At the end of the day, Tales of Arise is an incredibly fun game. There are some things that I would have liked done differently, and the battle system is definitely simplistic, though these things likely won’t be much of an issue for most players. Honestly, any game that I can play for 50 hours in under two weeks and still enjoy is a great one in my book. I’m looking forward to seeing what Bandai Namco does with the franchise next — hopefully we wont have to wait until the PS6 for their next Tales project.
Chained Echoes rises above its SNES-era inspirations, crafting an experience that easily stands out for its own merits.
Remnant 2 is simply the first game but better. Improved customization, worlds, and combat all make for the perfect sequel.
Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak won't convert diehard fans of older entries, but it still offers more solid hunting gameplay.
While the RTS sections might drag things down a little, 13 Sentinels is still a fantastic story driven game that offers up a unique experience. It’s not quite the game that I thought it would be, though in some ways that didn’t turn out to be a bad thing. The future is looking bright for Vanillaware, and I hope that their next game goes all-in on the adventure elements, without anything else getting in the way.
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty differentiates itself from Nioh thanks to a few key mechanics, though the experience can feel a little linear and easy at times. Still a fun game for fans of Team Ninja, and faster Soulslikes in general.
Despite the simple combat and some story issues at times, Atelier Ryza 3 offers an engaging gameplay loop that never gets boring.
While I may have criticized Yakuza: Like a Dragon for a decent chunk of this review, there’s still a lot to love about it. Ichiban is the perfect character to usher in this new era of Yakuza, and the amount of things to do outside of the main story is almost overwhelming. However, Yakuza 8 will need a lot of work put into it to make the RPG elements more balanced and engaging.
Rise of the Ronin dilutes the gameplay of Nioh and Wo Long to accomodate for an open world that offers little of worth. Combat is still great despite this, but it could have been so much more
A new setting is not enough to disguise Like a Dragon: Ishin!'s unbalanced combat and middling story.
Despite character events being the best they've ever been, Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma fails to offer much depth after its opening hours.
As a solid dungeon crawler, Moero Crystal H is often enjoyable. Filling in the map of each floor, gaining levels and skill, adding your selection of party members; it’s nothing groundbreaking, but it doesn’t need to be. As for the fanservice, it often just gets in the way of everything else. The touching minigames in particular are repetitive, and seem counter-intuitive to actually delivering fanservice. There is a lot to do in Moero Crystal H if you’re a fan of the genre, as long you’re fine with the premise — and the less-than-stellar localisation.
While the tech used for Mario Kart Live is undeniably impressive, most people will get more out of the £100 required to play it by getting Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and a few years of Switch Online instead. The way tracks are created in game limits the designs you can create, and you’re out of luck if your house has a limited amount of useable space, or flooring that isn’t completely flat. Still, there’s fun to be had for at least a few hours before the novelty wears off, and it’s hard not to enjoy seeing Mario speed around track you have made. There’s potential, just not enough for this to be worth it for most Mario Kart fans (though cats certainly seem to love it).
While I’ve played worse, Vigil: The Longest Night just has too many flaws for me to wholeheartedly recommend it. The visual style, despite the bad animations, is still pleasing, and you’re generally rewarded well for exploring. I just wish that the combat had more impact to it, especially the bosses.
Open world Atelier could still work, but Atelier Yumia does a bad job at realising this idea. A generic story, dumbed down alchemy, and lacking open world all lead to a middling RPG.
One Piece Odyssey fails to captilize on a strong IP, telling neither an interesting original story nor adapting the manga into a fun game.
Hunt the Night wastes its potential with bad combat and a world that isn't fully realized.
Gnosia is a game that’s bound to be incredibly divisive. While I found the main gameplay loop uninteresting, fellow writer Lilia left with a far more positive impression. At the very least, I can appreciate the attempt at creating something fresh, even if I didn’t think it worked in the end. If another game of this style was released with improved gameplay, then I’d still be willing to try it out. It absolutely has potential — potential that I feel Gnosia just couldn’t realise.
In its current state, Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town is hard to recommend. Crafting is tedious because of the clunky way the makers are implemented, and the town is lifeless due to a lack of varied dialogue or meaningful events each season. Patches are supposedly planned to improve these problem areas (along with performance), so the game could be a decent entry in the series after some updates.
Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World is an odd one. It’s so faithful to the original that those used to newer games will find it too simplistic, but the change in visuals won’t really appeal to fans of the original version either. If you know what you’re getting with Asha in Monster World, then there’s still some fun to be had, though it’s hard to really recommend it over other more interesting platformers.