A delightful RPG in its own right, rather than just a good retro-like experience.
Compared to Persona 5, Atlus delivers equally great characters, solid storytelling, mostly attractive design, and compelling battle and progression systems here, but the content is clearly lighter, the world much less elaborate, and the pacing a bit awkward.
Kuro no Kiseki represents, at its fullest, that invaluable joy of diving into a new world.
Although it only partially fixes Falcom's woes in terms of story pacing, Trails Through Daybreak is nonetheless a journey full of wonders.
t takes just enough from Fire Emblem: Three Houses to please fans of the renowned strategy RPG, but dubious writing and a wobbly progression system darken the mood.
It effectively retains what makes the series so enjoyable - including a terrific atmosphere, terrifying opponents, challenging gameplay, and twisted puzzles - while also being dramatically harder than the first two entries.
Ghostwire Tokyo is a cool action game with equally cool design in many respects, but suffers from several shortcomings and erroneous game design choices. There's not enough emphasis on horror, story, or spectacle, and while it tends to attempt a lot of things at the same time - action shooter, horror, RPG, open world, platformer - it fails to excel at most, if any, of them.
Atelier old timers can once again feel at home, even if some important aspects are still lacking.
While the overall quality is outstanding on both a gameplay and graphical level, DICE has unfortunately drastically cut back the amount of content on offer in this latest release, and the loss of both a single player campaign and additional multiplayer game modes is certainly felt.
The clever battle system and the fresh ideas introduced by the series deserved far better than this for a sequel.
By innovating and investing in Tales of Arise, as well as Scarlet Nexus earlier this year, Bandai Namco is leading the way to the next generation of JRPGs.
It offers a cool aerial battle experience, and it's not as if the genre is bursting with rival candidates, but you might want to think twice about the content-to-price ratio before jumping in.
Behind the peculiar name, Love Live! School Idol Festival - After School Activity - Wai Wai Home Meeting!! is actually a fairly orthodox rhythm game in which you play as the various idols from the series.
Compile Heart still seems on the right track, but the Neptunia franchise needs to meet higher standards or it will be quickly left behind by the AA competition.
Persona 5 Strikers makes clever use of the 'Warriors' gameplay style while maintaining the spirit of the original title at all times.
By rejecting series traditions, Atelier Ryza 2 ends up disheartening despite boasting a stellar alchemy system.
A strong entry in the long-running series and a fascinating dive into the Cold War.
Really enjoyable in some respects, but very disappointing in others, Trails of Cold Steel IV is overly long considering the story it wishes to tell.
13 Sentinels Aegis Rim combines a truly amazing narrative, unique esthetics, and an addictive battle system to produce a one-of-a-kind experience that JRPG and visual novels fans alike should definitely enjoy.
There's a solid base to work from but the development team ultimately failed to piece numerous promising elements together and produce a captivating adventure.