Game Reviews scoring 8/10
Pyramid scheme
Isn’t it comforting to settle in with a good book that you already know? Microids certainly seem to hope so, as their Studio Lyon is snuggling yet another Christie classic right into your Switch. A follow-up to 2023’s Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile may not be as big as that choo-choo colossus, but it nearly is...
Review EA SPORTS FC 26 (Switch 2) - A Fantastic Football Game, Once You're Used To The Frame Rate
Well worth a Lewandownload
EA’s football series has had a turbulent time on modern Nintendo consoles, as any long-time Nintendo Life reader will doubtless already know. When the Switch got its first entry in the form of FIFA 18, this very reviewer pointed out that it was essentially a port of the Legacy Edition on Xbox 360 and PS3 at the time,...
Review Earthion (Switch) - A New 16-Bit Shooter That's Bold, Inventive & Hugely Enjoyable
It means the world
While not entirely dormant for the last 30 years, Yuzo Koshiro’s Ancient Corp — responsible for Streets of Rage II, Story of Thor, and the Master System’s superb Sonic the Hedgehog — is finally back in the public eye with the release of Earthion. What’s significant for the small studio is a return to the console that...
Review Strange Antiquities (Switch) – A Wicked Good Occult Puzzler & Sequel
Little antique shop of horrors
In 2022’s Strange Horticulture, you ran a little shop of horrors, dealing plants with an occult edge to the inhabitants of a mysterious dark town. Now, Bad Viking and Iceberg Interactive’s follow-up, Strange Antiquities, takes us back to Undermere. Again, something strange is afoot. Again, you hear residents’...
Review BOKURA: Planet (Switch 2) - A Little GameChat Gem That Nobody's Talking About
Twin peeks
BOKURA: planet is a two-player, two-device-only co-op game that launched on Switch and Switch 2 on 7th August. A follow-up to 2023's BOKURA, indie developer tokoronyori says of the first game that he "kept wondering what scenery I might have seen if I'd gone in the complete opposite direction...In the end, I couldn't hold back. I ran the...
Review Star Wars Outlaws (Switch 2) - An Underrated Adventure, A Super-Solid Port
Your lack of faith is disturbing
I find myself in a bit of an unusual position with Star Wars Outlaws on Switch 2 in that, having already played through the entire thing and reviewed it for our sister site Pure Xbox in 2024, I feel like I'm getting a quick second chance to see if my 8/10 score was justified. Spoiler alert: it was absolutely...
Review SHINOBI: Art Of Vengeance (Switch) - A Beautifully Crafted Return For Joe Musashi
Knives out
Regarding modern augmentations, SHINOBI: Art of Vengeance and Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound — released not even a month apart — have a lot of overlap. Yet, after 45 minutes of play, I was convinced that Art of Vengeance is one of the finest 2D Ninja action games ever made. Perhaps the finest; and such praise doesn’t come lightly. After...
Review Operation Night Strikers (Switch) - M2 Does It Again With This Taito-Themed Collection
Wolf pack
Taito may be famous for creating the likes of Space Invaders and Bubble Bobble, but for a brief period at the close of the 1980s, it became the hottest name in arcades thanks to the release of Operation Wolf, a Rambo-inspired military shooter with a realistic Uzi strapped to its cabinet. Ported to pretty much every home system of the era,...
Review Story Of Seasons: Grand Bazaar - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition - The Series' Best Remake Yet
This bazaar adventure is a real diamond
Sometimes the lines between remaster and remake can be blurred. Metroid Prime Remastered seems much more like a full remake, and a few games called remakes don’t quite live up to expectations. For Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar - based on Harvest Moon DS: Grand Bazaar - even the term remake doesn’t quite...
Review OFF (Switch) - A Worthy Remaster Of A Weird Cult Classic RPG
Get up, get up, get out of here!
Though it may feel like the ‘quirky’ branch of indie JRPGs has become a played out trope by now, it wasn’t too long ago that a confusing, humorous, and parodying take on the standard template was seen as a novel concept. One of the most significant examples of this was OFF, a simple freeware RPG Maker project...
Review Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown (Switch) - A Rad Turn-Based Brawler Blend
Your turn, dude!
There were occasions in 2024 where I wanted nothing more than for the frequency of TMNT game releases to slow down a little. We got three new video game outings, and while some opted for big swings, I couldn't help but feel that the sewer-dwellers' saturation was becoming too much — it's funny how a hit like Shredder's Revenge and...
Review Gradius Origins (Switch) - An Almost-Perfect Package For Shoot 'Em Up Fans
Road British
It is testament to Konami’s back-catalogue, from an era when it was the undisputed king of the 16-Bit and 2D arcade craft, that it can muster so many extraordinary compilations. Gradius Origins joins both the Contra and Castlevania Anniversary releases, and Digital Eclipse's wonderful Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga...
Mini Review Tiny Bookshop (Switch) - The Epitome Of Cosy, Perfect For Bookworms
I like big books and I cannot lie
If you’re a self-proclaimed bookworm like me, then chances are you’ve probably fantasised about packing everything away, moving to a quaint seaside town, and starting up a cute little bookshop (don’t worry, NL, I’m not going anywhere!). Well, with Tiny Bookshop, that's exactly the pitch. Developed by...
Show me the frame rates!
One of the biggest misses for me personally with the original Switch is that none of the more popular sports games of our time, and I mean these big EA and 2K efforts like Madden NFL 26 here, and the likes of FC 24 or 25, aren't up to standard seen elsewhere. There have been decent enough-ish attempts, some of those footie...
Review Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound (Switch) - A Gorgeous & Gory Return To The Series' 2D Roots
Heads will roll
To return to Ninja Gaiden’s 2D roots in 2025 is a wonderful thing. Dotemu, upon acquiring the license for a series reboot, approached Spanish indie developer The Game Kitchen to get the job done. Known for their remarkable Blasphemous titles, the project was overseen by Team Ninja, who have held the series mantle from 2004 to...
Review Dear Me, I Was... (Switch 2) - A Bold, Heartfelt, Wordless Visual Novel
Crying speedrun (Any%)
A common complaint levied against visual novels is that they’re some of the most text-heavy games one can find on the market. Who wants to spend hours upon hours reading dialogue during precious gaming time? Answer: me, and plenty of other people, but it’s a valid perspective to consider. Visual novels are generally wordy...
Review Time Flies (Switch) – An Indie Oddity That Makes Every Second Count
Lord of the Flies
As I sat down to write this review, I typed ‘What is the lifespan of a housefly?’ into my search bar. It’s not a question I ever really pondered prior to my playthrough of Time Flies. Somehow, this minimalist indie puzzler got me curious enough to wonder. I can’t say there’s ever been a piece of media that’s ever piqued...
Review WWE 2K25 (Switch 2) - The Best Wrestling Game You'll Find On A Switch
Holy smooth frame rates, brother
Now that we've got over the excitement of the initial wave of Switch 2 games (well, just about), we're entering an interesting phase for the new console where certain types of third-party titles — stuff that's either been pretty awful or non-existent on Switch 1 — is now starting to drop. We haven't had a big...
Review Monument Valley 3 (Switch) - A Beautiful Piece Of Work In Need Of A Touch Up
Please, don't touch the artwork
There's something nostalgic about going back to Monument Valley. Ustwo's indie hit debuted on mobile in 2014 and helped establish (at least for a mainstream audience) that the mobile space could include the artistry of the wider indie games scene with thoughtful, immaculately presented, perspective-bending puzzlers...
Review Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 (Switch 2) - A Welcome Reminder Of The Series' Glory Days
Ollie, Ollie, Ollie, Oi, Oi, Oi!
I have to admit, I was really nervous about Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4. I played the first ‘1 + 2’ collection back in 2021 and absolutely loved it, but my early teenage years were shaped by the Birdman’s third and fourth console outings. So to say that a lot was riding on Iron Galaxy’s remake would be an...
Mini Review Until Then (Switch) - A Relatable Yet Ethereal Narrative Adventure
Glitch in the Matrix
Until Then is a visual novel that tells the story of Mark Borja, a high school student who grapples with the usual day-to-day of teenage life while trying to figure out why he’s experiencing weird cases of déjà vu. It’s a slow burn; one that relishes in the quieter, mundane aspects of life that many TV shows and movies...
Review Ruffy And The Riverside (Switch) - An Inventive Platformer That's More Than Copy-Paste
The right Ruff
Sometimes I'll get asked to review a game that doesn't immediately feel as though it really falls within my wheelhouse. At all. And I have to admit, as much as I do love the look of Ruffy and the Riverside, with its 1980's kids-TV-show-styled characters, replete with visible marker strokes from having been coloured in, I definitely...
Review Deltarune (Switch 2) - A Superbly Subversive RPG That Defies All Rules
A worthy follow up to Undertale
It’s going on seven years since the first chapter of Deltarune became available and after the release of Chapter 2 in 2021, we’re now finally past the halfway mark of the story with the simultaneous release of Chapters 3 and 4. To mark the occasion, Toby Fox has decided to give the game an ‘official' paid...
Nothing soulless about this one
Never let it be said that Atlus is afraid of finding new ways to capitalise on its flagship Shin Megami Tensei franchise—for quite a while now, there have been significantly more spinoff ‘SMT-adjacent’ games than mainline entries. Still, that’s certainly not a bad thing, as the company has clearly come up with...
Review Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster (Switch 2) - A Solid Refresh For A 3DS RPG Gem
Have we been here before?
In 2013 (!), Square Enix released a game in Japan for the 3DS called Bravely Default: Flying Fairy, which (after a modest update) eventually received a Western release as just Bravely Default. At the time, the company had been focusing development resources much more heavily on games it believed would appeal more strongly...
Review Fortnite (Switch 2) - A Visual Overhaul & Neat Mouse Mode Tricks For Ol' Reliable
A mouse-t play
Listen. I'm not gonna dive into this review of Fortnite on Switch 2 with any ideas of pretending to know everything, or even understand anything, about a game that's grown from hastily retooled battle royale to...well...it looks kind of like Roblox now, in all honesty. What on earth is going on here? Yes, since the last time I...
Review Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour - Surprising, Delightful, And You Know Where It Belongs
Museum peace
Altogether now! "This should have been a pack-in." Or, if that simply wasn't on the table, free for the first year. Or free with a Nintendo Switch Online subscription. It's painfully obvious to everybody but Nintendo that paywalling this specific software further behind the already-pricey console is a mistake. And it's a real shame...
Review Wobbly Life (Switch) - Kid-Friendly Open-World Sandbox Is Frustrating Fun
It's a wobbly life
Editor's note: What's this? A non-Switch 2 game?!? Variety, my friends, is the spice of Nintendo Life... A goofy life sim set in a physics-based sandbox, Wobbly Life by RubberBandGames is an entertaining amalgam of open-world adventure and indie party games. With its cartoonish tone and compulsive gameplay, it's clearly...
Cleanliness is next to godliness
If you want to put your Switch 2 through its paces, there’s no shortage of options in its generous launch lineup. Whether it’s the candy-colored charm of Mario Kart World or the neon-drenched cityscape of Cyberpunk 2077, you’re spoiled for choice when it comes to visual powerhouses. With such major titles on...
Tri-forced new content
Editor's Note: As this is our first 'Nintendo Switch 2 Edition' review (and with many more to come, potentially), we want to outline their focus from the off. Our existing reviews — in this case for Breath of the Wild, both the Wii U and Switch versions, and the DLC — are still live and relevant. If you're coming to this...
