Pierre-Yves Lanthier's Reviews
Overall though, Bleakmill and Headup Games’ Industria is a decent adventure through a parallel world to our own. With a bit of discovery to find out what happened and quiet and atmospherically heavy locations to explore, while a short adventure it was one that I looked forward to going through a second time to find certain smaller elements that were missed the first time around while playing on a harder difficulty.
The latest from Dancing Dragon Games, Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga, blew away my expectations. Starting off with a traditional RPG with Steamborn into a more customized turned based RPG with strategy elements in Echoes of Aetheria, the first installment of Symphony of War designed with RPG Maker Ace is a prime example of why RPG Maker Games, and their developers, are worth looking into and The Nephilim Saga is shining proof.
While Nippon Ichi Software’s Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny was good, Disgaea 6 Complete takes it that next step for another fantastic, and more definitive, experience. This is especially the case for long term fans of the series that may not have gone over to the Nintendo Switch and stayed with Sony’s PlayStation where this series has always been. So if you haven’t yet had the chance to jump onto this latest SRPG, now’s your chance doods!
Overall though, Grimlore Games and THQ Nordic’s SpellForce 3 – Reforced is a decent experience on the consoles. While it may need a bit of an adjustment period to get the feel for a real time strategy on the consoles, it shows that there is a way to do it and I think with the mixing of RPG elements and that level of dungeon crawling helps to break up the pace just enough to make it all work together without the need for a mouse and keyboard for extended periods of play.
So some gushing at the experience aside, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge is definitely a love letter to both fans of the series, fans of the classic NES / SNES titles, and the Ninja Turtles themselves. With multiple stages, modes, local or online coop with up to seven playable characters? There’s no reason NOT to dive into Tribute Games and Dotemu’s latest beat ‘em up.
While I can see Touken Ranbu Warriors not exactly appealing to the general Musou or Warriors crowd because of its more simplistic and ease of entry approach, I would still recommend giving it a try. If nothing else than flashy, the gameplay is fun and the visuals look incredible on screen as you take a fictional batch of characters from 2205 back into the Sengoku Period of Japan.
So overall, Dolmen is sitting somewhere in the middle for me. On one hand, you have some really great ideas, but on the other, there’s still some refinement to be made to the overall experience. A lot of these issues I could see being fixed down the line through a few balancing and adjustment patches, but I think Massive Work Studio and Prime Matter have done a good job. I hope to both see some refinement as well as a potential sequel down the line.
Otherwise, on an overall, Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising keeps things fairly simple for the shorter adventure and while it may not be for everyone, I enjoyed my first glimpse of this new world. With more side quest stories than a main line story, the story of this town was an enjoyable one and I look forward to the main event of Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes once it releases.
Prinny Presents NIS Classics Volume 2: Makai Kingdom: Reclaimed and Rebound Review Overall though, I was very pleased with Prinny Presents NIS Classics Volume 2: Makai Kingdom: Reclaimed and Rebound. Like with Vol 1, these titles have been ported forward and run very well on the Switch. While I do still wish there had been some work done to touch up the quality of the sprites, the gameplay speaks for itself and Makai Kingdom is still as much fun as it used to be. Score: 8 / 10 Prinny Presents NIS Classics Volume 2: ZHP: Unlosing Ranger vs. Darkdeath Evilman Review Overall, ZHP was a great addition to bring back as many people who may not have had the chance to play it on the PSP when it originally released. Mixing in an end of the world comedy alongside a hardcore Roguelike dungeon crawler just works and it’s easy to spend hours upon hours making yourself tougher and tougher in hopes of finally coming out victorious against Darkdeath Evilman! Score: 8 / 10 Prinny Presents NIS Classics Volume 2 In terms of the collection, Prinny Presents NIS Classics Volume 2: Makai Kingdom: Reclaimed and Rebound / ZHP: Unlosing Ranger vs. Darkdeath Evilman was an awesome follow-up to Volume 1: Phantom Brave: The Hermuda Triangle Remastered / Soul Nomad & the World Eaters. Thankfully we won’t have to wait long for Volume 3: La Pucelle: Ragnarok / Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure. Total score for Volume 2: 8 / 10
Mighty Goose is a fun and short experience that will keep you busy for a couple hours but not overstay its welcome. With several stages, boss fights, abilities and new content having recently been added for free which could easily have been at a premium price, it’s worth checking out on the PC, consoles and the Xbox GamePass.
So overall, In Nightmare does a lot of things right and never overcomplicates its mechanics while helping Billy escape this world of nightmares. On the other hand, the puzzles are often simply too complicated and when combined with chapters that can take hours to complete, the flow of the adventure is just not there causing more frustration than enjoyment.
Weird West was fun. Combining an RPG like third person isometric style but without having to grind for experience points with a real time twin-stick shooter throughout five different yet attached stories and there will be plenty of tales to tell. With plenty of different ways to go about each protagonist’s journey, Weird West has the capacity to not only hold your interest for a while, but make you come back for more.
If you’re a fan of the Persona series and have played both Persona 3 and Persona 4, then I can’t recommend Persona 4 Arena Ultimax enough. This visual novel-like sequel to both Persona titles was well worth sitting down to see where each cast has gone to after their respective events years and months later. While there is combat in a 2D anime versus arcade fighting style between these story segments, it’s smooth enough to both learn and get into without being defeated repeatedly on the first stage.
Overall Rune Factory 5 was fantastic once you put the small issues like frame rates and furniture placement aside. Whether spending just a bit of time to clear a day out of your in-game calendar or sitting down and clearing out a day of your real world calendar, there’s just something magical about the farming simulation of both these and the Story of Seasons series. Want to do something more than farming? Rune Factory has you covered with plenty to explore and challenge yourself while out in the field against the local monsters and eventual boss fights!
Otherwise, Phantom Breaker: Omnia is a solid enough 2D anime versus that I’m happy to have finally seen localized. Plenty of characters with their own personal fighting styles before applying secondary mechanics and there’s more than enough to keep fighting enthusiasts going especially with the online versus component.
Is The Cruel King and the Great Hero perfect? No, but it is adorable, heartwarming, and you’ll want a box of tissues on hand to cry into at a few places. It’s a lighthearted JRPG and I for one am very happy to have been able to sit down to it and look forward to the next fairy tale-like adventure from Nippon Ichi Software as they between this and the Liar Princess and the Blind Prince have a really good thing going.
Overall, I loved Rise of the Third Power. Looking like a classic JRPG but playing to a tune all of its own, it has everything from well written characters and a well paced experience over to a very well designed battle system and amazing music to support it all.
Overall ELEX II is a decent experience and it fixes some of the issues that I had with the original. While not perfect, the sequel does have an easier level of entry and the return to Magalan was an enjoyable one.
Overall, Monark scores above average on its report card. Non-traditional JRPG elements combined with a fun tactical based combat system and plenty of different musical tracks to groove to, it was hard to put down even when I couldn’t figure out what I was actually supposed to be doing. Maybe this was just me and the types of puzzles, or maybe it was a bit too vague, but it was often almost enough to make me quit and have to retake my semester all over again.
In a few short words, Dying Light 2: Stay Human surpassed my expectations. For those that have been on the fence as to whether or not make a return to this world after the first I would highly recommend it. Combining the fast paced parkour features of the first in a world that allows you to take it at your own pace was a great combination that I’ll not soon be leaving as I continue through my version of the journey wrapping up side stories left behind. Follow up article for multiplayer and co-op: Dying Light 2: Stay Human – Better with a Partner? https://chalgyr.com/2022/02/article-betterwithapartner-dyinglight2.html It’s just as easy to recommend Dying Light 2: Stay Human as a multiplayer experience. With plenty of things to see and do, one person’s world could be different than another and while certain objects will only ever unlock “once” such as your injectors for health or stamina upgrades, nothing is stopping you from helping out a partner in order to find theirs and grabbing a ton of loot while you are at it.