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What are the best RPGs for the Nintendo Switch?

36

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Considered

432

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Recs.

Jan 15, 2024

Last
Updated

36 Games Considered

Best RPGs for the Nintendo Switch	Price	Genre	Platforms
-- Titan Quest	-	Action Role-Playing, Hack-and-Slash	Android, Windows, PlayStation 4, iOS, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One
-- Stardew Valley	$14.99	Farming Simulation, Role-Playing	Windows, OS X, Linux, PS 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PS Vita, Android
-- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	$19.99	Action RPG	Windows, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
-- Moon Hunters	$14.99	Action Role-Playing, Roguelike	Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows, Linux, macOS
-- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim	$59.99	Fantasy Role-Playing	Windows, Xbox, PS, Nintendo Switch

Titan Quest

Top Con

Disappointing loot at later levels

Even when the player has reached a high level, they will often find loot meant for low level characters. This can be frustrating when trying to find better gear and just adds a lot of clutter to ones inventory as the majority of items found won't be that useful. See More

Top Pro

Holds up incredibly well

Titan Quest is over 10 years old now, and it is still widely played. It even saw a remastered "Anniversary Edition" in August of 2016, drawing in more players, old and new. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Genre:Action Role-Playing, Hack-and-Slash

Co-Op:2-6 Player Online

Top Con

Save anywhere does not save character placement

This means that there will be some retreading of areas once a save is loaded as the character will not be in the same place as where they were left off. This will waste time and can be frustrating having to do this every time you load the game. See More

Top Pro

Tons of customization

There are 30 different classes of characters to choose from within the game with 150 character skills that they can learn. This way users can customize their character to their liking and playstyle. See More

Top Pro

You can choose the speed you want to play at

Titan Quest is unique among ARPGs in that you get to choose the game speed. You can be a leisurely player and take things slowly, or you can go hard and play the game on very fast settings. The fact that you get to choose adds another level of enjoyment to the game. See More

Top Pro

Replayability through different classes

There are a plethora of classes that open up upon leveling to the second level, once one is chosen the others will be gone for that game session. This means that a different playthrough will be needed to explore what all the different classes offer, making for quite a lot of playtime. See More

Top Pro

Lots of loot to find

There is quite a lot of loot in the game to be found, which drives the player to continue playing, just to find that better weapon or piece of armor. The loot is also color coded when dropped, making it easy to discern what is worth picking up or leaving behind. See More

Stardew Valley

Top Pro

Very fulfilling to play

Stardew Valley is a very simple game where you're free to do anything and everything at your own pace. This includes building your farm, planting and harvesting crops, and exploring the world among many other things. It will feel enjoyable no matter how fast or slow you do it. This coupled with the colorful/pleasing art style and the great soundtrack makes it an extremely pleasing experience. See More

Top Con

Can get really repetitive

Living on a farm is a lot of work, so you'll have to repeat the same tasks quite often. This includes tilling land, planting seeds, chopping trees, and many other farm related activities. While it's normally pretty fun and relaxing, it can get incredibly tedious during long play sessions, especially if you're just trying to progress. See More

Specs

Genre:Farming Simulation, Role-Playing

Co-Op:Online and Local, up to 4 players

Top Pro

Great freedom in designing your farm

When creating your own farm you aren't just limited to plowing fields for planting crops. You can also dig wells, put down fences, and even build various structures such as barns or stables. This allows you to build a farm that firmly matches your goals and sense of aesthetics. See More

Top Pro

Great soundtrack

When you work on your farm, go fishing, explore or just walk around the town you'll be accompanied by a really nice soundtrack. It's sometimes upbeat, sometimes soothing, and sometimes even melancholic, with every track matching each location and season perfectly. There's also a wide variety of instruments used, including a piano, accordion, banjo, synths, and many others. This allows you to listen to the soundtrack for hours without getting tired of it. Sometimes it's very hard to believe Stardew Valley and its soundtrack was produced by just one person. See More

Top Pro

Special vibe

Top Pro

A great mix of genres

While Stardew Valley is primarily a farming simulator, it also has social interaction elements and combat elements. The social interaction elements allow you to interact with people around the town. You can befriend them, get quests from them, hang out with them, and even find a significant other to go out with and eventually marry. It can be very addictive to max out your relationship with everyone. The combat elements are introduced when you unlock the dungeon, allowing you to battle creatures such as slimes, golems, and even mummies. While the combat is pretty simple, having you just swing your weapon, it's very satisfying to whack away at enemies. If farming ever starts feeling stale you can try either of these to mix it up, allowing you to keep the game fresh for a longer time. See More

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Top Pro

Thoughtful and expansive story with well-written characters

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt tells a deep and intricate story about the main character, Geralt, on his long journey to find his adoptive daughter, Ciri, who's on the run from the evil, supernatural warlords of the Wild Hunt. You spend the game following various leads on Ciri's whereabouts, meeting up with old friends, former lovers, powerful politicians, and all sorts of people from many walks of life. These characters usually want something in exchange for giving Geralt the information he wants, leading you down some unexpected and eye-opening paths as you learn more about who they are, how they met Ciri, and how she helped them grow as people, letting you form a bond with her through these thought-provoking tales. And as Geralt either helps or hurts these people himself, he inevitably impacts their lives in even more ways. Aside from the main story, there are also two great expansions: Hearts of Stone, and Blood and Wine, both of which offer their own amazing narratives with hours and hours of content. Hearts of Stone has you get involved with a shady, all-powerful manipulator who gives Geralt a series of seemingly impossible tasks, while Blood and Wine lets you explore the rolling hills of the wine-loving country of Touissant, with all the political intrigue surrounding the Duchess there. The Witcher 3's story has so much to offer, easily keeping you hooked for well over a hundred hours as you play and replay the base game and the excellent expansions. See More

Top Con

Combat is long and boring

Specs

Steam Rating:Overwhelmingly Positive

Genre:Action RPG

Top Pro

Your choices lead to morally-gray consequences and multiple different endings

There are rarely any right answers when making decisions. The situations that the story puts you in are unique and oftentimes unsettling, sometimes leaving you agonizing over which dialog option to pick during story conversations. During your first playthrough, it's isn't obvious which of your decisions are "important" and will impact plot outcomes, making you think critically about all of your choices. Most surprising are the critical decisions that determine which ending you get -- once you see your ending, you learn how organic everything is, with the game keeping track of your relationships with other characters in subtle ways. See More

Top Con

Navigating the menu can be a pain to newcomers

There's a very large menu to go through as far as gear, potions, weapons, and so on. It may take a while to get used to, but it's more of a personal gripe than a universal one. See More

Top Pro

Vast and beautiful open world to explore

The world is gorgeous in how untainted it is, with many locations to see and visit. Full of vibrant life, the medieval-style setting is simple and understated, with wide open fields, rainy meadows, snowy mountain ranges, and modest wooden towns and cities for you to roam around on horseback or on foot. There are tons of secrets to find all over, like monster lairs to destroy for loot, treasure maps to follow, and hidden side quests in remote villages. The in-game clock keeps the skies changing with the hour as you cross from city to city, country to country, brightening the horizons with brilliant, golden sunrises in the morning and burning crimson sunsets in the evening. Everything is amazing to look at, encouraging you to wander around aimlessly just to take in the sights. See More

Top Con

The combat can take some time to get used to

The real-time action combat with Geralt's swords and magic doesn't quite feel right. When you first try it, you might find the controls to be imprecise and a bit sluggish. You may need a few hours to get used to the way the swordplay works with parrying and dodging, on top of knowing when to use your defensive and offensive spells to take advantage of enemy weaknesses. See More

Top Pro

Accessible to players who are new to the Witcher series

Even though this is the third Witcher game, you can still jump right in and not feel lost. The story is generally good with the way it introduces you to the main characters without expecting you to know who they are. Geralt often reminisces with his friends from the first two games, letting you in on their history and adventures together to give you an idea of what happened in the past. And you don't have to have read the series of Witcher books, either, as the games all take place beyond the stories there. See More

Top Pro

The soundtrack is well constructed and complementary in almost all situations

While exploring, doing a quest whether it is main or side one, the music in the back always enhances your game play. When a fight starts it pumps you up by playing Slavic or Celtic beats, and on a heartbreaking scene, it slows down its pace and plays an instrumental that rings even after you close it. You won't even notice, but you start to hum Skelliege sound or Priscilla song in your daily chores. Watching the sun set over the horizon while the Kaer Morhen tune plays was one of the best moments in the game. Without the songs to complement it, the side quests or the battles would have started to feel like a chore after a while on doing side content. See More

Top Pro

Memorable and meaningful side quests

The Witcher 3 sets a new standard with how well-done the side quests are. Since Geralt is a witcher, meaning he specializes in dealing with monsters with his swords and magic spells, people often go to him when they need a monster problem taken care of. Some of these problems involve people who have lost loved ones to a monster and simply want help tracking down their corpses to give them a proper send-off, or they want Geralt to take revenge by tracking down the monster and killing it. These side stories go a long way to humanize the minor characters, letting you feel their grief, hopelessness, or anger within only a few short minutes of speaking with them and getting the quest details. It's impressive that the writers manage to consistently pack so much emotion into these optional quests that you might not even choose to play through. See More

Top Pro

Fleshed-out romance options

Playing as Geralt, you have the choice to have one-night stands with ladies at certain taverns, or you can focus on his more involved romantic subplots. By this third game, Geralt has quite a long history with two competent and beautiful sorceresses: Triss Merigold, his love interest from The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings, and Yennefer of Vengerberg, his old flame from the series of The Witcher novels that the games are based on. The two women also happen to be best friends, injecting some drama depending on how you go about things. Triss is really sweet, fun, and spontaneous with the way she makes the stoic Geralt smile and open up more as they get up to mischief together. On the other hand, Yennefer is strict, straightforward, and no-nonsense, not wanting to get into feelings all that much, and yet she and Geralt have such a strong bond over several years, making it feel special when Yen does occasionally let her guard down. Both of these romances intertwine well with the main story, with great optional side quests that add even more layers to whichever relationship you decide to pursue. It's also possible to try romancing both of them at the same time, but you might regret it, so choose carefully. See More

Top Pro

Great loot system

Fantastic loot system, dungeon diving, collecting and item sets. See More

Top Pro

Perfect progression and pacing

Progress in a natural and addicting way, with complimentary story progression alongside Gerald. See More

Top Pro

Not political

No hamfisted propaganda or messages, just a perfectly executed and addictive RPG. See More

Moon Hunters

Top Pro

Soundtrack is excellent

The music ranges from mysterious during exploration to a panicked beat during combat. Beautiful, soothing melodies with haunting vocals play during more emotional moments. All of the tracks in the game fit the area or experience they are made for, and do a great job of conveying the mood. Sometimes when you encounter a specific character or make a specific dialogue choice, the music will change based on the mood you just invoked. The soundtrack was so heavily beloved and requested, that it's sold as a standalone. See More

Top Con

Camera can skip around in local co-op

Sometimes during local co-op, the camera seems to jump around at times as it isn't quite sure where it's supposed to be when there are multiple players on the screen. See More

Specs

Genre:Action Role-Playing, Roguelike

Co-Op:4 Player Online / 4 Player Local

Top Pro

Gorgeous art style will draw you in

Visually, the game just looks fantastic. The graphics are crisp, clean, and have a hand drawn feel - oftentimes resembling a colorful painting. Everything has a very polished smooth feel to it, without jagged edges. There's a great use of color in the tilesets. The color ramping is handled incredibly well, especially in the shades of green in the grass. From forests with spanning mountain vista backgrounds to a fiery wasteland with crags and volcanoes, each map has a stunning level of detail to help bring you into the game world. See More

Top Con

Ranged classes are overpowered

Some classes like Druids and Mages are way too powerful because of their ranged attacks and AoE crowd control that can lock down an entire group of enemies from across the map. It can often feel like ranged has a distinct advantage due to having more control over enemy placement, whereas melee is a bit more difficult to play. See More

Top Pro

Choices are actually meaningful

This game constantly gives you interesting choices that influence gameplay. Based on the unique choices you make, your character gains certain personality traits such as proud, greedy, vengeful, and many more. Depending on which traits you earn in your playthrough, different quests and character interactions become available. For example, if you're really brave, certain other NPCs might give you an extra quest. If you're greedy, they may not want anything to do with you. When vengeful, they may request you to carry out a kill for them. Sometimes bosses can even be seduced instead of killed if your choices in the game led you to earn the seduction trait. See More

Top Pro

Upgrades are super rewarding and provide instant gratification

Since runs aren't very long, gear is immediately rewarding to cram as much power as possible into a short play session. Instead of loot just being a simple increase in stats, your power will sometimes double instantly. When you equip something new, you can immediately feel the difference in your character's power level, always making it a rewarding experience to get an upgrade. See More

Top Pro

A new experience each time you play

The overworld, levels, and vendors are randomly generated each playthrough which means you'll always be able to explore new maps or find new quests. As you play, you can also unlock different classes, personality traits, recipes, and skills which all contribute to trying something different in your next run. For example, you might learn the ability to talk to animals, so in all your future runs you can now converse with animals which could open potential new quests and interactions. You may even an unlock a new class which provides a whole fresh set of spells and abilities. See More

Top Pro

Great for bite sized gaming sessions

Each playthrough from start to finish is designed to be completed in an hour or two. See More

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Top Pro

Deep lore rivaling classic fantasy literature

Skyrim inherits the stories and world-building of The Elder Scrolls series, which stretches back 20 years. It has numerous stories surrounding the various races (orcs, elves, lizardmen, demons, etc.), mythical beasts, gods, cataclysmic events, parallel worlds, and just about any fantasy trope you could think off. What's even better you can read the lore in books found in-game, allowing you to immerse yourself for countless hours. See More

Top Con

Forgetful NPCs can break immersion

After completing certain story quests NPCs get new lines added to their dialogue based on your decisions. Sometimes the NPCs might become forgetful and return to their default dialogue, which can break immersion, especially if they talk about an event that's been long resolved. See More

WorthyHuehueteotl's Experience

One of the most beautiful and magical games ever made See More

Specs

Genre:Fantasy Role-Playing

Top Pro

Unrestrictive skill-based RPG system

Skyrim has no set character classes or equipment/spell limitations. Instead, it allows you to form your own class based on how you decide to play. For example, sneaking increases your sneaking skill, hitting an enemy with a shortsword increases your one-handed skill, taking damage while wearing leather armor increases your light armor skill, and so forth. You can you play however you want and the resulting character will be a perfect match for your playstyle, giving Skyrim a different feel from other RPGs. See More

Top Con

Combat is too simple

Most of the time you can just whack an enemy until it dies and it involves very little strategy or planning to succeed. For example, targeting specific body parts doesn't deal extra damage, nor can you cripple an enemy. There are no vulnerabilities, so you can't set furry forest animals ablaze easier than humans. The enemies also lack any real variation in how they attempt to fight you – they just run at you swinging wildly or attack you from afar. Because of this the combat is very one-dimensional and can start feeling like a chore after a while. Luckily most of the combat issues can be fixed with mods, allowing you to enjoy a more varied and deeper combat experience. See More

Top Pro

Total freedom in how you choose to play through the world's different factions

You can set off to any of Skyrim's different towns and discover new storylines from interesting factions that flesh out the world and the lore, with great characters and their own absorbing narratives to get lost in. There are a good number of these factions, like the scholars at the snowy College of Winterhold, the secretive assassins of the Dark Brotherhood, or the cohort of rogues and bandits of the Thieves Guild. After picking whichever faction you want to learn more about, you can eventually become a Master of the guild and learn new skills for your character. Playing through each of their individual stories lets you really feel like a member of the faction you choose, like with how the Thieves Guild sends you on missions to pick locks and steal valuables without getting caught by the guards. And if you only get through some of the faction's story and decide you don't enjoy it, you can easily go find another one and play through that one instead. There are no limits on how you play through the plot, with Skyrim giving you the flexibility to pick up stories, set them down, and come back to them whenever you feel like it. See More

Top Con

Inventory Management / Carry Capacity

Never have enough room to pick stuff up you want and have to make annoying trips to down alot See More

Top Pro

Massive sandbox to explore at your own pace

The in-game map is absolutely gigantic. There are so many places to go and so much to do in the world, easily giving you hundreds of hours of content. Exploring the wide range of environments, from the snowy mountains to the richly-detailed towns and cities is such a joy because of how lush and beautiful everything is. Wandering around often surprises you with new side quests to find off the beaten path, with new characters to meet and history to learn about in whichever area you find yourself in. You can get into all sorts of battles with powerful enemies or stumble into hidden dungeons with awesome loot at the end. Or you can sneak around towns at night stealing peoples' stuff while they're asleep to sell everything off for money. And there's just a ton of other intriguing secrets and fun diversions to discover as you adventure throughout the world. See More

Top Pro

One of the most beautiful and magical games ever made

Top Pro

Huge variety of mods

Bethesda Softworks has upheld a tradition of releasing their internal content-creation tools to the public since Morrowind (2002). Many modders transition to new Bethesda games as they are released, bringing their experience with them and helping newcomers through forums and wikis. As a result, Skyrim's mod selection is outstanding in both variety and quality. See More

Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

Top Pro

Awesome combat/hunting gameplay

The combat in Dragon's Dogma is very fast and intense. You can string together combos with swords, axes, and daggers, launch/throw enemies, shoot arrows with a bow in quick succession, and even dodge/block enemy attacks. Even the spells look absolutely amazing and feel really powerful. For example, when you cast an ice spell called Gicel, massive spears of ice will weave forth to skewer enemies. It looks like something you'd only see bosses use in other video games, making it feel that much more empowering. The enemies also play a large part in making the gameplay feel great. It will start out simple with you fighting bandits and packs of wolves on your travels, which will gradually turn into you taking on massive mythical beasts such as manticores, gryphons, cyclops, and even dragons. While in other games you'd probably just beat on their ankles until they fold onto themselves, Dragon's Dogma has a really cool grappling system that allows you to grab onto enemies and even throw them (if they're light enough). For example, if a dragon makes the mistake of lowering its tail into your reach as it rains down fire and death from up above, you can just grab onto it and climb on the dragon's back. This turns into a very intense sequence of you trying to not fall off before you drive your sword into the dragon's neck. It's the type of mechanic that makes you feel like the heroes written about in storybooks, which immensely adds to the fun and immersion. See More

Top Con

Annoying carry weight and out of combat stamina make traveling for long troublesome

ExceptionalOsiris's Experience

Awesome! See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Mostly Positive

Top Pro

Character size/weight affects gameplay

A lot of video games focus just on the stats, classes, and weapons as the key difference, but Dragon's Dogma throws in height and weight into the mix. For example, a tall and bulky character jumps higher, carries more equipment, and has a longer reach with their weapon. The downside is that the character is slow and is easier to hit because of the size. On the other hand, a short and light character is quicker, can pass through a large monster's legs, and enter narrow passages such as Goblin holes. Unfortunately, they usually have a poor reach and can be knocked down pretty easily while not being able to carry that much equipment either. Practically no other video game in the market uses a similar mechanic, making Dragon's Dogma feel really unique and fun. See More

Top Con

Limited fast travel options can be tedious

Dragon's Dogma has a very large but sparsely populated world, which means that a lot of time is spent traveling between quest objectives. There are no horses, forcing you to simply walk everywhere and the only method of getting somewhere quickly is through very costly teleports available only much later in the game. If you dislike having insane amounts of downtime, Dragon's Dogma might not be for you. See More

Top Pro

Interesting companion system

Throughout the game, you'll be accompanied by up to 3 NPCs called "Pawns." One of them will be a Pawn you created, and the other two will usually be summoned from other player's worlds. What's interesting about this is that Pawns will grow alongside players, but not just in terms of stats and levels. For example, if you fight monsters with the Pawns, they'll gradually gain knowledge about the monsters. Once they have enough knowledge, they'll be able to give you various hints through in-game dialogue about a monster's weaknesses, patterns, habitats, and so forth. You can also hire other player's Pawns that already have acquired all the knowledge, making the learning process much easier for you. Pawns also mimic their creator's behavior, so if you prefer to smash everything in sight, your Pawn might just do the same when visiting another player's world. It's a really cool companion system that gives the game a multiplayer feel without any actual multiplayer. See More

Divinity: Original Sin II

Top Pro

Very deep turn-based combat

Winning battles in D:OS2 is equal amounts of preparation and tactics. When preparing for battle, you need to consider your group setup, your formation as you enter the battle, and even what equipment you bring with you. For example, during one battle you fight against an ice dragon that constantly freezes the ground. Any character that steps on the frozen ground will slip. To avoid this, you can equip spiked shoes on your characters before the battle, allowing them to retain footing. During combat, you always need to keep in mind things like turn order, positioning, height, and how various magical effects interact with the environment and characters. For example, standing on a cliff increases your range and visibility, using a lightning spell on a puddle electrocutes all characters standing in it. Fast characters will get a turn first, so a group of fast characters could end a battle without letting enemies retaliate. As a result, the combat has enough depth and variety to satisfy any RPG fan and even entice newcomers of the genre. See More

MethodicalPsyche's Experience

An amazingly detailed and lived-in world that is a joy to explore. The combat, crafting systems, and characters builds provide for near-endless replayability. This is Dragon Age: Origins meets Elder Scrolls meets Baldur's Gate, with the best of each series put together to create an RPG that surpasses most other games by a mile. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Genre:Turn-based RPG

Co-Op:2-4 Players

Controller Support:Yes

Top Pro

Huge amounts of content and choices

The main campaign has a staggering amount of content. The maps you'll explore are massive with various routes, containing numerous quests, battles, secrets, and even ambushes along the way. Even if you rush through the story, a single playthrough will last you about 50 hours. D:OS2's greatest strength, however, is the ability to choose. This includes choosing your character, your companions, what builds to use for them, what route to take when exploring the map, how to solve various encounters and quests, and many more. Every single choice affects how the story progresses, and a bad decision early on can come back to haunt you later. As a result, there's enough variety to keep multiple playthroughs new and exciting from start to finish. See More

Top Pro

Excellent and thorough voice acting

Every single dialogue line in D:OS2 has a voice-over. From the prattling of an overzealous city guard, to the lines a sketchy shopkeeper feeds you, to even the conversations you have with forest animals. You even get a narrator to read out long walls of text for you. On top of that, each and every voice actor's performance is superb, providing depth and nuances even to obscure side-characters, which is hardly ever experienced in games. See More

Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings

Top Con

No English voices even though previous Atelier games included them

For some reason, Atelier Lydie & Suelle doesn't have an English dub and just has the original Japanese voices with English subtitles. There's nothing wrong with only having the Japanese option, but it's really weird considering the other Atelier games in the West have English voice acting. New players don't have much to worry about here unless you can't stand having to read subtitles. If you're a fan of the series and you're used to the English dub, you might be thrown off by the change. See More

Top Pro

Slice-of-life story and gameplay that's relaxing and laid-back

There's a sweet simplicity to the story and gameplay that focuses more on everyday life. Playing as the two twins, Lydie and Suelle, you're mainly trying to make ends meet and become the best possible alchemists you can be. You pass the days at your own pace as you take on jobs from the townspeople, leading you to explore the worlds inside of paintings, gather materials, and craft those materials into items through alchemy. It's nice that this game lets you kick back and relax with a more low-stakes story and simplistic gameplay. See More

Specs

Genre:Role-Playing

Top Con

Not for people who hate repetitive busywork

If you can't stand doing the same things over and over again in games, then Atelier Lydie & Suelle probably isn't for you. The whole game is about exploring maps to gather materials and then crafting those materials into something useful through alchemy. There are some turn-based battles thrown in, but these more or less take a backseat to the alchemy mechanics. The heavy focus on gathering and crafting can end up feeling like busywork, turning the game into a drag for players who hate that kind of thing. See More

Top Pro

Creative concept of entering paintings to explore new worlds

The many fantasy-like worlds you explore through the mysterious paintings are very pretty and whimsical. Going into the paintings themselves is fascinating since it's something you don't get to do in real life, and you get to learn more about Lydie and Suelle as you go along. Gathering resources and fighting monsters while surrounded by waterfalls and flowery forests helps keep the gameplay from getting too repetitive or stale. All of this adds a more magical feel to the game's more ordinary slice-of-life sections. See More

Top Con

You won't find a sprawling narrative here like in most RPGs

The stories in the Atelier games are more about everyday life mixed in with whimsical fantasy. This isn't the kind of RPG with the type of layered, rich story with dramatic twists and turns that you'd expect from the genre. If you want a heavier narrative with more to say, you won't get that with this game. See More

Top Pro

Charming and colorful anime art style

The art style is has many bright colors and well-drawn characters. Everyone has all sorts of colorful hairstyles, eyes, and outfits like pink, blue, and crimson that aren't too over-the-top. Their eyes have cool swirls for pupils, their skin tones are radiant, and every character has a bright and lovely smile. This is a beautiful anime style that looks good in the 3D cel-shaded graphics and the 2D cutscenes with still art that are more like a visual novel. See More

Top Con

Graphics for environments aren't that great

The visuals for the environments don't hold up to how pretty the cel-shaded graphics are. The textures are low-quality with jaggies sticking out. It's not so bad on the PC version and the PlayStation 4; things are much more obvious on the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation Vita. There are also some invisible walls that cut you off in places like open arches leading to shops, making the maps feel a lot smaller. If you can handle limited maps with so-so graphics, then these problems aren't that big of a deal in the long run. See More

Top Pro

Engaging gathering and crafting system with alchemy as the game's main focus

Atelier Lydie & Suelle focuses on gathering materials and synthesizing them into alchemy formulas as the main mechanics. You can lose yourself in the game for hours as you explore the fantasy-like levels, picking up resources from bushes, hacking away at trees, or mining them from rocks. You can take as long you want to gather the stuff you need before going back home to your alchemy lab, or your atelier. The puzzle-like 4x4 crafting grid has a neat strategy in how you can make the most out of your ingredients. If you just put your ingredients wherever on the grid, you'll end up with a bad product. Arranging your ingredients together in certain ways on the grid boosts the end product's effects, like putting them near green squares to improve your product's healing effect, which improves the item's overall quality. Going for quality gives you more experience points to level up and more money from the jobs you take on. Taking your time to gather the materials you need and synthesizing them into the best possible items pays off in the end. See More

Top Pro

Solid turn-based combat that's welcoming to beginners

Atelier Lydie & Suelle's combat is simple enough for beginners who want to try out a turn-based JRPG. The interface is clean with basic commands for attacking and using skills, magic, and items. It's easy to get the hang of when to go on offense while your health is high, and when to switch to healing when your health starts to get low. The combat doesn't overwhelm you with complicated tutorials or mechanics, staying at a beginner's level with some room to grow down the line. This is a really good choice to start with if you want to get into turn-based combat before moving onto other games. See More

Darkest Dungeon

Top Pro

Immersive atmosphere

Darkest Dungeon has an almost intoxicating atmosphere created by three main aspects. Firstly, it’s the visuals: the somber color palette that accompanies a sunset, the creepy environments your party of four will anxiously proceed through, and the detailed, fearsome, and sometimes disgusting enemies that will tirelessly try to slaughter you. Secondly, the audio: an eerie soundtrack filled with murmurs of otherworldly creatures, teemed with bloodcurdling sound effects that render monster strikes more impactful. Even a charismatic narrator providing insightful interjections, as uttered by his mysterious, deep voice. Lastly, it’s the highly unpredictable and sometimes unfair gameplay. Whatever short triumph you may have, it will get drowned in a sea of despair. These elements combined make it very easy to immerse yourself into the world of Darkest Dungeon. See More

Top Con

It can be frustrating at times

Darkest Dungeon heavily relies on random events that can happen at any point in a dungeon. Some of them don't make any sense and most of them don't feel fair. For example, right after stepping inside a dungeon your characters might suddenly go hungry. If you don't feed them they'll get a penalty, setting you back for the rest of the dungeon. If you feed them you'll have used up your food but your characters might still go hungry again. You can't reliably plan around stuff like this, which can be annoying. See More

Specs

Genre:Role-Playing

Top Pro

Interesting adventurer management

While the fabled heroes are off slaying dragons, battling demon kings, and saving princesses, the small-time adventurers have to clean up the dregs. You as the lord of a small settlement will employ these adventurers to clear out the mysterious dungeons surrounding your property. To clear a dungeon you’ll need to prepare adequately. This involves having decent party setup, which usually consists of at least 1 tank, 1 healer, and 2 damage dealers. This also includes having enough provisions such as torches and food. Planning out what and/or who to take with you can sometimes take as long as running a dungeon but it really makes you feel like you’re organizing an adventure. Another interesting part is the stress mechanic, causing your adventurers to accrue stress as they keep adventuring. If stress passes the first threshold, your adventurer might incur various penalties or even refuse your orders. If stress passes the second threshold your adventurer will die from a heart attack, so it’s important to relieve it regularly. This can be done by sending them to the tavern to blow off some steam or to the abbey to request absolution. Either option will make them unavailable for a week, so it’s a good idea plan ahead and have multiple parties of adventurers ready. This mechanic makes it feel like you’re managing real people rather than the indomitable figures often seen in fairy tales. See More

Top Con

Gets really repetitive

You'll spend dozens of hours repeatedly running the same dungeon, killing the same enemies, and collecting the same loot just to progress further into the game. On top of that, if you lose a character at any point, you'll be set back by another 3 hours. If you don't enjoy grinding, Darkest Dungeon might not be the game for you. See More

Top Pro

Outstanding narration

Even though the only character that talks in this game is the narrator, his delivery of the lines is excellent. He talks in a deep and raspy voice that is also very pleasing to listen to. The narrator usually describes the events happening on-screen such as upgrading your settlement buildings, recruiting adventurers, various dungeon interactions, and many more. Additionally, he’ll start dropping story bits every time you near a boss, creating a very minimalist approach to storytelling that is also very enjoyable. See More

Top Con

Overly punishing

Will make you start over almost from scratch. See More

Top Pro

Great monster visual design

There's a wide variety of extremely well-designed monsters and characters in the game. You confront bandits, skeletons, undersea terrors, pig monsters, and all sorts of otherworldly horrors. There's a lot of gruesome detail on each and every enemy, so the longer you'll keep looking the more you'll notice. This can be bloodstains, an extra set of eyes, an appendage that looks like a tentacle, and many more. It sometimes really feels like you're losing your mind alongside the adventurers, seeing whatever fits into your schema. See More

Disgaea 5 Complete

Top Con

Can get really repetitive

Disgaea 5 is all about leveling your characters and items. This means repeating the same stage, defeating the same enemies, or running the item world hundreds of times. See More

Top Pro

Making your characters strong is addicting

The first time you 1-hit-kill an enemy, you'll realize how good it feels to overpower an enemy. So when you encounter stronger enemies, you'll want to keep this feeling up, turning it into an obsession. This will repeat all the way to the strongest boss in the game – Overlord Baal. Being able to defeat him in a single turn feels like a lifelong accomplishment since you've reached the pinnacle of strength in Disgaea 5. See More

Specs

Genre:Tactical Role-Playing

Top Con

Insanely grindy, WARNING

Top Pro

Tons of content

There are multiple endings, secret superbosses, hidden items, unlockable classes, and even a map editor for creating new content. All of this keeps it interesting for a long time, allowing you to easily spend hundreds of hours playing Disgaea 5. See More

Top Pro

Fun tactical gameplay

In Disgaea 5 it's all about having your character cooperate. They can perform combos together, multiplying the damage done and showing a cool animation. They can pick each other up, allowing you to throw them into a better position to perform a devastating attack. They can also pick up enemies to throw them among your squad, allowing for a multipronged beat down. Your monsters can be combined into a giant monster or turned into weapons a humanoid character can equip. All of these and many other things give the gameplay enough variety to keep it interesting for a long time. See More

Golf Story

Top Pro

Includes interesting RPG elements that add a nice layer of depth

Completing quests for NPCs awards you with the staple role-playing currencies of choice - money and experience. Money is used to buy new golf clubs which provide interesting and unique bonuses, such as being able to curve your shots better, hit a ball further, or putt with more accuracy. Experience is used to level up your character's stats such as how far you can drive the ball, purity to help correct slices, accuracy, and more. There's a lot of different stats to keep an eye on and clubs to play around with, so it adds a nice layer of depth that should keep your RPG cravings satisfied. See More

Top Con

Story is not as great in the latter half of the game

While the story starts out pretty strong, having struggles, hardships, and general drama between characters, most of the problems get solved way too early, shifting focus to winning the golfing championship. As a result, the latter half of the game lacks the driving force of proving someone wrong or overcoming a trauma, so it might not feel as interesting. See More

Specs

Genre:Sports, Role-Playing, Adventure

Top Pro

You can golf anywhere you want in the game world and in doing so possibly even unlock secrets

While you're out and about exploring and doing quests, you are free to drop a ball and take a swing anywhere in the game world for practice or just for fun. Golfing isn't just limited to courses and quests, meaning you can set goals for yourself like trying to hit a specific tree or shooting the golf ball over the heads of NPCs. This might unlock some bonus content, as various objects in the game world reward bonuses such as money, experience, and access to secret areas if you hit them with your golf ball. Between quests and courses, just start swinging your club and you may be surprised at what you can find. See More

Top Con

No online multiplayer

Unfortunately, the game is limited to local multiplayer mode, and no online mode exists at this time. See More

Top Pro

Golfing itself feels satisfying and controls incredibly well

The golfing itself comes together in a satisfying way that feels intuitive to control, easy to grasp, and just plain great when you see your carefully set up shot hit its target. Hitting the ball uses timed button presses to control things like accuracy and swing strength, making it a minigame in and of itself. You can also set the direction, arc, and spin of the ball for total control of each shot. Once you've got everything adjusted, you take your swing, watching the ball soar into the air. See More

Top Con

Slopes and hills are hard to see on the golf course

The game is 2D, so sometimes things like small hills and slopes on the golf courses are hard to see. This makes it hard to predict how your shot will roll or bounce once it lands on the ground, making for some unpredictable golfing. See More

Top Pro

The approach to RPG elements is a novel spin never seen before in a golf game

Instead of shiny gear and weapons like standard RPGs, Golf Story chooses to equip you with a wide variety of different golf clubs that provide stat bonuses or unique effects like hitting a ball further or putting better. Rather than stats such as strength, stamina, and intellect, your character has a more golf focused skillset including slices, accuracy, and distance. It's a novel approach that combines golf with beloved RPG elements in a way that's never been done before. See More

Top Con

Disc golfing minigame can be confusing

One of the minigames requires you to golf with a disc, and due to the controls, can tend be a bit on the confusing side. The disc can controlled in the air, but it responds to controls based on the way the disc is facing. For example, if the disc is facing south, pressing left will move the disc right. All in all, it just doesn't feel good to control since you will constantly be dealing with the way the disc faces in relation to the buttons you're pressing. See More

Top Pro

Charming 16 bit style

The pixel art graphics look like they came straight from the SNES era, which will be a huge plus to gamers who prefer a retro style. The tilesets are colorful and varied. Sprites are detailed, and are a definite nod to the days of old school gaming as they have a slight bounce when they walk. Animations are smooth and great to view, such as how a trail of changing colors appears behind the golf ball while it's in midair. See More

Top Pro

Humorous writing

While the premise of the story is simple - you are a guy trying to achieve your dream of becoming a golf pro - the humor in the actual writing is very apparent and there are more than a few laugh out loud moments. First of all, every NPC has their own creative way to put you down and insult your golf games, which results in some pretty funny dialogue. Nobody thinks can you make it as a pro, and they don't hold back with the insults. Almost everything in the game is handled with a humorous spin. Whether it's the elitist trainer who gets overly upset every time you refer to the disc in disc golfing as a "frisbee", angry geese acting as a hazard on the course, hilarious rap battles revolving around golf with such lines as "shooting star / try shooting par / the tour don't play handicaps / brah", or trying to hit a kid in the ear with your golf ball to rescue him from alligators, the writing is unique and really stands out. See More

Top Pro

Lots of variety in the side quests will provide hours of fun

Running around the overworld, you'll run into a lot of NPCs who will ask you to perform sidequests that will put your skills to the test. They might ask you to hit a ball to a certain location, bounce it off something, complete timed events, or ask you to pick up golf balls in a maze. There are so many NPCs and so much variety in the activities that you will always have a fun way to take a break from the main story. Completing these objectives awards money, experience, and special items so it's always worth checking them out, and it's a great way to build up your skill for the main story courses. See More

Top Pro

Animated NPC dialogue boxes are a great touch

To convey the mood and emotion of each NPC, an animated dialogue box will appear over their head that grows, shrinks, tilts, and moves with their speech. For example, when they're angry the text is big and bold and the box may slightly wobble from side to side. It's executed extremely well, helping to draw you into the emotions of each NPC without the need for any voice acting. See More

Top Pro

Local multiplayer mode lets you compete against a friend

The local multiplayer mode allows you to go head-to-head against a friend on 9 hole course. Before the match, you can select the golf clubs you want to use, adjust course settings such as wind speed and slope, and choose to play on any course you have unlocked. It's a great way to continue to fun with a friend after you've completed the story mode, and you can play on the same device since it's turn based. See More

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle

Top Pro

Exciting turn-based combat

Despite having cover mechanics, the turn-based combat in M+RKB almost never feels slow or boring. This is partly because the cover is easy to destroy, so you can't hunker down in a single spot for too long, forcing you to move every time cover gets destroyed. It's also thanks to the great mobility of characters, allowing them to cover great distances and attack all in the same turn. For example, your character can slide into an enemy to damage it, move to cover, and attack again from afar. Or you can launch your character across the battlefield with the help of another character, take position in cover behind enemies, and freely attack them as their cover has no effect. There's still a lot of strategy and careful planning involved, but very little time is wasted before action begins. As a result, not only does the combat have a nice flow to it, but it's exciting from start to finish. See More

Top Con

Fixed camera can feel restrictive at times

You play M+RKB at a semi-fixed camera angle, which prevents you from moving the camera vertically. Because of this, you can't freely look around a level to enjoy the scenery. While this makes it easier to keep the framerate stable by limiting what the game has to render, it can feel annoying that most of the great views you can see are at a downward angle from a high cliff. This can also make exploration slightly more difficult in some cases, when you can't really tell where you're going because of foliage and other environmental objects. See More

Specs

Genre:Tactical Role-Playing

Top Pro

Fantastic soundtrack

The the upbeat orchestral soundtrack in Mario + Rabbids fits really well with the cartoony madness found in this world. Whether it's the powerful booming of the brass instruments, gentle wafting of the pipe instruments, or intricate sounds made by string instruments, the soundtrack can make your journey feel all the more joyful or magical. See More

Top Con

Gets boring

Top Pro

Enjoyable wacky tone

While Mario games are usually light-hearted with some serious undertones, the inclusion of Rabbids, Ubisoft's rabbit-like mascot creatures, pushes this game into the wacky spectrum. This is mostly because the Rabbids are very goofy, overreact to the events around them, and even strike ridiculous poses at times. There are even Rabbid versions of well-known Mario characters such as Rabbid Mario, Rabbid Luigi, and even Rabbid Yoshi, creating very silly moments and amusing encounters throughout your journey. As a result, M+RKB is a wacky adventure that players of all ages can enjoy. See More

Fire Emblem Warriors

Top Pro

Combat is satisfying and strategic

The fast paced action is the heart of the game, and you won't be at a loss for things to swing your weapon at. Virtual armies of enemies fill each and every map to the brim. Each hero has their own set of special moves that can be used, oftentimes with over the top animations such as a powerful weapon swing sending dozens of enemies flying in different directions, along with special effect such as bursts of light and wind trails behind each strike. Chaining attacks together in vicious combos look and feel great, with each hit feeling like it connects. The game uses a rock paper scissors type combat system called the "weapon triangle" in which certain weapons are strong and weak against other weapon types. Swords beat axes, axes beat spears, and spears beat swords. This adds an interesting layer to combat where you'll want to make sure you're using the right weapon against the right enemy for maximum damage. See More

Top Con

Army management can be tedious due to AI

When units are set to offense, they become reckless and tend to get themselves killed far too often. Upon capturing their objective, they will completely stop and await new orders. When set to defense, they will heal themselves and guard forts, but refuse to engage approaching enemies, even ones who are close by. This poor AI makes micromanaging units a hassle at times, as they constantly have to be given new orders. See More

Specs

Genre:Hack-and-Slash, Role-Playing

Top Pro

Potential permadeath adds panicked excitement to battle

If one of your characters die, they may be potentially gone for good as raising them from the dead requires a large amount of rare reagents. While you may be able to resurrect a fallen hero from time to time, you won't be able to continually bring them back if you let them die constantly. This encourages strategic play by keeping an eye on the entire battlefield, as opposed to just mashing buttons and cutting through ranks of enemies. Nobody wants to see their favorite hero die, so this adds a sense of panicked excitement to the action. See More

Top Con

Story is generic

The kingdom is being overrun with monstrous armies from another dimension, and it's up to our heroes to stop it. There's not a lot of character development, nor much to the plot. The paper thin story probably won't hold your attention, and can be mostly skipped over to get to the action. See More

Top Pro

All favorite characters together in one place

Over 20 of the more popular and well-loved characters from the Fire Emblem franchise appear in this game, including Rowan, Caeda, Lyn, Chrom, and more. It's a treat to see most of the characters from all the Fire Emblem games all together in one place, teaming up with one another when they otherwise wouldn't in other games. See More

Top Pro

There is a distinct sense of character progression

Between battles and story chapters, you can upgrade character levels in the training grounds by spending gold, choose talents for your heroes, and forge powerful crests and weapons with materials gathered during battles. If you find your heroes simply aren't strong enough to tackle the next battle or chapter, you'll always have to opportunity to go back and grind old battles for new crafting materials, experience, and special items. This is a nice touch that helps players feel their heroes getting stronger, especially when you get to go back to an old battle completely overpowered and just demolish everything. See More

Top Pro

History modes expands on the base game with challenges

History mode is a fast-paced and exciting mode where you tackle a map (based on classic events from previous Fire Emblem games) with various challenges requiring a certain number of enemies to be killed, or the map to be cleared in a specific time frame. Some of the most tense moments are to be had in this mode due to these battle requirements which aren't present in the regular story mode, and it will really put your skills to the test. By completing these challenges, new weapons and characters are unlocked, making it a rather rewarding experience and a great way to keep the gameplay going after the main story mode is completed. See More

Octopath Traveler

Top Con

The origin stories are repetitive

All of the eight origin stories, the initial chapters, virtually play the same. You get introduced to the character and their world, they work through their struggle, and then there's a boss at the end. This samey structure can make back-to-back playthroughs of origin stories feel like a slog, since there isn't much variety aside from the individual characters themselves. It may help to space out the origin stories to keep things from feeling repetitive. See More

Top Pro

The job system lets you tailor everyone's playstyles however you want

While everyone begins as their own set job, such as warrior, dancer, and so on, you can further customize everyone to your liking. As you progress through the story, you eventually get the option to assign secondary jobs to everyone, meaning they get the benefits of both their main job and the second one you give them. You can give your warrior access to healing magic, for example, to shore up his weaknesses, or double-down and assign him a more combat-oriented secondary job. You can't give more than two characters the same second job, though, so you have to be selective in how you choose to customize everyone. See More

Specs

Genre:Role-Playing

Top Con

The eight character stories never really come together

While the individual stories are all great in their own ways, the characters don't ever join together as a cohesive group of allies. You can pick and choose who you want to bring along for combat, and who to explore with, but they hardly acknowledge each others' existence. The most they do is speak a few words to certain characters here and there, but there's nothing substantive to help everyone feel like a group that's working together. It makes the story feel hollow with too much wasted potential. See More

Top Pro

Gorgeous old school visuals with a modern touch

Octopath Traveler is a beautiful game that updates the nostalgic JRPG formula, especially with the graphics. The characters are all expressive 16-bit sprite models in 2D, calling back to games from the SNES era, while the backgrounds are in 3D with an incredible amount of detail. Walking through snowy mountains, across beaches, or through deserts, parts of the backgrounds glitter in the sunlight in captivating ways. It's a unique style that appeals to longtime JRPG fans while keeping things modern enough for the current console generation. See More

Top Pro

Engaging classic turn-based combat with plenty of strategy involved

The battles are a great throwback to older JRPGs with enough of a contemporary twist. You have the familiar setup of a party of four characters standing in a line opposite the enemies, all of whom have their own weaknesses for you to figure out. Your party takes turn attacking the enemy to find their specific weaknesses, whether it's to sword attacks, certain elemental spells, and so on. Once you find it, pummeling their weakness depletes their armor, and then you land your strongest hits to combo for massive damage. But their weaknesses can change as the battle goes on, so you have to strategize with how to maximize your damage before that change happens. The system is pretty engaging in the way it keeps you on your toes for every fight. See More

Top Pro

You can play through the eight separate character stories at your own pace

As Octopath Traveler is more of an intimate, character-based story, you have the freedom to experience each tale however you want. The stories themselves are mostly well-written with a wonderfully mature tone, with a seriousness that isn't overdone, and a nice sense of brevity that lets you fill in certain blanks with your imagination. You can start with one character and play through his or her origin story, and as you explore the world map to travel to new locations, you run into other characters' stories that you can complete in any order you prefer. The first character you choose is your "main" character, whose story you see through to completion throughout the game. This freedom of choice makes the game perfect for picking up and playing on the go or in short bursts. See More

Diablo III

Top Con

Endgame grinding can get really repetitive

The endgame in Diablo III consists of only two things – completing bounties and clearing greater rifts. Both of these have very little variation in them, so quite often you'll run through the same map layouts, clear the same enemies, and complete the same objectives. This gets extremely stale after long play sessions and can cause you not to pick up the game again. See More

Top Pro

Decent selection of character builds to try out

There are more than 50 distinct class/skill combinations, including ranged builds, melee builds, support builds, defensive builds, pure-offense builds, and many more. You're sure to find a build that you'll enjoy playing, whether you prefer to play alone or with friends. See More

Specs

Genre:Dungeon Crawler RPG

Top Con

Loot drop of very rare items was raised way too high

Top Pro

Easier to learn and enjoy than most other similar titles

Diablo III is very simple, requiring very little to no planning to succeed. You create a character, pick a skill and just progress through the game while occasionally upgrading your equipment. You can change skills and any stat points you've earned without penalties. You can also choose from one of the 17 difficulty levels, so you can always play at a level that's challenging but not too stressful. All of this creates a game that you can enjoy without worrying about messing up in the long run. See More

Top Pro

Fun to collect loot

One of the better parts of Diablo III is collecting the piles of gold, the colorful gems, and various pieces of equipment. It's especially exciting when a legendary quality item drops from a monster since it makes a distinct sound effect and shoots a beam of orange/green light into the sky. So whenever a lot of legendary items drop all at once it just feels incredibly satisfying. See More

Top Pro

Fun special abilities

Top Pro

very addictive

Undertale

Top Con

Replaying can be a chore

The first time going through the game it's a nice experience, especially when you know nothing about the characters, story, mechanics, etc.. By your next playthrough, you already know all the jokes and plot points. Even when taking a new route, it can take a while for you to notice anything different from one playthrough to the next, making things feel like a drag. See More

Top Pro

Incredible soundtrack

Just like the simple but pleasant graphics in the game, the music matches this with a retro-sounding score that fits right in with the art style. There are a lot of catchy tunes that only use a few sounds to make up memorable songs. The simplicity really adds to the charm, with some of the songs easily able to get stuck in your head for days at a time. It's nostalgic enough for older gamers who grew up in the early eras of gaming, while still having enough to pull in newer gamers who aren't as familiar with games from the 1980s and 90s. There's something here for everyone. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Overwhelmingly Positive

Genre:Role-Playing

Co-Op:Single Player

Top Con

Overrated progression, very linear

The game has undeserved accolades, is quite linear, and is more of a point-and-click than a true RPG. See More

Top Pro

Amazing characters

The characters in the game are written well, each with their own unique personalities. Some may be too shy, and will lower their hit points when you attack them in battle, just to avoid offending you. Others are deeply caring and do their best to help and protect their friends and family, including you as the player. Many of the characters are quite funny in their dialog and the unexpected choices they make throughout the story, including the ways they react to your choices. Almost every character is incredibly memorable and enjoyable to get to know better. See More

Top Con

The visuals could be better

Much of the game is plain-looking with simple graphics, but sometimes the visuals are just awful. The pixel art can be charming for some players, though it's hard to ignore when certain areas are barren or have ugly textures. It's notable that a single person created the whole game; it would have been nice if they'd had more time or resources to clean up some of the visual problems. See More

Top Pro

Your choices lead you down different story paths

Depending on your choices, your playthrough can change in drastic ways. If you don't want to kill enemies in battle, you can choose to have a dialog with them instead. Doing this consistently is basically a pacifist playthrough where you don't kill anyone, and characters respond to you in certain ways based on that. Or you can go for a genocide playthrough, which is basically what it sounds like, where you kill everyone you come across whenever you get the chance. This can have serious consequences, since the game does its best to make you feel bad about this approach, by having certain characters hate you. It's an interesting way to get to see the world and story from different angles. See More

Top Pro

Many interesting secrets to find

There are many secrets to discover in the game, like hidden mechanics that might take you by surprise. It may take a couple of playthroughs to find them all, but once you do, it may completely change how you see the story, the characters, and a lot more. There's a lot more to Undertale beneath its simple-looking surface. See More

Lost Sphear

Top Con

Poor character development

While there are a couple of exceptions, many of the characters don't really develop over time. Their attitudes and personalities when you first meet them never change or evolve. Even with the few characters who are exceptions, their storylines are very predictable and there are no big surprise moments. See More

Top Pro

Exciting turn-based battles

Unlike other turn-based RPGs, your party isn't locked into a fixed position during battles, allowing you to move freely around the screen and cast spells from anywhere. Positioning your characters to hit multiple enemies with one attack, or moving to avoid area of effect attacks adds a fun new mobility to turn-based combat. Each playable character has access to five or six spells that can be used, but they can also be augmented with your choice of secondary effects. The effects vary from extra damage, buffs for your party, debuffs for enemies, and more, but it's entirely up to you which ones to use. Being able to experiment with all the different spell possibilities allows you to mix and match effects to suit your playstyle or play on a character's strength. Planning when and where to move each unit on the field, as well as what effects to put on each spell, can make for some really exciting battles. See More

Specs

Top Con

Linear and boring dungeons

You won't be exploring much in dungeons, as most are a straight path from start to finish. Sometimes you will need to find switches or buttons to unlock gates, but overall it just involves clearing a room of monsters and then moving to the next one. See More

Top Pro

Flexible difficulty

You can change the difficulty level as you play, meaning you won't ever hit roadblocks. For example, if a boss way too hard for you, you can simply swap to easy and then progress. See More

Top Con

It's too easy to get overpowered

Upgrading your weapons requires items that are cheap and plentiful, so it's all too easy to become overpowered very early on in the game. This removes a lot of the challenge since eventually everything becomes trivial. See More

Top Pro

Mysterious and interesting story

People and places around the world are disappearing, leaving behind blank white spaces where they once stood. A young orphan named Kanata sets out with his friends to unravel the mystery, and discovers he possesses the power to restore the balance by finding lost memories. The unexplainable disappearances set a great mysterious tone from the start, and this manages to hold up quite well throughout Kanata's journey. While the characters within the story might not be the greatest, the writing itself is well done, the plot moves along at a steady pace, and the strange premise behind everything keeps it extremely interesting for the duration. See More

Top Con

Very repetitive

The entire game basically revolves around the same formula. Discovering a memory that needs to be restored, hunting down the lost memory by killing a boss, and then restoring it. It never ventures far from this routine, which can get very repetitive over time. See More

South Park: The Stick of Truth

Top Pro

Entertaining parodies of the RPG genre

All throughout the story, you'll find funny knocks on the fourth wall as characters make comments about why the voiceless protagonist doesn't talk, and the meaning behind why everyone has to take turns in battle. The whole premise of the South Park kids embarking on an epic fantasy quest together is fun and imaginative, especially as they make remarks about why they're dressed in their outfits and carrying swords or staves. It pokes fun at the role-playing genre while serving as a reminder that the kids are only playing a very convincing game of make-believe. See More

Top Con

Crude humor that isn't for everyone

If you don't enjoy the crass, vulgar humor in the South Park shows, then this game probably won't change your mind. Some players might be put off by the shocking jokes, cursing and foul language, and other raunchy and inappropriate scenarios. See More

Specs

Genre:Role-Playing

Top Pro

Puts you in the middle of the South Park show

The art style makes the game indistinguishable from the South Park show, featuring the same voice actors and an abundance of references to the long-running series. You'll get to meet the kids, team up with them, and earn their friendship as you explore the town and get in all sorts of trouble together. Each of the characters' houses are mostly fully explorable, and whichever companion you choose will make remarks about the things you find, like what someone's parents might have gotten up to as you rummage through their bedroom. There's a lot to discover, and all of it feels like an authentic recreation of the show dedicated for South Park fans or anyone who wants to jump into the franchise for the first time. See More

Top Con

You can’t create a female character

You CAN customize your character enough to make your character look female, but that’s later in the game and can be frustrating for those who would prefer to have female characters. See More

Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate

Top Pro

Local co-op and online multiplayer open up endless hours of content

You can play Monster Hunter with a small group of friends locally, or hop online to team up with others whenever you want. This is a game with a fair amount of difficulty, so it helps a lot to go after the hardest monsters with a group to back you up. Targeting those high-end raids with other players gives you a near-unlimited amount of content, since there's always more loot to go after, more gear to craft, and more ways to change up your playstyle on any given day with your combination of weapon and armor sets. See More

Top Con

Graphics aren't that impressive

Since this is an update of a handheld game for the Nintendo 3DS, the graphics are serviceable enough. There are definitely better-looking games out there, but this one doesn't look too bad at all, with HD textures that are decent for the current console generation. It's not distracting enough to the point where it pulls you out of the experience, so as long as you're okay with that, you shouldn't have too many problems with the visuals as you play. See More

Specs

Genre:Action Role-Playing

Top Pro

Incredible amount of gear to forge that suits any playstyle

There's a near endless combination of weapons and armor you can craft from the loot you earn, with plenty of special stats that you can mix and match as you want. You naturally work your way up to creating stronger and stronger gear as you take down more powerful monsters, so you always get a constant sense of progression as you play. You can craft gear with certain stat bonuses, like more HP, strong resistances to help your defense, or boosts to anything else you might need to take down that one monster who keeps giving you trouble. If you want to focus on huge swords and bulky armor, you can do that, and if you ever decide to switch things up for any given fight, all you have to do is hunt down the right materials and make what you need. See More

Top Con

Not much of a story

Even though this is an RPG, you shouldn't go into it expecting a grand, sweeping story. You're mostly just a mercenary who goes out and kills monsters for loot. The Monster Hunter series has always been more about gameplay over story, though, which is great for players who are looking for these style of games. But if you're more in the mood for something more narrative-driven, then this probably isn't the game for you. See More

Top Pro

Addictive and strategic real-time fights against relentless monsters

Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate is all about going out into the world and fighting terrifying monsters to collect the best loot possible. The monsters are each unique, with their own movesets that you learn and memorize as you get better at recognizing them. Picking the best weapons and armor for the monsters you target is important, since you don't want to end up bringing a sword, for example, against a heavily-armored enemy, when something like a giant hammer would be best. Dodging the monsters' challenging attacks, getting hits in, and making it out alive to collect your loot is such a satisfying feeling, encouraging you to keep at it. See More

Top Pro

You can carry over your save file from the Nintendo 3DS version of the game

If you already put a bunch of hours into Monster Hunter Generations for the 3DS, you can carry over your progress and jump into Ultimate right away. This helps a lot in case you're on the fence about buying Ultimate when you've already played the handheld version. See More

Xenoblade Chronicles 2

Top Pro

Exploring the open world gives you a great sense of adventure

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 has an incredibly huge and unique open world filled with dense locations, giving you the feeling that you're truly on an epic quest. You'll cross sprawling maps filled with docile creatures, hostile monsters, and secret locations with valuable treasure, until you find one of the game's many living, breathing settlements. Smaller, tight-knit towns are as impressive as the game's bigger, more technologically-advanced cities because of how lively everything feels, packed with many bustling shops to buy gear and food, and NPCs to chat with and pick up side quests from. The ground you walk on is actually on the backs and the insides of gigantic Titans--huge, peaceful dinosaur-like creatures tall enough to reach the clouds. You can find a whole kingdom with a purple sky and red trees on the inside of one Titan, and an entire holy city with impressive classical architecture on the back of another Titan. The world's scope and size really instills the sense that you're on an amazing adventure with so much to explore and discover. See More

Top Con

English voice acting is hit-or-miss

Even though some of the voice acting in English is amazing, there are other characters whose voices just sound bad in comparison. Characters like Rex and Nia who have Yorkshire and Welsh accents, respectively, sound fresh and charming, but the ones with American accents usually sound out of place or forced. Luckily, you have the option of playing with the Japanese voices instead if you'd rather not take the chance on the English voice acting. See More

Stuart Kearney's Experience

GOOD LORD WHERE TO START. So this is a highly recommended game pretty much everywhere I looked before buying. R/switch thinks it's the 2nd best game after Zelda so I parted with $60 of my hard earned dollars and sat down this weekend to play it. This is the most confusingly terrible game (outside of the combat which is pretty damn solid) I've played in a long time. It's got the very sterotypical overly cutesy characters and theme, yet every female character is massively oversexualised. I don't understand the demo for this game. The theme and writing is only acceptable to people under 12, yet we're trying to sexualise women to 12 year olds? The writing is just so bad it makes the game unplayable. There is 14 hours of cutscenes. Here is an example: https://youtu.be/60WhCcfcSBE?t=5323 I rest my case. See More

Specs

Genre:Action Role-Playing

Top Pro

Action-packed and engaging real-time combat

Combat here is frantic and busy, with many abilities to keep track of, as well as special attacks and party-wide finishers that do more damage based on how well you time a few QTE sequences. Things start out basic with simple auto attacks, and as you land these, your abilities become available to use for either more damage, more crowd control and enmity gain, or healing spells. Quite a few damage-based abilities are stronger when you're in front of an enemy, behind it, or on their flank, so you'll want to constantly change up where you stand to maximize your damage output. You also have your special attacks that are freed up as you keep using abilities. Timing your button presses during QTEs for an Excellent rating will do the most damage, and it will also fill up your party gauge the fastest. Once your party gauge is full, you can chain special attacks together from each of your companions to unleash a powerful attack, with the giant damage number popping up on the screen to show how well you did. It sounds like a complicated system, but the game does a good job of introducing things one at a time with easy-to-follow tutorials, helping you to learn everything as you go. See More

Top Con

Terrible pacing issues toward the end of the story

The final section of the game is an absolute slog, filled with way too many cutscenes and frustrating barriers, ruining the flow of the plot. As you play through the last levels, you'll run for a few minutes through an area, sit through a long cutscene, run again, get stopped by another cutscene, and so on until you reach the final boss. The worst offenders are the environmental barriers that you can't get past unless your party members have certain passive abilities unlocked from their skill trees, like having Wind Mastery to make an air duct push you up higher over a wall. You'll have to go back and grind the requirements for these abilities if you haven't already, forcing the story's momentum to a halt. The barrage of cutscenes and the unskippable environmental barriers are awful design decisions that could ruin your time with the finale. See More

NonchalantOccopirmus's Experience

The story was bland and predictable, the characters were boring, not to mention how annoying the gacha system was. See More

Top Pro

Beautiful soundtrack that gives more life to each environment

Xenoblade Chronicles 2's gorgeous music adds a lot to the game's expansive world, making the levels seem larger and the towns and cities feel more alive. There are daytime and nighttime versions for most tracks, helping to set the tone either for sunny days or moody nights wherever you are. Exploring the glittering lakes and lush forests inside of a Titan while the nighttime version of "Kingdom of Uraya" plays is a great experience, with a mesmerizing chorus singing over romantic and adventurous pianos and wind instruments. If you arrive to the kingdom's capital at night, right away you'll get a sense of the city's mystery from the soft acoustic guitar and nostalgic, echoing sound effects in the background. These types of moments with the music help to flesh out the world even more, telling a story through the soundtrack that sticks with you alongside the visuals. See More

Top Con

Annoying anime and JRPG tropes

The anime and JRPG tropes can make Xenoblade Chronicles 2's story and characters downright unbearable, even for players who enjoy Japanese media. The antagonists are mostly one-dimensional with impractical, edgy designs. Rex gets embarrassed in exaggerated ways whenever he's close to Pyra, some of your companions exist mostly as dumb comic relief, and there's an android-type character that's heavily implied to exist as someone's maid. These issues bog down the plot in cheap ways, lifted straight out of any generic anime you might come across. The game also goes all-in on the tired JRPG trope of a group of friends joining together to defeat a god--even one of Rex's combat lines talks about how they'll actually defeat their enemies "with the power of friendship." This route would have been fine if the game had tried to spice things up, but sadly, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 feels like more of the same. These stereotypes are overdone and cringey, and they'll more than likely be a deal-breaker for players who already dislike these types of tropes. See More

Top Pro

Tons of content and high replay value with New Game+

The main story will easily take you over 60 hours to complete, not including side activities, and the New Game+ mode unlocks even more optional content. The story itself is packed with action-filled and emotional cutscenes, and beyond those, there are lots of side quests and secrets elsewhere that you can explore at your leisure. Special, hard-to-reach areas of the map have valuable treasure with money and rare items, and there are a bunch of side quests that you can find from NPCs in town or out in the open world. New Game+ gives you the chance to find even rarer items and new unlocks in your characters' skill trees, letting you take on stronger monsters that you might not have been ready for in your first playthrough. You could also bring along different party members for side events and get to see any of their unique dialog that you missed out on the first time. There's so much to do and discover that a completionist will no doubt find 200+ hours of content here. See More

Top Con

Objective markers on the map are frustrating and unhelpful

Trying to find your way to quest markers is really frustrating because of how poorly-designed the overhead map is. All you have is a vertical line at the top of the screen that shifts with your orientation, and a red square with an exclamation point that's meant to point you toward the next main quest, or blue squares for side quests. Your only indications of where to go are the number telling you how far away you are and an arrow to guide you up or down. While trying to go in the general direction of the marker, you'll run into obstacles or dead-ends, forcing you to backtrack and wander around for about an hour before finding where you need to go. Because the open world is so huge with a crazy amount of verticality, these objective markers are way too simple, making exploration a pain for those who don't want to look up guides online. See More

Top Pro

Lots of opportunities for fun banter between party members

There are many chances for your companions to chit-chat or blurt out whatever's on their mind while you explore together, letting you get to know them better outside of cutscenes in the main quest. Your party members will cheer each other on in battle or caution you to retreat when your health runs low, say good morning to everyone when you wake up at an inn, or talk one-on-one for regular conversations at certain times. Spread throughout the world are optional markers that you can select for Heart-to-Heart moments where some or all of your party members can talk to each other about almost anything. They'll reminisce about their pasts, or tease your other companions and joke around. Sometimes you'll even get to see new sides of characters that help flesh them out even more. All of these small details and conversations help your party feel like actual friends and teammates, not just a band of characters that happen to be on the same journey. See More

Top Con

Some character designs are distracting

There are a few female characters in the game whose proportions don't look right at all. Pyra and a couple of other characters have small frames and oversized breasts that look ridiculous. Their tight-fitting clothes and exposed skin make the proportions even more obvious, causing distractions during cutscenes. It's possible to tune these things out after a while, but it's still a strange design choice. See More

Top Pro

Likable cast of main characters

Each of the protagonists in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 are positive and optimistic in their own ways, standing out as a bright and sunny cast throughout the story. The main character, Rex, is a young guy who loves treasure hunting and exploring, and he believes in always doing the right thing. His optimism is infectious and helps drive the main quest forward. His main companion, Pyra, is a peaceful young woman entrusted with a dangerous power that she wished she didn't have, making her fear her own destructive potential. She and Rex find strength and hope from one another to keep pressing on. The rest of the main cast are just as upbeat, if not more, like the cheery engineer named Tora who works hard to keep up with how powerful Rex and Pyra are as a team. The healer of the group, Nia, tends to be grumpy, but she's cool with joking around and smiling when she wants to. Everyone's positive attitudes are uplifting and refreshing, making them enjoyable to spend time with. See More

Top Con

Overly positive themes take away from the more serious story moments

It's great that this game is so positive, but the story has trouble balancing the upbeat themes with its more serious, dramatic moments. This happens on both a small scale with specific plot points and on a larger scale where it becomes harder and harder to suspend your disbelief as the story goes on. At one point, there's a tense scene filled with urgency where you need to rush off to save someone as soon as possible. Then, as soon as those cutscenes are over, some of your party members suggest that you go have fun with a side activity that's tone deaf and inappropriate for a time like this. Because everyone's so cheery and optimistic, it's tough to take the game seriously when it explores more grounded themes like war, corrupt religions, and philosophical science fiction. The times when the story tries to be dark and mature, it comes off as fake and comical, especially later on in the game. It's a shame that there's no balance between the two, resulting in dramatic or touching story moments that might only make you scoff or roll your eyes. See More

Top Pro

Collecting

Amazing pokemonesque collection element that is integral to the game, as well as sophisticated loot collecting and progression. See More

Top Con

Performance problems in both docked and handheld mode

Even after a few patches, there are still some framerate issues while playing Xenoblade Chronicles 2 on a TV or in handheld mode. While playing on a TV, there are some framerate drops, but they're not so bad. They only happen when there's a lot going on, like during hectic battles with a bunch of abilities firing off with particle effects everywhere. On handheld mode, the framerate drops in the same instances, and it's pretty noticeable. Some more patches should fix the drops in due time, but until then, you'll have to expect some dips in performance here and there, especially in handheld mode. See More

Top Pro

Oldschool

Has all of the qualities that made the genre great, without sacrificing anything for political correctness or manipulative messaging. See More

Top Pro

Incredibly in depth loot system

Deep and satisfying loot system, dungeon diving and item management system. See More

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