Vooks

South of Midnight’s Switch 2 port isn’t perfect, but with its lovely visuals intact and an understandable cut to performance, it’s not all that bad either. A fascinating story and lore, gorgeous visuals, and a mostly solid port unfortunately aren’t enough, however, to shake the feeling that the gameplay itself feels outdated and often frustrating. It’s worth playing for the story nonetheless, and the Switch 2 is a fine enough place to play it, as long as you can live with it feeling like a long-lost PS2 game.

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is a fitting follow up and upgrade on the previous 3DS game. It’s easy to grow fond of your island of Mii’s and their Hot Dog obsessed ways, helping to guide them through the ups and downs of a digital life. There is something for players who want to cover the world with their art and creations, or for players who just want to see what goofy things the Mii residents will get up to next. Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is much more joyful than the potentially sarcastic saying it is titled after.

Pragmata is a wonderfully ambitious game that marries thoughtful, touching storytelling with some of the weirdest and most satisfying combat gameplay in recent history. It’s not without its stumbles, particularly when it comes to its difficulty scaling and performance on Switch 2, but all of those blemishes largely fade away when you step back and look at the game as a whole. And as a whole, it’s simply delightful.

Is Super Mario Bros. Wonder: Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Meetup in Bellabel Park better than just more Super Mario Bros. Wonder with more stages and more Wonder effects? We’ll never know, but what is here is a fun package of minigames built into the Wonder mould, you’ll just need to navigate the slightly confusing way the modes are all laid out, but least you’ll have your friends with you to do so.

Fallout has always been one of those series I've enjoyed, but it's never been anywhere near a Nintendo system. That meant I could just play it for myself without having to review it. Now, here on the Nintendo Switch 2, I have to cast an analytical eye over it, but thankfully Bethesda has done a great job with the port. Now I have Fallout on a Nintendo system, I think I'll be playing this for a while yet, unless some other post-apocalyptic game were to suddenly appear.

The Zooseum DLC is a great addition to the Two Point universe. The animal conservation aspect is really well thought out from both a gameplay and animal welfare perspective. It's a fun little add-on, which hopefully doesn't mean there's never going to be a Two Point Zoo game.

Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection sets a high bar for future adventure RPGs, offering a beautiful, stylised design, incredible storytelling, and combat that is approachable and satisfying without sacrificing tactical depth and complexity. It’s a fantastic evolution of the Stories formula, delivering a richer narrative, deeper world interaction, and more reasons to explore the Monster Hunter universe from a different perspective.

If you fit into a very specific type of player, PGA Tour 2K25 on Switch 2 could still be great for you. The core golf is excellent. It’s just let down badly by the packaging around it.

There are so many racing games on the Switch and Switch 2 now. I remember a time when racing games on Nintendo consoles were a rarity. Now you’re spoiled for choice. 4PGP looks like an arcade racer, sounds like one, and plays like one most of the time. It just forgets that it isn’t actually sitting in an arcade. There’s no need for the AI to be so punishing. You’re better off doing what the game’s name suggests and playing it with some mates. At least then you can throw something at them when they ruin your perfect lap.

Pokémon Pokopia is a surprisingly thoughtful love letter to the Kanto region, and the Pokémon world as a whole, wrapped up in delightful, cosy sandbox gameplay. It gracefully walks the line between familiar and fresh at every point, taking few missteps along the way and delivering one of the best Pokémon spinoffs in decades.