3 meaty Nintendo Switch 2 games to round off the summer with
I’ve been playing this lot by the pool, but you can do so anywhere
The brilliance of handheld games consoles is that you can take them with you wherever you go, rather than being rooted to your sofa or desk chair. This makes handhelds the ideal companions during the summer, because who doesn't love chipping away at their backlog on holiday?
We may be entering the last days of the summer and the early part of autumn, but if you’re looking for something to play on your Nintendo Switch 2 when you jet off for a final fix of sunshine before the autumn rolls around, I’ve been having a lot of fun with these three games recently.
Lies of P: Complete Edition
There have been a lot - and I mean loads - of Dark Souls imitators over the years, but few have been as well received as 2023’s Lies of P, a twisted take on the fairy tale of Pinocchio.
Set in the Belle Epoque-inspired fictional city of Krat, Lies of P tells a markedly different story of the iconic puppet (who just so happens to look remarkably like Timothee Chalamet). He's tasked with saving Krat from the “Frenzy” that has turned all other puppets against humans.
Lies of P has everything a good Soulslike needs: a moody and mysterious setting rich with lore, excellent combat and build-crafting, and panic-inducingly difficult boss fights that aim to halt your progress. P (as he’s known here) mixes and matches various blades and handles to become a character that can be fast and nimble, or a real boy interested only in the heaviest swords.
Lies of P: Complete Edition arrives on Switch 2 several years after the game originally launched on other platforms, and comes with all the DLC. It runs shockingly well on Nintendo’s beefed up console too, particularly shining in handheld mode.
You couldn’t really get a more anti-summer game, but I’ve been really enjoying making my way through the mean streets of Krat whenever I have a free 15 minutes.
Splatoon Raiders
I’ve been a casual fan of the Splatoon series since it debuted on Switch in 2015, but with every entry I eventually run into the same problem: after a while, the hardcore players (of which there are intimidatingly many) become so good at the game that I can no longer hang with them in the lobbies. So I tend to bounce off until the next entry’s Nickelodeon-esque colour palette and outlandish fashion inevitably lures me back in, and the process begins again.
Most Splatoon games have had a single-player component of some kind, but Splatoon Raiders is the first game in the series that’s an entirely PvE experience designed with solo players in mind.
It essentially reimagines Splatoon as a looter-shooter. Think Diablo, but infinitely more cheerful. You still cover levels in paint with a huge assortment of weapons and swim through your handiwork in squidform, but rather than other human players, you exclusively fight waves of Salmonid creatures in pursuit of treasure and better gear to level up your character.
The Spirhalite Islands are disappointingly bland compared to the vibrant metropolises that the mainline games take place in, but Splatoon Raiders is a wildly addictive spin on a formula Nintendo has perfected over the last 10 years. It has that dangerously one-more-go gameplay loop and works just as well in co-op with friends as it does on your own.
Somehow, Nintendo has taken a very well-worn genre and made it feel fresh again.
Moss: Forgotten Relic
The Moss games have for a long time deservedly been held up as two of the (admittedly few) crown jewels of virtual reality gaming, and the best way to experience these delightful interactive fairytales is still through a headset. That said, not everyone owns one of those, and for some people VR is just a non-starter for a variety of reasons.
As someone who regrettably suffers quite violently from VR motion sickness, I’ve always recommended the Moss series to people looking for a more comfortable experience, but I still think it’s great that developer Polyarc has reimagined its two titles as entirely flatscreen games that just so happen to be a perfect fit for Switch 2.
Moss: The Forgotten Relic includes Moss: Book I and Moss: Book II in one package, and the simple blend of exploration, light puzzling and combat mostly makes an elegant transition from VR to traditional platforms.
As both games are built around you, the human player, helping the mouse protagonist Quill to make her way through a ruined kingdom, there’s definitely something lost from not being entirely immersed in the intricate diorama-like levels, but the games are still packed with charm.
It’s also nice that you can use the touch screen to move objects around for your rodent pal to climb, a pleasingly tactile substitute for the way you physically pulled them in the VR games. So, if you’re a headset sceptic who has overlooked these miniature gems, you no longer have an excuse.
