Athenian Rhapsody is billed as a game where each player’s experience is different, and that you can play through multiple times to find new paths. But due to the focus on wacky characters over good writing, I had a hard time even wanting to finish a single run. I’d imagine some people might still have a good time, but I can safely say Athenian Rhapsody was not for me.
Neptunia Game Maker R:Evolution’s poor framerate, terrible gameplay, and story with no stakes combine together to make for a thoroughly unpleasant RPG. While the game’s entire goal is to make better and better games, the actual Neptunia series seems to have instead gone on a steep downward decline.
Rabbit and Steel is an incredibly enjoyable game, merging raid mechanics and roguelites in a way I didn’t think would work so well. There’s just enough variety to keep runs fresh, while also not going too far and making it harder to learn each boss encounter. I’m more than looking forward to grabbing a few friends at launch and seeing how multiplayer turns things up another notch.
Anomaly Collapse is an interesting game, but one I’d maybe recommend waiting on a few patches for to see if certain issues can be ironed out. Despite the cute characters, it’s not for the faint of heart, and it certainly doesn’t do the best job of onboarding new players.
Terra Memoria comes across as a much larger project that had to be heavily cut down to get something out the door. I really liked the initial premise, and the character designs have a lot of charm. But everything else is just far too simplistic, leading to a story that is unmemorable and combat that requires no thought. Despite this, I wouldn’t be against another game in the same world that’s entirely focused around the robust building systems, since they hold a lot of potential.
The Legend of Legacy HD Remastered is a barebones port of a flawed JRPG, now with a hefty £44.99 price tag. When you can get the various SaGa ports and remakes for far less, I can’t even recommend this game for fans of more unique RPGs.
Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore doesn’t quite reach the goofy highs of The Wand of Gamelon and The Faces of Evil, and its gameplay is still going to pale in comparison to modern platformers. But as a homage to the CD-i, it’s still full of charm (and actually decent to play, unlike the aforementioned games). If you go in knowing what to expect, then you’ll have a decent time
Piczle Cross Story of Seasons is a simple game, perhapss too simple for some. But if you like Story of Seasons and relaxing puzzle games, it’s absolutely worth giving a try. As a bonus, it’s also under £10 to buy, making it cheaper than the disappointing Pioneers of Olive Town Expansion Pass!
Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island is another solid entry in the genre, and a decent starting point for newcomers (though I’d argue The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate is better for this due to its cheap price point). It’s not for the faint of heart, but for those that do brave Serpentcoil Island, you’ll find a rewarding roguelike experience to sink your teeth into.
Astlibra Gaiden: The Cave of Phantom Mist can offer a few hours of familiar action combat, with a few tweaks here and there. But the reuse of assets and a randomised dungeon system that offers no variety makes for a rather bland experience over Astlibra Revision. However, if you’re fine with the lack of story content and just want to blast through some monster-filled areas, then The Cave of Phantom Mist is the cheap DLC for you.
If you’ve not played Mary Skelter 2 or its predecessor, this is still a solid way to experience both titles (a remastered version of the first game is included for free). It has next to no graphics options, but solid support for both keyboard/mouse and controllers, and the actual dungeon crawling gameplay is enjoyable. But if you want 100% of the game to be available on PC, then you’re out of luck.
There’s still a lot to love in Lost Judgment. Nearly everything outside of the main story has been improved since Judgment, and I’m still not tired of scouring the city for new side-content. But it’s hard to ignore how poorly the story often handles one of its main subjects, and the way that certain characters are written. You’ll still get the usual mix of chaotic fights and funny one-liners though, alongside a slew of new side activities and stories, so it’s still easy to recommend Lost Judgment to fans of the franchise.
It’s hard to really see who Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed is aimed at. People that were put off by some of the issues in Akiba’s Trip: Undead & Undressed aren’t going to play its even jankier predecessor, and £34.99 is a steep asking price even for someone that might be interested in trying this out. If you’re desperate to see the series’ origins, then this might be worthwhile — just go in with appropriately low expectations!
Ultimately, Cris Tales ended up fixing few of the issues that I had with the game’s demo back in 2019, while also adding a few more thanks to the Switch port. I can’t imagine the currently average story getting much better at the end, and most of the ideas and gameplay mechanics presented at the start end up going nowhere. It’s a shame, as there was a lot of potential there — hopefully some of the more glaring technical issues can be fixed in a post-launch patch, at least.
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.
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.
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.
Hunt the Night wastes its potential with bad combat and a world that isn't fully realized.
One Piece Odyssey fails to captilize on a strong IP, telling neither an interesting original story nor adapting the manga into a fun game.
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.