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.
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.
At the end of the day, Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden is the same basic game as the last two, only with a different story. It really doesn't do anything to break the mold except be incredibly dark and depressing. If you found yourself enjoying the last two games, then you'll almost certainly enjoy this one, but if any of the previous game's flaws dragged down things, then you probably won't change your mind here. It's a nice, low-budget JRPG with some interesting story beats, but the consistent flaws between games have started to wear out their welcome.
Deadcraft is a standard survival game with zombies and a budget price tag. If the idea interests you, then you'll probably get a good amount of fun out of the game, but if you're on the fence, it doesn't do anything to reel you in. If you really want a new survival game to sink your teeth into, Deadcraft might scratch that itch until a bigger title comes along, but if you're new to the genre, there are plenty of alternatives.
There's a lot of potential in Fobia: St. Dinfna Hotel, and it has some moments of excellence. Unfortunately, the lackluster visuals, weirdly unfriendly UI, and general awkwardness drag it down. It's a fine game to play if you want to scratch the survival-horror itch and you've already gone through a lot of other titles, but it doesn't do enough to distinguish itself. I'd be deeply interested to see a more polished and refined sequel because the potential doesn't shine through as well as it should.
Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords is a fairly weak port of a flawed classic. The core characters and writing are still among the best in the entire franchise, but the gameplay is rapidly showing its age, and many of the flaws from the original release are still present. Fans of the franchise who may have skipped this particular entry should absolutely give it a shot, but for longtime fans, the Restored Content DLC is going to be the real game-changer.
Do you want a completely average, by-the-numbers strategy RPG that revolves around giant robots? Relayer will probably scratch that itch. If you're looking for anything more than that, it falls flat. Nothing the game offers excels beyond "average," and there are enough nagging flaws and problems that you have to put some effort into getting to the good bits. There's the makings of a better sequel here, but for now, Relayer barely makes the grade.
Praey for the Gods is game that is inches away from being a new classic. It does many things very well, and it is an incredibly impressive achievement for a small team. It is dragged down a bit by trying to be too many things at once. I applaud the attempt to spice up the "in-between" time that Shadow had, but the result doesn't quite hit the mark. If you have a tolerance for tedium to reach some brief high points, then Praey delivers, but newcomers might be best served by starting off with Shadow of the Colossus.
A lot of what I write sounds negative, and that's the difficult part of discussing Aeterna Noctis. It does a lot of things that I genuinely like: It has excellent boss fights, some creative levels, an absurdly huge amount of content, and the platforming mostly works well. That level of heartfelt dedication makes it all the more frustrating when you get caught up on the areas where it still needs polish. I enjoyed a lot of the game, but I remember the annoyances more than the enjoyment. If you're willing to work past that, there's a lot to play in Aeterna Noctis, but it's easy to imagine someone reaching a particularly annoying bit of platforming and moving on to something else, especially because the game's long length can make it feel more exhausting than exhilarating. Metroidvania fans should absolutely give it a shot, but don't expect something as easy to pick-up-and-play as some of the genre greats.
It's difficult to recommend Gundam Battle Operation: Code Fairy - Vol. 1 on its own merits. It's effectively one-third of a storyline that is a tutorial and stand-alone story for GBO2's gameplay without its "gotcha" elements, but at this moment, the game is effectively incomplete. Vol. 2 and Vol. 3 will be released within the next month. When it has the full storyline and set of units, it'll be a lot easier to make a determination about the entire package, but until that happens, you're better off waiting unless you're a huge Gundam fan who has to play this right away.
That basically sums up The Dark Pictures: Episode 3 - House of Ashes. It's a cheesy action-horror movie, except you can help characters survive (or die) with your button presses. It's not my favorite of the lot, but I was relatively engaged. It's an enjoyable enough B movie and feels like it would thrive the best as a multiplayer party game. If you've enjoyed the rest of the franchise so far, you'll enjoy House of Ashes because aside from some quality of life changes, it's largely in the same mold.
That is about all there is to Nioh 2: The First Samurai: a few new missions, a few new skills, and endgame content geared almost exclusively for the top 1% of players. The Season Pass of the game is worth it for the first two DLCs, but the third DLC is so incredibly limited that you have to be a Nioh die-hard. If you are a Nioh die-hard, The First Samurai gives you more things to test your skills on and more ways to optimize your builds, and it's good at that. If you just want to put your Nioh 2 skills to the ultimate test, there is a lot here to potentially kill the heck out of you.
Spirit of the North: Enhanced Edition is a beautiful remaster of an average game. If you enjoy wandering around pretty environments and solving some light puzzles, then this is a fantastic "chill out" game, but anything beyond that is somewhat forgettable. Add on some frustrating bugs and the lack of meaningful improvements over the last-gen version beyond visuals, and it isn't a must-buy for anyone who has played the original title. It's worth experiencing if you haven't played it before, but you should perhaps wait for a price drop, since the $35 price tag isn't worth it when you can purchase a last-gen copy for $20.
At the end of the day, Godfall is a game with a dull story, boring world, uninteresting loot, and simplistic combat, but it looks pretty and feels nice to play. It's not a bad game for a quick playthrough, but it's not something that is going to keep your attention for very long, despite theoretically being designed for loot-grinding fun. Considering the new game price of $70, it's difficult to recommend Godfall, even if you're very hungry for a new game for your PS5. Once it comes down in price, it'll be easier to justify picking it up for a mindless hack-and-slash weekend, but at the moment, it doesn't do enough to really be worthwhile.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV is a rather bloated blockbuster crossover event that's shaped like a JRPG. If you're a die-hard Trails fan with a deep love of the franchise, then seeing your favorite characters interact will probably make up for the somewhat disappointing story. Anyone else should stay far away until they've played the first three Trails of Cold Steel main games in the series, and looking up the other games in the franchise couldn't hurt. I had fun with ToCS4, but it's a bit of a mess, and your enjoyment will depend on how much that mess appeals to you. I still have a soft spot in my heart for the series, but I can only hope the next game is more focused than this offering.
Ultimately, Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning is a bare-bones port of a solid, if unexceptional, game. Amalur is the kind of game that got overshadowed when it was released, and it seems just as likely to get overshadowed now. If you're a fan looking to revisit the title, this is a good experience, but it's not meaningfully different from what you might have played almost a decade ago.
Brigandine: The Legend of Runersia is a firmly average game. The strong plot and interesting artwork are tied to a gameplay system that loses its welcome by the end of one playthrough, never mind six. It's still enjoyable for that one playthrough, but it's difficult to imagine going through the same gameplay over and over again. If it hits for you, then there will be a lot of content to enjoy, but otherwise, Brigandine is not varied enough to keep you going for more than a single playthrough.
At this point, it's difficult to say if The New Frontier pass is worth the money. The first pack, Maya & Gran Colombia, isn't worth the $40 asking price yet, but new content will arrive every other month, and the full New Frontier experience won't be complete until March 2021. As it stands, unless you genuinely love the two new civilizations or think the Apocalypse mode is going to tide you over for a few months, it would be best to wait until at least a couple of more game packs are out.
Heroland is a charming game that simply lasts too long. The first impression is super positive, reminding me of Half-Minute Hero and similar delightful titles, and for the first few hours, the gameplay strikes a good balance between engaging and hands-on. As time goes on, it starts to drag, and only the quality of the translation can help push the game over the finish line. If you can play Heroland on something portable, it is far easier to recommend, but it just doesn't have what it takes to be a sit-down-and-play game.
Is The Complex worth it? It's really hard to say. It's not exactly an expensive buy at £9.99, and the addition of choices make it more engaging than a television episode or movie. At the end of the day, it's basically a £10 movie rental with some button prompts added in. The best way to play it would be with a group of friends watching together, so you can argue over the choices and go for the path that feels best for you. Otherwise, there are better games and better movies available for the same cost.