young boy named Olle treks through dark woods after his missing sister. At first, nothing seems awry, yet he soon comes upon pinecones arranged in strange formations. Not long after, a massive shadow flits overhead. In the distance, obscured by the moonlight slanting through the trees, a massive, insidious shape...
Review Minecraft Legends (Switch) - A Jankier, Less-Fun Pikmin, And A Massive Disappointment
Not quite legendary
Few games have had more cultural impact than Minecraft, but it seems that Mojang has struggled to recapture anywhere near the same success in its efforts to expand the IP beyond its sandbox origins. Minecraft: Story Mode was a decent, if uninspiring Telltale game, while Minecraft Dungeons proved to be a solid, but unexceptional...
Review Trinity Trigger (Switch) - A Blast From The Past For Secret Of Mana Fans
Pull my (Trinity) Trigger
Fans of '90s JRPGs, particularly those released for the SNES, will have been watching Trinity Trigger closely. The game boasts a veritable dream team from some of the best JRPGs of the past 30 years, including those who worked on Xenoblade Chronicles, Octopath Traveler, and, of course, Secret of Mana. There is a lot for...
Review Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp (Switch) - A Pair Of Strategy Gems Delightfully Reimagined
Black Hole Sun
After two lengthy delays to its original release date of December 2021 — a combination of last-minute fine-tuning and "recent world events" (aka Vladimir Putin's illegal invasion of Ukraine) — Wayforward's Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp is finally here. This pair of Game Boy Advance classics have stood the time incredibly well...
Review Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection (Switch) - A Rock-Solid Compilation
Jack in!! Mega Man, Execute!
In the early 2000s, an ancient and long-forgotten era when Capcom regularly released new Mega Man games, the company decided to produce not one, but two mainline Mega Man series on the popular Game Boy Advance. Mega Man Zero would continue the gameplay and storyline that the previous action platforming franchises were...
Review GrimGrimoire OnceMore (Switch) - Magical Quality Of Life Additions Refine Repetitive RTS
Time is an unending circle
Learning magic is full of danger. One day you’re just getting your head around the basics of summoning different creatures and the next you’re stuck in an inexplicable time loop to prevent a trapped Archmage from reclaiming an artifact of unimaginable power. At least, that’s the way things go in GrimGrimoire OnceMore...
Review MLB The Show 23 - A Solid Inning On Switch With A Stellar Storylines Mode
Whiffs and Dingers
For the second year running, SIE San Diego's MLB The Show franchise lands on Nintendo Switch and, this time around, history takes centre stage with a new Storylines mode giving players the opportunity to learn about some of the all-time great baseballers from the Negro Leagues. It’s undoubtedly the highlight of an outing that...
Review Blade Assault (Switch) - A Competent 2D Roguelite In Desperate Need Of Sharpening
To be blunt
It must be tough being a developer in the roguelite space these days. The absolute explosion of popularity this genre has enjoyed over the past several years has led to an impressive number of innovative new titles that find cool ways to create new play experiences or reinterpret old ones, but competition has never been higher and the...
Going out on a thigh note
Gust's long-running Atelier series has come on leaps and bounds over the past few years. Its various recent appearances on Switch in particular display a steely determination on the part of the Japanese developer to step up with its JRPG franchise and make a concerted effort to rub shoulders with the big guns. In Atelier...
Cel of the century
Foolish is the person who looks at a tie-in game aimed mainly at younger players and instantly dismisses it as a load of old bums. Of course, most of the time they’re completely right – we still have occasional nightmares of that time we played Hotel for Dogs on the Wii – but every now and then a licensed game will go above...
Review Bayonetta Origins: Cereza And The Lost Demon (Switch) - A Placid Prequel For Platinum's Star
A Kind of Magic
If you happened to read our Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon preview a few weeks back you'll know that after the first five chapters of the game, we were pretty excited to continue our adventures through PlatinumGames' bewitching spin-off from the main Bayonetta series. We were impressed with its mix of gameplay mechanics...
Review Mato Anomalies (Switch) - Ambitious Detective RPG Is Overstuffed And Unengaging
Shanghai Surprise?
Arrowiz, the Shanghai-based development team behind 2021's Hermitage: Strange Case Files, returns to Nintendo Switch with a determined attempt to replicate the general rhythm and vibe of Atlus' all-conquering Persona series in the form of Mato Anomalies. This is an RPG that throws a whole bunch of ideas and gameplay mechanics at...
Review Session: Skate Sim - A Valiant Attempt That Doesn't Quite Land On Switch
A grind
What instantly springs to mind when you consider skateboarding video games? If it’s effortlessly pulling off super cool tricks, grinding rails at high speed, doing flashy spins off the top of huge vert ramps and putting together sick combos for rad scores, then you may need to pump the brakes on that board of yours a little before deciding...
Review The Legend Of Heroes: Trails To Azure (Switch) - Crossbell's Conclusion Is A Cracking RPG
Blue-sky thinking
The release of the Crossbell Saga in English has been a long time coming for fans of the Trails series. And with The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero’s cracking debut last September, the wait for Trails to Azure has had us salivating. And finally, the missing gap in the series has been filled, and the conclusion of the...
Review Labyrinth Of Galleria: The Moon Society (Switch) - A Deep, Dense, Devastating Dungeon Crawler
Moon's haunted
Though the JRPG has remained the de facto king of the RPG space for the last few decades, one could argue that the popular genre would never have existed were it not for DRPGs. What started in eons past with titles like Ultima and aimed to translate a traditional D&D gameplay experience to the screen has given way to more...
Review Redemption Reapers (Switch) - An Uneven Tactical RPG With A Fantastic Soundtrack
Fails to live up to its hype
When we first loaded up Redemption Reapers, we were in love with the aesthetic of the game. A dark and gritty tactical RPG with surprisingly good-looking cutscenes and haunting music was exactly the palate cleanser we needed after playing through Fire Emblem Engage. While those strong points never get old during this...
Review Digimon World: Next Order (Switch) - A Repetitive, Open-World Grind For Die-Hard Fans Only
The only way is Easy Mode
Just like any franchise that’s been going as long as it has, Digimon video games have had plenty of ups and downs. Digimon World: Next Order was first released in 2016 for the PlayStation Vita, with a PlayStation 4 release making its way to the West the following year. Since then, it has enjoyed enough of a cult following...
Review Clive 'N' Wrench (Switch) - A Banjo-Kazooie-Style Throwback That Hits All The Wrong Notes
Monkey see, monkey don’t
There is little argument that Switch has become one of the premier consoles for 3D platformers. From a host of classics from the 'Golden Age', such as Banjo-Kazooie and Super Mario 64, to incredible brand new experiences, like Kirby and the Forgotten Land, and brilliant indies such as Lunistice, there is a 3D platformer...
Dream Weaver
If you’ve had a gander at our list of the Best Kirby Games Of All Time lately (or read our original 9/10 review from back in the day, more to the point) you’ll know that we hold Kirby’s Return to Dream Land in high regard around these parts. A return to classic Kirby action after a few less successful deviations from the norm...
Review Octopath Traveler II - A Confident Follow-Up And One Of Switch's Finest RPGs
Eight roads diverged in a wood, and I... well, I took them all!
A year after the Switch released, Team Asano—who made its name on the Bravely Default games on 3DS—released Octopath Traveler for the Switch. The fascinating HD-2D art style immediately grabbed people’s attention, while the clever implementation of classic JRPG gameplay quickly...
Review Tales of Symphonia Remastered - A GameCube Classic That Shows Its Age On Switch
Dwarven Vow #108: Let sleeping dogs lie
Though it’s never quite had the popularity of the Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest franchises, the Tales series has set a good reputation as the ‘other’ classic JRPG series that’s consistently maintained a decent quality for quite some time now. Back in 2004, Namco (no Bandai yet) was only on the fifth...
Review Theatrhythm Final Bar Line (Switch) - A Magical Musical Romp Through Final Fantasy History
Feel the Theatrhyhm
If there’s one thing pretty much everyone can agree on, it’s that the Final Fantasy series has some incredible music. With a 35-year legacy and around 100 games bearing the Final Fantasy moniker, it’s not surprising that the music from the series is some of the most recognisable in video game history. Theatrhythm, then, is...
Review Metroid Prime Remastered (Switch) - A Long-Awaited And Stunning Return Of A Legend
Prime example
It’s difficult to believe now, but there was once a time when the notion of a first-person Metroid game seemed unfathomable. Prior to the release of Metroid Prime back in 2002, the franchise had been confined to the 2D realm, with complex environments full of secrets and hidden equipment that bolstered your abilities and combat...
Review The Pathless - Slick, Open-World Traversal Transitions To Switch Solidly
A Link to the Path
Having hit it out of the (water) park with its debut ABZÛ in 2016, Giant Squid landed The Pathless on PS5 just as the console launched in November 2020. The game provided the kind of audiovisual spectacle that would satisfy early adopters hankering after something to show off their next-gen kit, so you’d be forgiven for...
Review SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake (Switch) - The Best SpongeBob Platformer Yet
Across the Spongeverse
A few years ago, Purple Lamp Studios released SpongeBob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated, a solid revival of a 3D platforming classic from decades past. Sales for that remaster were evidently robust enough to justify development of an all-new sequel, as SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake was announced a...
Review Fire Emblem Engage (Switch) - Relationships Get Sidelined By A Thrilling Combat-First Focus
School's out
It's been almost four years since the hugely successful Fire Emblem: Three Houses stormed onto Switch and reignited our passion for Intelligent Systems' long-running tactical RPG franchise. Here was a game that deepened the relationship and social sim aspects and captured the hearts of gamers who revelled in three separate campaign...
Review WRC Generations (Switch) - Rough-Looking Rallying With Too Many Compromises
It's the end of the road
It’s only taken 11 games to figure it out, but publisher Nacon has finally realised that numbering its WRC games has perhaps started to get a little ridiculous. As such, this sequel to WRC 10 has ditched the numbering system, and goes by the more approachable title of WRC Generations. It’s an interesting time to finally...
Review Aliisha: The Oblivion Of Twin Goddesses (Switch) - A Co-op Puzzler That Demands Two Switches
It takes two (Switches)
At first glance, UNDERSCORE and Joy Brick's brand new puzzle adventure, Aliisha: The Oblivion of Twin Goddesses, shows plenty of promise in how it's been designed from the ground up for two players to indulge in lots of cooperative sleuthing action that makes full use of the Nintendo Switch's unique range of abilities. Here...