Switch eShop Game Reviews
Review Have A Nice Death (Switch) - Delightfully Dark, Brutally Tough Roguelite Action
Dead good
In 2019, Magic Design Studios—a new team comprised of many ex-Ubisoft staff—put out the Rayman-esque Unruly Heroes, which we thought was a great platformer with some amazing visuals. For the next few years, the team went quiet while working on its next game, revealed in late 2021 as Have A Nice Death, a tough action roguelite about the...
Review Dredge (Switch) - A Haunting Lovecraftian Fishing Sim That Reels You In
There’s no plaice like home
New Zealand indie studio Black Salt’s Dredge surfaced in a highly mysterious trailer in 2022. All we saw was a small boat chugging around torrid seas, terrorised by Lovecraftian looming skies and giant, tentacled monsters. A later trailer showed a fisherman catching ever larger fish, selling them for ever larger...
Review Assault Suits Valken Declassified (Switch) - A Great Treatment Of A Mecha Classic
Assaulting the senses
Within a few steps into the world of Assault Suits Valken Declassified, it is immediately apparent that something distinct is going on. That’s because the steps themselves feel different. Compared to traditional run ‘n’ guns such as Metal Slug, for example, the movement in the Assault Suits Valken remaster is...
Mini Review Storyteller (Switch) - A Clever, Funny Little Puzzler From Annapurna
We want more!
Whether it’s the eye-popping The Artful Escape or the music-driven masterpiece Sayonara Wild Hearts, Annapurna Interactive has put out more than a few must-play titles on the Nintendo Switch, so when we heard the publisher's next project was a little puzzle game called Storyteller, you can bet we wanted to check it out immediately...
Review Backbeat (Switch) - A Unique, Virtuoso Puzzler Steeped In Funk And '90s Cool
Sax, lies, and videotape
When you think “music game”, you probably think “rhythm action”. Well, Stockholm-based indie team Ichigoichie is here to confound your expectations with Backbeat, a funkily fiendish puzzle game about the intricacies of playing in a band. Ichigoichie’s first game was 2019’s Hexagroove, where they were already...
Have at you!
Few games have enjoyed post-launch support as robust and high-quality as Dead Cells has received for the past six(!) years. Motion Twin has produced wave after wave of updates, some free and some paid, which have packed the already awesome base game with a dizzying amount of new biomes, weapons, cosmetics, and more. And all of it feels...
More blessing than curse
If you’ve not heard of Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo, then don’t worry. Although this curious visual novel is receiving a worldwide release on the Switch eShop, its reveal was specifically earmarked for the Japanese Nintendo Direct back in February. So while we were undoubtedly smitten over Metroid Prime...
Review Figment 2: Creed Valley - Charming Action Puzzling, But Sluggish On Switch
Sleep well
In 2017, Bedtime Digital Games released Figment, a cute and dreamlike action puzzle game that aimed to be a little more ambitious and expansive than their debut release, Back to Bed. We enjoyed it, and evidently plenty of other people did, too, as the studio has now brought us Figment 2: Creed Valley. Though Figment 2 feels like more of...
Review The Last Spell - An Extremely Fun, Dark Roguelite With A Clumsy Switch Port
Spells trouble
Even in a magical fantasy setting, nothing good comes from war. The Last Spell, a roguelite that mixes tactical RPG and tower defense elements, is set in a world that has already been destroyed by mankind’s thirst for destruction. With this unique blend of genres, the game offers up some fun and engaging gameplay mechanics, but...
The best wave yet
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is back with Wave 4 (of six) of the Booster Course Pass tracks, this time covering the Fruit Cup and Boomerang Cup. Now that we’re over the halfway point, it really feels like Nintendo is starting to kick things into high gear with not only a stellar set of new and returning tracks but also an extra character...
I ain't afraid o' no ghost
In the original 1998 Ring movie from director Hideo Nakata, the entire film's premise revolves around a vengeful spirit called Sadako, whose internal rage gave birth to a video tape curse via a phenomenon known as ‘thoughtography’. While Sadako is ultimately the driving force behind the film’s narrative, it’s only...
They're good dogs, Bront
These days, it feels like it takes a lot more for a Metroidvania to stand out from the pack, especially when there are so many excellent titles that have already shown impressively creative takes on the genre standards. Pronty from Taiwanese indie developer 18Light makes its bid for your attention by plopping players in a...
Review Fitness Boxing Fist Of The North Star (Switch) - A Fun Crossover That Delivers Basic Beats
HD Rumble in the jungle
Despite what you may initially think, combining a fitness game with much-loved manga and anime series Fist of the North Star isn’t the completely left-field crossover it appears to be. In fact, it’s not even the first game based on the IP that makes the player swing actual punches. Many years ago, this writer used to...
Spinning bird click
BROK the InvestiGator gets right to the point: you begin the game in a burning room. You naturally start pointing and clicking to solve a simple puzzle. This leads to another puzzle: Alligator PI Brok urgently exclaims, “I need to get past that door!” Before your grey matter cogs can even get a-whirring, a dialogue box tells...
Review Meg's Monster (Switch) - A One-Of-A-Kind Adventure That Hits You In The Feels
Trust me, bro. You’re gonna cry.
There are a lot of forgettable little indie RPGs floating around on the Nintendo Switch eShop, but it’d be a mistake to lump developer Odencat’s Meg’s Monster in with them. In fact, despite appearances of turn-based battles and an underworld filled with monsters to battle, we’d argue that Meg’s Monster...
Review Grim Guardians: Demon Purge (Switch) - A Creative, Character-Swapping Ode To Castlevania
Double Switch
From Inti Creates, developers of the critically acclaimed Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon duo and the Mega Man Zero/ZX series, comes a new Metroidvania rendered in a 16-bit graphical style, utilising modern hardware for various special effects, animation, and sprite creation. And it’s a fine-looking game, overall. While some areas...
Review Akka Arrh (Switch) - A Scrapped Atari Shooter Gets A Psychedelic Llamasoft Refurb
A bomb in hand is worth two in the bathroom
Jeff Minter, international man of gaming mystery, is back in action. If you’ve never heard of him, the 60-year-old has been in game coding and development, and seemingly happily off his rocker since 1979. Going by the moniker ‘Yak’, Minter cut his teeth on the Sinclair ZX60 in the early '80s, going...
Gore-trait Of Ruin
The genre blend of Metroidvania and Soulslike is a tried and true combination. And it makes sense; two styles of game with a deep focus on exploration and strict difficulty were bound to cross paths. Games like Salt and Sanctuary, Blasphemous, and — of course — Hollow Kn
Review Blanc (Switch) - A Perfectly Pleasant Co-op Experience With Gorgeous Visuals
White plains
The notion of two disparate species of animals coming together to help one another is not particularly new in the world of storytelling. The trope goes all the way back to the likes of Peter Rabbit, in which our intrepid titular hero enlists the assistance of Squirrel Nutkin to help fend off the dastardly fox, Mr. Tod. It’s a concept...
Review Ten Dates (Switch) - A Surprise Second Date Where More Is Better
"What's yer name and where d'ya come from?"
Looking back on Wales Interactive’s Five Dates in 2023, more than two years after its debut, reveals a fascinating glimpse into what life was like during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s a game that leans heavily into the idea that the dating world has migrated online, forcing singletons to...
Review Nadir: A Grimdark Deck Builder (Switch) - Stunning Visuals Can't Disguise Its Shortcomings
We're on the highway to Hell
Taking a trip to Hell has never looked quite so good as in Nadir: A Grimdark Deck Builder. The stunning visuals are enough to pull you in, while the card mechanics take seconds to learn yet provide a constant challenge. There are a lot of solid points to Nadir, but technical shortcomings and some bizarre design decisions...
Review Colossal Cave (Switch) - An Obtuse, Outdated, Unfriendly Reimagining Of A Fascinating Text
Horrible history
“You are standing at the end of a road before a small brick building. Around you is a forest. A small stream flows out of the building and down a gully.” Those are the opening sentences of the foundational 1976 text game Colossal Cave Adventure. Originally created by Will Crowther and extended by Don Woods, it ran on a...
Mini Review PowerWash Simulator - Scrubs Up Well On Switch
Hashtag satisfying
In 1998, The Simpsons made a throwaway gag about Bart refusing to perform yard work at home for his mother, then demanding she let him join the queue for the yard work simulator at a local fairground. It’s funny because who would develop a virtual experience of a chore? Moreover, who would want to actually play it? So anyway,...
Review OddBallers (Switch) - Ballsy And Chaotic Co-op Fun, Though The Online Is DOA
If you can dodge a ball, you can dodge a...lawnmower?
Game Swing's OddBallers, a raucous top-down dodgeball party game, has been doing the rounds for quite some time now, having languished in various unreleased forms since it was first announced as "coming soon" a fair old while ago. Now it's suddenly dropped onto Nintendo Switch and, far from the...
Review Fashion Police Squad (Switch) - A Stylish Romp That Gives 'DOOM Clones' A Fabulous Makeover
Oooh! Suits you, sir
Feel like you've played one too many dull Doom clones in your time to really be bothered trying another? Well, may we suggest you get your glad rags on and give Mopeful Games' Fashion Police Squad a whirl, it's absolutely fabulous, darling! Sashaying onto Switch in a very silly burst of colour and humour, this is a quirky...
Review Life Is Strange 2 - A Solid Switch Port For This Thrilling Second Story
Highway to hell?
Given the critical and commercial success enjoyed by Life is Strange back in 2015, creating a compelling direct sequel can’t have been easy for developer Dontnod. Yet just three years later, players were surprised with a brand new story that was every bit as emotionally affecting as the first, if not more so. It boasts a plot that...
Mini Review Trek To Yomi (Switch) - Arrestingly Cinematic, But A Trek All The Same
Slog to the Nether Regions
Years in the making, Trek to Yomi is the vision of indie developer Leonard Menchiari, backed by Polish studio Flying Wild Hog and publisher Devolver Digital. Essentially a side-on slash 'em up, its hook is its spectacular aesthetic: feudal Japan and the samurai code recreated through cinematic camerawork in striking black...
Review Drainus (Switch) - A Spectacular, Showboating Tour De Force For Sci-Fi Shmup Fans
Drain the core
Drainus. Whether a ham-fisted portmanteau of Darius and Gradius, or relating to the game’s core mechanic, it’s a silly name any way you look at it. Japan-based developer Team Ladybug, more recently known for the rather good Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth, has had the Switch shooting game hardcore waiting eight...
Mini Review Wonder Boy Anniversary Collection (Switch) - A Great But Gouging, Exploitative Package
It really makes you wonder
Wonder Boy Anniversary Collection gets a lot right. It features six great titles in the series, with complete region variations and all their alternate console ports, from arcade to SG-1000, to Master System, Mega Drive, and Game Gear — 21 titles in total. It has a bevy of in-game options for finely tweaking the image...
Indy Jones bar t’at
‘Ey up, adventure fans! Are you hankering for a grave-robbing escapade reminiscent of Indiana Jones? But do you wish it were set in Yorkshire, trading jaw-dropping Incan ziggurats for drizzly moors? Well, have we got t’ game for you! The Excavation of Hob's Barrow puts your clicking finger in the shoes of one Thomasina...