Gato Roboto (2019, Switch) - A Marvelous Monochrome Meowtroid

Doinksoft's Gato Roboto tells the story of a doomed mission to an unknown planet filled with hostile lifeforms and deadly traps. A pilot clings to life after his ship crashes down and there's only one hope left: His adorable cat.

Baba is You (2019, Switch) - Learning is Love

A puzzle game designed around learning and modifying the rules of the game world itself, Baba is You is an early front runner for one of my favorite titles of 2019. The art is simple but adorable, the concept is brilliant, and the feeling of satisfaction that comes from finally figuring out the connection that makes a seemingly impossible puzzle all fit together logically is matched only by 2016's brilliantly designed The Witness. Baba is Good.

The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa (2019, Switch) - Street Fighting Men

The concept of Ringo Ishikawa sounds like something made especially for me; a leisurely slice-of-life story with game play modeled after River City Ransom where you can spend your free time reading books, watching bad movies, and playing ping pong with your bros. It's immediately charming and melancholy, with a lovely soundtrack and a great looking town, but settles into endless tedium that evokes the game's themes well but doesn't offer much depth.

Hollow Knight (2018, Switch) - Bugging Out

Team Cherry's take on the Metroid/Castlevania formula is a stylish blend of cute, gross, and bizarre, taking players into a writhing world of bug-people, some lovable, some revolting. Its writing style, a few of its mechanics, and a fixation on telling a story through hidden lore rather than traditional narrative shows clear inspiration from the Dark Souls series, but Hollow Knight's blend of platforming and tough-but-fair boss fights is different enough to carve out its own space. Hollow Knight succeeds in many areas where 2016's similarly built Salt & Sanctuary left me disappointed, but I'm still left wanting something a bit different.