Kenny McKee's Reviews
Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse offers the full package not only in terms of 3DS games, but when it terms of JRPGs in their entirety. Armageddon may be something that you would normally want to avoid, but I can guarantee that this is the one end-of-the-world event that you’ll want to be in the very center of.
I’m still not sure that you can ever really call a rhythm game “perfect,” but Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Mega Mix is as closest to perfection as I’ve ever seen a rhythm game get. As much as I’m aware that Vocaloid music isn’t for everyone, I honestly can’t help but recommend that anyone into rhythm games do themselves a favor and at least give this game a chance. You’ll only be hurting yourself in the long run if you don’t!
By this point, it’s fair to say that I’ve talked, ad nauseam, about Persona 5 Royal. But for those of you wanting a TL;DR, here it is: Persona 5 Royal is an absolutely, positively fantastic experience, and anyone who considers themselves to be a fan of the series would be doing themselves a disservice if they didn’t pick it up. I may not know what lies in the future for the Phantom Thieves, but if this game’s any indicator, things are looking very good.
Nihon Falcom’s Trails of Cold Steel proudly stands amongst the few which can truly be considered to be at the pinnacle of the modern-day, story-driven JRPG, and it was truly wonderful seeing the culmination of the series’ work within The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV.
Danganronpa Decadence works well for several different reasons. Not only is it a great way for fans—both pre-existing and prospective alike—to dive into the three core titles that truly helped to sculpt the series into something spectacular, but the additional bonus title, Ultimate Summer Camp, is a neat, albeit very much noncanonical, way of celebrating the plethora of weird, wonderful, and wild characters that have graced our TV (or Switch) screens. Sure, three-fourths of the game, technically speaking, isn’t “new,” but that’s no reason for anyone to pretend that the decadent, 4-in-1 Danganronpa combo pack is nothing less than spectacular.
Just in case I haven’t made it clear enough, Souldiers is absolutely a modern-day classic. It’s also in the running for my favorite game of 2022—it’s really just that good. Between its engaging level design, gorgeous visual appearance, addictive combat mechanics, and its class-based system giving it three times the replaybility… you really owe it to yourself to get this game if you consider yourself a Metroidvania fan.
Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak is, quite honestly, everything that I could have asked for. Between the new and returning monsters, wonderful new hunting locales, and a delightful bevy of tweaks and additions, you really can’t consider Rise to be a complete game anymore without Sunbreak. It truly is an already great game’s even better half.
The years of Persona 3 Portable being in its prime at this point have long since passed. However, that doesn’t mean that the game is any less enjoyable or worthwhile than it was in its heyday. Carefully straddling the line between modern and classic Persona titles, Persona 3 Portable is a phenomenal title sporting an enchanting style all of its own and double the content of the original Persona 3. The argument between whether Persona 3 Portable or Persona 3 FES stands as the “ultimate Persona 3 title” is still something that goes on to this day, but Persona 3 Portable will always be the winner in my book.
I may be a diehard classic Final Fantasy fan at heart, but there’s no getting past the fact that this game, with all of its high-octane, DMC-inspired action, is an absolutely phenomenal example of RPG craftsmanship. Setting out in a new direction once again, the oft-bitter, yet irresistibly engaging story and addictive, action-focused gameplay allow Final Fantasy XVI to stand tall as a phenomenal example of contemporary video game craftsmanship.
Not surprisingly, this shining example of a visual novel manages to set the bar for others in its genre even after all of these years. With an enthralling storyline, diverse cast of characters, and the ability to actively shape the story’s outcome, Steins;Gate continues to come out on top.
Atelier Firis: The Alchemist and the Mysterious Journey provides a great example of how a game can provide an entirely fresh experience merely by shifting around the mechanics that it already had, as opposed to piling on new ones.
Featuring new mechanics, polished gameplay, and the same kind of dungeon-crawling experience that you’ve come to know and love, Etrian Odyssey V takes the Etrian Odyssey series to wonderful new heights.
It doesn’t matter if it’s the first, second, or tenth time that I’m playing this game; my opinion of this game is always going to be the same. Building upon an already impressive legacy, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III continues to live up to—and in many cases—exceed my expectations of what a contemporary JRPG masterpiece aught to be.
Whether you’ve lived in Selphia for a long time, or have yet to make the journey, Rune Factory 4 Special is absolutely worth picking up.
Ciel Fledge: A Daughter Raising Simulator is one of the best indie games that I’ve played in quite some time, and was some of the most fun that I’ve had with a simulator like this since I played Long Live the Queen. Sure, it’s not perfect. It’s probably a little too long for its own good, and I could see people getting tired of its repetitiveness if they don’t know what they’re in for. But all of those things are fairly trivial; they don’t really matter in the long run because they’re so small. What does matter is that this game is fun. Plain and simple. If you’re in the mood for a quality simulator, then you need not look further than this one.
The time in which all indies were inherently exciting and mysterious may have already passed on by us, but Skully shows that indies can be just as magical as they’ve ever been if you know where to look.
It’s nice to know that my already-high expectations for visual novels can still be surpassed from time to time, and I have Aokana: Four Rhythms Across the Blue to thank for that. Despite mainly focusing upon basics such as love, friendship, and determination, the whole of it ultimately culminates into sublime VN experience. If you like VNs, you’re going to like Aokana. It’s really that simple.
Disgaea 4‘s time as top dog has come and gone, but Disgaea 4 Complete+ ensures that this wonderfully wacky tactical RPG will be anything but forgotten. Between the polished combat, loads of extras packed into the game, and the amazingly well-written story and characters, it’s hard not to fall in love with a game like this.
Not only does Mad Rat Dead succeed as both a rhythm game and a platformer, but it masterfully mashes the two together—creating a new and beautiful Frankenstein’s Monster of genres in the process.
Black Desert: Prestige Edition is definitely worth getting if you’re interested in diving into the game, and probably worth it even if you’ve played that before. More importantly than that, however, Black Desert itself is worth it. Its complexity does take some getting used at first, but that soon wears off and is replaced with an MMO experience with plenty of honest-to-goodness fun and more content than you know what to do with. If you like MMOs, I would assume that you would like this as well. And for those of you who like RPGs but are hesitant to get into an MMO? Well, you might end up liking it way more than you think!