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GamingNintendoNintendo SwitchNintendo Games

What are the best Nintendo Switch single-player games with high replayability/replay value?

9

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May 10, 2022

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9 Games Considered

Best Nintendo Switch single-player games with high replayability/replay value	Price	Platforms	Genre
-- Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings	$59.99	Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, PlayStation Vita	Role-Playing
-- Dead Cells	$34.99	PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Mac, Windows, Linux	Roguelike, Metroidvania, Action, Platformer
-- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim	$59.99	Windows, Xbox, PS, Nintendo Switch	Fantasy Role-Playing
-- Xenoblade Chronicles 2	$59.99	Nintendo Switch	Action Role-Playing
-- Bayonetta	$19.99	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U, Windows, Nintendo Switch	Action

Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings

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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

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

Specs

Genre:Role-Playing

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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

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

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

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 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

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

Dead Cells

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Brilliant game design that presents a good challenge

All the little details come together to make Dead Cells incredibly rewarding to play. Making one mistake can mean death, which makes the game challenging but also fun as you learn how to take on certain enemies with different sets of weapons and skills. Also, every level is procedurally-generated, so even when you die and have to restart it feels unique and different every time. This keeps the game from ever getting old, even after you finish the game on the highest difficulty level. See More

Top Con

Shallow story

The story feels totally inconsequential. There isn't much going on with the plot, and what little is there is pretty forgettable. You feel motivated by the progression of the game rather than any emotional connection to the story. If you're looking for something with a stronger narrative to go with the good gameplay, this isn't it. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Overwhelmingly Positive

Genre:Roguelike, Metroidvania, Action, Platformer

Top Pro

Satisfying combat with a good amount of depth to it

Dead Cells encourages fast-paced gameplay and requires quick reactions. The hits are impactful, the controls are super-responsive, and it's overall very fluid. The game has a good variety of weapons, skills and enemies that all change how the game plays out. Some weapons work best if the enemy is bleeding, some skills hurl enemies at you, some enemies are immune to attacks from the front. Which items you find and decide to keep will change what approach to combat you need to take. See More

Top Con

Frustrating for players new to roguelikes

If you're new to the genre, this may not be the best place to start. The game gives you one life (except with a certain perk), so if you die, then your whole run is over. This would be fine if it wasn't so easy to lose all your health in an instant and fall back to level one. This makes it frustrating if you spend a lot of time on a run only for it to all go down the drain from a small mistake. The punishing difficulty can be pretty overwhelming for newcomers unless you're really looking to push yourself. See More

Top Pro

Beautiful pixel art graphics

The pixel models for your character and the enemies manage to feel modern in the way the animations flow swiftly from movement to movement. The colorful art design is a nice throwback to the retro games that inspired Dead Cells. It goes hand-in-hand with the side-scrolling gameplay, with a cool look to the monster and gadget designs. The reds, blues, and greens especially pop a lot to give the game a distinct look to help it stand apart from others in the same genre. See More

Top Pro

The developers put a lot of love and care into the game

Throughout its time in Early Access, the creators of Dead Cells consistently updated the game with new features, adding entirely new areas and weapons each time. The game could have honestly been released a while ago and fared decently, but they kept making it better. Even more importantly though, the developers took player feedback into account many times. The devs love the game and the community and it shows through their work. See More

Top Pro

It's hard

If you're a veteran of the genre then this is a must-have. See More

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

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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

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

Specs

Genre:Fantasy Role-Playing

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

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 Con

Buggy and crash prone

While this game is not as buggy as it was upon release, there are still many people that encounter various bugs and crashes. These can happen in both modded and unmodded games and it's a common occurrence in Bethesda released titles. Fortunately, there are some community mods that try to fix most memory issues, stability issues, and general bugs. See More

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

Xenoblade Chronicles 2

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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

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

Specs

Genre:Action Role-Playing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Banner Saga Trilogy

Top Pro

Your choices have true consequences throughout the stories

The Banner Saga trilogy has an involved story over the course of three games where your decisions matter in the long-run. You're part of a group of soldiers traveling to eventually save the world from an encroaching darkness taking over the planet. The first two games do a great job of investing you in the plot, while leading up to the dramatic events of the third game. All three games tell a compelling story where you have to decide how all of the battles unfold, along with who lives and who dies. Certain choices you make can have some unintended consequences as well, so you always want to choose carefully before deciding. It's an overall gripping tale, showing how war can really affect people. See More

Top Con

If a party member dies in battle, it's permanent

Permadeath in battle is the main way that combat stays tense and engaging, forcing you to make the best decisions at every opportunity. But this can get draining over time. When things spiral out of your control, you can end up losing a valued party member, who's then completely axed from the main story. Depending on how important they are, this may or may not be a big deal, but it's still a significant mechanic that you need to keep an eye on as you play. See More

Specs

Genre:Turn-Based Strategy, Role-Playing

Top Pro

You can carry over your save files across all three games

There's a good incentive to play through the whole Banner Saga tale through carrying your save files over from the first and second games. Plenty of the choices you make have an impact across the trilogy. Characters who survived across games also acknowledge how far they've come, with enough character development to keep them relevant for the most part. Getting to see how your choices affect the entire trilogy adds a lot of replay to all three games, giving you the chance to tweak certain outcomes here and there whenever you decide to go back and play from the beginning. See More

Top Con

The story in the third game is short

Even though you get to carry over save files from the previous games, the story is incredibly short as a finale to the entire trilogy, lasting about ten hours or so. It's underwhelming to spend so little time piecing together all of the threads across the games. Going for a completionist run can take you about twenty hours, which is a bit better, but it's still disappointing that this third installment doesn't have more to offer. See More

Top Pro

Engaging turn-based tactical combat that plays in an isometric view

The Banner Saga games have a great combat system that's familiar to anyone who enjoys strategy RPGs. You have all of your units with the enemies on square grids, taking turns to attack, defend, and use special skills. The battles are tough enough to keep your attention, meaning you have to do your best to make the right decisions during each of your turns. And the stakes are pretty high, where deaths can result in permanently losing your party members, including missing out on any story bits that they're a part of. The isometric view keeps things classic and traditional as well, which is great for fans of the genre or players looking to get into this style of games for the first time. See More

Top Con

Combat can get overwhelming at times (The Banner Saga 3)

Much of the difficulty in this game's combat revolves around the constant wave of enemies that come after your units, one after another. You have to pace yourself when deciding to take on these waves of foes, or else you may lose too many party members and have to pay a heavy price throughout the story. You can also choose to run away, but this also has negative plot-related consequences. It can get pretty frustrating having to deal with these waves so often, especially when you end up losing valuable party members by trying to push onward. See More

Top Pro

Beautiful hand-drawn art style

The games have such a gorgeous, effortless art style that really shines during cutscenes. Even though the graphics are cartoon-like, the characters and environments look mature and full of vibrant details. It's such a distinct style that drives home how unique it is to the Banner Saga and is immediately recognizable. 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

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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

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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

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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

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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

Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate

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Genre:Action Role-Playing

The Banner Saga 3

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Your choices have true consequences throughout the story

The Banner Saga 3 has an involved story where your decisions matter in the long-run. You're part of a group of soldiers traveling to save the world from an encroaching darkness taking over the planet. There's a lot of in-fighting among those journeying to stop the darkness as well as the only remaining tribe of normal citizens living in fear for their lives every day. All of this fighting, and the journey, sets up a compelling story where you have to decide how the overarching battle unfolds, along with who lives and who dies. Certain choices you make can have some unintended consequences as well, so you always want to choose carefully before deciding. It's an overall gripping finale to the Banner Saga trilogy, showing how war and the end of the world can affect people. See More

Top Con

The story is short

Even though you get to carry over save files from the previous games, the story is incredibly short as a finale to the entire trilogy, lasting about ten hours or so. It's underwhelming to spend so little time piecing together all of the threads across the games. Going for a completionist run can take you about twenty hours, which is a bit better, but it's still disappointing that this third installment doesn't have more to offer. See More

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Genre:Turn-based, RPG

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You can carry over your save files from the first two Banner Saga games

There's a good incentive to play through the whole Banner Saga tale through carrying your save files over from the first and second games. Plenty of the choices you make in the previous games have an impact here in the third game, which lets you see how different decisions play out. Characters who survived across games also acknowledge how far they've come, with enough character development to keep them relevant for the most part. Getting to see how your choices affect the entire trilogy adds a lot of replay to all three games, giving you the chance to tweak certain outcomes here and there whenever you decide to go back and play the other games. See More

Top Con

Combat can get overwhelming at times

Much of the difficulty in combat revolves around the constant wave of enemies that come after your units, one after another. You have to pace yourself when deciding to take on these waves of foes, or else you may lose too many party members and have to pay a heavy price throughout the story. You can also choose to run away, but this also has negative plot-related consequences. It can get pretty frustrating having to deal with these waves so often, especially when you end up losing valuable party members by trying to push onward. See More

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Engaging turn-based tactical combat that plays in an isometric view

The Banner Saga 3 has a great combat system that's familiar to anyone who enjoys strategy RPGs. You have all of your units with the enemies on square grids, taking turns to attack, defend, and use special skills. The battles are tough enough to keep your attention, meaning you have to do your best to make the right decisions during each of your turns. And the stakes are pretty high, where deaths can result in permanently losing your party members, including missing out on any story bits that they're a part of. The isometric view keeps things classic and traditional as well, which is great for fans of the genre or players looking to get into this style of games for the first time. See More

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If a party member dies in battle, it's permanent

Permadeath in battle is the main way that combat stays tense and engaging, forcing you to make the best decisions at every opportunity. But this can get draining over time. When things spiral out of your control, you can end up losing a valued party member, who's then completely axed from the main story. Depending on how important they are, this may or may not be a big deal, but it's still a significant mechanic that you need to keep an eye on throughout the entire game. See More

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Beautiful hand-drawn art style

The game has such a gorgeous, effortless art style that really shines during cutscenes. Even though the graphics are cartoon-like, the characters and environments look mature and full of vibrant details. The supernatural elements are fantastical in the best of ways, going a long way to show off the seriousness of the darkness overtaking the world and how the remaining people cope with the looming threat on an emotional level. It's such a distinct style that drives home how unique it is to the Banner Saga and is immediately recognizable. See More

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