Switch eShop Game Reviews scoring 9 or 10/10
Review Divinity: Original Sin 2 - Definitive Edition (Switch) - A Pure Work Of Magic
A Switch port that Bellegar's belief
Divinity: Original Sin 2 begins with your character, a 'Sourcerer', facing a pretty difficult decision when the ship transporting them to the Divine Order-controlled prison island of Fort Joy is attacked by a huge Voidwoken Kraken and left floundering. You fight your way to the upper deck and, upon arriving at...
Review Blasphemous (Switch) - A Nightmarishly Good Mix Of Metroid And Dark Souls
Witness the sickness
The Game Kitchen's Blasphemous opens with its central protagonist, the metal-masked Penitent One, last survivor of the Silent Sorrow Massacre, staggering to his feet atop a mass grave of bodies, each one an exact replica of himself. Here is a hero caught in an endless cycle of death and rebirth, charged with lifting a great...
Review River City Girls (Switch) - Streets Of Rage 4 Has Some Real Competition
A girls' fight out
The Kunio-kun series has been around for more than three decades in Japan, delivering a steady stream of quality titles mostly featuring its trademark art style: chunky characters with big heads. Some of the games made it to the west under various guises – Renegade, Super Dodge Ball, Crash ‘n The Boys, Nintendo World Cup and...
Review FAR: Lone Sails (Switch) - A Glorious Mix Of Genres That Captivates Without Saying A Word
Ship-shape
The terrain is cold and unyielding here, the horizon sprinkled with the snapped struts of an industrial era gone by, resentful reminders of what used to be but is unceremoniously no more. As you journey onward – because that's all you do here; you just journey onward, forever rumbling towards the right of your screen – you'll see them...
Review Pillars Of Eternity: Complete Edition (Switch) - The Game That Saved Obsidian
To Infinity and Beyond
The game that saved Obsidian, Pillars of Eternity was originally released back in 2015. It quickly broke records for a crowdfunded title when it was first announced, with over 77,000 backers raising a cool $1 million in the first 24hrs of its Kickstarter campaign to put the studio – which had been limping along after a...
Review Forager (Switch) - A Delightful Fusion Of Stardew Valley And Harvest Moon That You Should Own
What a wonderful world
You wake up on an isolated, deserted island. It's quiet. There are only a few rocks and trees to keep you company. But you have a pickaxe. Let's break up this rock, see what you get. Oh, a few bits of coal. Okay, let's smash up some more stuff. Now you can build a furnace. Good, let's get crafting. You've levelled up too –...
Review Tiny Metal: Full Metal Rumble (Switch) - Finally, A True Successor To Advance Wars Emerges
The tiny student becomes a metal master
It’s now been eleven whole years since we’ve had a new Advance Wars game, with Nintendo seemingly happy to let its successful SRPG series slide into oblivion since 2008’s Dark Conflict on the DS, disregarding the pleas of fans whilst instead turning its attention to the more story-oriented and emotional...
Review Blazing Chrome (Switch) - A Truly Amazing Contra Tribute That 2D Fans Will Adore
I need your clothes, your boots, and your hover-bike
When Konami announced Contra: Rogue Corps – the latest entry in the Contra series – during Nintendo's E3 2019 Direct, you could almost hear a collective groan of disappointment worldwide. Of course, the realisation that Konami is actually still investing in console games was an absolute...
Review What Remains Of Edith Finch (Switch) - One Of The Most Unforgettable Games On Switch
Sugar, we're going down swinging
The haphazardly-built house of the Finch family is far from just a location in What Remains of Edith Finch. With the entirety of developer Giant Sparrow’s game taking place in and around this singular family residence, it’s obvious that a lot of work has gone into making the house its own standalone character...
Bullet Heaven
The year is 2061 and a fully automated energy system known as BAC has gone rogue, mankind teeters on the brink of extinction unless one hero pilot, (that’s you by the way), can manoeuvre their STORK fighter, equipped with the newly developed Rolling Gun, deep into enemy territory to face off against a sentient robotic terror and save...
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Review Contra Anniversary Collection (Switch) - Run 'N Gun Perfection
Gunning for glory
And so we come to the end (for now) of Konami’s triple helping of retro compilations. After giving us an arcade collection that was heavy on the shooters and a Castlevania collection that celebrated the spooky series’ early days, the same treatment has now been given to the Contra series, which offers some of the finest run...
Striking a chord
From the opening menu that uses not the rousing Zelda overworld music but the understated theme from Ocarina of Time's title screen, you know you’re about to go on a special journey. Cadence of Hyrule (we won’t bother with its ludicrously long official moniker) takes the music we all know and love and remixes it with the...
Review Slay The Spire (Switch) - A Sublime Fusion Of Genres You Simply Have To Experience
Dungeon Master
There are a handful of Switch games we know we’ll likely never uninstall from our systems; an elite list of titles so addictive and so well suited to the portable nature of Nintendo’s system that they’ll always have a special place allocated on that MicroSD card. We’re talking about games like Mario Kart 8, Celeste, Axiom...
Review Katana ZERO (Switch) - A Razor-Sharp Action Platformer That Everyone Should Play
A much-needed shot in the arm for sidescrollers
The '80s was a decade that modern media seems to be overly enamoured with, to the point that it becomes almost tiresome to see yet another game or movie that makes its '80s influence a big selling point. Often, these works merely pander to nostalgia, going after the low-hanging fruit in an effort to...
Review Cuphead (Switch) - The Xbox Masterpiece Becomes An Essential Purchase On Switch
It’s a mug’s game
It’s a well-known fact that teamwork makes a dream work. Console wars are all well and good, but when great games are made available on multiple systems, the ultimate winner is the player. The recent love-in we’ve been seeing between Nintendo and Microsoft started a while back when Minecraft was released on Nintendo...
Review Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (Switch) - A Dazzling Port That Sacrifices Very Little
Ninja Theory's critical darling arrives on Switch in fine form
The critically acclaimed Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice won a whole host of awards back in 2017 on PS4 and PC, so hearing that the game was coming to Switch sent ripples of excitement through the NL office. Ninja Theory, the studio behind Heavenly Sword, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West and...
Review AngerForce: Reloaded (Switch) - A Superb Shooter With Surprising Staying Power
It's raining robots
The ability to undock the Switch Joy-Con and play the console in 'portrait' or 'TATE' mode has gifted Nintendo fans with some truly excellent shooters since the console launched in 2017; we've already seen the likes of Ikaruga, Strikers 1945, Psyvariar Delta and Gunbird 2, all of which can be played in portrait orientation,...
Review Blaster Master Zero 2 (Switch) - Pure, Retro Platforming Goodness At Its Finest
A masterclass in retro game design
In the early days of the Switch eShop, one of the first indie darlings to resonate with audiences was Blaster Master Zero, an enhanced remake of the NES classic. What began as an already solid remake quickly grew into something much more substantial thanks to a series of paid content drops and free updates that...
Review Ape Out (Switch) - A Short But Oh-So-Sweet Action Title That Every Switch Owner Should Play
Ape escape
It’s interesting how modern times have created something of a renaissance in game development, with more developers than ever now producing new games, yet these games, in many ways, feel like they’re becoming gradually more homogenous. Ape Out pushes back against this trend in the best kind of way, crafting a distinctive identity for...
Review Tetris 99 (Switch) - A Revolutionary Take On A Puzzle Classic
Apex who?
If you’d have asked us, just a few days ago, for a comprehensive list of video game series which we could imagine in a 'Battle Royale' format, Tetris would have been right at the bottom. Splatoon could be a good shout with a lot of tweaking, and maybe even an ultra-cruel Pikmin showdown – heck, we’d even put Nintendogs higher in the...
Review City Of Brass (Switch) - An Action-Packed Roguelike That's Worth Its Weight In Gold
A diamond in the rough
City of Brass is all about greed. Naturally, you love pilfering shiny and sparkling trinkets, but just how close will you tread into the unknown to sate your desire for wealth? Will your avarice help break an age-old curse and claim limitless riches, or condemn you to an eternity of torment? It's an intriguing premise, and one...
Review Downwell (Switch) - The Ultimate Version Of Everyone's Favourite Potholing Roguelike Shooter
Get down and TATE
Imagine for a moment that you’re taking a stroll in the countryside and you happen upon an old well – what do you do? At the very least, you wander up and take a peek; you might drop a pebble down there, or even a cheeky loogie if nobody’s around. Why? It’s tough to say exactly, but Downwell taps into that human fascination...
Review Wargroove (Switch) - A Turn-Based Strategy Classic That Intelligent Systems Would Be Proud Of
Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war
Intelligent Systems has always been known for its strategy game IP, with Fire Emblem naturally being the most popular, but that esteemed series might never have made it West were it not for the more colourful and militaristic antics of the Advance Wars franchise. Unfortunately – despite its similarities to...
Review SEGA AGES Out Run (Switch) - A Fantastic Update Of One Of Arcade Gaming's True Greats
The allure of the open road
Out Run is the greatest, most influential arcade racing game ever made. There, we said it. Yes, there have been other classics over the years: Daytona USA, Ridge Racer, Virtua Racing, Let’s Go! Jungle and the like. (Okay, maybe not that last one.) But no game has meant as much to the genre as Out Run. Back in 2015,...
Review Firewatch (Switch) - There's No Smoke Without Fire In This Essential Indie Hit
If you go down to the woods today…
During the early days of Firewatch’s development, Washington-based indie studio Campo Santo made a point of speaking to real fire lookouts to get a sense of what it’s like to be stationed for months on the end, deep in a North American forest. “Why would you make a game out of this job?” some of their...
The colour of magic
The capture button is one of our favourite things about the Switch. Any time you see something impressive in a game, the ability to snatch that image and freeze it in time forever is sitting right there next to your thumb. In most games, it’s only used every now and then, but by the time we’d finished Gris our screenshot...
Review Katamari Damacy REROLL (Switch) - A Timely Remaster Of A True Modern Classic
Keep rollin'
Games are often at their best when they embrace the truly weird and wonderful. In an era where so much emphasis is placed on gritty realism, life-like character models and terrifyingly accurate simulations, it’s nice to punctuate that authenticity with oddity or two. Thankfully, the peculiar world of Katamari has returned in the form...
Breathtaking
Journey changed the game when it released back in 2012, bringing a distinctly serene experience to PlayStation owners that championed the experience of play, rather than the goal of conquering challenges. Journey generated all sorts of acclaim for its atmosphere and pace, so it comes as no surprise that Matt Nava – Journey’s art...
Review Horizon Chase Turbo (Switch) - A Worthy Successor To Sega's Out Run
Blue sky thinking
There are many gamers out there – this writer included – who would kill for a modern-day version of Out Run. Not literally, mind you, but we could probably stretch to petty crime if need be. While fans of Sega’s definitive arcade racer will be pleased to hear it’s coming to the Switch soon as part of the Sega AGES series,...
Dead and loving it
Somehow, somehow, Grim Fandango is 20 years old this year. Twenty years! For some of you reading this review, the following game might look just like any other title from the transformative PC gaming days of the ’90s. A relic of an era where polygons were blocky, textures lacked detail and aspect ratios were square at best. But...
