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What games for the Nintendo Switch have the best music/soundtracks?

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May 23, 2022

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7 Games Considered

What games for the Nintendo Switch have the best music/soundtracks	Price	Platforms	Genre
-- Splatoon	Variable	-	-
-- Xenoblade Chronicles 2	$59.99	Nintendo Switch	Action Role-Playing
-- Octopath Traveler	$59.99	Nintendo Switch	Role-Playing
-- Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana	$59.99	Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Windows	Action Role-Playing
-- Bayonetta	$29.99	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U, Windows, Nintendo Switch	Action

Xenoblade Chronicles 2

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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

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

Specs

Genre:Action Role-Playing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 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

Octopath Traveler

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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 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

Specs

Genre:Role-Playing

Top Pro

The music is freaking amazing

I haven’t heard such a good soundtrack since the SNES days. See More

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

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

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

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

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana

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Able to be played without having played any other games in the series

Almost all of the games in the Ys series are self-contained stories. There are some references to locations and stories from other games in the series, but these references do not make an impact on the story at all. See More

Top Con

The beginning of the game starts off slow

The first few hours are a bit of a drag. Things take a while to pick up, with the story moving at a sluggish pace as you try to figure out what's going on around you. But once you get past that hurdle, the pacing picks up and the story stays interesting for the rest of the way. See More

Specs

Genre:Action Role-Playing

Top Pro

Beautiful soundtrack

The Falcom Sound Team delivers with a beautiful soundtrack for this game. The music ranges from rock tracks for combat, to upbeat music when in bright, sunny locals, and calm, serene music when the occasion calls for it. This is one soundtrack where the music is not only memorable, but fits the mood of the game very well. See More

Top Con

Terrible English localization

The localization of Ys VIII is filled with grammatical errors, inconsistencies and typos. Compared to the rest of the games in the Ys series, this unprofessional localization was a let down that ended up creating enough of an outcry from fans. This is a long-running problem that still has not been updated with an official patch, though the publisher has promised to release one at some point in the future. See More

Top Pro

Great combat system that is easy learn

The main combat of YS VIII is fast-paced, but not difficult to grasp. The core of the combat is the basic attack, dodge and guard. In addition to basic guarding and dodging, if the timing is done correctly, a flash guard or flash move is activated which either make you deal critical damage with each strike (guard) or move faster (move), as well as make you invincible for a short time. Combat becomes more nuanced with characters being able to deal one of three damage types, which can be used to exploit enemies weaknesses to stagger them or deal increased damage. Everything flows well in a way that's simple to grasp, with plenty of room to master the details. See More

Top Pro

Interesting and compelling story

Starting out with a monster attacking the boat Adol is on as the introduction, the story starts with finding fellow castaways while establishing and upgrading and defending a base of operations and trying to find a way to escape the island. As the story progresses, it shifts from trying to escape to unraveling the mysteries of island and why Adol is having dreams about Dana, a woman from an ancient civilization. What starts out as a group of strangers stranded on an island trying to escape turns into a community working together in a story that evolves from trying to survive to unraveling the great mysteries of the island. See More

Bayonetta

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Unique enemy designs with angels that defy typical conventions

Angels in Bayonetta are far from how they are depicted in pop culture. Despite their bright glow and the religious music that you hear when they're introduced, they're hunched over, lumbering when they walk and fight in battle. They're designed in ways that definitely make them look like Bayonetta's enemies instead of entities that we're supposed to side with. The larger, gargantuan angelic bosses appear otherwordly and incomprehensible like Lovecraftian creatures, They're quite the sight to behold and make for interesting boss fights with cool set pieces, like Bayonetta surfing on a wooden plank as she fights a huge angel in the middle of an ocean. See More

Top Con

On-rails sections can be frustrating

There will be a few times where you'll play through retro-inspired sequences where you race down a highway on a motorcycle, or shoot missiles at enemies from an airship. You have to handle quick time event button presses on the motorcycle and deal with a bunch of enemies firing at you on the ship. These sequences are a huge change from the normal combat, and if you're not good at them, you may find yourself getting frustrated. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Very Positive

Top Pro

Excellent ports

Bayonetta was originally released for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 back in 2009, but the PC version comes with improved graphics, 4K support and excellent performance. On the Nintendo Switch, you'll also get to enjoy the game at 60 FPS, though at a lower 720p resolution compared to the PC version. See More

Top Con

The story is nonsensical

While Bayonetta has some intriguing lore involving witches battling against a puritanical religion, you won't get to learn much about it. The storytelling is a mess, with sudden changes that don't make sense, and underdeveloped characters that the game expects you to care about. As long as you go in without taking the story and presentation all that seriously, you'll still be able to have a good time. See More

Top Pro

Bayonetta herself is unconventional and entertaining

Bayonetta is a character who exudes confidence and charm, and every aspect of the game's mechanics and design fits with her personality. She's over eight feet tall, wears a skin-tight suit that's actually made of her magical hair, and always fights with style and finesse. When you do a double jump, a butterfly's wings appear over her back, and when you use any type of long weapon like a lance, you can have her pole dance and quickly fire her guns in all directions. Since she's a sadistic character, her finisher moves are called Torture Attacks. After accumulating enough magic points through normal attacks, you can make Bayonetta conjure one of many types of medieval torture devices. She'll trap enemies inside and send blood everywhere, or she'll whip their backs with a flourish, doing more damage as you mash the button prompt on the screen. Healing and buff items, instead of the usual potions, are different-flavored lollipops like the one that Bayonetta likes to keep in her mouth during some cutscenes. Upgrades to her jumping ability are also beyond the norm, letting you transform her into a black panther to run faster and jump higher. Overall, Bayonetta is independent and likes to have a good time, never missing an opportunity to strike a pose or dance in between pummeling and whipping her enemies into submission. If you see Bayonetta's sexualized moves and portrayal as the game's way of parodying other media, then you'll probably find her over-the-top presentation more entertaining than offensive. See More

Top Pro

Fun and complex gameplay

Bayonetta excels in its combat, going above and beyond to entertain the player with the scale of its gigantic, angelic enemies and the depth of its gameplay. The tutorial teaches you the bare basics of punching and kicking, and then it's up to you to experiment with inputs and find the best combos to keep up the pain. Even on normal difficulty, the game can seem punishing for newcomers, but there are lots of skills you can pick up on to make things smoother. There's a ton of depth to the combat, especially in how you have the potential to keep up limitless combos with punches, kicks, and gunfire. When you hold down your buttons, Bayonetta will freeze her punching or kicking pose while firing the guns from her heels or in her hands. In the middle of that pose, you can dodge offset an incoming attack and initiate Witch Time, which rewards you by making enemies move at a snail's pace while you get more hits in than you normally could. In other situations where you're surrounded by enemies and need some crowd control, you can have Bayonetta do some handstands while she fires her guns. Each new weapon you acquire, whether it's a katana or a huge lance you pick up from a downed enemy, gives you a whole new set of combos to master. There's an incredible variety in the gameplay for you to play around with, whether it's with new weapons or Bayonetta's punches, kicks, and guns. You'll constantly find new ways to enjoy the combat as you play through the game, keeping things fresh from start to finish. See More

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

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Modernized feel to age old classic platformer action

The look and feel of Tropical Freeze is very reminiscent of the original Donkey Kong Country game for the SNES, offering plenty of nostalgia. The 2D view and traditional platformer play is in-tact, with modern updates like polished graphics, cinematic camera angles, and tight, responsive controls. Everything feels familiar while still improving on the old school ideas. Anyone who loves retro gaming will probably enjoy Tropical Freeze. See More

Top Con

Optional bonus rooms are boring

The optional areas in the game are pointless and boring. They're pretty much a single room with a bunch of floating platforms with bananas on them. All you have to do is reach all of the bananas to "complete" the bonus area. Compared to the huge, creative levels in the rest of the game, these are way too flat and repetitive in design. Thankfully, unless you're going for 100% completion, you can avoid these rooms altogether. See More

Specs

Genre:Platformer

Co-Op:2 Player Local

Top Pro

Challenging platformer gameplay

Platforming is a challenge without feeling cheap. The game will push you sometimes, especially with all the moving parts in each levels where you have to quickly adapt to new obstacles. As you run up to a gap of some kind or a wall you have to scale, you might see the solution as you approach, only for the environment to suddenly change on-the-fly. That ledge you thought you could reach is now too high, or the stones you're standing on start to move, or the camera might even shift to cut off your usual side view of the level. The difficulty is fair since it encourages you to think on your feet, meaning you naturally get better as you keep trying to get the timings down just right. See More

Top Pro

Creative level design

A lot of thought and effort went into the level design in Tropical Freeze. The massive side-scrolling forests, jungles, mines, underwater zones, and many other locations are filled with spectacles that naturally fit into the gameplay. There are gigantic sea monsters following your every move with platforming obstacles, intriguing animal-like creatures who float around as possible pillars and ledges for you to grab onto, and parts of the environment that come crashing down unexpectedly that you have to react to in time. Each of the platforms you encounter are way more than simple, random blocks sticking in the field, helping you feel like you're traversing actual living, breathing locations. See More

Bayonetta 2

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Alternate touch screen controls for Wii U and Nintendo Switch

There is an alternate control type that uses the touch screen instead of the game pad. This is great for anyone who wants to switch things up from always having to press the buttons on their controller. See More

Top Con

Online co-op missions are short

Each online mission is a bite-sized piece of action, which means they are all over withing a short time frame. For those looking for lengthier online missions, there are sadly none to be found. See More

Specs

Co-Op:2 Player Online

Top Pro

Runs smoothly at 60 FPS

There is no stuttering and no frame dips, since the game holds at 60 FPS the entire playthrough. See More

Top Con

Humor can be childish

While not all of the humor is bad, a lot of it is over-the-top, and some of it lands flat in childish ways. Some of the characters feel like mere caricatures with the way they're constantly presented as comic relief. Depending on your tastes, you might find the humor charming, or it could bore you instead. See More

Top Pro

Thrilling soundtrack

The music in Bayonetta 2 fits perfectly with the huge boss fights, the demonic locations you explore, and Bayonetta's own bombastic personality. While fighting against demons in some of the game's hellish environments, the chorus and violins are sinister and foreboding, giving you a sense of urgency to press forward. The huge fights in these locations are powerful with the accompanying soundstrack, like how the very first boss in the game has an explosive song with an impactful chorus and wind instruments. By contrast, Bayonetta's main battle theme is completely different, mixing sunny female vocals with jazzy pianos that matches how much fun she has while fighting enemies. The variety is great and always matches the tone of the moment, making the game feel a lot more fun to play. See More

Top Con

The story is ridiculous

Bayonetta 2's story is confusing to keep track of at times, and the plot points grow increasingly more ridiculous and over-the-top as the game progresses. The plot starts off fine enough with Bayonetta on a quest to save her best friend, but then other characters and motivations get thrown into the mix. These other plot points are huge distractions and take away from Bayonetta's personal story of going after her friend who's in danger. If you feel like everything goes over your head as you try to follow the story, then it's not just you. See More

Top Pro

Epic boss fights with incredible set pieces

Bayonetta 2 has a constant stream of gigantic boss fights set in amazing locations that are memorable because of how over-the-top they are. The enemies you fight against are huge in scope, with level designs that are creative and outlandish. For example, the prologue of the game is impressive, showing off a massive demon protruding from the side of a skyscraper that Bayonetta fights against while flying through the air. There's also another fight where you battle against a single enemy with multiple forms, where you have to jump from one crumbling building or arena to the next. There's a lot of spectacle and scope to the boss battles that constantly makes you wonder how the next fight will top the last one. See More

Top Pro

Complex action combat that's satisfying to master

The action combat in Bayonetta 2 is less about arcadey hack-and-slash fighting and more about precise button inputs that are incredibly satisfying to perfect. Mastering combos allows you to string endless attacks to constantly put out damage in between dodging. Dodging attacks at the very last second rewards you with Witch Time, where enemies slow down while you attack freely at normal speed, keeping your combos going even further. It'll take some time for you to get these techniques down, but once you do, you'll find yourself toying with enemies as you practically dance in circles around them. See More

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