Although very much of its time in visuals and sound, Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light holds its own in the modern day thanks to solid gameplay and structure. Almost everything you know and love about the series is here, and the game is worth picking up if only for the insight into early parts of the franchise. It's not an essential Switch game by any means, and quite alienating for beginners to the series, but it's practically compulsory for fans of Fire Emblem.
Being a visual novel, If Found… won't be for everyone, but those willing to give it a try will find a beautiful and endearing story of self-acceptance. The gorgeous hand-drawn art and the story coming directly from a diary really give the impression of an insight to someone's life, and the gameplay idea of actually erasing history and identity creates an intensely emotional experience.
Age of Calamity is, for all intents and purposes, a prequel to Breath of the Wild. It might be a spin-off in a separate genre, but it's clearly a labour of love, and the result is a thoroughly enjoyable romp through one of the most interesting periods of Hyrule. If the first game was a love letter to the Zelda series, this not only improves on this concept in every way, but stands as one of the best Zelda games, period.
Silent Hill by way of Japanese horror, Re:Turn makes a more than decent attempt at inciting fear in the player. It might be handled in a way that comes across a little hammy at times, but the fantastic atmosphere incited by the visual and sound design more than make up for this. Sprinkle in some excellent puzzles and an engrossing story and you've got one hell of a reason to turn up those headphones and turn down those lights.
ScourgeBringer has a mostly enjoyable flow to it and some great visuals, if you can see them in the chaos. However, it's joining the cavalcade of roguelites around at the moment, and brings little new to the table, outside of some often burdensome bullet hell elements. If you've got an itch for recurring death and frustration, this will definitely satisfy for a time, but there are far better examples of the genre out there.
What Supergiant Games have created here is the perfect roguelike; immensely satisfying, even in failure, with an excellently-written array of characters and a compelling story. With variety of events to avoid the gameplay every becoming stale, a myriad of different weapons with markedly varied play styles, and gameplay-altering boons, Hades is an absolute joy to play. Oh, and everyone is hot, EVERYONE.
Aokana is a wholesome underdog story ruined by panty shots and sudden nudity. This being said, if you can see past the fan service, the distinctly unlikeable protagonist and one note characters – OK, that's a lot to look past – this actually comes together to create an engaging tale of overcoming fears and the power of friendship, and you can't help but root for them.
Ultimately SWORD ART ONLINE: Alicization Lycoris takes too long to get to the point both in its combat and story, leaving the player disinterested before it even really begins. There is a good game here if you do commit to it, with some great character and world design, enjoyable combat, and interesting game systems, but it's just not worth the slog to reach it.
A visually beautiful and hilariously well-written experience let down by an overbearing and clunky fundamental gameplay system. Unfortunately, Paper Mario: The Origami King falls flat in its attempts to bring one too many things into the fold.
Granblue Fantasy: Versus is an interesting game, both mechanically sound and simple with a diverse roster. Absolutely gorgeous to behold, and mostly pleasant to hear, this is the sort of fighting game esports was made for. It's such a shame then that the single player content doesn't hit the mark, especially the often frustrating RPG Mode.
If a classic JRPG is what you're looking for, The Alliance Alive HD delivers most of what you could want, if little else. With a few tweaks to the JRPG formula, a likeable cast of occasionally dumb characters, and some interesting combat mechanics, it's not exactly breaking the mould, but it's doing a pretty good job of filling it.
Katrielle and the Millionaires' Conspiracy is more Layton, but with a host of new characters and a healthy dollop of puzzles. Unfortunately, they're weaker, more contrived tests of your mind than previously. Katrielle and the stellar supporting cast really boost the experience, as do the stunning visuals, but the sum of its parts is less than I expect from a Layton title.
With unenjoyable and clunky combat that is made much worse during the 3D segments, a laughably archetypal fantasy story, and dated character models, it's hard to actually believe that AeternoBlade II released this year for modern consoles. AeternoBlade II simply falls short of all of its ambitions, whatever they might have been.
With a lot of gameplay enhancements from previous iterations, a gorgeously rendered game world, and a whole host more besides, Luigi's Mansion 3 is easily the apex of the franchise. The sheer amount to see and do, along with the amount of adorable details, make this game a wonderful experience and one I would recommend. Sucking at games has (rarely) felt this good.
AI: The Somnium Files has to be easily one of the best visual novels I've ever had the joy of playing, maybe even ranks as one of the best games I've played this year. With superb visuals, engaging gameplay, likeable characters, and a twist-filled story to rival that of M. Night Shyamalan, this is definitely not a visual novel to be slept on (sorry).
With an insane (but great) storyline, borderline inappropriate dialogue and the fascination with crying aside of course, CRYSTAR is a decent little game. The combat and other things tend to be repetitive, but there's enough different things in here to keep the experience fresh. And after all, even with all of the gameplay flaws, you can still PET THE DAMN DOG.
Once you fall into the groove, Oninaki is greatly enjoyable, even if it initially falls flat because of its repetitive combat. The story heads to dark places surrounding the central theming, occasionally in a ham-fisted way, but still manages to have emotional impact. Ultimately though, Oninaki is a gem of a game if you're persistent in putting in the work. Tokyo RPG Factory have done it again
An enjoyable retro-style rogue-lite; in RAD you should expect brutal gameplay in a gaudy and synthesised world. The random nature of the world sometimes proves to be a problem, but not enough to diminish what is a fantastically loud take on the genre. If only for letting players smack about mutants with their engorged limbs and a baseball bat, RAD lives up to its name. Just try to stop playing it, you'll struggle.
As I said before, I cannot recommend Shadowbringers more. The story, visuals, music, vocal performances, and gameplay all combine together to create a phenomenal gaming experience. Final Fantasy XIV has only gotten better over time, and after playing Shadowbringers I have simply no idea how they are going to better this expansion in the future. It really and truly is that good.
In trying to be so many things at once, Songbird Symphony never truly succeeds at any of them. This is far from a deal breaker, however, as the game is an enjoyable and unique combination of elements. This mix is then paired with the adorable protagonist, funny writing with a lot of childish puns, and a bouncy soundtrack to create possibly the most wholesome game this year.