Super Mario RPG is one of the few remakes that can practically speak for itself; it’ll get hold of you and somehow keep you going for the sake of finding the next part of the story. It’s a well-done remake in just about every sense, from the environments to the different enemies, while maintaining that infamous Mario silliness through it all. The only downside is that there will definitely be a lot of reasons to do it, and voice acting would’ve made this release a star in its own sense.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is a great release for the franchise, and the story has a lot of depth that will keep you going for hours on end. All this, combined with the visuals and sound design, builds into a great game with a familiar atmosphere we all know and love, but from a critical point of view… The AAA price does not detract from the fact that it’s still an indie side-scroller. However, if you’re willing to pay the piper, it becomes a matter of perspective as to whether or not it’s worth the price.
Rise of the Ronin is turning out to be a great souls-like with endless potential and a brilliant story to match. There’s a beautifully detailed world to explore and the unforgiving combat that all hardcore gamers crave, but there’s also so much room for improvement, and a lot of pruning is needed. The cluttered map and the neverending junk loot are two of the biggest factors that dull the experience, but if you can overlook those issues, there’s a massive world to see and a lot of new challenges that await you in Japan.
While Sherlock Holmes The Awakened has an incredibly rich story to experience, it feels like you have to work much harder than normal to get to it. The overall gameplay is incredibly smooth and the mechanics balance each other out quite well, but a form of hint is desperately needed for a game like this.
MythForce is a brilliant 80’s inspired game with nearly endless potential. While it does give you a lot to explore and discover, even more so to work with to take down your enemies, it falls a little flat, with the game being semi-unbalanced and overly grindy. A few simple quality of life and bug fixes might just take it to the top as a memorable release.
Astor: Blade of the Monolith is shaping up to be an absolutely amazing RPG, aside from that one major flaw with combat. If you can look past the issue at hand, there’s a magical world that’s just waiting to be explored and secrets to discover throughout its rich story, and let’s not forget the mountains of side quests just waiting to be conquered.
Aside from a few missing mechanics and usual features of this genre such as the lack of fast travel and wildlife to Soul-jump into, Tchia is still a brilliantly designed game with beautiful visuals, rich culture to explore, breathtaking music, and so much more. The atmosphere might seem unnecessarily cheery and light, but that might be the main message the game has to offer.
While Ravenbound has a great story and a few good features on the mechanics front, it still needs some improvement. What would help this game shine would be a world overhaul with a randomly generated terrain to keep things interesting and possibly a few minor quality-of-life improvements. While these flaws can take away from the overall experience, Ravenbound does have a lot of potentials to go far. But for now, there’s still a great story and literal mountains of lore to discover, maybe even a Betrayer to defeat.
SUPER BOMBERMAN R 2 is a great reboot of a classic game we all know and love. With the same level of great storytelling and chaos, you’ll be thrown head-first into nostalgia while getting to play an old classic on modern terms. When you’re tired of Story Mode, there’s always some good and friendly fun with friends or through matchmaking if you want an interesting challenge as well.
Remnant 2 - The Awakened King might be a one-shot adventure, but it’s completely worth playing if you’re after a bit more mystery and some new lore as to the worlds in Remnant 2. The only drawback is the lack of enemy variety and special sound, but these can still be overlooked, and you’ll just need to be careful with where you walk, or you might find yourself on the unforgiving end of a few nasty ranged attacks.
Open Roads is a brilliant change of pace for those who want just a story and a little mystery after some intense gaming. However, this might not appeal to everybody due to how slowly the story progresses, giving you only the smallest pieces to run with. If you can look past that and the minor issues with the voice acting, you’re definitely in for a treat with how this story unfolds and getting to see how Tess and Opal build a new bond.
Gigantic: Rampage Edition is an obscenely rare sight on the MOBA scene and it looks like it might take a spot among the great MOBAs currently out there. The hero pool might be limited but with how much versatility is on offer with skills, it’s fair that the pool is rather limited but customs builds will also expand just how much is on offer. Aside from the server issues, the only big issue is the possibility of microtransactions possibly ruining another great release.
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is so close to being the feel-good JRPG for 2024 but it still needs a bit of work before it can shine. If you can look past the issues, there’s a whole world to explore and a literal ton of heroes to recruit and experiment with. Let’s not forget the incredible story that you’ll get to experience too as things unfold while you’re exploring.
Stray Blade has so much potential to be amazing, but sadly, it falls quite far behind and might follow in the same footsteps as Shock Tactics. The story in Stray Blade might be its saving grace, but without optimization and possibly some work on the combat system, it might not be enough to help the game rise to the top. However, if you can look past the issues or possibly fix/reduce them, this game is an absolute joy to play, and the story of Acrea, along with the stories between Farren and Boji, will keep you coming back for more on their wild adventure.
Counter-Strike 2 might have gotten the Overwatch treatment with a rebrand, but there are a few differences to be spotted. With a bigger selection of maps and the extra game modes, things might actually start looking up for this release. However, the lack of moderation and optimization might also be what puts the final nails in this game’s coffin.
Knight Vs Giant: The Broken Excalibur has quite a few flaws and needs some serious polish to be classified as a good Roguelike. The biggest flaw at hand is the seemingly endless grind for almost no reward in the early stages and the game’s desperate need for some quality-of-life fixes, all this aside, you’ll be treated to a strange and intriguing story that will have you coming back for more. Sadly, the game needs more polish to make it worthwhile to keep coming back to the story just for the sake of seeing what happens to Camelot in the end.
GUN JAM had so much potential to be great, but it’s just missing so much extra detail. The game is interesting and a joy to play at first but it loses that luster very quickly once you realize there isn’t much else to the game. With the lack of enemy variety, character background, or more stages to explore and destroy enemies in, GUN JAM needs a lot more work that we might see in the future.
INFINITE GUITARS has so much potential to be an excellent Rhythm game with a fun but casual story. It features a good mix of different genres, and they all work quite well with each other to give you a great experience with the story. Sadly, it still has a few issues that need to be addressed before it can shine, namely the visual issues and the minor technical bugs that can drag a good game down.
The Inquisitor has nearly endless potential to be great, but it’s so damn hard to get into the story, even if is based on a set of stories from a Polish author. It’s got a solid base, interesting mechanics, and brilliant voice acting, but the execution seems to need some work, and this detracts from the game in all the worst ways. However, if you have the patience or several shovels of salt, there is some good intrigue to the story that might keep you interested. Sadly, without a major visual and story overhaul, there might not be much hope for this release.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is trying its hardest, but it comes off as a messy science project dressed up to look pretty, and we all know it doesn’t really do what it needs to. Sadly, a lot more polish is needed if there’s going to be hope of this release lasting longer than a year as a live-service title because, as we all know, they’re usually driven by the fans and a constant stream of income from microtransactions… Though there’s already a scarcity of pre-teens with a ton of money to burn, only time will tell.