Formerly of Official Nintendo Magazine, GameSpot, and Xbox UK, you can now find Kate's writing all over the internet. Her latest projects include writing for Moonstone Island, a deckbuilding creature-collecting game, and [REDACTED], which is very [REDACTED]. Sometimes she writes things here, and sometimes they are about cows and crabs.
Guide Best Cozy Games On Switch
Prepare to have your fuzzies warmed
Update: We've updated this list and given it a spring clean. Along with that, we've also added two newer releases to the pack: Botany Manor and Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley. Enjoy! What exactly makes a game cozy? Is it the player's state of mind while playing? Is it an adherence to specific aesthetics or...
Soapbox I Flew 3,000 Miles To Get My Arse Handed To Me In Mario Party
Or, how a game about betrayal brought me closer to my friends
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Kate reminisces about a memorable trip... to Loser Town! I can't believe I've been allowed to use the word "arse" in a title. I feel...
Review Botany Manor (Switch) - Cosy Yet Challenging, This Puzzler Is Quite Beautiful
Bloomin' lovely
When cosy and wholesome games first stepped onto the scene, they were counter-culture — created in response and in resistance to an industry that churned out violence, conflict, and a particular type of masculinity that wasn't keen on things like emotions or intimacy. Some people were tired of this monolithic and exclusionary idea...
Back Page The Best Cows On The Nintendo Switch
We would never steer you wrong
In the magazine business, the Back Page is where you'd find all the weird goofs that we couldn't fit in anywhere else. Some may call it "filler"; we prefer "a whole page to make terrible jokes that are tangentially related to the content of the mag". We don't have pages on the internet, but we still love terrible...
Guide Best Time Loop Games On Nintendo Switch
Okay campers, rise and shine...
Gooooood morning (afternoon? evening?), all! We're republishing this piece in honour of Groundhog Day. Whether the groundhog saw its shadow or not, we want to celebrate the best games that throw you into an endless time loop. We've also added In Stars and Time and Outer Wilds to the list. Enjoy! Most video games are...
Guide Best Ace Attorney Games Of All Time
Every Ace Attorney game, ranked by you
Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy launches today on Switch, and in honour of the occasion we're republishing this ranked list of the Ace Attorney games that make up its constituent trilogies and off-shoots. Let the cross-examination commence! <related ids="159819"> It's been well over two decades...
Does Apollo justice
After the success of the original three Ace Attorney games, series creator Shu Takumi was ready to end Phoenix Wright's story. But the world wasn't done with these surprisingly intriguing lawyer games, and so he had to figure out how to make a new game without re-treading old ground. Thus, Apollo Justice, pointy-haired greenhorn...
Soapbox As A 'Slay The Spire' Addict, I Can't Believe I Almost Missed This 2023 Gem
Houston, we have a new obsession
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Kate looks back on a 2023 game from Rocket Rat that very nearly slipped through our net... Hey, you. If I've pitched this title correctly, you're here because,...
Guide Best Paper Mario-Likes On Switch - Games To Play If You Miss Old-School Paper Mario
Cutting edge
We've updated this guide to reflect the upcoming release of the Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door remaster and also added Born of Bread to the list. Enjoy! If you're a Paper Mario fan, then there's one key thing that you probably share with all other Paper Mario fans: Disappointment. However, Paper Mario is set to make a big return...
Feature How Amateur Scholars Are Translating Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom's Secret Language
The quick brown deer jumped over the lazy owl
Some people can't help but translate things. We see languages, and we want to decipher them, like the people who climb Mount Everest just because it's there. The languages in games like FEZ, Titan Souls, Heaven's Vault, 7 Days To End With You, and Noita, invite the player to try to crack them to reveal m
Soapbox How Zelda's Bad Economy Made Weapon Degradation Great Again
Inflation can be fixed with rotting swords!
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Kate examines how Nintendo learned economic lessons from past Zelda games in Tears of the Kingdom... Much like me, Hyrule has always been bad with...
Feature The Real Songs That Inspired Iconic Nintendo Music
And a few non-Nintendo ones for good measure
Have you ever been listening to music, enjoying yourself, and then BAM, suddenly you hear the first four notes of a song from a video game — and then you have that song stuck in your head for the rest of the day? Well, that's not always a coincidence. Many musical composers take heavy inspiration from...
Feature 25 Stardew Valley Secrets And Easter Eggs You Might Not Have Known About
More like ConfidentialApe
Fancy yourself a Stardew Valley nerd? Do you feel like you know the game inside and out? We're here to challenge that, with 25 niche and surprising things that you may (or may not) already know about the game! 25 Things You Didn't Know About Stardew Valley: Rarecrow references The Rarecrows, which as rare scarecrows...
Review Harvest Moon 64 - Rose-Tinted Specs Recommended For This Beloved Farm Sim
Aged like a fine bottle of milk
To paraphrase a bunch of anti-Nazi singing nuns: How do you solve a problem like reviewing a game that's almost 25 years old? The nuns never came up with an answer, but we have to, because this is a review, not a convent, and it's the issue at the heart of this review, after all. Harvest Moon 64 came out in 1999 —...
Soapbox If You're Not Playing LEGO Fortnite, You're Missing One Of The Best Survival Games
One of this year's biggest surprises
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Kate delves into a new addition to a f2p indie minnow called 'Fortnite' that turns out to be one of 2023's best surprises... I've been playing Fortnite for the...
Guide Best Batman Games, Ranked - Switch And Nintendo Systems
Why do we fall, Master Wayne?
Please note that while we've given the games in the Batman Arkham Trilogy separate entries in the list below, they're currently only purchasable on Switch as a three-game package. Remember, this list is still subject to fluctuation even now depending on each game's User Rating. Feel free to rate the new entries and see...
Hands On Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy Lays Out A Compelling Case On Switch
Turnabout Triumph, or Turnabout Tragedy?
They've done it again. Capcom has done it again! Only this time, they've done it better. Following on from the success of the Ace Attorney Trilogy, which brought the first three games in the beloved series to Switch, PC, and other consoles, Capcom has taken the next three games (Apollo Justice, Dual...
Guide Best Pokémon-Likes On Nintendo Switch - Games To Play After You've Finished Pokémon
The Mimikyus of video games
Updated with Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince. Enjoy! When they said "Pokémon! Gotta catch 'em all", we all assumed that they meant catching all the pocket monsters. But actually, what they were talking about was catching all the Pokémon and Pokémon-like games out there — of which there are many. And now, at...
Review A Highland Song (Switch) - A Beautiful Climb That Doesn't Quite Reach Inkle's Peak
Take the high road AND the low road
Scotland. The final frontier. At least, as far as games go. Despite many games being made in and about the glorious north, very few actually represent its natural wonder without also featuring an embarrassing stereotype of haggis-eating, ginger-bearded, tartan-clad men, and/or clobbering the English (although we...
Guide Best Nintendo Switch Detective Games
Grab your trilby and trench coat
Updated with the world's greatest detective's newest adventure on Switch, Murder On The Orient Express, along with our favourite coffee-loving yellow mouse, Detective Pikachu Returns! Everyone loves a good mystery, and even more so if they're the one who gets to solve it. The detective genre has evolved a great...
Review Harvest Moon: The Winds Of Anthos (Switch) - Terrible Title, Pretty Alright Game
Harvest Dew
If the 'Uncanny Valley' is the term for something being almost-human-but-not-quite, then Harvest Moon: Winds of Anthos is in the Uncanny Stardew Valley. It's so close to being a really good farming sim game, but doesn't quite manage to hit the mark. However, for the first time in the
Soapbox What Do You Do When Nintendo Ticks Off Your ENTIRE Most-Wanted List?
Good problems
Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Kate runs down her Switch wishlist and wonders if Nintendo has her phone bugged (or maybe just reads her articles)... Oh, I have been spoiled this year. Suspiciously spoiled, in...
Guide Fae Farm: All Crops List - How To Get Seasonal And Fae Crops
Have a little fae.......th
Farming! Huh! What is it good for? Agricultural growth of a civilisation! Fae Farm is, as the title suggests, a farming-type game (although it has a lot of other stuff going on, too). But the way it handles farming is a wee bit different, thanks to the other word in the title. There's supernatural stuff happening to your...
Guide Fae Farm: Beginner's Tips - How To Make Money, Fast Travel, Decorate, And More
All the things we wished we'd known
So, you've picked up Fae Farm — a game that combines the farming stuff that you love with the combat and mining that you also love. Lucky you! Fae Farm has a ton of systems, mechanics, and other things to learn along the way, and not all of them are immediately obvious. We've put together a little starter guide...
