One Piece Odyssey is a nice RPG for fans of the franchise. It's clearly crafted with a lot of love, and there's a ton of great banter and interaction between the cast members. The core gameplay is perfectly serviceable, but it never really reaches the realm of "great," and it takes a bit too long to get going. It's probably not going to attract the attention of anyone who isn't a big "One Piece" fan, but for those fans, it should be an enjoyable little RPG. At the end of the day, how much fun you'll have boils down to how much you enjoy punching bad pirates in the face with your favorite pirates, and there's a whole lot of folks who want just that.
Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider is a game that stepped right out of the '90s. It's a fun little platformer that controls well and is a delight to play, and it evokes a remarkable amount of nostalgia for a game that is coming out in 2023. Much like Blazing Chrome, it's the closest you'll come to a new Strider game that plays like the old-school Strider. If that is what you're looking for, you'll be delighted, and if you love old-school platforming action, Moonrider offers it in spades, without the quarter-munching or rental fees.
In some ways, it can be difficult to be objective about Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth. It's one of my favorite games, and barring a terrible port, there's no way I'd really dislike it. Getting the chance to play it again after a few years really drives home that as weird and strange as it is, it's still an absolute classic. You need some tolerance for the oddities of a PS1 title, but if you have that patience, Lenneth is easily one of Tri-Ace's best games and one of the best RPGs out there.
River City Girls 2 is pretty much everything you'd expect from a sequel: more enemies, more allies, more moves, more areas to explore, and more everything. It doesn't veer too far away from any of the original's design choices, and the result is a comfortable, if safe, sequel. The boss fights feel a little less tightly designed than they did in the first game, but it's a small complaint at best, and there's still plenty to enjoy here. If you enjoy quirky comedy with a fighting game twist, River City Girls 2 has a lot to enjoy. It's also way too cool to body-slam folks as a muscular, super-cool version of one of gaming's most famous damsels in distress.
The Callisto Protocol is frustrating as a game because it's so easy to see how it could have been great. There's no single thing that drags down the game, but it's an endless stream of annoyances that are exacerbated by the constant reminders of better titles. The Callisto Protocol can be fun, but it's constantly getting in the way of its own fun. It's possible that patches might smooth out some of the combat issues and improve the game a fair bit. At launch, though, it's more frustrating than fun. There's a lot of potential for a sequel that takes the lessons to heart, but for the moment, you're better off waiting for a sale.
Marvel's Midnight Suns is probably my top shocker for the year. I'm surprised at how well everything comes together. It almost seems like a bit too much on paper, but it feels amazing once you get your hands on the game. The combat is addictive and incredibly fun, and the story is pure comic book schlock in the best sort of ways. If you are looking for Marvel XCOM, you'll be disappointed, but that's the most significant "flaw" I can think of. Marvel fans of all types will be delighted with Midnight Suns, which is a love letter to the spooky side of the universe. It's a game that I easily see myself coming back to time and time again.
Final Fantasy 7: Crisis Core Reunion manages to be a lot more than the sum of its parts. There are a lot of things that you can complain about, from the dumb antagonist to the legacy of its PSP roots. It's a credit to the game that despite those flaws, it is still probably one of the best Final Fantasy spin-off games on the market, and Reunion is by far the best way to experience it. It should do a good job of tiding over fans until at least Final Fantasy XVI.
Harvestella isn't going to remove Rune Factory from existence, but it has a lot of potential as a strong competitor. This first (and hopefully not only) outing has an extremely strong basis and manages to hit a lot of the high marks of JRPG-style farming simulation, while having enough of its own personality to avoid feeling like a clone. Only the overly stiff combat and general simplicity of the game hold it back from being as good as its obvious inspirations. It's so close to being great that it's easy to imagine a sequel hitting all of the marks. There's a lot to like here if you can get past the slow start, and by the time I finished the game, I felt almost as satisfied as I was with Rune Factory 5. Harvestella is absolutely worth a look if you're a fan of the Rune Factory franchise and want to see a different developer's take on the concept.
Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song Remastered is an excellent remaster of a very weird game. It's one of those games that is difficult to necessarily recommend because so much of what it does evokes love or hate. If you're curious about the franchise, it's probably a lot easier to hop in with SaGa Frontier Remastered or Scarlet Graces. If you like games in the SaGa franchise or want to try something different, Minstrel Song is a worthwhile experience. If you already know that you don't like the franchise, you'll probably be annoyed and frustrated with this offering.
By and large, Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet are fun. It's telling that I had a lot of fun with them despite the absolutely unforgivable performance problems. The basis for an extremely strong and engaging Pokémon game is here, but it's out in the wild without the extra months of development that it still needed to improve performance issues. If you're willing to forgive some jank for an otherwise great Pokémon experience, then you'll have a great time. Otherwise, it's probably worth skipping until it gets some patches. Even die-hard Pokéfans might have trouble getting past seeing their favorite Pokémon crawling along at five fps.
Evil West is a fun and well-made beat-'em-up that doesn't exceed its reach. The focus is on the combat, and thankfully, that largely pays off. Even coming from God of War: Ragnarok, I managed to have a lot of fun with Evil West nonetheless. There isn't a ton to see beyond the combat, and you'll probably be done in a single playthrough, but that single playthrough will be a darn fun time.
The Dark Pictures Anthology: Episode 4 – The Devil in Me is a solid ending to the first "season" of the franchise. It isn't the best game in the lineup (I'd probably give that to House of Ashes), but it's probably the best horror story of the lot. The same familiar gameplay is bolstered by some new additions, but at the end of the day, they don't change the formula. If you've played the previous games, you have a pretty good idea of what to expect here. The Devil in Me shows that Supermassive is experimenting with The Dark Pictures Anthology and trying to expand what its games can be. I'm looking forward to seeing what Season 2 brings.
That is about the only real criticism I have about The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story. It's a darn enjoyable multi-generation experience that has a lot of unusual mysteries, so it stands strong on its own merits. If you're a fan of mystery games, then it's absolutely worth a shot. The strong acting and good use of FMV help it to stand out from the crowd, and it's almost as much praise and criticism that I wished it were a movie or television show that I could just sit back and watch.
Tactics Ogre: Reborn is an incredibly well put together remaster of one of the cult classics from the SNES era. It's an improvement over the well-done PSP remaster and improves upon it in almost every way. The story and translation remain excellent, and the core gameplay is more fun than ever. The only downside is that it didn't get any visual touch-ups, so you'll need to be willing to accept cute, pudgy little sprites acting out the serious tense political drama. If you're a fan of strategy RPGs and haven't played Tactics Ogre yet, then Reborn is well worth a shot.
Sonic Frontiers is an all-around solid Sonic the Hedgehog game. The shift to a more open-world style of gameplay works almost entirely in its favor and allows the game to offer more freedom and exploration without resorting to werehogs. At heart, it's still the same basic 3D-style gameplay that the franchise has been doing lately, but the change in perspective works in its favor. Not every change is a winner, but enough are that I dearly hope that Sega sticks with this flavor instead of reinventing the wheel. Fans of Sonic will be delighted, and those on the fence should give Frontiers a shot. It's easy to see how the greater freedom (and lack of annoying gimmicks) could be the difference between frustration and fun.
Overall, Bayonetta 3 is an incredibly fun game. I like the new mechanics, the new enemies are fun to fight, and it has a lot of laugh-out-loud moments. I just wish all of it wasn't surrounded by a dreary tale of multiversal failure leading into a rather bittersweet ending. If you don't care about the story, the game has few flaws that I can think of. It plays great, is full of amazing absurdity, and was absolutely worth the wait for any fan of the franchise. In the long run, I think Bayonetta 2 is my favorite of the franchise, but Bayonetta 3 is still a remarkably good entry in Platinum's best series.
I wanted to like Star Ocean: The Divine Force a lot more than I did. It has a lot of interesting ideas and concepts, and I'm a prime target for Star Ocean 2 nostalgia bait. The game didn't have the time or budget to do what it wanted to do, and what we have is a half-baked title that does very little well. The story is dull, the combat is repetitive and poorly balanced, and the unique features fall by the wayside as the game progresses. There are glimmers that something great could have been created, but it isn't the game that we ended up with. It's difficult to recommend The Divine Force to even die-hard JRPG fans, since the game's few strengths are eclipsed by its many flaws. Wait for a sale if you're curious, but otherwise, there are plenty of other better JRPGs to play this year.
Gotham Knights stands in the shadow of giants, and while it doesn't necessarily stand as an equal, it's a valiant effort. There's clearly a lot of love and care put into the game, and while it doesn't hit every mark, it hits more than it misses. The only thing that really drags it down are some technical issues and a slight drought of unique open-world content to complete. It's a great attempt to figure out how you do Batman without Batman, and this title should scratch the itch of any Batman fan.
Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope is an absolute delight. The new mobility-focused combat trades some difficulty for a more flexible and dynamic battlefield. The more JRPG-styled tone and structure of the game gives it a solid basis that the first game didn't quite reach. Most of the improvements are for the better. There are still some nagging problems here and there, and the frame rate is rough, but if you can get past that, there's a ton to love here.
Overall, Persona 5 Royal is effectively the same game it was on the PS3/PS4, but now it's portable. The colorful and simple graphics age extremely well, and while the frame rate and resolution won't match the new HD versions, they are more than adequate for the sort of game that Persona 5 is. The title remains an absolute masterclass in how style and strong art design can create a more distinctive and memorable experience than the most realistic graphics on the market, and that carries through on the Switch, even if it sometimes appears less sharp.