Yvonne van Geloven's Reviews
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.
Colors Live turns your Nintendo Switch into a real Art Studio. It has all the features a budding artist needs at her fingertips. The SonarPen is an important add-on as it’s a pressure-sensitive stylus, allowing you to make even more detailed work. A lot of brushes are available and a color wheel with every shade you could wish for. There’s a very cool playback function allowing you to see all the steps artists in the online community have made, and Colors Quest is added, giving you little assignments daily. Colors Live won’t turn you into an artist overnight, but it is fun to dabble in even for a complete amateur like I am.
I had been waiting for Garden Paws on the Nintendo Switch for a long time, and it doesn’t disappoint. All the elements of a good simulation game are here, though I must mention socializing is not a part of the gameplay. The visuals look lovely, there are a ton of things to do to make this a very immersive game. Sadly there are some bugs to repair, sometimes even hindering one of the quests. As Bitten Toast has a lot of experience with Garden Paws already on Steam, I don’t doubt this will be taken care of soon. If this is a deal-breaker for you, you might wanna wait for a while to dive in. Looking at the fact that I think about Garden Paws even when I’m not playing, I can only recommend the game, but do beware of bugs needing to be caught.
Instant Farmer offers puzzle fans a good challenge and a very fair price. Though there is no tutorial is clear from the start what you have to do. There are no frills, but it all works as it should accompanied by some relaxing music. A good game to pick up and play during your coffee break, even for someone like me who doesn’t want to spend days stuck in one level!
So, how does May’s Mysteries: The Secret of Dragonville hold up to the Professor Layton games? Well, when it comes to the puzzles, this is a welcome game for games who can’t wait to dive into so many mind benders. What let’s the game down in comparison is the way you live the adventure. Like in Layton, there’s a lot to read and there are many characters to meet, but the scenery in the Layton games was much more alive and interesting. It made you actually feel like you had joined Layton and Luke, and I missed that feeling when I followed May. Still, if you loved Layton you will find enough to like in May’s Mysteries: The Secret of Dragonville. Plus, the game comes at a very attractive price point and offers a huge amount of content too. So if you like logic puzzles, don’t mind to read a lot and maybe reminisce about the olden days of Layton on the DS, then this game should have a place on your Switch.
It may have been just me, but the puzzles were very challenging. Often in point and click games, it’s a matter of following the reasoning behind the puzzles, and I found that to be hard. Which made me lose my patience and influence the fun I had playing in a negative way. It might be a good idea to play the first game before this one to get more of a feel for the story. And if you like your point and click adventures, and are good at them, you might step into the ‘90s and give it a try!
Epistory: Typing Chronicles is a beautiful game with a good story, lovely puzzles, exploration and nice battles. You can play it to learn how to touch-type, but it’s not a necessity. I urge you to play it just for fun! Use a keyboard and broaden your vocabulary or use the Switch buttons: both work wonderfully. The origami world of Epistory: Typing Chronicles is gorgeous, seeing new parts of the world literally unfold is magical. The soundtrack is a good match to the feeling of wonder and the storytelling is great. There can only be one conclusion for me.
Bear’s Restaurant is a game about loss, regrets, redemption and death. But it’s also about the power of love that will conquer it all. This is no relaxing and laid back story, but one that will make you sad. It will stay with you for a long time, particularly because of the beautiful ending. If you like story-driven games and aren’t afraid to explore deeper feelings, then give Bear’s Restaurant a try. It’s available on mobile where you can try the first part for free, unlocking the rest and the sequel story, The Nihility, being a paywall. The Nintendo Switch version has everything included! It feels strange to measure how much you like such a sad story, but the way the developer manages to bring such a deep story in a relatively simple way is pretty amazing.
Arcane Arts Academy is a good fit on the Nintendo Switch with the multiplayer added if you can manage the button control. Personally, I much preferred to use the touchscreen though. The price for the Nintendo Switch version is lower than the full price on mobile which is a plus! I wouldn’t advise playing Arcane Arts Academy as a relaxation game, as you need your full attention and clear mind to manage the often frantic levels. What is nice though is that you can adjust the difficulty in the settings allowing you to gain the stars you need to pass the level more easily. The story is good, and the challenge is great, as it always in these perfect mix of simulation/management games. If you like these type of games I’d say you can’t go wrong with Arcane Arts Academy at this price point.
Nature Matters is a great looking logic puzzle game, with relaxing background music. The perfect game to go with a nice cup of coffee in between your daily workload. Quick to jump in, do a few levels and jump back out again. A little more variance in the levels would have been appreciated, but overall, if you like your logic puzzles: be sure to check this one out. It’s currently on sale till June 16 in various country, so you could find lots of puzzle fun for a small price. After playing, you can judge for yourself if you are more attuned to nature!
Stray Cat Doors 2 is a lovely game, gorgeous looking visuals, a nostalgic sweet feeling to the adventure and great puzzles to solve. Just the ticket when you get home from a stressful day at work and want to relax. If you like Escape Room games this one might be for you if you don’t mind the cutesy feel. If you like wholesome gaming and solving some light puzzles, this is definitely one to go for. The only minor remark I have is that the English translations could be better. But Pulsmo did a great job once again, expanding on the great gameplay of the first one!
The original game was released in 2018 and it was the first ever Atelier game to make it to the Switch. Back then I felt that it was a pity that this would be the one to serve to Nintendo gamers as a first experience. Protagonists that are not the most lovable girls I’ve met in the Atelier series and no English voices. I must say though that some of the chats the girls have are quite funny. But, replaying it now in the order of the Atelier Mysterious trilogy I feel more kindly inclined. I can see how Gust tried for an open world approach in Atelier Firis and though they abandoned that in this game, they made up for it using the Mysterious Paintings. Even though I liked the two earlier games, Atelier Sophie and Atelier Firis, just a little bit more, Atelier Lydie & Suelle: the Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings is still a lovely game in an amazing series.