Switch eShop Game Reviews scoring 9 or 10/10
Girl power
Cellar Door Games put itself on the map with the release of Rogue Legacy, a critically lauded roguelike sidescroller that in some ways set a trend still being followed by indies today, but the studio later went on to release a new game, Full Metal Furies, to much less fanfare. There were plenty of factors that resulted in the studio's...
Review Rogue Legacy (Switch) - Generations Of Challenge Packaged Up In An Irresistible Roguelike
A legacy to look up to
Though the Castlevania series has had a rather inconsistent and confusing run over the years, the one thing tying it all together is the famed Belmont clan, with a member of the family showing up in just about every game released in the series so far. That age-old battle between the forces of good and evil has spawned all...
Review Transistor (Switch) - A Towering Achievement That Comes Highly Recommended On Switch
Process this
Supergiant Games made its name when it released Bastion in 2011, producing an unforgettable RPG with a strong art direction and compelling story that would go on to become an indie classic in later years. It was a tall order, then, for the studio to follow that act with something that could raise the quality bar again; it’s tough...
Review Mark Of The Ninja: Remastered (Switch) - A Stellar Stealth Hit That's Better Than Ever
Hello darkness, my old friend
In 2012, Klei Entertainment (which would later go on to produce Don’t Starve) debuted Mark of the Ninja on the Xbox Live Arcade, introducing a bold 2D take on the stealth genre. Boasting gorgeous hand-drawn visuals and tight, open-ended gameplay, this new platformer quickly developed a reputation for its quality,...
Review TowerFall (Switch) - This Couch Co-Op Classic Is Perfectly Suited To Nintendo Switch
Towering over the competition
Back in 2012, the gaming world was taken by storm by the announcement of the OUYA, a crowdfunded attempt at creating a major console platform geared specifically towards indies. Though we could easily write a thesis on all the reasons why the OUYA ended up being an enormous failure, the hardware did have some saving...
Review Armello (Switch) - Anthropomorphic Antics In A Lush Board Game World
Crowning glory
Board games have long remained a physical alternative to the digital delights of video games, with their multi-coloured dice, cardboard pieces and overly-complicated rules, but the news that much-loved classics such as Carcassonne and Pandemic are Switch-bound means we're finally seeing the mediums united once and for all. However,...
Faster than greased lightning
In 1975, a Hungarian psychologist named Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (try pronouncing that one out loud) coined the term 'flow', referring to a state of mind in which one becomes so enchanted or focused on something that all sense of space and time outside of that focus point essentially seems to disappear. The state of flow...
Review Capcom Beat 'Em Up Bundle (Switch) - Nirvana For Side-Scrolling Fighter Fans
Coins not required
While it can't take credit for creating the genre, Capcom is arguably one of the most important companies ever to work in the realm of side-scrolling beat 'em ups. Entries like Renegade, Double Dragon and Golden Axe may have established the template of the humble 'belt scroller', but it was Capcom's seminal 1989 effort Final Fight...
Review Undertale (Switch) - A Postmodern RPG Classic That Every Fan Of The Genre Should Play
"Aren't you happy?"
RPGs have been around for nearly as long as the modern gaming industry has, and though genre standards are constantly being raised through the generations, there tends to be a homogenous sameness that many RPGs inevitably fall victim into. Octopath Traveler, for example, is a fantastic game, but it’s about as firmly traditional...
Review Bastion (Switch) - A Captivating Indie Gem That Hasn't Been Dulled By The Passage Of Time
You've done good, Kid
The debate over whether or not video games should be considered an artform will likely never reach a firm conclusion, but that doesn’t stop developers from trying to show how a game can be something more meaningful and touching than mere disposable entertainment. Enter Bastion, the debut release from Supergiant Games, which...
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Review Gone Home (Switch) - A Peerless Masterclass In Interactive Storytelling Comes To Switch
Family values
We’re all happy at how well Nintendo Switch is performing - not just because we’re obvious Ninty fans, but because such success has opened the door to a much wider and diverse range of titles than any other platform in the Big N’s history. So it’s fitting that something as niche and avant-garde as the 'walking simulator' is...
The beginning of the end
It’s almost frightening to think it’s been almost six and a half years since Telltale first brought The Walking Dead to life in a new and exciting interpretation; the game that finally took its choice-driven narrative template and made those consequences truly consequential in a world where a single decision could...
Review Planet Alpha (Switch) - A Truly Mesmerising Puzzle-Platformer That You Should Download Now
An odyssey to another world
There are so many games out there that wear their inspirations proudly, pinned to their breast like a badge of the highest honour. For some, it ends up showing just how lacking their imitation ultimately is (take Fall of Light: Darkest Edition’s love for Dark Souls, for instance), but for a select few that obvious love...
Review Into The Breach (Switch) - The Turn-Based Pacific Rim Simulator You've Always Wanted
Right at home on Switch
"It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not weakness. That is life.” That nugget of wisdom comes not from Confucius or Machiavelli, but from Star Trek: The Next Generation's Captain Jean-Luc Picard. It’s difficult to think of a game that exemplifies this sentiment better than Into The Breach. This...
Review Hyper Light Drifter: Special Edition (Switch eShop)
A modern classic, updated
Two years on from its original release, Hyper Light Drifter might not feel quite as unique in both its art style and the relentless difficulty of its combat - especially in the company of Dead Cells and so many other pixel art indies - but that doesn’t mean this acclaimed hack ‘n’ slash odyssey has lost any of its...
Review The Messenger (Switch eShop)
Go, ninja, go!
Twenty-five years ago, a bright-eyed elementary school student whiled away time in class doodling crude pictures of ninjas in his notebook, completely unaware that such pictures would grow into a lifelong passion project. Indeed, The Messenger is the culmination of decades of daydreaming and prototyping, slowly being refined down into...
Review Bad North (Switch eShop)
Heathen chemistry
If the recent releases of Jotun: Valhalla Edition and The Banner Saga Trilogy have taught us anything, it’s this: the Vikings make for the most bloodthirsty of heroes. But what if the tables were turned, and it was you defending against the reaving Norsemen? The sound of a ghostly war horn roaring in the distance. Longships...
Review Okami HD (Switch eShop)
They're good dogs, Brent
Nowadays, Platinum Games is one of the most respected names in gaming when it comes to action titles, but long before the studio was founded, many of its staff members were part of a Capcom subsidiary called Clover Studio. Clover made its name on producing interesting new IP instead of sequels, and its magnum opus was the...
Review Iconoclasts (Switch eShop)
Praise be
Though it may not initially seem so, video game production is an extremely demanding task, requiring equal amounts of ambition, creativity, and attention to detail to produce something memorable - and that’s not even accounting for the long shadow cast by countless other games that have garnered mass acclaim and popularity. The act of...
Review Hand of Fate 2 (Switch eShop)
All hands on deck
We’ve seen plenty of genres successfully spliced together during Nintendo Switch’s lifetime - including the exploration and fisticuffs of Pato Box and the RPG/base-building magic of Dragon Quest Builders - but nothing quite like Defiant Development’s long-awaited sequel. Fusing the basic premise of a deck-building card game...
Review Mega Man X Legacy Collection (Switch eShop)
Xcellent
After releasing six games in the classic Mega Man franchise, Capcom had a working formula for the Blue Bomber down to a science, but things were getting rather tired. Mega Man needed something more than a charge shot or a slide move to mix up the gameplay, but that core loop of action platforming and fighting robot masters didn’t need to...
Review West of Loathing (Switch eShop)
You got a perk: Stupidly Good
It takes a lot of courage to design, program, and release a game with an intentionally crude and simplistic art style, but when you’re basing it off a browser game from 2003, that’s just what you’ve got to do. West of Loathing is an almost entirely monochrome stick figure RPG that hides not only...
Still absolutely heaven
Switch owners have been spoiled for moody, melancholic platformers of late. First, we got the Metroidvania masterpiece that was Hollow Knight, then the beautifully grim platform-puzzling of Inside and its equally downbeat older cousin, Limbo. We've already taken a look at Inside and recommended it wholeheartedly. But if you...
Playdead leaves us happy feeling sad
If Inside proves anything to Mario-obsessed Nintendo fans, it's that there's more than one way to skin a platforming cat. Which is a bizarrely grotesque image to contemplate. But then, Inside is full of bizarrely grotesque images. This is a thoughtful, masterfully-paced platform-puzzler with one of the most...
Review The Last Blade 2 (Switch eShop / Neo Geo)
Another contender for Switch fighting champion
There are lots of one-on-one fighters on Switch, many of which have been released as part of HAMSTER’s ACA Neo Geo series. The Last Blade 2 is another one, giving you a selection of fighters to pick from as you engage in a series of best of three-round fights en route to a showdown with an overpowered...
Review Lumines Remastered (Switch eShop)
A Shinin' luminary of its genre
Nintendo took the world by storm when it released the Game Boy back in the late '80s, but much of the device’s early success was owed to a little game called Tetris that came as a pack-in. Featuring simple block-dropping gameplay, Tetris would go on to define a whole new genre of puzzle action games that’s still...
Review Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion (Switch eShop)
Eights-a-poppin'
Since we first clapped eyes on the sucker-headed Octolings in 720p on the Wii U, Splatoon fans everywhere wanted to take control of these teenage tentaculars on the splattlefield. Octo Expansion promises just that and much more, but can such wondrous ideas truly be realised in a $20 DLC pack for Splatoon 2 on the Switch? Let’s...
Review Just Shapes & Beats (Switch eShop)
An A1, tip-top, clubbing jam fair
After years of remasters, re-releases and reboots, old-school graphics and tunes don’t quite quicken the pulse like they used to – it’s all been done and redone before. Just Shapes & Beats arrives on Switch ticking all the retro boxes. Chiptune soundtrack? Check. Stripped-back aesthetic evoking arcade...
Review Yoku's Island Express (Switch eShop)
A pinball-metroidvania that really delivers
It's safe to say that Yoku's Island Express is the first pinball-Metroidvania game we've ever played. We sincerely hope it's not the last. Swedish indie studio Villa Gorilla has produced an improbable mash-up that succeeds through an uncommon combination of charm and inventiveness. Beyond all that, though,...
“Even though the ideal is high, I never give in”
Upon first release on Sega NAOMI-powered arcades back in 2001, Ikaruga polarised audiences. While it most certainly was a vertical scrolling shmup like one would expect from the spiritual sequel to Radiant Silvergun, it played nothing like it. In fact, it played like no shmup before it and even...
