Kochambra

Great news! I was waiting for a Switch 2 fix, to give the multiplayer DLC a try

Why does everyone make such a big deal of this mediocre Oscars imitation?

Good to see that they're already using the test data to improve the experience

This list still shows a disappointing lack of Unavowed mentions.

Meh, I'll wait for discounts. I don't think Square is treating Switch 2 users right in this case and I have a pretty big backlog anyway. I'm in no hurry to play this game.

A real all-timer of a game! That it launched just a couple a weeks before another absolute banger like Absolum is amazing to me. We're spoiled for riches right now

Cool! Another one to look forward to. This year is packed with good stuff

I'm currently dividing my time between Hades II and Absolum. It's hard to believe that so many great games have been released in such a short time span. Feels like we're living in a golden age for indies.

I would add The Last Door and System Shock 2 to the list. The Suicide of Rachel Foster was rather creepy too.

@Divide_and_Wander My vote goes for Guardians of Azuma. Not the most visually impressive game of the lot, but a good story with fun characters and great gameplay that lets you choose how involved you want to get in managing each aspect of your domain. A truly underrated gem, in my opinion.

These tweaks make a great game even better. As @Polvasti says, the Summer Village expansion is particularly welcome. Reaching some of the requirements for the higher village levels was like playing Tetris with how cramped the buildings and decorations got.

I guess I should call my choice to skip this a "purchasing strategy decision" then.

More people need to play Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma. It successfully translates all the charm and engaging gameplay of the series to a full 3D world, after the disappointment that was Rune Factory V. Without a doubt, one of the best games I've played this year.

The flaw with his longevity argument, is that Game Key Cards have both of the problems mentioned: If the servers close, the keycardcard becomes useless and you can't run the game. If the keycard physical media breaks, you can't run the game either. The worst of both worlds!

No mention of Soma? By all accounts, it seems to be a pretty decent port of an excellent horror game.
Both Soma and System Shock 2 are pretty high in my list of games to play next.

Beta Ray Bill! Well, now I feel contractually obligated to get this game.

@UndockedActionFemme "I'm still struggling to see how the player has the same fluidity, and overall control, when it comes to the rapid fire moments"
If you mean using a controller vs using mouse+keyboard, I would say that with well calibrated gyro aiming, it's pretty close. I was mainly a PC gamer back when this came out and I played many classic FPS games with mouse and keyboard. Same with System Shock, Thief, Deus Ex and the like. Nowadays, I play mostly on Switch with controller and gyro aiming (when available) and I rarely miss mouse aiming.

As someone who generally loves Metroidvania games but didn't enjoy Hollow Knight at all, this sounds like a pass for me. Bonus pass points for being a "darker and edgier" take on a classic IP.

@Lizuka Good to know, thanks!

Does this game have any extremely mediocre sections that it tries to disguise by throwing even more mediocre fanservice at the screen, like Rain Code did? What disappointment that game was!

@Vyacheslav333 Crypt of the NecroDancer did get DLC. First Amplified, which was released before the Switch edition, so it was included as part of the base package in that. And then Synchrony, released only last year.

@Indielink I would be interested to know that too. I was really loving Rain Code until I got to the section where it suddenly turns into a compilation of bad minigames, and your delightfully snarky companion transforms into a generic Ms. Fan Service whose every second line was a variation of "Have you noticed that I have breasts?". I managed to endure it the first time around, but when I was getting near to a similar section in the next chapter, I just couldn't make myself put up with the same garbage again. What a way to ruin what was otherwise a pretty great little game!

@Chibi_Manny I started playing the Switch 1 version of these remasters just a few days ago, and I can't see how there could be any noticeable improvements in the Switch 2 version, other than maybe the load times from the cart being even faster (they're more than adequate in the Switch 1 version). And these aren't games that would benefit from mouse controls either.
Still, nice that they're giving people the option to buy a native Switch 2 version and with a proper physical release, apparently.

@Greatluigi @LadyCharlie I understand the sentiment, but I also think Parodius deserves its own collection.

Kirby's Epic Yarn next, please! Stellar Way all the way

ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 games tended to be "brutally difficult" because it was the only way to prolong the life of a game, since those computers had such a reduced storage space and game maps had to be small. I don't see the point of keeping the "brutal" difficulty on this day and age. Cool for those who enjoy those kinds of games, I guess, but definitely not for me.

@NinChocolate According to AlleyCat's comment up above, it's not really an Igavania.

I can't wait to be called an insect once again.

@Shrek_Realista I'm the proud owner of a snazzy Steamdeck, but when I have the option, I tend to play multiplatform games on Switch. And one big reason for that is to avoid the nagging pressure of achievements. Even when a Switch game does implement achievements, they tend to be confined to a menu option, making them much more easy to ignore for those of us who don't want them.
I know plenty of people love achievements and good for them. But for me, I prefer them to be really optional; not integrated in my platform profile. And I hope Nintendo won't succumb to the pressure to implement them in their next console.
It's a matter of preference, not fanboism.

Has there ever been a Nintendo Direct in December? It would be like Nintendo telling their customers: "Hey don't spend your Christmas money on us, because we have better things coming up in the near future!"

@PedroMatos @Bigmanfan Read the review. The technical issues mentioned in it have absolutely nothing to do with the Switch's
processing power or lack thereof.

I would be in for a Splinter Cell Blacklist remaster. That game deserved more love than it got.
Ubisoft gets a lot of flack for sticking to their open world formula, but the sad reality is that when they do produce good games that stray from that path, they get an underwhelming response from the public (see the latest Prince of Persia and Mario & Rabbids games).

@mlt I completely agree.

@Zuljaras There is a New Game + mode. I've played it myself.

@dojmin What makes this deal an improvement over regular Nintendo sales, is that you can purchase any game included in the voucher promotion, including both recent and future releases, instead of just the games Nintendo chooses to include in a particular sale, which tend to be older releases. Of course, the counterpoint is that it requires you to buy two games instead of just one.

Rings of Rexor! This game would have been way more appealing to me if they had gone for a silver age vibe in the style of Freedom Force instead of the samey grimdark aesthetic I see in those screen grabs. It would have also made "the awkward sway" of 2D visuals more palatable, I think.
Nice to hear the underlying gameplay is good, though.

I really enjoyed Mothmen 1966. The developers nailed the Choose you own adventure/pulpy horror vibe. And when done well, pixel art graphics can be really effective for horror (as The Last Door also demonstrated).
Varney Lake is already in my library and the plan is to play it sooner rather than later.
I didn't realize there was a third entry, though. I will consider waiting for the physical release of the collection, to purchase it.

@Solomon_Rambling "To justify the narrative’s medium as a video game, the gameplay has to do something interesting"
In my opinion, Gone Home does precisely that. I love traditional narrative media such as movies and books, but the thing that Gome Home does that those media could hardly replicate is precisely the interactivity in the storytelling. There's a constant drip of story elements that few (if any) players would miss, but if you want more, there's plenty of little tidbits and clues to find and put together. What percentage of players found the wall marks in the cellar and more importantly, figured out how they fit in the whole story? It may be a low percentage of it may be high, but there's a unique beauty to telling a story in way that gives you such freedom on how you engage with it. Or maybe I'm just an incorrigible snoop

Had to check elsewhere, but apparently my personal Jeff Minter game, Llamatron, is included. Good news

Giving players options is good. That's something you see a lot of in PC gaming but it's not that common in console games.

@jump My thoughts exactly. The Kingdom Hearts series has some of the absolute worst writing I've ever encountered in video games, and considering how much bad writing you encounter in this media, that's quite an achievement!

Great news! I didn't expect more Endless Ocean so long after the first two, but I'm ready for it. Fingers crossed for a physical release.

Snake Rattle ‘n’ Roll is pure Rare/Ultimate isometric goodness

Personally, I'd rate the Switch performance as good enough. I played the game on Switch maybe a year ago and had a lot of fun. The only annoyance were occasional freezes in some bosses. Recently, I replayed a substantial part of it on Steam and I didn't notice that big of a difference. I'm sure that if you put both versions side to side, there's a noticeable difference, but the experience didn't change in any significant way for me. I bought it again on Steam because it was cheap I don't mind double dipping when I really like a game, but after playing that version, I came to the conclusion that I could just have replayed the Switch version and be fine.

@Serpenterror Yggdra Union was released in the European eShop last year. Don't know about the US, though.

@Jiggies Regarding the combat system, I think its effectiveness and depth varies depending on the type of enemy:
1) The combat with regular enemies you encounter while exploring is relatively simple, fun at first but it can get tiresome in the latter half of the game (this happens to me with other turn based games too). Thankfully, by that time you can use an auto-win mechanic that makes them easy to skip.
2) The combat against special enemies and bosses is where the combat system truly shines. It keeps the basic mechanics you have learned fighting against regular enemies, but each boss introduces interesting variations and limitations that makes these encounters challenging without the usual lack of clarity and unfairness that spoils so many boss encounters in turn based games.
In fewer words: Regular encounters are a fun way to learn the ins and outs of the combat system and can be skipped safely when they get repetitive. Boss fights are great (this comes from someone who usually isn't particularly fond of boss fights).
That's my opinion, anyway.

First off, in my opinion, Origami King is secretly one of the very best games Nintendo has released on Switch, regardless of its differences to the "Paper Marios of old".
Second, I don't see how some of the games in this list could be considered more similar to those "Paper Marios of old" than any of the recent Paper Mario games. I mean, Chicory is one of my absolute favorite indie games from the last few years, but anyone looking for a "Paper Marios of old" experience in it, will be extremely disappointed.

I'm glad they sorted that one out. The Sinking City showed potential even if it wasn't fully realized. I would be interested in another game in that vein from Frogwares.

As long as voters don't go for the usual, lazy whatever-disney/pixar-released-this-year choice, I'm okay with any of those other movies winning the best animated feature prize.

@Uncle_Franklin "In some cases" may be the key word. Bugs that trigger only under a very specific set of circumstances are the hardest to catch

@HeadPirate So that's where you want to lead this conversation, then? Using adjectives such as "blind" and "fanatical" to describe the other person's opinion?

"Nintendo was worth more then Sony in 2016 and again in 2017 dude. Check your revisionist history a bit."
I didn't say a single thing about Nintendo's worth, so where's this alleged revisionism, precisely? The only thing I said about Nintendo is that there is zero chance of them being in a position of dominance in a market in the coming decades, similar to the one they had in the NES days. Or to the one Microsoft has in PC operating system market. We're not talking about being slightly ahead of the competition here, we're talking about being way ahead of them, which is the only way a company could try to get away with those ***** NES era practices.
And while we're on the subject, where do you get from that Nintendo has convinced me of anything? Again, the only thing I've said about them is that I'm aware of how they abused their huge market share in the past, but that there's no way in hell they're going to be in a position to commit such abuse again, because there's no way in hell they're regaining the huge market share and cultural dominance they had back in the day.

"No offence man, but your arguments make me want to ask you to point to where Microsoft touched you on this doll."
That "no offence" bit is particularly funny after starting your message with that "blind, fanatically brand loyalty" thing. You don't need to bring out any dolls, because I already told you how Microsoft hampered the development of the Internet by gaining dominance in the browser market with their monopolistic tactics. And that's just one instance of their practices damaging not just their clients but the whole industry.
Sure, it would be easier to ignore Microsoft's terrible track record, not think about any possible long term consequences of my actions and just do whatever seems instantly beneficial for me in the moment, like all those people who just used Internet Explorer back in the day. And then wait for the next fun Microsoft monopoly. Again, no thanks.

@HeadPirate "Netscape used to be on top, but MS convinced us they were less evil so MS took over"
That's not what happened. MS used their already existing monopoly in the operating system market to push their browser into everybody's laps. And I guess many people though something along the lines of "Hey, if I already have this in my computer, why bother looking for alternatives?" And what we got from that is years of technological stagnation under Microsoft's rule.
So yeah, I could ignore all of their long ***** history and go "Hey, Microsoft right now are offering a good value for money, why bother looking beyond that?" And just wait for the next fun Microsoft monopoly. No thanks.

ps. I'm aware of Nintendo's ***** practices in the NES era. The good news is that there is zero chance of Nintendo being in a similar position of dominance in a market in the coming decades.