Switch Player

Willy Morgan and the Curse of Bone Town is a great callback to classic point-and-click adventure games but is let down by the frustration its puzzles can cause. However, a unique visual style and story are still worth discovering underneath.

Rustler won’t win any prizes for originality, but it largely succeeds in aping the GTA format and infusing it with all things medieval. Could the technical performance be better? Yes, but where else can you ride horseback with a beatboxing bard?

Arietta of Spirits buckles under the weight of its own premise. Telling such a detailed story in such a small game means no idea quite gets its due, and the moments of greatness are too fleeting to make a real impact.

TOEM is one of the many wholesome games available on Switch, but it is one that stands out thanks to its unique hand-drawn art style and enjoyable perspective mechanics. A short but sweet, frame-by-frame adventure.

Shing! is a unique beat ’em up experience on Switch, with a good presentation and fresh gameplay ideas that are mostly satisfying. Local co-op, unlockable costumes, and online high score lists give it additional replay value for fans of the genre.

Axiom Verge 2 doesn’t quite deliver the same thrill and nuance of its predecessor. There are great ideas at play and an engaging story if you can commit to it. But be prepared to come away slightly underwhelmed.

Mythic Ocean is a fun little adventure with a strong narrative and memorable characters, but it ends before it has a chance to really leave an impact on you.

Garden Story is such a wholesome game and the more time you put into it, the more you will get out. Its adorable cast of characters and varied gameplay makes for a great ‘relaxation’ game, if that’s what you’re looking for.

Curious Expedition 2 tells a story full of adventure and intrigue that sustains the game through its short campaign. The repetitive nature of the gameplay soon becomes stale however, offering little reason to extend your expedition beyond the main story.

Boyfriend Dungeon‘s unlikely mix of dating sim and dungeon crawler charms more than it irks, letting you romance your way through many a dungeon. Is it over too quickly? Yes, but this heartfelt summer vacation is fun while it lasts.

It has its flaws, but there is absolutely no reason not to get on board with No More Heroes 3. It’s explosive, it’s sexy, it’s absurd, and it’s all created with a passion rarely seen outside of small-scale indie game development.

A Monster’s Expedition shakes up the puzzling genre with an enormous map, combining tiny individual puzzles with an empowering sense of exploration. Gorgeous graphics and witty writing mean it mostly succeeds, let down only slightly when its ambitious scale becomes daunting.

Islanders provides players with a sense of calm that no other strategy game can. It’s designed to help you feel relaxed while still giving you the challenge that comes with a strategic puzzle title.

Ayo The Clown offers platforming antics by numbers, and it’s a crowded genre with some big jumping shoes for company. But there are enough fresh ideas to warrant a deviation from the well-worn first-party platforming path.

Creepy, disturbing, and just a little bit cheesy, Night Book is sure to provide a few fun evenings. If you’re a fan of choosing your own adventure, this game will get you playing and playing again to try and get the best ending.

Greak: Memories of Azur is a fine example of a 2D platformer on Nintendo Switch, with beautiful aesthetics and some interesting takes on gameplay. It’s let down by its lack of cooperative play and simplistic combat.

Metal Unit offers quick combat and a multitude of cool weapons, but beyond that it fails to leave much of an impact. It’s fun to play, but you’ll forget the storyline as soon as you turn the game off.

Ultra-stylised visuals and creatively crafted combat are the reasons to dive into the world of Shibuya. The quirky cast, muddled music and lengthy visual novel-esque text sequences? Not so much. I liked it, but I didn’t love it.

With a nice pixel-art style, Within the Blade may look like the perfect side-scrolling ninja adventure. While it offers huge replayability, its basic problems make it feel like you are fighting with a dull blade.

Super Destronaut DX-2 is about as colourful and manic a 2D arcade shooter as they come. What it lacks in content and competitiveness it more than makes up for with great style and tactile feedback.

Induction encourages players to consider cause and effect in each of its carefully crafted, time-bending puzzles. Though some mechanics could have used some explanation, it’s certainly no puzzle that fans of the genre should give this game a go.

If you can ignore heavily downgraded graphics for the sake of playing a game on the go, Last Stop can present you with an anthology of three different narratives that are fun, dramatic, and weird in very unique ways.

Sun Wukong VS Robot is a solid, enjoyable Metroidvania on Switch that uses the titular Chinese legend in an interesting way, utilising his many powers and abilities to modify gameplay. At an extremely affordable price point, it’s worth checking out.

Anna’s Quest manages to take the small child in scary world theme and keep it fresh and entertaining: great characters, excellent voice acting, and an intriguing story make this adventure game a worthy Switch purchase.

Super Cable Boy is a wonderful collection of contradictions: experimental yet familiar, accessible but challenging, linear with masses of choice. The game marries old and new elements of 2D platforming to near-perfection. A triumph stylistically, conceptually, and in execution.