An expansive world, well-written lore, and decent base-building provide an enjoyable survival game alternative.
If you’re a person who maybe saw an antagonistic meme once about “quirky indie rpg about depression” and decided to make hating those your entire personality, move on — there’s nothing for you here. But if you’re willing to engage with content about mental health seriously, and explore the concepts of life, death, what what it would actually feel like to be trapped in a loop, forcing your friends and family to do certain tasks repeatedly — then you’ll find a thought-provoking and well-written story within In Stars and Time.
Lords of the Fallen has a well-crafted world, interesting stories, cool bosses, and plenty of player customization on offer. However, a frustrating dual-world mechanic holds back this RPG from achieving excellence.
If you liked previous Disgaea games - grinding your levels up to max, performing increasingly higher damaging attacks, and seeing a mass of numbers fill your screen - Disgaea 7 continues that trend and amplifies it further.
You can treat Elder Scrolls Online just like any other Elder Scrolls game, but you are still connected to a world with other players, and there are some things you cannot do by yourself. If that’s your bag, High Isle is the best Elder Scrolls Online has ever been.
ANNO: Mutationem is a beautiful game with good combat and decent story, marred by some unfortunate translation issues and story pacing.
While some may be put off by the game’s approach to storytelling, and the unfortunate graphical situation, the sum of all of Stranger of Paradise’s parts outweighs its issues. The game is about an amnesiac edgelord who wants to kill Chaos. The game is about discovering what friendship truly entails, and how far someone would go to protect what they love. The game is about forgiveness, and overthrowing the shackles placed unjustly by those in power. The game is about punching the ever-loving crap out of a Cactuar, grabbing it by its legs, and exploding it in a finely-pasted mist while your friends cheer you on.
Much like the alchemy process itself, Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of Dreams is flawed, but with time you can find a lot to love about the game.
I have now spent over 50 hours playing Shin Megami Tensei V — a game that I adore, but also one with a few faults. This RPG on the Nintendo Switch will bind you in its tangled, storied web of angels versus demons, of power struggles to see who will take the Throne of God, but the web is marred by some unfortunate navigation and technical issues.