Lego Bricktales' sumptuous environments and largely clever puzzles shine despite its occasionally safe, repetitive design and difficult controls, though. This isn't just the ideal game for anyone looking to get their Lego fix, but for anyone who loves a good puzzle game. Its mind-tickling puzzles and cute writing serve as icing on the cake for what's already one of the most memorable and creative uses for Legos in a video game period. I only hope ClockStone has the opportunity to make more games like Bricktales.
Please, Touch the Artwork is a well-designed and relaxing puzzle game that also doubles as a great primer in modern minimalist art.
Even when everything's working, MythForce isn't much more than a bad port of a fun, but uninteresting game. That being said, we can't possibly recommend it in its launch state. We don't take half-baked efforts lightly, and this feels even less than that. With some patches and updates, MythForce could potentially turn things around, although we're very far from not optimistic. As things stand, avoid the Switch version of MythForce.
Bright Memory is a profoundly bland experience riddled with hints that the game was never meant to be played anywhere but PC.
We wish we liked Library of Ruina more than we do; its world and characters touch on clever themes and storytelling devices, but never fully lean into its potential. Slapdash pacing coupled with sluggish, nerve-wracking menus makes playing Library of Ruina an exercise in courting digital whiplash as you cycle between rushed, truncated story beats and glacially-paced menus. If it had more engaging combat and a more efficient narrative setup, Library of Ruina would have really impressed us. Sadly, we don't feel very compelled to see it through to completion.
It's deeply disappointing to play Gordian Quest and encounter the amount of UI-driven issues that permeate its menus, because it has some really cool stuff going on beneath its bristly, frustrating outer shell. It's decidedly easier to pick up than most other deckbuilders, and combat has a good flow to it, with lots of combinations and deck variations to explore. Unfortunately, it's a horrendous Switch port that makes even simple things difficult. It's worth your time, just maybe not on the Switch.
Naruto x Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections may have the flashiest graphics in the series, but there’s almost nothing else here to make me seek it out over past entries with basically the same fighting system and better single-player stories.
Despite its technical prowess and stunning visuals, The Medium is a drag. From slow, uninteresting gameplay to a confusing and poorly executed story, Bloober Team's latest makes for a good tech demo, but not much else.
Drawn to Life: Two Realms presents an interesting premise and an occasionally charming world, but never quite lives up to any of it.
Bloated world design doesn't take away from the thrilling high of zooming through a landscape at mach speeds, nailing a good time on a platforming challenge or catching a comically large fish in Big's fishing minigame. There's just not much else to hang onto here. Sorry, Sonic fans: your malaise continues.
Horizon Chase 2 isn't going to set the world on fire. No matter how fun it is to fly across the highway at blazing speed, no amount of speed can disguise the fairly limited breadth of content available. In fact, that speed only makes courses blur together even more. Ultimately, you're left with a fun but shallow arcade racer that feels disappointingly shaky on Switch.
Samba de Amigo: Party Central brings back the cult classic monkey and all the fun that comes with him, but it does too much in the wrong places. By bombarding the player with no fewer than three different progress bars to level up in, any sense of growth, progress or leveling feels arbitrary and unnecessary. They feel like an attempt to hide the fact that Samba de Amigo is an arcade game about a dancing monkey that you can dress up in silly little outfits; it doesn't need to be an RPG, so why make it one? After all, Samba de Amigo is inherently fun-be it with maracas, a Wii remote, Joy-Con, or just buttons.
It’s barely been a week since I first installed XDefiant, but I don’t think I’d miss it from my hard drive. While the gameplay at its core is fun enough, the game is barren compared to most other shooters—including the free ones—with even bare-basic modes like team deathmatch and free-for-all or features like a ping system or skill-based matchmaking nowhere to be found. Its maps are well-made, sure, but with no rank to strive for, daily missions that ask me to commit to playing ten whole matches, and very little to look forward to in the battle pass, I don’t understand why this game would gain any traction over others beyond the fact that it's free.
Foamstars' combat mechanics are unexpectedly engaging, but confounding time-gated modes and aggressive monetization make them harder to enjoy.
As a game so late in the franchise, this ninth entry mostly plays things safe. Quixort's a favorite new addition that brings some new team-based competition to the table, and presenting a cleverly-named artifact in Junktopia never gets old. Jackbox 9 doesn't dethrone my personal favorites but it does bring new life to the party with some (expectedly) fun games that I'm excited to pull out the next time I have a few friends over or boot up with my family during the rapidly approaching holiday season.
From kinetic combat to the occasional fun Easter egg, it gets so much about the genre right. Unfortunately, the game severely lags in the elements that most other games in the genre get right. If you've already burned through Sifu, TMNT: Shredder's Revenge, and Streets of Rage 4 and want another action game to tide you over until Bayonetta 3, Midnight Fight Express' richly-animated brawls will satisfy, though probably not as much as those before or after. However, if you're looking for over-the-top action that toes the line with comedy, interspersed with cheesy dialogue and twists pulled from an old pulp thriller, you owe it to yourself to play Midnight Fight Express.
Rather than the triumphant return of a fan-favorite franchise, Battle League claims its slow season spot in Nintendo's calendar as just another sports game. If Mario Strikers saw a new release every year, there'd be a problem, but it's been well over a decade since the last entry in the series. Yes, it's more of the same, but when "the same" is so fun-and so hard to put down after just one match-more of the same is more than welcome, even if the game isn't as creative or ambitious as one might hope.
The Wii games felt so revolutionary because they did something deeply innovative with the medium. Switch Sports effectively does the opposite. It's still incredibly fun, especially if you're feeling nostalgic for the halcyon days of motion controls, but in trading content out for accuracy and immersion, it feels empty-even compared to games from 16 years ago.
Gloomhaven's gameplay is deeply challenging and dense, and it almost always manages to provide a satisfying payoff in equal measure if you are able to look past its menus and control flaws (and can stomach its load times on Switch). It isn't for the faint of heart, but those who stick with its complex, card-centric tactical gameplay will find a great strategy game.
Chants of Sennaar is as defined by its peaks as its valleys. For every moment of mind-blowing, brilliant puzzle design comes an inversely frustrating moment stymied by '90s adventure game logic. The game's ability to teach a player aspects of a language is awe-inspiring, and its way of guiding players along with as little information as possible is intensely rewarding-when it works. Even though it isn't for everyone (or consistently excellent), it's constantly impressive. If you're interested, we recommend checking out the free demo for the game that's available on the eShop, which will help let you know whether or not this game might be up your alley.