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A unique bit of strategic fun that takes deckbuilding concepts and turn-based combat in a great new direction

A creative and refreshing mix of exploration, puzzle solving, and music that has loads of charm

Putting it all together, Saviorless has a generally fluid style of platforming that harkens back to earlier days, though thankfully for the most part feeling much more approachable and less cruel. A healthy mix of platforming action and puzzle solving is featured pretty well throughout, with periodic sections that also let you get out some frustrations with a bit more violent tendencies for the sake of variety. The animations on the whole are clean and fluid, and it’s great that the gameplay below those animations tends to hold up nicely as well. If you’re a fan of the classics like Prince of Persia and some others, this is a more modern descendant who does that style of play proud!

To me there’s just something refreshingly exciting about Dungeon Drafters, as its art makes me nostalgic for the SNES days, the dungeons and enemies can make you sweat at times, and it’s just generally consistently surprising. Whether it's finding some new card that makes you giddy with excitement or the tension of getting yourself out of a tight situation, it’s reliably a game of ups and downs. Even if you’d normally reject the siren song of the deckbuilders, you may find that by making it more of a supporting mechanic than front and center it can actually work quite nicely.

A meeting of well-written characters, some unnerving moment, and classic point-and-click adventure beats

Even as someone who isn’t a particular fan of chess, this stands out as an incredibly smart set of remixes of the strategy classic

Among the things there are also no place for in this title: Lack of skills, and unwillingness to be patient

A pretty engaging, challenging, and impressive puzzle platformer all around

An unusual adventure that has plenty of combat where you’ll need to win through careful defense

While it’s not terribly ambitious or tough, there’s some solid twin-stick arcade shooting here on a budget

Given the very specific nature of the puzzles, and the greater degree of difficulty than you’d normally see in this broad genre, there isn’t too much more to say about the game. It is purely a matter of whether you’re ready and willing to embrace its challenge or you’re not. I can’t say that in terms of implementation that I can fault it, if nothing else its general construction is quite simple so there’s not much to get wrong. If you’ve been looking for a very different kind of puzzler that will really challenge you to bring your A game this should do the trick, but if you’re not down to drive yourself a bit crazy with it you’ll want to stick to simpler fare.

A challenging mix of chemistry and puzzles

Tapping into just about every available franchise it can, Kart Racers 3 has plenty of character but stalls a bit in some key areas

A sequel to the less elaborate Monument Valley is again well-made, but not terribly inspired either

A fairly solid puzzle challenge in the vein of Monument Valley

If you’re looking for that tension in the pit of your stomach as you peek around the next corner, and don’t mind some warts, this delivers

Dark, odd, and certainly possessing a fair amount of creepy vibes, this pretty grim adventure is a decent enough follow-up to its predecessor

Putting it all together, for the most part aside from simple variations in specifics this is a collection of clones of some other games already out there. That being said, considering the budget price, this does actually feel like a pretty fair deal on the whole. Across the board they control well, have a pleasing pixel art look, and are at least representative of their respective genres. The challenge may be whether any average gamer will really enjoy more than perhaps 2 of the games included, so they can be sure to get sufficient mileage out of it for the price… so results may vary, depending on your tastes.

While it won’t win any awards for being amazing in terms of its look or play, it works well enough for the price if you enjoy retro racing

Stripping down the survival genre perhaps a little too close to the bare bones, Nova Lands comes up short overall

This combat-free take on a Zelda game, focused on puzzles and some exploring, has its charms

A mix of exploration, platforming, survival, and automation that works to some degree but isn’t as well-implemented as the rest

A serviceable budget take on the classic OutRun racing style, but one that generally lacks excitement

Mixing elements of Dandara’s movement with roguelike sensibilities is daring, but the execution struggles

Aside from some odd (and not always fun) distractions, this has an engaging (though pretty brief) story to take in

A touching tribute to soccer, as well as childhood and some adversity, that is let down by poor mechanics

Considering that people may have regrets about their choices during the game, there is potential benefit in replaying it, altering decisions, and observing a few different outcomes. Ultimately, enjoyment of the overall experience likely hinges on this factor. If players are drawn to the game's unique visuals and narrative, they may find multiple playthroughs appealing. Conversely, those who are not captivated by the game's aesthetics and style may prefer to move on in search of something more directly engaging.

Another creative hidden image title, though some of its unique features may not be clear winners

Another Pixel Pulp story is here, delivering very retro-styled graphics mixed with hardboiled narrative with some choices

Reasonably-good arcade soccer action with friends, but solo… not so much

 It wouldn’t be so bad if your “butt stomp” was more effective, or a little more of an AoE attack, but paired with the camera at times it’s unnecessarily challenging to line up consistently, making for a distraction from enjoying the platforming action. If you’re willing to overlook the rest there’s quite a lot going on here that can be challenging and exciting, but it does manage to get in its own way more than I’d have liked.

While it works reasonably well as a Metroidvania, and the optional time limit is interesting, it doesn’t quite come together

While certainly a stylish fighting game with flair and depth, it’s approachability absolutely struggles compared to its peers

80s nostalgia and some vibes from other retro media can’t quite compensate for quirks and some odd puzzles

For those seeking something relatively light and certainly a bit off-center, which even peppers in a little (sadly, too little) meta game fun as well, this has some flair, but it’s over all too quickly and doesn’t seem to meet its potential.

A mixed bag of 4 multiplayer arcade-style sports games with varying degrees of quality

Takes a stab at being interesting, but your very weak attack and a lack of anything really inspired holds it back

The value proposition here, especially considering how many solid racers there are on Switch that have a retro feel but more modern performance, feels like a very narrow one. If you’ve always been a fan of these titles, an opportunity to enjoy them once again on a modern system is no doubt compelling… and to the credit of the people putting this together they’ve done more than just churn out a bare bones port of the games with minimal additional work. That said, if you’re either unfamiliar or weren’t sold on these games back in the day they’re very much a product of their time, and have some unsurprising warts that remain authentically in place as they were originally. Depending on your connection to the originals, I think the consensus on this one will vary pretty wildly.

Fans of the "good old days" of FPS shooting will no doubt raise an eyebrow seeing shots of Exodemon...

While I don’t doubt fans of these SNES racers will enjoy seeing them again, to anyone else they’re likely a mess

I suppose the idea is that you’ll continue to challenge yourself to do better and perhaps relax as you lay out your ideal islands just for satisfaction, but given the limited feedback the game provides there seems to be little more than that. Throw in the fact that I feel that I enjoyed the other implementation I’ve seen of this concept in Islanders more, which has nearly identical core mechanics, and I’m struggling a bit with this one. There’s a mild and generally pleasant experience here to be had, just not a very fulfilling one.

A laid back and casual mix of puzzle and strategy, but that’s also not terribly satisfying for long

Even with its budget price, the lack of real differentiation between classes and limited scope make this easy to pass up

Somewhat oddly choosing the classic Tortoise and the Hare as a base inspiration for a game, this family-friendly racer is quite plain

This is the case of a game that isn’t necessarily “bad”, but that is simply too bland for its own good stepping into a space full of pretty great titles. Yes, the budget price does help to reduce the overall sting of disappointment, but especially when considering that many older games are regularly on sale the price doesn’t make for much of a positive selling point. There are worse options out there, but there are plenty of better ones I’d encourage you to try first as well.

As a fan of new and odd ideas, the thought of a game that has a mix of elements from beat-em-ups, shooters, and a little music to boot sounded like it had real potential...

A pretty light-weight budget twin-stick shooter with some challenge, but that fails to inspire much excitement

While it’s look and style feel a bit dated, the story and aerial combat-oriented combat is at least novel

While there’s some potential in place, visual clarity issues lead to muddy play and the experience simply lacks excitement

AKA: Tedious Inventory Management - The Game

Odd without question, and perhaps it could be considered thoughtful? An odd mix of maze-like walking and some therapy

While in principle it isn’t a bad farming sim, its buggy nature and shortcomings make it tough to recommend

A weird and possibly somewhat incomplete, grindy mix of simple driving action and some frustrations