Michael Baker's Reviews
Grimoire Groves is a refreshing take on the standard roguelike genre, and I genuinely enjoy the core gameplay loop. The visuals are nice, and while the game is simple, it plays to its strengths. I also really enjoy building up the little encyclopedia that catalogs what you find in the Grove. The lack of accessibility options and problems I had with performance was disappointing in the release build, but these can be fixed with time. Despite these issues, Grimoire Groves is still a good performer on the Steam Deck.
I went into Mythwrecked: Ambrosia Island with modest expectations, and my needs for a comfortable gaming experience have been met. Despite my ambivalent feelings towards Alex, I was invested in the story. I enjoyed the dialogue minigames and getting to know the characters, and I kept laughing every time I spoke to Hermes. How that guy flew on those tiny wings is anybody's guess. I enjoyed the little collectathon mechanics, such as finding furnishings for my little home in the lighthouse, and when I needed a break from the game, I could sit on a mat and listen to the audio cassettes. The lack of challenge and simple gameplay won’t be to everyone’s tastes, but it is relaxing enough to play and a solid Steam Deck performer. If you have time to kill and want to explore an ancient Greek island without many stakes, Mythwrecked might surprise you.
Organic and honest is how I would describe Drova: Forsaken Kin. It combines the best parts of what made me fall in love with RPGs into a brilliant package. Great worldbuilding and lore, challenging combat without feeling like it's mocking the player for trying, and surprisingly gorgeous visuals blend in wonderfully. This is an absolute bargain for the quality, even at full price.
Had this game debuted in 2024, this would likely win my Game Of The Year award. Even when not on sale, its base price of $17.99 is a steal for the quality of what’s on offer. There have been a few minor bugs, but these were so infrequent that they were barely worth mentioning. Chilling, brilliant, and disturbing, Slay The Princess is in its best condition yet with the arrival of the Pristine Cut.
came away from CLICKOLDING with mixed feelings. The atmosphere of the game excelled in keeping me unsettled, to the point I didn’t care how repetitive the clicking became. That is the whole point of CLICKOLDING, after all. For $3, it is hard to argue against trying the game at that price. The technical problems I encountered left a sour taste in my mouth. While it is certainly playable on the Steam Deck, the lack of accessibility options and settings brings down the experience for me.
2024 has seen many fantastic indie titles, and Arco is among them. If you like tactical games with deep world-building, or if you want a challenge, it will sate those taste buds. I like both, and although Arco pushed me to hell and back on the difficulty front, it deserves its Overwhelmingly Positive score on Steam with every juicy mouthful of berries, and it is a great Steam Deck performer.
Caravan SandWitch is a delightful morsel of exploration and storytelling. While the gameplay’s simplicity might put people off if they need a challenge to their games, I appreciate how much love and care went into this. While its performance on the Steam Deck is more power dependent than I expected, I had enormous fun with it, and it is probably something that can be improved with patches. I will not be surprised if it makes my Top 10 list in December.
The underlying philosophy of the game’s developers helps to make an engaging narrative experience that does not rely on physical conflict between people yet at the same time is intensely physical in its platforming challenges, balanced against the mental contortions of planning a perfect recipe for the request at hand.
The writing is witty and tight, and the game does a good balance of presentation across its eleven chapters. So between the plot, the side quests, and the hunt for optional fun bits like selfies and collectibles, it never feels like time is wasted.
Sovereign Syndicate provides a detailed, colourful, and visually redolent tableau of the Dockyards of London’s East End, where tenements are under siege by industrial expansion, women and children go missing in the dark of night, soot covers all and the cobblestones run wet with alcohol, fresh or recycled. It makes for a lovely take on the gaslamp fantasy genre, with the plot to back up the appearance.
Flynn: Son of Crimson is a pleasant surprise that filled in some quiet hours this summer. It’s fun, fast, and occasionally frantic in its action, and is a good addition to any action-gamer’s library.
Can I recommend OU? It is certainly an experience, even if it isn’t the sort of game I would seek out on my own. Still, it’s stuck in my head, and I must share.
Like a fresh sip of caffe latte on a cool morning, it’s been a good pick-me-up for the rest of the season.
To stretch an analogy worthy of the game, South Park: The Stick of Truth is much like its “magic” burritos. It is far tastier than it has any right to be, taking a solid, meaty system for combat, beans and cheese for field interactions, and then wrapping them up in the tortilla of South Park.
Most importantly, Atelier Ryza 3 is a game that fulfills its purpose as the capstone to a trilogy. It does its best to provide closure to the series and its characters, and by the end sequence most of the cast has some sense of growth in themselves and their relationships.
While it only takes a few hours, the blend of narrative, plot-essential battles, and occasional puzzle elements was fun to work through. Anyone in search of a short but satisfying experience should consider this one at some point.
While I can say that I enjoyed my time with Shin Megami Tensei V, it was the exploration of ruined Tokyo that kept my attention. Once the last big map was filled in, the last treasures claimed, and the last little red dude returned to the item shop’s master, the game quickly lost its luster.
When I started this game, I was not expecting to find the best Atelier game of its generation, but the development team at Gust has proven with Sophie 2 that they can learn from experience, leveling up in knowledge and skill just as the alchemists do to provide a more polished product.
Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom is nothing like its predecessor in general playstyle, but it shares the same sense of whimsy and wonder, the same motifs of sadness and redemption, and is a well-built game overall.
Super Cane Magic ZERO is simply too precious, too uniquely itself, to be appreciated by everyone.