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Curse of the Sea Rats is certainly an enjoyable experience for metroidvania fans, and it’s a lovingly crafted, feel-good title. Sadly for me though, the limited combat and boss fights undermine the experience and rank it lower than many other great metroidvania titles recently. Had these elements had more care or originality invested into them, then Curse of the Sea Rats could have been an absolute hit, but unfortunately, it ends up being just another metroidvania as a result.
There isn’t a world where I say that ATONE: Heart of the Elder Tree is a bad game, but I did get a distinct impression that it didn’t want to be a game. ATONE feels like a project that wanted to be a visual novel rather than a puzzle game, and that made it much harder to play than it should have been. A lot of care is given to characterisation, visuals and music to craft an immersive, interesting experience, but that care does not seem to extend itself to much of the gameplay segments. And gameplay is the thing that sets video games apart from other media. It is still enjoyable and of course, it still does more than enough to be a puzzle game, but it feels like only half of it was approached with ambition.
While having each character’s story told individually tends to pull you out of the immersion, the actual stories being told are captivating and well paced. Levelling across individual stories on the same chapter seems to fluctuate, implying a set path to take, but it remains difficult to follow without having to go all over the map and wasting time. But the beautiful visuals, the clever combat system and great storytelling make Octopath Traveller 2 a must-have for RPG fans.
Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon is absolutely magical. The entire game feels like you are exploring a fairy tale, much in the same vein of Alice in Wonderland or The Wizard of Oz (there's even a direct reference to the latter within the first couple hours, and consider Cheshire for the former, so they knew what they were doing). As much as this entry into the series can be viewed too drastic of a departure for traditionalist fans, it's arguably a much better fit than the mainline entries for the Nintendo Switch's target audience - and this is coming from someone who considered Bayonetta 3 as a running for Game of the Year in 2022.
Theatrhythm Final Bar Line is a fantastic collection of Final Fantasy’s finest music in one massive collection. With well over 300 songs to unlock and play, you’ve got to be in it for the long haul to see them all. There are some light RPG elements when playing around in the party edit option and at least 100 characters to unlock, not to mention the tonnes of collectibles to earn, quests to complete and feats to see. Throw in some online battles and you’ve got a game that sets its sights on the stars and soars above all the rest. Theatrhythm Final Bar Line is one of the best rhythm games you can buy on the system to date. So, what are you waiting for?
Overall, I had a great time exploring Royla with Pronty and Bront, and I hope we meet again. However, describing Pronty as a metroidvania is a bit of a misnomer in my opinion, but that shouldn’t take away from all of the many plus points on offer here. The graphics, story and combat are all well executed and when you nail those pillars, who cares what genre of game it is?
Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe is a solid entry into the Kirby timeline, and is one that leaves little-to-no blemishes on its reputation. The newly added Deluxe moniker is also put into practice well with Merry Magalor and the Magalor Epilogue, providing more than just your run-of-the-mill remaster which insists on slapping on an expensive price tag. These additions justify its re-release quite well and helps to provide a well-rounded package. The only downside to this title is that it is a remaster of a safe 2D entry, one that may canibalise (or be canibilised by) the sales of the 2018 Kirby Star Allies, which, on the surface, comes across as yet another bog-standard entry.
Ultimately, Fire Emblem Engage is a mixed bag. If you’re coming in just for the story, you’ll be sorely disappointed but if it’s for the tactical gameplay, then there is a plethora of entertainment to be discovered here. The Emblem system is one of the most fun and unique ways to add a secondary class to your units, while making them feel unique and special on the battlefield. If you love Fire Emblem as a series, there are a lot of nice interactions to discover, even though there are still plenty of characters that haven’t been released in English and having the writing feel designed to be funny in the moment rather than focusing on driving the characters’ personalities.