PJ is a staff writer across Hookshot Media. He's been playing video games pretty much nonstop since the early 1980s, which is ages ago. Favourite genres include RPGs, puzzle games and lovely big single player adventures of all kinds. The weirder the better.
News Retro-Styled Isometric Puzzler 'Lumo 2' Dimension-Shifts Its Way Onto Switch This October
Retro isometric puzzle sweetness incoming!
We really enjoyed Lumo when it launched on Switch back in 2017, awarding the isometric action-puzzler an 8/10 and saying that it "provides a modern isometric platformer, offering (as you'd expect) improved audio-visual presentation over the classics of the genre, whilst still providing the same kind of...
News 'ShapeHero Factory' Is Switch 2's Latest Arrival, With A Free Upgrade For The Switch 1 Faithful
If we build them, they will run
Asobism's tower defence/roguelite/factory sim title, ShapeHero Factory, releases on Switch 2 (and 1) today. Hooray! For anyone unfamiliar, this one sees you create an army of robots from a bunch of magical shapes within a factory setting, making for a sweat-inducing puzzle of sorts as you work to get your automation...
News Genre-Bending 'Baroque YA' Collection Headed To Switch In Japan
Multiple genres in one easy-to-store package
Japanese dev outfit Sting has just announced Baroque YA, a collection of four games from the genre-spanning series, will release on Switch (in Japan only, for now) on 18th December. Originally released for the Sega Saturn all the way back in the Spice Girls-heady days of 1998, the first Baroque is a...
News Hyrule Warriors: Age Of Imprisonment Gets New Trailer Revealing Some Save Data Surprises
Free blades if you've played TOTK or AoC
It's not too long now until we finally get our hands on Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment on Switch 2, with that 2nd November release date rapidly approaching. To sate our appetites in the interim, Nintendo has dropped a new teaser trailer showing off Koei Tecmo's very slick-looking Musou action featuring...
News The First Review For Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist & The White Guardian Is In
Famitsuits you, sir
The latest Famitsu scores have hit the inter tubes (thanks, Gematsu) and in amongst all the excitement, we've got our very first score for the upcoming Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist & the White Guardian. The popular Japanese gaming magazine has awarded Gust's latest 8/8/8/8 , which ain't too bad at all considering...
News Madden NFL 26 Updated On Switch 2, Here Are The Patch Notes
Defensive tweaks, new playbooks, more Limp Bizkit!
EA Sports has dropped a huge new update for the recently released Madden NFL 26. The September 17th patch introduces a large number of fixes, adjustments, and other bits and bobs to a game that does a very solid job of bringing the full Madden experience to handheld - so long as you can take the...
News Ravenswatch, The Excellent Follow-Up To Curse Of The Dead Gods, Scores A Shapely Free Update
Cuts quite the figure
Curse of the Dead Gods is an excellent roguelike in the now-classical Hades vein, one that earned itself a lovely 8/10 from us back when it released, and Passtech Games' follow-up to that cracker, Ravenswatch, is also quite the banger itself, sitting pretty as it currently is on a very nice score of 84 on Metacritic. Think...
News Pre-Orders For 'Simon The Sorcerer Origins' Open, Featuring Chris Barrie & Rick Astley
How magical
Simon the Sorcerer Origins, ININ and Smallthing Studios' prequel to the classic 1993 point and click adventure, is finally and thankfully up and available for pre-order on Nintendo Switch. Priced at £22.49 / $24.99 for the standard edition or £31.99 / $34.99 for a digital deluxe version (which nets you a digital art book and...
News Turbo Overkill: Ultimate Edition Gets A Surprise Release On Switch
The chainsaw leg returns!
We love ourselves a bit of Apogee Entertainment's Turbo Overkill, going so far as to award it an 8/10 in our review back in February of this year, where we concluded that "Johnny Turbo's chainsaw-sliding, wall-running and grappling combine with slo-mo silliness to provide a whole lot of punchy murderizing that's a joy to...
News Super Mario Galaxy 1 + 2 Switch Comparison Video Makes Nintendo's Upgrades Clearer
Silver wallet linings?
There's been some fairly heated debate since the announcement of Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2, over the remastered collection's hefty price tag. It's quite a lot of money for a pair of Wii games, as absolutely phenomenal as they are, there's no getting around it. However, we do already know that the games present...
News Borderlands 4 Goes Down Well With Critics As Gearbox Acknowledges FOV Issue
But will it make it to the Switch 2 version?
As everyone and their donkey knows by now, Gearbox's latest FPS extravaganza, Borderlands 4, is shooting its way onto Switch 2 on 3rd October, a few weeks after other platforms, and judging by the game's reception on the old aggregator sites, we are in for quite the treat. Indeed, this writer has been...
Sans regret
It's hard to believe that Undertale is 10 years old, innit. A game that released just a year after the birth of my eldest son, and two before my youngest arrived on the scene. What is time? It's all going so quickly. I bring my kids up here, not to be one of those tiresome people, but because Toby Fox's masterpiece (and you better...
Talking Point What Are You Playing This Weekend? (13th September)
Silksong? That was ages ago, mate. Do try to keep up
Good Mario, morning fans! It's that time of the week once again, and now that the Super Mario 40th anniversary plans have been fully unveiled via the latest Direct...well...we're maybe not gonna be diving into quite as much Mario as we had sorta hoped this weekend, as the likes of Mario Galaxy 1...
News Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream Showcases Island Life, Coming To Switch Spring 2026
Mii like the look of this
During today's Direct, Nintendo shared a trailer for the upcoming Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream which, well, it's got some fairly disturbing voices in it, amongst other things. While we don't have a release date yet, Nintendo did confirm that the sequel to the 3DS's Tomodachi Life is coming to the Switch 1 in Spring...
News Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly Remake Set To Haunt Your Switch 2 In 2026
It's the best one!
The really rather frightening Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly is getting a fancy remake. Hooray! Team Ninja is involved. Hooray again! And it's headed to Switch 2 in 2026. Ok that's terrifying, but also hooray...we guess. This Japanese horror effort, which scared this writer good and proper back when it released for the first...
News Stylish '80s Action-Roguelike 'Storm Lancers' Battles Onto The Switch eShop Today
From former Bungie CEO's new studio
We love the '80s. We love anime. We love them there computer games. And so, it stands to reason, there's a fair chance we could end up loving Storm Lancers, a rather retro-cool-looking 2D action roguelike that's available for Switch today. Exciting! Today's surprise stealth drop, of a game that was announced a...
News PowerWash Simulator 2 Blasts The Dirt Off Your Switch 2 This Autumn
Relax and clean a bunch of stuff!
FuturLabs' PowerWash Simulator was a huge, and hugely relaxing, success when it released a few years back. And so, after some rumours, we're excited to see that PowerWash Simulator 2 will launch on Switch 2 alongside other platforms in "Fall 2025" Hey, that's this year! Details we know so far on this one are that...
News Hyrule Warriors Age Of Imprisonment Smashes Through Switch 2's Defences This November
Pre-orders now live!
One of the more interesting games that was announced alongside the Switch 2 console, Hyrule Warriors Age of Imprisonment now has an official release date for Switch 2. And that date, my hacking and slashing pals, is November the 6th. Oh, and pre-orders go live today! With 60fps action that should - fingers crossed - be smooth...
News Mario Tennis Fever Hits Switch 2 Next February
What's not to LOVE?
Nintendo has announced that Mario Tennis Fever will launch for Nintendo Switch 2 on 12th February 2026. The game, which you can check out in the trailer above, looks like it's taking Mario Tennis back to its glory days, packed full of features, modes, and even an adventure for the cute characters involved to work through! We'll...
News Octopath Traveler 0 Digital Edition Pre-Orders Now Live On Switch eShop
Available for Switch 1 & Switch 2!
Square Enix has announced that Octopath Traveler 0 digital pre-orders are now live on the Nintendo eShop for both Switch 1 and Switch 2. Octopath Traveler 0, as you'll doubtless be aware, takes the series back in time for a new story that features a fully-customisable protagonist, larger party sizes, town-building...
Opinion Silksong's Tight Construction Is Exactly What I Need After Too Much Open-World Loafing
I have to fight the boss now? But I was picking flowers!
Of course, it's not in any way whatsoever radical to have your players follow along a tightly-scripted path in a video game. It's nothing new, it's nothing that hasn't been a constant (in platformers especially) since...well...forever. So why is it, some five or six hours into my time with...
News Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Demo Races Onto Switch Next Week
Don't get your Robotniks in a twist
Sega has dropped some details regarding the demo for the upcoming Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds. As you'll no doubt already be aware, a demo for the game was confirmed a little while back, and we have also had a stress test available to try out
News Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion Switch 2 Gyro Controls Confirmed For Future Update
And an old foe returns in a timed in-game event
Daemon x Machina: Titanic Scion has been out in the wild for around about a week now and, if you checked out our 6/10 review of the game, you'll know that gyro controls were missing from action at launch. Boo! Now, producer Kenichiro Tsukuda, via the game's official social media account, has dropped...
Review 8BitDo Ultimate 2 Wireless Controller - Ultimate? No, But 'Decent' Doesn't Have The Same Ring
No wake, no bake?
Note. Before we begin, it's worth clarifying that the controller reviewed here is the Ultimate 2 Wireless Controller, featuring an Xbox-style button layout and originally designed for Windows and Android. However, there is also an Ultimate 2 Bluetooth variant, which is more readily out-of-the-box compatible with Switch and features...
