Now that Remembrance / Veteran's Day has passed and I can actually start caring about those absurdly large holidays at the end of December, it's time to lay out some recommendations for things to read while travelling - or at least things to do while avoiding the family this holiday season.

Cool Square Enix Stuff

I'm borrowing this section from Neal to throw some love in for NEO: The World Ends With You, which has seen a couple of sales both digitally and physically since its July launch. NEO oozes style in a way not seen on a console since Splatoon, and is one of the most adjustable RPGs I've ever played - and unlike its highly disappointing predecessor on Switch the control system works no matter what mode you're playing it in. It also has my favourite soundtrack of the year, which can be purchased from your digital music store of choice (iTunes, Amazon) or streamed on Spotify if that's your jam.

Visual Novel Recommendations

The Switch Lite may just be the perfect visual novel reading device, and the most essential visual novel of them all came out this past April. The House in Fata Morgana is a tale of love, but not just in the romantic sense as is so often seen in VNs - though it does that amazingly well too. Fata Morgana handles platonic love, familial love, and just straight love for your common man in a horror setting that will constantly have you pausing the game in order to process what was just revealed. And though there are scenes that would necessitate content warnings (descriptions of violence, rape), there's also very cathartic humour at the end of the story. It had a limited physical release via Limited Run Games, so it's possible that it may come to Best Buy stores in the US at some point, but it's worth the space if digital is the only option.

One of the stronger romance novels on the Switch is last February's Code; Realize. I pick this for two reasons: it's a better escape than 2020 simulator Collar x Malice, and it had a follow-up release earlier this year ("Wintertide Miracles") explicitly set at Christmas. The tale is well written and edited, with some neat twists on figures both historical and literary including the first appearance of future Ace Attorney star Herlock Sholmes on Switch, dealing with his original nemesis. Both the original game and the follow-ups ("Future Blessings", "Wintertide Miracles") are available directly from publisher Aksys Games if you're looking for a gift copy.

Science fiction VN fans will want to check out Root Double: Before Crimes x After Days - which is actually a pair of intertwining stories set in what is heavily implied to be a nuclear facility. (I'm honestly surprised this game came out at all, given the setting and its Japanese origins. It's certainly the most interactive game that would still fall under the definition of "visual novel", with the ability to alter ratings for characters on the fly being key to the story's progression. And for the editors in the crowd, the technical portion of the localization is superb. A small number of physical editions are available from the Strictly Limited Games partner store.

Another option for science fiction fans is Gnosia, which was featured in last December's Indie World and launched on March 4. Gnosia is actually a science fiction twist on a proud Nintendo World Report tradition: Mafia games. In this case, the player can end up as the titular Gnosia who are out to destroy a spaceship - or try and shunt the Gnosia out the airlock. The metastory behind the game is even more interesting than the games itself. A physical release for the Japanese version (which does not support English) is available, but the Western version is digital only at the moment.