TheFlannelFox

Originally released in 2014 from Bastion and Pyre creators Supergiant, is the sci-fi action rpg, Transistor, which has now Crashed it’s way onto the Nintendo Switch. You play as Red,a singer, whom in the beginning is on the ground kneeling next to a man impaled by a huge blade, known as the Transistor. While the man is dead, his soul and voice have been absorbed by the blade allowing him to speak to Red throughout the game, narrating it. It also has absorbed Red’s voice, leaving her mute. Red is burdened by this enormous sword, so large that when she is walking around it drags behind her on the ground. Yet, she needs it to survive. For the city she lives in, Cloudbank, has been overrun by a robotic army, known as The Process. Head in the Clouds The world of Cloudbank is a beautiful one. Viewed from an isometric perspective is a stunning art deco world, elevated with a sci-fi touch of being in the sky and overgrown with foliage as it has been deserted. The lighting and atmosphere in Cloudbank, gives a rich nostalgic feeling, that when walking miles above with ground with futuristic buildings in the distance you still feel like this happened long ago in a place you’ve been to before. Making the your journey into the unknown a little bit less frightening. If at first you don’t succeed, die die again The combat system in Transistor is incredibly unique. As you play through you gain new powers or “functions” that can be mapped to one of the four face buttons. Crashing your huge sword, shooting energy beams across the screen, or lobbing grenades at your foes to survive that much longer in this harsh environment. While in typical action-rpg fashion you can run around in real-time trying to even the battlefield, but quickly you will find yourself pushing up daisies. Fortunately, Red has the ability to stop time, map out her actions carefully, then execute them. Bringing you the forethought of turn-based combat in an action setting. After you use this tool, you scramble around the level trying to dodging incoming attacks until your time-stop ability recharges. This is the most dangerous time for Red, as she moves quite slow and her dash ability isn’t all that great. Eventually I began ending my time-stopping attacks with an invisibility function that kept me hidden long enough for my time-stop to recharge. After hours in the game I found myself heavily relying on the time-stop ability, but playing real-time has its benefits. For example your attacks don’t have to recharge, so if you have a powerful attack you can spam it destroying the robotic enemy hordes, if you can keep out of the line of fire. Each function or power that you pick up along the way can be unequipped and swapped for another. Or you can use one function to upgrade another. For example, breach an attack that shoots an energy beam, can be used to upgrade my sword crash, increasing it’s range and speed. Given the fact that you can swap these functions in absolutely any order gives you a huge amount of combat customization. Helping you find the perfect loadout for your playstyle. Unfortunately for me the combat began feeling incredibly repetitive after the first couple of hours. Seeing a lot of the same enemies, in the exact same situations, a battle in the beginning is very similar to battles later on; heightened by the fact that the real-time combat feels so good, I wish that there were functions to help you better adapt to that playstyle. This game runs great on the Nintendo Switch, handheld or docked I didn’t have any hiccups and it certainly looks fantastic in handheld mode. If playing on a commute headphones are a must as the narrator and background music contribute so much to the story that you won’t want to miss it. Transistor is a beautiful game with an incredibly interesting story, that will reward you if you stick it out. Unfortunately the combat system was a low point for me, even with the amazing amount of customization allowed. typically I want to play a game for the moment to moment gameplay not the story. Well with Transistor this was reversed, watching Red’s story come to a conclusion was the real drive for me, not slaying gaggles of repetitive robotic foes. Which in my opinion keeps this good game, from being a great game.

Desert Child is a 2 and a half D racer with light RPG progression. Beginning on planet earth, you will race to earn money to very quickly buy yourself a ticket to Mars. Where you’ll spend the majority of the game. Once on Mars the objective of the game is to save $10,000 to get into the Grand Prix. In order to do so you’ll have to race, which you collect cash pickups during and if you win, but that’s not the only way to earn money. You can also pick up side jobs such as herding Kangaroos, completing bounties, hacking banks, and my personal favorite delivering pizzas. All of them are slightly different spins on racing, which personally I would like if they have more of a unique feel as it’s very grindy when trying to earn that $10,000. There are things you can do along the way to increase your earnings. For example, when wandering the city, you find other bikes which you can hack and steal parts from. With a simple little hack game, where you have to press A just when the letter turns red, and if you mess up the hack starts over, and if you run out of time an alarm goes off. Standing there for a while after the alarm went off I never had authorities called on me though, which takes away a certain level of thrill from the crime. Which I might add, there are alot of illegal activities that you partake in that seem to have absolutely no consequences. Hacking banks and throwing races, which should be a nice balance of risk and reward, don’t matter. Hack the bank every chance that you get because you will never get caught. While i digress the entire point of robbing parts from other bikes is that you pick up new bike parts. These bike parts allow you to upgrade your bike with perks ranging from pick up more money, do more or take less damage, you know you're basic video game upgrades. The system of upgrading is a fun little mini game in itself though. Fitting together tetris like pieces, then having to connect them with your highly valuable power cells, gives you limitations and forces you to weigh which upgrades are really worth your time. Desert Child has a nice mix of maintenance that cause you to deplete the funds that you are saving for the big race. As your bike is sure to get damage during your races you have to pay to repair it and pay to feed yourself, as doing all of those races and side quests makes you one hungry guy. Certain foods replenish your hungry much faster, getting a fresh fish from the canals is a cheap way to satisfy the cravings, but I prefered pizza as I can squeeze in a quick delivery while I’m there. You would think that food on Mars would be a lot different than the food we serve here on Earth, but not the case. The meat of the game is the race, dodging pillars, projectiles, and tvs, you also have to balance picking up as much cash as possible, while still managing to get to the finish line before you opponent. As I have previously mentioned this game certainly has a grind to it, which you really feel because the racing isn’t that satisfying. You’ll see the same tracks over and over, and the races are very easy to complete. When finally getting to the Grand Prix, I came in first in every race the first time, and I am by no means good at racing games. Also when playing handheld, which was the bulk of my gameplay experience, the controls would give out during races, so I wouldn’t be able to control my bike. So my bike took a considerable amount of damage while I watched all that cash just blow on by. Through my 4-5 hour play through this only happened a handful of times, but enough for it to leave it’s impression. The world of Desert Child is an absolute highlight, when moving from objective to objective you walk through various scenes all from gorgeous forced perspectives, with a great soundtrack. Confusing at first, but once you know your way around the city you cruise through with no problem at all. The little side missions and conversations were my favorite part of this sci fi racer. Do be careful if you turn the music off though, a little buggy I had to close the game and restart to get the music to come back on multiple times. Desert Child is a very interesting experience. With a wonderful world to live in and great side tasks to keep you busy, unfortunately the main course of this racing game is just a little too stale. Feeling very repetitive very quickly and not really presenting enough of a difficult challenge to overcome.

Disgaea, for someone new to the series is a turn-based tactical jrpg, this game was originally released in 2003 and has been remastered in HD, with a lot of the assets used from Disgaea5. Accompanying the amazing turn-based combat, is a very ok story with a great punny sense of humor. Not even in dialogue, every item in this game has a cheeky description that will entertain you when scrolling through the store. With other story beats that are sure to make you laugh out loud, as long as you appreciate a corny joke every now and again. The highlight of Disgaea 1 complete is absolutely the combat system. With a team of 10 possible members on the battlefield in a game, you will slash, throw, and cast your way to victory. Each different character type having different specialties from spears & swords, to guns & bows, to different elemental spells filling your team out with the type of characters that fit your playstyle is a joy. Some characters such as warriors and brawlers will counter attack when hit by the enemy, giving you tons of extra damage dealt each turn, but you have to make sure that you have a healer on hand when the goings get rough. Coming from Disgaea 5, a huge combat disappointment is that you can only see your enemies elemental weaknesses not their weapon weaknesses. In D5 when planning your attacks you can set your spear wielding brawler on an enemy that will be vulnerable to their attacks, truly taking advantage of each member of your squad. In Disgaea 5 complete, which full disclosure, was the first game that I’ve played in the series. Right off of the bat they give you a million HL, strong extra characters, and it takes away the struggle that makes you learn to really push and utilize these systems. Honestly, while I love Disgaea 5, I never really felt that it was difficult, and yes I shouldn’t have used all of those things from the beginning but I didn’t really know that going in. In Disgaea 1, you have to struggle, die, then learn how to work your way through a difficult stage. When playing Disgaea for review I googled some YouTube videos on grinding, looking in particular for some game hacks that can level you up quick and when I say quick I mean it will take forever going down a rabbit hole learning new ways to utilize the many systems at play. One particular level has a geo modifier that makes every single space on the board give you invincibility except for one on the opposite side of the level. So that you can throw enemies on top of each other, creating one incredibly strong enemy at level 112. Then maneuver that enemy to the only square on the map that characters will take damage, so if you're patient enough you can hack away at an enemy and take no damage. So with one enemy killed I raised my brawler from level 14 to level 25, which is the entire point of this game. Playing the game on and off the battlefield. Learning each system will take time, but will surprise you if you challenge it. Ranking my character up in the dark assembly, then allows you to spend mana to have the assembly vote on different modifiers. These modifiers can simply allow you to get higher ranked items in the store or can give you Triple XP on the next enemy killed. However, if you’re clever enough to combine a grinding technique with the Triple XP then gaining 10 levels in a single kill can jump to 20 or 25. And when I say grinding, yes this is a very grindy game. Expect to play the same level 10, 20, or how every many times you want really. Loving the combat system myself, grinding can be incredibly rewarding when you first get decimated by an enemy then comeback and destroy them, but if grinding isn’t your thing than Disgaea definitely is not for you. Finding a level with high XP modifiers that also gives you tons of HL is well worth the grind in my opinion. Even futhered with the item world, a feature that allows you to enter any item in your inventory to level that item up as you play through. Not sure what to expect when coming from the latest entry in the series into the first, Disgaea 1 Complete is a much easier entry point. Having less systems in play than the later entries will allow you to really sink your teeth into the meaty systems that are at the games core and build upon it slowly. Disgaea 1 Complete is a fantastic tactical-jrpg with some of the most rewarding turn-based combat that I have ever experienced. Yes the story is whacky, but fun, keeping you surprised throughout because it’s so damn goofy that you won’t be able to guess what’s next. If tactical JRPGs are your thing, if Disgaea is your thing, or if you haven’t played this genre before and are looking for a new solid experience I can happily recommend Disgaea 1 Complete.

Originally released in 2013, from developer Cellar Door Games, this rogue-light platformer feels familiar right from the start, but a bit limiting. At first you can only jump and use your sword, having a particularly satisfying bounce slash that only works if timed juuuuuust right. When beginning the tables are turned against you and it you really feel it. Death after death you will keep running into the castle, which is procedurally generated each run, meaning that each time you explore it, the layout will be different than before. As the title of the game suggests you are in fact leaving a legacy, as each new life you start as a descendant of the character you’ve previously played. With each new life you can choose one of three descendants to play as, each with varying size, class, personal trait, and magic ability. For example you can get a colorblind mage and while you can defeat enemies by casting fireballs that circle around you, it’s pretty hard to navigate through the level safely. Some will have glaucoma, making the entire level blurry, others have Vertigo, forcing you to play through the level upside down with the UI mirrored. In the beginning these characters just feel like torture to play, but if you embrace the challenge it can be an intriguing test of your skills. Speaking of torture, Rogue Legacy is HARD. Like NES platformer, take a break and come back hard, especially in the beginning. The way that you progress in Rogue Legacy is using the coins that you collect each round to purchase upgrades to your estate which raises things like your attack stats, health, unlocks new characters and much more. You can also spend that money to unlock weapons, armor, and runes if you have found their blueprint in the game. Even then Rogue Legacy will still give you a realty check if you aren’t giving it your all, but after you get deep into your unlocks you’ll be able to level the playing field a bit. For each piece of armor or weapon that you wield you can equip a rune. Runes can vary from giving you an extra jump, which can be stacked so that you can have a triple or quadruple jump, a dash ability or earning more coins throughout the level. Currently, I’m utilizing a double-jump, a dash, two extra coin modifiers, vampirism perks, and an almost complete set of vampirism armor, which gives me health with every enemy slain. Overall, the game runs great on the the Switch, except for one crazy glitch that occured when I was in a middle **** run, which really ****, but the glitch was fun to experiment with. Rogue Legacy is an addictive rogue-light platformer with a rewarding progression system once you get into the meat of the video game. The quick runs lend it to a great portable experience that I can wholeheartedly recommend if you are a fan of difficult retro platformers.

If you’ve never played a diablo game before, get ready for hours of incredible combat, looting, and character progression. When beginning the game you choose from one of 7 classes, each with very different play styles. As you play through the campaign your unlock new skills as you level up. Each skill having five modifiers that you can use to your advantage depending on your play style. The customization only goes deeper as you collect loot throughout the game to upgrade your skill set, until five minutes later when you find something better and better, and that loop continues until you are one badass demon slayer. Blasting through hordes of enemies in Diablo 3 has never felt better. Such a grindy game is perfect for this portable system. Leveling my character up for hours during my daily commute then plugging in the same character to run rifts with my buddies when I get home, is the what the Switch was made for. Finding a perfect balance of online and offline gameplay, which I have been dying for since the Switch was released. Especially playing a seasonal character, if you create the character and begin playing online, you can grind that character when offline and on the go, earning that coveted seasonal loot all the faster. Diablo 3: Eternal Collection on Switch has non-wifi required couch co-op and some special Zelda loot, including Ganondorf’s armor. Which is only cosmetic and quite expensive, allowing you to change the look of your existing armor, not acquire a special set. When playing D3 in handheld mode it looks fantastic and it certainly takes its toll as just under two hours of gameplay had my Switch at 30%, so make sure to pack your charger. Before playing handheld I was a bit worried that given the nature of the game, with so much going on, that it would be overwhelming, but that was quickly laid to rest. It feels great grinding through cave after cave of monster mayhem on the go. Even with enemies filling up my entire screen the frame rate didn’t drop, not once. Diablo 3: Eternal Collection is absolutely incredible on the Nintendo Switch. If you’ve never played Diablo 3 before, this is the perfect chance to jump into a game that will give you hundreds of hours of gameplay. With the amazing postgame, seasonal support, and addictive polished gameplay it's well worth the buy.

Moonlighter is a top-down action rpg, where you play as the owner of a store named Moonlighter, whom has a dream to be a hero. To become that hero he embarks on an adventure to clear four dungeons, each one ruled by a deadly boss, each night to find items to sell, monsters to slay, and glory to hold. Beginning with only a broom and a small simple shop, you are dropped into the first dungeon where you’re quickly shown the ropes and learn that when you die in the dungeons you lose ‘all of the items you have collected on that run and are teleported back to town. You are then given a sword and shield to better fight your foes, beginning your journey. As you play through each dungeon you collect items that will stock your shop the next day. The deeper in the dungeon that you go, the better loot you’ll find. So when stocking your shelves that night when you get home, you price the items accordingly. The common items lower and the rare items higher, monitoring your customers reactions and trying new price points until you reach that perfect number to keep your popularity at its peak potential. Make sure you don’t overflood the market with certain items as then they won’t be worth as much, the same goes for holding back certain items to supply that demand for them. At the end of your sales day you’ll get a full rundown of your sales, and robbery attempts! Yes you thieves will steal your goods, but if you catch them in time you can give them a good walloping and send them on their way. The earnings for the day are yours to choose the best way to progress forward. Should you upgrade your shop? Allowing you more spaces to have more items on the sales floor at once or craft that new great sword enabling you to slay more golems to collect higher valued items? The choice is yours and boy is it a satisfying one. Saving up tons of greatly valued items after upgrading my shop space to have a HUGE sales day, then using my 500% increase in profit to enchant my weapons and demolish a dungeon boss is rewarding on so many levels that you have to experience. Along with the incredibly rewarding progression is the addictive combat. When inside the dungeons the levels are reminiscent of early gen Zelda games, moving from room to room trying to find the door to the next level of that dungeon. The combat consists of a light attack, heavy Zelda like 360 attack, shield block, and if you equip a bow, a ranged attack. Personally I used a great sword for heavier damage and a bow. Also having a dodge roll similar to Enter the Gungeon, where you are invincible during the roll and use it to leap over gaps. Truly giving you the complexity of modern melee games and once you get into a rhythm you’ll be blowing your way through dungeons with ease. A perfect balancing of getting good and upgrading your gear. Playing on both the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch, they both look fantastic and while experiencing minor bugs on the Nintendo Switch, which I put in much more time on, none of them had serious repercussions. I’d definitely recommend the Switch version, because on planes, trains, and automobiles, you can Moonlight. Moonlighter is an absolutely amazing. From the moment I started playing I knew this game was made for someone just like me. The systems of shop keep/base building work so incredibly well with the rogue like dungeon crawling that it’s hard to put down and I can happily recommend it on PlayStation 4 and the Nintendo Switch.

Crimson Keep is a first person dungeon crawler rogue like, which means each life you start over from scratch. Progressing through the game, leveling up, collecting better gear, and learning new abilities. Then when you die, you start over with nothing. Which will happen a lot because Crimson Keep is tough as nails. Beginning each run with a choice of three different classes: one an axe wielding berserker, one a ranged attacking witch, and the drifter, a weaponless low health character for an even harder experience. After trying all three I have had the best experience with the beserker, which I used as a starting class for the bulk of my playtime. After a brief tutorial, which you have to walk through every time you start the game, a repetitive feature that I wish you would skip after completion. You plummet through a hole in the ground to begin your run. The first person combat is absolutely the highlight of Crimson Keep. At first what feels janky, grows on you until you’re carefully dodging ranged and counter attacks trying to land that perfect hit on your enemy. Playing mostly melee, the ranged weapons especially high damage wands are great to save for a difficult loot room that’s crawling with enemies. Shields didn’t really work all that well as you still take a ton of damage when blocking with them and when playing melee you REALLY have to use the reticle to aim. Even if my axe when through a character you may not do damage if the reticle isn’t directly on your enemy. Which is frustrating but you get used to it. While exploring the cavernous dungeons, I’ve been stuck in place a number of times, which you can close down the app and restart it, but I’ve lost significant progress upon returning. Unlike getting stuck in infinite loading screens between levels, when restarting the app will not work. Forcing me to restart my run, EVEN THOUGH I played an excellent game so far, coming out with a lot of health and great loot, which is hard to do and even harder to deal with getting robbed for. Slaying skeletons and trolls is dangerous, but is a must if you want to walk away with some amazing loot. Which doesn’t always drop, some runs you’ll be swimming in gear while others you’ll be praying for a potion with barely any drops. You can find bruised apples and moldy bread, but when eating anything it’ll show an Apple animation. As you level up throughout the game you choose different abilities each level, giving you special attacks and stat boosts. With unlockable new abilities once you achieve certain in game goals, which is Crimson Keep’s only over arching sense of progression beside your own skill growth as the player. I’m truly torn because I like this game, I really like this game, the premise is fantastic and the game loop is incredibly addicting. However, the bugs are such a huge deal with this type of title, because of the rogue like nature, that when you lose a great run to a bug it feels awful. If it was an rpg like skyrim where you quick saved then only lost a little bit of progression if it bugs out, it would be a much different story.

Get ready for this deadly puzzler The Keep is a first person dungeon crawler with an old school vibe and a lot of environmental puzzles that you will methodically work your way through. After a brief tutorial where you are shown the basics, you begin in a prison with all of your gear taken away. So you must collect gear and experience to level up your gameplay. Fighting goblin knights, rats, and spiders will raise your experience accordingly, depending on if you slay they with traditional melee weapons or magic. For a bit of a head start you can enter a dream world before each level that gives you an opportunity to grind for more experience and potions; making your run through the proceeding level a little bit easier. The combat in The Keep as mentioned earlier is either melee or ranged magic spells. For a melee attack, you must press your R button to open a slashing interface, which you can only do around an enemy or environmental obstacle, then move your right joystick from left to right to complete the attack. Then after that attack you wait for the prompt again, hit the R button AGAIN, then swipe again. Once you have enough charge built of from the previous attacks it gives you options for stronger attacks which require a different input movement with the right joystick basically a right, left, right or up, down, up, not the swirly motion trails that the interface suggests. If this sounds tedious it absolutely is. If you are facing two opponents attacking you head on it is very difficult to quickly deal with this clunky system to defeat them both without taking too much damage. You’ll find that moving around the level physically dodging you’re opponents and waiting for them to walk back into attack range is you best bet for survival. As you pillage the dungeons you’ll collect tunes along the way which you can combine to cast different spells, recipes for which you’ll find in scrolls also hidden throughout the dungeons. Once you acquire both, you place your runes in that order and cast them with your right joystick, launching a ranged attack at whatever deadly foe your facing. This is a fresh take on magical combat and if you’re smart with your rune placement you can cast many different spells from your scrabble like rune placement. The levels in The Keep are cavernous puzzles which requireexploration, trial and error, and a lot of throwing stones. When moving through the dungeons you’ll encounter many different types of doors which you’ll have to figure out how to open to succeed, this is what you’ll spend the majority of your time doing in The Keep. Whether the doors are triggered by stepping on or throwing weighted items on weight triggered stepping stone squares or stepping on squares in the correct order to open a group of dungeon doors, getting everything to line up just right will take a bit of finesse. Some puzzles, CRUCIAL level completing puzzles, have solutions that are so off the beaten path and monotonous that it removes the feeling of satisfaction when finally nailing it. The Keep doesn’t move like your typical first person game in 2018 and with a lot of interface function at all times, it’s easy to understand why. Instead of moving with the left joystick and looking with the right, you move forward and back, then turn left and right, all with the left joystick. It feels pretty good for most of you exploration except when trying to move incredibly quick, like dodging attacks from enemies or running through the level for the tenth time trying to figure out if the combination you entered will work for a door halfway across the level. The Keep does run great in handheld mode which is a great place for it as you are certainly rewarded for your exploration, looking for little cracks in the rocks to open secret passageways which are hidden all over and pretty satisfying when they are loot grabs, but not when they’re level required discoveries. I was very excited to jump into this first person dungeon crawling experience as it’s one of my favorite genres, but was quickly let down but the incredibly tedious, unclever puzzles, and clunky combat. While the mage combat has a great spell system and there are some satisfying moments to be had, overall, for me, the game is just OK.

Horizon Chase Turbo for the Nintendo Switch Low Poly, High Speed Horizon Chase Turbo is an arcady racer, a throwback to all of those retro racers from when I was a youngster. Immediately dropping into the action the controls are simple enough with an accelerator, brake, and nitrous boost. Realizing very quickly that you can basically hold the gas down the entire race with needed taps to the brake button being few and far between. The nitrous boost is incredibly important however, as saving for that perfect moment to maneuver between vehicles has proved vital on more than one occasion. For those who haven’t played arcade racers this is by no means a racing sim. The real challenge in Horizon Chase Turbo is to keep your collisions to a minimum. As you bounce back quite a bit every time that you bump into an opposing vehicle, giving them a little boost forward. This can mean the difference between bronze and gold, giving your opponent a huge advantage. Which leaves you in the dust, as your unlocks of levels and cars are tied to the amount of points earned in each race. Leaving you with significantly less if you don’t lock down first place. As you get gold in more races you’ll earn more points unlocking new locations on the map and new cars. Each country has one upgrade race and if you achieve the rank of 3rd place or higher your be able to choose one upgrade which will apply to all of cars you have unlocked thus far. As far as content goes, Horizon Chase Turbo has loads of countries each with enough races to keep you replaying time and time again looking for the gold, in order to unlock even more countries and more cars. Along the traditional World Tour mode is the tournament mode and new to the game with the Switch release, Playground mode, a selection of friend and online ranked races with different twists and difficulty levels that will have bi-weekly seasons, for ongoing trash talking. As the game is a throwback to earlier generations of gaming, the well designed low poly models feel incredibly arcadey with a modern touch. As beautiful as many of the levels look contextually, they fall a little short as the environmental effects do very little to affect the way that you drive. Driving the same on a snow covered road, feels the same as a dirt covered road, feels the same as driving on pavement. Throwback or not, It would really add the the replayability if each environment truly made a difference in the way that you race. Horizon Chase Turbo plays great on the Nintendo Switch and does support couch co-op with up to four players including single joycon support. Horizon Chase Turbo is a very good retro racer with tons of content, creative new modes for replayability, and a nostalgically modern artstyle. If you are a racing game fan, then you should waste no time getting into this low poly world.

Crash landing on a mysterious planet, you are immediately dropped into the battlefield. Beginning as the commando you can shoot, dodge roll, stun, and knockback your enemies. Which you will have to learn quickly because waves and waves of enemies spawn as you work your way through each procedurally generated level. As you defeat them you gain XP to level up your health and damage, and collect coins to purchase upgrades. Upgrades can range from a drone that joins you in battle, to gaining small amounts of health with each kill, or setting the ground on fire with every enemy death. So depending on your pickups after a few rounds of battle you can be quite the formidable foe. At the end of your run your screen will be decorated with tons of pickups that you have gathered along the way. However, as your play time raises so does the games difficulty. So if you can make it to the first level’s boss quickly it will be a much easier battle, but if you take your time methodically killing enemies and leveling up your character, the boss fight will really put you to the test. While it’s an interesting mechanic, it can be very stressful, causing you to jump into shootouts a lot faster than you would prefer. Which will happen a lot because you will be overwhelmed with enemies as the timer climbs, which will inevitably lead to tons of brutally devastating deaths, and being a rogue-like you start over from square one with all of your upgrades taken away. As you complete different in game objectives you unlock different characters to play as, which REALLY changes the gameplay experience. Each character’s unique skill sets can range from engineers with ballistic missile barrages and grenade launchers to the Acrid a monster melee specialist with toxic slime trails. Playing through these different characters and learning their unique abilities is tons of fun, and adds immensely to the replayability. With the retro pixel style the characters are very well designed and animated, with subtle touches to add personality to each individual, the bandits hat bouncing up and down as he walks truly makes him feel alive. The platforming in Risk of Rain doesn’t feel as responsive as modern indie titles and the level design gets old very fast. Despite artistic changes the mechanics per level don’t vary enough to change the way that you play the game. The same goes for boss fights as their procedurally generated also... you can fight the same boss level after level, which can be incredibly tedious. Risk of Rain runs great in both docked and handheld mode, and after playing this game originally on the vita, it’s a nice change to play on the Switch’s larger screen. Risk of Rain is an addictive platformer roguelike with rewarding progression per run and great character classes to unlock and learn. However, the simplistic platforming feel as well as repetitive level and bosses keep this good platformer from being a great one.

Being a huge tactical rpg and roguelike fan I wasn’t sure what to expect after the months of hype around this game. With it’s surprise drop last Tuesday during the Nintendo direct. Let’s see if this mech vs bug battle, truly lives up to the hype. Taking place in the future, you are commanding a three mech team trying to clear a group of islands of deadly overgrown creatures known as Veks. Beginning at one of four islands with a number of procedurally generated regions that you must recapture from the gigantic creepy crawlies. Each region is an isometric grid with buildings used to maintain your power grid and varying per level objectives, such as defend the power plant or kill 7 Veks. These objectives aren’t required but give you additional power or reputation points if you can complete them. These reputations points can be spent between islands to purchase different weapons or upgrades for your mechs, adding some tools to your repertoire to make you that much more of a formidable foe. Keeping the Vek away from your buildings can prove quite the challenging task as they will spawn from the ground every turn, when they do get destroyed it feels devastating as civilians die from your wrong decision. When actually getting a game over, you lose your progression but can keep one pilot for your next run, so if that pilots level up a bit you come into the next game with a little bit of an advantage. As you progress through the game you unlock new islands, which once unlocked can be played through in any order and scale difficulty depending how many islands have been defeated beforehand. As you defeat more islands or special objectives you earn coins which unlock new TROOPS of mechs for your to command. Each class being very different, really forcing you to learn and adapt in this brutal environment and I mean brutal. In the beginning of Into the Breach be prepared to die and die ALOT. Getting a solid understanding of this game will only come with many deaths, even as a seasoned tactical rpg player I have had my butt handed to me unexpectedly on many occasions. The moment you let your guard down be prepared to lose power, your mechs, and even your life. Acceptable losses Some of the decisions that i’ve made during a run of into the breach have taken so much time and thought that I’ve often caught myself just staring at my screen for ten minute periods of time. Weighing each option greatly as the consequences will affect you as such. If you carelessly make your decisions your run will be over before you know it. However, if you take your time and strategically chip away at the Vek, before you know you’ll be onto your next island and one step closer to your goal. As there are alot of different systems at work with Into the Breach it will take you some time before everything clicks. Each enemy has a different abilities, attack orders, and passive effects; when taken advantage of properly you can have enemies taking each other out. For you to truly succeed at this game you must understand what’s really important in each level. Yes it would be great to keep all of your mechs at full health, but as long as they survive, keeping your cities intact is really what counts. As you can sometimes get overwhelmed it’s important to keep a level head, take your time, and keep your eye are the goal. I’ve sometimes reminded myself of an old man staring at a chess board, the way I stop and strategize with this game. The game runs great on handheld and in docked, getting around 5 hours of battery life in handheld. However, using the joy con joy sticks I found the pointer would occasionally continue traveling when I released the joy stick, causing attacks to execute on the wrong space; and when the stakes are this high that can be quite disheartening. Into the Breach is a fantastic experience with life or death decision making that will have you on the edge of your seat as it unfolds. While this game is not for the faint of heart, those whom are willing to invest the time will be rewarded greatly for that effort. With fantastic gameplay, rewarding progression, and emotionally impactful decision making I can happily recommend this roguelike tactical rpg to any fan of the genre.

Get ready for another grindy JRPG! With the wind in your hair and the horizon in the distance Adol is aboard a passenger vessel at sea, while proclaiming himself an adventurer he is working as a hired hand doing whatever the Captain requires. Beginning you tasks with patrolling as security during a dinner party, the ship is attacked by a huge kraken when Adol is tossed a sword and is thrown into battle. While he is able to fend off the beast for just enough time for you to learn the basic mechanics of combat, the ship is sunk and you find yourself stranded on a legendary island known for explorers not returning from it. Quickly you realize that you are not alone on this island, you find a rusty sword and must defend yourself from the thousands of beasts that cover the island like sea salt. Soon you find Laxi and she joins you on your adventure, shortly followed by the Captain who sets you on the quest to map the entire island looking for more survivors from the shipwreck. On your adventure to find more survivors they will join your team and pressing the Y button during combat allows you to rotate between characters on the fly. Each character having a different color based skill set, where certain classed character will cause more damage to certain enemies. The difference is incredibly noticeable as attacking a green classed enemy with Adol is a red class will take you two to three times longer to defeat, than fighting with Laxia who is green class. Basic combat in YsVIII feels surprisingly good, as soon as I began running and jumping around the ship I was taken aback by the very responsive movement, jumping, and dodge-rolls. This feeling continued as I ventured further into the game. After locking onto your target you attack with A for short combos or hold down A to execute a more powerful attack. Then you have skills that you learn as you level up that you map to four slots connected to each face button while holding down the R button, these are all used to charge up ultimate attacks that will come in incredibly handy when encountering difficult boss fights. Which happen a lot more often than this cute anime 3d art-style would suggest and are welcome moments of strategy and challenge. As you find more survivors from the shipwreck they become a part of your settlement and how fortunate for you that they all have skill sets that you are in need of. Finding a blacksmith, seamstress, and many others soon has your town becoming more robust allowing you to upgrade all of your gear. Which is very rewarding as you have to using crafting items that you find when out exploring. Along with upgrading your gear, metroidvania style skill upgrades allow you to unlock new sections of the map that you were previously unable to travel to. Passing loads of green vines leading upward, at first is a huge environmental road block until you eventually get a pair of gloves that allows you to traverse them with ease. As you will travel through each area many many times grinding your way up in level, it’s great to have these areas that allow some new discoveries even though you’ve searched them many times before. As you work your way through, each little section of the map is broken up into loading points and the enemies respawn if you reenter a cleared area, which is great to level up your squad but can cause a frustrating challenge when your a lost on your way to an objective, which will certainly happen a lot. Certain environments can be quite the maze when slashing your way through, like the dungeons, which are the only areas in the game that your health doesn’t regenerate when you stand still, which raises the stakes quite a bit when retracing your path through dangerous monsters your third time in a row. I did want to add that while I have heard when originally launching in the states the dialogue localization was a bit rough, but has been fixed and I had no issues in my playthrough. Also when starting the game you do have a lot of DLC available, which is mostly just cosmetic and switching through costumes during gameplay is a nice way to feel fresh while grinding. YsVIII: Lacrimosa of Dana is a great experience that should appeal to more than the average action jrpg fan. Yes the story and conversations between characters feels quite cliche and at times you just want to fast forward through the drawn out dialogue, which is an option, but it makes up for it the moment that you hit the ground running. Everything from the special moves, to dodging, jumping, blocking, and climbing feels so fantastic to execute that the hours upon hours you spend slicing through monsters does not get old. With rewarding RPG progression and base building, a weak story and yes very lengthy cutscenes, but amazing combat I can happily say yes to this island adventure.

Only a madman would look at a group of deadly praying mantis enemies as an opportunity, but after becoming a seasoned hollow knight that's exactly what you'll see. I’m The Flannel Fox Tim Swiernik and I reviewed Hollow Knight on the Nintendo Switch Beginning in Dirtmouth a small village above the Hallownest’s Ruins with nothing but your trusty nail by your side your adventure begins. With a blind leap into the ruins of an abandoned world. In the beginning of the game you can only jump, melee attack with your nail, and regain health with your soul. As you defeat enemies you gain soul, when you hold down the A button Hollow Knight can charge back health. This simple health recharge mechanic is so potent that it forces you to take risks in order to continue. Where in a normal game if you are low on health, you would turn around and go looking for some or return to your closest regen point. However, in Hollow Knight you are drawn to battle, with one hit left in your health if you pull off the perfect attacks you can be back to full health in no time at all. There are so many moments, where you will assess the situation, pause for a moment, then run into battle knowing that one hit could be your last. Hollow Knight is a 2d metroidvania and one of the so called souls-like games, referring to the awesomely brutal gameplay in From Software’s Darksouls, Demonsouls, and Bloodborn. This shows itself in the many different systems in Hollow Night. For example while on your journey you are collecting geo, the games’ currency, if you die your geo is gone until you find your Shade, after defeat it to regain all that you have earned. Another reason this is a souls-like, is the brutally different encounters with npcs among the world. When exploring this beautifully grim environment, I try to be careful when moving into a new area as death is lurking around every single corner. When faced with a difficult foe you must learn their attack patterns, which can often take multiple lives doing so, in order to come out on top. Forcing you to get good and to get good fast, it’s so rewarding defeating a boss that kills you so many times, but even more rewarding to encounter that enemy again later in game, and conquering them with ease. Not because you’ve leveled up or gotten a new weapon, which you do not do in this game, but because you have gotten better as a player. Being a 2d metroidvania, as you play through the game you unlock new abilities that grant you access do different parts of the map. This being my first playthrough of the game, I truly knew nothing about it and did not know which mechanics were going to be introduced. That being said it took me about five hours to stumble upon the wall slide/wall jump, which was thrilling. One of my favorite 2d mechanics after playing super meat boy, this turned a game with incredibly challenging combat, into a cleverly difficult 2d platformer. Dashing and wall jumping through thorn covered areas, gave me a huge grin on my face almost immediately, and waiting this long into the game to introduce it made the reveal all worth the wait. Travelling back to an area in the beginning **** that you remember specifically when you saw it the first time, then having that lightbulb moment when you get the perfect ability to now go there, is one of the best feelings in gaming and it will never gets old. Each area of the map is broken up into little sections or worlds, but in order to view them on your map you must purchase that area’s map from Cornifier the Cartographer. Not knowing where to find him multiple times in new ares was getting quite frustrating until you begin to hear some faint humming, then you see his papers on the ground, letting you know that he’s close and you find him to purchase that areas map. Along with having to purchase a map, you have to purchase the ability to locate yourself on the map, as well as fast travel points, resting benches, and basically everything that is on a normal map. Not being a big fan of this as spending my hard earned Geo to be able to see blue cocoons on my map, felt like a waste of my money. Hollow Knight is an amazing 2d metroidvania and a challenging platformer, will fantastically brutal combat that certainly scratches that souls like itch. Just as often as I would stumble into a deadly boss battle, I would be rewarded with amazing moments of discovery, accomplishment, and victory. I can solidly recommend this game to any Switcher who is up for a great challenge.

So many games that I have reviewed and that we all have played fit the video game mold. Beat level one, to get to level two, collect one-hundred coins in order to get an extra life, or beat this boss to unlock a new upgrade. Objectives, quests, upgrades, and unlocks give you a list of things to complete in order to receive a reward. Which is **** sometimes a game comes along that allows you to experience something completely different. I’m the Flannel Fox Tim Swiernik and I reviewed Shape of the World. When first downloading Shape of the World I wasn’t quite sure what to expect and honestly was not very excited. Being the epitome of the objective gamer myself, walking simulators rarely do it for me. So with my long train ride ahead of me I plugged in my headphones and began playing. Gameplay Starting in a dream like, brightly lit area, I wasn’t sure if the game had finished loading or if I was now in control. So I began to move my joysticks and feeling a bit clunky at first, started to explore this hazy environment. As you walk around, the outline of an upside down V appears and lures you toward it, drawing you like a moth to a flame. On my way towards the floating V, some glowing rock-like formations grow out of the ground, along with a control prompt showing you that the right trigger allows you to interact with the environment. Touching all of the stones triggers a fantastic sound that you will end up longing for throughout your journey in Shape of the World, Little stairs form a path for you to venture down toward the sky shape and immediately when you get on the sky stairs your speed increases greatly and you zoomed to the next area. Eventually reaching the shape in the sky, you walk through it and POOF, Everything changes. Color schemes flip, new environments burst from the ground, and a new sky shape will be leading you in a new direction. From there you continue your journey from shape to shape, working your way through this mystical environment. Along with the right trigger allowing you interact with things, the B button jumps, and the left trigger allows you to throw seeds. When you throw seeds, trees grow instantly, and with an endless supply of seeds you can add a cluster of trees whenever you please. Along with making this wacky world a more beautiful place, they help you move around quickly. If you interact with a tree, it destroys the tree, but dashes you forward and plays a note. So dashing through trees in rapid succession plays a little tune for you and don’t feel too bad about dashing through the trees as the environments are procedurally generated and each time that you walk back through them they will generate in a different way. Along with having an endless amount of seeds to toss, you don’t take any damage, and there are no real objectives. It’s a seamless experience that I had to stop thinking about and just experience, as it’s quite intuitive you will eventually end up where you are supposed to be. You do run across little alien vegetable-like pick ups around the world that don’t do anything but fill up a catalog on the pause screen. It felt nice after munching through a new veggie to check my pause screen catalogue and see another item in my repertoire, but these are by no means necessary to complete the campaign. Sights and sounds While a lot of 3d indies employ the low poly vivid color artstyle like Morphite and Mulaka, Shape of the World feels very special to witness throughout your journey. With every new environmental change the colors shift dramatically, switching from a dark underground cave to a vividly uplifting mountain top in the snap of a finger, creates a specific feeling for each of the worlds that you explore. Switching between schemes so many times that I found myself feeling nostalgic for certain areas in the game, that really struck a chord with me. The transitions between environments along with the unique mechanics of the game are elevated with the fantastic sound design. From the interaction with huge glowing pillars, to the steps that let you know before you even see them, that you will soon be gliding through the air toward something new. A specific moment when you are trudging up a mountain in the pouring rain then the colors change, the rain clears, made me want to take a deep breathe and feel the cool mountain air glide over my skin. Standing on an undulating staircase miles about the ground, watching mountains in the distance build themselves, while whales fly passed me in the sky is simply breathtaking. Shape of the World is an amazing experience from beginning to end, without any traditional narrative, I remember my journey like a story that I cannot put into words, but a chain of different feelings with a fantastic ending. Honestly, everyone should experience what Shape of the World has to offer for themself. Be sure to watch my video review at my YouTube channel TheFlannelFox

In the land of the Vikings a enemy ridden portal has opened and The Great old one is trying to take over the world. It is the job of the Valkyries and Vikings to stop this terrible foe. Yes, the story of Die For Valhalla is a brief one but plays on Norse mythology. In which, Valhalla is where the vikings long to go to after death, a majestic enormous hall, ruled by Odin, you know Thor’s dad; and the Valkyries or in Old Norse “choosers of the slain”, choose those who survive battle and those who do not. Die for Valhalla is a 2d side scrolling beat em up rpg. Where you play as a valkyrie, who can possess different vikings to fight as, allowing them to take the damage instead of yourself. Working your way through the levels, destroying the different enemies that each world throws at you. While playing as each viking, at any point in time, you can choose to leave that viking’s body causing them to die and you return to your spirit state. From there you can either fight as the Valkyrie or inhabit another viking, but make your choice quickly because while vikings can die one after the other. The players life depends on that of the Valkyrie. From possession to possession, if she gets hit one too many times and dies your turn is over. Which if you choose hardcore mode instead of normal mode at the beginning, which is a roguelite experience, you’ll begin from square one, which all of that Valkyrie’s skills taken away. While not dying as the Valkyrie is important, so is dying as the vikings. As the title may suggest, these vikings will die and die alot. Levels littered with tombstones are jumping off points to spawn a new warrior. If you are fighting with a sword and shield, but an archer or mage would work better against this particular enemy, leave that old body behind and upgrade to a ranged attack. As each different combat class is very different, each has advantages and disadvantages over certain foes. While each character has the same combo pattern, each enemies attacks are different. Comboing with your berserker will leave your enemy stunned on the ground, while the archer will increase the number of arrows shot as you work your way throw the combo, ending with a magical high damage arrow at the end. You do begin with only three vikings to play as and unlocking new characters takes a extremely long time. Moving in all directions with your left joystick, you can also jump, dodge, parry, and block. Adding a bit more mechanics than the average beat em’ up game does give you a good base to work off of in the combat department. Although the jump is not as responsive as you would like, giving me great difficulty when trying to remove myself from a deadly situation. Beginning in a world map where you select each level that you are going to play through, is incredibly hard to intuitively navigate. Yes you can move easily from circle to circle, but it’s hard to know exactly where you are going or what you are working toward. With a bunch of different objectives in the right hand corner of the map, I have no real clue where go to solve a specific quest. When in the thick of gameplay almost every level feels the same, yes some minor scenery changes note your progression throughout the world, but that’s about it. An exploding barrel in one level, is an exploding mushroom in another level, and yes please defend another shrine. After hours and hours of smashing skulls and removing gigantic monster heads, I felt like I was forcing myself to continue playing looking for excitement that never came. In the midst of your fallen enemy, they will drop XP pickups and once you obtain a certain amount of them you can upgrade your Valkyrie. Upgrading consists of acquiring one new perk and assigning 7 runes to your stats. The perks vary from simple upgrades that increase an individual stat by a large amount, to increasing the speed at which you can possess a viking, or a personal favorite each third attack in a combo causes a bit of elemental damage. These enhancements are attached to each Valkyrie and every viking played by her will have these skills. Along with a perk choice you get 7 runes to pick which simply upgrade your stats attack, defense, health, and spirit, which is stamina. The rune selection is chained together when selecting which is a fun little puzzle to get a hang of. Die For Valhalla is a great setup for a game that simply fails to deliver. Which a solid combat system, fun artstyle, and tons of bearded warriors to play as the early gameplay feels incredibly promising. Unfortunately, after you get a hang of the controls it is grindy and repetitive with no real feeling of progression or reward. While I looked up the plot of the story, you wouldn’t know it from the gameplay and you never feel it in the funny but aimless cut scenes. Be sure to watch my video review at YouTube channel TheFlannelFox

Beginning in a museum touring the wizarding greats of the past, those who undertook the chaos trials, you are magically **** into another world. Where you are a wizard competing to become a wizard of legend. When first jumping into the chaos trials, be prepared to get obliterated time and time again. As Wizard of Legend is a rogue-like, keeping with the tropes of the genre it is incredibly difficult. Furthermore, the learning curve is especially steep. The tutorial section of the game, lightly walks you through your basic moves. A dash, basic attack, normal spells, and a heavy spell that you can access in battle once it has charged. However, using your spells on practice dummies is nothing like casting them in the throes of battle and the systems take quite some time to get a solid hang of. Each level of the chaos trail is a different dungeon that you must crawl through defeating foes and leveling up. Separating them into elemental groups of three, fire, ice, and earth; with each element having two levels to complete before that element’s boss. The dungeons are procedurally generated, so each round you aren’t sure what will be lurking around the next corner. Either a horde of deadly enemies just waiting to drain your health, a piñata challenge that could possibly reward you with a brand-new arcana spell, or a cage match where you accidentally dash your way into a fire pit. Before jumping into each new play through, you choose which spells you will equip, along with a relic that will give you a unique ability. As the Wizard of Legend as a TON of spells and relics, playing through to try and find the perfect combination that works with your play style is tons of fun. Playing through each round earns you gems which you can use to buy new spells and relics, permanently. So that they can be chosen as one of your four starting aracana in the beginning of each round. Arcana spells can vary from shooting cascading obsidian arrows, plowing through the enemies with a huge sword of fire, or using wind to launch your enemy into the air then smash them into the ground. From ranged weapons, to close quarters combat, and traps that you can set, all of the spells given to choose from can cater to the way that you prefer to play. Personally, I have been beginning with a spell that adds fire to my dash, a lighting spear that stuns my enemies, and diablo style chakram snowflakes that spiral around me causing damage as they do. No matter the spells you choose they have to work well with your basic attacks as this will allow you to chain attacks together, which is how you deal large amounts of damage in Wizard of Legend. Not truly understanding this until my first boss fight, if you rely only on your spells than you will get your burnt butt handed to you. However, if you wait for that right moment for your opponent to drop their guard, stun them from afar, fire dash through them, flurry basic attacks, spear them and flurry them again you’ll see the end goal coming a bit closer. As you play through you find or buy new spells that are unique to whatever you come across in that run, which greatly increase your chances of success. Starting with four of your possible six spells, gives you some wiggle room to test new attacks and wean out the spells that you don’t find as useful. The same for relics, as you only begin with one, you acquire more along your journey which changes your odds for better or for worse. Some relics can simply increase you lightning damage, while other more complex relics will increase all damage dealt but lower your defense greatly, or once of my particular favorites will give you tiny increases in health with almost every gem that you find. Playing handheld most of my playtime, I have experienced a decent amount of frame rate issues although they haven’t hindered my gameplay experience. Wizard of Legend is a very good roguelike with enough spells and relics to keep you mixing and matching until you find that perfect combination. The overall feel of the game plays very well and is worth the steep learning curve to get into your groove and bite into the real meat of the game. When dungeon crawling, even if you defeat the boss of the level first thing, you will still want to search the rest of the dungeon for possible upgrades to make you stronger overall. Which is risky, because you can die so easily, but that’s the gamble that you take. While I like this game a lot, it is a difficult roguelike and if that does not sound appealing to you than I would give this one a pass However if you are like me and can stand dying over and over until not only your character levels up, but you do as the player. Then strap on your wizarding cloak and getting ready for some magic. **Be sure to watch my video review at YouTube channel TheFlannelFox

Anyone who is a fan of my channel is well aware that I am a fan of roguelikes so I was very excited to sink my teeth into Bombslinger, which has just blasted it’s way onto the Nintendo Switch. Playing as an ex bandit who has chosen to settle down on his ranch with his wife, only to have that ranch burned down by members of your late posse. Now you are on an explosive revenge mission to settle the score. Beginning each new run on your destroyed ranch, you journey out into the world at first with only bombs in hand. Using these bombs to pulverize your enemies and to clear your path. This very simple formula doesn’t take long to learn, but does take a while to master. As different enemy types require very different maneuvers to defeat them without taking any damage. As you defeat stages you earn more XP and level up, each level gives you three random options to choose from strengthen each run. Choosing an extra bomb to drop, more health, quicker spirit regen, or a simple refill health all change the tide of battle greatly and if timed correctly can mean the difference between life and death. Going into a boss battle with only one heart, leveling mid boss fight, then refilling my health and coming out victorious goes to show you that strategy is just as important as perfectly executed gameplay in Bombslinger. Opening crates, defeating enemies, or frequenting shops will unlock more items to make each run more unique. Picking up a special boot allowed me to dodge roll, a six shooter for some ranged retaliation, or camouflage for a scarecrow sneak attack kept this cowpoke on his toes. The more unlocks you rack up allow the biggest and baddest upgrade of all. You can begin each run with upgrades that you have unlocked, allowing you to start with more bombs, more health, or crazy cool unlocks like the ability to kick the bombs after you place them, adding an amazing level of gameplay to this potent puzzler. An upgrade that has been my mainstay ever since. As you move through each level you collect cash from your fallen foes, this cash can be used to open random loot boxes throughout the world, or in the shop. When in the shop you can pick up some great weapons like a hatchet to throw or a shotgun, when in the thick of the game you can fire these ranged weapons which uses up your spirit, the blue little meter in the top left hand corner of the screen. Throughout my gameplay I didn’t find the ranged weapons to be that much fun, but they are very useful in certain situations i.e. boss fights. Which I have to say are really incredible. Some bosses really getting you steamed up until you figure out that perfect strategy to blow them to smithereens. Just as any good boss fight should **** when going head to head with that damn Ram, I know I will come out on top. For such a simple looking game the world is very fleshed out. The ambient sounds do alot to ground you in the environment of the wild west and the simple yet incredibly well executed artstyle looks fantastic. I especially enjoyed the close up pixelated 3d animations and pre-boss battle cutscenes. As normally getting close up to a pixel game is a big mess, in Bombslinger it’s a big and nice surprise. If you enjoy a tough roguelike like I do, then bombs away ladies and lads because this game is absolutely for you. In the world of indies, the retro roguelike explores some very interesting genres. From platformer, twin stick shooter, but this bomberman style gameplay which seems so simple at first, but becomes so incredibly complex as it layers up throughout the game. I have heard some criticism for this game being a little too punishing, starting back over when you die without any items you’ve earned, except for additional starting items, but thats the bread and butter **** roguelike game. Please be sure to watch my video review at my YouTube channel TheFlannelFox

Playing as Otto, you are taking your exam to become a shaper, one who can manipulate the Anima to summon guardians. Your betrothed and Master shaper Ana, is captured by the evil Zahr. Who splits her into three pieces, heart, mind, and body. Rendering her helpless and leaving Zahr to wreak havoc on the land of Spark unless Otto can save his fiance and the world. Beginning the game with only one type of guardians, protectors, which essentially act like infantry. You give them orders of where to attack, while you can attack also, you do very little damage and the bulk of your damage will come from the guardians that you’ve summoned. Very quickly you have to learn the dance of getting your soldiers in to do damage when the have the opportunity and out as before they take to much of a beating from whichever golem they are fighting. Alerting you with pre-attack ques, gives you just enough time to recall your guardians so they don’t get pulverized. If they do go down in battle you will have to summon more, which can be a problem as you can only summon more guardians if you have collected enough Anima. Anima is a fuel that your guardian summoning magic runs upon and making sure that you have enough of it in battle is absolutely crucial. If you carelessly allow all of your guardians to get killed and have exhausted the surrounding area of Anima, kiss that turn goodbye; because hacking away with honorable Otto is just not going to cut it. As you play through the campaign you unlock different types of guardians that change the whole game, some ranged, others anima healers, some huge hulking beasts, they all inhabitat different areas. Keeping everyone out of the line of fire, while keeping enough in to keep doing damage, becomes an addictive plate spinning adventure. Recall some sentinels, summon new protectors, collect more anima, to summon even more sentinels, then strategically place them surrounding your enemy, all without taking damage. In you run in guardians blazing and without a plan, sad to say you will not prevail. Dying a number of times on earlier bosses trying to find a method in all of this madness, made me a better leader when going toe to toe with the enemy. As enemies go, they feel very repetitive as they all are very similar. Few here and there making you strategize differently but overall they just add more enemies to increase the challenge. That being said the combat takes so much attention and focus that it’s still very satisfying despite feeling a bit grindy. Spark is a mystical environment where a puzzle lies around every corner. Progressing to the next battle is a guardian involved environmental puzzle where combining all of their talents together leads you to success. Where some games do this quite poorly like Mario V Rabbids, scratching your head between fights is generally a lot of fun. Playing from an isometric perspective visually the art style is very reminiscent of the diablo series, but could use a bit more visual variety but the game does play quite smooth in both docked and handheld mode. After each level you earn skill points that you can use to level up Otto and each of his guardians and the perks really earn their keep. Varying from old favorites like doing more damage, to teleporting instantly when recalled, getting your guardians out of the danger zone immediately. Some playing into the masses of guardians summoned, you can have Otto’s attack damage grow by a percentage with every guardian summoned of a certain type, making Otto’s attacks actually do something worthwhile. Masters of Anima is a great action adventure strategy game that any fan of the diablo series or diablo-esque games such as Nine Parchments are sure to enjoy. Despite the enemies and the artstyle feeling a bit repetitive, I truly enjoyed my time battling through this golem ridden world. Be sure to watch my video review at YouTube channel TheFlannelFox

Shadowbug is a 2d puzzle platformer without the ability to jump, instead as you play through levels you dash attack your enemies which allows you to move throughout the world. In some instances you can dash through walls, use the enemies to gain vertical height, or volley dash enemies to continuously keep your character up in the air. Like most good platformers in each chapter the dash mechanic is utilized in a different way. Fish hopping over toxic lakes, bouncing between wall climbing spider-likes, or activating slow moving deadly ghoul arms all make your journey a satisfying learning experience that keeps you on your toes throughout the campaign. As you begin the first few worlds are really just focused on the platforming, but the further you get along the puzzles really become apparent. Looking off screen to find that certain enemy to dash to, unlocking a whole new world of challenge, that you then have to solve the puzzle, and platform your way to victory is what shadowbug is all about. You will certainly play the more difficult levels multiple times, learning attack patterns, mapping puzzle results, and timing your dashes just right. At the end of each world like most platformers, you’ll encounter a boss. The bosses in Shadowbug are the highlight of each of them. Trying over and over, again and again, until landing that perfect move, hit, or jump that gets you to the next attack pattern that you have to figure out. Each at first giving you that oh no feeling, becomes a task of memorization and skill, that feels fantastic. The biggest and absolute worst part of this what would be overall fun experience, are the controls. When playing docked you can play with the joycons detached or with the pro controller. You use the left joystick to control left and right walking, and point with the right joy con or tilt the pro controller, utilizing the motion controls to control the little on screen fly. That fly is your pointer to select enemies that you want to dash attack, the most important mechanic of the game. Which does work very well, you do get much better with time, but tight and precise, absolutely not. You can recalibrate your movement by pressing the Y button if it gets wonky, but they rarely feel spot on. It’s incredibly frustrating dying on a difficult level because of shotty controls, not because lack of skill. When playing handheld the attached joy cons will not work and you are forced to play touchscreen and I would recommend with the joy cons detached. As you play the iOS version of shadowbug you touch and hold the left or right side of the screen to walk left or right, you then just press the enemy that you would like to dash attack. The reason that you have to detach the joy cons, is that even for a guy with large hands like me, reaching my thumb over the joy cons to press the left and right sides of the screen is too far, and you absolutely cannot get all of the enemies with your thumbs. Removing the joy cons makes it a much more enjoyable experience, but at that point, just buy it on your iphone. Verdict Playing through shadowbug was a back and forth experience of satisfying victories and mechanical frustrations. Underneath the foggy input devices lies a pretty solid platforming experience with fun and innovative puzzle design. The game also has a very good challenge balance, with enough difficulty to increase your skill but keep it feeling light. While I can recommend this game on other platforms, the Nintendo Switch input controls are just not up to par. Be sure to watch my video review at YouTube channel TheFlannelFox

Lone Wolf is an interactive choose your own adventure book with turn based battles peppered throughout. As the lone wolf you begin the story by choosing some traits about yourself that will accompany you throughout your journey. Are you the passionate warrior that rushes into battle or cool and calculating before making your first move, the choices you make with affect the options that you have to choose from later on. The interactive story that you are reading will pose different situations, giving you different choices to solve them. From mind magic, to sneaky passed enemies or all out battle the choices reflect the kind of lone wolf you aim to me. The action in Lone Wolf consists of turn-based battles with action ques similar to Xenoblade Chronicles 2. To perform a proper heavy attack you'll have to swing your left joystick at just the right moment, to use your throwing knives hitting the Y button three times perfectly with ensure all three knives are thrown. When in a normal turn-based battle you select your choice and sit back to take in the outcome, in lone wolf that’s just when the fun begins. If you miss your action of button que you could miss the attack or to counterattack. If you still play your cards right and go on the defensive for the enemies turn you are given the opportunity to dodge all incoming attacks, if you move out of the way at the right time. There is also a time limit for each of your turns, making you quickly select which actions you will perform. Unfortunately when fighting you can’t see what each of the attacks will do. While I remembered the locations of the heavy, quicky, and combined attacks. Shortly after the tutorial I forgot what all of the buffs and debuffs did, but eventually you begin to learn the attacks and can breeze through the motions when in the heat of battle. As you play through the story which is all read in book form, the battles appear in little sections, unfortunately feeling like two different experiences rather than one solid game. The story is quite well written and if i was in the mood for a book, I would honestly just rather read a book. When reading through interactions in the story I wished I was exploring the world, as the picture painted by the author seems like it would be fantastic to explore. However, the only parts of the game that you control the main character are during combat and brief skyrim like lockpicking moments. Joe Dever’s Lone Wolf is a unique experience on the Nintendo Switch and any fan of pen and paper RPGs will certainly have a good time with this sort of adventure. However for me a lot of the game experience is lost when most of that experience is an ebook. Lone Wolf ends up feeling like a string of repetitive turn based battles rather than a cohesive story where you are fighting to save the lands you rule. Be sure to watch my video review at my YouTube channel TheFlannelFox

Originally released in 2016 by developer Coatsink, Shu has now gilded it’s way to the Nintendo Switch. When a big bad storm monster destroys Shu’s village, leaving the bird-like villagers scattered across the land. Shu embarks on a journey to save them all and return them to the village. Playing as Shu, you will travel between five different worlds, each containing two villagers that have survived the storm. Fully realizing Shu’s owl-like appearance, along with being able to jump, you can glide, either free floating across the level or riding air currents to reach new heights. However, each of the survivors that join you for a specific level with imbue you with a unique ability. Picking from a hat of platforming mechanic favorites certain levels being able to butt-stomp, wall jump, double jump, or air dash; the abilities as the survivors come in pairs. So in world one you can butt-stomp and control platforming flowers, while in world five you can air-dash and slow down time. Each corresponding world is cleverly designed to take advantage of their respective mechanics. Giving you just the right time in each level with each mechanic to keep them feeling fresh, just when you truly get the hang of them, you move to the next world and begin learning your next tools of the trade. Culminating in the final level as many platformers of the past, in an extra long level that requires you to play through all of the mechanics you have learned throughout the game. While the cute and stylized world in Shu begins as a carefree platformer, the difficulty increases as the game goes on. From juggling well-timed platforming challenges to running from the village destroying storm monster, which resurfaces in worlds randomly. You will die quite a lot. Each level is littered with checkpoints, giving you five lives at each checkpoint, but if you get stuck at a certain section and lose those five lives, you restart the level from the beginning. As the controls aren’t as fine tuned as some of the indie platformers of today, maneuvering quickly through levels while being chasing a huge plume of smoke, doesn’t feel as you would hope. Leaving deaths and successes sometimes feeling more a luck of the draw than a challenge of skill. Throughout each level you collect butterflies and owls, mastering a level when you have found all of the owls. Which you can replay each level to do, although you don’t unlock anything when you have collected them all, it left me with little motivation to go back and do so. Included with the Nintendo Switch version of Shu is a sixth world, the Caverns of Nightjars. A DLC pack with six additional levels that utilize different combinations of the mechanics learned from the main game, adding a clever spin on previously mastered moves. Verdict Shu is a short and sweet melting pot of modern day platformers. Not breaking any ground, but sturdy and well-executed, I can happily recommend Shu to any platforming fan looking to spend a few hours gliding through this beautiful world. Be sure to watch my video review on my YouTube channel TheFlannelFox

Originally released in 2013, the indie smash hit has now dug its way onto the Nintendo Switch. The predecessor to SteamWorld Dig 2, which came out last September 2017 by Image and Form. Playing as steam bot Rusty you arrive in Tumbleton after your deceased uncle gives you the deed to a mine and you rob his corpse of his old pickaxe. It’s your job to restore the town of Tumbleton by digging for precious minerals and selling them back on the surface. Creating your own way as you dig through the enormous mine, which is procedurally generated for each campaign playthrough. Running into different enemies, pickups, and environments the deeper you go down. As you dig your way you’ll upgrade your gear to allow you to smash harder rocks, keep your lantern lit longer, and boost your armor to protect you from those cavernous creepy crawlies. Finding adjacent caves along the way, you also learn new skills, speedy boots that allow you to run and jump further, a drill to pulverize rocks, and a jump to break those high to reach areas. In true metroidvania fashion, allowing you to reach depths you couldn’t reach before. The gameplay loop of collecting minerals, selling them to come back better than ever, and dig deeper finding higher valued ore and more difficult challenges is incredible. Having a blast digging I very frequently ran out of light and found myself in the dark. As a platformer SteamWorld Dig isn’t very challenging to say the least, which is really nice. Normally I love the hardest platformer I can find, but the exploration and looting is so engaging that you just get lost in the discovery. There are some interesting environmental puzzles along the way, digging under huge boulders trying to create a path to the next section of the cave and if you mess up, you can exit the room and try again. Also if you dig yourself into a spot with no way out, you have the self-destruct option, taking some cash to scrap you back together and send you back to town. Verdict SteamWorld Dig is a great game that built the foundation for one of my favorite indie franchises. It’s such a solid experience that it is a fantastic to any gamers Switch library. Now if you're new to the Switch and haven’t played SteamWorld Dig 2, I would absolutely recommend playing SteamWorld Dig one first. As the sequel, like most great sequels, is so much more evolved than the first, moving from 2 to 1 feels like a bit of a downgrade and playing in order with this series will be the most rewarding player experience. That being said if you’ve beaten SteamWorld Dig 2 and are pining to throw more dirt over your shoulder, this will certainly scratch the itch. Be sure to watch my video review at YouTube channel TheFlannelFox

The only survivor of the village Ridgerode, Freya will seek revenge upon its destroyer, Beladim. An immortal-ish demon, whose power is drawn from a magical rod he uses to rewind time when hurt. Freya will hack and slash her way through multiple 2 and half a D dimensions in her journey to annihilate him. AeternoBlade is an action side-scrolling metroidvania-lite where you’ll be fighting numerous demons, maneuvering through some deadly environmental hazards, and solving some very dull environmental puzzles with your time-bending mechanics. Moving left and right you also have a jump button and an attack button, mashing the attack button will grant you combos to unleash power attacks on your enemies. As you play through you can spend points to unlock new combos, which while it’s a fun idea, you can achieve the same thing with if you just repeatedly mash the attack button. It’s fun to try the new combos, but the AI is so mindless that they don’t really pose any sort of a challenge. In my opinion the strongest part of AeternoBlade is the boss fights. In certain boss fights built to make you utilize some of the time bending and rewinding mechanics, you can just button mash the attack button and slash your way to victory. But some boss fights that you’ll encounter on your journey are genuinely fantastic, learning their goofy attack patterns and double jumping out of the way at just the right time was a blast. In AeternoBlade you have different special mechanics the ability to rewind time regaining your health and giving you the option to replay a difficult area, however it only gives you a very small amount of health. Which at that point you mine as well restart from on of the many closest check points. Another time mechanic gives you the ability to rewind time but allowing you to be unaffected by the time shift, think very low-budget braid. Later in the game they did introduce some clever twists, in a certain level demons attack you while you used you time shifting mechanic making you much more conservative with its use. AeternoBlade feels like it’s trying to find its own identity, utilizing too many different game mechanics at once and not mastering any of them. At times I feel the game would have been stronger if it was just a hack n slash metroidvania, minus all the time bending behavior. When I first jumped into AeternoBlade I didn’t like it at all, with janky time bending mechanics, dull ai, and uncreative environmental puzzles there certainly leaves a lot to be desired. However, over time this messy hack n slash sort of grows on you, even the art style is nostalgic to earlier 3d titles. Eventually learning my double jump, which made the boss fights even more fun, it made playing AeternoBlade a little more like comfort food. While it is not a great game and is certainly not for everyone. Some gamers will certainly appreciate this sort of slasher… Be sure to watch my video review at YouTube channel TheFlannelFox

Space Dave! The spiritual successor to Woah Dave! Is a fixed arcade shooter by the developers that brought you Bit Trip, Space dave has blasted it’s way onto the Nintendo Switch Space Dave is a fixed shooter but with a modern twist, like the classics you can only move left and right and shoot upward, but you can jump. Which comes in handy because your enemies can smash the ground beneath you, leaving behind lava, and just like playing in your living room as a little kid, if you step on the lava, YOU DIE! After enemies destroy the ground, they turn red and when killed, they drop magma. Picking up this magma and throwing it at the lava will turn it back to solid ground. Space Dave has three difficulties Easy peasy, Normal, and bonkers. None of these modes should be entered lightly as Space Dave is tough as nails. However, the pick-ups throughout the game do alot to level the playing field. Extra drones and spread shot give you an extra little boost, but grabbing the space pick up allows you to launch it toward enemies and recruit them to your side. Very quickly changing the tides of space battle, alas when hit by either and enemy of the vividly colored pills they drop at you you’ll lose one of your lives and with it all of your recently acquired perks. Lose all three of your lives and you start the level over. If you shoot down the flying saucer and collect the Dave coin, it saves a check point so you can restart from the there instead of the beginning of the level. When shooting in Space Dave you can either hold down the fire button or rapidly press it, when you rapidly press it you’ll fire a bit faster which while making it a little more worth the hassle, but becomes quite annoying over time and I wish you could just hold down the button for the same fire rate. Even though the person next to you on the subway will look at you a little crazy while button mashing, it does remind me of pounding buttons years ago in an arcade. While the gameplay is nostalgically frustrating, a perfect reminder to the NES era of gaming. The real pull of Space Dave are the sights and sounds. Vivid pixelated graphics while used quite often in indie games, still delight me when they are done this well. Monsters, spaceships, and environments beautifully executed keep me smiling while blasting enemies them out of the air. Space Dave is a brutal walk down memory lane, while it may not be for everyone, the retro arcade shooter fans will certainly enjoy this alien blasting adventure. With eight different characters to control, many multi-phase stages, and two player mode, Space Dave provides hours and hours of single player or co-op fun. Be sure to watch my video review on my YouTube Channel TheFlannelFox

Darkest Dungeon is a turn-based RPG dungeon crawler developed in Vancouver by Red Hook Studios Inc. Originally released in 2016 after a very successful kickstarter funded development, Darkest Dungeon has now crawled it’s way onto the Nintendo Switch. Playing as an owner of a new estate you’ve inherited, you must recruit a roster of different heroes to help you rid the world of the creatures that live in the dungeons on your new land. Having to clear four different worlds before the Darkest Dungeon can be explored... Combat in Darkest Dungeon is one of the best turn-based combat systems I have ever played. Having four heroes when going into each dungeon, the gameplay has a tactical aspect, as you they each have a favorite position in your squad. However, they have different attacks that can only work when in certain positions. Moving my Jester up one space, now allows him a multi-enemy attack that causes bleed damage, but he can still play a smooth tune to lower the stress of the whole team. These turn-based battles are grueling standoffs which you may end up grasping at straws to no avail, slowly slipping into the belly of a beautifully designed beast. Alongside with your typical turn-based attack, your crusader causing some devastating damage with his huge sword, is the real enemy in the Dungeons. Stress. Everything that you do in DD whether in or outside of the dungeon has a positive or negative effect on each heroes stress level. My beginning crusader dealt some crippling blows, but was quite stressed after a long battle to which he wasn’t sure he would survive. After my first dungeon exploration, I sent him to the Abbey to pray, his preferred form of stress relief. After which he came be ready for action. Only to die from a heart attack on his next journey below. If you run out of torches and it’s too dark to see, your team gets stressed out, if you hero dodges a deadly attack or has a drink in a pub, it brings their stress down, but once their stress meter reaches its peak, your hero is dead and **** good. While between dungeons you’ll manage your estate, recruit or dismiss heroes, send them for different stress relieving activities, upgrade weapons or skills, phew, YES. There’s a lot to do when prepping for a new adventure. Spending more time carefully planning each excursion will reward you much more than just running guns blazing into battle. Don’t forget bandages to stop bleeding, shovels to clear paths, or food to keep from starving. Carefully managing your funds, troops, and estate is absolutely vital to survive. Navigating in through the dungeons is a beast in itself. When exploring the worlds you have a map in the lower right hand corner of the screen, which you use to choose the path that you will venture down. While clearing caverns to complete objectives you’ll encounter different objects that you can investigate trying to find loot, although that is not always a guarantee. When opening a tomb you can find a trap leaving you bleeding even before meeting an enemy, a spirit which changes your character’s entire demeanor, or nothing at all... sometimes when your team is on their last leg I engaged the option just to ignore them. Yes finding some more torches and food would help, but leaving my healer bleeding when going into a boss fight? No thanks! When playing in handheld mode, everything runs just as it should, however the tutorial type is incredibly small. After purchasing on the PS VITA and barely being able to play it because some much is crammed onto such a tiny screen. I thought this would be solved when in handheld mode on the Switch but it is not the case, which is a big deal in DD because there is a lot to learn, I would recommend completing tutorial section in docked mode. The Nintendo Switch version does include both DLC’s at launch The Crimson Court and The Sheildbreaker While playing a turn based rpg, I have never had such a physical reaction as when playing Darkest Dungeon. Every little thing must be taken into account or before you know if you’ll be bleeding out, poisoned, and have nowhere to turn, but winning a battle by the skin of your teeth is so immensely satisfying that it makes you want to spend just as much time in battle as you do prepping for it. Darkest Dungeon reacts and acts like a living ecosystem that makes every battle an edge of your seat, beautiful, and challenging experience. Be sure to watch my video review on my YouTube channel TheFlannelFox

Originally released in 2010 by Team Meat, Super Meat Boy is a challenging 2d platformer where you play as a boy with no skin, whose in love with bandage girl, whom is kidnapped by Dr. Fetus; a fetus in a jar, in a tuxedo with a monocle. Super Meat Boy must win her back. With only a few buttons at your disposal you can jump and run. Holding jump longer allows you to jump higher, running increases your speed and allows you to jump further. Depending on the world you are in the environment contains many different hazards for meat boy to maneuver through. Spinning blades, salt piles, and hypodermic needle stacks will end meat boy with just one touch. As Super Meat Boy is an incredibly difficult game, get ready to die and die a lot. With a fantastic level replay mode upon completion you watch all of the lives lost in the current level, some flooding the screen with your failed attempts. After playing the game on almost every system it’s been released on, I can tell that this never gets old. The developers created this as an homage to the wonderfully difficult games of the past and since the release in 2010, meat boy has inspired many indie developers of today. The tight controls and fast re-entry have shown up in many indie games since and for good reason. Super Meat Boy was and is a fantastically mechanized platformer that feels great when falling through levels with pinpoint precision. While I’ve scene on Reddit some concerns of input lag, I haven’t had any issues and once i reacclimated myself with the controls. Boy do they feel great. New with the Nintendo Switch edition is race mode, playing head to head with a bud in a local co-op trying to beat a number of levels first. You can choose 10, 20, 30, or 40 levels to race through. Light and/ or dark levels and play them in random order or in a normal worlds progression. If both playing the same level you can see your opponent which throws you off at first, but is great because you can see the other player die. Which is the perfect motivation to get you through those tough challenges. If you have played Super Meat Boy which most of us have then the Switch version if a perfect opportunity to jump into this wacky challenging world once more. The addition of race mode is absolutely worth it to battle a buddy at a bar. If you have never played Super Meat Boy, littered with secret worlds and unlocks, there is so much content in this amazing platformer to keep you hooked for many many hours. Many have considered this a modern day classic and I am absolutely one of them. Be sure to watch my video game review at YouTube Channel TheFlannelFox

Energy Invasion despite the exciting artwork in the Switch eShop, is an arcadey de-evolution of Brick Breaker with a twist. The main ball that you are focused on does not break bricks, however with your right joystick you shoot missiles either up, down, left or right similar to a twin stick shooter. Whenever you shoot one of these micro projectiles the main ball jumps just a bit, showing the lack of polish in a game with a minimal amount of mechanics. The organic nature of the game artwork throws you for quite a loop when trying to accurately bounce and hit the ball as it comes toward the bottom of the screen. As the paddle you move to hit the ball is a mess of celestial spaghetti, it makes it difficult to get those tough corner shots these sort of games are known for. The opposition in the game is a little corner enemy that shoots red lasers bouncing around the screen. They’ll end your turn if they hit your paddle and change the route of the main ball. For a game that already feels unintuitive this addition doesn’t do much to challenge the player, instead it’s unpredictability just leaves you with frustration. The main mechanics of the game don’t feel right while you're playing. As you want to hit the ball at the perfect moment to smash that last brick, in Energy Invasion you just sort of bounce the ball around shooting unresponsive projectiles around the map. Bouncing them back up to create a sort of danger zone for any remaining bricks. While the gameplay is quite lackluster the visuals while repetitive are very nice, combined with the intriguing music would be a fantastic music would be a fantastic screensaver. Verdict Energy Invasion is an arcadey throwback, thrown way to short. Without any feeling of precision, no fun pickups or ball modifications, Be sure to watch my video review at YouTube channel TheFlannelFox

After years of hearing game journalists praising the Advance Wars franchise, which I have never played. I was very excited to jump into the spiritual successor Tiny Metal. Heavy Metal Tiny Metal is a turn based rpg where you command an army of different squad types consisting of infantry, tanks, helicopters, fighter jets, in order to eliminate all of the opposing troops and capture their headquarters. Yes that is the same objective in EVERY single map. Moving each unit, then choosing whether to wait, attack, capture a building, until all units have been moved and it’s the enemies turn. Capturing a building allows you a base which you can heal a wounded unit and capturing a factory gives you the opportunity to build new units, once you have saved enough money to do so. Each unit has a certain number of occupants. For example, in your metals aka tanks, you have three tanks, and in rifleman unit you have ten soldiers, so a rifleman unit with all ten soldiers will do more damage than a unit with only six. So getting the first attack on a unit when in battle really means something, also riflemen don’t do much damage to tanks, however lancers do, there are many specificities like this on the battlefield which creates a tense tactical challenge for you to complete. Like many other turn based tactical RPGs certain units can only damage specific units, a militarized twist on the common elemental classes we usually see in other popular RPGs. Steel gridin’ My biggest issue with Tiny Metal is that from level to level there is absolutely no sense of progression. While you do get better at the game, your units don’t carry over at all. Yes in each level your units can level up raising their damage as they complete tasks, but at the end of each level you wipe the slate clean. Regardless of the amount of troops you are left standing with when you stand victorious, you move on to another lengthy cut scene and a fresh battlefield. At first it doesn’t really matter, but it becomes such a repetitive formula. Added to the fact that every level is made from the same kit, there is no visual variety. Different textured levels would be a simple way to break up the monotony of every level being grassland. On land or see When in docked mode the graphics are very jagged and doesn’t feel up to par with the other 3d titles on the system, but looks clean and crisp in handheld. When in the heart of gameplay it would be nice to be able to rotate your viewing perspective, at times not being able to see enemies because of the angle I’m looking at. Yes you can transition between an extreme close-up perspective view and an extra wide top-down view, but having only these as options leaves the player wanting much more. Verdict Tiny Metal fell extremely short when trying to walk in to footsteps of gaming greats. Only keeping me interested for a short while, sooner than later the repetitive gameplay, lack of progression, cliche story, and lack luster graphics had me exiting the battlefield. Be sure to watch my video review at my YouTube channel TheFlannelFox

When I began playing Stikbold and the opening scene was playing, at first I thought, huh janky animations and minecraft like characters. This doesn’t seem very original, boy was I wrong. The moment I pegged an opponent with my first dodgeball throw, my eyes widened… This...this is fun Game on! Playing from an isometric perspective, you have a number of different tools as your disposal. Running into a ball to pick it up, you then hold throw to launch the ball at your opponent. Aiming with the left joystick, throwing the same direction that you’re running in or engaging the right joystick to aim in a twin-stick shooter fashion, although aiming with the right joystick isn’t very accurate, I tended to stick with the left. When you are not holding a ball you can hit your opponent to make them drop the ball or to push them out of bounds. Pressing B is your dodge which you can use to jump out of the way of an incoming ball, jump toward the ball to get to it faster than your opponent, or catch a ball aimed at you. If you get hit once, you’ll see stars and if you get hit before your stars are gone, you’re OUT! Playing on a team, gives you the opportunity to be revived by your teammates, but no matter the team size, when your whole team is knocked down, the opposing team gets a point. Three points and game, set, match. Old game, new tricks Stikbold is meant to be a co-op experience which when you have the extra players at the house YES! This game is a fun, competitive, whacky game that will certainly get those Switch party moments the Switch was designed for, BUT if you typically only play single player this game still has a lot to offer. The campaign does a lot to break away from just a bunch of matches in different locations. While at it base, it is just that, but the cutscenes are uniquely funny. Which introduce you to new characters and level specific mechanics that break the matches out of the norm. When you think you’ve mastered the basics, honey hurling hippies smashing into you with their van can throw you right on your butt. While the entire play through won’t take you more than 2 or 3 hours, after each stage you unlock a new character that you can play in other game modes and is well worth the experience. Make it Deluxe The Deluxe edition on Nintendo Switch comes with some great new updates. Allowing more co-op players instead of 4, you can play with 6. They’ve also added a cooky new mode called Wheel of Rumpus. Inspired by 70s television game shows, each player spins the wheel landing on a different challenge. The winner getting to customize their character with some great swag after each match. Stikbold is one of the best co-op games on the Switch, with a simple control scheme that won’t intimate your non-gamer buds, a great variety of single player modes to satisfy the commuting gamer, and a personality to make everyone smile… Stikbold will brighten up parties from Copenhagen to Brooklyn, Be sure to watch my video review at my YouTube channel TheFlannelFox

If you played Steamworld Dig 2 on your Nintendo Switch, then you are already a fan of this cooky universe created by Image and Form. With the same 2d comic like art style, this adventure is out of this world. Quite literally, as a space scrapper you travel through the galaxy bar hopping and linking to enemy ships to fight enemies to gain water. The currency in the post apocalyptic economy. Along with water you collect loot and allies to join you as you battle your way through the map. Bullet Heaven Steamworld Heist is a tactical turn-based shooter that really keeps you on yours toes. When you select your turn-based attack you then have to aim and shoot at juuuuuust the right moment to hit your mark. If done properly a headshot will reward you with more damage, which makes it worth it to fine tune your aiming. When you don’t have a direct line of sight, don’t fret, because you can ricochet bullets off the walls. While easy when using you laser sight, it’s a hell of a challenge when your robo-enemy is behind cover across the screen. Loot there it is! In each level alongside regular loot, you pick up your epic swag. Which could be a new weapon, utility, or armor. Each character having a specialty weapon and abilities, it’s a rewarding challenge trying different gear combinations to scrap together a battle ready team. When your characters level up they unlock very unique abilities, that turn the tides of the shoot out in a flash. As you don't have a large inventory you have to sell off old items as you get new ones, which is frustrating as first. However, it forces you to jump out of your comfort zone and try new items which will continue to reward you as the game goes on. A touchy subject The Ultimate Edition of SteamWorld Heist includes all of the DLC which is great because when you get into deep space, you won’t want the game to end. Taking advantage of the Switch’s tablet like nature, you have the option to play entirely with touch controls. It works great, but as someone with Shrek like hands, I like to keep em on the joycons and keep my screen pristine. Verdict SteamWorld Heist is an amazing gameplay experience with thrilling combat, rewarding squad progression, and tons of content to keep you blasting your way through the galaxy for many hours to come. Please watch my video review at YouTube channel TheFlannelFox

Unepic is a 2d metroidvania rpg originally released in 2011, now dungeon crawling it’s way onto the Nintendo Switch. Playing as Daniel, an average bear who when in the middle of a beer swaddled game of dungeons and dragons with his mates, decides to use the bathroom. While in the middle of using the pot, someone turns out the lights, when they come back on Danny boy is no longer in his mediocre life, but in a cavernous dungeon filled with demons, weapons, and magic. Weapon of choice As a typical side scrolling platformer you can move, jump, use your weapon, and have an action button. Which works for interacting with different parts of the environment and picking up loot. Using weapons that you find around the dungeon for different enemies or environmental hurdles. Swords are great for slicing through mutant grubs, maces smash barrels and stone projectiles, and using a bow is great for those lunging slithery snakes or hard to see bats. As the game doesn’t pause while in the menu, like most games, navigating your way to your inventory to choose a new weapon can be quite the risky maneuver. Fortunately, an amazing inventory quick select system, in which you can map any inventory item to a button combo, it’s easy to switch from dagger to wand to halo in a flash. While it doesn’t make the game’s heads up display very nice to look it, it’s function certainly does the job. Oh Danny Boy! From Star Wars to Harry Potter, Unepic certainly drops in enough funny references to keep the average nerd laughing. Really leaning into the fact that Daniel, the main character, knows tons about geek games and movies, that it breaks the fourth wall and allows you to relate with him even more. While most video game stories are cliche and predictable, unepic realizes it is being cliche and really leans into it. At the beginning you are possessed by a faceless soul who continuously is wishing for your demise, so that he can be freed. As a result he is always leading you to your death, so when reaching a fork in the road where you have to decide to trust someone or not; if you do the opposite of what he tells you, it’s pretty much a safe bet you made the right decision. Different than most metroidvanias you don’t learn new skills to open up new sections of the map. Instead, you find keys which are a bit less rewarding as it robs you of that sense of discovery when you try a new skill in a new section of the map. Remembering where the library and sewer are can save you a lot of time from wandering around when you find a new key. Combat in Unepic is just that, unepic. Mashing the attack button swings your axe, sword, or mace while holding also fires your bow. Unfortunately lacking a dodge roll or block, keeps the combat feeling a bit bland, when getting into the thick of battle. Unepic is a solid indie 2d metroidvania, with a great loot and progression system, but lacking in moment to moment gameplay and overall polish. With the amount of amazing metroidvania in the Nintendo Switch, unepic is not at the top of my list. Please watch my video review at YouTube channel TheFlannelFox

When Ash, the only survivor after the apocalypse and YouTuber begins a live stream, Oh no! A tragic error breaks his gear. Without anything else to do he decides it’s time to make a friend from scratch, which in true Ed McMillen macabre fashion, means he will be collecting body parts in order to do so. Grab a heart, a head, and a body to frankenstein yourself a brand new amigo. With that in mind grab that pro controller because you have quite the platforming challenge ahead of you. Leaving the nest, you walk through a tutorial showing you the basic mechanics of the game. In that time meeting some funny little characters, which actually made me laugh out loud. Dying to play Each screen is a contained scene, unlike most platformers where the camera follows you, it lays out your challenge and you have to break it down into little micro moments in order to venture to the next screen. In each new screen you collect a tumor, which can be used later to open up new parts of the game. After you get the tumor you, make it off screen which saves the tumor capture, because if you die, the challenge restarts. All of the enemies are back to their original position, the tumor must be recaptured, and you still must hook hop your way to victory. Meating Expectations A Lot of people have been comparing The End is Nigh to Super Meat Boy. While it does have quite a bit of similarities. Like the Fast re-entry after death, the incredible difficulty, and the cute yet creepy aesthetic...which feels like it takes place in the same universe as Meatboy. Mechanically the games are quite different. Ash, like meatboy feels great to control and his movements are very finely tuned, as they must be for such a precisely difficult platformer, however he cannot wall slide or wall jump. Instead he can hang on to little hooks on the wall, jump out from them, or pull them down to reveal new sections of each level. Furthermore, pressing RZ, propels Ash downward which is used swimming quickly through toxic water or plummeting at hawk like speeds to smash through stone barriers, opening new areas to explore. Having some amazing secrets to discover The End is Nigh is a bit of a metroidvania. Learning new abilities, using new objects, and collecting enough souls, opens up new creepy caverns to explore. We’re in RETRO-grade Throughout the game you collect NES-Like cartridges that contain mini games, which you can warp back to the beginning stage, which ironically is named the end. In order to play them on your little tube television. These little 8-bit challenges are punny throw backs to classics. However, the gameplay of The End is Nigh is retro by it’s very nature...this is not a game that you will beat in two hours or casually play through while also catching up on some netflix series. Each challenge brings with it many lives lost. Each life getting a little further and further, learning how to solve each gruesome puzzle. Eventually you will reach a light bulb moment, when you figure out how to reach that level’s tumor and get to the exit. Followed by the realization that now you actually have to do it. Verdict If you are a fan of Edmund’s games such as I am, then you already are aware of the extreme difficulty. Well The End is Nigh will certainly not disappoint you. Like Super Meatboy and The Binding of Issac, there are moments when you want to pull your hair out, followed by immense satisfaction when getting past a difficult challenge. If this doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, then maybe this isn’t for you, because this is a high difficulty twitch response adventure that requires everything you’ve got. However, if looking back on the number of deaths you've died and watching that number grow exponentially makes you laugh and jump back into action. Then The End is Nigh is certainly the game for you. Already tried and testing platforming mechanics mixed with new and innovative puzzles. Make a fresh, funny, and fantastic addition to your Switch library. Be sure to watch my video review at YouTube channel TheFlannelFox, See ya next time Switchers!

OH SPELL YEA! Beginning as a young wizard learning your trade, there is an explosion that blows a hole in the side of your school. Sending Nine Parchments across the enemy ridden world, which you must explore to track them down. With gameplay reminiscent of the Diablo series with a twist, you aim your spells with the right joystick, then use them with the right Z button. Similar to many twin stick shooters. However, when in the thick of it, it doesn’t feel like a basic twin stick shooter. You rotate between your varying array of spells with the L and R buttons and they have many different uses. Some you throw by tapping RZ, then tap again to have it land in a specific spot, while others such as fireballs you tap RZ for each projectile, then for elemental beams you hold RZ while aiming. Aside from attack style, each spell also has an elemental class. Lightning, fire, ice, or dark magic, with correspond to enemies. Fighting an ice demon, be sure to use your fireballs, because it will be immune to your ice magic. Which when enemies spawn a mixture of elemental classes you fire yourself strategically plate spinning through your tool kit of spells. When everything flows perfectly you feel like you're conducting an orchestra of magic to clear the battlefield. As you progress you level up which provides skill points that you can spend to upgrade your skills. You find staffs which can either be used for melee damage using LZ or choose the staff with helpful perks according to your gameplay style. Along with hats which are purely visual candy, but with each parchment you find you have the choice to add one of three spells. They are added to your artillery for that current play through. Also they will be able available with newly unlocked characters in future play through as a beginning spell. The Switching Hour When Switching from handheld mode to docked mode playing with a pro controller, there is an issue. While the Switch console recognizes the controller change, Nine Parchments does not. To explain a little further, you can’t move your character, press pause or anything in game. But you can use the HOME button to exit, close the game, then restart with your new controller of choice. Which is the only work around for docking, as I normally play during my commute then play docked when I return home. This caused some issues as I’m still learning the progression and layout of the game and accidentally restarted my playthrough, which is a huge bummer because I was halfway through with my first cornelius run and was having a blast. They shall not pass! Nine Parchments was designed as a co-op and multiplayer focused game with the option for a single player game, but that is not the peak experience. However, given that a lot play in handheld mode, where you may not have access to the internet or friends willing to invest the proper amount of time into a grindy RPG. Most of my time was spent in single player mode and while the co-op and multiplayer mode is fun, it doesn’t pick me up on the level I left off when in single player mode. In fact you abandon your progress in single player playthroughs in order to play multiplayer, so if you want twenty minutes of fun multiplayer action, you have to give up on the 5 hours you've already put into your single player game. Which is quite disheartening, when you have to play through the beginning of the campaign again and again and again. I wish I could warp to worlds already cleared by a certain character in order to complete the campaign as each of them. Nine Parchments is an addictive action RPG, that when in the zone, feels amazing. However some very serious control connection issues, that hopefully will be patched out in near future and a confusing game progression; that constantly bumps you back to square just one for trying a different game mode. Leaves me feeling torn between what I hope the game could be and what it is now. While I will keep an ear to the ground awaiting future updates, the bread and butter of Nine Parchments is so solid. Bouncing from elemental spell to elemental spell, slaying ice, fire, and lightning creatures then leveling up, collecting new spells, and unlocking new characters. This Diablo like will keep my hooked for quite a while longer. Watch my video review on YouTube channel TheFlannelFox

Did Asteroids and Flappy Bird have a baby? Star Ghost is a 2d side scrolling Shoot em’ up where you control your vertical position by thrusting up with the A button. While the shooting is on auto, you can use the left joystick to aim up or down, but honestly it barely alters the path of your projectiles so this feels like a one button game. Which is sort of insane that it has only come to Wii U and Switch, because it would be perfect for iOS or Android platforms. The levels are procedurally generated but stick to a similar pattern per level which allows you to learn the general characteristics of each world, but keeps it fresh for each playthrough. As you soar through space you’ll be aiming be placing yourself into the line of fire and trying to hover there by quickly thrusting to maintain your altitude. Which is a bit rough at the beginning but you quickly develop into a fine pilot as the one button works well with the game's level design. While dodging and shooting enemies you’ll also be seeking out pickups, because they make all the difference in Star Ghost. Health, bullet spread upgrades, increased fire rate pickups, if acquired in short succession can make you a force to be reckoned with. But pilot beware...These pickups are not permanent and run out on a timer at the bottom of the screen. Losing all of your upgrades can bump you back down to starting power, so be careful. Because like the arcade classics Star Ghost was inspired by, you start fresh from the beginning when you die, with only your place on the leader board as your trophy. As I kept blasting my way through hordes of alien adversaries, I kept feeling bogged down by the control scheme. With all these buttons on my Switch and so little of them being taken advantage of. Having the left joystick staring at me while using the A button to flap up and down, gave me the feeling of trying to run underwater. Under utilizing such a wonderful piece of hardware doesn’t make it feel great on the Switch, it feels like a mobile game that was ported over. Star Ghost is an enjoyable arcade shmup that has a solid but incredibly simple foundation. While the advanced shmup fans should give this one a pass, this would be a nice entry point for newcomers to the genre who are looking to give it another go. Be sure to watch my video review at YouTube channel TheFlannelFox

I just went from 6 to midnight! Oh it’s 36? Oh oh ok.. Fragments is a simple 2d platformer that relies on its difficulty as you try to collect 36 fragments of light in only one level, yes ONE LEVEL. The mechanics are common to most platformers these days, left and right movement, jump and double jump. The level is multi tiered and you move up and down through the floors until you have successfully gathered all of the pickups. First things first, I really love this type of indie game. Very very hard 2d platforming that jumps you back into the action immediately so you try try and try again until the mission is accomplished. Which at points fragments totally embodies, keeping me on the edge of my seat while i time out lasers to jump at the perfect moment to capture the light fragment. This only works when the mechanics are as solid as oak, unfortunately that is not the case for 36 fragments of midnight. The double jump, which is one of the two mechanics of this game will randomly not work. So if you are trying a difficult move to grab a fragment, at points it’s a gamble to see whether the double jump will work or not. This is not a gamble that is fun to make. The double jump has failed a number of times when jumping between floors, which has also caused me to fall onto spikes, ending a promising run. Which is the sort of frustrating that makes me want to put the game down for good. Another pain point is the camera animation when moving from floor to floor. This can only be explained as digital whiplash. The clunky jerky movement, almost gave me a headache and caused me to dread every transition between floors. Aesthetically fragments is very nice, quite simple but the lighting effects and atmospheric elements make it a lovely place to spend some time. I even had fun doing goofy stuff with the lighting like this flying bird. Overall, 36 fragments of midnight seems more like a game prototype that needs work rather than a published game. Honestly, I can’t believe this is on the switch eshop. With the lack of content and hit or miss mechanics, I’m giving 36 fragments of midnight... Be sure to watch my video review at YouTube channel TheFlannelFox

Did Angry Birds and Game of Thrones just have a baby?!?!?! A powerful god has chosen your as his entertainment and now your must fight until you die, and die, and die some more! Yea, that’s about it story wise so let’s jump into the action. Lichtspeer is a Polish game dev company, with a great sense of humor. Right from the get go the sarcastically matter of fact introduction, let’s you know your in for a brutally honest, laugh in your face when you die experience. The game play is relatively simple. You aim by moving your joystick up and down, to align your spear arch to your enemy, shooting when you have it juuuuust right. You also have special attacks that you use when you spear is mid-air, one splits your spears into three spears, while another can split it into tons of small arrows. Then there are defensive skills that can help you out when the enemies get a little too close. When aiming at your enemies your main goal is to get a head shot, this kills certain enemies in one hit instead of two. Enemies move at different speeds, some fly, and some are hella annoying red fish that jump in and out of the water until they go Hannibal Lector all over your damn face. Starting off relatively easy, Lichtspeer quickly ups the difficultly. Adding tons and tons of enemies at once, ranged attacks and very unique attack patterns. It can seem overwhelming at first but incredibly fun once you get your feet wet. It feels great when you're combo headshotting tons of enemies in a row, especially those big blue hipster giants! When I first saw Lichtspeer gameplay I was impressed by the art style but thought the game play looked lack luster. Boy was I wrong, the gameplay is great fast paced skilled shooting which keeps you on your toes and increases the difficulty to keep you growing as a player. While it’s a small game, it is certainly big in quality. Be sure to watch my video review at YouTube channel TheFlannelFox

The Honorable Flannel Fox reviewing… Before Neon Chrome 10Tons cyber punk top down shooter, there was Jydge, the prequel and spin off game. Keeping the twin stick shooter mechanics and aesthetically in the same world as Neon Chrome, with some overarching differences in the games progression. You play as the cyber soldier JYDGE, working your way through different tactical situations, think futuristic one man swat team. Diffusing a hostage situation or taking down a gang leader in many different situations, banks, night clubs, gang hideouts. The environments look like they are all crafted from the same modular kit, but the exterior scenes really help break apart the monotony when things start feeling a bit repetitive. Mechanically JYDGE plays great, the same twin stick controls as neon chrome. Left stick moves, right stick aims, right trigger shoots, left trigger is your special attack. Where JYDGE truly shines is it’s rpg progression system. In each level you play there are certain objectives that upon completing will award you with metals. A total of six metals can be earned per level and are needed in order to unlock upcoming levels and gear. Along with cash the metals help you unlock modifications for you cyber suit and your GAVEL, the futuristic weapon that JYDGE wields. Upgrading both your suit and mods is key to surviving in this enemy ridden environment. Giving you different unique abilities making the choices in mods truly matter. I havent even scratched the surface in the amount of mods that you are able to unlock. However what I have been using is great, you even have the option to upgrade certain mods you enjoy so they become stronger. I keep upgrading my bouncing long range laser projectiles, because yea, i’m a sniper at heart. When first jumping into JYDGE i was thrilled with the progression system choosing certain levels to replay in order to unlock new metals, until I hit a wall. Eventually you will have to go back to replay certain levels in order to progress further through the campaign, the issue is that some of the tasks you have to complete get sort of ridiculous. I am by no means a pro gamer, however I’m not terrible, the two mandatory metal typs that continue to resurface are the timed missions and the stealth missions. The timed missions, yes eventually you can run through the level, just take out the boss, then run to the exit, which is more annoying than anything. But the stealth missions, seem obtusely balanced. There were some instances where I was seen by enemies through walls, and if every thug walking around here has xray vision, i’d like to know. Jydge is a very solid twin stick shooter with great moment to moment gameplay & captivating rpg elements. Unfortunately some of the repetitive mandatory game challenges and samie graphics keep this jury from a unanimous verdict Be sure to watch my video review at YouTube channel TheFlannelFox

Ever wonder is Dumbledore is good at scrabble? Spellspire is a word game mixed with an action rpg, where you play as a little wizard fighting his way through hordes of supernatural enemies. Playing through an evil ridden tower floor by floor, you cast attack spells by spelling different words from the collection of ten letters freshly provided each round. Depending on the length of the word your damage varies with the longer the word, the higher the damage. When playing your entering the letters as fast as you can, because when the timer runs out the next enemy in line will attack. Eventually noticing I wasn’t even looking at the character on top, I was just staring at the letters trying to get as many words as a can. This being that yes there are different characters that you're facing but essentially the name of the game is enter the longest word you can, before the timer runs out until the round is over. Having the touch screen on the switch handheld does help with faster key input, but I opted for the d-pad since my switch screen is super clean and I don’t want to change that. While playing feels good, I wish that similar to Words with Friends, there was a button to toss the letters around, mixing them up to help you to find new combinations. You will get a lot of repeat batches of letters in the same positions, which you start to remember the combination of letters previously used and can use that to your advantage, but also shows the size of the pool you are drawing from. When each enemy is defeated they either drop an item or most of the time, coins. These coins can be spent to upgrade you wizards wares, increase your health, damage, or but new items giving you new special abilities. These upgrades help tons when facing off against powerful bosses, unless you are able to max out the word length on a level, upgrading your wand to a fire wand makes a crucial difference in battle. If you replay previously defeated levels and beat them without sustaining any damage, you received a star, these stars can also be used to purchase new items that are otherwise unavailable. Which is a great strategy when facing a particularly difficult opponent. That being said the pool of 100,000 words that you have to choose from is a bit odd. You can use some very obscure words such as rubaboo which is a basic stew or porridge consumed by fur traders of North America, or Git british slang for person, but cannot use the word unsee which the oxford dictionary defines as Erase the memory of or no longer register. Which is fine to have a limited amount of words, but they aren’t exactly localized. If play with an American vocabulary you feel a bit hindered in your choices unless you really remember harry potter, which is the only reason I typed in git. Spellspire is a word game action rpg that’s really light on the action rpg, which is typicaly used to refer to real time combat, which this is not even close to. So if you are a word game fan, that enjoys a little pressure in your puzzling, this may be right up your alley. But if you enjoy action rpgs and think this may be your zelda like with scrabble elements, i’d say SPELL no to this one. Be sure to watch my video review on YouTube channel TheFlannelFox

Get ready for an axe picking good time! Rusty, the protagonist from Steamworld Dig one, has gone missing and you play as the fembot Dot whose mission it is to track him down. Equipped with only her trusty pick axe, you begin building your tool kit of gadgets by yep, you guessed it digging. Just like it’s predecessor, you dig your own path through the randomly generated per play through mine. Where you collect resources to sell in order to upgrade your gear. Throughout the game you earn more advanced gear that is also upgradable, therein lies the loop. Diving into the deep dark depths of the mine, collecting as much ore as you can carry, before your light runs out, only to make it to the top and come back more powerful than before, is such an addictive gameplay experience that it’s easy to lose track of time while doing it. Each new section of the world is built specific to your most recently aquired tool, layering skill upon skill, think 2d zelda style, and yes there’s a hook shot. One moment you're grappling your way across a barren windy desert and the next you're animating molten iron giants with your ignition axe. Every inch of this world so cleverly designed combined with the fact that you dig your own path , it feels like it was designed just for you. Rewarding you with intuitively hidden secrets and just the right amount of difficulty for the perfect challenge. (desert clip, molten robot, button hook shot puzzle shot) Steamworld dig two has a lovely cast of characters with a variety ranging from goofy/crazy to prejudicial. The mayor of the town for example, warns you of the shiners, the crazies that live down deep in the mine, well once you get here they're just lovely and help you wholeheartedly . It's amazing that even though I'm a fembot mining my way through this fictitious underground, some things ring real and true. A very welcome change from the original are the boss fights. Throughout the game you will encounter many different boss fights, which are a great combination of level design and enemy attack pattern maneuvering. With your different mechanics that you acquire throughout the game, you have multiple options for defeating every enemy. Stick that mine roach with a hydrobomb, or shove that fire demon into a pool of water, the choice is yours. Another upgrade is the length of the game. While steamworld dig one was on the shorter side depending on your play style steamworld dig two can take you well over ten hours to complete. Especially if you like to get your hands dirty. For a 2d open world, metroidvania experience, steamworld 2 will deliver in every single way. Some metroidvanias leave me frustrated searching for ways to open the next section of the world but in steamworld 2, taking a wrong turn and getting lost on some random self imposed agenda is half the fun. Whether it's a great movie, a book, or a video game. It’s rare that a sequel can perfectly capture the same lightning in a bottle as the original while elevating the franchise to the next level. Well steamworld dig 2 has done just that. With an engaging world, rock solid mechanics, and a gameplay loop that will keep you digging for more. Check out my video review on my YouTube channel TheFlannelFox

Get ready to lose your nine lives! You play as isaac or one of his many personas moving with your left joystick and shooting directional tear bullets with your right. There are different pickups such as keys, bombs yes you can blow up walls to secret rooms, and hearts for your health. The story begins with Isaac’s mother trying to kill him after she watches too much christian broadcast, so in order to survive, isaac escapes through a trap door in the floor. The meat of isaac is that while working your way through the game, in each level you have two random pick ups that will change your abilities. You shoot tears from your eyes as your weapon, so for example one pick up can increase the damage of you tears while another could make them explode. When you finish each game you have at least 12 modifiers, making each run a unique experience. Each level culminates with a boss fight with a specially mega boss fight at the end of the game Binding looks like a top down zelda like but it has a ton of poop, large tooth monster babies, and organ like enemies. I love this look and feel but know that it can throw alot of people off. Hearing multiple game journalists mention how they have put off jumping into this game because of the graphics. GET PAST IT! If you truly embrace this game it will reward you handsomely with some of the best roguelike gameplay you've ever experienced. Binding will surprise you time and time and time again, after putting over 100 hours easy into this game, I am still on the edge of my seat. The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+ is absolutely at home on the Nintendo Switch. Having played Rebirth on my PS Vita, my iPhone, and Afterbirth on my Xbox one, putting in the time on many different platforms. Isaac truly comes to life while playing the Switch in handheld form. The visuals are better than that of the PS Vita version because of larger screen size and more robust processor. Also the joycon joysticks make the perfect input devices for this game specifically. When playing Isaac on my XBox One, I usually controlled movement with the d-pad because the joysticks are so large that it hindered quickly changing movement, but the joysticks on the joycons are a bit shorter than your standard home console controller and a touch larger than the vita. Allowing you to be agile when dodging all of the nightmarish enemies you will have to avoid. Besides the normal mode, there is greed mode. Which totally switches up the games formula. Getting as much money that you can, to buy tons of upgrade items, in order to defeat the crazy hard boss at the end. When you do beat that boss you toss coins into a donation bank with the goal of getting to 999 coins. At first this seems impossible, but now having a little over 500 coins in my bank now, the end seems closer than ever! Another great feature in the plus edition of Binding is that they do updates of adding fan created items of the game monthly, keeping that excitement of getting a new ability alive and well. The Binding of Isaac Afterbirth Plus is an absolute masterpiece. From story, to gameplay, graphics, and the only rogue-like that will truly surprise you with a different playthrough every time. This game is a must have for any Nintendo Switch owner. Be sure to watch my video review on YouTube channel TheFlannelFox

Get ready to enter the grindhouse! Brave Dungeon puts you at the helm of a three member battle team, led by Al, a character from the inside system’s dark witch, of which Brave dungeon is a spin off. You choose you team from the beginning and begin you dungeon crawling adventure. Presentation One of the first things that I noticed is the incredibly cliche look of all of the graphics. Yes this is a JRPG and aesthetically it doesn’t do anything to spice that up. Personally I think it could use a bit more polish, at certain sections looking like a game prototype with the characters being the only fully developed piece. The antagonists of the game did have great variety, with a bit of a pokemon feel, I loved that I could be fighting a hedgehog monster, a buff snowman, and a evil eyed book, all at the same time. Gameplay Brave’s combat is turned-based combat at it’s finest. Each character having different strengths, it gives them very different skill sets. My team consisted of a healer, a medium-wide range attacker, and a powerful-single attacker. This made each battle unique, with a strong amount of strategy required. This combined with accessories and magic items, can make the battlefield a very interesting place to be. For example, giving my healer an accessory that made her more likely to have the first turn in battle, allowed me to enter and leave each battle with a fully healed them. Then raising the attack power for my team with my single attacker, leaving my wide range attacker full of health, with extra attack stats to mow down all of the enemies in my path with one move. While I am a huge jrpg fan, one of the things that I hate the most, is a long grindy RPG without any real challenge, think I AM SETSUNA. Brave Dungeon quickly sets the pace by dropping you into the most difficult dungeon in the first battle, blowing you to smithereens. The game consists of five different dungeons with each one varying in difficulty, then increasing in difficulty as you descend each of four floors. Each floor has a very difficult boss, that you have to grind to level up in order to defeat. Every ten to fifteen levels you can change the class of your character, which gives them either more attack or defense stats, and a new battle skill depending on your choice. These new skills add a ton of variation and strategy to each encounter, only opening up the fantastic combat to a more deeply rooted leve. Crafting During your underground adventure loot is everything. Finding either materials or accessories, you can craft higher powered versions of both, eventually getting very powerful items to help you face those difficult bosses found later in game. Final thoughts Brave Dungeon is a solidly addictive and challenging JRPG with one of the best turn-based combat systems I have ever experienced. Even though the story is non existent and the graphics leave a ton to be desired, I still found myself getting pulled in for more time and time again. Be sure to watch my video review at YouTube channel TheFlannelFox

Get ready for a blast from the past! Originally released in 2003, then remastered for re release in 2014, three years later Crimsonland has blasted its way onto the Nintendo Switch. Playing from a top down perspective, Crimsonland is an incredibly arcadey twin stick shooter with very straightforward gameplay. While each level has an “objective”, you basically just have to kill everything in sight. Along the way you acquire different weapons, perks, and special attack pickups that are a great help when surrounded by alien hordes. This being the fourth twin stick shooter released by developer 10tons on the Switch, their formula by now is very similar. Move with the left joystick, aim with the right, shoot with the right trigger. However, this being originally released before Neon Chrome, Time Recoil, and Jydge. Its interesting to see all of the mechanics they took from Crimsonland... to separate, develop, and form three new games. See links in my description for these reviews. As you play through the quest mode you progress to different worlds, each looking the same, except for a different color background, you unlock new perks and weapons. These systems keep the missions from feeling too repetitive as you play through the same levels with different enemy skins over and over. Switching from a plasma rifle to a rocket launcher truly feels different and changes your playstyle. Which is a nice change up and really makes you think whether it’s worth it to run head first into a swarm of enemies to grab that upgrade. After you venture through quest mode to unlock some new perks and weapons, then the fun begins. SURVIVAL mode is the bread and butter of Crimsonland. Hordes and hordes of creepy creatures surrounding you while upgrading and upgrading, to see if you can beat the high score on the leaderboard. While playing in this mode your choices are crucial, make a wrong turn and all too easily you will be surrounded with no moves left to make. If you feel you don’t have enough perks or weapons to survive...well jump back to quest mode to unlock more upgrades. While Crimsonland is a solid twin stick arcade experience, the progression system and level variation is left wanting. Compared to other twin sticks on the switch, it feels a bit over priced at the 13.99 US price point. Be sure to watch my video review at YouTube channel TheFlannelFox

To V or not to V, **** the question VVVVVV is a 2d puzzle platformer with metroidvania elements, originally released in 2010 by Irish developer Terry Cavanagh. Playing as Captain Viridian, your crew gets separated after a forced evacuation of their space ship. Now in dimension VVVVVV you have to track down the members of your crew. In order to do so you must traverse this colorful yet deadly dimension. Setting itself apart from the average platformer, in VVVVVV you are unable to jump. Instead you are able to inverse gravity, allowing you to fall up or down. When originally released on PC this mechanic was mapped to the V key, now on the switch mapped to the Y, B, or A button. This mechanic is pushed to the very limit with new level interactions giving each area’s obstacle a different theme. One having gravity reversing beams, while another creates mazes that you work your way through, giving each new section fresh and challenging game play. With challenging being the key word as V is an incredibly tough game. However, there are tons of checkpoints throughout the game so when you die you never have to go too far. Which is one of the worst feelings in a game, when objective D is very hard but you have to keep running through A, B, & C just to die again on D. Having multiple checkpoints removes this annoyance allowing you the freedom to die multiple times when exploring a new puzzle. Which you can only solve by looking at the problem from a totally different angle. These platforming challenges were some of the most rewarding I have played in years. When you go out on a limb trying some crazy stab in the dark, it rewards you wholeheartedly. V has a huge map that you explore... unlocking new teleportation hubs along the way to fast travel from section to section. When beginning your travels however you travel through vast sections of the map by falling up and down, sometimes flying three screen lengths until you reach ground again. Little touches like this along the game, hark to an era of gaming long forgotten. V feels like a game that was made in 1987 and someone found in an old developers basement. With the graphics feeling like you are playing on an ms dos computer. This feeling is only made more poignant with the fantastic retro game music. V is one of the best platformers I have ever played, while initially turned off by the graphics before jumping in, I quickly became a fan. The seeming simplicity soon turns to a vivid orchestra when in the heart of this game, leaving you with questions, frustrations, and a need to pick up that switch and play again. The short yet sweet game will now be one of my top recommends for a new switcher. Be sure to watch my video review at YouTube channel TheFlannelFox

Dancing bears, laser gorillas, and pinball battle?! Well get ready for arcade chaos! Gunbarich is a Japanese arcade game originally released in 2001 by Saikyō. A nice combination between brickbreaker and classic pinball, with some boss battles sprinkled on top. You control the paddle’s left to right movement working to get your timing just right to hit your pinball...giving it a little extra zing which deals more damage to bricks and enemies. The goal being to break all of the bricks within a certain amount of time. If your pinball gets past you, you die and if you run out of time you die. Dying from running out of time while only having one block left in a level is super frustrating, but made me smile everytime, enjoying that old school “we don’t care try again” mentality. The rounds move fast so if you die in world 4, it doesn’t take you long to get back to where you were, so the emotional investment in each round is minimal. Also ending each round with that old school arcade scoreboard rings that good ole nostalgia bell is a great way. The fun of Gunbarich comes with the increasing difficulty and variation in level design. Eventually the pre-world instructions are simply “becareful there will be increasing difficulty…” Which peaked my interest and did not fail to deliver, like when i ran into these enemies and swallow you pinball then spit it out in one of its three other locations randomly. This truly surprised me upon first encounter and became one of my favorite enemies. Making me scour the screen for my **** moment it burst out. Like many other Nintendo Switch ports you have the option to toggle between the retro graphic style and the more crisp remastered version, RETRO PLEASE! I love this recurring feature in modern day remakes. Speaking of graphics, they’re crazy. Dancing bears, sweet anime illustrations, I love the look of this game. Vintage japanese oh yes please. Gunbarich is a nostalgic pinball playground, that while challening, has the variation to break up the monotany and keep you coming back. This game will continue to freshen up my morning commute for many pinball battles to come. Check out my video review on YouTube channel TheFlannelFox

Get ready for some arcade fire! Xenoraid is a vertically scrolling shmup originally released in 2016 by developer 10tons. Taking place in the not so distant future of 2032, framed as the first war in space. With relatively primitive artillery as far as sci fi spaceships have been portrayed in the past. As a vertical scroller, you play from a top down perspective and can navigate your ship through enemies and asteroids as you face the upcoming onslaught. Using the right trigger to fire your regular weapon and the left trigger for your special attack, you simply aim by the position of your ship. Setting apart from the regular 2d side scroller, your weapons overheat. So you can’t charge into a galactic battle with guns blazing. Instead you’ll dodge your way through the hazards of space combat, waiting for the right moments to engage your enemies. Causing you to play with a more cautious and precise style, rather than the typical bullet frenzy. The game’s creators had more of a focus on tight aiming rather than bullet spraying and it really shows. The gameplay feels great, responsive mechanics and animations that add that little bit of polish to the experience. When playing through each missions, uniquely, they are procedurally driven. So you can’t just memorize the difficult attack patterns and easily blow through each level after you figure them out. With a number of different ships, all having different weapon abilities, they have truly unique play styles attached to them. Beginning with a standard fighter jet, then taking you on quite the adventure. Using a space style flamethrower certainly does the trick, but getting into that close range can mean certain death. Where Xenoraid truly shines is the squadding. In gameplay you have four ships at your command and you can switch between them in battle. If running low on health on one ship, pressing the corresponding X, Y, A, or B buttons, will tag in your selected ship. These ships can be upgraded between battles and get promoted if used enough in a mission. So after three missions upgrading your fire rate and missiles, can make you quite powerful. But be sure to Switch those fighters when critically damaged, because just like Fire Emblem, Xenoraid employs a permadeath system. So if your upgraded Captain dies in battle, it is gone, forever. Making each battle mean more and having way more of an emotional impact when you lose a member of your team. Between battles you can make overall squad upgrades, lower weapons heat production, or deploy nukes when a squadmate dies. Little upgrades likes this can have a big impact on battles. Also managing your squad, you’ll have to repair your ships from battle and purchase new ships when you have an opening. With more fighter ship options becoming available later in game. Xenoraid isn’t a huge game with an epic story, but it’s a lovely modern spin on arcade classics. WIth solid gameplay and captivating permadeath rpg progression. Xenoraid is a welcome addition to my Switch library. Check out my Xenoraid Video Review on YouTube channel TheFlannelFox

Did Michael Bay make a twin stick shooter? Rive is a 2d platformer twin stick shmup, developed by dutch game company Two Tribes. Originally released in 2016, Rive has now hacked it’s way onto the Nintendo Switch. In Rive you play as a hacker controlling an abandoned ship, which handles and looks amazing. Switching from an asteroid like flying ship moving in full 360 degrees, to platforming in your spider ship creating two very different gameplay experiences. Controlling your movement with the left joystick, aiming and shooting with the right, and special attack with you right trigger. All handles like you typical twin stick shooter with the exception of a jump, when in platforming mode, that is mapped to your left trigger. Unfortunately not being able to remap these buttons, after years of jumping with one of the right thumb buttons, it does not feel intuitive by any means. When put in an action packed slew of robotic enemies, scrambling that second then reaching for that left trigger can, at certain moments, mean the difference between life and death. Button mapping aside the gameplay experience is a robotic bullet barrage that is only manageable by the extremely responsive and well executed mechanics. Every moment of gameplay must be intentional in order to complete a mission, because these missions are as tough as rivets. With a normal and a hard mode, that should be labeled hard and insane! Rive still allows you to progress through the game steadily due to the multiple check points. Even in a tense and challenging boss fight, if you make it half way through and die, you will be sent back to a midway point of battle, allowing you to blast that force field, and shoot off those fireworks. One of the featured mechanics in Rive is the ability to hack your enemies, not all, but some are able to be hacked to make them an ally. This ability in my opinion felt more like a chore than a bonus, normally when being careful enough not to damage an enemy or getting close enough to hack, you sustain damage. Which can quickly snowball into a cheeky phrased death sentence. The most useful were the health bots, that follow behind you refill your health until it runs out of juice, buuuuut a health pickup would suffice. Only on the Switch version is a co-op mode where one person controls the movement of the spider ship and the other controls the weapons. Fun for a bit, but in a game this challenging, it feels better as a one man show. While throughout Rive you have multiple special weapons that you can purchase along with upgrades to your armor and ship. Although the health increase is a nice to have, overall the upgrades don’t provide any real feeling of progression. A feeling that is echoed in the environments. Rive is a very action packed game, however this can sometimes leave you feeling that the level you just played through was sort of a blur. There were moments when playing that I died, then respawned and didn’t realize it was a checkpoint because everything was feeling so similar. Breaking down the challenges into such tiny explosive experiences, left me with a fatigue that made it hard to find the urge to complete a level. Move through this crawl space, shoot a boss, move through this crawl space, shoot another boss, then the mission is complete? Huh? You honestly don’t need to know what the mission is in order to complete it, you just keep shooting enemies. Which is fine if an arcadey room to room massacre is what you're looking for, but it was hard to find linear feeling of completion. Rive is an action packed, challenging twin stick shooter experience with fun platforming elements. Which at times, truly rung a high note setup and execution. However, I quickly was lost in the blur of exploding, respawning, exploding, then somehow beating the level. Check out my video review on YouTube channel TheFlannelFox

Did grim fandango and Rocko’s Modern Life have a baby? Mob bosses, suicidal sleeze balls, dancing queens and kings all help to flesh out the world in Stick it to the Man. A puzzle adventure game developed by Swedish studio Zoink games and originally released in 2016. With an essence of 90s cartoons reminding me of ahhhh real monsters with a twist of rocko’s modern life, you explore as Ray Doewood. A normal guy with abnormal problems. After getting hit in the head with a secret government capsule containing a strange silhouetted creature, Ray wakes up with a huge piece of pink spaghetti sticking out of his head. This magenta noodle gives you some super powers that allow you to read minds, swing from push pin to push pin, and tear through the paper world you inhabit. Trying to dodge goons sent by an evil cigarette toting villain. With the goal of finding problem solving stickers which you then use to solve the problems of the characters around **** oh what characters they are. Platforming through each level, you use your noodle to read the minds of different people or animals that you encounter. Finding out their ironic problems, then searching the world for a sticker that solves them. A pair of mobster brothers are having their own internal family struggles while getting ready to bind a man’s feet in cement, then toss him in the river. While that man is in the trunk late to meet up with his girlfriend to win a dance competition; all next to a dog who is waiting to get payback on the mobster brothers. Just a few sticks and the dog gets his payback, the mobsters get what’s coming, and the dancing couple can cure their case of saturday night fever. While you do platform in this game and a few times, swinging from push pin to push pin dodging goons can be quite a challenge. The foundation of Stick it To The Man is the layered and eccentric world Zoink games has created. From a therapist who wants to solve every ailment with a lobotomy, to a lousy magician whose dead wife is mad at him because he accidentally sawed her in half. Each level leaves you with a smile on your face as you stick some goofy solution together to keep these crazy characters satisfied. While the ten chapter campaign moves along relatively quickly, the concise nature of this game gets you in and out, before you linger too long, never wondering **** I go next. Playing on the go was not my preferred choice for Stick it To The Man, as you really need to be immersed in each level to have a cohesive experience. Definitely not a pick up and play for 15 minutes sort of game. I would recommend docked mode, with some time to invest in the characters and theme of each level. If you’re a fan of adventure games in the light of Grim Fandango, then Stick it To The Man is certainly for you. While very light on the platforming aspect, it has a great sense of humor, fantastic visuals, and extremely satisfying narrative puzzles. This game will certainly keep you stuck Check out my video review on YouTube channel TheFlannelFox

Get ready to put your Quest foot forward... If you would've asked me last year if I was a metroidvania fan, it wouldve been hands down no. Honestly being one of the few people who did not really dig Axiom Verge and never played super metroid as a youngster I thought the genre was just not for me. However, since playing steamworld dig 2 and now playing Elliot Quest. I think my metroidvania tide has turned. Elliot Quest is an adventure 2d platformer with metroidvania elements. Developed by Ansimuz Games and originally released in 2014, Elliot has now made his way to the nintendo switch. Jumping from block to block with his trusty bow, slaying slimes, and dodging projectiles. At the start Elliot Quest feels just like any platformer. Solid mechanics, with a rpg leveling stat system, that lets you know what your stats will effect before you make your decision. At the start Elliot is armed with a bow and unlimited arrows, which you can modify to fire faster or longer range. In true metroidvania fashion unlocking new abilities and items throughout the levels, which in turn opens up new areas to explore. When trying to dodge my when through cannon blasting projectiles, dying time and time again I decided to take another route. Intuitively finding my shield which allowed me to slowly battle my way through the bullet barrage. This instantly tugged my nostalgia cord, taking me back to sitting on my bed as a kid, n64 controller in hand, deflecting deku seeds with my shield in zelda the ocarina of time. As a transition between levels you walk through a top down map of the area which is a puzzle in itself. You may be blocked in on all sides, but some of the caves you play through actually act as a tunnel to a new part of the world map. Which is one of many delightful surprises that elliot quest has to offer. You can also purchase new items which you will need in your adventure. Can’t see your way through the caves, picking a brand spankin new candle and light it up! Elliot Quest is a surprising breathe of fresh air, every time that I felt stuck, finding my way through it was ten times more rewarding. Every thing from the graphics to the straight up platforming, waiting for a spear to thrust out of my way while dodging a missile, feels ****. Elliot Quest isn’t the game of the year but it's a must buy for anyone who is a fan of the genre. Check out my video review on my YouTube channel TheFlannelFox See ya next time Switchers!

Did Metroid Prime and No Man's Sky have a chunky little baby? Morphite is a first person platforming shooter, with metroidvania elements. Growing up in a space station, you play as Myrah an explorer, who has trained and is now ready leave the nest. Mr. Mason, the bearded gent who raised her sets her up with a pistol a ship and kitkat. A sassy little robocat who accompanies you on your missions and handles the day to day needs of a space explorer Playing from a first person perspective you're tasked with scanning plant and animal life in order raise money to stock the space station. Armed with a pistol in case the animal life you are scanning gets a little too close. Which happens quite a lot, it’s great fun strolling through a new world scanning the animals, then all of a sudden one becomes aggressive and you have to quickly blast your way to survival. With different objectives taking you to different solar systems to complete missions, soon you will begin obtaining new gear. In true metroidvania fashion, grenades help you open new sections of the map, along with a charge laser gun which is the only way to open certain doors. When moving from planet to planet you will need to upgrade your gear to withstand extreme temperatures, either very hot or very cold, collecting minerals throughout your adventure will earn you the option to upgrade your gear. Which has alot of different options to choose from, upgrade your pistols fire rate, your grenades blast radius, or your scanners scan time. Which is very helpful when trying to scan some futuristic space hornet trying to kill you. The gameplay in Morphite feels very ok, as a good mix of platforming and shooting you notice very quickly this handles far from a AAA FPS. Moving throughout the world, aiming, shooting overall the mechanics feel a bit janky. Which you get used to and can work with during boss fights, but you lose something in the experience of exploration when feeling robbed for a slick platforming move that didn’t pan out. Morphites art style is low poly with high stylization, when in worlds they feel small but complete. Each world has just enough variation to make it feel different from the last, however when upgrading to be able to withstand very high or very low temps, there was no visual reminder of this when in the level. The UI is a bit difficult to navigate and if you want to travel throughout the galaxy to a certain place you will have quite some trouble, not to mention stopping for fuel every planet or so, there are no markers of the solar systems so good luck trying to discern one blue dot from another or remembering some of these goofy little names. Morphite is an interesting 3d platformer that does a lot of things but only a few of them well. With an interesting visual style and numerous planets to explore I had a great time walking through each new world, capturing a library of its wildlife. However, when it comes to it’s foundation the platforming or fps mechanics don’t feel solid enough to keep me wanting to jump back into my ship for more action. Please check out my video review of Morphite on my YouTube channel TheFlannelFox

Get ready to scrap together your frankenbot! At it’s heart NeuroVoider is a twin-stick shooter, which i love, and instead of shooting with your right stick like most twin stick shooters, you aim. Then use your right or left triggers to shoot each of your two equipped weapons. This really opens up the gameplay opportunities as mechanically the aiming feels spot on, I’ve played twin sticks where you can switch between weapons but never with access to both at the same time. Blasting a gaggle of bullet bots with my machine gun, then seamlessly finishing off a super elite with a mini nuke, raises the gameplay bar for twin stick shooters Each time that you start a new game you choose between one of three different classes, rampage, dash, and fortress. Each class has it’s own unique ability and own gear, with the weapons being the same for all three classes. You jump into each level with a choice between three different stages. Each varying on size, elite enemy amount, and the amount of loot. Choosing that level with the most loot will always reward you if you can survive. Sometimes you're dropped into a swarm of blade swinging, laser wielding robots, but walking away with a load of elite weapons certainly makes the challenge worth your while You also have a special ability that is different for each class, the fortress class has a damage blocking force field, while the rampage class unleashes a barrage of bullets. Both your weapons and your special ability all drain your EP, causing you to sometimes overheat and wait for your EP to recharge before you can attack again. Throughout each round of gameplay enemies drop pickups which contain different armor and weapons. Upon finishing a round you're placed into intermission where you rummage through everything you've scavenged during that round, either putting the new gear into action or scrapping the item for currency. This currency can either be used to gamble forge an item, which honestly never gave me anything that great or to upgrade your existing gear. Which is where I ended up dumping most of my Neuro cash. Having a varied armory of weapon types is one of NeuroVoider’s high points. Once I found my artillery sweet spot, I could boost my fav weapons to their highest level, making me quite the formidable foe when it comes to boss fights. Did someone say boss fights!! The boss fights in NeuroVoider are bullet hell extravaganza, which is right up my alley. But this being a rogue-LIGHT game, when I died and worked my way back up to the boss I expected a different enemy. Not the case, even when I reached the second and third bosses, even the final BOSS! It is just a more beefy version of the previous boss. It would've been nice to have a roster of bosses to cycle through to keep each run feeling unique. NeuroVoider is a great rogue-light twin sticker shooter that goes a little too light on the rogue. The incredibly solid mechanics will keep me blasting my way through bullet hell a little while longer, but that lack of variation in enemies and boss fights, make this feel very linear. Which can become a little repetitive after it’s beaten a couple of times. Check out my video review at my YouTube channel TheFlannelFox