In Love with Nine Parchments, the game on the Ninitendo Switch

At first glance it looks like Magicka and plays a lot like it. That's a good thing. Takes a while to get used to the dual stick and trigger buttons. But man, I just love this game. Love the colors on the levels, the natural settings, the little details like an owl in a nest that you only see if you walk to the far upper right path on this one mountainous area, or the giant shark that swims by in the background on another level. The characters are funny and cool. The unlocking mechanics are addictive... we just unlocked another so that we now have 3 versions of each character, save Amadeus. Soon, we'll go for the Gilded (Winged) versions!

But yeah, I love the gameplay, and just can't get over how good the whole thing looks. It blows me away every time. It is the only game in recent history where I just can sit still and look at the background and foreground for a good long time instead of just getting bored. What are the crazy seashells that look like ribs? The glowy flowers. The trees and caves and little side buildings with hidden items and stuff... it's just all super cool.

The spells are great too. The "bullet" spells are some of the best AOE effects with the spinning and whatnot, very unique. How cool does the extra mini-fireballs (from that one Marvek skill) look when doing the fire mass spam (what's it called again?)? The purples and pinks on trees that sway in the wind just look damn good. Love it all around, and the kids really like playing coop, which is a blast. Can't really do that on PC with old Magicka, but I'll be cranking up Magicka 2 sooner or later on PS4. 

You definitely get the sense that they love the National Parks in the US, and some other famous international sites. The crazy rock columns for instance look like the type in Devil's Tower in Wyoming.