Niche Gamer
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Stygian ultimately makes for an unfinished, buggy, disjointed, and confusing game. The madness suffered playing isn’t worth the time. Life was better before The Reign of the Old Ones.
With this new entry, only 40 percent of the entire Shenmue story has been told according to the game’s creator. While Shenmue III doesn’t move the plot as far as I’d like, I’m hungry for more.
The story is through and through a classic Star Wars tale, set within the first and second trilogies, and yet it falls short of truly being a must-buy due to its technical problems and its somewhat disappointing combat and mechanics. I simply wanted more, and a more polished game.
Ultimately, the game hits home where it matters: Despite its flaws, it is a lot of fun.
All in all, Atelier Ryza is a welcome breath of fresh air for the series with its overhauling of core mechanics, as well as its visuals – which look better than ever. This is yet another excellent game in the series, and makes me feel like Gust is thinking of ways to refine the formula even more.
For now, it’s still a recommendation, albeit a recommendation that comes with some caveats.
ArcheAge Unchained is a fun, bizarre, and honestly, pretty niche MMO that still holds up in all the most important ways. Now that it is no longer weighed down by scummy monetization, I would say that this is the time to give it a try.
While I don’t believe that this is the first step in the revitalization of the franchise, and doubt we’ll see a new Super Monkey Ball game any time soon, it’s still awesome to see this game come back to life for people like myself who never got into the series back then.
There is just something special about games like Ring Fit Adventure, pushing for this type of positive innovation. I feel like my money and time were well-spent, and this might even be the title I end up playing the most this year.
The new monsters, locations, and quality of life changes are extremely welcome, and while $40 is nothing to sneeze at, I definitely feel like you get your money’s worth with this one.
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t find a decent amount of things to like in The Outer Worlds, but at the same time I can’t help but feel like it has the potential to be so much better.
If you’re a new player just getting into the franchise, you might be a little lost with the narrative, but you’ll still have a good time with the fast and frenetic gameplay. For a paltry $15, the game’s meager length can be pretty easily forgiven as well.
Perhaps some of the issues I have with the game will be patched or fixed some time down the road, but from where I stand now, there are simply better games in this genre to play.
It nails the aesthetic and gameplay of Genesis era side scrollers, and looks like something that could have been released during that era and go down in history as a fondly remembered classic. Even if you’re sick of retro-inspired action-platformers, you should still consider giving Valfaris a shot.
You do not have to be the darkest dungeon, or write a great odyssey. Sometimes you just need to take lots of good ideas, and put them together in a way that works, to make something brilliant. If you want great strategy, Mistover should not be passed over.
If you’ve never played Link’s Awakening because you never owned a Game Boy or are too young to have given it a chance, you have absolutely no excuses to miss the game again now. Link’s Awakening is simply a joy to play, and remains a love-letter to the franchise.
If you aren’t already a fan of the series, then Trine 4 probably won’t change your mind. If you love the series already like I do, then you’ll find a worthy new installment in the franchise that only occasionally stumbles in a few places here and there.
Code Vein has incredible promise and I hope that it sells well enough to warrant a sequel because the issues that I do have with it can easily be solved. I honestly believe that Bandai Namco has something big on their hands here. I can only hope that the future holds good things for Code Vein.
If you’ve got a friend and some free time, I think there’s a lot of enjoyment to be had here with River City Girls, and the amazing art and music certainly enhance that.
Nowhere Prophet is, I feel, a few tweaks and content expansions away from being a truly great roguelite deckbuilder. It has some great presentation, an interesting setting and lore, and fun tactical card-based battles, but stumbles when it comes to difficulty scaling, viable deck build diversity, and random encounter variety.