Moncage captivates with its imaginative concept. The puzzles, which are focused on manipulating the cube to align objects in different universes, are impressive in their ingenuity and diversity. Sometimes the riddles demand confusing or very specific steps. However, the flexible tips system makes it easier to deal with this issue. The atmosphere is also remarkable with many elaborate areas and an unconventionally developed narrative that rewards our attention to details. In the end, Moncage is an outstanding puzzle that's very much worth your time.
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Where Cards Fall uses unique concepts to create a pleasant puzzle. The mechanic of expanding decks to create buildings is explored through interesting puzzles that are more complex than they seem. The controls and camera have issues, but it's possible to get around those. Besides that, the game is captivating thanks to its soft atmosphere and beautiful visuals. The narrative explores an universal theme, but it hinders the experience by being boring and sluggish. Overall, Where Cards Fall is creative and pleasant despite its imperfections.
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The Legend of Tianding is a great adventure that celebrates a charismatic character from Taiwanese folklore. Agile pace and a good variety of challenges are spread throughout the stages, and combat excites with its versatility — it's fun to launch enemies into the air and steal their weapons to create different combos. Other than that, the colorful universe captivates with great visuals inspired by Chinese manga, charismatic characters and a light interpretation of an important historical moment in the country. The game only suffers a bit with pacing issues and limited opponent diversity, but the fast-paced action helps to minimize these issues. Otherwise, I highly recommend The Legend of Tianding.
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Dungeon Deathball is an agile and unique interpretation of turn-based strategy games. It's exciting to use your fists and a ball to overcome the challenges of a sport that resembles a miniature puzzle. The mechanics are simple, but there is a good deal of complexity, especially when it comes to manipulating enemies' actions in order to advance. Even so, after a few matches the limitations become apparent and the stages become repetitive. Certain details help to alleviate this problem, such as different teams, modes and competitive options, however they may not be enough for some players. In the end, Dungeon Deathball has fun with your creativity, even for a short time.
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Aeon Must Die! offers a unique interpretation of beat ‘em ups, but its weak execution of those concepts undermines the game as a whole. The combat and its temperature system is creative, and specific battles utilize interesting strategic aspects. Besides that, the atmosphere is fascinating, using great visuals with neon colors and a synthwave soundtrack. Unfortunately, that's all the major qualities the title has to offer. The list of issues is big: the gameplay flow is constantly broken by meaningless conversations, the story isn't exciting, the battles soon become shallow and repetitive, and many mechanics need some balancing. Those who are more dedicated may find something enjoyable, but, in the end, Aeon Must Die! is an underwhelming experience.
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Tetris Effect: Connected uses elaborate audiovisual aspects to turn the puzzle into a dizzying sensory experience. The simple and precise mechanics of Tetris remain untouched, and the difference is the intricate and immersive atmosphere — the combination of vibrations from the controls, soundtrack that reacts to our actions and surreal visuals results in immersive matches. In addition to being stunningly beautiful, the game includes a wide variety of creative modes and robust multiplayer. In the end, Tetris Effect: Connected is impressive and essential for puzzle fans.
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Metroid Dread refines the franchise's 2D formula into one great game. The vast ZDR planet has an elaborate map full of alternative routes and secrets, and the agile movement make the journey very pleasant. In addition, E.M.M.I. encounters excite and terrify in tension-filled stretches. The battles are also more varied, difficult and intense, however the bosses are a bit problematic because of some questionable choices. The feeling of being alone and lost in a strange world is strong, but irregular the rhythm at times makes the experience a bit tiring. The plot is simple and has intriguing developments that are portrayed in elaborate scenes. Visually the title is competent, it just lacked a little more personality in certain locations. In the end, Metroid Dread maintains the 2D essence of the series in an immersive adventure, it's just a shame that the opportunity to dare a little was wasted.
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Rogue Lords is a roguelike that stands out with its unique ideas. Matches feature a good mix of activities and the battle has many strategic nuances and possibilities. The most notable element is Devil Mode, which allows the alteration of multiple game aspects, such as enemies' life points and the result of events. Demon powers may seem like cheats, but its good implementation makes it a valuable asset that must be used wisely to achieve victory. Despite its creativity, the game still has some issues that need to be fixed, such as the unbalanced difficulty, really long matches, and the feeling of repetition. At least, its elaborated gothic ambience and excellent voice-acting help minimize the issues. In the end, Rogue Lords is a great representative of its genre and has everything to become even better after a few patches.
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Astria Ascending is a JRPG of remarkable ideas and great visuals, but, unfortunately, its execution leaves much to be desired. The combat system that rewards exploiting enemies' weaknesses is promising, though the fact it's deeply unbalanced and the pattern repetition makes the battles frustrating. There are many options to customize and develop characters, nonetheless, a lot of grinding is necessary to make the most out of these resources. Orcanon's many activities and an elaborate minigame may satisfy eager players but it's a shame the plot, characters, dungeons and locales lack inspiration. At least, the universe has a really beautiful visual and quality music. In the end, its meager qualities aren't enough to save Astria Ascending.
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Eastward invites us to go on a unique and beautiful journey. The biggest highlight is the setting: the locations are fascinating and full of unusual and charismatic characters. The stunning pixel art look and attention to detail bring the world to life, making it very immersive. As an adventure, the game offers snippets of exploration punctuated by puzzles and combats in which we alternate between two protagonists to advance. The dungeons are nice, but the simplicity and repetition of the mechanics makes them uncomfortable after a while. The real focus is on narrative with numerous non-interactive scenes and a story full of mysteries. Unfortunately, the balance is not good, resulting in too many drawn-out moments and dialogues that barely develop the plot. Even so, Eastward manages to transport us to a peculiar universe with its exceptional setting. The game is far from perfect and may require insistence for some players, but it is still a unique and immersive experience to some extent.
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UNSIGHTED is an impressive and elaborate adventure through a devastated world. Exploring the city of Arcadia is exciting because of its immense map interconnected with various routes, puzzles and secrets, in a free progression that offers different approaches to overcoming challenges. Combat stands out with intense battles focused on precision, in which various weapons allow us to execute numerous strategies. Other than that, the title has a unique time-limit mechanic that brings tension and tough decisions to the adventure. This also serves as an incentive to play the story more than once, as it will hardly be possible to see everything in a single attempt. Finally, notable extra modes and good accessibility options are available. In the end, Unsighted is an unmissable adventure and a great debut for Studio Pixel Punk.
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Steel Assault uses a 16-bit atmosphere to create a great arcade experience. The action is nonstop through the various stages, which impress with creative situations (such as using the zipline) and extravagant confrontations against bosses. Furthermore, the game captivates with its flawless pixel art look and synthesizer soundtrack, resulting in a pleasing contemporary interpretation of retro elements. The intention is to rescue the arcade sensation, which means an accentuated challenge. However, just like other arcade titles, the duration is short and without significant extras other than different difficulties. In the end, Steel Assault is a short action and platform adventure that's worth it.
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Flynn: Son of Crimson takes the best platform game ideas and combines them into a lean, well-constructed adventure. The biggest highlight is the diversity of challenges throughout the stages, which feature light puzzles, combats, secrets and several other distinct elements. In addition, an elaborate pixel art look impresses with carefully created locations. The duration is short and the progression is nimble, but there are some minor issues, such as some overly long stages and underused combat elements. In the end, the qualities of Flynn: Son of Crimson make it a great representative of the platform genre.
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Tales of Arise is a fascinating JRPG that builds on the series' legacy. The new episode captivates with charismatic characters and their fun interactions, even though the plot and themes aren't very creative. Combat is more electrifying than ever with a system that lets you fight on the ground and in the air, with plenty of stylish moves. Plus, there's plenty to do in its vast world, and the visuals are exceptional. Behind the qualities, there are some recurring problems in the series (such as visual chaos in some battles), as well as the very timid use of the new exploration mechanics. Not only that, the general structure of the game is the same as the last titles, being far from the promised revolution. Despite all that, Tales of Arise turns out to be a great JRPG for both novices and veterans alike.
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TOEM uses photography to create a smooth and captivating adventure. It's quite pleasant to explore small monochromatic scenarios taking pictures and helping peculiar characters, in tasks that combine observation and puzzles. Besides that, the peaceful and good-humored atmosphere invites us to relax and enjoy the beautiful views and unusual situations. Free progression allows us to advance at our pace, but some tasks get in the way a little because they are too vague. In the end, TOEM is a short and charming journey worth experiencing.
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El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron uses numerous elements to create a unique experience. Accompanying Enoch on his journey to defeat the fallen angels is quite engaging because of the constant mix of 3D action, platforming and combat. The impactful art direction is one of the highlights, and the title is not afraid to dare with drastic changes in visual style and gameplay. But not everything is wonderful: the simplicity of the systems and mechanics can make things a little boring, after all most of the adventure is very linear and the battles are repetitive. Furthermore, the PC port is extremely basic, lacking customization options. In the end, El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron is an exotic and imperfect game that is hard to forget.
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Apple Slash uses fast paced rhythm to create a good action adventure. It's exciting to defeat groups of enemies with powerful attacks, especially when we can mix up special abilities. Moreover, there's charm in its compact world and retro atmosphere. However, the experience is extremely brief and feels unfinished. In the end, Apple Slash is fun, but it's an ephemeral experience.
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Recompile presents a unique concept, but the clumsy execution of its ideas completely compromises the game. The world inside the mainframe captivates with its interesting setting, especially the interpretation of programs and devices. However, other aspects have problems: the level design is uninteresting, the imprecise jump makes the platform parts irritating, the combat is truncated and dull, and the hacking mechanics are basically irrelevant. As such, Recompile is a difficult adventure to recommend.
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Dreamscaper uses dreams and emotional issues to create a great dungeon crawling adventure with roguelite elements. Fast-paced battles are exciting with its wide range of skills that allow you to create numerous interesting combinations. In addition, there is a lot of creativity with various powers out of the ordinary and accentuated challenge, which made me keep trying even after being defeated countless times. The stages are somewhat similar to each other, even with procedural generation, and some points in the battle system are truncated, but, overall, the experience is immersive. Other than that, there is an interesting fragmented narrative about a girl with emotional trauma facing relatable situations developed in two gameplay moments that constantly influence each other in a great way — the actions taken while the heroine is awake expand the dream dungeons, and vice versa. A great looking atmosphere, soft music and surreal tone make exploration a pleasure. In the end, Dreamscaper is a remarkable and captivating experience.
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Dodgeball Academy offers creative and thrilling dodgeball matches. It's exciting to participate in competitions that resemble battles with special powers and exaggerated moves, and a good diversity of situations forces us to constantly learn new strategies. In addition, the game captivates with a colorful atmosphere full of humor in a world reminiscent of cartoons. Unfortunately the game underutilizes many of its systems and ideas, which makes the journey a bit repetitive. Even so, it's worth checking out Dodgeball Academia, especially its more complex matches.
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