I feel this is the type of game the Switch was made for. Just sit back, relax, and mix some drinks while listening to your customers' stories as the excellent OST plays in the background. This is not a particularly challenging game to play, indeed it's more of a visual novel, but you can't help but be immersed in its world and characters. With its pixel art, Valhalla proves (yet again) you don't need the latest and greatest in graphics to produce a good game. I've probably played it 3 or 4 times already, have a physical copy of the soundtrack (which I 100% recommend), and placed a pre-order on the CE. Yup, I totally love this game and I'm glad they're making more of these (N1RV Ann-A, Coffee Talk). This is definitely my GOTY from another year. If you like visual novels and cyberpunk, give this one a try.

This was not the best game of the year, but it was Spiders' best effort yet to try and occupy the void left by BioWare. If you're unfamiliar with this developer, they previously released The Technomancer and Bound by Flame before that, a game that was referred to by some reviewers (aptly so) as "a discounted TW2." Indeed, having played Bound by Flame, it had some pretty glaring flaws, like flat line delivery for the female VA, as well as irregular voice-acting on the part of your companions (one of them was excellent though), bugs, few customization options, etc. Fast forward 5 years and Greedfall has few if any of those issues. The voice-acting in this game is good to great throughout, no noticeable major bugs (when I played), a ton of customization options that echo the latest Assassin's Creed games, but more importantly, interesting side quests! Greedfall doesn't bore you with dozens of pointless fetch quests a la BioWare (though there was this one time I had to visit the same place twice over the span of a few minutes to find some records), opting instead for fewer but more poignant side stories. This is kind of what I hoped Andromeda would be about: interesting stories about exploring a new world/galaxy. I'd even argue Greedfall's side stories are, at times, more interesting than the main quest line. If the game suffers from anything, it's that it recycles interiors (and NPCs) a bit too much and they're often sparsely decorated at that. Also, it doesn't quite stick the landing and the epilogue is a bit underwhelming. The soundtrack, composed by Olivier Deriviere is not half bad (the main theme perfectly embodies the hope in exploring a new world), but not as good as his work in Remember Me and probably not as good as the music from other entries in this list, to my mind anyway. If you're looking to scratch that BioWare itch, I suggest you give it a shot, provided you don't expect too much on the romance front.

I suppose the fact that I've invested over 100 hours into a single route of this game is proof enough that Fire Emblem: Three Houses is entirely deserving of this award. I was a little wary after my experience with Awakening, but it looks like this blend between Fire Emblem and Harry Potter was right up my alley! I took my time to learn the mechanics, play lots of side battles to build my relationships, actually paid attention to the education and training schedules for each one of my pupils (and I had lots!!!)... I mean, this game is pretty engrossing. Every student has an interesting story to tell and you really want to listen to and help them all. Oh, yeah, and you can marry them in the future too (you can marry some of the teachers as well). When you eventually reunite with them, you feel like their teacher and it crushes you when you have to do battle and kill someone you knew or used to teach to (which is why I made damn sure to recruit almost all of them to my House, muahahaha!). If there is one downside to a game as large as this one, is that it doesn't really encourage me to pursue other routes, especially if I have to invest another 100+ hours, and given my completion OCD that would likely be the case. But, hey, when a dev gives you too much content for your money, that's still a win, right? Now, where's that Harry Potter RPG we're all waiting for?

Developed by Inkle (80 days), Heaven's Vault was a completely unexpected gem of a discovery. Have you ever wanted Lara to do more archaeology and less action-y stuff? This is the game for you then. As with VA-11 HALL-A, while the graphics are not outstanding (although the Nebula looks nice and traveling through it can be very relaxing), the gripping voyage throughout the stars to piece together the history of the Nebula most certainly is. As Aliya Elasra, you'll travel to numerous planets and moons together with your robot sidekick Six, find relics that belong in museums, and slowly reconstruct an ancient language that may reveal a most interesting history. Yes, you actually learn words in this game and slowly work your way through longer pieces of writing. You're bound to make mistakes, but that's part of the charm, and if you play NG+ you get to expand on your vocabulary and get a better picture of ancient history (you won't get it exactly right the first time). And the music! Laurence Chapman does an outstanding job composing the soundtrack for this game, what plays a large role in why this game appealed to me. This is another soundtrack (and game) I 100% recommend. And guess what? It's also coming to the Switch!

Yeah, I'm cheating, but who gives a fuck? Garoad (VA-11 HALL-A) certainly wins in terms of quantity: three and a half hours of music! Hot damn! With over 70 tracks, some of the quality is bound to take a hit, but I maintain it is still top-notch, and definitely one of the best retro-futuristic/cyberpunk soundtracks you'll find (if that makes sense). Laurence Chapman's Heaven's Vault is shorter but sweet, vividly narrating this fantastic archaeological odyssey through its music. In that respect, Chapman is the obvious winner. These two are worth-owning levels of good, and I encourage you to listen to some of its tracks. I'll add a few YT in case you're feeling lazy.

Surprised? I'm not. Many of the games I've played on PC made its way to the Switch for the better. VA-11 HALL-A is just one example of a game that feels great to play on the Switch, but so is Fire Emblem (admittedly, none have released on PC), Phoenix Wright (released on Steam but I bought it on the Switch), Cosmic Star Heroine, Gris (one of the best games of 2018), planetarian, etc. Sure, I probably wouldn't play something like Greedfall on the Switch, but there are so many more games that I would! Even Heaven's Vault and The Turing Test will release on the Switch in 2020. The Switch is quickly becoming one of my favourite gaming platforms, if not the outright favourite. And with all the games that are coming? As the saying goes, so many games, so little time.

I'm a sucker for story and soundtrack, so if you were to toss a coin to your Witcher, VA-11 HALL-A would be on one side with Heaven's Vault on the other, and I would always win. Fire Emblem: Three Houses is a close second, but it's just so indescribably long, and as I get older, I tend to favour shorter (<100 hour) games because there's so much I want to play! Therefore, the fact that I was willing to invest several days of my life into FE3H should tell you something about its quality. And let's all be thankful I haven't yet played Link's Awakening on the Switch yet. I'm not saying it would have beat any of these, but nostalgia can never be easily discounted (it was my first Zelda game and I loved it!).