Miguel Moran's Reviews
The Haunted Island is the perfect way to close out 2018. Playing this game made me happy and giggly in a way so few video games make me, and it's the kind of video game experience I wish I had more of. In an industry that only grows larger and more expansive every year, this latest release from Grace Bruxner is a standout treat that goes against the tide of video games and delivers a silly, adorable adventure that everyone deserves to experience.
Whenever there's a conversation about video games and if they can be considered art, Katamari Damacy needs to be involved. 15 years ago, it arrived on PlayStation 2 touting an absolutely unheard of style of gameplay, art and music. 15 years later on the Nintendo Switch, and it remains one of a kind. Katamari Damacy is a wholly unique video game, and it is an unabashed love letter to the copy-and-paste pop aesthetic of Japanese 1990s pop culture. It's bright, weird, silly and cute, and is a must play for anyone, anywhere.
My favorite gaming experiences are the ones that elicit a pure and physical response from me. Whether it's a horror game making me clench my cheeks or a story-driven game dropping my jaw and pulling a tear from my eye, those kinds of experiences are the ones that stick with me the most. With Pikuniku, I was smiling and laughing throughout the entire thing, and too few games get that kind of response out of me. Pikuniku is a treasure of a game, and I can't wait to see more from this team.
World End Syndome is a visual novel masterpiece. The story is gripping and evocative, blending fun romance and tense murder mystery together incredibly well. The characters are sharp and beautifully illustrated, and the way their personalities and backgrounds developed over the course of the game was equally well-done. Best of all is the smart save system that keeps track of your progress and does a great job of encouraging you to keep coming back for the full story. It's hard to find any faults with a visual novel game like this that so successfully blends beautiful art and storytelling with satisfying game mechanics.
Catherine: Full Body has aged like the finest of wines. For fans of the story, the new characters and plot threads fold in fantastically after an awkward start, and they're coupled with a wealth of new dialogue and beautifully animated cutscenes. For fans of the gameplay, new remixed levels and difficulty options add brand new challenges for even the most hardcore Catherine enthusiasts, and with support for the game's niche competitive scene to boot. And if you've never played the game before, all of these additions make an already classic video game even more of a must-play experience.
It was hard for me to imagine a way to expand on a game that was already so god but Dragon Quest Builders 2 has managed to do just that. A bigger story, new things to build, multi-player and more make this an absolutely jam-packed experience. Building game enthusiasts will love the blend of crafting and survival management, while Dragon Quest fans are sure to love the unique spin on the long-running JRPG franchise, and if you're a fan of both? Well, Dragon Quest Builders 2 is the must have game of 2019.
Kill La Kill -IF- may just be the perfect anime video game. It almost flawlessly manages to embrace the style and energy of the original anime, and translate that into an enthralling arena fighter that is just as much fun solo as it is competitively. The art is incredible, the music is astounding, and the story mode goes above and beyond to deliver a fresh narrative that fans of the anime will eat up. Whether you're a Kill La Kill megafan or just a fighting game enthusiast, this is a must play.
Daemon X Machina sets the bar for robot action games. The addictive mecha fighting is almost flawless, but it's complemented by so many other incredible parts to the game. There's a rich, unique world filled with incredible and memorable characters, endless and addictive customisation, gorgeous visuals and a jaw-dropping soundtrack. Daemon X Machina rarely stumbles, and even when it did, I still couldn't help but be impressed by this amazing new experience.
Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout reinvents the wheel on a series that felt like it was beginning to grow stagnant. Fresh combat and an engaging new protagonist help this entry usher in a remarkable new era for the long-running Atelier series, and other improvements like great Switch performance and gorgeous music are just icing on the cake. I never thought that Atelier Sophie could be out-done, but Atelier Ryza has thoroughly made the case to be my new favorite game in the series.
With the Atelier Dusk Trilogy Deluxe Pack, the entire library of PlayStation 3 Atelier games is now playable on modern systems. While the Arland trilogy broke ground by being the first 3D entries in the franchise, the Atelier Dusk games trade technical innovation for narrative, introducing a strikingly solemn and mysterious world inhabited by gorgeously designed characters that won't be soon forgotten by anyone who plays these games.
Necrobarista is a game-changer for the visual novel genre, using slick cinematic visuals to tell its story. This is a sophisticated story full of delightful, three-dimensional characters that is perfectly complements by the groundbreaking presentation of the experience.
Fight Crab is weird, wild, and fun as hell. It's a game purely focused on delivering charming and silly moments, and that chaotic, no-rules atmosphere leads to hours of hilarious crustacean combat. The game could have easily been an unpredictable, button-mashing physics mess, but the fact that there are legitimate layers of executable strategy to the combat makes it a thrilling challenge to boot. Even if you don't like crabs, Fight Crab will easily convert you into a claw-believer.
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is a must-play for fans of Japanese sci-fi adventures. Mixing the strengths of Vanillaware's art with time-travel adventures is a recipe for huge success. A story ambitious enough to have thirteen different protagonists seems bound for failure, yet the game manages to make each story not only incredibly impactful on its own, but adds up to a bigger, brighter and utterly unforgettable narrative. The addictive tactical gameplay that strings these story scenes together, despite a strange artstyle, is just icing on the already massive and delicious cake.
You owe it to yourself to play No More Heroes, and if you do, it needs to be on the Nintendo Switch.
Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy is a significant shift for the series, being the first-ever direct sequel with a returning protagonist in all of Atelier. While this isn't a perfect entry point for newcomers, Atelier Ryza 2 builds on every aspect of the previous game flawlessly. Even with some minor hiccups, the immersive exploration systems and addictive combat are top-notch. The gorgeous visuals and comfy music are just as much of a delight, but the best piece of the puzzle is the relatable narrative about growth and friendship that I won't soon forget. A highlight of the Atelier series, and an absolute must-play.
Atelier Mysterious Trilogy Deluxe Pack brings the best of the franchise to a brand new console. Atelier Sophie is an iconic piece of the series with a brand new lease on life, Atelier Firis has unique exploration gameplay that hasn't been attempted in any other entry, and the new story content in Atelier Lyde & Suelle is a delight for longtime fans. These games have never looked better, and are a must-play for anyone interested in the Atelier series.
NEO: The World Ends with You is way too cool, way too fun, and way too good. For fans of the series, this is a sequel that goes above and beyond 14 years of hopes and expectations. For newcomers who have never even heard of the Reaper's Game, this is one of the most genuine, polished, and stylish games I've ever played. Personality and style ooze out of it constantly, and in a post-Persona 5 world where society is starting to clamour for more immersive and all-encompassing JRPG masterpieces, this might just be the next big thing.
Tales of Arise reinvigorates the magic of the long-running series. A franchise that long rested on its established laurels has been refreshingly upgraded and reinvented, resulting in one of the most polished and jaw-dropping JRPGs I've played in a long time. It's an exciting new chapter for the Tales series that won't be soon forgotten.
Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream is an absolute gift. Sophie is just as charming and inspiring as ever, and even though the story tacks on more dimensional time-travel drama than I would've cared for, it's just as touching and cozy of an experience as the first Atelier Sophie. Gathering, crafting, and battling are all plenty of fun too, and flooded with enough layers of mechanics that it's easy to pick an area you want to focus on and purely master that one element of the game. By looking to the past, this surprise sequel has delivered a promising vision of the future of the Atelier series.
AI: The Somnium Files - Nirvana Initiative is a gripping blend of murder mystery and goofball antics. The game perfectly blends absurd humor with gripping sci-fi storytelling, and the way it breaks up dialogue-heavy moments with bits of investigative gameplay or exciting fight scenes keeps things fresh right up until the credits roll.