Yvonne van Geloven's Reviews
I have pondered the rating I was going to give Behind the Frame. I enjoyed playing it immensely, I love the whimsical atmosphere and the intriguing storyline. The puzzles aren’t overly difficult but I don’t mind, it made it feel wholesome to me. The game is short, but when it ends I really wanted more because of the story behind the painter and the old man. It certainly challenged my creative mind, as I keep thinking about what exactly I had been witnessing. The price tag on Switch for Behind the Frame is along the lines of the Steam price, but you should know that the mobile version is about half the price. Due to the fact that it’s a touchscreen game, I do wonder if that wouldn’t be the best version to go with. This is a game for fans of wholesome games with a whimsical and nostalgic feeling.
What can I say? I love Farm Tycoon because I love the management part, trying to make it into a thriving farm and keeping my eye on the finances. I would like to see some improvements however in the game like a tutorial that is sorely missed to make Farm Tycoon more accessible. It got me making my own lists and schematics, but I can see how this would deter other players. It’s been some time since I couldn’t stop thinking about a game during the day, wanting nothing better than to play on. A sure sign of a hit for me. Based on the PC game Farm Manager SONKA did a good job helping the game make the jump to consoles. It’s great fun to have this fully-fledged farm in handheld mode on my Switch. I can manage the farm while travelling to my own work by train!
Even though I have never played the first Goetia game, I must say I really liked my time in the strange world of Goetia 2. I would have liked to have more light and be able to see the details better, but the graphics look good, and the areas you search through are very detailed. This point & click really had my brain cells doing overtime, and although I wouldn’t have young children play it, it wasn’t too disturbing for me. The developers did a good job at creating a spooky atmosphere without it being very scary.
Anuchard is a combination of a action fighter and simulation game, with the emphasis on exploring dungeons and solving puzzles. With five guardians to search for, you have several different dungeons to explore, all in a different style. The cartoony style depicts the characters well with only a few color strokes. The excellent humorous writing makes the game stand out for me. I found the action-based fighting to turn hectic pretty soon, but the mechanic of avoiding damage allowed me to focus on the puzzles instead. I’m pretty sure though that for someone who is more adept at action fighting and dungeon crawling will have a blast!
I was curious to see if such a tiny game could entertain me, and it certainly did. I like the idea of giving budding developers the chance to bring their work to a bigger audience in this way. They can show their hard work without having to spend years on a full fledged video game production. I do feel the price is a bit high, but the funds are used to add additional content for upcoming updates to Lotus: The Self Made Witch. If enough funding is reached, we might even see the release of Lotus on Steam and Google Play!
Of course, Calm Colors isn’t for everyone, but it’s a good game if you want to unwind and think happy thoughts while sliding the pieces onto the right shape. It offers relaxing gameplay, and turns the myriad of lines into a lovely bright image. Looking at the price, you are looking upon many hours of relaxation with no stress, timers, pressure…just you sliding the pieces to the soothing music.
Overall I can say for the price of a few euro you’ll have loads of word puzzles to play. And these are available to play on the go, making it even better. They should keep any word puzzle fan busy for a bit!
This is a good entry in the Rune Factory series and I’m sure the fans will welcome it. Expect much of what made Rune Factory 4 great. Good new gameplay features are added with the Spell Seal, being a Ranger with special duties and benefits and the addition of the Farming Dragons. Rune Factory 5 has a good storyline and nice side stories with interesting characters in town. There’s a deep stats and skill system, and it’s fun trying on different costumes and accessories. At the start of this review I asked: was it worth is to wait 10 years for Rune Factory 5? Honestly, I love my time in the game, but I am disappointed too. Compared to other current-day games it really doesn’t deliver in graphics, attention to detail in the world of Rigbarth just isn’t there. Even comparing it to the lovely looking world in Rune Factory 4 Special, it falls short. My final verdict is still positive, but a lot more was needed for it to get our highest recommendation. A must for the fans, but if you are new to the series, Rune Factory 4 Special on the Switch feels like an entry point at half the price that is preferable.
There really is too much to tell about Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream. As always, new abilities and additions keep unfolding, even when you are many hours into the game. Like greenhouses to sow seeds tied into the weather conditions. I haven’t finished the main storyline yet, but I’m having a stellar time with Sophie and Plachta. Enough mystery to make me want to push on, waiting for a happy reunion and exploring to my heart’s content. Meanwhile, I dive into lovely visuals and a stellar soundtrack. Once again it will be difficult to decide which my all-time favourite Atelier game is!
EGGLIA: Rebirth is an RPG-town builder that is right at home on the Switch, even though I would have liked to see more differences with the mobile game. But then, the mobile game already was of a great quality. The simulation part, building up the Town at EGGLIA is where the game shines for me. Moving through the hex based dungeons is nice too, but much is left to chance. What makes exploring fun though is that you never know what new surprises in materials and new creatures you are going to find. This is a great game to pick up and play over your morning coffee, gathering materials, slaying some enemies and using the spoils to help out your friends in town to make their home even nicer.
I realize I may not have played Scrapnaut in the same way most gamers would, but Scrapnaut harbors elements or different kinds of genres that will appeal to all sorts of players. It allows you to adjust the settings to just the kind of gameplay that feels right for you, which I really like. The exploring, gathering of materials and building and crafting part is where the fun is for me, and the game handled this well. It feels like a fresh take on the farming and crafting genre, reminding me of Harvest Moon: an Innocent Life, though it isn’t as smoothly polished as the big titles. I wanted to see more storyline, which would have made it less about ticking the boxes for the quests, but I did enjoy my time with Scrapnaut. I can’t of course comment on the battle part, but for me, the game shines in exploration and building/crafting.
Although I did like my time spent in Dairoku: Agents of Sakuratani I have to say I was expecting more. And I don’t think it was just due to my wanting to play another Café Enchanté. They could have done so much more with the main storyline and with the battles they introduced. I felt that an intriguing plot was missing. A missed chance. Overall I have thought hard if I would go for a rating of I’m not sure, or an I like it. In the end I decided on the rating below as I must say the love interests and the side characters were fun.
I don’t often make jigsaw puzzles in real life, but I live with someone who loves nothing better than to clutter my kitchen table and countertop with puzzles of 1000 pieces or more. I felt How Buddy’s Parents Met is a very nice alternative to have the same puzzling fun in your pocket. It has all the qualities that make putting jigsaws together fun and adds the benefit of it being compact. With various difficulty levels, sweet images to form and a relaxing tune in the background, this love story will give your hours of fun
I had looked forward to playing BLUE REFLECTION: Second Light and I can say it doesn’t disappoint. All the elements that make for a satisfying JRPG/simulation are here, and I can see Gust incorporated a lot of what makes Atelier Ryza a great game. Forming friendships, crafting things, making facilities, use of the FreeSpace app, exploring the Heartscapes, fighting….all merges quite satisfyingly. This also means that you must be in for the entire package. Focussing on the battles alone won’t let you progress, focussing on the simulation part won’t do the trick either. Follow Ao and her friends while they explore the Heartscapes and turn them into the best Reflectors they can be. BLUE REFLECTION: Second Light is a great game for Atelier fans, and I’m guessing it will be a hit with JRPG fans as well!
My Friend Peppa Pig is aimed at very young children, and I would imagine it will be huge fun for them to be a part of Peppa’s world. The gameplay is simple, so you can even let your youngest play the game alone, they only need to press one button. However, playing this together will surely delight your child and make for some good quality time. If this game was aimed at a slightly higher age group, I would say that it gets repetitive and you can’t skip scenes you have seen before. Combined with the price point it might not be a good choice for children age 6+. But seeing familiar faces and places from the popular TV show is key here, as is the exploration and being a part of it. So if you have a huge Peppa fan in your home, My Friend Peppa Pig will be a good present for the upcoming holidays.
Catty & Batty: the Spirit Guide challenges you to find the solution to guide the Spirits to their home. There’s no one solution to make it work, instead, you are challenged to think up your own. It’s nice that each level is different, obstacles don’t overstay their welcome. Personally, I could have done with less simple graphics, but I have to give kudos to the developer for the fact that it’s all hand-drawn. Overall, a good little puzzler.
Panmorphia is a lovely point & click escape room game, trying to find your way out after the door closed with a bang. The scenes you are presented with are beautiful. The background music is good and by using ambient sound and little bits of movement on the screen, the right atmosphere is created. If you like point & click games that keep the brain active, give this one a try. And if you want to give Panmorphia a try first, there’s a Lite version on mobile available. And if you can’t get enough of puzzling with Panmorphia, there’s also a second game out on Steam and mobile, called Panmorphia: Enchanted.
I feel there’s nothing wrong when a game copies a popular gaming series, as long as they make it a worthwhile adventure. I feel the developers of Nexomon have done that. The graphics are cute and colourful, the soundtrack reminded me of the Pokémon tunes and it was a nice change to catch a different kind of Mon. Nexomon doesn’t come with all the frills and extras in gameplay that make Pokémon games amazing, but it does bring back challenging battles and a good storyline. The only serious niggle I have is the catching rate combined with the price of Nexotraps.
Love Colors is a good game for those times when you don’t feel like doing difficult battles or go on an epic quest. Love Colors offers relaxing gameplay by filling the squares of a grey and white image and turning it into a bright and lovely image. Be aware there is no real gameplay in this, nonetheless, it’s very soothing to do after a very busy day. And if you want to play it together with friends or family you can do so too. Tackle the 150+ images in the base game, or go for the more intricate images in the DLC. It’ll keep you painting by numbers for quite some time.
I must confess at first I just couldn’t find my stride in the game, for which the controls were mainly to blame. But Chef’s Tail tells a sweet story about the after life, making it a green lush place and cooking dishes to relaxing back ground music. If you like simulation games with questing, gathering and interacting with the spirits that populate the after life, then this may be a game for you. I do feel some bugs need to be repaired. What would make this nice game a great game is changing the controls on the Switch.