Another year has come and gone, and it seems like we’re in for another year of great additions to the Switch library (as well as the highly anticipated announcement of the console’s successor). I’ve selected the following games as some of the most appealing releases for January.

Tales of Graces f Remastered

• Price: $39.99 USD; $59.99 for digital deluxe version
• Developer: TOSE
• Publisher: BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment
• Release Date: January 17, 2025

My first Tales game was Tales of Phantasia on the GameBoy Advance; I’ve been a fan ever since. But as someone who only plays on portable consoles, I’ve sadly never had the chance to play the original Tales of Graces f…until now! This remaster includes improved graphics and great quality of life features such as the ability to turn off enemy encounters on the field or in dungeons!

There’s also a neat-sounding “Style Shift Linear Motion Battle System” that allows players to switch between the Artes or Burst battle styles, and you can customize your party’s battle strategies. Do your best to defeat the ones responsible for the turmoil on the planet Ephinea, and find out what happens after the main story with the “Lineage and Legacies” content.

Cuisineer

• Price: $29.99 (digital); $49.99 (physical)
• Developer: BattleBrew Productions
• Publisher: Marvelous (XSEED)
• Release Date: January 28, 2025

In Cuisineer, the adorably-named Pom rushes home after receiving an alarming message from her parents. Her parents are nowhere to be found when she arrives, and their restaurant is abandoned. With no Gordon Ramsay to come to her aid, Pom must now dive into the local dungeons to gather ingredients for some delicious new dishes to serve to customers.

Use your cooking utensils and wield different flavor profiles such as Sour or Umami in risky “whisk-y” battles with sentient ingredients in procedurally generated dungeons. Back in town, customize your kitchen and dining room, and cook more than 100 recipes to serve customers. And in the Switch version, they’ve included additional features such as new weapons, festivals, a wardrobe option, and more!

Hello Kitty Island Adventure

• Price: $39.99 (digital); $59.99 for deluxe edition
• Developer/Publisher: Sunblink
• Release Date: January 30, 2025

Build a community with an absolutely precious cast of Sanrio characters. Customize your avatar with hundreds of outfit options, and design or purchase new furniture for your home. Cook and craft items to befriend Hello Kitty, Kuromi, Cinnamoroll, and more. Decorate cabins to bring new friends to the community, and celebrate “a year round calendar of events” with them. If you’d like, you can even play with friends and family in multiplayer mode.

Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero

• Price: $59.99 (digital & physical)
• Developer: Nippon Ichi Software
• Publisher: NIS America
• Release Date: January 30, 2025

Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero is an “unconventional” strategy RPG with “free movement on a gridless map.” Play as Marona, a young girl capable of speaking to Phantoms; she spends her days traveling around the ocean world of Ivoire trying to help people.

One day, a fleet of ghost ships attacks, and Marona and her friend must gather the legendary heroes who defeated these villains once before. Find Phantoms to recruit and bind to objects, or use them to have Marona transform to use special skills! With more than 50 unit types to choose from, you’ll have a variety of strategies to use in battle.

Genso Manège

• Price: $39.99 (digital, currently on sale for $35.99 until January 31st); $49.99 (physical)
• Developer: MAGES.
• Publisher: PQube
• Release Date: January 31, 2025

An orphaned amnesiac who’s lost her powers, Emma visits an amusement park one day only to find that its facade of frivolity conceals a dark secret: the employees are all bound to the park, unable to escape. She has to reawaken her magical powers to try and free them.

Emma decides to work at the park, and befriends everyone there – from the director to the mechanic. Each love interest apparently has a tragic backstory to uncover in this “bittersweet tale.” I’m intrigued by the premise, and I love all of the pretty pastels in the game’s visuals.

Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector

• Price: $24.99
• Developer: Jump Over the Age
• Publisher: Fellow Traveller
• Release Date: January 31, 2025

Following the well-received release of the first Citizen Sleeper, Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector is a standalone story set in the same universe. As a newly free sleeper – “an emulation of a human mind housed in an artificial body” – you want to stay several steps ahead of the corporation that made you.

Using tabletop-inspired gameplay, roll the dice to see how your future will unfold. Check out the character class options, and manage your sleeper’s stress and glitches. Travel across the Starward Belt and gather a crew to help you with the contracts you take. Make difficult decisions that result in branching storylines, and defy the odds to reach a happy ending.

That’s it for our January Switch highlights! Which of these are you most interested in?