At its best when its focus is divided, Like a Dragon: Ishin! is a fun Bakumatsu sandbox. It doesn't have the engrossing standout minigame like the cabaret or business management challenges of previous titles, and its time period means it also doesn't pack a fun arcade. But its jack-of-all-trades approach still resonates.
Is it fair to compare indie project Melatonin to the big-studio polish of Rhythm Heaven? Perhaps not. It doesn't quite reach those heights, but what it manages is well-executed.
Pokemon Violet and Pokemon Scarlet certainly don't put their best feet forward. They run rough. Visual downgrades are clear. But ultimately, once you settle in, they're certainly full Pokemon games.
As an interactive museum exhibit, Atari 50 is quite successful. As a labor of love, it’s filled to the brim. Whether it transcends “well-crafted curiosity” status? That’ll depend on your nostalgia.
While it's unlikely to transcend genre preferences, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is a gift for those who love JRPG trappings. There are lands to explore, combat systems to optimize, and lore implications for longtime franchise fans. And at the very least? You certainly get your money's worth.
Increased enthusiasm for tactical role-playing games in recent years is leading to a wealth of fun indie experiences in the genre. Dancing Dragon Games, a small JRPG developer, partnered with Dark Deity publisher Freedom Games for its own entry, Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga. It isn’t just an homage, though, offering overlaid tactical systems that make it feel mechanically distinct. The scrappy release isn’t much of a looker (though there’s some nice sprite work!), but the gameplay is what matters, and there’s a lot of thought to it.
Nintendo Switch Sports brings the classic motion sports from the Wii era to the company’s modern console.
Gotta Protectors: Cart of Darkness refines a gameplay system that was already great, and offers a ton of challenges to keep you busy! And hey, maybe this time, more players will be fortunate enough to discover it.
You’ll get the most out of Triangle Strategy if you bring a little patience to the proceedings. It starts slow. It throws a lot of story at you. The most interesting tactical powers show up in later levels.
Chocobo GP fares better than most Mario Kart competitors, delivering a rough-around-the-edges experience that’s still fundamentally fun most of the time.
Guerrilla Games’ Horizon: Forbidden West is the sort of game that is easy to anticipate. It’s big! It’s full of interesting stuff to do! Many were sold on the promise of the PlayStation 5 at launch by the prospect of sinking days and weeks into a new Horizon. Thankfully, Forbidden West delivers on that promise in many ways.
Three decades have passed since the original’s release! But hey, Windjammers 2 is here, and it manages to deliver on core points.
Fans of golf RPGs? We’ve had a tough time of it lately. Recent Mario Golf entries have failed to deliver the depth of the Game Boy gems. The sequel to indie hit Golf Story, Sports Story? It’s on the way, we hear, but not as quickly as fans would want. So if you like this particular combination, you may be seeking out a stopgap.
Without fondness for the original games, you might find Shining Pearl and Brilliant Diamond less than compelling. With it, though? You’ll be fine as long as your expectations are in check. They’re faithful remakes!
Oink Games’ line of analog titles is all about packing value into an attractive, portable package. It makes sense, then, that Let’s Play! Oink Games is similarly slick. The collection, out now, includes four of the studio’s most popular releases, packaged up for both local and online play.
That’s what makes Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX so fascinating. You see, Monster Rancher makes more sense now than it did then.
Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars, the new game from NieR creator Yoko Taro, is a peculiar little game. It knows what it wants to be! And its aesthetics definitely come first. But if you’re at home in its slower pace and tavern feel, you’ll have a good time.
New games have moved from the obvious to the truly weird. And, perhaps most importantly for this installment, the world has become much more about video calls than house parties. The Jackbox Party Pack 8 is the first one fully developed in these conditions, and its collection of games feels like it wanted to be deeper and more involved to fit in a little better.
Lost Judgment, a follow-up to 2018’s Judgment, returns to detective Takayuki Yagami and his investigations in the shadier sides of Japanese society. And as Judgment becomes something of a franchise of its own separate from Yakuza, it’s increasingly finding its footing and learning its specialties.
WarioWare: Get It Together!, the latest Nintendo release, is the return of a beloved franchise. It’s got a lot of personality! It has some new ideas! But it’s polarizing and a little thin.