Game Reviews scoring 8/10
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...
Review Arcade Archives 2: Ridge Racer (Switch 2) - Still A Thrill, More Than 30 Years Later
Are you all set?
I can appreciate that it's a thoroughly annoying thing to say to anyone under the age of 30, but you really had to be there with games like Namco's Ridge Racer. The original 1993 arcade release was nothing short of breathtaking—so much so that when EDGE magazine put a screenshot on its cover, I remember thinking it simply couldn't...
Concrete schoolyard
Capcom's Street Fighter V (an incredibly good fighter, eventually,) launched in a famously sorry state back in 2016, with no single-player content of note, janky multiplayer, and a roster of fighters that took an age (and lots more money up front) to grow into something that felt fully complete. It was still very good in the end,...
Mini Review Duck Detective: The Ghost Of Glamping (Switch) - A Quacking Little Mystery
I suspect fowl play
A duck stands in a fedora and a trench coat, delivering a noir-style monologue about how his recent divorce has fueled his bread addiction. If this image doesn't tickle you, then you'd better give Duck Detective: The Ghost of Glamping a miss. If it does, oh boy, do we have the recommendation for you. Much like developer Happy...
Blade of glory
When Onimusha: Warlords launched for Switch all the way back in 2019, we had optimistically assumed that its sequel would be right around the corner. How naïve. A bit of patience has been required, but now, more than six years later, Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny has finally been given the same remaster treatment. We can’t be too...
Review Labyrinth Of The Demon King (Switch) - FromSoft & Horror Vibes Straight Out Of '97
Not for the faint of heart
Retro-inspired games have reigned supreme for some time now in the indie scene, but one niche that’s been getting increasingly more attention in recent years is modern projects that aim to replicate the primitive 3D games of the fifth console generation. There’s something distinctly appealing about the roughness of...
Mini Review Please, Touch The Artwork 2 (Switch) - Another Absurd Little Art Exhibit
Touch, I remember touch
The first Please, Touch The Artwork was a stylish puzzler inspired by Piet Mondrian and De Styjl, the Dutch abstract art movement that reached its height around a century ago. We enjoyed Belgian dev Thomas Waterzooi's cracking little curio immensely back in 2022, and this follow-up (which has been available elsewhere since...
Review I, Robot (Switch) - Another Psychedelic Success For Llamasoft & Atari
Proper bangin'
If you looked at the title of Atari’s latest release and thought, 'The Will Smith movie?', don’t worry. I, Robot has nothing to do with the 2004 sci-fi film, nor the original Isaac Asimov short stories upon which it was based. Instead, this is a Llamasoft-developed remake of the 1984 arcade title I, Robot from Dave Theurer...
Good time Gals
Inti Creates is a fascinating development house that has spent the past few years crafting throwbacks to beloved genre archetypes. The team tends to take a specific model and iterate on it across several titles. Aside from Comcept's infamous Mighty No. 9, Inti has a strong history with the Mega Man series, and another beloved template...
Review SaGa Frontier 2 Remastered (Switch) - A Solid Port Of A Great JRPG
It's about family
Families, huh? They can cause us all manner of headaches. Sometimes they invade your personal space or take your favourite shirt without asking, and sometimes they get banished as a child and return home to try to take their rightful place on the throne. Between all of the turn-based combat and extended cutscenes, SaGa Frontier 2...
Review Rift Of The NecroDancer (Switch) - Imagine If Guitar Hero & Ikaruga Made A Baby
Slimes to the left of me, zombies to the right
Canadian developer Brace Yourself Games first hit the spotlight with Crypt of the NecroDancer, a rhythm-based roguelike, all the way back in 2015. Dungeon crawling to a relentless beat became the new dance craze sweeping the nation, and it was warmly welcomed into the Switch indie canon with the 2019...
Mini Review Breakout Beyond (Switch) - A Thrilling Iteration On An Arcade Classic
Breaking the mould
Breakout Beyond comes from Bit.Trip developer Choice Provisions and sees you paddle your way through a total of 72 levels (plus an unlockable ‘Infinite Mode’), most of which are based on iconic Atari developers or IP, like ‘NOHLENN’ (Nolan Bushnell) and ‘RAH-BAHNET’ (Warren Robinett). With plentiful neon and a gentle,...
Read the rune, Konami
Few RPGs, or video games, deal with war and hope in the face of tyranny like the Suikoden series. Konami’s prime RPG series, created by the late, great Yoshitaka Muriyama, is beloved by those who have played them – particularly the first two. They’re about the underdogs, about those who want better for their country, and...
