Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight (Switch eShop)

£4.40 (-65%)

The only minor criticism comes from the soundtrack which, while not bad, isn’t memorable and doesn’t always match the fantastic art. Overall, however, Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight is a stunningly well-presented platformer with some of the most intuitive controls in the genre. A superb game and a credit to the indie scene.

Monster Hunter Rise (Switch)

£8.74 (-75%)

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New mechanics, monsters, and a gorgeous setting meant that Monster Hunter Rise set a new standard for the franchise.

The Wirebug, Switch Skills, Palamute, and carefully thought-out monsters shook things up enough to make the game feel fresh for hunters who had previously spent thousands of hours with the series, and while the package can be slightly intimidating for newcomers, it's arguably the ideal place to get started if you're serious about getting into monster hunting. And with a peerless four-player multiplayer experience, the Rampage quests are a blast.

Monster Hunter Rise is one of the strongest entries into the series, then, and another stone-cold classic for Switch. And if the base game isn't enough, hunt down the must-have Sunbreak DLC, as well — it's also included in this sale for £8.99.

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Night In The Woods (Switch eShop)

£8.54 (-50%)

Less of a game, and more of an interactive story with some light platforming and exploring to tie it all together, Night In The Woods is one of the most rewarding experiences you can play on Nintendo Switch. A curio better played for yourself than described by us, it’s an indie title that will no doubt leave an impression with its enchanting soundtrack, disarming story, and instantly identifiable character arcs. Strange and wonderful in equal measure.

It's an excellent game, although it should be noted that the controversy surrounding its troubled co-designer, including historical allegations of abuse prior to his passing, may affect your opinion and influence a purchase decision. As always, it's up to individuals to determine if they still wish to support a game, developer, publisher, or platform holder given the available information and wider context.

OneShot: World Machine Edition (Switch eShop)

£8.76 (-35%)

A short, compelling point-and-click adventure game originally developed in 2014, OneShot: World Machine Edition has an endearing, sombre story in which developer Future Cat makes you – the player – a character. The quest of Nico, a cat-like child, is framed as a game installed on a PC that functions as both a menu and narrative device and Niko will frequently break the fourth wall to address you by your Nintendo Switch profile name as you guide her through a dying world.

Unlike the adventure games of two or three decades ago, none of the puzzles stumped us, yet the dopamine rush hit us all the same when things slid into place. Before we knew it, the credits rolled, and we sat back, pensive from its bittersweet ending. A Very Good Game™.

Overboard! (Switch eShop)

£6.83 (-40%)

Where 80 Days was about the broad implications of travelling the entire globe, Overboard! focuses instead on the minutiae of a single day, and the intricacies of interaction. It's a glorious study in how to create a delicate Rube Goldberg machine of dialogue and dependencies, as a cast of mostly terrible people waltz around each other with ulterior motives and pre-existing feelings about everything, including our Veronica and dear, departed Malcolm. It's excellent: play it.

Patrick's Parabox (Switch eShop)

£12.59 (-30%)

Patrick's Parabox is the rare game that's both highly challenging and highly approachable in equal measure without once dropping a beat. This is a must-play for fans of the genre — especially more logic-driven puzzlers like Baba Is You. Even if you're not the most hardened puzzle veteran, Patrick's Parabox does a great job of teaching you to solve even its most difficult puzzles thanks to a clever level structure and approachable progression system.

Pizza Tower (Switch eShop)

£13.49 (-25%)

Pizza Tower is the rare sort of game that improves on its inspiration in nearly every way, building upon many of Nintendo’s Wario Land ideas with impressive results. This is an incredibly satisfying, creative, and addictive platformer that’ll keep you busy for a long time if you want to 100% it.

Anyone who loved the old Wario Land games will adore this, as will anyone who’s looking for something new with a high skill ceiling and lots of technical depth. Pizza Tower has definitely got it where it counts - platformers don’t get much better than this.

PowerSlave Exhumed (Switch eShop)

£6.35 (-60%)

Honestly, it was tempting to give Powerslave Exhumed a 10 just for being available again, but no. That would, of course, be naughty. It is available, though, in even more than all its glory — a brilliant, beautiful reworking that captures the very essence of what made it so awesome back in the day while giving the best of both the Saturn and PlayStation's distinct versions. For such a prototypical take on Metroid Prime, it's alarming and impressive just how much confidence Powerslave Exhumed shows in its design, making it the best kind of retro game — one that's even better today with full knowledge of how ahead of its time it really was. An easy recommendation to FPS fans of any vintage, Powerslave Exhumed will keep you playing and playing, searching for those last niggling secrets.

qomp2 (Switch eShop)

£11.69 (-35%)

qomp 2 is an excellent and worthy reimaging of Pong that honours the classic arcade game's legacy while providing a unique experience for folks with no nostalgia for Atari's seminal masterpiece. It offers a consistently interesting and engaging means of traversal with a great variety of obstacles and puzzles to overcome throughout the 30 stages. We would have liked a few more levels in the end, but this is really just an indication of the quality on display here. If you're into quirky action-focused puzzlers with a unique hook, then qomp 2 is definitely worth your attention.

Severed (Switch eShop)

£3.37 (-75%)

A joy to behold from start to finish, Severed is an almost perfectly executed action-adventure game with RPG elements, real-time combat, and a whole lot of slicing the body parts from various creatures. With beautifully designed dungeons full of rewarding puzzles and a pleasing combat system, you’ll likely find yourself wishing you could play more of the game when it's over. That’s the only real downside – you’ll probably be finished with the main story after six hours and left wanting more – although wishing you could play more isn’t necessarily a complaint if you're a time-starved gamer with a backlog. If you have the means to do so, we heartily recommend putting that backlog to one side and giving this one a go.

Spelunky 2 (Switch eShop)

£7.19 (-60%)

Spelunky 2 is a masterclass in great roguelite game design, expertly combining crushing difficulty with a steady drip of new secrets and lessons to keep you coming back for more. Some may be put off by the steep challenge—this is certainly a game you have to work for a bit—but putting in the effort is sure to reward you with plenty of thrilling memories.

Splatoon 3 (Switch)

£33.29 (-33%)

*Sale ends 6th January

Splatoon 3 is more of the same, but refined to borderline mechanical perfection. It's the most fun we’ve had with an online shooter in years, and for series veterans it makes Splatoon 2 feel entirely redundant for all but its unique single-player content. The developers solved every problem the Splatoon community was bleating on about, and then fixed some more that we didn’t even realise were problems.

There's nothing revolutionary about it compared to its predecessors, and it's perhaps missing a Big New Idea™ that you might have expected, but Splatoon 3 is the pinnacle of the series, and the pinnacle of shooters on Switch.

Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster (Switch eShop)

£14.99 (-40%)

Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster brings back this 1995 'Doom clone' in style — another resounding success for Nightdive Studios (who also handled the excellent Quake and Quake II remasters, among others). It returns LucasArts' curious, nostalgia-laced FPS with loads of new bells and whistles, including enhanced gameplay, revamped visuals, and a wealth of accessibility options.

This is easily the best way to experience Dark Forces and revisit an oft-forgotten era of Star Wars before the prequel trilogy - and before the sequel trilogy booted the Expanded Universe out the 'Legends' airlock.

Steredenn: Binary Stars (Switch eShop)

£3.59 (-70%)

Steredenn: Binary Stars is a fantastic game that does a great job of providing an experience that feels simultaneously classic and modern. Its high difficulty, rewarding gameplay, endless variety, and beautiful presentation make this an essential buy for any fans of the genre, and a high recommendation for those who aren’t.

If you’re looking for a tightly made arcade game that can be played both in short bursts and for hours on end, here's yet another one for your list.

Streets of Rage 4 (Switch eShop)

£8.99 (-60%)

Streets of Rage 4 is the very best the series has ever been. Its hand-drawn graphics breathe new life into Wood Oak City and its inhabitants, the soundtrack is outstanding, and the combat feels better than ever. Lizardcube, Guard Crush Games, and Dotemu managed to completely modernise the look and feel of Streets of Rage, expanding on the experience without losing sight of what made the original games so popular to begin with – and the handful of additions made to the action here serve only to enhance the classic core gameplay, resulting in one of the best side-scrolling beat 'em ups we've played in a long time.

And the Mr X Nightmare DLC is pretty tasty, too. A truly fantastic brawler.

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury (Switch)

£33.29 (-33%)

*Sale ends 6th January

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury takes everything that made the cat-filled Wii U original special and throws in various small gameplay tweaks to make it even more enjoyable. The first four-player 3D Mario game fuses the freedom of the third dimension with the more constrained (yet no less imaginative) courses from his 2D games to wonderful effect.

The cooperative multiplayer element brought Princess Peach, Luigi, and Toad back into the fold, mirroring Super Mario Bros. 2's lineup, and both Cat Mario and Captain Toad were also introduced here. It's the additional open-world-y Bowser's Fury mode that makes this Switch version a must-buy, even if you 100%'d the Wii U original.

The only real mark against the awkwardly acronymed SM3DW+BF is patchy online multiplayer implementation, but this Switch release is otherwise up there with the very best of the plumber's portfolio.

Bowser's Fury is probably the best Mario game for people who have never played a 3D Mario before, serving as an unintimidating introduction to a larger three-dimensional Super Mario world that can also be played with friends and family.