Square Enix picked an exceptional game to remake, and then did an exceptional job in remaking it. Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven is a true epic and a game that comes across as ambitious to this day. While the raw storytelling is a little limited, the concept is strong and compelling, the combat system is tactical and entertaining, and bringing the game into three dimensions means that we can finally see the full scope and vision behind this adventure of generational consequence.
Nevertheless, Romance of the Three Kingdoms 8 has a lot going for it. Thanks to the “Tales” feature it’s possibly the most accessible RoTK game to date, easing players in by giving them a clear set of targets to prioritise. Once you’re comfortable with that the depth of strategy and a staggering array of ways to play make for a deep experience with dozens upon dozens of historical play. I still find it odd that Koei Tecmo decided to remake this game, but ultimately I’m glad that it happened.
But then perhaps you’re not in the mood for a gut punch, and just want a high-quality story with a bit of ghostly theme and something as close to “feel good” as possible, given the context. 9 R.I.P. is, ultimately, a playful take on urban legends and more akin to that classic film, Ghost, than something more visceral. If you’re out there looking for proper horror with a similar theme, Death Mark 2 is going to be a better recommendation for you. But it’s okay that Otomate didn’t make that game, either. After all, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to get it on with a hot ghost, even if 9 R.I.P. missed the opportunity to make one of these boys look like anime Patrick Swayze.
Neva is what happens when you let actual artists make a game. That we rarely get works like this is depressing, but there’s no sense that anything in Neva was produced according to what a suit thought would be best for the share value. Yes, Neva lacks in subtlety, but it is nonetheless a beautiful, heartfelt and evocative experience. It makes it clear up front that its goal is to make you cry, and even though you know what it’s doing, you are going to cry on cue at the end of it.
Mario Party has been a multiplayer mainstay for me since right back with the original on N64. To this day the first three are on high rotation thanks to the N64 Online app. It’s really lovely to see Nintendo find creative form with Super Mario Party Jamboree by producing something that largely focuses on the basics. The new maps are excellent, the range of minigames is a delight, the bonus modes are fun, and the energy is playful and joyous. I went into this thinking it would be Nintendo’s equivalent to filler leading into the Christmas season. Turns out it was much more than that and this is a major project that everyone that enjoys multiplayer should pick up.
Without a doubt getting the most out of RPG Maker WITH requires a substantial time commitment, and there’s no point to buying the software just to play other people’s games – you can download the demo for that. If, however, you’ve ever had the creative itch to play with this wonderful genre, then the tools couldn’t be easier and you don’t need to know a line of code. Get out there and get creating!
Metaphor: ReFantazio is gorgeous, looking every bit as great as Persona 5, with the same ultra-slick presentational and a cracking good score. And, just like Persona 5 you’re also looking at a truly lengthy experience – anyone who finishes it with their play clock in two digits has played through it quickly.
Boiled down, there’s almost none of Bloober Team that is actually in this game, and yet Bloober Team’s poured everything they had into it. That is nothing short of total reverence to a masterpiece.
In just about every way, Reynatis is a game that tries to reach well beyond what the team was perhaps capable of achieving. Which raises an interesting question: What to score it? I, personally would rather play something like this than the 99 per cent of games out there that copy off the “best practices” template of what has come before. Of course they’re more refined then Reynatis! But they’re just iterating on what already worked. Reynatis is a wild, chaotic mess that frequently loses sight of itself, but that’s the consequence of reaching for something different. Sometimes when people try this the ideas just don’t pan out as hoped. Reynatis is still very playable and the core gameplay is genuinely enjoyable. It might consistently fail to meet its lofty ambitions, but at least it tries, and as a work of art there is value in exploring what it does try to do.
The long and short of it is that Worms Armageddon is a classic, both within the Worms series and multiplayer gaming in general. While today it might seem a little barebones in terms of content, and the online multiplayer features are far too limited for a game that relies entirely on the multiplayer experience, as far as the playability goes it’s still off the charts, and one of the best games you can treat yourself to.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is the perfect Legend of Zelda game. Where Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom took the series in new directions, to the point that they’re barely related to what came before them, Zelda’s first outing as a protagonist feels like it fits seamlessly in with the traditions of Ocarina of Time, Link’s Awaking and Link to the Past. Not only that, but Nintendo has built a gameplay system that is more whimsical and creative than any of those previous titles, making this a more complete and fully realised vision of what the series has always wanted to be. I desperately hope that this wasn’t just a one-off experiment, and The Legend of Link is here to stay.
Antstream has won awards like “Heritage in Games” at the TIGA awards, and that best describes the quality of this platform. It’s a preservation library that gives players to play things that they would simply never come across, much less find a way to play. It might not be the “greatest hits” platform, yes, but if spending an afternoon wading through a library of obscure titles and trying things that alternate between happy discovery and dismal waste of time sounds like fun, then Antstream is probably something you’ll enjoy.
Tsunako’s art is, as always, gorgeous. The game’s a joy to play and hard to put down. It introduces some new (great) characters to the fiction while also giving me more time with Tohka.
What is undeniable is that Astro Bot is worth every second you put into it.
Castlevania Dominus Collection may well represent the last hurrah for a once powerful name in video games, but at least it reminds us of just how good this series could be.
Space Marine 2 is a game that will appeal to just about anyone who likes action games. This thing is fast, very furious, and intense. It doesn’t give you long to breathe between throwing more hordes at you, and thanks to that single-minded ferocity, in both single-player and multiplayer it’s a hoot. I don’t think it does a particularly great job of capturing the spirit and intent of the tabletop game and lore, but then again, whenever I was playing I was also having too much fun to care.
The problem with Kairosoft games is that they’re inevitably good fun and even compulsive for a while. Once you sit down to one fresh you’re inevitably going to get hooked for a while, be that a few days or a few weeks. But soon after you’ll put it down and completely forget about it. You’ll come across it at random a few years later and then get very briefly hooked again, but again you’ll soon get tired of it. Kairosoft games are pure consumption, no meat, and while they’re fun – and this game is fun too (I hate coming across as overly critical of Kairosoft!) they are junk, and Doraemon deserved better.
As far as independent visual novels go, Celestia: Chain of Fate lands in that growing middle tier of visual novel. Sure it might not have the production values of an Otomate production, or even last week’s Famicom Detective Club by Nintendo. As with all genre’s there’s an A-tier, and Celestia isn’t quite there. Yet it punches far above the typical “indie” visual novel, too, thanks to its absolutely gorgeous art, the complexity of the branching narrative, and… well, the kind of writing that does make you want to see the inevitable CG when the very pretty girl and very, very pretty boys start smooshing lips and bodies together. Celestia is a very believable bit of fantasy romance, which is the point, and it’s one VN fans shouldn’t overlook, despite 2024 being quite a year for the genre.
It’s a bigger game than I was expecting. At around 50-60 hours at a reasonable pace, working through everything, it’s by far the largest Mana game ever produced. The fact that it doesn’t stop being a highly playable joy from the start right through to the end should be a good indication of just how beloved this one is set to become – it may even just unseat Secret of Mana itself. Visions of Mana might not be quite so genre-refining as that classic, but otherwise, this is the perfect representation of what Mana has always meant to represent.
To say anything else about Emio would be doing you all a disservice, as it’s a winding, twisting mystery that is best enjoyed unspoiled. If you did play the remakes of the first two Famicom Detective Club titles then you’ll get more of the same here, just with modern standards of writing. That alone makes it a much stronger experience, because the narrative in this thing is incredible.