Author: Trafficblast

Microsoft’s backwards compatibility team created a system called FPS Boost, and it does just that–it increases the frames per second for Xbox games on Xbox Series X and S. In some cases, frame rates can be doubled, which in turn can make games look and run smoother to provide a better experience overall. Not every game Xbox game uses FPS Boost, but plenty do–close to 100 as of September 2021–and we’re rounding them all up here.

Another important thing to know is that, to unlock higher frame rates, some games make a compromise that brings down the resolution to accommodate this. In these cases, which Microsoft says only make up “select” group of titles, FPS Boost is not automatically toggled on for Xbox Series X specifically. However, if you do what to experience higher frame rates at the tradeoff of lower resolution, you can toggle it on manually. Here’s a video explaining how:

There is also a new guide overlay located in the upper right corner when you tap the Xbox button on your controller that lets you know if FPS Boost is enabled or not. An extensive breakdown of FPS Boost and troubleshooting support can be found on Microsoft’s website.

How To Enable/Disable FPS Boost

Microsoft’s support site mentions that most games that use FPS Boost have it toggled on by default. For those where it must be triggered manually, all you have to do is:

• Go into the “Manage game” page for the title
• Check the box for FPX boost

To disable FPS Boost, uncheck the box. This also applies to the auto HDR settings for a game.

Some games, like Battlefield 1 and Star Wars Battlefront II, support frame rates up to 120fps. But you will need a supported TV or monitor for this. If you’re in the market for a new TV, you can check out GameSpot’s list of the best 4K/120fps TVs for gaming. Also of note is that, because of the increased horsepower of the Series X relative to the Series S, some games on Series S may not have frame rates as high as on Series X.

How To Enable 120fps

Microsoft’s support site has a full rundown of how to enable 120fps for your games, provided they support this increased frame rate and you have a compatible TV. Here are the instructions:

• Make sure that your console is on the latest update:
  1. Press the Xbox button  to open the guide, and then select Profile & system > Settings > System > Updates.
  2. Apply any updates listed as needed.
• Make sure that your TV supports the 120 Hz refresh rate. This varies by TV model. Be sure to consult your owner’s manual for your TV to enable this.
• Change your console display settings to 120 Hz:
  1. Press the Xbox button  to open the guide, and then select Profile & system > Settings > General > TV & display options.
  2. Select Refresh rate > 120 Hz.
• Enable FPS boost in the compatibility settings for the game:
  1. In My games & apps, highlight the game desired, and then press Menu > Manage game & add-ons > Compatibility options.
  2. Enable FPS boost.

You can see the full rundown of Xbox games that support FPS boost below, as compiled by Microsoft’s Major Nelson. We will update this post if and when more games are added.

Xbox Games With FPS Boost

As of September 2021:

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The trailer for Marvel’s Hit-Monkey has been released. The animated series stars Ted Lasso’s Jason Sudeikis, and it premieres on Hulu on November 17.

Hit-Monkey is based on the Marvel comic book by Daniel Way and Dalibor Talajić. The title character is indeed a monkey who becomes an assassin–specifically, a Japanese Macaque out for vengeance against a criminal gang. Sudeikis voices Bryce, a deceased hitman who appears only to Hit-Monkey, and offers him advice from beond the grave. It looks like an unusual, action-packed series that at the very least stand out from other Marvel shows out there. Check the trailer out below:

Hit-Monkey’s voice-cast also includes George Takei (Star Trek) as a politician named Shinji and Olivia Munn (the X-Men movies, The Predator) as his niece Akiko. The showrunners are Josh Gordon and Will Speck, who are best known for directing the hit comedies Blades of Glory and Office Christmas Party.

The show was first announced back in 2019, when it was one of four new animated Marvel shows in development at Hulu. One of these was Patton Oswalt’s MODOK, which premiered back in May. However, the other two shows–Tigra & Dazzler Show and Howard The Duck–were both canceled before they reached production.

The next live-action Marvel show will be Hawkeye, which arrives on Disney+ on November 24. The series stars Jeremy Renner as Clint Booth and Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop–check out the trailer here.

Halo Infinite marks a big change for the sci-fi series in terms of player progression for multiplayer, with the game focusing exclusively on encouraging players to advance through a battle pass-based system. There is no per-match XP and there will not be a separate XP progression system outside of the battle pass at launch.

In the September edition of Inside Infinite, 343 Industries responded to the feedback about this, saying it is “actively exploring” giving players more weapons to progress through multiplayer beyond the battle pass alone.

Now Playing: 5 Things To Know About Halo Infinite’s Multiplayer Preview

“We have heard community feedback around wanting more progression options including things like ‘match XP’ to feed into the Battle Pass and an entirely separate, incremental system along the lines of earning SR152 in Halo 5: Guardians,” 343 said. “Expanding multiplayer progression offerings is something the team is actively exploring, and we look forward to continuing to evolve the experience in future seasons post-launch.”

All About The Battle Pass

The “one primary progression path” in Halo Infinite at launch will be the battle pass exclusively, and many have voiced their discontent for this online.

The Halo Infinite battle pass includes free items and content you can unlock with real money. Some of the cosmetics to be offered include helmets, visors, and armor coatings. Some “consumables” like XP boosts can be unlocked by earning XP by completing challenges. “Every tier of the pass will require the same, consistent amount of XP to unlock from beginning to end. So, regardless of whether you’re working to unlock tier 2 or tier 52, each unlock across the 100-tier Pass will require the same amount of XP,” 343 said.

In a change from other popular free-to-play multiplayer games, Halo Infinite’s battle passes will never expire. When a new multiplayer season comes around, previous battle passes will remain available.

Outside of the battle pass for each new Halo Infinite multiplayer season, there will be “limited-time event passes.” These are free and they will be available during “specified event periods.” The progression track and rewards, too, are separate from the main battle pass. “In general, an event will be available from one to multiple weeks, including weekends, offering players multiple opportunities to unlock available rewards,” 343 said.

Halo Infinite’s Season One main event is called Fractures: Tenrai, and this is how players can unlock the Yoroi armor core. “This event will be available for all players approximately one week per month during Season One, and the event will come and go throughout the season; available for players to make progress. Each time the Fracture returns, your progress will carry over, giving players multiple opportunities to unlock all 20 tiers of rewards on the event pass.”

Weekly And Daily Challenges

Halo Infinite will have weekly and daily challenges. One of the criticisms of Halo Infinite’s battle pass-focused progression system is that people might upset the natural flow of a multiplayer match in the pursuit of challenges. However, 343 said the challenges are–in general–designed to be “straightforward and never directly conflict with the objective of the match.”

For weekly challenges, players will be randomly given about 20 challenges out of a pool of “several hundred” possibilities. “Within this group of 20, some challenges will be pulled from the ‘easier’ tier while others will be pulled from the ‘harder’ tier with the XP reward being commensurate to the difficulty and time investment required,” 343 said.

“The specific Weekly Challenges a player gets are unique per player so while there may be some overlap, in general players won’t all be chasing the same specific challenges at the same time. This means that it is extremely unlikely that everyone in the same match will need the same ‘Get X Kills with the S7 Sniper’ challenge,” the developer added. “However, the total amount of obtainable weekly challenge XP is the same for every player. By default, all players will have 3 active challenges at any given time but players who purchase a Battle Pass will be granted a 4th slot. Again, the total # of achievable challenges and total potential XP available is the same for ALL players but Pass owners will get one extra ‘active’ slot as a perk.”

If a player completes every weekly challenge, they will receive an “Ultimate Challenge” that will pay out a unique reward like an armor coating or an emblem.

Here are some examples of the weekly challenges you could receive:

• Stay Off My Yard – Kill an Enemy Spartan Attacking a Friendly Zone (0/1)
• For the Win – Win a Quick Play Match (0/1)
• Castle Crasher – Complete a Strongholds Match (0/1)
• Spartan Killer – Kill Enemy Spartans in Slayer (0/3)
• Large Squad Scuffle – Complete a Big Team Battle Match (0/1)
• Play Ball – Play an Oddball Match (0/1)
• Back Smack Attack – Kill an Enemy Spartan from behind with a Melee Attack (0/1)
• Wargames Warrior – Kill Enemy Spartans (0/10)
• Banshee Bomber – Kill Enemy Spartans with the Banshee’s Fuel Rod Gun in PvP (0/5)
• Mortar Minimizer – Destroy an Enemy Wraith in PvP (0/1)
• Spread the Love – Kill Enemy Spartans with the Battle Rifle in PvP (0/15)
• Big Wheel Bully – Destroy Enemy Choppers in PvP (0/3)
• Gaptacular – Knock an Enemy Spartan off the map with the Repulsor in PvP (0/1)
• Noisemaker – Kill an Enemy Spartan with a Rocket Launcher in PvP (0/1)
• Wheelin’ Dealin’ Poultry Mealin’ – Win Any PvP Matches (0/3)
• Chef’s Kiss – Kill an Enemy Spartan using a kinetic semi-auto or burst weapon with peak efficiency in PvP (0/1)
• Flag Switching – Capture Enemy Flags in PvP (0/10)
• Separation Anxiety – Kill Enemy Spartans by Sticking them with a Plasma Grenade or Spike Grenade in PvP (0/5)
• Grapple-jack – Grapple to and Hijack Enemy Vehicles in PvP (0/3)
• Autopilot Engaged – Kill an Enemy Driver of a moving vehicle with a Sniper Rifle in PvP (0/1)

And as an example of an Ultimate Challenge:

• Tactical Precision – Kill Enemy Spartans with a Headshot in PVP – (0/15) – “Rewards Abby Lime Sniper Rifle Coating.”

For daily challenges, these are aimed to be the “XP drip” for progression in the battle pass. “Daily challenges come in three varieties starting with the ‘easy tier’ and progressing into challenges that have slightly higher and more specific requirements,” 343 said. “Initially, players will have a large pool of daily challenges along the lines of ‘play any multiplayer match’ which awards XP for playing any MP mode that operates on a trusted server (i.e. Bot Arena, Arena, and BTB playlists). Once a player has completed all of their ‘Stage One’ Daily Challenges, they’ll move into ‘Stage Two’ which includes a slew of dailies that now awards slightly more XP but requires playing PvP matches (i.e. Bot Arena no longer counts). And finally, once a player has exhausted all their ‘Stage Two’ challenges for a given day, they move into ‘Stage Three’ which awards slightly more XP for winning multiplayer matches.”

Daily challenge allotments will reset each day, taking players back to Stage One. 343 said it should take about 16-18 hours to run out of daily challenges, so unless you are playing an extreme amount of Halo Infinite each day, you should always have more to do.

That said, 343 again acknowledged that some players want a per-match XP system–but it’s not happening. It’s all about the battle pass in Halo Infinite multiplayer.

“While we understand the community’s feedback around wanting a steady drip of match XP and more ways to earn XP for the Battle Pass, we are optimistic that the system available at launch will give players adequate means of continually having something to accomplish and a means to progress,” 343 said. “Looking further ahead beyond launch, we expect these systems to evolve in direct partnership with player feedback.”

Another element of Halo Infinite’s free multiplayer are what are called “challenge swaps.” Players are able to change out one of their assigned weekly challenges–but this does not apply to dailies. As mentioned above, challenges are assigned different difficulty tiers, and the game won’t let you swap a harder one for an easier one to avoid players taking advantage of the system to grind through the battle pass faster. Challenge swaps can be unlocked through the battle pass or the limited-time event pass, or they can be purchased with real money. Some challenge swaps will also be available through “partnerships and promotions.”

XP Boosts

Finally, 343 discussed Halo Infinite XP boosts, which will give players double XP for their weekly and daily challenges. XP boosts are timed for 30 minutes, but this is not final; 343 is still evaluating what duration might be best. XP boosts can be unlocked through the battle pass, by purchasing them with real money, or through promotions and partnerships.

The full blog post runs through a ridiculous amount of depth and detail on Halo Infinite’s multiplayer and progression system–go read it here.

Halo Infinite has two more multiplayer betas coming up, the first of which begins this weekend and is focused on 4v4 Arena Slayer. The next will let players try out Big Team Battle.

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In Kena: Bridge of Spirits, everyday items are imbued with new, unseen emotional significance. A wooden mask is a link to the spirit of the person for whom it was made. Objects like a construction hammer or a box filled with food are tied to memories of people who have been lost. Locations that were once the sites of vibrant and happy times are scarred with the pain and trauma suffered within them.

Looking at common things with new eyes is a running theme of Kena, and that theme often applies to its gameplay as well. Though the game is filled with some fairly common action-adventure genre tropes–it has melee combat that feels akin to titles such as Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order or even Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, climbing sections similar to Uncharted or Tomb Raider, platforming that recalls games such as Ratchet and Clank, and puzzles like what you might see in The Legend of Zelda–it manages to combine a familiar approachability with some fresh spins on the ideas. Combined with emotional, character-driven storytelling, some tough-but-excellent fights, and mechanics that make the world feel alive around you, Kena is an exciting, often heartbreaking journey that will make you want to explore every corner and crevice to see all that you can.

The story and world of Kena: Bridge of Spirits center on a village beset by tragedy. Its inhabitants are all gone, wiped out by misfortune, and their pain has physically poisoned the once-vibrant land around it. That pain has drawn Kena, a young spirit guide, to seek out the trauma at its center and heal it. Her link to the spirit realm allows her to help the ghosts of the village find peace, and in so doing, she’s able to push back the corruption that has gripped the land, restoring it to its former glory.

In practical terms, you do that by wandering the large, semi-open space of the village and its surrounding environs, battling the corrupted spirits of both the people who once lived there and the nature their pain has twisted. Most every interaction comes down to a combination of combat and puzzle-solving. Your goal is usually to beat back a host of enemies, freeing up the ability to destroy a nearby corrupted “heart”–a sort of evil flower bulb–with a blast of spirit energy you can pulse from Kena with the touch of a button. Kill the heart, and the corruption recedes, along with the corrupted enemies.

Combat itself is mostly familiar, with Kena fighting off enemies with the use of her spirit staff. You get light and heavy attacks you can combo together, but even in the normal difficulty, enemies hit hard and can knock you off your game if you’re not paying attention. Like similar action games, you have a dodge that can get you out of trouble most of the time, and you can generate a spirit shield with limited power that will stop attacks. Take too many hits, and the shield breaks, sending you flying and dealing you damage, but if you can time your block just right, you’ll parry an enemy and open them up to a counter-attack.

Both Kena’s puzzles and its combat add a twist in the form of the Rot, which are little spirit pals you can find in the environment. The Rot are a bit like Pikmin or the minions seen in games such as Overlord. In combat, you can send them to attack and distract enemies, allowing you to get in a few free hits or attack a weak point, and they’re essential to making hearts vulnerable in the middle of fights, which can allow you to stop enemies from respawning so you can advance.

The Rot are the thing that makes Kena stand apart from similar games, and finding them, powering them up, and utilizing them effectively adds a tactical layer to fights that goes beyond just dodging and parrying. Since the Rot are all pretty small, you need to work up their courage to bring them into the battle. As you deal damage and kill enemies, you fill a meter that gives you a Rot action, and you can deploy them in a fight with a single button or use them to power up one of your attacks for a big hit. The Rot are also crucial for taking advantage of the environment–you have to send them at hearts in order to neutralize them, and the only way to heal Kena is to expend a Rot action.

Working with the Rot in combat forces you to constantly be on the attack and to pay attention to your environment. You need to mentally log the location of hearts that spawn enemies and the items you use to heal, and it’s often essential that you knock out smaller, weaker enemies to build Rot charges so you can distract and take down bigger, tougher ones. Deciding how best to use the Rot in combat keeps you balancing a big-picture view of a fight with the smaller, more intense moments of parrying a big hit or sniping a weak point.

Occasionally, the combination of those elements can be a bit annoying, because it’s easy to blow a single dodge or block and have failure cascade on you, or to accidentally send the Rot to attack the wrong enemy as things get hectic. With some bosses, you’ll probably need to die a few times just to figure out how badly they’re capable of wrecking you. But death isn’t the point, and at least with PlayStation 5’s lickity-split load times, the game is always quick about getting you back into the action with as little punishment as possible. It also offers a story mode difficulty, which seems like a very good addition, given how deceptively difficult some of its fights can be. Kena’s combat is generally tough and exciting, executing well on familiar dodge-and-parry mechanics, but it’s the addition of the Rot and the versatility in how you can use them that really makes battles in Kena feel fun and intelligent.

That also goes for the game’s various puzzles. Outside of combat, Rot follow you around or pop up on ledges and bridges as you move through the environment, and can be sent to do contextual actions in the world, like moving climbable objects to help you reach a high platform. Kena does a good job of combining the need to give the Rot commands with smart uses of Kena’s abilities, creating situations in which solutions need you to think about what you can do with the unlockable bow or platform-levitating bombs, as well as what the Rot can do to alter the environment.

Where Kena nails the balance is in providing you with tons of puzzles that mostly reward your observation skills, without overly taxing your ability to solve them. Most of the time, spotting something the Rot can move or seeing an object you can interact with using spirit energy is enough to illuminate the path forward. You might be climbing along a wall and see a less-obvious spot where you can jump down, and every time, noticing something like this will take you to a reward.

The only drawback is that, with the game hinging so much on observation, it’s very easy to miss the one item that would point you in the right direction. One particular puzzle, which required shooting several torches in a specific order, had me wandering the area trying to figure it out for a good 10 minutes before I realized how simple the solution really was, but that I hadn’t caught on to the single-use clue the game had included to show me what to do. Mostly, though, these puzzles are just difficult enough to make you feel smart for catching on. Kena is also brimming with collectibles, including Rot spirits hidden in the environment and hats to customize them, and while chasing those items is largely inessential, the addition of all those little side paths and tiny rewards encourages you to explore and lose yourself in Kena’s world.

And it is a beautiful world to explore, thanks to phenomenal art direction and an excellent, immersive score, made more so by the stories of the spirits found within it. Developer Ember Labs has its beginnings in animation, and the game takes full advantage of that background with cute characters and gorgeous cutscenes that help to invest you even further in uncovering what has happened in the village and setting it right. You can’t save these people, but you can help them move on and forgive themselves.

In each section of the game, you venture out to find one particular tormented spirit and help them achieve peace, and your journey through the location is all about piecing together the story of who these people are and what became of them. In each, you’re not just helping free a human spirit who has been corrupted and twisted into a powerful and dangerous boss by their trauma–you’re also helping the spirits of the people who loved them but cannot reach them. The interactions with the characters you find in each section of the game helps imbue the areas in and around the village with a character of their own, and despite the fact that the place has been all but destroyed, you can feel the life that once thrived there.

What’s missing from the story, though, is Kena herself. The game hints that some tragedy in Kena’s past has scarred her, much like the spirits she sets out to help. Near the climax of the story, the game digs into some of Kena’s motivations and history but wraps things up so quickly and neatly that it feels like some aspect of her tale might have been cut. Kena is more or less in the same place at the end of the story as at the beginning, and in a game where so much development is given to the stories of the inhabitants of the village, the attention paid to the protagonist feels anemic by comparison.

The act of meeting and understanding all those other characters is powerful, though. Kena: Bridge of Spirits is ultimately a game about making those connections, just like it’s about making a connection with the game world around you through the Rot. It centers on characters who tried valiantly but failed to help one another, and what dealing with that pain did to them. It’s about exploring a world and seeing what it once was, and helping to restore it again. And while Kena: Bridge of Spirits is full of familiar-feeling combat and exploration, its ability to find different ways to look at those ideas makes for a beautiful, emotional, and exciting journey.

One of Disney’s many new Star Wars TV shows in the works, the Obi-Wan Kenobi project featuring Ewan McGregor in the title role, has finished filming. Not only that, but McGregor said he believes the show will live up to expectations.

“It was really, really good fun; I really enjoyed working with [director] Deborah Chow and I think it will not disappoint. I think it’s going to be good,” McGregor said to Variety (via IGN). McGregor added that he also enjoyed Kenobi’s use of new technology, which was a different experience compared to the prequel films that he starred in.

McGregor made his comments after winning his first Emmy this weekend for the TV show Halston.

McGregor previously told The Hollywood Reporter that he was working almost exclusively with bluescreens on Revenge of the Sith, and it was far from ideal, which is why he’s happy to film the new Kenobi show in a different way.

“After three or four months of that, it just gets really tedious–especially when the scenes are … I don’t want to be rude, but it’s not Shakespeare,” he said of the earlier Star Wars films from George Lucas. “There’s not something to dig into in the dialogue that can satisfy you when there’s no environment there. It was quite hard to do.”

For the Obi-Wan series, McGregor said he is excited to get to work using the new StageCraft technology. “They project [the virtual backgrounds] onto this massive LED screen. So if you’re in a desert, you’re standing in the middle of a desert. If you’re in the snow, you’re surrounded by snow,” he said. “And if you’re in a cockpit of a starfighter, you’re in space. It’s going to feel so much more real.”

As announced previously, Lucasfilm is working with Fortnite studio Epic Games and Star Wars effects company Industrial Light and Magic on new tech called StageCraft that uses Epic’s Unreal Engine to project scenes onto LED screens surrounding the physical set.

The Kenobi TV series is headed to Disney+. In addition to McGregor coming back to play Obi-Wan, Hayden Christensen is returning to play Darth Vader. F9’s Sung Kang plays a mysterious character on the show who wields a lightsaber.

The series is being directed by Deborah Chow, who previously helmed episodes of The Mandalorian. While plot details are currently under wraps, Lucasfilm has confirmed that the show will take place 10 years after Revenge of the Sith.

Kenobi, which doesn’t have a release date, is one of various new Star Wars shows in development for Disney+. Others include The Book of Boba Fett, Andor, Lando, and Ahsoka. For more, check out GameSpot’s guide to everything we know about all the upcoming Star Wars movies and shows.

The Nintendo Switch keeps building in strength, thanks to a library of great first-party games and strong third-party support. With the flexibility of playing while docked to a TV or as a handheld, portable console, it’s a great way to enjoy your favorite games. We’ve already seen plenty of brilliant Nintendo Switch games such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons, so it’s exciting to know there’s more to come. Whether you’ve been a Switch owner from the beginning, or are perhaps eyeing the new OLED version, there are plenty of upcoming games to get excited about. To help you find your next gaming obsession, we’ve compiled a list of the biggest upcoming Nintendo Switch games to watch out for over the next year.

Nintendo Switch owners should also check out our guides to the best Nintendo Switch games, best Nintendo Switch games for kids, and the best games of 2021 so far–which includes several great Switch games.

Long has the Metroid series conjured a strong sense of tension and foreboding with its mysterious sci-fi setting filled with deadly hazards. Metroid Dread will crank the fear factor up to 11, particularly with the introduction of the invincible EMMI robots that relentlessly chase Samus through cramped corridors. Alongside Samus’ usual abilities, she will also possess a stealthy power-up known as the Phantom Cloak. This new ability renders Samus invisible to the EMMI, but it can only be used sparingly, since it chews into her energy and health reserves. Set after the events of Metroid Fusion, whispers emerged about Metroid Dread as early as 2005, a project only recently fully-realized, making it the first new 2D game in the Metroid series in nearly 20 years. It looks speedy, action-packed, and intense: we’re absolutely ready to run for our lives when Metroid Dread comes to Nintendo Switch on October 8.

Mario Party Superstars is a celebration of the popular game series that induces multiplayer mayhem–and breaks friendships–dating back to the Nintendo 64. It’ll feature five game boards from the N64 Mario Party entries, each fully remastered, alongside 100 minigames from the series’ vast collection. Importantly, Mario Party Superstars will include button controls as well as motion controls, so you can play it the way you enjoy it best. Mario Party Superstars also features online matchmaking so you can play with friends anywhere, anytime. The reinvigorated visuals of each classic board and minigame are pretty impressive, looking vibrant and popping with color. Mario Party Superstars will let you duke it out for the title of superstar on Nintendo Switch come October 29.

Shin Megami Tensei fans have had a great 2021, with the Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster earlier this year, and they’ve got more to look forward to with Shin Megami Tensei V mere months away. Some of you may be more familiar with the Persona series, a spin-off deriving from Shin Megami Tensei, which also had a Switch release this year with Persona 5 Strikers. Involving an epic story of clashes between gods and humans, demons to fight, and alternate realms to explore, Shin Megami Tensei V has all the ingredients of a strong JRPG. Series veterans will recognize familiar turn-based combat elements, such as building consecutive attacks by targeting weaknesses and the ability to recruit demons to your side through negotiation. Due out November 12, Shin Megami Tensei V will be a Nintendo Switch exclusive.

Pokemon Diamond and Pearl graced the Nintendo DS back in 2007 as the handheld console’s first entry in the Pokemon series. Now, 15 years later, the superlative-laden Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are the Nintendo Switch remakes of the DS games. Fans of the original Diamond and Pearl will be delighted to know the remakes are remaining extremely faithful to the DS versions. Instead of recreating the Sinnoh region with the same visual perspective as recent entries Pokemon Sword and Shield, Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl retain a similar art direction to the source material, albeit with sharper graphics. The remakes should provide all sorts of nostalgia for returning players, while providing a sharp-looking introduction to Sinnoh for first-timers. Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl arrive on Nintendo Switch on November 19.

The Advance Wars series brought some of the best tactical gameplay of the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS era. Now we get to revisit it with a fresh new look in the form of Advance Wars 1 + 2: Re-Boot Camp, a Nintendo Switch remake of the first two games. Featuring turn-based gameplay on a grid, the Advance Wars games see you assume the role of one of various Commanding Officers directing troops to victory, with each military group capable of using game-changing special abilities, such as unit repairs or power boosts. Developer WayForward (Shantae, River City Girls) has got the job with the remake, breathing new life into the series that will now feature online multiplayer in addition to the campaigns and local play included in the original release. You’ll be able to suit up for battle when Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp marches onto Nintendo Switch on December 3.

Pokemon Legends: Arceus is shaping up to be one of the most exciting new additions to the series in years. Where Pokemon Sword and Shield took small steps into open-world exploration with the Wild Area, Pokemon Legends: Arceus looks to be going all-in. Set in the distant past, you play as an adventurer tasked with creating the Sinnoh region’s first Pokedex. In a significant change to the series, Pokemon Legends: Arceus appears to take place in real-time, with catching Pokemon requiring you to aim and throw Poke Balls while they roam openly in the wild. Its lush, nature-filled open-world setting has drawn comparisons to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild–a game that certainly makes for good inspiration. The focus on the eponymous Pokemon promises plenty of interesting narrative implications, as Arceus is considered a deity-like figure that created the Sinnoh region. We’ll find out more when Pokemon Legends: Arceus hits Nintendo Switch on January 28, 2022.

Splatoon, the family-friendly ink shooter, is a big seller for Nintendo, so the announcement of Splatoon 3 was a welcome inevitability. The Splatoon series has captured imaginations worldwide with its bright and fast-paced gameplay, fresh music, and the hotly contested Splatfests. Splatoon 3’s setting as shown in the reveal trailer is a Mad Max-style desert wasteland, which looks moody as hell and a like fascinating location for waging turf wars. One of the new weapons revealed is a bow capable of shooting ink arrows to take out opposition inklings and claim territory for your team. Both Splatoon games released so far have been brilliant fun for all ages, which is exactly what we’re expecting when Splatoon 3 splashes onto Nintendo Switch sometime in 2022.

With a working title named after the widely-adopted weapon triangle system of many turn-based strategy games, it’s clear what you’re going to get with Project Triangle Strategy: plenty of tactical gameplay along with a deep story. A follow-up to Square Enix’s gorgeous HD-2D RPG Octopath Traveler, Project Triangle Strategy takes more of a turn-based strategy approach in telling a grand tale about the “Saltrion War” of factions vying for control over the valuable resources of–would you believe–salt and iron. What intrigues us most about Project Triangle Strategy is its strong focus on game-altering choices. By making decisions based on utility, morality, and liberty, you shape the narrative and affect who joins your cause. With more stunning pixel art, tactical gameplay, and a choice-based story to enjoy, we’re awaiting more on Project Triangle Strategy–including its final name–ahead of a 2022 release on Nintendo Switch.

Nintendo and Ubisoft’s tactical crossover with Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle surprised even the most rusted-on genre veterans with its whimsical setting and clever gameplay, so we’re thrilled a sequel, Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, is incoming. This time around, Mario and his Rabbid friends venture forth to save the galaxy alongside Rabbid Rosalina and Rabbid-Luma hybrids known as “Sparks”. Not content to rest on the same grid-based combat of its predecessor, Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope includes more real-time combat elements in addition to an increased focus on overworld exploration. Beloved video game composer Grant Kirkhope is returning to score this one, too, so there will be plenty of wonderful music to listen to while you take on the freshened-up combat encounters. Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope will bring its quirky genre hybrid action to Nintendo Switch during 2022

How do you follow up one of the greatest games of all time? Make a direct sequel, naturally. The Breath of the Wild sequel–which we don’t yet know the official title of–has us all clamoring for details, with recent trailer footage offering a tantalizing glimpse into the setting we’ll be exploring in the near future. We’ve done our own speculation as to what the next Hyrule adventure will entail, going over the symbolism used in an effort to decipher what the Zelda team has in store. Combine this with the potential narrative implications of recent spin-off Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, there are any number of scenarios that could play out. Breath of the Wild was so brilliant in part because of its wondrous sense of discovery and exploration. Its sequel will take to the skies in an exciting attempt to reach the same dizzying heights in 2022 on Nintendo Switch.

From small indie team Sidebar Games, Sports Story is the follow-up to charming RPG-sport hybrid Golf Story, with the addition of several more sports, including tennis and soccer. Similar to the Mario Golf and Mario Tennis games on Game Boy Color, Golf Story combined satisfying sports gameplay with RPG elements, such as leveling up stats and acquiring better equipment, alongside a humorous story where every problem could be solved by hitting a golf ball at it. Sports Story was initially slated for a 2020 release but was delayed indefinitely due to its increasing development scope. At this point, we’re not sure when Sports Story is going to bounce onto Nintendo Switch consoles.

Look, we don’t know when to expect Metroid Prime 4–especially in light of development restarting at the start of 2019–but the series’ and Retro Studios’ collective pedigree alone is reason enough to eagerly anticipate the eventual release of the fourth entry. The Metroid Prime series is an outstanding first-person adventure game with shooter mechanics, lauded for its ability to generate immersion through meticulous worldbuilding and phenomenal sound design. We certainly hope to see Metroid Prime 4 in 2022 so we can once again assume the role of Samus in another brilliant spacefaring adventure. One thing we do know for sure: Metroid Prime 4 will be a Nintendo Switch exclusive.

Hollow Knight stunned many of us with its brilliant, bug-filled take on the popular Metroidvania genre, so it’s sequel, Hollow Knight: Silksong, has to be one of the most hotly anticipated indie games going. From Team Cherry, a team almost as tiny as its insectoid characters, Hollow Knight sports tight combat and rewarding exploration, and includes some of the best environmental storytelling seen in any video game. Hollow Knight: Silksong stars Hornet, a protagonist larger and more vertically nimble than Hollow Knight’s hero. At exhibition demos back in 2019, Hornet’s needle and silk-based abilities were simultaneously familiar, yet different, making her a satisfying, refreshing character to play–mainly due to her abilities’ encouraging greater verticality. We’re not sure when Hollow Knight: Silksong is arriving on Nintendo Switch, but here’s hoping it’s soon.

Bayonetta 3 is in the same boat as Metroid Prime 4. We know it’s in development: we just don’t know when to expect the return of everyone’s favorite Umbra Witch. As recently as E3 2021, we heard Bayonetta 3 is “progressing well”, so we’ll have to hang tight in the meantime. Bayonetta’s known for some of the most deliriously camp action-shooter gameplay out there, and the eponymous character is as charming as she is deadly, defeating hordes of angels and demons with flowing locks of hair that would make Rapunzel jealous. It’s for this reason and many more that we think Bayonetta 3 is one of the biggest upcoming Nintendo Switch games.