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SaGa Frontier 2 Remastered lets the best parts of the original game shine, while sanding out some of the rough edges that can detract from the player experience. The story shines as one of the best ones in the franchise, and the addition of new types of combat keeps things feeling pretty fresh. This is a full featured remaster, and I hope we continue to see the SaGa series get this kind of love and care from Square Enix; it deserves it.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 not only deftly improves upon the idea of active turn-based combat, but delivers it in a gorgeous and realized world. The characters are incredible, it dodges some of the more grating aspects of turn-based RPGs, and delivers a mature, and at times haunting, story, without falling into the traps of too much violence for the sake of maturity. A big narrative turn flattens the experience, and a few too many rough edges keep it from masterpiece status, but it is still an incredible experience.
The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy is an excellent mix of tactical RPG action and visual novel goodness from two of gaming’s most fascinating minds. From the extreme amount of content to the fascinating story, this is an impressive offering all around. If you want a truly unique story along with some flashy tactical combat, you can’t go wrong with this one.
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is a blast to play thanks to its intriguing mechanics and strong presentation. The singleplayer offerings can be a bit repetitive, but fighting feels great and provides plenty of depth to take advantage of. If you’ve ever wanted to break into Fatal Fury, this is a fantastic choice to start with.
Overall, I really enjoyed my experience with Repose and felt challenged by the enemy encounters. Especially since a lot of the time, you had to be quick with the inputs to kill the enemy, otherwise they’d kill you first. Then you’d have to make your way back to the area and hope that you beat them to it the next time. The story was curious and had my interest piqued. Despite that, I didn’t see it as a game that I would play long-term. It is unique and has a lot of charm, but it doesn’t have enough to bring me back for more than a few hours.
A puzzle platformer that takes clear inspiration from the classics and mixes that with crisp, modern animation, Bionic Bay is a brilliant platformer and well worth your time. Small issues like a poor story and sometimes obtuse puzzles cannot detract from the game’s fun.
In the deep well of narrative-driven adventure games, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is a beacon of shining light that can never be snuffed out. Thank you for this.
Lunar Remastered Collection is the best way to play Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete and Lunar: Eternal Blue Complete. The updated translations, widescreen support, new dubs, and quality-of-life improvements make this somewhat impenetrable game series a very good option for people looking to experience older RPGs.
Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition is a brilliant upgrade to what was already one of the best games on the Wii U. Minor snags have been fixed all over the place, making for a smoother and more accessible RPG, though fans of the original may be mixed on the narrative additions. I hope to see Elma and the gang return someday in the future, as this Definitive Edition is a reminder of how strong their world is.
Grit and Valor 1949 offers surprising depth, replayability, and content across multiple campaigns with clever systems like crafting and research. While it leans casual and gets a bit repetitive, the combination of giant mechs, Nazi-smashing action, and strategy-lite mechanics makes for a solid and satisfying experience, especially on portable platforms like Steam Deck.
Bleach: Rebirth of Souls succeeds as an anime fighter with a good deal of depth to it. The story mode and mission offerings are a bit bland, but the clear love for the series and multiplayer aspects stand out as impressive. If you’re a big Bleach fan, this is a solid title for some fun times with friends.
I enjoyed my time with Rosewater and its characters, although the narrative lacked the strong drive that would have really made it click. The presentation is great, the puzzles are challenging, and the multiple solutions add noteworthy replay value, but I didn't find myself as invested in the story as I had hoped I would be after playing Lamplight City.
The First Berserker: Kahzan features a fun combat system, an interesting world, and an enjoyable revenge tale, but tedious and overly long boss fights make what should be the most exciting part of the game too frustrating to enjoy. It's unfortunate, as the rest of the experience is a ton of fun, but when the main selling point of the genre is the weakest part of the game, it weighs down the entire experience.
Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land ultimately suffers from being too simple. While it does avoid making engaging with any of its systems frustrating, this creates a complete lack of depth, resulting in most aspects of the game feeling identical whether you are doing them in hour 1 or hour 50. It has tons to do, and if you want something simple and mindless, it does work in that mold, but I can't imagine wanting to play for more than a few hours, since you have seen everything it has to offer.
While not perfect, Assassin’s Creed Shadows is a great ninja simulator and an okay open world game.
Merchants of Rosewall is an ambitious but unfocused game that spreads itself too thin. While the idea of blending a cozy shop sim with a deep mystery is appealing, neither aspect is fleshed out enough to stand on its own. The result is a game that feels more tedious than rewarding, making it hard to recommend outside of players willing to tolerate its rough edges.
Sorry We’re Closed is one of the best games I’ve played this year. Contextually, it struck me with its storytelling wrapped-up in a tight survival horror package and delivered in short form. Ported to consoles, it runs flawlessly with no issues and an expanded option set and new modes, making Sorry We’re Closed on consoles an excellent option for play.
With the new audio, battle effects, battle speed, auto-save, and new translations Suikoden I & II HD Remaster is the definitive way to experience the first two Suikoden games. My only hope is that the rest of the games in the series receive this treatment.
Knights in Tight Spaces feels like a clash of ideas more than a marriage. The more set in stone campaign style runs at odds with the repetition of a roguelite, resulting in the repetition of the core loop becoming trite faster than you would want. The economy of individual runs feels punishing, even on the normal difficulty, and the need to not only deal damage but avoid it too makes having multiple characters on the board slow down the pace of fights, which aren't quick to start. The strategy involved in getting through each fight is deep and rewarding to engage with, but so many aspects of Knights in Tight Spaces feel designed to prevent you from engaging with that strategy on a deeper level.
Never 7 is often overshadowed by the praise heaped upon its successor, Ever 17, and is considered to be the lesser of the two. It's not amazing or earth-shattering, it's simply... fine. Nevertheless, it offers a charming visual novel experience and deserves time to shine. It might be a fairly straightforward romance visual novel despite its time loop premise, but it's a fine story in its own right.