Danreb Victorio's Reviews
While I didn’t love Control Resonant, there’s a lot to like. The game features top-notch presentation. The visuals and sound design are both outstanding, and while I did experience some frame rate issues on a base PS5, they weren’t game-breaking. On top of that, learning about, using, and fighting with Dylan is an absolute joy, but unfortunately, immersion-breaking moments take that joy away all too often. It feels like a prestige, artisan-type game built to win all sorts of awards and achievements, and then you play it and wonder why it’s getting the attention it is.
Third Shift put together an amazing package that includes a touching story with characters I genuinely cared about, alongside a heartfelt message about life and love, and the best part was that it never overstayed its welcome. At four hours, Forever Ago is a game I'd recommend to anyone, whether they're in a loving relationship, going through some hardship, or just need something different to play. This is cozy gaming at its best.
Given that the game is a direct continuation and has you explore most of the same areas, the fact that its gameplay systems keep things fresh makes it all the more impressive, and that goes without saying the game is roughly one and a half times bigger than the last one. At the end of the day, Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter is a remake of what many consider the best game in the Trails series. Of course it's amazing.
Onimusha: Way of the Sword is an action-packed welcome back that’ll give fans both new and old something to be excited about. It’s a game that respects the past with its familiarity while also inserting its own flavor to make it stand on its own against other single player narrative games while even paying homage to action games that more or less could’ve replaced it.
I do wish that plot details in Orbitals were a little more obvious from a storytelling perspective, but the amount of fun you’ll have in this short six-hour sci-fi adventure hardly makes you think about any of that. Orbitals is just a good time to spend with a friend, and that’s all you should really want from it.
I'm loving Madden NFL 27. From its snappy interface to its more realistic Franchise and its retooled play mechanics, this really feels like a monumental season. Of course, the season hasn't started yet, so I'll be wary if EA does what they did last year and makes a good game rough with each update.
I enjoyed my time with Big Walk, but I don’t ever want to play this kind of game ever again. It’s an easy recommendation if you have more than one friend down to play with for the more than 15 hours it takes to beat it, but to many people, those are few and far between.
Beast of Reincarnation just has too many problems to recommend it right now. Beyond the game’s stellar graphics and combat, its exploration leaves much to be desired, and it suffers even more from a weak story and a weaker cast of characters.
If you’re the type of person who doesn’t mind randomly playing a video game with a friend, family member, or loved one present, they probably already know that you’re someone into the medium and will likely not bother you for the rest of the session. Every once in a while, though, there’s a game that’ll get the attention of such people, likely to a point where they’ll want to join you or at least ask, “What are you playing?” That’s one of the best feelings in the world, and it’s a feat that I think Rhythm Heaven Groove accomplishes whenever it’s played around people. It’s a big part of what makes the series great.
So if a Zelda-like game from Team Asano interests you, I'd absolutely recommend The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales. I'd also advise that going the extra mile and sweating out the repetition for that true final ending is absolutely worth your time, and I think you're doing a disservice to yourself if you stop at any of the initial two endings.
As a Filipino-American, one of my biggest issues with Afterimages was that it didn’t feel Filipino. Aside from actually mentioning the Philippines and using Tagalog words (and having the UI immediately translate them), I just felt like the game’s setting was generic, and while I can understand making a game that’ll appeal to more people, Until Then isn’t that kind of game.
I’d recommend and Roger to anybody looking for a captivating story about relationships with loved ones and empathizing with issues both physical and mental. The way the game moves the story forward with such simple gameplay mechanics should be considered a triumph, and I’d love to see the people I love play through the experience as well.
It’s a good thing that we hadn’t reviewed the game so quickly, too, because we just learned that new missions are on the way in the form of DLC, and I can’t wait to get back into Bond’s shoes. If you’re even remotely a fan of James Bond or secret agent flicks, you owe it to yourself to play 007 First Light. This game made me a fan, and now I’m considering exploring all of the 007 media to see if there’s anything I can predict, now that this game has set a new standard for future Bond experiences.
NBA The Run does its best to make up for what it lacks with a high attention to detail that makes it easy to see the love for streetball culture.
The retelling of the story is great, the production value (even from a Switch 2 standpoint) is phenomenal, and you can tell a lot of love went into the game's development. It is undoubtedly filled to the brim with content for you to enjoy, but at the same time, it's hard to ignore the fact that it doesn't feel like the game actually cares about all the hours you poured into it. These newer versions of the game sort of scratch the surface of addressing that problem by offering Streamlined Progression and the ability to unlock unlimited MP and HP modifiers to make things less challenging, and that's all well and great if you wanna get through the game quickly, as we wait for news on the game's conclusion.
When I rolled credits on Mixtape, I whispered to myself, "Dang, I'm never gonna play anything like this again." If I do, it'll be compared to Mixtape, both fairly and unfairly. And again, the things this game does from a gameplay perspective aren't unique. It's the careful sum of its parts that makes Mixtape a modern classic, and at $20, it's an easy recommendation whether you binge or slow burn the six-hour title.
"This seven-to-eight-hour experience definitely was not a waste of time. This is a cozy game, through and through, that I really enjoyed from beginning to end. I wish there were at least some fail points or at least a little bit of struggle, but if you take the game for what it is, you’ll have something that’s definitely heartwarming."
Ys Memoire: Revelations in Celceta is as solid on Switch as it ever was, and if you’ve never played the game and you’re coming off Ys X: Nordics, Celceta is a great way to check out not only the story immediately after Ys X, but to experience one of the games that laid the groundwork for systems seen on other Ys games. Still, $60 is a little steep for this game when you can get the same experience for at least half the price on PS4 or PC.
While Dosa Divas has a lot of cool things going for it, namely in its story, especially as someone who truly appreciates the role food has in the lives of people in the ANHPI community, as well as a funky soundtrack and colorful visuals, there just wasn’t enough here to completely envelop me into the experience.
Enjoyable chaos is exactly what PRAGMATA is. Everything about this version of the world is terrifying, but I just loved being there, especially when it came to taking a breather at the shelter with Diana. I couldn’t stop thinking about how fun most aspects of this game were, so much so that I immediately jumped back in after rolling credits.