Portal: Companion Collection (Switch eShop)
$19.99 $9.99
It's hard to overstate our satisfaction with Portal: Companion Collection. Portal and Portal 2 felt incredibly fresh when they first released, and the years since have not diminished their immense impact. To now have two of the most unique and mind-bending puzzle games on a Nintendo console, and on-the-go if you choose, is a pure joy. If it weren't for the frequent load screens punctuating the experience, we'd have absolutely nothing to complain about here. The motion controls work like a dream, the games run at a near-rock-solid 60fps, you've got local co-op play available at the drop of a hat, and the writing remains as funny now as it did all those years ago. If you haven't played the Portal games before, this should be a no-brainer. If you have... well, just play them again.
Dark Souls: Remastered (Switch)
$39.99 $19.99
Dark Souls: Remastered is a faithful remaster of a touchstone in video game design that improves the overall performance of the original release while preserving all of the traits that made it such a memorable experience. While it’s no less forgiving — and its menus are still a little fiddly — this slick Nintendo Switch iteration offers an excellent way to experience Lordran’s ultra-challenging odyssey in true handheld form.
Plus, there's a Solaire of Astora amiibo. Praise the Sun, indeed.
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Kaze and the Wild Masks (Switch)
$29.99 $4.99
What Kaze and the Wild Masks lacks in originality it makes up for in the strength of its level design, responsive controls, kinetic move set and attractive visuals. Excellent, action-packed platforming through and through, with great gameplay variety and gimmicks that don’t compromise on what the game is best at — challenging, fast-paced obstacle courses and deviously-hidden secret areas. Easiest sell? Kaze and the Wild Masks is to Donkey Kong Country what Freedom Planet was to Sonic the Hedgehog. Don’t miss this one.
Katana ZERO (Switch eShop)
$14.49 $8.99
Katana Zero is unmistakably a game that you need to add to your Switch collection. The tough, hair-raising action sequences, gripping narrative, and impeccable sense of style elevate Katana Zero high above many of its peers, cementing it as a modern classic that sets new standards for what a side-scrolling action game can be. You’ll blindly play through once and soon find yourself wishing you could have that first-time experience again; there’s nothing else quite like it on the eShop and we can’t recommend it enough.
Devil May Cry 3 Special Edition (Switch eShop)
$19.99 $9.99
Even years after its debut, Devil May Cry 3 remains one of the best action games ever made. It may have aged in places, but that turbo-charged, combo-heavy action feels as fresh today as it did back in 2005. The new Freestyle mode – which lets players swap combat styles on the fly at any point during the action – is an excellent addition to the package, and the ability to play Bloody Palace in local co-op is the cherry on top of a Switch port that should appeal to anyone interested in sampling the devilish delights of this all-time classic.
AI: The Somnium Files - nirvanA Initiative (Switch)
$59.99 $23.99
AI: The Somnium Files – nirvanA Initiative is one of the most interesting visual novels we’ve played through in a while. The murder mystery at its heart is brought to life by some great writing and quirky characters alongside the satisfyingly integrated, beautifully balanced Psync puzzle elements. Even with some minor control issues, there is a lot to love in this game even if you never picked up the original. Highly recommended if you're even a little bit curious.
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony Anniversary Edition (Switch eShop)
$29.99 $11.99
It's difficult to get across exactly why Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony is so good without spoiling it, so we'll keep it simple. You'll come into the game baffled as to what the writers were thinking with some of these characters, and walk away loving each and every one of them. There isn't a single moment of slack throughout the whole 40-hour playtime, it has the most extensive post-game of any title in the series, and one of the best endings to any game ever made. We promise you're in for the ride of your life.
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim (Switch)
$59.99 $29.99
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is a wonderful achievement for dynamic storytelling, as it puts forth a compelling and multifaceted narrative that’ll keep you guessing right up until the very end. This excellent story, combined with enjoyable combat portions, a striking art style, and some top-notch voice acting make for an experience that you won’t want to miss out on. It’s the kind of game that’ll have you wishing that you could play it again for the first time, just so all its best elements could be new again.
Card Shark (Switch eShop)
$19.99 $9.99
Card Shark is the kind of game that at first blush seems like it just won’t work. Lots of dialogue bookended by brief, simplistic minigame sequences seems like it would make for an experience that would lose its luster quickly, yet we couldn’t put it down. Witty writing, high-stakes gameplay, and a gorgeous art style all come together here to make for a game that’s well-executed and unique in its appeal. If you’re looking to try something that notably bucks most modern gaming trends, Card Shark is well worth your time and money.
OPUS: Echo of Starsong - Full Bloom Edition (Switch eShop)
$24.99 $17.49
OPUS: Echo of Starsong is a lovely game, an emotional adventure that represents the apex of the series to date and one of the best story-driven games on Switch. It's also excellent value for money, offering around ten hours for its low price, more if you really take your time and soak the whole thing up the way you really should. While the character designs are a little too familiar, the characters themselves are complex, interesting, and likeable, and the story told with them is a complete, satisfying tale. Oh, and when the opening suggests playing with headphones? That's a hard agree from us, both to help with the music-based puzzles and simply to enjoy the excellent score.
Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom (Switch)
$39.99 $13.19
Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is a tremendous accomplishment. It’s a gorgeous-looking game with a fantastic soundtrack and does its spiritual predecessors proud by nailing the Wonder Boy mechanics while still offering something that will appeal to modern audiences. As long as you can appreciate that it’s still very much an old-school game at heart and you’re going to get some 8-bit era platforming trickiness as a result, you’re going to thoroughly enjoy playing through this adventure for the 12-15 hours it’ll take you to beat it. It may not be Wonder Boy by name, but it’s definitely wonderful by nature.
Tales from the Borderlands (Switch eShop)
$24.99 $14.99
Tales from the Borderlands is arguably Telltale Games' finest hour and one of the very best choice-driven narrative adventures on any system. This is ten glorious hours' worth of top-notch entertainment with a world-class cast, consistently excellent writing that manages to perfectly balance comedy and drama, non-stop twisted action and a cast of kooky characters that are a joy to spend time with. This really is the best the Borderlands universe has ever been, and a game that everyone should experience at least once.
Dicey Dungeons (Switch eShop)
$14.99 $3.74
Terry Cavanagh's Dicey Dungeons is easily one of the best roguelike titles you can play on Switch. Loads of gameplay variety, fantastic music, a high skill ceiling and friendly visuals make this a thoroughly gripping and fun experience you won’t want to miss out on. If you like roguelikes or card games, we’d highly recommend you pick this up as soon as you can – and even if you don’t, we’d still encourage you to check it out regardless.
Unpacking (Switch eShop)
$19.99 $11.99
Unpacking manages to do several things very well, all at the same time. It’s a touching story told through interaction, it provides the creative play space of a great dollhouse game, and it deftly applies established game design ideas from completely different genres. Its only real shortcoming is the repetition that is a necessary byproduct of landing its message. Effort has gone into making the controls satisfying on Switch, and the visual and sound design are delightful throughout, making Unpacking, like any sane person’s cutlery, absolutely top-drawer.
Signalis (Switch eShop)
$19.99 $15.99
Signalis came out of nowhere to provide survival horror fans a near-perfect love letter to the long-running genre. It is at its best when you're darting between enemies, using stealth and patience rather than brute force. While some of the combat encounters felt a little forced, the puzzles are just the right mix of challenging and approachable. The surreal imagery and unique storytelling structure add to the overall polish of a game that is the perfect length for what it is. There have been an awful lot of homages to classic survival horror, but Signalis stands as one of the best.
Shin Megami Tensei V (Switch)
$59.99 $29.99
Shin Megami Tensei V is a modern masterpiece. It successfully delivers on all the aspects that have made the series thus far so popular with fans — namely through its high difficulty, heavy narrative themes, and expansive team-building options — while polishing up and tightening the weaker aspects. Things like a more easily navigable map and more difficulty options to cater to players of all skill levels comfortably make this the most approachable entry in the series, and it feels like there are more things to do in the world than ever before. If you are at all a fan of RPGs or have been looking for a good entry point into this oft-overlooked series, we would strongly encourage you to pick this up as soon as you can. Shin Megami Tensei V was worth the wait; Atlus successfully stuck the landing with this one.
Iconoclasts (Switch eShop)
$19.99 $6.79
Iconoclasts is a memorable, thought-provoking, and enjoyable take on the Metroidvania genre which manages to stick out from the crowd with its chipper presentation and deeper storytelling style. Couple those elements with some of the best 16-bit sprite work we’ve seen and a killer lineup of awesome boss encounters, and you’ve got another must-have for the Switch library. Don’t miss out on this one.
Comments (37)
You know you buy too many games when you own almost everything in a buyer's guide.
I'd add the No More Heroes series and Deadly Premonition 2 to this list. They only very seldom go on sale - once maybe twice a year. Most of the games on this list are fine - but they spend most of the year on sale.
Outstanding sale, honestly. If you don’t have The Messenger, for that price, just do it! I would recommend nearly any title in this list… and yes… I’ve completed most of the games on this list.
To those who shop at Costco, they have $100 eShop cards ( 4 @ $25 ) on sale for $80.
Perfect timing with my recent decision to focus on my Switch OLED a bit more (Xbox GamePass has kept me away). I purchased a bunch of Eshop cards on discount and just purchased Hades, Death's Door, Dead Cells, Chicory, Into the Breach, Mark of the Ninja Remastered and a few more.
Is it bad I already own probably 75% of these. My Switch library is pushing 500 titles between digital and physical. I think I have a problem. Still, this is a pretty great sale and there are a couple gems I might have to snag to add to the collection. (I'm in trouble if the Switch2 is not fully backwards compatible :/ )
Tetris Effect and Gris are damn near mandatory purchases at those prices.
One is arguably the best version ever made of an all time classic, the other is a clever and enthralling puzzle platformer, and both are among the most ethereal and evocative experiences on the platform.
Full Metal Furies is an absolute blast if you have a co-op partner
I want to buy most of them. But thanks to my country's lousy economy. I can't afford to pay 24 times the price of a game.
@Bobb I feel like a co-op partner is practically mandatory for Full Metal Furies. I had a good time playing with my roommate, but I found it to be a slog in single-player.
@WhiteTrashGuy if you are being honest with yourself then yes - it is a huge waste of money. I used to buy games on sale on Steam constantly - to barely ever, if at all, play them. It is a waste of resources and it nags at your brain that you either 1) need to play these things when you really don't even want to or 2) could have spent it on anything else.
I keep it to myself but the constant foruming of "well if it weren't for this backlog I might just..." like it's a job. Treating a backlog like it is a point of pride or something you just have to do before you enjoy life is patently ridiculous. Frankly it's sad. I know, because gd have I been there in a real, addictive and harmful way. Still am in some sense.
Finally pulled the trigger on Generations Ultimate.
Good list for me to edit my wishlist with. But I'm on a buying freeze mostly until BF. I may buy eshop credit if that is on sale since it is free money.
surprised there was no mention on labyrinth of refrain
@WhiteTrashGuy @Cashews
https://youtu.be/wYXPybDP6K8
I just watched this and thought it was really good.
To anyone wanting recommendations, my favorite games on this list:
Alien Isolation
Axiom Verge
Cuphead
Dark Souls
Death's Door
Kaze and the Wild Masks
Metroid Dread
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2
DO NOT BUY NO MAN'S SKY ON SWITCH
The latest update (Interceptor) completely broke the game, resulting in endless crash loops after 5 minutes of gameplay. The devs have been completely silent on the issue while still releasing updates for other consoles. Do not buy it
Removed - offensive remarks
I own an embarrassing amount of these already. I don't think it's on this list, but I'm considering getting pac-man world re-pac at 50% off. spidersaurs at 40% off is tempting as well.
Dicey Dungeons wasn't on my wishlist but at $3 I may get it just for the heck of it.
Back in the day I would rent a game every Friday for $5 and play it over the weekend. That is about $10 in todays money. I keep that in mind when looking at these sales. If I buy a game for $10 and play it for just a couple of days, arguably I got my money’s worth. If I like it, great. If not, or if I like it kind of but not enough to stick with it, it’s no bigger waste of money than taking a shot on a game rental. This mentality shift has kept my “backlog” in check.
From those on here that I've played, I'd say Dark Souls, Iconoclasts, Blasphemous, ABZU, Enter the Gungeon, GRIS, and all the Monster Hunters are no brainers at those prices. Xenoblade 3, Astral Chain, and Octopath Traveler were already must-buys at full price, so I guess that goes double for them. Also, Dragon's Dogma is $5 and I'd rank it above half the games I just mentioned, so buy it.
If you don’t have Horace, get it. I was really surprised how good it was.
The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is $19.99 not $9.99
@dartmonkey
West of Loathing may indeed be a great game but the game's director and founder of Asymmetric, Zack Johnson, physically and emotionally abused his ex-wife and fellow Asymmetric employee. The dude also remained good friends with his ex-wife's rapist, Randy Mack, a former player of the main game in the Loathing series, Kingdom of Loathing.
Source: http://forums.kingdomofloathing.com/vb/showthread.php?t=240165
Edit: Also, just to be clear, Zach Johnson is still very much running the company so any sales for this game or its sequel, Shadows of Loathing, are very much going into his pockets.
HYPER MAX SHOP SALE
LOL
In my country...
Metroid Dread...R300.00...on HYPER MAX shop sale? R209.00
LOL
I am buying games on STEAM for R140.00 (Spiderman Remaster), R40.00 (Batman Arkham Collection, with 3 games more all DLC), R30.00 (Devil May Cry 5 complete + all DLC)..
Goodbye Nintendo games. Nintendo makes good games, but not R300.00 / 209.00 good games for me.
Just got Fire Emblem: Three Houses with expansion pass from this sale & thinking about getting Triangle Strategy too.
@Magician Same here. I was disappointed that there wasn’t a “fresh” list of games for me to check out 😳
Because Rouge Legacy 2 launched on steam for $20 and has been down to that price multiple times i refused to pay the Switch asking price. Of course i bought it in this sale and the next day it was announced as free on ps plus this month
Into the Breach is one of the best games I have bought on the Switch. A daily 5 minute chess match with mechs and kaiju. I rarely play more than 30 minutes at a time but I still play it nearly every day.
@Manxman64 yes you are unfortunately correct. I had really been enjoying NMS for short plays every now and then and the update sounded so good but it has ruined the switch port completely.
I don't think it's a part of the Hyper Max sale but Arkanoid Eternal Battle is 67% off for any fans of it.
@MeloMan Ooooh! I love Arkanoid! How are the controls without a wheel? Is it just the stick/dpad or can you use the joycon tilt to control?
The real trick to saving money is to ignore all of these sales.
@Manxman64 the No Man’s Sky devs are amazing and 100% care about the community. You can bet they’re working on fixes but they do have so many platforms to look after that it won’t be immediate, given that they’re still only a small team.
Never really enjoyed Thumper, it always gets good recs here on the sales but I really dislike the game. Have made it through a good handful of levels but it's never hooked me.
Agree with a lot of comments above, I own so many of these! Good marketing from NLife haha, I always purchase because of the good coverage but also agree my backlog should not be a point of pride. Haven't bought anything for Switch in a long time but I have well over 100 titles and a lot of boxed games, Starfield will not help with any of this 😂
@HoyeBoye I haven't tested joycon tilt, but it is Dpad and Control Stick controls. The control stick is analog sensitive fortunately, and you can adjust its sensitivity. There's a nifty dash move mapped to ZL/ZR that will shift Vaus quickly to the left or right sides respectively for quick positioning or last second saves. I think we all can agree that the wheel is still the greatest input for Arkanoid.
@Jimmy_G_Buckets Thanks for the tip! I got the cards at Costco yesterday. It was the last day of the sale; I just made it!
@Gamer_Griff You're welcome
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