SolomonRambling

KeyWe brings Overcooked-style co-op action to the mail room. There are four distinct level types (i.e. writing telegraphs, preparing packages), and later levels add more obstacles and gimmicks to challenges the players. Although each of the base levels are fun, certain gimmicks later on can make the gameplay frustrating or overly complicated (similar to how ice levels could be frustrating in Overcooked). The game is still a strong co-op game as a whole and has enough hidden collectibles to entice repeated playthroughs.

Iron Lung is a solid horror micro-game. Although simplistic, the gameplay serves to develop tension and an eerie atmosphere as you fumble blindly in the blood ocean. Its hour or so runtime allows you to beat the game in a single sitting, and any longer would have made the game tiresome to complete. The ending didn’t quite nail the landing for me, and the game is unlikely to leave too long of a lasting impression. However, if you enjoy horror and are willing to spend $8 on a 90-minute experience, Iron Lung is at least an interesting curio.

Iris and the Giant is a competent enough deckbuilder that has enough content to entertain for a few playthroughs. The acting and story come off as heavy-handed and mediocrely executed. Personally, I didn’t like that you lost your cards when you used them, making gameplay more focused on card preservation and collection rather than on building an archetype. The game’s approach to deckbuilding does feel unique, so others may have more mileage than I did.

Hindsight’s gameplay and story are both too shallow to make for an entertaining or impactful experience. Manipulating the in-game objects to metaphorically and literally gain new perspective is an interesting way to move the story along, but it isn’t fun enough to sustain the game’s momentum, no matter how short it is. Perhaps Hindsight is more visually stimulating on other consoles, but the Switch version’s graphics often look flat and lack detail. The grief narrative may resonate with some gamers, but the game’s themes have been better depicted in movies, books, and other media. Walking simulators and story-driven games have evolved to the point that Hindsight lacks originality and meaningful gameplay to justify a playthrough.

A relative disappointment after the first game. This Hidden Through Time 2 struggles to run on Switch, and the chugging framerate can be nauseating at times. Even without the performance issues, this entry is weaker than the first due to its attempts to be “bigger.” Each stage has two versions of it (typically a day/night variation that you can toggle between, and certain items can only be found in one version. As a result, you’re often flipping between scenes, which exacerbates the aforementioned performance issues. It also makes finding the items more cumbersome rather than complex. The basic gameplay is still largely the same, so it can be fun. If you haven’t grabbed the first game and all of its DLC, that’s where you should start instead of this game.

A great I-Spy-like game. Each scene tells a cute little story, and the clues for each item are creative and further add character. The DLC - while a tad pricey - offers more of the same fun.

Heavenly Bodies’ gameplay is novel in that it’s fun because it’s frustrating. Getting to grips with the physics of space makes each mission a test of patience as limbs get tangled and items clutter around you. Your desperate attempts to control your character are a source of hilarity, and working with your partner is as much about supporting them as it is trying to do a task better than they’re doing it. Missions vary the gameplay considerably, and checkpoints are thankfully plentiful. My main gripe is that the physics can feel funky, to the point that the more realistic but supposedly harder “Newtonian physics” mode actually makes more sense in terms of controlling your character. It can also be a pain to move your limbs in general, so a tolerance for jank is needed to enjoy this game.

The core concept is fantastic and makes the first ten or so runs a ton of fun. Unfortunately, mediocre combat and long load times grow more tiresome each failed run. The combat probably would’ve been more tolerable if it was more interwoven into the game, allowing players to learn the mechanics more easily (although this would exacerbate the loading issue). As such, I imagine the game is more fun on PC. The game has mountains of content, but I tuned out after about 10 hours.

This game has an abundance of style and action. It shines in its first half, showcasing a gameplay hook that challenges you to think strategically while attacking nonstop. The zany humor rewards those who know too much video game trivia. It’s also fun either alone or with others. The problem is its stamina. As the game wears on, stages can feel more samey and overwhelming, and the jokes start to grate. If paced correctly, Gotta Protectors has a great amount of content, but many players may tire out before reaching the end credits.

Intelligent and dynamic combat make Full Metal Furies a must-buy for couch co-op fans. The challenge can be stiff at times, especially because the combat demands each player to pull their own weight. However, RPG elements allow you to grind for upgrades and experience if you really need some extra help with a level. Boss battles are spectacular. It’s a shame that the writing isn’t stronger (often relying on meme-y humor), and I personally didn’t enjoy the puzzle elements of the game. These two issues don’t detract too much from the actual gameplay, so if you have a friend or three to join you, this is a solid purchase.

The Exit 8 is a devious twist on hidden object games that manages to be unsettling without being inaccessible to non-horror fans. The less you know going into it, the more fun you’ll have figuring out the game’s logic and tricks. A playthrough will usually take an hour at most, if not significantly less. However, I’ve also had a blast introducing the game to family and friends and seeing how they learn the game and react to its tricks.

Drowning isn’t so much a video game about mental health as it is a story of mental health that happens to be programmed like a video game. I imagine those who work in the mental health field could use it to start a conversation on depression, and its message may be deeply validating for some players. I also bet the majority of Switch gamers will see Drowning more for its limitations than its merits. Mental health is now a common topic in video games, and Drowning barely scratches the surface of depression. Unless you’re short on change, the Switch library offers deeper opportunities to explore mental illness while having fun.

At least for the first 15-20 hours, Core Keeper has a satisfying gameplay loop that balances exploration, resource management, and unlockables. It’s easy to lose a couple of hours to farming, mining, and preparing for boss battles. The controls can be a bit cumbersome and imprecise at times, but they rarely affect your overall performance. There is an incredible amount of content, but as you progress, the amount of work it takes to find each new boss becomes longer, and the resource management elements get boring. Playing co-op substantially improves the experience, and I bet four people working together is the best way to play.

The Switch has an abundance of quirky local multiplayer games, including TowerFall, Rocket Fist, Treadnauts, Boomerang Fu, PlateUp!, and Overcooked. With such a selection, there’s little reason to grab ClusterPuck 99, even to use as a palate cleanser between larger games like Smash or Mario Kart. The controls are sluggish; the physics are slow and inconsistent; the AI is basic; and games are rarely dynamic. It can be occasionally funny to see everyone pile around the puck like the game’s name suggests, but the humor wears thin when every game devolves into a mob of pucks clustered around a smaller puck. The game’s stages and stage creator are highlights, so if you can get into the basic gameplay, you’ll have enough fuel to maintain your interest (provided you can stomach the AI opponents or find willing humans to play with you).

For such an interesting premise, much of “And the Sun Went Out” is bogged down by bloat. Of the hundreds of choices you’ll make in the course of one play-through, a fraction of them have an actual impact on the plot. Certain segments of the story are enjoyable, but so much of narrative is wasted on a shoehorned romance, meaningless observations by the narrator, a litany of AI clichés spouted by the narrator’s wristwatch companion, and over-the-top action sequences. The game also lacks many standard features seen in other visual novels, including an auto-scroll. Choose-your-own-adventures can be fun, but “And the Sun Went Out” requires too much endurance to simply influence the trajectory of the plot.

A fantastic remaster of a wonderful puzzle platformer. The meta narrative may not resonate as much these days, but the main story is just satisfying to reveal as it was in the past. The majority of the puzzles have extraordinary solutions, and the challenge requires a clear understanding of each world’s mechanics without ever feeling unfair or insurmountable. It’s a bit on the short side, and the commentary - while insightful and interesting - runs long and often results in you doing nothing until the narration ends. That said, it’s still a no-brainer for puzzle lovers.

Once one of the best games on WiiWare is now let down by its controls on Switch. Neither the Joy-Cons nor the Pro Controllers feel as comfortable or precise as the Wiimote once did, resulting in frustrating gameplay, especially during the final level. The game, itself, is still a clever take on Pong with a well wonderful soundtrack and visuals. The Switch just isn’t the best way to play this game.

Bish Bash Bots follows the same formula of tower defense present in PixelJunk Monsters, allowing you to upgrade your defenses in the middle of waves while collecting money and setting up towers. It sets itself from Monsters by adding a variety of stage hazards (including boss battles) and enabling to join the fray and destroy (or push) enemies. The stage hazards - although initially novel - gradually distract you from the core tower defense gameplay, resulting in hectic waves that are more chaotic than thrilling. The combat, alone, helps give this game personality and an added layer of strategy, so it’s disappointing that the stage hazards make for a game that feels gimmicky and bloated rather than nuanced. It’s still a solid game to enjoy with a friend or three.

Baobabs is ambitious and bizarre. Given its short runtime, being ambitious and bizarre may be enough to justify a purchase if only to experience what a game with ample quirkiness and zero direction entails. Apart from a few moments of humor, Baobabs doesn’t really do anything well, and although most of it is harmless, the last section can be frustrating. I have no interest in playing the other episodes in the series, but I don’t regret playing through this curio.

Unlike many others, I wasn’t too impressed by the art direction and graphics. The soundtrack is fun, but the simplistic gameplay wasn’t stimulating enough to hold my attention. For me, the main character was insufferable, both as a self-pitying hipster and an “eccentric” rock star. I imagine consuming psychedelics could have improved my overall enjoyment of the Artful Escape.

I was drawn to the game due to its comparisons to Katamari Damacy and Pikmin. When the levels are straightforward, it’s fun to amass an animal army and destroy everything around you. Unfortunately, the game’s objectives demand a level of precision that the controls don’t offer. The AI for your animals is about as imprecise as the Pikimin from Pikmin 1, and this looseness often results in messy fights and needless losses. Stages gradually become more frustrating as the game asks more of you. The core gameplay is fun enough if you can stomach the janky controls. Otherwise, you’re better off sticking with the franchises that influenced Anarcute.

Although there is an interesting narrative at the heart of AI, it’s buried under layers of poor dialogue, juvenile humor, inconsistent tone, melodramatic twists, and ridiculous moments of action. If the game took itself seriously, I could possibly recommend it. However, the puzzle sections often seem based on luck (and repeating the level) rather than on deductive reasoning skills. Some may love the game’s overall zaniness, but it just grated on me, making me long for the ultimate yet convoluted ending to finally be rid of the entire mess.

Unless you’re already a fan, you’re probably better off trying Magical Drop IV or the Nintendo Switch Online SNES version. The core gameplay is interesting enough and makes rounds thrilling to play, but this release doesn’t offer much to keep you coming back. The two-player mode can be fun if you and your opponent are of equal skill level. Otherwise, it’s hard for a new or less experienced player to compete or learn the ropes. Magical Drop II isn’t a bad game; it’s just likely not the best entry point into the series.

In terms of its gameplay, Backpack Hero is solid, even if it's a bit easier and simpler than other roguelikes. It offers a steady stream of unlockables, including new weapons, characters, and mission variants. Its story and town hub are passable and at least offer a diversion from the main gameplay. As a PC game, I imagine Backpack Hero would be a great addition for any roguelike fan. The Switch version, however, is terribly optimized. The control scheme is bizarre, requiring you to often hold down buttons to move in and out of menus. The game stutters and stops in the town hub. Sometimes items/weapons don't activate, and other times, the items can't be selected. Most maddeningly, the game glitches out when you save during a dungeon, close the game, and then return. Upon returning, the dungeon reverts to the first floor (using enemies and bosses from that biome) but still tracks you as if you're on your current floor. Upon beating a boss, you're booted back to the town hub - even if you still have more floors to go - and lose your achievements for beating the run (even if the game says you competed the mission). The gameplay was good enough for me to spend 20 hours on it, but the issues have made me drop it before finishing the game and unlocking all of the content. Super disappointing overall, but maybe there's hope for those who try the game later when the developers/publishers have a chance to iron out the bugs. Update 3-2-25: The game is still an absolute mess of bugs and poor optimization. I started a new file and played 10-15 hours. I would have kept playing if the game didn’t suddenly delete my save file. What a horrible excuse for a port.

Think of the Children functions best as a form of birth control. If child-rearing happened to be as ugly, stressful, unfun, and buggy as it is depicted in this game, teen pregnancy and unsafe sex would be nonexistent. By yourself, beating any stage is a chore and aggravating, much like single-parenting. With three or four people, taking care of the children becomes a mindless babysitting job. With two players, gameplay sits happily between awful and boring. At best, Think of the Children is a poor approximation of Overcooked, perfectly emulating the chaos of cooperation without programming any of the payoff and originality. The best way to enjoy this game is through abstinence.

Angels of Death fought for blackout on the bingo card of anime clichés. A protagonist with convenient amnesia; an antihero who is more tender than his gruff façade; far too many villain monologues; a main baddie who delights in philosophy 101; another villain who can't seem to stay dead; and a twist we all saw coming. The animated adaption of Angels of Death at least looks nice and features a competent voice cast. The video game version is boring at best and cringeworthy the rest of the time. For a game which takes its edginess too seriously, it lacks any scares or gore to give it teeth, and no one needs to waste their time being gummed to death.

If you have an appetite for experimental games, Milk 1 & 2 delivers a visceral exploration of one girl's mental illness. They pack an emotional punch despite their short runtime, invoking feelings of despair, isolation, and confusion. The experience is decidedly not a feel-good one, but fans of Requiem for a Dream, Doki Doki Literature Club, and Serial Experiments Lain will know how derive enjoyment from a bad time. Notably, the girl is a compelling protagonist with whom we can empathize despite how alien her life may be to us.

World For Two features gorgeous pixel art and some inspired animal designs. The core gameplay concept - combining DNA from different organisms to create new species (reminiscent of Doodle God) - also shines, but needless busywork buries it under monotony. Each creature you produce can provide three DNA samples for your experiments, after which it disappears. Because only certain combinations will lead to new species, you'll inevitably run out of certain DNA and have to reproduce the creatures needed for more DNA to continue experimenting. As such, you must venture to one of four biomes to harvest the DNA and then travel back to your lab to continue your experiments. This needless backtracking **** up the majority of your playtime, and a cliched story does little to push you forward. With some tweaks, World For Two could be a hidden gem, but with all the unnecessary padding, it's just another mediocre indie amongst the masses on the eShop.

Bulb Boy certainly has character and could almost pass off as a morbid children's cartoon if it weren't for the mountains of poop, snot, and other unseemly beasties you find. As a visual experience, the game is a treat if you can get it past your gag reflex. As a point-and-click adventure, Bulb Boy lacks anything novel to make it memorable. Puzzles are generally simple when they're not unintuitive, and despite the general presence of danger, the pace trudges along leisurely. Despite its imagery, Bulb Boy isn't offensive; it's just not much of anything.

Reventure is the equivalent of a book of solid knock-knock jokes: funny but ultimately repetitive due to the medium's own restrictive structure. Playing more like a puzzler than a 2D action-platformer, the majority of the game's 100 endings will warrant a chuckle or two, especially if you enjoy zany/absurd humor. The methods to unlock each ending aren't quite as engaging, partly due to backtracking but largely due to repeat solutions (i.e. stab this NPC, stab that NPC, stab the next NPC). Although completionists will gorge themselves on this game, most gamers will feel satiated after 30 or so endings.

As the critic reviews have stated, Treadnauts excels as a local multiplayer game but fails to offer much else. The bots are competent, so you can enjoy the game by yourself, but it's a blast when you have a full party competing against each other. You have access to an extensive menu of modifiers (including presets) which add to the game's longevity and accessibility if you have willing participants, but the majority of these features are locked from the beginning. It's fun at first to unlock them as you gradually learn how to play the game, but the process later becomes a chore due to how long it takes to gain enough experience to gain "levels." The single-player "Target Test" is a bit too demanding in terms of difficulty and will likely not appeal to most gamers. If you're fine with an only local multiplayer game along the lines of TowerFall or Stick Fight, Treadnauts can still be a great addition to your lineup.

In limiting each day to 60 seconds, Minit has distilled an action-adventure title into its purest form. No needless NPCs, barren landscapes, or repetitive quests. Just pure cocaine-fueled action. Your task each day is to essentially find a new item which will help you access a different part of the map. In doing this, the game gently nudges you in the right direction without holding your hand. Because you only have 60 seconds, everything is in your reach, allowing for near constant progression. Even if you get stuck, you won't have to do much backtracking. It's all streamlined fun complimented by an amazing soundtrack by Jukio Kallio.

Even 18 years since its initial release, Katamari Damacy has few rivals which match its zany originality. Building up your katamari is infinitely addictive, and exploring levels for new objects to grab or for better pathways to exploit incentivize repeated playthroughs. It still looks and sounds fantastic. The control scheme takes some getting used to, but otherwise, Katamari is a classic everyone should try.

The Switch's version of the Town of Light is an absolute dumpster fire. Apart from looking hideous, the game is so broken you can't progress past the halfway point due to a bug with one of the puzzles. The developers/publisher have yet to fix it. The "deluxe" part is only a series of poorly compressed videos which sort of talk about the game and its development.

Audiosurf's evil twin, Thumper is an audio and visual delight which beats you over the head with dread and difficulty. The throbbing industrial soundtrack offers a different rhythm experience, sending you on a dark trip against fragmented and cosmic monsters. The moment-to-moment gameplay is frenetic and unforgiving, but checkpoints are plentiful, making progression possible with patience and practice. The finale, in particular, is mind-blowing and well worth the effort. Although Thumper runs perfectly fine on the Switch, it is enjoyed best through VR.

A masterpiece and one of my favorite games on the Switch. The scenes are beautifully illustrated, and the solutions to the puzzles are as mind-bending as they are gratifying. Without any dialogue or text, the story can be a bit obtuse to some players, but there's a joy to analyzing the themes and trying to piece together the narrative. Reaching the end will take roughly two hours, but its brevity makes for a tight, inventive experience, one of the best in the last five years of gaming.

Red Rope offers a steep but fair challenge to co-op players. You and your partner are connected by a short rope which restricts your movement but provides you with a weapon. You dispatch enemies by wrapping your rope around them or passing it over them, and doing so grants you a small extension to your rope. The enemies and obstacles in the labyrinth are vicious, however, killing you with a single touch and thus reducing your rope back to its original size. Each room within the labyrinth acts as a puzzle of sorts, tasking you with determining how to best clear the enemies while minimizing your deaths and gaining access to the next room. Red Rope separates itself from other co-op games by demanding that you and your partner work in tandem with each other each step of the way. One player can't carry the other; both must be active participants. Although brutal in difficulty - requiring both finesse and strategy - Red Rope is a rewarding experience which deviates from the standard co-op formula. Each room feels like a triumph to complete, and besting the final boss earns you a place on a leaderboard few have reached.

No matter who I've invited to play it, Hidden in Plain Sight has been an uproarious hit. A few game modes stand out from the others (Death Race, Ninja Party Classic, and Ninja Battle Royale), but all of them can entertain a group. If you enjoy local multiplayer, the game is a must-buy. That said, the overall package is shallow, lacking any unlockables or extra content, so those looking for a meatier experience would do better with Towerfall, Treadnauts, or Flat Heroes.

Headsnatchers has a novel concept: your main aim is to rip off your opponents' heads, but each stage tasks you with using those heads to win in a different way (i.e. feeding sharks, shooting baskets, overtaking opponents in an obstacle race). If the game was programmed competently, you could probably enjoy the novelty. As it is, movement is loose, button inputs don't register, and hitboxes only occasionally work. The whole affair is a blurry mess with enough bugs to halt gameplay. Without bots, you'll have a hard time ever playing the main multiplayer modes considering how difficult it is to convince others to torture themselves with this game. The developers only outdid themselves by making a single-player platforming campaign which is far worse than the main mode.

From the creators of “A Game Literally About Doing Your Taxes,” Buddy Simulator 1984 manages to weave an unsettling narrative beneath a seemingly innocent façade. The gameplay evolves as the titular Buddy attempts to be your best friend, but most mechanics are shallow compared to the themes in the story. The plot can be a little awkward and wordy at times while still being entertaining. Bugs largely hold back this game from being an easy recommendation, in which case the PC version may be the way to go.