Citizen Sleeper is an RPG inspired by board games and it delivers a competent experience on the Nintendo Switch based on its dystopian atmosphere, audiovisual work, and simultaneous and involving plot lines. It does not quite make a great leap towards a larger audience, however, given its rather short length and lack of new, differentiating gameplay mechanics, which means its appeal will remain mostly within its main audience.
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Rainbow Skies is an RPG that features several familiar elements which will very likely appeal to players looking for an experience where they can feel right at home. At the same time, its character designs look dated, the graphics are unimpressive, and the plot is very poor, but players willing to forgive that will find a fairly good combat system, lots of content to find out, a wide soundtrack, and an overall challenging experience. Rainbow Skies isn't for a very large audience, but it has an undeniable charm for parts of the RPG fandom.
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Thunder Ray brings a rare new boxing game to a Nintendo console and that by itself is worthy of praise. Thanks to a gorgeous visual presentation and a fun - if somewhat repetitive - gameplay, Thunder Ray will easily appeal to fans of boxing games who haven't had a chance to try something new for a while. There is room for improvement, however, as the difficulty can often feel very arbitrary for no reason, while the game is too short, which can both be corrected in a future follow-up, not to mention that a multiplayer mode would work wonders.
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Players can perform elaborate tricks and moves, all in an atmosphere that doesn't go heavy on pressure or stress, and they are relatively easy to pull off thanks to simple and accessible controls. And yet, The Ramp could have been more than that, it could have more tricks to perform, more arenas to discover, perhaps a bigger or longer challenge, but other than something for players looking specifically for a simple, unassuming experience, there's not much more The Ramp has to offer.
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Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened puts literature's most famous detective out of its usual settings, this time in a world of supernatural elements in what is a remaster of game originally released in 2007. Fans of the long-running Sherlock Holmes series will find elements to enjoy here, such as the appealing plot and the interesting supernatural elements. Nevertheless, for other players the game's technical flaws, the excessive simplicity of the cases, and the lack of actual horror inspiring moments make this an unlikely candidate for players outside its target audience.
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Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical consists of a visual novel (despite what its name suggests) based around music and its main characters are modern interpretations of Greek gods. All of this, plus its visually appealing graphics and art style, is very much worthy of praise. Where Stray Gods strays from its qualities is when players who are less keen on visual novels find themselves limited by the available choices, as the plot allows for little deviation from the main story. As far as its execution is concerned, some of the singing moments feel inconsistent, due to the voice actors' different renditions.
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This on-rails photographic adventure is mostly preoccupied with getting the player to know more about the game's settings through its fun gameplay than to instill fear, and if those players less prepared or who might be expecting something else will no doubt find it short and repetitive, those who enjoy knowing new creatures and snapping their photos will have an enjoyable experience that will motivate them to keep going forward.
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AEW Fight Forever marks the premiere of this wrestling promotion on console games and if that means Fight Forever needs to cause a great impression, the reality is this game falls below expectations in most ways. Its career mode is competent and enjoyable, but there is an unexplainable lack of high profile wrestlers on this rather expensive release, and many of its DLC inclusions should have been a part of the initial game. There's also a lack of variety and match types that won't help AEF Fight Forever make a name for itself, and the game's unimpressive visual work leaves a lot to be desired.
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We Are OFK does not propose the dynamic kind of gameplay that most games do. Rather, We Are OFK is more akin to a biopic where the player follows the tribulations of a burgeoning music group, and it knows how to deliver on that. Its characters are fun to follow, and the dialogues are well written to keep the player's attention focused. Coupled with a stunning looking visual environment and art style, We Are OFK is certain to appeal to those willing to embrace an experience that's not based on interactive gameplay. Even so, more ramifications and consequences for the few plot choices available would be very welcome.
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A Space for the Unbound combines a stunning visual world of beautiful pixel art with a plot that's rich in hard themes, and the result is an adventure game where everything is more complex than what it seems at first. Its pacing and tasks are more likely to appeal to more dedicated adventure game players, though, as the plot gets extended with acts that can feel redundant and this won't appeal to other parts of the public, but A Space for the Unbound deserves all praise for what it does well.
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On the one hand, it features what is the best combat in the series, with a dynamic that will feel marvelous to its fans, as well as a new mechanic that links characters of previous games and abilities. Inexplicably Fire Emblem Engage also features a poor and overly simplistic plot that falls below those of its predecessors, as well as uninspired and dull dialogues that bring no value to the experience. Those willing to overlook the plot and dialogue flaws will enjoy a fantastic experience, which the marvelous visual style and performance only help consolidating.
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The game's tasks and incentives to attract more visitors are great fun, and its colourful visual environment and good performance helps with creating a more enjoyable experience. Its lack of tutorials and the way it throws players right into the action will make it less welcoming for those who are not experienced in the genre, however.
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SD Gundam Battle Alliance is a competent action RPG that's chock-full of content aimed at hearty Gundam fans, and they are certain to enjoy what's on offer, with the game's immense amount of fan service, fun and simple combat, and enormous amount of robots to discover, a marvelous celebration of the Gundam series. Taking a few steps away from the fandom, the somewhat repetitive missions and a plot that doesn't fascinate become more visible, but with this being an effort obviously targeted at Gundam fans it's fair to say they will enjoy the work that went into Battle Alliance the most.
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The greater focus on the development of vehicles and characters is a very welcome improvement, as it makes the exploration and overall gameplay more enjoyable, and helps consolidate this as the ultimate version of Metal Max Xeno. On the other hand, it's less clear why several plot elements were sacrificed, and the game's performance could use some work, but that doesn't stand in the way of Reborn's overall qualities.
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Rune Factory 5 marks the first new chapter of the simulation RPG series after a long hiatus and this new arrival on the Nintendo Switch brings very appealing characters, a good combat system and some interesting gameplay mechanics. Unfortunately its biggest weaknesses are difficult to overlook, namely when it comes to its performance and poor graphics, as well as to repetitive spaces to explore. While it is possible to get used to these shortcomings, they remain impossible to understand and in several cases make the experience less enjoyable than it should be.
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Soccer Story joins the roster of sports-themed RPGs, and this one will put players on a quest to save football from a tyrant corporation, which may or may not be based on a real world organization. With that said, the game's puzzles are fun and the open world is nicely presented, but the game's biggest flaw concerns its main point of focus: playing football, which feels too simplistic and features opponents that are too erratic. Soccer Story could be a much more unique game in its kind but the lack of attention dedicated to the sport that inspired it leads to an experience that won't captivate fans.
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Pac-Man World Re-Pac brings back the 1999 original and successfully adapts its visual world as well as control mechanics to our day, thus making a great effort at modernizing Pac-Man's platformer effort. While these are very welcome steps the game's foundations remain steeped in their time and as such, the levels are rather similar and with no links between them, while the camera is somewhat limited, in elements that are reminiscent of the original game's era. All in all, Re-Pac is a fun if by no means profound experience that will please fans of one of gaming's most iconic characters and of 1990s platformers.
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Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes introduces different elements compared to its predecessor and seems to give us a hybrid experience between the Fire Emblem and Dynasty Warriors series, and a competent game at that too. With its tripartite story lines that will intersect during the game, dynamic combat, as well as fun and motivating gameplay, Three Hopes could benefit from more variety in its missions but overall, what we have here is a very competent and well executed game that combines some of the best elements of the two series it's inspired in.
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Lamplight City is a point and click adventure that tries a novel approach with regards to its exploration, as the player can take the main events in any order and is allowed to fail specific objectives as the game's very flexible plot will adapt to such choices. In that regard, as well as its attractive art style, Lamplight City is an interesting game. Its puzzles suffer from a level of difficulty that ends up making them too simplistic though, and as such the challenge can get too repetitive but it nonetheless remains a game very much worth exploring.
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Monark presents us with an experience that draws inspiration from landmark RPG series while also hinting at a survival horror experience. It does a good job when it comes to its attractive art style, a flexible and smooth character development system, a challenging combat, and its plot with themes related to the human ego. Unfortunately the game's execution stands on the way to delivering a fine experience, and the frequent slowdowns that happen even more often during combat, as well as a simplistic level structure make this a game that's unable to stand up to its peers, even if it should not be disregarded by RPG fans.
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