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The latest indie hit is also a surprise game of the year contender, as you try to discover the secrets of your great uncle’s mysterious manor.

Since the early 1990s, when Myst and Riven wowed gamers with their pre-rendered CD-ROM graphics, puzzle games have been perfectly content not to explain themselves, letting players infer far more about their plot and setting than they’re explicitly told. And that’s certainly not something that’s gone away in the last few decades, with titles like Gorogoa, Return Of The Obra Dinn, The Talos Principle, and Lorelei And The Laser Eyes proving utterly inscrutable for most, if not all, of their play times.

It adds to the air of mystery and helps keep an open mind when you go about solving what can be pretty oblique puzzles. Blue Prince is a little different. It begins by setting out exactly what you’re doing and why, even if its explanation poses more questions than it answers. Baron Herbert Sinclair has died, leaving his estate to you, his grandnephew, with the single stipulation in his will that you will only inherit it if you can locate the 46th room in his 45 room mansion.

There are other rules. You’re not allowed to stay overnight, all the items and tools you need for your exploration must remain inside the house, and you’re not allowed to bring anything in from the outside world. You swiftly discover that’s because Blue Prince has a roguelite structure, and that the house is completely dismantled at the end of each day, ready for you to help build it again from scratch the next morning using a special blueprint.

That means you begin each session with just an entrance hall, its doors facing North, East and West. Played from a first person perspective, when you approach one of the doors you’re presented with three random rooms. Some have useful items, others have plenty of doors so you can expand your map more easily, while others have debuffs that in most circumstances you’d want to avoid.

Placing a room on the house’s blueprint instantly builds it, so when you walk through the door, it opens into the room you’ve just designated, letting you collect anything inside and use its doors – if it has any – to build new rooms, corridors, and store cupboards. You’re limited in your house building endeavours by the number of footsteps you take. Starting each day with 50, you use one each time you enter a room, with some knocking more from your total depending on their type.

While you can top them up by eating food you find around the house, or receiving buffs from certain rooms, the number of footsteps you’ve taken is a constant consideration in your travels and discourages unnecessary backtracking. Run out of steps and it’s time to end the day and start again from that lonely entrance hall, but that’s just one of the things that ends runs that typically last 30 to60 minutes.

You’ll also find yourself boxed in, your layout reaching the edges on both sides, or having all available doors plugged by dead ends. Generally, cul-de-sac rooms also have upsides, like giving you free footsteps or keys used to enter locked doors. But there are other times you place them by accident. If your selection of three rooms contains two that require a special crystal, and you’re fresh out of crystals, you can be forced to build rooms you would usually prefer not to.

While not beautiful, Blue Prince’s cel-shaded art style is more than enough to provide an atmospheric and consistent backdrop to your exploration. It’s also highly polished and completely bug free, its interface proving clean and responsive. Laying down rooms and entering them is quick and seamless, giving runs a wonderful sense of flow that really lets you get lost in your task.

Its puzzles are similarly pithy. Most runs will feature both the Billiard Room, where you’ll find an increasingly complex mathematical puzzle built into a dartboard, and the Parlour, which has a logic game constructed around three treasure boxes, each of which has a statement on it that may or may not be true. They’re brain teasing but pleasantly so, taking seconds rather than minutes to solve.

The real puzzle is the house, which has a tantalising antechamber permanently fixed in the centre of the farthest northern reach of your blueprint. You’re led to understand that it’s the gateway to what may be the 46th room, but just reaching the antechamber, let alone opening one of its four doors, is a puzzle of its own.

You’ll also find certain rooms interact with one another. Sometimes that confers extra bonuses, but other times rooms’ relationships are more essential. The Pump Room supplies or removes water from other rooms, while another gives them power. The Security Room lets you change how keycard doors work, but only in concert with the breaker box – which you’ll find in a Utility Closet. Or there’s the Laboratory that lets you conduct ‘experiments’ that offer rewards when you build specific rooms or trigger certain events.

Unlocking new rooms as you progress, which are retained for subsequent runs, you’re rated on how many you’ve managed to add to your blueprint at the end of each day; the game acknowledging their layout and composition in its final appraisal of that day’s results. You can also find tools. The metal detector for example, highlights extra coins and keys; the lockpick opens some doors without using up a key, while the Coat Check lets you save a single item and reclaim it another day.

The game advises you to have a pen and paper handy to make notes, and it’s not kidding. While some gamers won’t be fans of that idea, we found writing things down was all but essential unless you have a photographic memory. There are more than enough mysteries to unpick without the added challenge of forgetting some you already know the answers to.

There are moments of frustration – being forced to box yourself in when you were previously having a really good run or exhausting your supply of keys or footsteps just before getting to the anteroom do not inspire joy. There are also sometimes fairly lengthy periods where you don’t feel as though you’re making any progress at all, with runs finishing without any major breakthroughs, but then you’ll get a big step up making everything feel exciting again.

The obscurity of its overarching challenge, roguelite structure, and having to write things down won’t appeal to everyone. Neither will its mid-budget art style and sense of gradually evolving repetition. But if those things sound intriguing, Blue Prince (which pun fans may already have spotted references blueprints) is a fascinating slow building game that rewards persistence and curiosity like few others.

Formats: PlayStation 5* (reviewed), Xbox Series X/S, and PC
Price: TBA
Publisher: Raw Fury
Developer: Dogubomb
Release Date: 10th April 2025
Age Rating: 3

*available on PlayStation Plus Game Catalog, Game Pass Ultimate, and PC Game Pass from day one

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The Wednesday letters page thinks The Duskbloods was the worst part of the Nintendo Direct, as one reader worries that Zelda: The Wind Waker HD won’t be on Switch 2.

To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Smooth sale
There has been some justified criticism of Nintendo’s handling of the Switch 2 launch, from unclear messaging to the decision to make the big announcement on the same day the global economy imploded, but I really want to praise them for how well the pre-order system went.

I signed in on my lunch break at work, needing just a link in the invite email and a confirmation code to my phone. This put me about 10th in the queue and I was signed in within a minute, then just a quick process to put in my order for a Mario Kart bundle and Pro Controller.

Compare this to the standard process where I have to get up at the crack of dawn, attempt to sign into five different overloaded websites, then get stuck in interminable queues before being told they all got bought by botnets two seconds after going live. If Sony and Microsoft are going to copy any of Nintendo’s ideas, please add the invite system to the list.
TGN Professor

Golden ticket
I’ve said a lot in the Underbox about price, but what an earth did you have to do to actually get a Nintendo invite? Our household has three Switches (bought from Nintendo at various times), 100+ hours on Animal Crossing, the Zeldas, Smash Bros., and Mario Kart, plus considerable play on a whole multitude of Nintendo games bought digitally (yes I know, I know).

I’ve been a member online since the programme started, had a Wii U, etc. I’m gutted not to have had an invite! Have you heard anything on the grapevine? I’ve got an Amazon invite but given how they send consoles (no packaging/missing innards/late) I’d really hoped to buy from Nintendo.
team_catcave

GC: Amazon and Argos got in new stock on Tuesday, but it’s gone now. Although that suggests they’ll keep getting in more at regular intervals.

Getting lucky
So, on a whim, I have just checked pre-order availability of the Switch 2 on Argos. I was able to pre-order the console with Mario Kart World, a camera, and a second Joy-Con controller with no issues.

This surprised me as I thought it would have already sold out – especially as I was just logging on at 15:00 on the 15th as an afterthought. I have an email confirming it will be delivered on release day ‘direct from their suppliers’, i.e. Nintendo. Given how late it is in the afternoon I didn’t expect to be successful. Even better I had a 10% discount code and £40 of Nectar points. Let the good times roll!

Does this mean that, perhaps, the Switch 2 will not be the mega hit we all expected? Is it because of the negativity around the Direct? Or did I just get lucky?

Who knows? But I’m not complaining.
Geoff

GC: The 15th? Do you have a TARDIS?

Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Very odd
I was going to write in and say that’s another bang average game from Compulsion Games with their South Of Midnight offering (following Contrast with 65 at Metacritic and We Happy Few with 64), but the Metacritic score of 77 from 71 outlets, so far, says otherwise.

The three review sites I generally read are yourselves, Eurogamer, and TrueAchievements, who have given scores that equate to 50% and two 60% scores, respectively. Not a ringing endorsement. It seems odd how Microsoft kept faith with them, but shut down Tango Gameworks after they produced a critically acclaimed game…
NatorDom
Currently playing: Animal Well before it leaves PS Plus Premium/Extra on the 15th.

Non-definitive edition
It’s great that GameCube games are coming to Nintendo Switch Online on Switch 2.

This means we’ll be able to replay old classics such as Luigi’s Mansion, Super Mario Sunshine, Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, and Zelda: The Wind Waker but why is no one else upset that it means The Wind Waker HD Version is now stuck on the Wii U?

I can’t see Nintendo releasing the same game twice on the same console.

As soon as I saw the GameCube reveal in the recent Nintendo presentation, I simultaneously exclaimed ‘Yes’ and ‘Oh no’ at the same time!
LeighDappa

GC: They definitely mentioned all the games running at higher resolution, so it’s probably not much different than the remaster. Who knows what Nintendo would charge for that though, if they ported the Wii U version.

Six out of 10
I was surprised by the comments from Shuhei Yoshida about the Nintendo Direct, as I always thought of him as very impartial and not a PlayStation zealot, despite working for Sony for so long. So, I found his remarks about too many remakes and ports to be very strange.

I’m not sure what he’s even really referring to. I guess the various third party games but that was hardly the focus of the Direct. Nobody’s going to buy a Switch 2 to play Elden Ring or Final Fantasy 7 Remake but knowing they’re there is a very good thing, and proof that it will have better third party support than previous Nintendo systems.

Very little time was spent on them either, so I’m not sure why fixated on that. If he’d complained about too many sequels, I could’ve understood that but It’s been over a decade since the last Mario Kart and Donkey Kong isn’t a sequel (I could’ve done without wasting time on Hyrule Warriors 3 though).

He didn’t seem to factor in Nintendo’s first party games at all, which was also strange considering that’s the main reason most people buy their consoles. And then he called the reveal of The Duskbloods to be the best part, when I found it the most disappointing. I was very excited at first but when I found out it was multiplayer only my interest vanished, and I know I’m not the only one.
Soba

Work of art
Last night I played and completed The Procession To Calvary on Switch. It’s a point ‘n’ click game that uses art from paintings for its world and characters.

It’s very funny, sometimes gory (you can draw your sword and ‘interact’ with people) and doesn’t outstay its welcome, taking just a couple of hours to play through it. It’s currently on sale on Switch for about a fiver and it’s well worth that, maybe not as much at full price.
Euclidian Boxes

Hold fire
I’ve recently been playing Sniper Elite 5 and have had a lot of fun sniping Nazis from across the maps. However, as fun as the main game is, it’s been the side quest to find and destroy the three stone eagles hidden within each level which I’ve been enjoying the most.

At first they were quite easy to spot, being perched atop a church or other official looking building, but in later levels they really are quite deviously placed, often requiring you to be looking through a specific window from a particular vantage point at some nondescript part of the scenery to spot them.

I’ve probably spent just as long hunting for them as I have been playing the main game but the satisfaction I get when I finally locate one of them, line up a shot, squeeze the trigger and see the eagle shatter to pieces in glorious slow-mo is very rewarding.

So with that being said, you can imagine my surprise and the big cheesy grin which spread across my face when I came across this little fella when I was on a bike ride recently around my local neighbourhood. The urge to hunker down in tall grass and start taking pot shots is strong. I must resist!
Heinz57

Inbox also-rans
I just licked one of my Nintendo Switch cartridges and I can confirm to you that nobody should ever think of licking a Nintendo Switch cartridge.
Lobo

I will never understand these truck driving games and other purposefully boring simulators. Why would you pretend to do a job where the most exciting thing that ever happens is stopping at a service station to get a bacon sandwich? And you can’t even eat a virtual sandwich!
Focus

That Marvel Cosmic Invasion looks great but I wish they’d do a DC Comics version, we fans never seem to get fun stuff like that. Or the dream of Marvel Vs. DC. I would love that so much.
Rem91

Would just like to agree with GC that the PC Engine is a sexy console, as is the non-American SNES. I’m also partial to the PlayStation 2. It’s a bit of a monolith but I think it looks better than other slabs, like the Xbox Series X/S. The Xbox One was pretty good though.
Winston

Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk

The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.

You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.

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MORE: Games Inbox: Will the Nintendo Switch 2 sell out?

MORE: Games Inbox: Is Nintendo justified with its Switch 2 prices?

MORE: Games Inbox: How expensive are Nintendo Switch 2 games?

Astro Bot has won the lion’s shares of this year’s trophies at the Bafta Games Awards, with Still Wakes The Deep picking up three.

Most organisations had their yearly game awards some time ago, with Astro Bot wining Game of the Year at The Game Awards in December – although we named Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth our favourite title of 2024, in our own Top 20 list.

The Bafta Games Awards are always heavily biased towards British developers, while seemingly reticent to acknowledge Asian titles, but this year they didn’t have any choice and Sony’s Astro Bot picked up Best Game, Best Animation, Audio Achievement, Family, and Game Design.

That was the most of any game, but the British made Still Wakes The Deep won three, for New Intellectual Property, Performer in a Leading Role, and Performer in a Supporting Role.

Helldivers 2 won twice for Multiplayer and Best Music, while other winners included Balatro for Debut Game, Metaphor: ReFantazio for Narrative, and Tales of Kenzera: Zau for Game Beyond Entertainment.

Previous Best Game winner Vampire Survivors picked up the Evolving Game award, the otherwise disappointing Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 won for Technical Achievement, and Thank Goodness You’re Here! picked up the British Game award.

However, perhaps the most deserved winner of the night was former Capcom composer Yoko Shimomura, who was responsible for the iconic Street Fighter 2 soundtrack, as well as everything from Super Mario RPG and Final Fantasy 15 to multiple titles in the Kingdom Hearts franchise.

She was awarded a Bafta Fellowship, which puts her alongside such gaming luminaries as Shuhei Yoshida, Hideo Kojima, Tim Schafer, John Carmack, David Braben, Rockstar Games, Gabe Newell, Peter Molyneux, Shigeru Miyamoto, Nolan Bushnell, and Will Wright.

Not to mention Stanley Kubrick, Laurence Olivier, Judi Dench, and Floella Benjamin.

The awards were hosted by comedian Phil Wang and considered titles between November 25, 2023 and November 15, 2024, with some restrictions on eligibility of remakes and DLC.

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The creators of We Happy Few return with one of the best looking games of the year, featuring some stunning stop motion animation.

Microsoft has bought a lot of developers over the last decade or so but perhaps the most inexplicable purchase is little known Canadian studio Compulsion Games. Up until now their only games have been the relatively ambitious, but intrinsically flawed, Contrast and We Happy Few, and it’s never been clear why Microsoft became interested in them.

Perhaps they, like everyone else, was swayed by the intriguing but highly misleading teaser trailer for We Happy Few, but Compulsion is definitely the odd one out in the Xbox Games Studios line-up, since they’ve never had a critical or commerical hit. And yet somehow it’s Tango Gameworks that got shut down.

South Of Midnight is the best thing they’ve ever done, but not by much, and the end result feels outdated and generic, despite the attractive art design. In fact, we’re beginning to think Compulsion would be better off making animated movies rather than video games.

You probably know South Of Midnight best as the game with the stop motion style animation, that’s been featured in the last few Xbox showcases. However, in a We Happy Few style bait and switch, it’s only the cut scenes that are animated that way.

The characters look the same during gameplay, but they’re animated essentially normally, with only a faint attempt at mimicking the stop motion style in things like idle animations and the larger boss characters.

Perhaps Compulsion found that style of animation was too distracting during gameplay, or it was technically too demanding, but either way that immediately scrubs out one of the key selling points before the game has even begun.

The art style is still attractive, no matter how it’s animated, with characters having been made as physical models before being scanned in for use in the game, but the other main draw is the story and setting. You play as Hazel whose house, in the Deep South of the US, is destroyed during a storm, taking her mother with it, in a twist on the Wizard of Oz.

Hazel subsequently learns that she comes from a long line of Weavers, who have a variety of magical abilities, that range from being able to see ghosts and other supernatural creatures to having the means to fight monsters. Hazel is a likeable protagonist, but the core of the story is very predictable, even if the majority of playtime is spent helping various troubled spirits and discovering the root cause of supernatural incursions – which is inevitably some sort of horrific personal trauma.

They may be flawed but the story and visuals are the best thing about the game, with everything else being considerably less ambitious. South Of Midnight is primarily a 3D platformer, faintly reminiscent of something like Prince Of Persia. It’s slow-paced, and constantly interrupted by combat, story snippets, and perfunctory puzzles but there’s lots of jumping onto tree branches and wall-running to get from A to B.

Early on, you get the ability to glide on a magical parachute – which helps to compensate for an inherent lack of precision in the controls – and you can also employ your Weaver powers to do things like turning ghostly platforms into physical objects for a few seconds. It’s nothing you’d accuse of being original, but the platforming is competent enough.

The combat is not though. It feels very separate from the rest of the game, usually only occurring in small sectioned off areas, and basically involves nothing but bog standard melee combat – in what feels like an unwanted relic from the PlayStation 2 era. You fight indistinct looking supernatural creatures called Haints, none of which ever do anything surprising and whose visual design is disappointingly bland compared to the rest of the game.

There are additional abilities that can be used and unlocked – with the power to freeze enemies for a few moments, shoot magic blasts, ground pound, and the like – but Hazel’s skill tree is disappointingly short. Everything to do with the combat is very unimaginative and the extremely basic enemy artificial intelligence means it quickly becomes a slog – especially as the difficultly level is set surprisingly high by default, which is strange as the platforming is generally far too easy.

The boss battles look great, with far more memorable character designs than the regular Haints, but they’re no more fun to fight, especially as their encounters always go on for far too long.

We’re sure it’d be possible to turn South Of Midnight into an entertaining animated movie, but even then you’d be watching it for the visuals and not the story.

Beyond how it looks, this is a deeply uninteresting game, that feels several generations behind in terms of game design. It’s incapable of properly leveraging its story and setting and even at around 10 hours feels far too long. You don’t have to pay anything extra to try it out on Game Pass but the game struggles to justify any investment in time, let alone money.

Formats: Xbox Series X/S* and PC
Price: £39.99
Publisher: Xbox Game Studios
Developer: Compulsion Games
Release Date: 8th April 2025
Age Rating: 18

*available on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass from day one

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Rather than wait for Nintendo to drop its own pre-orders, you might want to check other UK retailers for stock of the Switch 2.

Nintendo was supposed to open pre-orders for the Nintendo Switch 2 on its website today, but while that may have happened for a select few it’s not something anyone can just do themselves on a whim.

If you’re lucky, you may have received an email granting you priority access and have already put yourself down for a console. If not, you hopefully won’t have to wait much longer, or at least not as long as the Americans do.

In the meantime, other UK retailers have announced they’ve got stock in again, after initially selling out – but you’ll still want to act fast before this next round of pre-orders runs out.

Where can I pre-order the Nintendo Switch 2 in the UK?

Amazon and Argos both opened their pre-orders early last week and, unsurprisingly, sold out quickly. In case you missed out the first time, you’ll be pleased to know they’ve already obtained new units to sell.

The extra bit of good news is that Amazon is no longer restricting pre-orders. It was originally invite-only, but now anyone should be able to purchase either the Switch 2 console or the Mario Kart World bundle, as long as there’s stock.

The likes of Very, Smyths, and EE are all offering pre-orders too (though at the time of writing, Very’s website doesn’t appear to be working). If you check their sites and they’ve sold out, you may have missed the window, but if today is anything to do by they’ll get more soon enough.

GAME also has pre-orders, but it has stressed that these are online-only. So, you can’t place a pre-order in-person at your local GAME store.

Currys, meanwhile, is doing the exact opposite and only offering pre-orders at physical stores. So, don’t bother refreshing the website, but do register your interest so you’ll be alerted when one’s available locally.

As a reminder, the console on its own costs £395.99 while the Mario Kart World bundle is £429.99 – essentially getting you the game for half price.

• Nintendo Switch 2 console – Argos
• Nintendo Switch 2 Mario Kart World bundle – Argos
• Nintendo Switch 2 console – Amazon
• Nintendo Switch 2 Mario Kart World bundle – Amazon
• Nintendo Switch 2 console – Very
• Nintendo Switch 2 Mario Kart World bundle – Very
• Nintendo Switch 2 console – Smyths
• Nintendo Switch 2 console – GAME
• Nintendo Switch 2 Mario Kart World bundle – EE

When can I pre-order Switch 2 through Nintendo in the UK?

To pre-order a Switch 2 directly from Nintendo, you’ll want to check the My Nintendo Store. It says pre-orders will be available from April 8, although this appears to only be for those who Nintendo is sending emails out to.

It’s unclear when console pre-orders will be available for everyone else, but Nintendo has opened them for select physical games, accessories, microSD cards, and controllers, including the store exclusive GameCube controller.

• Mario Kart World – £74.99
• Donkey Kong Bananza – £66.99
• Super Mario Party Jamboree – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Jamboree TV – £66.99
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition – £66.99
• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition – £66.99
• Kirby and the Forgotten Land – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Star-Crossed World – £66.99
• Nintendo GameCube controller – £58.99
• Switch 2 Pro Controller – £74.99
• Joy-Con 2 controller set – £74.99
• Joy-Con 2 charging grip – £29.99
• Joy-Con 2 wheel (set of two) – £16.99
• MicroSD cards (256GB) – £49.99
• Switch 2 camera – £49.99

Meanwhile, pre-orders for digital games, upgrade packs, and amiibo won’t open until April 24.

Whatever happens, just be glad you’re not in Canada. According to MobileSyrup, Nintendo has suddenly opted to delay Switch 2 pre-orders there as well, even though Canada has no tariffs on Asian imports.

‘Pre-orders for Nintendo Switch 2 in Canada will not start on April 9, 2025 in order to align with the timing of pre-orders to be determined in the US,’ reads a statement from Nintendo, which adds that the June 5 release date hasn’t changed.

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While diehard Nintendo fans ate up the Switch 2 showcase, former PlayStation exec Shuhei Yoshida has proven harder to please.

The first big Nintendo Direct for the Switch 2 left viewers feeling a whirlwind of emotions. It was exciting thanks to all the big game reveals, particularly for the likes of Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza, but there was a downside too.

Some announcements left people a little cold and the more exciting ones were undercut by the high prices of first party games, which weren’t shared until after the showcase had wrapped up.

One person who definitely wasn’t impressed, by what Nintendo had to show, was former PlayStation Studios president Shuhei Yoshida, who has been sharing his thoughts on the showcase.

Yoshida joined the team on the MinnMax YouTube channel and in a post-Direct chat, MinnMax founder Ben Hanson asked Yoshida how he would review it on a scale of one to 10.

To Hanson’s surprise, Yoshida only scored it a six, before adding it went up to a seven once FromSoftware’s new game, The Duskbloods, made an appearance.

When pressed for details, Yoshida admitted that he wanted to see more new games, instead of ‘mostly remakes and ports.’

Technically there weren’t any remakes, although a number of third party ports were announced – which most fans saw as a positive and which Nintendo highlighted in order to show the broad support for the format.

Yoshida is likely also referring to the four Nintendo Switch 2 Edition games, which are upgraded versions of existing Switch 1 games.

It’s a fairly uncharitable take in our opinion, as while some beloved Nintendo IPs, like Splatoon and Animal Crossing, were absent, there were a healthy amount of new game reveals. Aside from Mario Kart, Donkey Kong, and The Duskbloods, the Direct also unveiled:

• Drag X Drive
• Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion
• Hyrule Warriors: Age Of Imprisonment
• Survival Kids
• Enter The Gungeon 2
• Starseeker: Astroneer Expeditions
• Kirby Air Riders

That’s also not including new remasters, like Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD or the director’s cut of Yakuza 0. And while there were a lot of ports, these are for games that had to skip the Switch 1, making this their Nintendo debut, which is a big and important deal for the Switch 2.

That isn’t to say the showcase was flawless. Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour being a paid product is still baffling and Nintendo’s messaging on a number of details was very unclear, especially regarding prices – with many questions still outstanding almost a week later.

Yoshida seemed most interested in The Duskbloods but he also said the Direct started off ‘really nice’, with the new camera accessory and GameChat feature that lets players share their screens with one another.

He also complimented the look of Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, which has gone down very poorly with most other observers.

As a reminder, Yoshida retired from Sony in January and while he so far hasn’t announced any plans to seek new employment within the games industry, he has lent his voice to a character in upcoming indie game Promise Mascot Agency.

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