...it is a puzzle platformer at its core, which will turn some people off, and the combat still doesn’t quite sing. But even the issues it does have are the sort that are ultimately none too difficult to overlook, just little bits and bobs that don’t reach the height set by other standout moments.
At a $15 price tag, it feels like a light weekend thing, something you can drill through in a few nights of idle play and then pick up again whenever you have a hankering for something similar. That’s… what it wants to be. And so I have to kind of give it up for that. There are frustration points, sure, but if you like this style of platformer it simultaneously doesn’t feel like something that’s been done a dozen times before and is fun to play start to finish. Not every game manages that.
As such, ultimately I face the difficulty of trying to put a numerical score to something that is either going to be an experience you love having that you cannot convince others to engage with or something you want to love that you can't bring yourself to enjoy. It's the difference between having a 5/10 that you should definitely try or an 8/10 you might really dislike. That's hard to score. So in this particular case, please don't focus on the score below. That's not really indicative. Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles is an odd game that you will either really like and have a lot of fun with or it is going to frustrate the heck out of you, but I think ultimately I have to err on the side of it trying new things even if I don't think it totally sticks the landing.
Maybe it'd be nice to say that we all should have gotten over Final Fantasy VII by now instead of fawning over the world and its characters. But far from being the simple note-for-note reprise of the original that it could have been, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth swings for the fences to be a big and original thing that feels like a full game even while it is, functionally, the middle. It has weaknesses like combat I'm not wholly sold on and maybe a bit too much start-and-stop through gameplay, but if you've been looking forward to the game, you will not be disappointed. And if you want to experience the full story, this is a really good time.
On a whole, I feel like Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising is more sure of what it wants to be than its predecessor. It’s not trying to split the difference by being an RPG in one mode and a fighting game in others. On the other hand, the original’s RPG bona fides were a big part of what attracted me to the original, so it raises the interesting question wherein I both prefer the original for what it was trying to do while recognizing that the sequel is probably the better fighting game, which is what it’s trying to actually be. Taking into account the long tail of support for the original, the promise of more characters, and the surfeit of extra modes, this is almost a definite buy for fighting game fans, especially if you are a longtime fan of the original game. But it’s also a good buy if you’ve always loved fighting games but dislike threadbare stories or struggle with the controls. And with the sheer breadth of extra modes available, odds are good you’ll find stuff to love in here.
If you are tired as heck of roguelike games, this is not the game that’s going to change your mind. But if you like solid platforming action and are willing to learn the game’s systems, crack the bones and sink into the marrow? You’ve got a heck of a game on your hands, and many exciting runs ahead of you. And that’s even before you unlock your third characters.
Gordian Quest is a straightforward and fun game. I liked it all while I played. But I also kept wishing I was playing on my PC, which is… probably the game’s biggest weakness. It feels like a PC game ported to a console (which, let’s be real, it is) and it is a bit limited as a result of that. However, if you want the game in portable form and don’t have (or want) a Steam Deck? It’s a great addition. Sure, you will have to wrestle with the game’s interface a little bit and there will be the odd moment where you feel like something should have worked but you couldn’t see a bit of text that indicated otherwise. But the game is good enough that a bit of interface jank hardly pulls it down, in the end.
It’s smaller than its inspiration, a bit simpler in some ways, and I am very deliberately leaving out some of the places it goes simply on the basis that it’s worth seeing it for yourself. If you’re like me and have been looking for more FFT for the past two decades, this game will not sate your hunger completely, but it’ll be damn filling. You will walk away satisfied. That is high praise, and a testament to how good the game actually is. And I’m itching to play it again… and hopeful for an even better sequel one day, perhaps. So give this one a shot.
The biggest worry I had about this game, as I related in my initial preview, was that this is a bit of a wisp of a thing. Fortunately, looking at the price compared to what is actually on display here… I don’t think that’s actually a problem. Yes, it’s a light thing, but it’s not being priced as a high-end experience. It’s asking you to drop a little money on a game where you can do some fun puzzle gameplay within an RPG framework. That’s exactly what it delivers, and for that I think it’s definitely worth a look. If you enjoy a bit of RPG and strategy in a game and enjoy yourself a match-three game, you will be well-served by Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes. I can’t tell you how well it stacks up compared to the DS version, maybe, but now it’s available on more modern devices and it’s still fun. What more could you ask for?
I can’t recommend the game to everyone, and maybe not even to most people. But I think it’s commendable in what it’s trying to do. And if you, like me, have fond memories of picking up games you knew nothing about based on weird art and a love of cyborg ninjas on motorcycles for no reason… this is the modern descendant of those, and it’s having a good go at it.
Fans of exploration and shooters are strongly encouraged to try out The Knight Witch, because it’s a little indie title that’s going to charm you with both its story and its gameplay. What do you know? Mashing concepts together worked out pretty well here after all.
But I think that on balance, the whole thing works out to the game’s favor. This is definitely a title made with a lot of love and attention to detail, and while it’s hardly a flawless production, I think it’s worth checking out for people who sit on either side of the fence. If you’ve always wanted to love a Soulslike title but never quite got there, this might help get you over the hump; if you love them but don’t mind something being a bit more Souls-lite, this will delight you. It’s not going to make it on to my short list of worthy Game of the Year contenders, but it’s a solid outing all around, and that’s not nothing.
It feels like a throwback to the PlayStation era in the best way, when there were always new JRPGs showing up in the hopes of getting the same sort of cult reception as Final Fantasy VII, always new titles to try out and new stories to experience, some of them winding up a bit generic but others turning into unexpected little gems along the way. Astria Ascending feels like one of those gems, except it’s a new game right now and benefits from all the hindsight that implies.
It’s not an instant classic, but I think fans of the original are going to really find stuff to like here. And if you’re like me and never played the original, you still owe it to yourself to give this one a solid look. The weirdness of its controls and some of its quirks mean that it might not be for everyone… but give it a fair shot, and I have a feeling you’re going to get a lot more out of it than you might initially expect.
I loved the original. I love this remake. And if you’ve never played the original or you did, you owe it to yourself to give this one a check. It’s a game that was always good made that much better, and it’s going to stick with you a long time after the credits roll on the final ending.
But the whole thing is presented with such care, patient attention to detail, and downright love that it’s impossible not to enjoy the heck out of this game. It’s the sort of game that I highly recommend to people who may naturally only be inclined to one side or the other of this particular melange, because you might find yourself enjoying it more than you expected.
Seriously, what downsides it does have are either due to its age or just the fact that the designers prioritized a fun dungeon crawl over character building. That’s fine. The game you have here is a fine, crisp, energetic dungeon crawl that’s good to pick up and play and rewards you with bosses that are tough enough to matter but not so hard that you’ll want to throw the game in the garbage.
So this one deserves a high rating. Because if it had a lot of stuff stacked against it and I still wound up really being sucked in at the end, I think more people should give this off-beat combination a try. For all its flaws, there’s a beauty and warmth within that could be just as charming to you.
This is the sort of thing that I recommend people buy anyway because it sends a message that even if it’s coming over some two decades late, we do want these titles we’ve never seen before. It’s also the sort of thing I recommend people buy because it’s just a darn good remake in terms of attention to detail, and it’s also the sort of thing I recommend people buy because it’s a good game underneath all of that. That’s a lot that went right.
So at the end of the day, despite everything that made this look like it was going to be a disaster, Granblue Fantasy Relink is not just an alright game. It’s a really good game, a delight in terms of action RPG gameplay, and easily a title that you can start sinking a huge amount of time into whether you know this crew or not. I’m excited for the prospect of more, from more characters to more stories. And if you’re looking for a new RPG to sink your teeth to at the start of the year, you already have a strong example.