Despite a few shortcomings, King Arthur: Knight's Tale is one of the best strategy RPGs I've played. While the SRPG aspects are pretty great, this alternate take on the Arthurian Tale can keep you engaged with its characters and stories.
Chernobylite's graphical detail is one of the greatest aspects behind it. Additionally, the game's nail-biting story, the memorable characters, and the freedom to explore the areas of the Exclusion Zone provide a great sense of dread and loneliness that's both fun to play and make for a great Action RPG with team management mechanics.
Phantom Breaker: Omnia brings the game to western countries for the first time. However, it also brings what seem to be vestiges of old and outdated game design that work against it. While the fighting mechanics might be easy to understand, every character feels like they play the same way and the combat is so unintuitive it feels like you're just in a button-mashing contest. It works as a novelty and not much else.
Babylon's Fall is a terrible experience all the way throughout. Reaching the endgame and postgame content (when the game actually becomes quite good) doesn't matter because the journey to get to that point is the most painfully boring affair in gaming. The game's dull story and horrendous visuals certainly don't do this game any favors.
Regardless of my complaints, Atelier Sophie 2 does many things right to warrant a recommendation. It’s a great entry-level RPG with some intricate systems that will keep you entertained. The turn-based system might be a turn-off for some players, but I believe that we could work more with this genre, and Gust seems like they are willing to experiment more with it.
Overall, The King of Fighters XV is the excellent love letter to the franchise we all needed. It brings a perfect mixture of the best of every Saga while having a more celebratory feel all around. The experience offers everything in a straightforward fashion, and even the Story Mode feels great to play and a great way to learn new characters.
OlliOlli World has a chill vibe that allows players to enjoy performing skating tricks, whether to clear platforming challenges or just to challenge themselves to the highest score. The game offers little else besides cosmetic rewards, but it more than makes up for it with its replayability and addictive nature. It's the perfect game for those who want to play a game with the same level of depth as the Tony Hawk or Skate franchises.
The game is excellent in terms of gameplay mechanics, graphics, and music. Unfortunately, there isn't much variety anywhere else to warrant a higher score. This game knows that it's essentially here for versus matches and as such, will only be engaging for players who are going to play against each other locally or online
The Gunk is a rather visually stunning experience with many drawbacks that prevent it from scoring higher. While it has some noteworthy high points, it also has some devastatingly low points that show that Image & Form Games are just dipping their toes into 3D world design.
This is a fantastic return to form for the well-established series
Blue Reflection: Second Light builds upon many of the positive aspects while updating its combat system to be accessible for a broader JRPG fan audience. This is a step in the right direction that, while it may have some painful lows, also has some incredible highs that make for an overall great experience.
The focus placed by The Riftbreaker's gameplay loop on resource management may be too monotonous for some players. It's a game that focuses on its base-building mechanics more than its Action RPG mechanics. Still, it's a decent mixture of both that can either be loved or hated by players.
WarioWare: Get it Together! retains its easy to pick up and hard to master nature while adding a bit of a challenging element through its newly implemented characters. However, this can work against it as the layer of complexity may alienate fans who want to optimize their performance because of the way some characters are designed.
The Artful Escape is a rockin' Space Opera but it doesn't have much going for it besides its pretty visuals and incredible music. The platforming is basic and the plot is serviceable, but it's nothing that audiences haven't seen before. I'd recommend this game only if you're a fan of rock music from the '70s and '80s.
Foreclosed's visual style is nice, the cyberpunk aesthetic is one I fell in love with and wished could be explored more in-depth, and the plot is by the numbers but still engaging. Unfortunately, all of these good things are held back by a lackluster upgrade system, a laughably incompetent enemy AI, and sometimes downright insulting level design that feels more like it's built around trial and error rather than tactical usage of resources and abilities. The game should be approached with caution as it can provide a fun experience but also a mildly infuriating one.