Justin Mercer


38 games reviewed
68.2 average score
70 median score
47.4% of games recommended
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Sep 13, 2021

The addictive moment-to-moment gameplay and the amount of content on offer is well worth the price of admission on either Switch or PC, but it’s hard not to prefer the latter for its higher resolution and smoother framerate. It really gives the game’s beautiful artwork the treatment it deserves.

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Feb 11, 2022

With the release of King of Fighters XV, SNK has done what they always do with the King of Fighters series of late: provided a complex, difficult, engaging, and satisfying team fighter. It offers incredible levels of depth to those who really delve into its systems, but vitally presents them in a way that’s still approachable, even if it’s not quite as approachable as the latest entries of its contemporaries.

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Mar 2, 2023

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is an impressive iteration for Team Ninja. It’s a more accessible title without sacrificing the challenge intrinsic to its success, it features one of the developer’s most satisfying combat systems to date, and it accomplishes this in levels that sport more verticality and exploration than ever before. It falters more than it probably should with regard to storytelling and graphical presentation—a somewhat consistent shortcoming in Team Ninja games—but it’s an exceptionally easy recommendation for anyone who enjoys more tasking action RPGs.

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9 / 10 - EVERSPACE 2
Apr 4, 2023

Rare is the sequel that shifts genre from its predecessor, and rarer still is the sequel that lands said shift in a successful and seamless way, but this is exactly the case with Everspace 2. It’s packed to the nines with twitch shooting to keep you engaged, a satisfying loot grind bolstered by diverse item choices, a gorgeous rendition of space to zoom through, and a sizable amount of unique content. Moreover, it’s all wrapped up in a well-executed (if somewhat familiar) science fiction narrative. There’s certainly a blemish or two—chiefly the title’s struggle to pace non-combat sections—but Everspace 2 provides so much of a good thing that it’s hard to mind.

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4 / 5.0 - Islets
Aug 24, 2022

The combat itself is a bit lacking, and it may be on the shorter side for some at about 10 hours, but it successfully delivers on its unique concept to provide a fun, concise experience. When you combine all of the above with the lower price point, Islets is an easy game to recommend to fans of the genre looking for a more relaxed Metroidvanian jaunt.

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Sep 12, 2022

Metal: Hellsinger is exactly as in-your-face and easy to pick up as a rhythm FPS featuring death metal should be. If you’re even remotely a fan of metal music and first-person shooters, you’ll have a great time with the six or so hours that it takes to reach the game’s credits. By the same token, if you’re not a fan of the two elements, there probably isn’t going to be much here to change your mind. It’s a bespoke marriage of concepts that work together perfectly, and all core elements are finely crafted to create an experience that’s difficult to put down once you really get going.

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Feb 17, 2023

More than that, it pays mechanical homage by providing tangible RPG elements that complement the rhythm game portions without overwhelming them. When you pair this with a sizable amount of high quality tunes and room for mechanical improvement for the player, Theatrhythm Final Bar Line has a lot to give rhythm game fans and Final Fantasy fans alike.

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The game falters somewhat under the weight of its ambitious premise—the various ramifications of killing or sparing certain NPCs in each five-hour playthrough probably won’t wow you to your core—but fun combat, charming visuals, and thorough commitment to its namesake elevate Hindsight 20/20 – Wrath of the Raakshasa to a unique experience that’s absolutely worth a playthrough (or three) to see what it has to offer.

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8 / 10 - Scarf
Dec 21, 2021

Scarf is an endearing experience. It wears its inspirations on its sleeve and doesn’t shatter the genre’s conventions with innovative ideas, but still finds enough sure footing to set itself apart from its contemporaries. Moreover, an unsurprising story and a few instances of intentional time-wasters in puzzles aren’t enough to lessen the benefits of its brisk pace and variety of gorgeous environments. It may not hit the highest highs of the genre, but if you’re in the mood for an atmospheric puzzle platformer, you could do much worse.

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8 / 10 - Lost Ark
Feb 8, 2022

Visible effort went into nearly every avenue of the game, making it an easy recommendation even if it doesn’t bring much innovation to the space. The quality of the combat and the variety of content on offer elevates this ARPG experience to be a cut above the rest. The only thing you can stand to lose in trying out Lost Ark is time, and even in a gaming landscape defined by competition for said time, it’s absolutely worth giving a gander.

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8 / 10 - Trek to Yomi
May 5, 2022

Trek to Yomi is a game with a voice and a vision. The title takes every liberty to adhere to its inspirations without ever feeling like a film masquerading as a game, and the reverence the development team has for that era of Japanese films can be felt in every aspect of the experience. The dynamic camera, the gorgeously realized environments, and the personal, character-driven narrative work in tandem to deliver a game that’s wholly unique. It might not be an easy recommendation based purely on gameplay alone, but it’s certainly easy to recommend for just about everything else.

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8 / 10 - Soulstice
Sep 20, 2022

Soulstice absolutely works as a love letter to action games of the bygone PlayStation 2 era. Vitally, however, it does so without losing a clear identity of its own. Its combat system is unique in the way it asks players to actively monitor mechanics while also avoiding enemy attacks and dishing out flashy combos in true character action game fashion. Its boss battles leave quite a bit to be desired, and the level design may be a bit too narrow at points, but <em>Soulstice</em> manages to make up for these shortcomings with an emotional story and a unique brand of observation-based gameplay that ensures its status as a confident addition to the genre.

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8 / 10 - Remnant II
Jul 20, 2023

Though its overarching story is similarly lacking, Remnant II is a significant step up in quality from its predecessor in all the ways that matter. Everything that set the original apart from its contemporaries has been upped considerably. Boss battles are much more memorable and engaging, the procedurally generated levels more interesting, and the classes more impactful. I would have preferred to be granted new gear at a quicker pace and have more direct control over my build options in a first playthrough, but the positives otherwise coalesce into a very addicting (and fairly challenging) co-op shooter that’s difficult to put down.

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Sep 20, 2023

The end result here is a balancing act—a little of column A and a little of column B. Phantom Liberty’s main questline absolutely explores a more espionage-tinted angle than its base game counterpart with, but there was a concerted effort to intertwine them in a way that still feels seamless. Its side quests may not feel like anything new, but the level design and encounters have never been better. In that sense, Phantom Liberty is Cyberpunk 2077 distilled. If you enjoyed the base game, it’s hard to see you being dissatisfied with this expansion. And even if you aren’t enticed by any of the new content on offer, Update 2.0 has brought net improvements to the overall gameplay that make it more than worth taking another trip through Night City.

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8 / 10 - Jusant
Oct 31, 2023

Jusant is not a game for everyone, but if you expect it to be one you’ll appreciate, it probably will be. Its noteworthy climbing mechanics are kept fresh throughout the adventure by asking you to utilize them in different ways, its ponderous atmosphere is top notch, and the environmental storytelling within its detailed world really gets your imagination going to a degree I hadn’t remotely expected. But it isn’t perfect. It’s more traditional storytelling elements are weaker, it doesn’t challenge the player very much, and it runs short at about six or so hours long. These detractions end up being minor disappointments in the face of a very successful adventure game, but they’re still there all the same, and it’s a shame Jusant doesn’t eschew them to become something even more special than it already is.

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3.5 / 5.0 - Sonic Frontiers
Nov 7, 2022

Sonic Frontiers falls short of a home run, but is still a successful step in the right direction from a studio that has demonstrably stumbled trying to do so before.

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Jul 26, 2021

Samurai Warriors 5 is a lot of a good thing, but you have to be confident you’ll enjoy that good thing for it to be worth the price of admission. If you’re already a fan of the singular “1 vs 1000” gameplay that can only really be found in Warriors games, your time will be well spent with this title.

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7 / 10 - Young Souls
Mar 10, 2022

With a more concerted effort to keep the experience exciting as the playthrough carries on, Young Souls could have easily been so much more. Instead, you have a game where you’ve seen the lion’s share of what it has to offer after three or so of the game’s ten hours. And yet despite the lack of variety in the encounters and the receding relevance of an initially intriguing storyline, I never wanted to put it down thanks to an abundance of heart. It’s charming, it’s a joy to look at, it’s challenging, and its accessibility options are lightyears ahead of most beat ‘em ups, but what you see is what you get in Young Souls: a demonstrably good game, but not a great one.

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Jul 19, 2022

Had more steps been taken to engage the player in the minute-by-minute gameplay or encourage replayability, the number below might have been a notch or two higher. As it stands, however, Endling is a game where the gameplay and mechanics are readily outclassed by its theming and presentation. It’s certainly an experience worth having, but not one that lives up to its full potential.

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7 / 10 - Steelrising
Sep 7, 2022

Steelrising has the clearly defined bones of a great Soulslike. It features development team Spiders’ most well executed and fluid combat to date, offers players a plethora of build options that feel meaningful in customizing their approach to combat, and delivers on its unique historical aesthetic well. Unfortunately, these obvious positives are dragged down by level design sorely lacking in verticality, enemy encounters sorely lacking in variety, and a narrative sorely lacking in investment. It’s one of the more admirable attempts at the Souls formula in recent memory, but it doesn’t have every piece of the puzzle.

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