Switch eShop, Switch Game Reviews from 2020 scoring 9 or 10/10
Review When The Past Was Around - The Perfect Video Game Tonic For 2020
The last of something bright burning, still burning
It’s particularly affecting to play a game like When The Past Was Around as the most devastating year of many of our lives comes to its chaotic close. A lot of us have experienced personal loss in 2020, which makes this game's tasteful, cleverly-constructed exploration of the subject both welcome...
Review Dicey Dungeons - A Raucous Roguelike Adventure Which Everyone Should Try
You feeling lucky, punk?
Terry Cavanagh is known for making some tough games. If you’ve played the likes of VVVVVV or Super Hexagon, you’re no doubt familiar with his unique brand of simplistic and punishing game design. That design is on full display, albeit in a completely new form, with his latest project, Dicey Dungeons. Here, instead of...
Review Chicken Police - Paint it RED! - No Fowl Play Here, This Is A Great Detective Adventure
Finger lickin' good
Chickens know things. It's obvious. They have that look in their eye, the slightly disdainful squint of someone who knows what you did and why you did it. They'd be perfect detectives, if not for the small obstacle of their inability to communicate in any meaningful way. Thankfully, developers The Wild Gentlemen saw the potential...
Review Crimzon Clover - World EXplosion - Another Must-Have Shmup For Your Switch
Roll out the crimson carpet for this bullet hell classic
Yotsubane’s Crimzon Clover has had quite the journey over the past decade. Beginning as a homemade doujin soft distributed back in 2010, it received an arcade port in Japan in 2013, which was followed by another version for Windows, distributed internationally, a year later. Now, it’s been...
Review No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle - A Confident Sequel And One Of Grasshopper's Best
No, MORE Heroes!
Bigger. Better. More. Not exactly the watchwords of the original, shockingly audacious No More Heroes, with its minimal content stretched out across the sweeping, empty landscape of Santa Destroy, memorable for its sheer desolation and entirely in keeping with its satirical take on the “open-world game”. But, as Grasshopper’s...
Review No More Heroes - A Crude And Madcap Anime Nightmare That Deserves Your Attention
I, I will be king
No More Heroes is gross. It’s a sleazy, grimy, ugly game with an indefensible moral vacuum of a protagonist in leering otaku Travis Touchdown. And it’s absolutely brilliant. Essentially a hack n’ slash title with some open-world elements, No More Heroes rises above its often-pedestrian gameplay with an overflowing reservoir...
Review Part Time UFO - A Game About Picking Things Up That You Won't Want To Put Down
Grab it right away
A lot of people may not realise this, but HAL Laboratory isn’t actually owned by Nintendo. It may have been responsible for the likes of the Kirby, Smash Bros and Mother series and its main office may even be located in Nintendo’s Tokyo building, but the developer remains independent and could make games for other platforms if...
Review Horace - A Heart-Warming Nostalgia Trip And Must-Play Masterpiece
Horace doesn't go skiing
The name “Horace” has cultural cachet in the world of British retrogaming, and we can’t help but believe that the evocation thereof is very, very intentional on the Horace developers’ part. After all, their game is steeped in nostalgia; the pop culture of days past infuses Horace from its opening nod to Thames TV’s...
Review ScourgeBringer - A Gripping, Tough-As-Nails Roguelite For Dead Cells Fans
Bring the Pain
Do you love a properly hard challenge? Do you thrive in hostile and punishing game environments where constant death is an expected and necessary part of the cycle? Well then, Flying Oak Games' ScourgeBringer might just be right up your street. Here we have a tough as nails roguelite that funnels its players through a never-ending...
Review Alwa's Legacy - One Of The Best Metroidvanias We've Seen On Switch So Far
A legacy to be proud of
A couple of years ago, Elden Pixels put out Alwa’s Awakening, a nice sort of throwback Metroidvania that built a quality experience around a few well-designed ideas. It didn’t exactly light up the charts, but Alwa’s Awakening still managed to amass a small following, one which Elden Pixels tapped last November went it...
Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube764k Watch on YouTube Review Rebel Galaxy Outlaw - Deliciously Daring Dogfighting In The Depths Of Space
You've got your mother in a whirl
Rebel Galaxy Outlaw, Double Damage Games' prequel to 2015's Rebel Galaxy, brings a much-needed slice of old-school space sim action to Switch with swagger and style to spare. Following the fortunes of battle-hardened rebel Juno Markev, whose husband has been murdered and ship destroyed as she escapes an attempt on...
Review SEGA AGES Herzog Zwei - A Seminal RTS And One Of The Best Two-Player Games Ever Made
Duke it out
When it launched on the Sega Mega Drive / Genesis back in the very early days of the system, Techno Soft's Herzog Zwei confounded quite a few people. It came from a studio which – in the west, at least – was most famous for its Thunder Force series of blasters. The top-down perspective looked similar to the free-roaming overhead...
Review Ori And The Will Of The Wisps - This Xbox Classic Is A Must-Have On Switch
A beautiful sequel that stands on its own merits
Back in September of 2019, one of the most surprising announcements was that Ori and the Blind Forest, an indie game under the ownership of Xbox Game Studios, would be getting a port on the Switch. After the much-anticipated sequel released on Xbox earlier this year, many wondered whether Ori and the...
Review Hades - A Heavenly Trip Into Hell That's Utterly Essential For All Switch Owners
The Devil is in the detail
Hell. We're all going there. There's absolutely no two ways about it. What? You really thought you'd get to spend your life on earth mouthing off like that on the internet sans reprisal? Come on now, mate, accept your fate and grow up. However, before we all head off to roast for eternity in the fires of the forever abyss,...
Review Moero Crystal H - A Hilariously Saucy Dungeon-Crawler Which Fans Of The Genre Will Adore
Everyday life with monster girls
Fair warning to those who need it: Moero Crystal H is a game that not only embraces sexuality, it positively revels in it. It is a game that knows and acknowledges that sexuality is fun, ridiculous, silly, and something that we should feel comfortable laughing about. And it is a game in which your party members...
Review Super Mario 3D All-Stars - Three Of Mario's Greatest Adventures Come To Switch
Only shooting Star Bits break the mould
Well, that all happened quickly, didn’t it? It was only a fortnight ago that Nintendo was announcing its long-rumoured compilation of 3D Mario games, and now here we are reviewing the ruddy thing already. Some of you will have already made up your mind about
Mini Review MO:Astray - A Grim And Gory Game Which Deserves A Look
Please sir, can I have some mo’?
If you’re not familiar with MO:Astray beyond its utterly weird name, then it's high time you start paying attention. Originally released on Steam back in October 2019 to little fanfare, MO:Astray is a 2D puzzle-platformer boasting unique gameplay mechanics, meticulously designed environments, and gorgeous...
Review Hypnospace Outlaw - A Clever Satire Of The Early Days Of The World Wide Web
Get your mouse and keyboard ready
Welcome to the Hypnospace Patrol Department, enforcer! Under the employ of Adrian and Dylan Merchant, owners of Merchantsoft and creators of Hynospace and the HypnOS, you'll spend the next dozen or so hours scrolling through the pages of an alternate reality version of 1990s internet which users access in their...
Review A Short Hike - A Landmark Game For All Ages
Walking on sunshine
Why do we play games? Exploration would seem to be the watchword, the catalyst for every element of the most diverse and interesting form of entertainment there is. It doesn't matter what you're exploring; all that matters is that it's happening. In the most traditional sense, you're exploring an unfamiliar, possibly mystical...
Review Evergate - Soulful, Sumptuous, And Essential
Puzzle-platforming perfection
Amidst the din of the many exciting announcements made at Nintendo's recent Indie World Showcase it may well have been pretty easy to miss Stone Lantern Games' Kickstarter-backed Evergate. This wonderful little puzzle/platformer stealth-dropped onto the eShop during the show and not only has it turned out to be one of...
Review The Eternal Castle [Remastered] - The Cinematic Platformer Reimagined In Dazzling Style
Keep going, never stop
The cinematic platformer genre has a distinguished and well-documented history, but considering the limitations of the hardware in the years of the genre's biggest breakthrough titles really puts things in perspective. The way pioneering game designers such as Jordan Mechner and Eric Chahi were able to squeeze incredible...
Review Phoenotopia: Awakening - An Intelligently Crafted Metroidvania That Stands Out From The Crowd
Almost phoenomenal
It takes some going to stand out among the Switch's throng of superb Metroidvanias. When your competition includes the likes of Hollow Knight and Iconoclasts, you know it's going to be a rough ride. But Phoenotopia: Awakening somehow manages to stand out, and it does so by being a little more... low key. That may sound a bit like...
Review Faeria - A Superb Mix Of Board Game And Card-Battling Action
Faery good indeed
There are plenty of card games on the Switch, but Faeria may be the prettiest one of all in terms of sheer presentation. Everything just looks beautiful; the cards themselves are attractive, the UI is slick and very readable, and it all just runs very nice and smoothly, with visual effects enhancing the turn-based action rather...
Review Catherine: Full Body - The Ultimate Version Of A Surreal Cult Classic
A Rare Vintage
One of our absolute favourite games from the last console generation, Atlus' Catherine is a sublimely stylish mix of visual novel, dating simulation and fiendish block tower puzzler that tells a captivatingly warped story whilst constantly challenging its players with its clever and rewarding platform puzzle elements. Originally...
Review Mr. Driller: DrillLand - As Much Fun As It Was 18 Years Ago, If Not More So
Want a great puzzler? Bosch, here's one
There was a time when Mr. Driller was widely considered one of the best puzzle series around. After the first game hit arcades in late 1999, it spawned a bunch of sequels throughout the following decade, with 11 different versions launching in 10 years. And then... nothing. We haven’t had a new one since...
Review Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour - A Timeless FPS Classic Comes To Switch
Got any gum?
Always bet on Duke. It seemed only a matter of time before Duke Nukem 3D cropped up on the Switch; after all, it'd be downright odd for him to miss a format. Sure, there was Bulletstorm: Duke of Switch Edition, but that's not real Duke. This, however, is. It's the magnum opus of the series, when the Duke was in fine fettle, yet to be...
Review Invisible, Inc. Nintendo Switch Edition - Beautifully Accessible Turn-Based Tactics
You can't see me, the time is now
We're tempted to give Invisible, Inc. an instant 10/10 for its pun-tastic title. That is truly good stuff. Unfortunately "giving ten out of ten for liking the name of a game" is on the secret journalists' charter of Things You Don't Do Ever, so we have to measure our praise. Thankfully, not much measuring will be...
Review Arcade Archives Sunset Riders - Japan's Take On The Wild West Is A Must-Have On Switch
Yee-haw!
Well, it's about time. Not officially available anywhere since making its arcade bow (outside of the well-intentioned but obviously weaker home ports on the SNES and Mega Drive, at least), Konami's phenomenally good Western-themed run n' gun Sunset Riders has finally been re-released as part of Hamster's superb Arcade Archives line. The...
Review BioShock: The Collection - Three Of The Best Single-Player Shooters Ever, All In One Place
"Would you kindly...?"
It’s rather fascinating to see how the first-person shooter genre, which began as a mostly single-player thing, has gone on over the years to become much more focused on multiplayer. There’s nothing wrong with this, of course, but it’s a little disappointing to see memorable, narrative-driven adventures tossed aside in...
Review Shantae And The Seven Sirens - Back To Basics Brilliance Leads To A Must-Have Metroidvania
Ret-2-go!
About 20 years ago, few probably could’ve guessed that the Shantae series would be firing on all cylinders by now. The initial release of this charming Metroidvania series saw a release late in the life of the Game Boy Color and never received the spotlight it deserved, but after about a ten-year hiatus, the series came back and has been...
![The Eternal Castle [Remastered] - The Cinematic Platformer Reimagined In Dazzling Style](https://images.nintendolife.com/66ba13d4dc023/250x183.jpg)
