When my biggest criticism of a game is “the font isn’t quite right,” I know I’ve played something pretty special. Radiant Tales doesn’t subvert the otome genre. It is not meant to challenge the audience to think deeply about things. It is, simply, a well-written and well-meaning romance story about a troupe of performers and a highly magical adventure they embark on together. It’s like the non-steamy end of Harlequin novels, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Everyone benefits from a little romantic fantasy at times.
Tsugunochi is just a few dollars to purchase, and it is a very pure concept for a horror game. Anyone that’s a fan of the genre should do themselves a favour and pick this one up. As an academic exercise and piece of horror theory, it’s one of those that you do want to pull to pieces and study. This will enable you to better appreciate the way that the better examples of horror work on a psychological and intellectual level.
If you enjoy the turn-based combat of the Heroes of Might & Magic series, then The Dragoness is one of the better and more faithful interpretations of that very specific style.
I never thought I’d see Cricket Captain on the Switch. Cricket Captain 2023 should have stayed on platforms where I wouldn’t have been tempted to pay for it. What a waste of money.
Sword & Fairy Inn 2 is enjoyable. If you’re in the mood for a hyper-casual “simulator” and if you know the characters, so much the better. As someone who enjoys the Sword & Fairy main series a great deal, I don’t regret spending time with this, but at the same time, I do want better fan service spinoffs than this.
Disney Illusion Island is both enjoyable and entertaining, but just as the action in the game zips by with slick efficiency, so too is your memory of the time with it going to be breezy. If you’re able to use it as a way to bond with family or friends, then it’s going to have much more value than as a single-player experience. For those playing solo, expect plenty of charm, but given that it has been developed so that the youngest of children can enjoy it, there just isn’t much substance to it.
Sailing Life has depth, and if you can deal with its rough edges, you may appreciate the grand vision and intent behind it all. I would buy Sailing Life 2 in a heartbeat if the team polished the foundation up and got a better translation team, worked on the consistency of the aesthetics, and made the breadcumb trail less obtuse. Unfortunately, as unrefined as this is, it’s very difficult to imagine this finding much of an audience.
There is a lot to admire about Ed-0. Conceptually it’s spot on, the gameplay is taut, albeit “classical”, and the atmosphere is thick and entertaining. Unfortunately, it’s also a story of missed opportunities, and what could have been a truly stand-out experience ends up being just a flashy B-grade roguelike. Is it worth the time investment? Sure. Is it going to be something you remember for many years to come? Sadly, no.
With any 4X strategy title, there’s a learning curve, and Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening is no different in that regard. There’s so much depth to the strategies, stats, and nation management that it will take some hours to learn your way around. However, an efficient interface and an excellent approach to the historical storytelling make this the most accessible Nobunaga’s Ambition we’ve seen in the series’ 40-year history. What’s more, it’s a genuinely excellent alternative to a textbook for anyone that wants to learn something about a period of warfare every bit as fascinating as the Napoleonic Wars, the Three Kingdoms era of China, the civil war in America, the Roman campaigns or the Mongol conquests.
The finest execution of the Pikmin philosophy to date. With any luck, Nintendo will see this as an opportunity for a dedicated spinoff, and continue to build on the excellent foundations it has established here.
Reverie, here, is the culmination of so much that has come before and consequently it is enormously rewarding to play through.
Thankfully the colour and humour of Atelier Marie prevent it from becoming dry, despite the clear parallel to real-world work structures. While the jury’s out on how appealing this will be to the Ryza fanbase (in particular), Marie Remake has been an opportunity for me, a hardcore Atelier fan that came to the party in the middle and who loves the “classical” approach to the series, to catch up with the game that started it all. I can see the progression from Marie to Rorona and beyond, and Gust has definitely gotten better at executing the core idea over the years, but even right back then, at the genesis of the series, Atelier has really been the most wholesome comfort food.
Ubisoft’s city builders tend to be good: Anno was released on console just last year and it is a genuinely good time. But then Anno respects the player’s intelligence and allows them to make mistakes and try things along the way. The Settlers: New Allies wants you to play like an automaton, and the inflexibility and lack of variety in this game become draining far too quickly. It’s a treat to look at, but it’s a sour thing to play, and it’s immensely disappointing that we’ve waited 13 years for this.
With all that said, this is an incredibly niche sport. It’s impressive that as much effort is put into doing it justice as Cyanide puts into the Tour de France. The developers get better at it, year after year, and that’s an encouraging sign too. I hope they’re profitable enough to continue with the series, because you can’t help but believe that they’re right on the cusp of this series hitting the A-tier of sporting properties.
The aesthetics are reasonably pleasant (though I prefer the look of the “proper” Richman games), but Richman 4 Fun should have stayed on mobile. It’s about as interesting as Monopoly, if Monopoly lacked the simple, clear social critique and your opponent had dice that were weighted to basically give them what they wanted. It takes a lot for a board game to be less interesting than stock-standard Monopoly, but Richman 4 Fun has lived the impossible dream and achieved just that.
Charade Manicas is two individually brilliant games that, combined, are the lesser sum of their parts. I can see why the developers would be intrigued by the combination of the otome and death game mystery genres. I can see the commercial appeal too, given what a runaway success the death game genre continues to be. However, despite excellent production values, a great cast, and a well-written mystery, this particular combination chills rather than delights.
I might not be much of a Sonic fan, but I know that if Square Enix had done the equivalent of this to that Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster collection, I would have blown my top. I did give the lazy effort to bring the mobile ports of Dragon Quest 1 – 3 to Switch a piece of my mind, and I don’t see that SEGA’s done any better with the Game Gear games here. The good news is that if you’ve already got Sonic Origins, then you’ve got all the bits of Sonic Origins Plus worth playing.
The creative team behind Danganronpa and, now, Rain Code, are a rare group in video games. They know how to entertain – I didn’t even mention the “replacement” for Monokuma in this game, but Shinigami the ghostly reaper is somehow even more brilliant foil and source of sadistic humour than the iconic bear. But under all the hyper-colourful art, the mysteries that would give Sherlock Holmes a run for his money, and the sheer energy and panache of it all, they also offer something intensely thoughtful with a strong and blunt message to share. As much as I loved Danganronpa, by the end of the third in that series I did think they were running out of ideas. As it turns out, all they needed was a new creative playground.
There is a lot to like about Loop8, and there’s the sense that the creative team put a lot of work into the symbolism and theming of it. They shot for the stars. Unfortunately, it fell slightly short, and while it’s interesting and different, it never lives up to the clear potential it had. But that’s also okay. At least they tried something different. Gaming wouldn’t be worth it if people didn’t take a creative risk every once in a while.
It’s far too early to determine where Final Fantasy XVI sits in the ranks of Square Enix’s venerable series. However, this is an engrossing, entertaining and, most importantly, fiercely intelligent game. The developers have taken the AAA-blockbuster budget they had to work with, and used it to craft an experience with a strong, provocative and timely message, and then backed it up with some of the most entertaining action combat we’ve ever seen. Not a second of the game’s runtime is wasted, there’s not a single dud character, moment, or scene, and the plot is a riveting epic “page-turner.” If only more blockbuster games were like this, game development would be a far more mature art form.