Disgaea Mayhem is the kind of spin-off that has a lot of potential as a concept. The series, by its nature, routinely produces characters that lend themselves well to the action genre. Unfortunately, limiting the entire experience to a single playable character while carrying over progression systems designed for a full roster strips away much of what makes Disgaea satisfying in the first place. The result is a game that understands the appeal of the grind, but rarely gives you a reason to enjoy it.
Halo: Campaign Evolved is such a strong reimagining of a beloved classic that it occasionally struggles to define exactly what kind of reimagining it wants to be. At times, it’s committed to faithfully recreating the original, while at others it seems hellbent on carving out an identity of its own. Either way, it's an exceptionally polished experience that more than earns its shockingly tame price tag.
Echoes of Aincrad is an incredibly frustrating game because so much of it works, yet doesn’t. Its core combat mechanics, progression, and story all show flashes of what made the original series so enjoyable, yet they’re all tied together by a genuinely frustrating exploration system that repeatedly and severely undercuts their strengths.
Kinetic visual novels often suffer from the limitations of their provided gameplay. Don’t let that discourage you, though; Be Missed and Remembered: The Letter from Mayoiga is a genuinely great visual novel. Its beautifully executed themes are anchored by the organic, emotional swings of its young protagonists, finding itself only minorly hamstrung by a rather forced execution near the finish line. When you factor in the immaculate full voice acting and a literal armory of gorgeous CGs, it becomes incredibly hard to regret buying this package at full price.
The Adventures of Elliot is a very expensive gem of a game. It has a simple, almost predictable story that’s actually part of its charm, beautiful audiovisuals, and a polished, if repetitive gameplay, sure. But it’s also being sold for a lot more money than games in this genre with this amount of content usually demand. Beyond that financial hurdle, though, it remains one of the most thoroughly enjoyable JRPGs to have come out recently if you’re looking for a beautifully focused, classic experience.
Darkswitch is another case of a game that should have been released on early access being unleashed to the world at large as version 1.0. It feels thoroughly incomplete and untested thanks to its myriad of bugs, glitches, and questionable design choices. While there is a solid understanding of core mechanics buried here, it is unfortunately overshadowed by every other detail of the execution.
Pokemon Champions feels like a title that suddenly had to launch due to chasing a specific quarterly report. While otherwise nearly perfect as a platform, lacking a multitude of very important items on release makes the game feel fundamentally incomplete. The paywalled quality-of-life additions are also a major deterrent, especially for those who expected a way to engage with VGC without owning the mainline games. It's still a wonderful attempt at making competitive Pokemon more accessible, though, and is definitely something that'll only improve in time.
Monster Hunter Stories 3 feels like a prematurely released game that could have been truly great. It’s got everything from the series’ signature monster collecting mechanics, the gritty turn-based combat, and much, much better audiovisuals than its predecessors. Unfortunately, beyond the bloat of grinding for stronger monsters and watching filler, there’s not much content to actually engage in.
Etrange Overlord is a classic case of a game hiding its true value between its surface level qualities. It has the developers’ trademark humor and audiovisuals, coupled with some very basic controls, only dragged down by some very rough camerawork and first impressions. But beyond that, it offers an incredibly diverse experience and a memorable story; easily another gem for Nippon Ichi’s already star-studded lineup.
Homura Hime is a slick hack-and-slash and bullet hell hybrid that naturally forces you to think in both mindsets at once. It’s a game that, beneath its vibrant designs and bright color palette, lies a surprisingly dark story filled with genuine shock value. It may not reinvent the genre, but it executes its ideas with enough confidence to leave a lasting impression.
Tales of Berseria Remake is a welcome release to update the greatest tale of the Tales series to the modern settings. However, unlike the previous Tales remakes, the additions are empty beyond the addition of the DLCs. Still, it's worth purchasing if only to get a higher quality version of one of the greatest titles of the series.
Effectively a demo for 13 dollars, Welcome to Doll Town is a short novelty where the humor barely has time to land. There’s simply not enough here to justify the price, but it commits to its bit well enough to be worth considering on a deep sale.
Tokyo Scramble feels like a title scrambled together just to get a release up on the Nintendo Switch 2. Despite having some good ideas here and there, it’s overall very unpolished, messy, and full of wrinkles that shouldn’t have even left the QA stage.
Even though an 8/10 may sound like a solid score, that's actually lower than it could have gotten if it had been polished even further. Sure, the gameplay is nice and the story's very compelling; but with the backdrop of a horribly dumb enemy AI and its terrible performance issues, Code Vein 2 on release is at its worst.
Kotama and Academy Citadel stands out as a cheerful counterpoint to a genre that’s lately leaned hard into gloom and grit. It’s also my latest addiction; a consistently enjoyable trip whether you’re experiencing it at its highest highs or pushing through its not very significant lows. As a bonus, it’s also shockingly affordable for just how much visual personality it brings to the table.
Code Vein is the jankiest soulslike I’ve ever fallen in love with. It has absurd build variety, competent AI companions, and unmistakable personality that make it incredibly hard to hate, and more than capable of holding its own against newer, more polished entries in the genre. But it's lack of gameplay polish and story woes are unmistakable.
Viewed as a companion piece to the mainline entries, Utawarerumono ZAN can be a worthwhile pickup for visual novel fans with a taste for action games. Outside of that narrow context, though, its price is hard to justify.
Solo Leveling: ARISE OVERDRIVE feels like an adaptation that fixates on power-fantasy action while discarding nearly everything that made the original compelling. Its has great audiovisuals, sure, but the gameplay quickly becomes an unrewarding and repetitive checklist.
The DX edition having every DLC and a handful of unique content, regardless of how lean they are, makes it an absolute steal for newcomers, though. Unfortunately, for those who’ve already played the base game and its expansions, the value proposition drops off rather sharply.
Despite the original Ryza 2 being a strict upgrade over its predecessor in almost every way, the new DX version delivers only minor overall improvements to the base game itself. In particular, the character reintroductions and accompanying story are rather disappointing compared to the added utility of the more controversial mascot character.