Digitally Downloaded
HomepageDigitally Downloaded's Reviews
Brigandine Abyss lost some of the series identity in exchange for its efforts to try and find a broader audience.
You’ve got to have a real love for the very deepest niches of JRPG fandom to enjoy Exstetra, but if that describes you, this is a treat. It’s such a product of its time that developers really don’t make these kinds of things any longer, and it has finally landed in English after 13 years. If you are the audience for it, don’t let yourself overlook Exstetra.
Personally, when I look at Serious Sam: Shatterverse as a piece of pure entertainment, the only thing that really let me down is that it just doesn’t have the frequency of true bedlam moments that I like in my Serious Sam titles.
Yes, there’s been the staples with Resident Evil, Street Fighter and Monster Hunter, but Dragon’s Dogma, Pragmata, Kunitsu-Gami and now Onimusha: Way of the Sword show that Capcom’s serious about finding new ideas, too. That they are all landing so well speaks to a developer/publisher riding one of the best waves it has in its entire history.
The narrative might be subservient to the mechanics, and not as thematically evocative as I might like, but excellent writing does combine with quality, well-executed mechanics to give us the equivalent of a pulp fantasy page-turner, and like the stories of dark pulp fantasy writer, Robert E. Howard, it’s really (really) difficult to put down.
Star Wars Zero Company really is great, and after a long absence from the forefront, it’s good to see the XCOM formula make a return. I don’t think it adds anything particularly valuable to the Star Wars franchise, and indeed seems to struggle to properly understand the qualities of Star Wars at times… but then again, Disney itself has been doing that to the films for years now, so it seems silly to be precious about purity when the property owners clearly no longer care about that. Ultimately, it is nice to have a blockbuster game that respects the player’s intelligence, and if nothing else, that is what Zero Company does.
But also, in acknowledging that the Switch 2 port of Elden Ring isn’t quite up to the standard of the game playing on the PlayStation 5, this review sounds more negative than it should. The differences are a rounding error, and what is important is that this masterpiece runs perfectly well on a very portable console.
There is a lot that can be done with Defender of the Crown, so while I’m very happy to have the original game playable on my Switch, practically speaking, this game is like buying a retro game, I can’t help but feel that this was a wasted opportunity, overall.
Whatever the reason, Re:Boot is the definitive edition of a true giant of the visual novel genre. As long as you can get along with the tweaked art direction, I doubt you’re going to have any complaints with Re:Boot.
Overall, the changes made to the four stories in this Blue Reflection collection don’t compromise the central thesis of the series (even with Sun and that pesky male character): These are truly, almost painfully ethereally beautiful magical girl JRPGs with a relentlessly wholesome message behind them.
DDNet is here to celebrate good art, and FFX and X-2 are both genuine masterpieces, and this is technically the best version of both games you can get.
Fans will find the story elements fun, and the narrative carries the same attitude as the previous Splatoon titles, but there’s still so little of substance there.
Blissfully microtransaction-free (it would have been very easy to make Culdcept very expensive), Culdcept Begins is everything a good digital board game should be.
I appreciate that the DNA of a free-to-play property is the Granblue name, obviously, but the console titles should be an opportunity to build the name into something meaningful. Not just continue to churn out endless content to keep people playing.
It’s just that we’re in the middle of a flood of high-quality JRPGs, from indie through to the big blockbusters, and Sword Art Online: Echoes of Aincrad does limit itself in a way that doesn’t do it any favours.
But there’s no shame in coming second to Pokémon, the biggest IP in the world, and this is arguably the best Digimon title we’ve ever seen.
However, while it might still be for a niche audience, this is very much an example of how to do a remake correctly. The developers have addressed the big issues in the original Gothic, while maintaining and building on everything that made it such a cult icon.
Rhythm Heaven is fundamentally different to other rhythm games, and Rhythm Paradise Groove is no different. It might seem both whimsical and bonkers from the aesthetics and general energy of the game, and it is that, but it’s also an enormously clever project that subtly helps you develop very real rhythm skills.
Ultimately, the number of adventures feels a little thin, given that they’re not overly replayable, but they are substantive in scope for that first playthrough, and there’s more than enough in Battlemarked to justify its asking price.
Ultimately, Star Fox’s single player mode IS a remake of a 30-year-old game, and that means that it’s more limited and short than modern players tend to expect.