Tetris 99 (2019)
© Nintendo
What, you thought the shape-dropping juggernaut would let us get away with just a single title on the list?
One of the core reasons to pick up Nintendo Switch Online, Tetris 99 brought a novel approach to the battle royale genre. If you’ve ever wanted to put your shape-slotting skills to the test, Tetris 99 is the perfect place to prove your worth as you strive to be the sole survivor out of almost a hundred challengers.
We’ve always believed the battle royale genre has plenty more to offer than shooters, and Nintendo has proven just how well the format works when plastered on other genres. Tie-ins with Splatoon, Luigi’s Mansion and Fire Emblem have kept us coming back for more, and it doesn’t look like Nintendo plans to stop any time soon. Keep practising and one day you might even manage to rival Morgan Shaver, the AG team’s own renowned Tetris expert.
Gorogoa (2017)
Is a picture worth a thousand words? Honestly, it’s not our place to judge, but what we can tell you is that Gorogoa finds many meanings within its simple frames. By separating, connecting or zooming in and out of each frame, Gorogoa brings wonderfully hand-drawn images to life as you piece together a puzzle without direction.
Lining up a tree branch could cause a crow to take flight, dislodging an apple such that it falls from one frame to the next. That same apple can then be collected by a figure in another frame, provided you connect them properly. Appropriately challenging to describe via words, Gorogoa is as much a piece of art as it is a puzzle, and deserves to be experienced by more.
The Swapper (2013)
Would you transfer your consciousness to another body? In The Swapper, you'll have to deal with the consequences.
© Facepalm Games
What makes you, you? Your memories? Your history? The atoms that constitute your body? It’s a challenging discussion that isn’t faced often in gaming or indeed life, but 2D puzzle-platformer The Swapper dives into it wholeheartedly. While investigating an abandoned space station, you’re able to make sure of a tool to swap your consciousness between various cloned bodies.
It’s a fancy videogame trick that allows for all manner of interesting puzzles, but also a fair few philosophical quandaries as well. Is it really “you” that makes the jump between bodies, or are you simply recreating your exact mindstate in another? The Swapper doesn’t try to provide firm answers to an arguably unsolvable problem, but it will certainly get you thinking while also providing plenty of challenges along the way.
