Roger Reichardt's Reviews
The Company Man is a competent platformer with beautifully hand-drawn artwork. The character designs are impressive. The boss battles are genuine, and each boss is unique in its design. However, the game suffers from some design flaws, mainly around the inability to aim projectiles and duck. This will require you to rethink how you may handle some of the more challenging bosses. In addition, the story isn't intriguing, and it's disappointing that the story didn't match the beauty of the game's art.
Lacuna is a surprise gem. It's a game where your choices matter. It will require some deep thinking and quite a bit of reading. But that's what makes it an excellent detective game. If you're up for a challenge, you shouldn't pass up Lacuna.
Forgotten Hill Disillusion loses itself trying to be a challenging click-and-point puzzle game. While some of the puzzles are well-designed, the ones that don't provide enough context outweigh the better riddles and thus make for a frustrating experience. The game does offer a help option, but often it feels like you have to rely on the help all too often to figure out the solution.
Word Forward is a good palette cleanser between games or when you are looking for a brain teaser. You most likely won't be playing it for several hours in a row (although with the number of puzzles, you certainly can). The puzzles are short, and unlike other word puzzles out on the Switch, it doesn't incorporate any story or gimmicks. Instead, it's a straightforward puzzle game that will provide you with plenty of challenges.
While the races are thrilling, the lack of any features found in other racers, such as sliding or braking, prevents you from building skills to master the game. Most times, it feels like you win on sheer luck. Coupled with the fact that the tracks all feel relatively the same, the experience gets stale fairly quickly.
The Legend of Tianding is a beautiful sidescrolling beat 'em up that deserves to receive more attention than it's getting. Its comic book art style carries through from the story to the gameplay. The action is fast-paced, the level designs well thought out, and the boss battles are challenging but fun. If you're a fan of kung fu movies, you need to add The Legend of Tianding to your library.
I respect the idea that Circa Infinity is going for; a unique puzzle arcade game that will attract speedrunners and those looking for a challenge. If you enjoy punishing titles and can handle motion sickness, then this release may be for you. However, a game's supposed to be fun. With the brain-breaking movement scheme, flashing lights, and constant moving images, I felt sick playing it.
Hermitage: Strange Case Files does many things right, with well-written characters, interesting cases, and incorporating gameplay that affects the story's outcome. If you are looking for a very good visual novel and enjoy creepy mysteries with a twist of supernatural to solve, Hermitage: Strange Case Files is a solid choice.
It's too bad Takorita Meets Fries isn't good. As there are few hero quest stories with female protagonists, Takorita could've been great for a younger audience. Unfortunately, Takorita Meets Fries struggles with its identity and who the intended audience is supposed to be. The simplistic story, lack of gameplay, and cartoon artwork might appeal to a much younger crowd. But the crude humor takes away that option.