Niche Gamer
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Days Gone is ultimately a disappointing experience, that could have been much more. I didn’t hate my time with it, and there’s a lot of heart to the experience that I genuinely appreciated, but it falls into the same trappings of too many open world experiences.
If you did not like the games back in the 2000s, nothing has changed. But if you can take the cheese along with the odd boring minigame and puzzle – this is probably the quintessential Final Fantasy RPG. It would be a sin to miss out.
If you’re a fan of very dark and “mind screwy” type of stories, then you’ll definitely find something to enjoy with Zanki Zero: Last Beginning.
Mortal Kombat 11 is the latest and greatest entry in the long-running fighting game series focused on excessive murder and crazy Asian-inspired supernatural things. The formula is bloodier, more refined, and improved upon, and this feels like the definitive Mortal Kombat game.
SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech has stripped away anything unnecessary and made a solid RPG. While a few more flairs would have been nice and difficulty balance can be a bit off, it is still an excellent RPG that encourages players to strategize when building a deck to prove their mettle.
Even with a couple of stumbles, and one bug in my time, I still had a great time with the game.
While its sandbox-peers do a few things I would like to see here, it carves out its own style and has potential to develop into something that will make it stand along-side them as equals.
All considered, Katana Zero will set you back the price of a good meal, while being more fulfilling than than certain AAA studios’ safe and bland attempts for over double that price. In the words of Katana Zero itself: Yes, that should work
For fans of the Final Fantasy series, those looking for a good roguelike or more tactical style game, or just someone looking for a fun romp or a trip down nostalgia lane, Chocobo’s Mystery Dungeon: Every Buddy! comes highly recommended.
If you’re looking for a robust city builder with a ridiculously polished set of tools and tech trees for you to live out your wildest industrial era dreams, look no further. Despite some tiny gripes, I really couldn’t be happier with how much Anno 1800 honors the series legacy, and further refines it.
I honestly have very little to criticize about the pure business side of the game. The gradual progression is not too slow, and you slowly develop from keeping a close eye on your own grow (the place where you, you know, grow) until you have plenty of people to do that for you.
While there’s no confirmed release dates for the next acts and side story DLCs, I look forward to seeing what comes next for both the detectives of Igrasil, and the developers at Igrasil Studio.
Tropico 6 is like a definitive look at the series that has always stood out in the city builder genre, while also adding some really fun new mechanics that help you shake things up a bit.
If you’re a fan of musou games or the Fate franchise of games/anime, this is pretty much a no brainer for you. Pick up post haste! If you’re not a big fan of musou games, the Fate series or traps, Extella Link is still might be worth a pick up, at least to try it out.
If you’re just not quite sure about the franchise or genre, perhaps waiting on a price drop before picking up would serve you well. Either way, Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain was a lot of fun for the most part, so I would suggest grabbing it at some point.
Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark has earned the high praise I give it. Nearly every criticism I have towards it is a nit-pick, or comes down to personal taste. This is exactly what I have been looking for, and I think fans of this sub-genre will be to. It practically fell from heaven.
If you’re looking for a cute and comfy game to play and just want a nice, relaxing experience that will make your heart melt, by all means, you could do a lot worse than picking up Yoshi’s Crafted World. It’s a fun little diversion that will just make you feel happy and lighten your heart.
Glitches, inept AI, and low player counts aside, I do still recommend giving Tannenberg a shot, especially if you are looking for a game that really nails the look, feel, and atmosphere of WWI.
Sadly, it just has too many problems for me to say it’s great in its current form. The devs have announced that they plan to work hard on fixing the many issues reported by players, and I really hope they succeed in that endeavor. Traipsing around 1980s Sweden surviving hordes of murderous robots is just too cool of an idea not to expand upon.
The most irritating thing about Caligula Effect: Overdose is that in spite of me having been critical of it in my review, the fact that I did not enjoy it, or that I struggle to think of any positives, the game feels so middle-of-the-road that giving it any lower of a score would just feel unfair.