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The love and care with which it has been remastered deserves calling out. Tantalus has done an incredible job here. The original work of Next Level Games really shines as their animation and underlying art direction remain unchanged. This is easily the best way to play Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon.
Van is a charming and vocal protagonist who gives as good as he gets, and rest assured, he isn't shy about giving a loving head patting when the opportunity arises. Those who have played earlier Trails games will enjoy the returning characters, mentions, and nods to earlier events and people, but even if you're an RPG player unfamiliar with the Trails games, you'll find plenty of reasons to sink your teeth into this latest one. It's no surprise that the hero of Daybreak has a proclivity towards indulging in cakes and pastries; he happens to star in one hell of a sweet adventure.
This was, of course, during a time when degree of difficulty was a positive thing. I don't think they hold up particularly well, but perhaps I should be grateful that they're being preserved somehow, a window into the 16-bit era that I grew up with, but have mostly left behind. I suppose if you've been itching to revisit Sparkster's adventures, this is the best way to do it.
The failures of Banana Mania have not been repeated, and the high skill ceiling of the spin dash combined with the extensive replayability of the optional objectives means that I am probably going to be playing this game for the next twenty years just the same as the GameCube classics. Even as the modern descendant of Super Monkey Ball's original developer Amusement Vision, Ryu ga Gotoku Studio has outdone themselves here. This is not simply a return to form; this is proof of the bright future that Super Monkey Ball might have.
Visually in particular, but also the trappings of the narrative adventure game that can get a tad repetitive over time without too many moments that shake up the gameplay. This all does not subtract from the astonishing writing and performances in 1000xRESIST and I urge those who are looking for boundary breaking storytelling to truly dive into this world blindly. It may even help you find the strength in these times to learn what it means to resist.
That said, Echo Generation is a fun, unique way to spend 8 or so hours, and I don't regret my time with it at all. It's a charming experience full of engaging gameplay and fun secrets to discover, and should a sequel ever come out I'll be first in line to discover those secrets as well.
The world feels lived-in thanks to a narrowly focused daily life sim that pairs well with combat that is the most robust work they've done to date. Minor user interface issues aside, I find myself thinking about the next time I can boot it up, batter some bad guys (or baseballs), and see whether I can make good enough use of my time to progress the story further. I've appreciated witnessing the growth and refinement of Yeo's development prowess, and this is their best work to date.
When reflecting on my time with Hauntii, I think about the music and the art, and less so on how it played. Hauntii is a breathtaking experience, but it just doesn't do enough with it. This game makes a compelling case for videogames as art, but it stops short when it comes to the actual mechanics.
As someone who enjoyed Monster Hunter Stories when it came out on 3DS seven years ago, I'm happy it has a new home on Switch, even if it's not a full remake. It's well worth diving into if you missed it the first time around, especially since the relative simplicity makes it a decent entrypoint for a younger audience into this world and genre (especially since it has so much voice acting). If you are looking for something more complex, you can always try Monster Hunter Stories 2 or just go on hunts in one of the many other available Monster Hunters.
That said, I've learned my lesson and will be waiting until the enhanced version for Metaphor: ReFantazio - which hopefully will come out on the Switch's successor.
Horizon Chase 2 is a great game, but it's quite the masterpiece that its predecessor was. That said, this is a no brainer if you loved the arcade racing goodness of Horizon Chase Turbo, because that part, at least, has not been modified in this sequel.
Xtreme Sports is an interesting curio, an artistic ancestor of WayForward's heroic half-genie franchise, and a somewhat frustrating Game Boy Color game that may not be all that fun to play in the Year of our Arceus 2024. It also, and this may be a deep cut for many of you, reminds me of the Survivor parody Total Drama Island, which often involved some degree of extreme sports challenges.
undefined.Overall, Master Key finds solid ground to share with other notable indie Zelda-like games, feeling very much like a minimalist version of Tunic. The countless secrets of its world and the way in which it encourages you to search and reflect on every screen give it a remarkable sense of vitality. I know I haven't seen all that its dense map has to offer, but I've still thoroughly enjoyed my time with Master Key and look forward to eventually diving back in to find what I missed.
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is every Zelda Dungeon, Resident Evil Mansion and Escape Room honed to its finest edge and plays with the player as much as the player plays the game. In a year already stacked with impressive indie games, this will be the one that is going to haunt me for years to come. I could not be more excited about seeing others experience it for themselves.
It's about 2-3 hours of gameplay, and while I'm glad this particular case wasn't dragged out longer, I got to the end and just wanted more. Another case, more time with these characters, anything. That said, while I wish we had more Duck Detective, I'm happy that I got to spend time Duck Detecting as it is, and really hope I can get more adventures of Eugene McQuacklin someday.
Paper Trail is a series of gratifying problem solving that challenges the player to think differently by bending their brain with every page turn. It isn't often I run across a game that's so thematically cohesive, but between the puzzle structure, storytelling, and crisp and colorful world, this is an experience that feels like every detail was considered in its development, especially for those who get regularly stymied by thought exercises. Paper Trail is a present that's just as much fun to unwrap as it is to play with, and ranks in some of the better gaming experiences I've had this year.
You can even swap to the dungeon layouts from the later console ports. This is an extremely faithful update of an important game. And if you're willing to give it the opportunity, you find it is just as addictive today as it was forty years ago.
Cupid Parasite: Sweet and Spicy Darling might be the first fandisc on the Switch that manages to do to the original what Pokemon Platinum did to Diamond and Pearl: the second attempt completely subsumed the original. There are even reminder points as to what happened with each of the suitors in the original six paths, so newcomers - or people like me who played the original at launch 30 months ago - can jump in and quickly pick up what is being laid down. And with the improved text, it's a no brainer to pick up the sequel.
The story of Surmount on Switch is a sad one, a pleasant, cute, challenging, uncomplicated, and fun bite-sized adventure that gets completely cratered by insurmountable show-stopping bugs that completely throttled my momentum and made me ask several times "what am I wasting my time for?" I have to balance giving the developer a chance to produce a minimally disruptive experience and a guidepost of whether to spend hard earned money on a game. Regretfully I have to recommend you find your sense of adventure elsewhere, whether giving the PC version a flyer or turning to a much more serious title like Jusant.
If you've already played 2064: Read Only Memories, you may get a bit of a kick out of NEURODIVER, but you'd probably be better served replaying the original, which overshadows its follow-up in almost every way. As likable as most of its cast is, they simply don't get enough time to shine, leaving the adventure of Luna and co. feeling flat and incomplete.