The Charming Empire does a great job of introducing players to the Taishō period; a period that we rarely learn much about in the west. As a period piece it does a decent enough job, but there are so many gorgeous visual novels out there now that the pedestrian presentation really hurts the romance and storytelling of it all.
It's a relaxing, joyful, clever and witty little game that really makes the most of its oddball concept. Most importantly of all, it's memorable. You're not going to forget your time with Detective Pikachu in a hurry, and those memories are going to be all very positive.
I love the art. I love the combat. I found the sharp challenge and simple, clean mechanics to all be very enjoyable. But I just couldn't get past how shallow it really was in the end, and how the game failed to live up to the tantalising promises made in its lede.
Go into this game with an open mind, and allow the game's pleasant charm, sweet characters and storytelling, and light, graceful approach to JRPG action to wash over you, and you may just find yourself as in love with the utterly refreshing and pure experience that Atelier Lydie & Suelle has to offer you.
It's by no means memorable, but WorldNeverland is enjoyable enough as a life sim. The grindy nature of the game's systems seem to be a consequence of its mobile roots, but if you play this as intended, for short bursts of a time, that grind won't wear you down. Do that, and you'll probably find yourself playing this on high rotation for longer than you might expect to on initial impressions.
Nippon Ichi has clearly dedicated the bulk of the development resources this time around to providing a cleaner and more comprehensible system to draw players in further and minimise frustration. On that level, The Witch and the Hundred Knight 2 is a success. I just wish the storytellers on the team were able to really cut loose and pull hard at the strings that, currently, they're only tugging lightly at.
Castle of Heart simply has nothing of substance to offer. It's a ridiculously difficult game without the reward.
We're two (main) games in now, and on the strength and consistency of these two I think it's safe to say that Ni No Kuni has every chance to become a major JRPG franchise that will last into the very long term.
It feels more creative and less constrained than the "major" Assassin's Creed titles (as did Liberation and Chronicles), and for that reason it's right up there with my favourite games in the entire franchise.
This is a strong, strong game by Koei Tecmo, and does the Attack on Titan franchise a great service. Sadly, that's a franchise that doesn't have the pulling power that it did a few years ago, but older fans will enjoy the opportunity to get a new look at the distinctive setting and world
Smart, sharp, often surreal, and always hugely entertaining.
Taken as a simple and cheap "solitaire" (i.e single player) game, Poisoft Thud Card is enjoyable, easy playing. I do say that as someone who spent many, many hours playing Hearts on my old Windows PCs over the years, though. I like time wasting card games. As such I'll probably keep coming back to Thud Card as long as I have my Switch. Or, at least, until a developer releases a Hearts game on the console.
One of the greatest examples of sheer precision in rhythm game design, and, let's face it, there's nothing more important to a rhythm game than that.
Being a slightly weaker sequel to that by the tiniest of margins still means that Edo Blossoms is one of the best visual novels out there.
In being a slavish homage, the Dragon Sinker also opens itself up to comparisons with the game it's derivative of. And, sadly, it doesn't come out well in those comparisons at all.
As a demo, it actually works; when I played it for ten minutes in a controlled environment last year, I came away quite impressed with it. But those first ten minutes are Bravo Team's limit, and Sony should have realised this and pulled the plug on the project as a commercial game a long time ago.
World Conqueror X is a hugely rewarding strategy game. It's not as refined or committed to the history of the conflict as the more serious wargame fans would like, but then it manages to depict the truly complex, global conflict in a streamlined, accessible, and, for the most part, authentic manner. I am beyond delighted that the Nintendo Switch has something like this on it.
To say that The 25th Ward is niche would be an understatement, but that's what's so impressive about it. It respects the intelligence of its players, allowing them to wade through the feverish surrealism that the game often depicts, and melds that perfectly with a traditional noir thriller than Raymond Chandler himself would have been proud of.
Totes The Goat takes one of my favourite retro games, and does a decent job of modernising it.
Mulaka might not be your favourite game in 2018, but what you take away from it will be far more valuable than the couple of hours of entertainment you'll get from it.