I suspect I will always have time for a good, classical roguelike. They're becoming less frequent, and therefore I think we need stuff like Genso Wanderer to keep the tradition alive. It's not perfect, and it will frustrate many, but it's a quality, solid effort nonetheless.
With Voez, the choreography of the icons leaves you feeling like you're playing an instrument and are involved in the performance of the music itself, and that is incredibly immersive and engaging. As I said at the start; this is the Nintendo's secret weapon, because this is one very special game, and exclusive to the console (at least, in its microtransactions-free state), and it's absolutely essential.
It's a pity that Sony saw fit to release this in the same week it dropped Horizon on the world. Had it landed in a quieter part of the year, Malicious would have got a lot more notice from the media and the community. It deserves to be noticed too; it's not the greatest 'Monster Hunter' game out there, but it is gorgeous and has a lot of interesting, unique ideas going for it.
Thanks to a deep narrative, exquisite morality mechanics that make every decision equally weighty and meaningful, and sublime characters, inXile has given the game a genuine shot of living up to the legacy of one of the greatest games of all time.
What is important to any great visual novel is that it has great writing, and the Danganronpa games are by turns hilarious, reflective, intense and jovial, the characters are all unique and interesting, and the twists and turns are often startling. Visual novels just don't get better than these.
Most importantly, given that this is the first time that he's helmed the creative side of an Atelier title, Shinichi Yoshiike has proven himself to be a confident and safe pair of hands to shape the series into the future. As such, I expect that this series will continue to remain my favourite among the more traditional JRPG franchises out there.
Shovel Knight is one of the finest examples of how to do retro without being a slave to it at the same time.
The generically pleasing, colourful aesthetics are charming in a fashion, though the endlessly looping music will remind you why you'd turn the sound off when games of its ilk, like Farmville, were big on Facebook.
Put simply, NieR: Automata is the greatest game ever made. It's not just that it is the deepest and most narratively potent game ever developed - and it is a truly deep narrative experience - but more than that, Yoko Taro has finally found perhaps the developer on the planet capable of doing his visionary work justice.
This is an exceptional port of a hugely underrated game. The character art is one of the most critical features in the game, and on the much larger PC screen the art is vibrant, detailed, and attractive. This alone really makes Monster Monpiece's PC port the definitive version. Hopefully this is not the last we see of Compile Heart producing CCGs.
Unlike Nintendo's Mini NES retro console that was released last year, this is a more difficult package to recommend to people that didn't grow up playing the games.
Unlike Nintendo's Mini NES retro console that was released last year, this is a more difficult package to recommend to people that didn't grow up playing the games.
This vision of Berserk loses a lot of its narrative potency because it cuts around it and provides only the most basic of skeletons for narrative context.
When I first saw this at TGS last year, I thought it was going to be a grander simulation game than it has turned out to be. In part I'm disappointed, because a hardcore simulation about exploring uncharted oceans in search of new land would be a fascinating game, but at the same time the simple, clean charm of Neo Atlas is really difficult to resist, especially when I'm in the mood to play something low-pressure while catching up on my movie or television backlog.
Horizon is a remarkably refined and technically brilliant game, but Guerrilla has yet to prove that it can take that next step and produce a genuine classic.
Nioh plays well. It eschews the control setup that the Souls games popularised for something a little more like what we’re used to from Koei Tecmo - face buttons to attack and so on. Indeed, in playing it, it almost behaves more like a methodically-paced Ninja Gaiden, and as someone who never quite had the reflexes to really enjoy the Ninja Gaiden series, it really hit that sweet spot.
What makes Dragon Quest so special is that each game manages to straddle a line between nostalgia for simple, elegant combat mechanics, and the modern game design world, where it can poke fun at itself and laugh along with players. Dragon Quest VIII isn’t the perfect port in coming to the 3DS. It is, however, very close to the perfect classical JRPG.
This might mean that VR games never fit in with the current expectations of non-VR games, but when they’re stuff like Dexed, I don’t mind in the slightest. This is a game that focuses on immersion, and immersive it is. Simple gameplay loops give players a reason to keep coming back and playing more, but what will stay with you for far longer is just how beautiful it all is.
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard is a game that really struggles to find the new voice that Resident Evil so needs as a franchise. It’s incredibly well designed and executed, and you’re not going to find a game that does VR better than this one.
Even as a dedicated single player game, Dynasty Warriors: Godseekers is one of the best games available on the platform. It’s just so perfectly balanced, invigorating, intelligent, and rich.