With a second season pass to come, RoTK XIV is a significant investment, but it's one of those games that becomes a hobby all by itself. The portable platform suits it, as the clean aesthetics and design look resplendent on the Switch screen, and while it's not exactly a pick-up-an-play experience, it's also the kind of strategy game where you can get a lot done when you've got an hour's spare over lunch or before bed. This is going to be on heavy rotation for a long time to come.
An exceptional first release for Nintendo in 2021
Grey Skies: A War of the Worlds Story is one of the strongest arguments that copyright should remain on literature into perpetuity. I don't really believe that, of course, but when any hack can take a classic novel of such gravitas as War of the Worlds, and turn it into a delivery mechanism for a form of propaganda that the author stood diametrically opposed to, there's a problem. Not only has this developer completely insulted the author's memory and undermined the integrity of his work, but they've willfully delivered a game that completely misinterprets everything about the source material... and as a fan of Wells, good literature, and good video games that's just an insult to the intelligence.
Koei Tecmo has somehow crafted not only a genuine sequel to Persona 5, the JRPG, but the team has managed to equal it. Or – if action combat is your thing – perhaps even exceed it. That is no mean feat.
If you hadn't played the Nioh games previously - perhaps concerned over their difficulty - then don't let it miss you the second time. They are difficult, but that was essential in setting the desperate, nightmare tone and atmosphere. One other key takeaway that I've had from replaying both games for the remaster is this: what nearly made me quit the first time around has become comfortable now. The learning curve is glacially slow, but you do actually "learn" how to play these games, and there's a real sense of reward that comes from pushing through. Now, if you have played these title already, the upgrade isn't anything to write home about but, then again, perhaps you just want two brilliant games on your PlayStation 5. It's not like either Nioh is going to age poorly; you're going to want to revisit them at some point. You may as well play the best version.
If you’re going into Gal*Gun looking for some voyeurism, then you’re playing it wrong. At the same time, if you go in without a strong stomach for fan service then it’s going to throw you out too. Gal*Gun is for people who enjoy a kind of hyperbolic satire that borders on the transgressive and enjoy light gun shooters. It’s almost a dead genre these days, but Gal*Gun Returns is, all things considered, an example of it at its best.
Where Ys VIII took the series so close to becoming something that I could love, Ys IX gets it there. It tells a strong story with vibrant characters, has a great setting, gorgeous aesthetics, and slick combat, and most importantly, it balances all of that out in a way that is nuanced and engaging. I have reviewed three top-flight JRPGs in just the last week alone, and with a pile more to come in the coming weeks, 2021 is off to an incredible start for the best genre of them all.
Märchen Forest will be chalked up as something "weird" or "zany," I'm sure. It's not really. It's what would happen if you got Salvador Dali and Lewis Carroll together with the Atelier and Shiren the Wanderer developers, and while that sounds like a mix too eclectic to work, it does in a way that can only be described as "surprising" and "delightful." Märchen Forest is better in concept than execution, but that concept is so strong and original you're doing yourself a disservice if you don't grit your teeth through the more laboured gameplay bits.
My gut reaction to Re:Zero is that the entire property would probably have been better served with a game that could have introduced new fans to the series. I don’t necessarily have a lot of time for anime and, while I think RE:Zero has some lovely character art, I would have rathered just been able to play the game without having to work through an isekai anime go with it. That being said, as I started to puzzle the characters out I found them endearing, the writing solid, and that combat system to be distinctive, creative, and a lot of fun. If you are a fan of Re:Zero I think you’re going to get a kick out of just how careful the developers have been to do the anime justice. There are a lot in the industry that could learn something from this approach.
Gust's experiment with giving a beloved character a direct sequel has paid off. Anyone who enjoyed the first Atelier Ryza - and many place it right at the top of their series favourites for a reason - will love the subtle improvements that Gust has brought on board, without messing with the qualities that made the original so enjoyable. It has also been nice to play an Atelier that isn't also a coming of age story, and while Ryza isn't my favourite character in the series, the two-game arc that Gust has given her has given us one of the finest female heroes across all JRPGs. Atelier is really pushing into the upper echelons of JRPGs now, and I'm quite confident that the next game in the series will continue to build on the brilliant achievement of Ryza and its sequel (can we go back to more traditional Atelier protagonists with the next one though, please, Gust?).
Her Love in the Force is fine. If you're comfortable with the themes, then there's a lot of raw content to work through, and if you do find the boys appealing then you'll get to spend a lot of time with them. On the other hand, there's nothing inspiring about what Her Love in the Force offers, it's not a particularly attractive game on the eye, and the narrative really struggles to make these men interesting enough to want to romance. You know an otome game is in trouble when you don't have a favourite boy, and perhaps Her Love in the Force should have been left back in 2014.
The problem is that for all of Neoverse's merits - it's a good looking game, with good, balanced mechanics and excellent replay value - it's also ultimately unsatisfying to play. The narrative context is only ever a tease, and without a reason to get into all those fights and collect all those cards, Neoverse ultimately feels hollow. I'll keep Neoverse around for five-minute time-filler play sessions here and there, but I'm ultimately disappointed with this game. It could have easily been so much more than this.
There's nothing meaningful nor memorable about Dungeon Nightmares, and the Nintendo Switch is not poorly served for the horror genre. The specific niche for Dungeon Nightmares starts and stops at people that want stupid jump scares and literally nothing else in their horror.
I do feel bad for having all these criticisms of Curling. The sense I get from it is that the developer genuinely wanted to give players a decent simulation of the sport, and focused all their efforts and limited resources on the on-ice action. They actually delivered something that's genuinely enjoyable and accurate to the sport. Unfortunately, there's the complete lack of anything supporting the on-ice action has left this feeling more like a tech demo than a completed game. But who knows? Perhaps this will actually sell enough that a Curling 2 can deliver a more rounded product.
Bringing together so many mechanical elements to the scope and vision of Rhythm Fighter required a much more visionary developer than the one that produced the game. That’s not to say it isn’t entertaining, and there is a lot to enjoy with the game, however, it is also true that the overall experience is messy and the team lost control over what they were trying to achieve, making for something far too clumsy and clunky for the kind of precision that it needed.
I really don't know what the developer was trying to achieve with Red Colony, and I suspect the lack of cohesion is a result of him making it up on the fly after deciding to "do a Resident Evil homage". The Resident Evil homage, which is by far the most solid and cohesive part of the game, works. It's not perfect, but it's conceptually sound and executed with an understanding of the material it draws inspiration from. The rest of the game, however, is a confused mess. Whatever point Red Colony is trying to make about communism, guns, sex, violence and horror the creator was just unable to translate what was in his head into something that we mere mortals can comprehend.
Fantasy Tavern Sextet's biggest problem is that for a sex-fuelled comedy, it's not nearly outrageous or wild enough. The "embarrassing" situations are pedestrian and easy to anticipate, and the wordplay is hampered by that localisation. That localisation means that even if the game had all its sex scenes in there, it would still be hanging around the lower rungs of the visual novel genre on Nintendo Switch. There are just so many other ones to go with instead.
Fatal Fury: First Contact is still a joy to play and - I really can't say this enough - it remains impressive that the developers were able to create such pristine fighting games on such modest hardware. With that being said, the five games Neo Geo Pocket Color games that have now been released really should have been compiled together into one collection, and I would really like to see some of the other, non-fighting games that appeared on the console given the same emulation and restoration process now. I don't begrudge SNK going to the effort with the five fighting game classics that it has, but enough's enough with this genre. It's time for something different, please.
Blacksmith of the Sand Kingdom isn't going to turn heads or win awards, and it's not quite to the same standard of refinement as Rideon's tactics JRPGs tend to be. With that being said, it offers an enjoyable, pleasant and pleasing way of spending time in-between meatier fare, and the efficient and bubbly approach makes it very easy to pick up and play.
Ultimately, I’m probably expecting a bit much for a three-hour visual novel, based on a pen-and-paper tabletop game, to engage with a subject on a meaningful and nuanced level. The developers have succeeded in doing the Werewolf: The Apocalypse property justice, and the game’s presentation is distinct, interesting, and often brilliant. However, there are so many high quality visual novels that do have the thematic depth and quality, and are written in such a way that they don’t come across as condescending. Heck, there’s another werewolf story that does all of the above on the Nintendo Switch in Raging Loop, but does it better, so there's a direct alternative available. That being said, I’d love for this developer to get another shot at the Werewolf: The Apocalypse property, and for them to handle the writing with that little bit more maturity that would elevate it and make it something special.