Death Becomes You is an engaging narrative that has a fun element of mystery, but I wish it had more magical elements and overall diversity of the routes. A must play for its price point of visual novel fans everywhere.
Creepy Tale 3: Ingrid Penance is a short but worthwhile game that has some issues with making some of the puzzles kind of impossible to figure out without doing some trial and error, but overall I think it does quite well with the material it does have.
Dokapon Kingdom: Connect is a blast to play with friends. It may cause some arguments among friends, but it is an overall enjoyable experience. There are some frustrating things, like the mandatory space movements and being unable to combine the local lobbies and online lobbies, but I recommend it as a party game.
VanillaBeast Retro: Knock-Out! is a wacky game with some adult humor and challenging difficulty as it adds a spin on the gameplay loop of Mike Tyson's Punch-Out! It takes some patience to get good at the game but it often doesn't feel worth it to beat the next boxer.
Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story 2 is a game that has some great elements of simulation for building up your prestigious academy for future heroes, but is bogged down by bugs, glitches and interesting mechanic decisions.
Final Fantasy XVI is a new change to the highs of the Final Fantasy series with fleshed-out characters and fantastic set pieces. It can get bogged down due to its linearity and being unable to go back to certain locations but overall it is a masterpiece.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie is everything I wanted from the Trails series. We get a huge cast of playable characters, a ton of emotional beats and world building, and finally some great turn based gameplay. The three routes do tend to slow down the pace of the overall narrative but overall it is still extremely well written and executed.
Charade Maniacs is a fun mystery visual novel but it isn't the best with its Otome elements. There is a big cast of characters that are all interesting in their own way, but not enough time with each one to feel fully invested in the relationship.
Loop8: Summer of Gods has a very interesting premise with stunning visuals and amazing music. The creativity in the game can hold back other parts of the mechanics.
Fairy Fencer F: Refrain Chord is a sequel game to the original Fairy Fencer F but with a totally new combat system. It is a competent strategy Role Playing Game and not overly difficult. The music mechanics make it stand out and a joy to listen to. The relationship between characters is not really explored as heavily as the first game.
Mugen Souls is a fun game when you don't look too much into the intricacies of the gameplay and characters. It has value giving more Disgaea type ridiculousness but not with Disgaea.
Hunt The Night has combines Legend of Zelda in its puzzles and exploration with Bloodborne in its difficulty and ambiance in a way that will attract fans of either series. Though it might turn off players who are not interested in a lot of difficult boss encounters.
Atelier Ryza 3: The Alchemist of the End & The Secret Key is the culmination of the entirety of Atelier Ryza. It is a fantastic conclusion and adds a lot of QoL mechanics that make it a great experience.
GrimGrimoire OnceMore is a display of passion from the art to the character designs. It has a fun loop and is a very unique experience. The only negative comes with the shortness of the main game and the maps mainly go up and down.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure is the peak of storytelling, character writing, and worldbuilding. With enhanced visuals and solid dungeon design this game is an absolute must play for anyone who wants to see video games as a medium of narratives.
Anime vs Evil: Apocalypse is an enjoyable game at its core with the shooting mechanics and the character designs, but the lack of content and variety does hinder it.
Hogwarts Legacy is an absolute monster of passion and creativity in a world that is all about creativity. Great combat mechanics and a unique open world with many interesting secrets hidden around makes playing this game an absolute treasure.
Another new change with Shadow Warrior 3 Definitive Edition is the Hero Mode for the story playthrough. Hero mode makes it, so you have a limited amount of lives in a playthrough. If you lose those lives, you’ll have to restart the entire story mode again. It is a good test to see how well you remember the game and some of the tricks for each arena.
One Piece Odyssey is a solid JRPG experience with great animations, characterizations and story beats. It lets you relive some of the best moments of the series in bite size chunks. The ease of difficulty can feel boring to fans of the genre but overall a great experience.
Neptunia: Sisters vs Sisters is an ambitious title that finally returns to the mainline series of Neptunia. Action based combat with still keeping skill setups from the previous games along with seamless transition from combat to traversal makes it a great step up to current generation hardware. The combat system without the passive effects of discs feel clunky, and the maps have plenty of reused designs but otherwise a solid entry into the series.