Pokémon Pokopia is a cozy Pokémon life simulation game that is full of adventure and creative opportunities. The game is very fun and relaxing, with great building and crafting systems that don't leave players feeling overwhelmed. It's a Switch 2 exclusive, but maybe some day our friends on the first Switch can join us.
A masterful rebuild from the ground up, Legacy of Kain: Defiance Remastered is not only everything you could want in a remaster, it fixes multiple long-standing critical issues with controls, cameras, audio, and so much more. Yes, it's a product of its time, in design and execution, but what PlayEveryWare has delivered is incredible, and I can't recommend it highly enough.
Toxic Commando is a fun game that offers some meaningful shifts on the four-player zombie-killing genre. While the story is goofy and fun, true to John Carpenter's legacy, the characters can be grating and the missions feel somewhat narratively disconnected. Gunplay and progression are well-honed, though, offering an engaging zombie-killing time any group will have a good time with.
FATAL FRAME II: Crimson Butterfly REMAKE honors the original while upgrading the game with excellent visuals and welcomed gameplay improvements. While the new charm system doesn't add that much, the Camera Obscura filters do well to shake up the traditional gameplay alongside the new side stories and locations that fit right into the narrative.
I'm playing on Switch 2 because I wanted all three games in the same place, and while I don't exactly regret that choice the game doesn't run very well here. The framerate is targeting 60 fps, but almost never hits that, usually hovering just above 30 when exploring. Some locations certainly fare better than others, but in Azuria and the second major area that's what you can expect. It's not awful, but you can definitely see the game struggling to go above 30 and I think a locked framerate would have been more beneficial. Or, better yet, a performance mode to hit 60 or even 40 in portable mode consistently. The game looks phenomenal and, as far as I can tell, isn't using upscaling techniques like DLSS to achieve 4k in TV mode. There's a lot of optimization work to be done here to be on par with Capcom's other impressive Switch 2 port, Resident Evil Requiem, so hopefully patches will solve these issues.
Marathon so far has been a brutal but rewarding extraction shooter that boasts an incredible visual style and is steeped in excellent Bungie gunplay. The learning curve can be steep at first, and losing everything to a bad run can sting, but the game truly opens up after a few hours to be something very addictive. [Review in Progress]
Marathon so far has been a brutal but rewarding extraction shooter that boasts an incredible visual style and is steeped in excellent Bungie gunplay. The learning curve can be steep at first, and losing everything to a bad run can sting, but the game truly opens up after a few hours to be something very addictive. Once the final map, Cryo Archive, releases in the coming days we'll have a final score for the full review. In meantime, we'll be dropping back in Tau Ceti IV chasing that next piece of loot.
WWE 2K26 offers a little something for everyone. With the biggest roster to date and more match choices than ever before, wrestling has never felt so good. Sadly, animation and face-scanning issues put a pin in the fun very quickly. Some objects and match types could be more responsive to player input.
Scott Pilgrim polishes up the fighting mechanics while still feeling very much in the spirit of the original. EX conveys a different kind of vibe, but it's just as potent and, importantly, fun to experience.
Tales of Berseria is a great game, but Tales of Berseria Remastered feels pointless on top of making the game unplayable on Switch. The significant input lag makes both combat and exploration unwieldy, textures look muddy or pixelated, the low resolution causes constant shimmering, and the game is stuck at 30 fps. All previous DLC being included is basically the only thing this release has going for it.
