Nikoderiko takes all the best lessons from the games of yesteryear, and presents them in a colorful package that lands firmly in the all-ages “easy to play, difficult to 100%” box with all the greats of the genre.
Ultimately, Rogue Flight is a love letter to retro anime and manages to impress with its story and voice work. The combat is a bit too hectic to be considered strategic, but conversely that makes it an easier game to pick up.
Ultimately, Dustborn is an amazing tech demo. Red Thread Games could do amazing things if they took the mechanics of the game and applied it to something… ANYTHING else.
Ultimately, I loved my time with The Plucky Squire, the developers clearly have the fundamentals of platforming down and compensate for a lack of difficulty with its heartwarming story and cute characters (Moonbeard is my favorite). The feel-good story will capture both adults and children, as will the forgiving (but fun!) gameplay and puzzles. All Possible Futures does a fantastic job using the tropes of fairy tales to tell a sincere story of fate, heroism, and the responsibility to have faith in ourselves to change and grow.
Ultimately, Rocket Knight Adventures: Re-Sparked Collection is a $30 collection of three games with basic features. I’m sure it has meaning for collectors and fans of the original games, but I genuinely can’t imagine any non-fans picking this up and discovering Rocket Knight.
Until Then made me cry multiple times. Some lines hit me like a ton of bricks and buried me under the weight of their emotional significance. The game allows you to continue after the end and even expedites things a bit. After your first loop, you’re going to want to go back. Remember, “you can always begin again, you just have to find that spark”.
Ultimately, Astral Gunners is a fantastic game which provides an easy-to-pick-up experience for casual bullet hell gamers, while also providing tools for hardcore score chasers to really get into the game. There are a few questionable graphical decisions that pull me out of it, but it’s nothing that can’t be overlooked after I got used to it.
Ultimately, The Last Spell: Dwarves of Runenberg does what any DLC ought to do, adds new content to the game without making it a convoluted mess. All the new toys in Dwarves of Runenberg make the game even more exciting and I don’t expect fans of the base game will feel it trivializes or bloats the game’s existing strategies.
If you’re already a fan of “AAA” style action RPGs you’re likely to enjoy Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden even more than I did.
Overall, Mario vs. Donkey Kong for the Nintendo Switch is a game I couldn’t put down. It’s a remaster of an iconic puzzle game that’s a direct upgrade and even adds features. There’s over a hundred stages, creative level design, expressive characters, and it’s just simple and clean fun.
Ultimately, Home Safety Hotline is a fairly linear puzzle game but makes up for its depth of mechanics with its depth of lore. There’s a severe lack of whimsy in horror, and perhaps it’s just me but I feel that fairies, hags, and similar supernatural creatures haven’t yet been given a fair shake. This game is a lot of fun if you’re not an achievement hunter, otherwise you’ll end up playing it twice without really seeing any new content.
Ultimately, Cuisineer is a grindy game that will appeal to casual roguelike fans, weebs, or anyone looking for a grindy game to lose dozens of hours into. That same grind will likely alienate a handful of you, but if this kind of isometric combat is your thing then it’s worth pushing through.
Ultimately, Amanda the Adventurer is a great example of the ability to tell stories in horror games, relying on the kind of in-depth lore and techniques fans have come to love from similar viral sensations; and Amanda is a league above some of the others like Poppy Playtime and Garten of Banban
Ultimately, Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless is a game made for… well it’s made for Disgaea players. There’s nothing quite like this franchise and over time Nippon Ichi has refined what it does well, and focused on what the fanbase loves.
Ultimately Silent Hope is a refreshing return to form for Marvelous. Cute characters, great voicework, fun (and grindy) beat’em up combat. It’s a distillation of Rune Factory combat with simplified crafting and no conventional farming mechanics (there is a farm though).
Paleo Pines is a great game for young gamers just starting out with farming/life sims, but it lacks that all-ages appeal.
If you like edgy humor? Great. If you just want to be a hot girl trying to solve hot girl problems. This is the game for you. It’s crude, it’s funny, it has fantastic voice acting, and despite what little there is to find fault with; I had the most fun with a Western VN I think I’ve ever had. I just wish there was more.
Hopefully Rune Factory 6 will be a return to form for the franchise but in the meantime, Rune Factory 3 Special is a spectacular remake that will delight fans who have never gotten a chance to try it, and will tide over old fans of the series. The future looks bright for Rune Factory.
Ultimately, Baldur’s Gate 3 is virtually everything I’d want out of a tactical RPG. Like the Divinity series it ditched the live-combat in favor of more interactive tactical combat, it remains rooted firmly in the lore of Forgotten Realms, and it’s not afraid to be gritty with its depictions of violence, dark magic, and the brutality of life in the near lawless life of a fantasy adventurer.
Ultimately, Arcadian Atlas is an RPG with an exciting and dramatic story, strategic gameplay, and a fantastic soundtrack; though a lack of polish and quality of life features sometimes breaks the nostalgic illusion.