RPG Site's Reviews
Monster Hunter Wilds has all the potential to become the best game in the franchise's history, even if it's not quite there yet.
Goro Majima's swashbuckling adventure is a ton of fun to play with some of the series' most thrilling beat 'em up combat and compelling side distractions, despite its messy main narrative.
Avowed is a well-written and cohesive fantasy escape that thoughtfully ramps from modest to grandiose, though small bits of uneven execution slightly detract from an otherwise impressive experience.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is a dense numbers-driven RPG and a remarkable improvement from its predecessor, with an immersive 15th century setting, satisfying role-playing, and impressive cinematic chops.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak 2 manages to improve in some areas while stumbling a bit in others, but still manages to deliver an exciting tale; here is our review.
A solid search-action game coupled with an incredible musical score makes for an easy recommendation.
Taking the long-running hack n' slash series into a fully-fledged action RPG experience, developer Omega Force has revived this series revolving around the Romance of the Three Kingdoms in a stunning fashion at the cost of scaling back what it used to offer before.
Over fifteen years since an initial release, Tales of Graces f Remastered is a lovingly executed refresh of a series classic.
At its core, Freedom Wars is still very much the same game as the PlayStation Vita original, warts and all. It has the same frustrating pacing, the same story that while conceptually interesting maybe doesn't fully deliver on that promise in practice. As fun as the high-speed action combat can be, it's still very limited in what you can actually do; and the scope of missions and the areas they take place in certainly betray the game's history as a handheld title from a decade prior. Still, even if it was merely a time capsule - I'd still be glad that Freedom Wars got to be remembered. It's a real treat, then, that this remaster has done an admirable job to polish up a game that for many Vita fanatics was the high point of the system's life. I can't say that Freedom Wars: Remastered is worth playing for those who never had the chance to play the original, but it would be nice if this wasn't the last we see of the world inside the Panopticon.
With Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana, Falcom had a chance to deliver the definitive version of a classic, but the end result is just a good portable version of a fantastic game. Newcomers to the game or those who have only played modern Ys games should absolutely get Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana, but I can't help but feel disappointed with what could've been. I'll still be replaying Ys: The Oath in Felghana through this new release on PS5 and Switch, but hopefully Falcom handles a potential future Memoire release better.
Fantasian is a wonderful JRPG, and now it's even better and accessible to all platforms.
Dragon Quest III returns with it's first new remake in years, recapturing the spirit of what made the original so special.
Slay the Princess was a brilliant experience last year on PC, and one I considered on par in many ways with Disco Elysium narratively. With Slay the Princess — The Pristine Cut, Black Tabby Games and Serenity Forge have improved upon, added to, and enhanced the core experience enough to have among my favorite games of the year, and one I recommend to anyone interested in unique visual novels and horror games.
Mario & Luigi Brothership is the biggest and boldest the series has ever been, with some novel battle mechanics and colorful presentation. However, an overstuffed runtime and exhausting pacing severely dilute the experience in both narrative and gameplay. Had Brothership been a snappier, more compact entry, it could have been one of the best in the series, but as it is, we're left with an enjoyable game that overstays its welcome once again.
Astlibra's DLC is an excellent addition to the fantastic title, however, it's hard to recommend as a standalone title for players who have never played the original.
Yakuza Kiwami on Switch offers a competent handheld experience despite visual cutbacks, and the addition of licensed music in the West is welcome.
But though it's ultimately held back its shortcomings, the other highs of Dragon Age: The Veilguard - its characters, its storytelling, and its sense of personality - make the game easy to like despite the flaws. The issues may be harder to look past for some, but others will find joy in the things it does do well.
The unique approach to genre staples may not be for everyone, but for anyone looking to check out one of Square's legacy franchises, I’d recommend Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven in a heartbeat, or at the very least check out the free demo that’s out and see for your self. Regardless, it’s great to see new life being breathed into the franchise, and I hope Romancing SaGa 3 receives a similar remake treatment one day as well.
While individually Card-en-Ciel's decks offer a fun and engaging time as you learn to play around them, if anything Grand Battle dungeons seem emblematic of the game's own worst flaws. Inti-Creates had a great idea for a gameplay system, and it's charming to see them use their own IPs as fodder for the cards to populate these systems - but at the end of the day, it feels like they simply didn't know how to design a full game around the system they'd envisioned. Card-en-Ciel isn't a bad game by any means, but you can very much feel the limits of what the team could deliver; maybe the gameplay will be enough to make it worth your while, but it's hard to give a strong recommendation when so much of the experience feels disjointed and threadbare.
I come away from Ys X: Nordics more than satisfied with its renewed battle mechanics, but unfulfilled with most of the rest of the game that surrounds it. Ship navigation and island exploration never manage to become compelling, and the narrative largely falls flat. If you come to the Ys series primarily for entertaining combat, you'll have a blast - I just wish it was a little less lopsided.