The Verge

Like the rest of the HD-2D games, The Adventures of Elliot takes something that looks and feels very familiar, but adds just the right amount of modern touches and ingenuity to make it stand on its own. There may be a lot of Zelda-style games — and more coming — but few as polished, creative, and expansive as Elliot. Don’t let the goofy name scare you off.

In reducing everything down, Echo Isle pays homage to the best of a Zelda game instead of feeling like a poor imitation. With so many games nowadays focused on sprawling worlds that are often clogged with boring filler, it was refreshing to dive into Echo Isle’s little, polished world. And perhaps best of all, I finished most of it over my morning coffee.

There are a lot of things I love about Kabuto Park: the adorable storybook art that feels like a warm afternoon, the charming and often hilarious dialogue, the whining cicadas that provide the summer soundtrack. But what I love most is that there are just so few games like this. Outside of the works of Millenium Kitchen, most of which are only available in Japanese, there’s not much else that captures that very particular feeling of childhood freedom. And now that the game is on the Switch, you can experience Kabuto Park’s vision of summer in the actual outdoors.

Before you know it, you’ve finished the game, left wanting more instead of completely tired out. The journey there is an engrossing loop — and it gives you the dopamine of gambling without any actual risk.

First Light’s variety kept me on my toes, never once allowing me to guess where the game would go. The spectacle and set pieces rival even Uncharted, without ever once making me feel like I was merely a spectator. It’s not the Hitman-like game I initially expected given its developer; instead, it’s one of the best action games I’ve ever played, one that leans into the elements that have made Bond so enduring. And with the future of the film franchise up in the air, First Light is coming at exactly the right time and clearly in the right hands.

Coffee Talk Tokyo doesn’t change much, but it also doesn’t need to. All I want are some more friends to help out, and another excuse to hang out in a chill, pixelated cafe.

Like the original Yoshi’s Island on the SNES, it’s a game that takes the traditional Super Mario formula as its starting point, but reimagines it into something that ultimately feels completely different. Even in a genre that has been around for decades, Nintendo somehow keeps finding ways to surprise.

So much of Mixtape is, on its face, mundane. At one point, I spent 10 minutes skipping rocks — a not-insignificant amount of time for a game that I finished in about four hours. That mundanity, however, is what made the game feel so real. My high school experience as a nerdy band kid didn’t include any of the kinds of shenanigans that Mixtape’s trio gets up to. But I still related to the story of a bunch of kids hanging out, looking back at their time together, and peering nervously ahead to the future.

As Cascade, I did what I had to while pursuing forgiveness. I manipulated old friends into joining me in one last job, I deceived people who put their trust in me in order to obtain information, and I left multiple tasks unresolved, which will no doubt have ramifications for a city that I never plan to set foot in again. In Zero Parades, you get to choose the mask you wear. Force the right dice checks, choose the right words, and you may convince yourself that your actions were right all along.

The best thing about Horizon 6 is that you can pick and choose how you want to experience it. You aren’t limited to either track; you can do whatever feels most interesting to you, whether it’s competing or exploring, and follow that thread to new and interesting places. I’m sure for a lot of people that means the fastest cars and lots of first place trophies. Me? I’m content taking a refurbished Nissan truck through winding forest roads, with Rise Against providing the soundtrack for my destructive path.