João Pedro Boaventura
- No More Heroes
- Nier: Automata
Dave the Diver is a product of unrivaled brilliance for the whole package it offers. It is a passionate adventure capable of stimulating the player through a comfortable and inviting atmosphere, which gives us all the time we want to explore and experience it at our own pace. Charismatic, warm, welcoming and thought-provoking, Dave's adventure will certainly be canonized in the same pantheon as other indie classics, responsible for unique experiences that raise the bar for video games as multisensory forms of entertainment.
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Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is the extension of its own protagonist. It's a unique game that manages to swim against all the odds of a rigged industry and still deliver a brilliant experience. It's one of those occasions when it's necessary to drop that tired cliché and say that it's a product that reminds us why we love video games.
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Despite the regrets, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is a solid experience within the standards of the franchise. Without proposing to innovate, as happened in Origins, it managed to merge the implementations made by the modern iterations of the franchise with several of the iconic characteristics of the most classic ones, only revised within a new context, making a safe game in relation to the delivered content. In the end, Eivor's adventure is a very consistent entry into the world of Assassin's Creed.
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Yakuza: Like a Dragon is a beautiful subversion of Japanese RPGs. Despite being located in an environment quite distant from the traditional to the style, all its characteristic elements are present and have been implemented in a very competent manner. Unlike certain IPs that, aiming at Western success, try to adapt to our market, the Yakuza series has a very unique identity due to the fact that it is not ashamed to present itself as a product from the East. This is now being put to the test more than ever.
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AI: The Somnium Files: NirvanA Initiative is a respectable sequel, capable of being enjoyed by those who haven't played the first title and highly recommended for science fiction or detective story enthusiasts, fans of Japanese animation or for those who appreciate all these themes at the same time.
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More than the meme-game it seems to be, MiSide convinces you with its waifus, but enchants you with the masterful execution of a surreally well-optimized product signed by a team that clearly knows what it is doing without aiming and getting lost in pretentious delusions, but still managing to achieve them with a lot of work, competence and passion.
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In the end, the game consolidates itself as an engaging experience that competently balances the best aspects of the saga — and this, let's face it, is a success amid an almost constant identity crisis.
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Lost Judgment is a competently interesting game. With a very intriguing story that pokes (not always successfully) many of the wounds of modern Japanese society, it manages to solve most of the first title's issues while simultaneously bringing new things, these with their own and unprecedented problems. Furthermore, it is a product of technical excellence and with the sublime quality so characteristic of the Ryu Ga Gotoku studio. It's not a masterpiece, it's just that it still carries a lot of style and identity — always in the shadow of the main series, but making an effort to get away from it — and, most importantly, it's incredibly fun.
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Lost Judgment - The Kaito Files stands out as an extremely welcome revisitation that introduces us to a very interesting character who, unfortunately, ends up being sidelined to the detriment of the titular main character, with an agile plot worthy of the franchise.
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Volcano Princess is a fascinating example of a single parent simulator. Once started, it's hard not to lose track of time with long gameplays that go on for hours on end as we try to prove our daughter as the best little girl in the kingdom. Despite the stumbles in the translation and with some bugs, the vast sea of possibilities makes the title worthwhile for anyone who wants a captivating and immersive experience.
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In the end, the System Shock remake is exactly what you'd expect from a title of this caliber. The original is a true milestone in the gaming industry, and here it's been recreated just right. This means that the player immediately realizes that they are holding something important and unique, but at the same time they don't feel trapped by a simplistic historical record approach. There's a real freshness that makes this recreation live up to its many contemporary spiritual successors like BioShock or Dead Space.
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The seventh generation of consoles was marked by a creative peak for the industry, which began to take advantage of the new ways of playing that became popular there, as is the case with both the motion sensors on the Wii and the touch screen on the Nintendo DS. Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective is yet another inventive, consequential title from that era that has finally managed to break free of its shackles to reach a wider audience. Furthermore, with charismatic characters, striking visuals and unique gameplay, the game is one of those fascinating experiences that every now and then arise to remind us why we like video games in the first place.
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After an apparently troubled development, Granblue Fantasy: Relink reveals itself to be a pleasant surprise. Though it may play too safe for certain aspects, it manages to sneak into success amidst the genre colossi. This feat comes by imprinting a unique quality, mixing solo campaign with a usual style for multiplayer RPGs. Thus, the game makes a fluid transition like a humble invitation for the more traditionalist player, showcasing how this mode can be very fun.
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Sand Land manages to do one of the most difficult things in this heated and boring cultural industry of our time: it is able to justify its own existence (alongside an anime that tells the same story, but not quite like that), which sometimes it may seem meaningless if we only look at the surface of the proposal. Despite some relatively silly technical mishaps that are more annoying due to the supposed ease of identifying them, Beelzebub's adventure has a craftsmanship that exudes a lot of grace and charisma.
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It's great to feel that Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO has managed to rescue this very clear, yet abstract concept of what makes Dragon Ball what it is, something that the Budokai Tenkaichi of the past managed to achieve without even thinking too much. Even with its flaws, saying that this is a game "more for the fans" is to diminish the very concise product that it is. Thank goodness, in this case, that Dragon Ball has a ton of fans around the world, right?
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Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is a bizarrely unique experience. Addressing many of the main concerns players had about the previous Gaiden, Ryu Ga Gotoku did an excellent job of creating a soulful adventure for what is certainly one of the most beloved characters in the fan community.
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Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town is a bit far from reaching its fullness as the protagonist of a genre, but it is on the right path. In technical terms, its greatest merit is in the gameplay, especially due to the crafting elements, although it still suffered too much in the setting, narrative and game atmosphere.
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Possessing a very unique atmosphere, Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water is a classic example of the application of many of the characteristic elements of Japanese horror by blending psychological horror with supernatural and folkloric elements while following a structure of increasing tension. Although it is possible to recommend it from a game's point of view, it demonstrates much more value from the perspective of a representative product of this very different genre.
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Voice of Cards is the typical product that the industry sometimes needs, that knows how to do the basics with an identity of its own, without necessarily having to reinvent the wheel, after all not every game needs to be revolutionary. In fact, there is a saturation of pretentious attempts to break paradigms that forget the basic concepts of a minimally healthy game design. There was little time between The Isle Dragon Roars and The Forsaken Maiden releases. Both are RPGs that are consistent in their proposal to offer their audience a traditional RPG.
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Overall, Dusk Diver 2 improves on several aspects of the first, with a greater focus on improving the fluidity and diversity of the combat system. However, other peripheral aspects, such as sidequests, variety of enemies and side activities, remain without significant improvements. Those who enjoyed the first Dusk Diver will probably have a positive impression of the second one, but it hasn't quite reached the right point yet to break the bubble and reach a wider audience.
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