Pocket Tactics

Disney Mirrorverse is, by far, the best Disney game on mobile in my opinion, and is a fine addition to its respective genre. So go on, do yourself a favour, and make this game a part of your world.

Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes sets a new standard for what Koei Tecmo can do with a top-tier Nintendo series. It offers so much to love, whether it’s the combat or the characters, and does it all with huge amounts of polish, care, and consideration. Every conversation, vignette, grand story moment, and humorous sketch is a delight to see if you care about these characters, and there’s so much of it. It’s just so rewarding to be back with all of them again.

An out-of-this-world addition to an already stellar game, the Void Riders DLC is just more of a good thing and adds some nice new mechanics and plenty of challenging new levels to OlliOlli World. If you’re confident in your kickflipping powers, take this DLC out for a spin.

In terms of a piece of stellar marketing for a brand in a sport always eager for young new fans, Offroad Unchained does its job well, providing easily understood mechanics, a cast of characters that offer motorsport industry representation, and some variation in off-roading locations. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite do the same job of making an enthralling rally game, featuring gameplay that for the most part feels like Mario Kart Tour in trucks, with little scope for technicality.

It’s hard to recommend Metal max Xeno Reborn after listing off all my issues with it. It’s an obtuse, difficult to play, and oftentimes ugly game. But there’s such a kernel of cheesy fun at the heart of things here, that I think if you know exactly what you’re getting into and enjoy this sort of thing, you’ll likely have an absolute blast. When I eventually settled into the mechanics and started to get a more powerful arsenal and team, this title opened up for me, and it all clicked into place, and I had a rad time just pummeling bad guys into oblivion.

Cloud Gardens should be your new chill-out game. A greatly relaxing experience is accentuated by stunning low-poly visuals and masterful attention to sound design that makes this post-apocalyptic wasteland a joy to traverse. It’s stuffed full of levels and even has a robust creative mode, while there are already hours of relaxation time for any players who take the dive. Cloud Gardens is a breath of fresh air to the puzzle genre and a blooming great way to chill out.

In the end, Ikai has a fantastic story, an intricate world, and depicts Japanese folklore in an enticing way, but it’s weighed down by an influx of mundane puzzles and janky controls. Still, if you’re a Japanese horror fan, I recommend you check Ikai out, as its narrative outweighs its lower points, at least enough to give it a try.

So, all in all, Mario Strikers: Battle League is a success, a shot aimed into the top corner and pulled off with serious aplomb, and Next Level Games has achieved an outcome that’s much more likely to stand the test of time than other Mario sports games, providing a refined template for the future of the Strikers series. While there’s still plenty more to see, and it’s only at launch that we can truly gauge how efficient the online mechanics are, at this point, I’m optimistic that on the third attempt, Mario Strikers: Battle League firmly finds the back of the net.

All in all, I can’t say enough kind words about Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, it’s an intergalactic nostalgia trip that takes you back to one of the finest RPGs out there, and dare I say that, even after almost 20 years, it withstands the tests of time. Aspyr has done an incredible job, and if you happen to be a Stars Wars or RPG fan, this is the game for you.

It’s classic action-RPG fare, a great starting point for those new to the series, and a solid experience for those waiting around for the next core series instalment. As well as all of this, the PvP mechanics do show some growth for the future of the series, and it’ll be exciting to see if the game modes return in a paid-for experience on consoles.

Feeding my obsession with horror and underwater creatures beautifully, Silt is host to an ominous and often uninviting world that dares you to explore it. Controlling different creatures feels great, and avoiding the many monstrous creatures while plotting your adventure is consistently satisfying, if occasionally slightly obtuse. A confident puzzle platform with some excellent world-building, any horror fan will happily get lost at sea with this one.

Catalyst Black is excellent at giving you a good time. The numerous game modes and loadout options are fun to play around in, and the scale of some of the maps is really impressive. I just wish there was something that made me want to keep coming back, which there isn't for now.

Overall, I genuinely love Touken Ranbu Warriors. It’s not anything new to those of us familiar with musou or the Warriors series, but it offered enough variety and interesting mechanics that I was thoroughly entertained. It’s beginner-friendly, aesthetically gorgeous, and the characters are wonderfully charming.

Opus: Echo of Starsong has many layers of narrative combined with numerous game mechanics, and it manages to make them all feel vital. Most importantly, though, its heartfelt story is one I will never forget, told in the perfect way.

All in all, Warped Kart Racers is a fantastic mobile kart racer, and given its part of Apple Arcade, it’s silly not to give it a try if you’re a subscriber. It features everything you could want from this sort of game, and there’s no denying how charming the characters are, even when they chuck puke all over the place.

All in all, Deadcraft is a great survival game, and is a must-play for any zombie fans. It has a good narrative, and a primary protagonist that’s surprisingly likeable, which makes it difficult to step away from this world.

A brutal love letter to Lovecraft and a roguelike with some neat ideas, Source of Madness could hold some fun for someone obsessed with the sci-fi author and looking for a particularly punishing game. But the tedious combat, slow progression, and the poor Switch performance all drag my experience down.

Above all else, Mini Motorways is incredibly playable. It’s one of those games that reminds my pretentious narrative-first sensibilities that sometimes a game can just be fun to play, or it can challenge the mind, without shoe-horning in a tepid plotline.

Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising is a gorgeous title with some charming elements, but the action isn’t sharp enough to be memorable, and the town building elements only serve to hamper the other sides of the gameplay. A lovely game is buried in here somewhere, but instead, too many unsuccessful elements drag down the greater experience.

A charming action game stacked full of great dungeons and unique puzzles that never seems to run out of smart ideas. Dungeons of Dreadrock brings the best elements of classic dungeon exploration to the Nintendo Switch and does a lot with only a few pieces.

All in all, The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe is a lap of honour that somehow manages to outdo the original achievement. In musical circles, you often find a particularly talented guitarist, drummer, or other musician, who despite their incredible talent is only really popular among fellow musicians.

I think Nintendo Switch Sports might have been better served with a more complete package released later in the year. It’s huge fun with the right people, playing online with friends or strangers who pose a challenge can start a fierce battle of skill and wits that really reignites the spirit of the old Wii Sports.

So play it, embrace it, leave behind your expectations and get your hands on the first ticket out to Bugsnax Island. I can almost guarantee that you’ll come back a different person, with a belly bursting from treats, and a heart heavy with love.

The House of the Dead still holds up as a campy and action-packed pastiche of the zombie genre, but this remake struggles to bring the gameplay competently to the modern-day. Issues with performance and motion controls hamper what could be a dead-good reanimation of an undead classic.

A delightfully charming business sim with cute characters, fun mechanics, and adorable kitties. Cat Cafe Manager is the purrfect way to relax and unwind after a long day.