Let's go over some of the games that I've played over the past year and a half, since I last did a big post like this:
Pikmin 4 (Switch): 10/10
One of my all-time favorite series, and boy did this entry not disappoint. I was a little scared of the addition of the dog (Oatchi), but he actually fit into the game very well and really was more of a QoL improvement for veterans more than a crutch, albeit still a pretty big crutch for certain boss fights. If you've played any of the series, you can more equate this entry as a successor to Pikmin 2, whereas Pikmin 3 was more of a successor to the original. You're not on a time limit in this entry, and rewarded for more exploration. My only gripe with this one is that there is a lot of features locked til the end-game/post-game, where it no longer has much if any use lol. But, then again, most people are probably not 100%ing areas as they go like I did. I put in a solid 35 hours in this title and 100%ed it, and now I just wish there was more to play. Thankfully, it was significantly larger than 3, but I definitely need more puzzle challenges (Dandori) in my life. Give DLC please. The only part of this game that I did not really care for was the new Tower Defense-like "side" missions (not really side since they're mandatory), but thankfully they didn't eat up too much or detract from the main game-play. Easy 10/10
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Switch): 10/10
You saw it coming, I saw it coming, no one's surprised. There's very little to complain about here. The map is insanely huge, and yeah it feels a little same-y and empty at times, but at others it feels like you're going insane that after 60 hours you've only unlocked a grand total of 30% of the map. It kept nearly everything that was great about BotW and just made it better. There's really not much to say, or rather, entirely too much that I could be here for days writing how much there is to do and see in this game. Easy game of the year for me, and possibly for life. It feels like a product of love and it's felt the entire time you're playing. The overall theme of combinations is just *chef's kiss* so well done. 10/10
Triangle Strategy (Switch): 10/10
Wow, this was incredible. Played it straight through back to back 3 times in a row to do the splitting storylines and still have a fourth to do. The gameplay is super addictive and rewards actual tactical gameplay. The voice acting is well-done, the art style is beautiful, and the music is great. The actual decision-making aspect of the game is probably the overall weakest part of the game, since trying to convince your teammates to go certain ways just feels like a crapchute sometimes, but that's relatively minor on the whole especially since no storyline is weak. If you've played Final Fantasy Tactics this is an easy must-play. I'm super excited for the sequel.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC (Switch): 10/10
There's now an almost entire game's worth of new tracks with the DLC at this point so I figured it'd be worth to shout it out here. Game play is still the gold standard for kart racers and the new tracks, despite being mostly revamps, do include a number of originals and are just very well done. My friends and I are still having a lot of fun with this one, a testament to its strength after being live service for almost a decade.
Mario + Rabbids 2 (Switch): 9/10
If you've played the first game you'll very much enjoy the sequel. Overall I did not really agree with the change to a more free-form style battle system, as I felt the grid system was much more puzzle-intensive and allowed for "perfect" set-ups and gameplay, whereas with a distance-marked system with free movement, it's not as satisfying to figure out the optimal play paths. Apart from that relatively minor gripe on the whole, the game is still great and retains the spirit of the first. I hated the voice acting they half-assed for this, same as the vein of the Lego games, it loses some of its charm from being constrained by no real dialogue, but I digress. Highly recommend a try if you have not, the demo is still available on the shop, and it has a ton of DLC available that I'm still getting to.
Pokemon Legends Arceus (Switch): 9/10
It has been a long, long time since I've been impressed by a Pokemon title but wow. If you haven't played a Pokemon game in a while I strongly encourage you to at least pick this one up. The RPG elements were incredible and very well done here. Performance issues abound, but the art-style kind of made up for it tbh. Game play was fun, the neat spin on the battle system made it feel sleek. The boss fights were surprising and exciting, and even a little tough. Exploration felt rewarding, more than most other "open world" games these days. Overall a great entry.
Overwatch 2 (PS4): 8.5/10
Blizzard drama-aside, the base game play is still pretty phenomenal, and there hasn't been a miss yet in the recent character releases (Lifeweaver was pretty underpowered but he feels pretty good as of the most recent update now). 5v5 feels worse than 6v6 on the whole, but it doesn't detract too badly from the game. The support line feels more powerful than ever. Matchmaking in the game still needs to be fixed to a pretty significant degree unfortunately, and the money-grubbing is starting to wear out on me. Overall still fun, but it's starting to lose its luster after so many years and so little to do outside of ranked.
Tunic (Switch): 8/10
Some would describe this title as a spiritual successor to Link's Awakening, and I'd say it's just a bit more than spiritual lol, more like barely hiding the fact that it's copy-pasting assets. To say it plays a bit like Link's would be an understatement to say the least. All that said, it's a very fun title. Lots of neat hidden areas, good puzzles, fun fights. Very tough though, which may be off-putting to some. You have no guidance whatsoever at any point in the game, which is probably where it deviates the most from Link's, which it itself had very little guidance. Definitely got frustrated on trying to figure out where to go and having to constantly re-fight enemies every time I tried going to new areas, which is the major reason for the knock in score here. Also a very, very large lack in soundtrack, the "ambience" music is basically non-existent which kinda forced me to play my own music while playing.
Tactics Ogre Reborn (Switch): 7.5/10
I love, love tactics-style games, so when this went on sale I knew I had to try one of the OGs. This is mostly down this far because it is hard. Like, harder than it needs to be. Especially considering you can't even grind to beat tough fights, you're level-capped. That said, the artwork, music, and gameplay are all top-notch. If you've played Final Fantasy Tactics or Triangle Strategy, it's an easy recommend to try it out. It's got a ton of splitting paths in it and I've yet to try them all out, largely due to the difficulty, but I'm excited to go back and try it out.
Mini Motorways (Switch): 7.5/10
A very satisfying, unique puzzler. It's pretty addicting to try and figure out the most optimal pathing and resource management. At a certain point the lack of explanations for game mechanics gets a little grating when trying to go for high scores and you can't seem to understand why things work the way they do without being able to like save states and stuff. The weekly challenges are fun and they're still adding stages even 2 or 3 years in on the Switch.
Pokemon Scarlet (Switch): 7/10
It's Pokemon. Performance issues were pretty rampant, but, it's at least a step in the right direction. Not as good as PLA, but the designs are some of the best we've seen yet, with a ton of knock-out hits like Fuecoco, Lechonk, and Smolive to name a few. Was able to go relatively spoiler-free as well for this title, so I had quite a few surprises and really liked the "open" world design. If the game had had level scaling I feel like this would have felt nearly 100% better on the whole, but alas.
Feudal Alloy (Switch): 7/10
Continuing my trend of trying every Metroidvania that exists, I stumbled upon this gem for super cheap on the switch shop for like $5. Very, very much worth the price if you like Metroidvanias. It's rather formulaic, but it has a very fun atmosphere and rewards exploration. I did get very, very stuck at one point and no one on the Internet has really bothered to map out this game in a meaningful way so it took a very long time to figure out where I was stuck, but I did figure it out eventually and 100%ed it. Very few boss fights, and instead had enemy rush rooms that were quite challenging. Combat was quite simple, reminiscent of Hollow Knight, and you don't get much for movement boosts, but it never really felt like I was moving slowly through the game.
Shantae Half-Genie Hero (Switch): 6.5/10
A relatively fun platformer that I feel with some polish could be a truly great game, but for what it is it felt a little subpar. The animal morphing is fun but your abilities feel too constrained. And her base form with the hair whip and magic just feels kind of stunted and difficult to play with. The inability to just revisit levels at any time and to pick where to drop in makes exploration kind of annoying too. Still, there's a lot to like here and would try another game in the series.
Kirby Dream Buffet (Switch): 5/10
A pretty weak racing game / minigame overall. There's fun to be had here, especially if playing with friends, but no reason to play over Mario Kart or Party.
I also watched my BF play the following and would recommend them:
Resident Evil 2 Remaster (PS4): 8/10
Resident Evil 4 Remaster (PS4): 10/10
13 Sentinels Aegis Rim (PS4): 8/10
Bloodstained Ritual of the Night (PS4): 7/10