DeVuego ES_COR

Building on the foundation of an already-solid predecessor, Blasphemous 2 soars to new heights of brutality

All said I’m a big fan of Spy Chameleon and its fresh take on stealth action puzzling. Never settling in for too long each mission feels just about the right length before the game throws some new things at you to get the hang of. Later in the game the puzzle element really begins to kick in as you’ll need to work carefully and methodically to avoid detection in a variety of ways. If you love creative action Spy Chameleon could just sneak its way into your list of favorites.

Feeling like a mix of Flat Heroes and Just Shapes and Beats, Hyper Shapes keeps it simple but challenging

If you enjoy well-written characters and have been searching for something a bit less run-of-the-mill than your average story-driven experience you can definitely find it here.

While many times I find throwback titles like this to be tedious, failing to inject enough modern touches into classic gameplay styles, once I got rolling I found A Hole New World to be very satisfying. With some creative level layouts, a diverse set of enemies, and some memorable boss fights the developers behind it put very visible effort into giving you an incentive to forge on and get through the tough sections. If you’re itching for a mix of the old, new, and the unexpected A Hole New World is easy to recommend.

As a whole package Immortal Redneck is a bold first step and demonstrates that the FPS genre, too, can definitely benefit from the addition of roguelike elements. As you unlock your skill tree you won’t feel quite as helpless and will hopefully stumble into a starting configuration that helps you kick some ass in earnest. When you’re just in the zone and shooting things up for the most part everything feels good, it’s really only when you have to try to complete some jumping puzzles that things start to unravel. The good thing is that in any given run you may not notice the problem almost at all since everything is generated procedurally, just when you need to do some jumping and have enemies coming at you at the same time that it can feel a bit unfair. I look forward to more attempts on this formula as it shows a great deal of potential for further fun.

For its budget price Debris Infinity is an incredible deal of an arcade-style space shooter, mixing some classic elements of Asteroids with modern sensibilities and polished presentation. Much more than the Geometry Wars clone people could suspect at a quick glance, it stands apart with its own rules, flow, and challenging play. See you on the global leaderboards!

All in all for a budget-friendly price Super Tennis Blast delivers a very solid traditional tennis experience with a bit of extra flavor thrown in to boot. While it obviously lacks the depth and complexity of the likes of Mario and his friends it implements the fundamentals very well and is obviously just a fraction of the price. If you and your family or friends have been looking for a multiplayer sports game to play against each other it’s definitely worth considering.

For people who are willing to get over the initial hump of getting used to Strikey Sisters there’s plenty of challenging stages and bosses to conquer. In general, there aren’t many titles emulating the classic Breakout, and among the ones I’ve played this is probably the most unique and interesting, but it’s also probably the toughest as well. While it won’t be for everyone it’s a fresh and unique offering in the Switch eShop.

If you don’t mind the simplistic aesthetics, this is a reasonably-solid Zelda-ish adventure on a budget

All in all Neonwall is an interesting bite of inventiveness that may be over a bit too soon but also doesn’t overstay its welcome. Its slow and consistent slope of added difficulty, with new elements being introduced consistently throughout the majority of the game, manages to keep you engaged and in a “just one more try” kind of way. More than just its cool aesthetics, it delivers a gameplay experience I’m interested to see more takes on in the future.

If you’re a shooting fan who is up to some crazy battles where you’ll need to use your brains as much as your reflexes Rise & Shine is a pretty good match. It won’t coddle you hardly at all, which will be either a positive or a negative depending on the type of gamer you are. I don’t recall ever having played a shooter that has had puzzle elements to it like this, so that does help it stand out from the crowd. Just keep in mind the caveats that come along for the ride when you decide whether to check it out.

Though boldly combining classical point-and-click adventure elements with some beat-em-up action it struggles a bit

This is the case of a game that has a decent enough core set of things in its favor, but that struggles because in an eShop full of solid platformers it fails to shine. One piece of the problem is that while mechanically everything works fine, your moves are limited and not terribly interesting, limiting the ongoing excitement factor. While you do have a meter that you can try to keep up there’s also no very clear and gratifying reward for being successful like you see in something like Super Mombo Quest or hear through the smart utilization of sound. The result is a platformer that plays perfectly well, and provides some challenges, but fails to break free from the crowded middle of the pack of similarly good games that don’t manage to step it up enough to feel great.

There’s no doubt that in terms of presentation the game looks great, and has distinctive combat, but in terms of overall design it struggles a bit

Right and Down appears to be targeting precisely that space, as its name implies restricting your choices to simply moving right or down at any time as you work to clear the stages of its roguelike fantasy strategy world.

Overall Twin Robots: Ultimate Edition is a well-made platformer that could easily serve as an introduction to the genre. Whether playing with a friend or by yourself the relatively gentle slope of challenge does end up hitting its stride, getting a bit harder as you get to the end, but it does take a while if you’re a platforming veteran before pulling out some more challenging scenarios. The result isn’t a thrilling game but that one should work well for the proper audience.

The themes and certainly the overall feel of everything do tend to get you a bit out of your comfort zone, if only for the fact that you’re really left not knowing what to expect next. Whether it all comes together to form a cohesive and satisfying whole would be a fair question, but I can’t fault the team behind this for their effort.

While Infernium presents itself very well, has a certain unique sense of ambiance, and can certainly be conquered given careful observation, its trial-and-error nature and pacing will likely lead to polar opposite reactions in people. For people who enjoy the puzzle adventure aspect, exploring the spaces and working out an optimal path to success while staying a few steps ahead of doom it may scratch an itch. Unfortunately I would imagine for just about anyone else it will likely be an exercise in frustration and burn through the patience of people hoping for more immediate gratification. Just be sure to go into the experience with the proper expectations and you’ll improve your chances of enjoying it.

While in terms of the music and visuals Zeroptian Invasion hits its retro mark the gameplay comes up a bit bland and lacking not just by modern standards but even in some cases up against the games this was looking to emulate. The minor number of pretty weak power-ups, your general lack of agility, and the subdued overall action just make it a game that you can play, not something that reaches out of the screen and grabs you, compelling you to put in another quarter and give it another try. In the end it just fails to deliver anything terribly new or exciting, or even in many cases the charm of the games they’ve borrowed from along the way.

Even if Mario Kart weren’t an available option on the system (though, no doubt, a much more expensive one) I’d find it difficult to give Super Toys cars more than a very tepid recommendation. Even among some of the other flawed racing titles on Switch its struggles with the fundamentals of a quality racing experience make it tough to love even if you have some nostalgia for its overall looks. All things considered it struggles to keep pace with the pack and is forgettable unless you’re really jonesing for that Micro Machines feel.

Still, if you’re looking for a reasonably-good and budget-friendly Metroidvania experience this is another solid choice in the Switch eShop.