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Märchen Forest will be chalked up as something "weird" or "zany," I'm sure. It's not really. It's what would happen if you got Salvador Dali and Lewis Carroll together with the Atelier and Shiren the Wanderer developers, and while that sounds like a mix too eclectic to work, it does in a way that can only be described as "surprising" and "delightful." Märchen Forest is better in concept than execution, but that concept is so strong and original you're doing yourself a disservice if you don't grit your teeth through the more laboured gameplay bits.
But for myself, who liked every aspect of Olija, the whole package is a flawed but thoroughly impressive ride. There is a lot to enjoy here, in a game which lets the player feel alienated and disempowered one moment, and then agile and dangerous the next. It wins even more points for the way that it perfects the cinematic platformer formula which has a lot of nostalgia value, but not a lot of modern interpretations. I love that Olija arrives as a palette cleanser to the Metroidvanias and the rogue-lites of the side-scroller scene, and I wish all the success for it.
My gut reaction to Re:Zero is that the entire property would probably have been better served with a game that could have introduced new fans to the series. I don’t necessarily have a lot of time for anime and, while I think RE:Zero has some lovely character art, I would have rathered just been able to play the game without having to work through an isekai anime go with it. That being said, as I started to puzzle the characters out I found them endearing, the writing solid, and that combat system to be distinctive, creative, and a lot of fun. If you are a fan of Re:Zero I think you’re going to get a kick out of just how careful the developers have been to do the anime justice. There are a lot in the industry that could learn something from this approach.
Gust's experiment with giving a beloved character a direct sequel has paid off. Anyone who enjoyed the first Atelier Ryza - and many place it right at the top of their series favourites for a reason - will love the subtle improvements that Gust has brought on board, without messing with the qualities that made the original so enjoyable. It has also been nice to play an Atelier that isn't also a coming of age story, and while Ryza isn't my favourite character in the series, the two-game arc that Gust has given her has given us one of the finest female heroes across all JRPGs. Atelier is really pushing into the upper echelons of JRPGs now, and I'm quite confident that the next game in the series will continue to build on the brilliant achievement of Ryza and its sequel (can we go back to more traditional Atelier protagonists with the next one though, please, Gust?).
Her Love in the Force is fine. If you're comfortable with the themes, then there's a lot of raw content to work through, and if you do find the boys appealing then you'll get to spend a lot of time with them. On the other hand, there's nothing inspiring about what Her Love in the Force offers, it's not a particularly attractive game on the eye, and the narrative really struggles to make these men interesting enough to want to romance. You know an otome game is in trouble when you don't have a favourite boy, and perhaps Her Love in the Force should have been left back in 2014.
The problem is that for all of Neoverse's merits - it's a good looking game, with good, balanced mechanics and excellent replay value - it's also ultimately unsatisfying to play. The narrative context is only ever a tease, and without a reason to get into all those fights and collect all those cards, Neoverse ultimately feels hollow. I'll keep Neoverse around for five-minute time-filler play sessions here and there, but I'm ultimately disappointed with this game. It could have easily been so much more than this.
There's nothing meaningful nor memorable about Dungeon Nightmares, and the Nintendo Switch is not poorly served for the horror genre. The specific niche for Dungeon Nightmares starts and stops at people that want stupid jump scares and literally nothing else in their horror.
I do feel bad for having all these criticisms of Curling. The sense I get from it is that the developer genuinely wanted to give players a decent simulation of the sport, and focused all their efforts and limited resources on the on-ice action. They actually delivered something that's genuinely enjoyable and accurate to the sport. Unfortunately, there's the complete lack of anything supporting the on-ice action has left this feeling more like a tech demo than a completed game. But who knows? Perhaps this will actually sell enough that a Curling 2 can deliver a more rounded product.
Bringing together so many mechanical elements to the scope and vision of Rhythm Fighter required a much more visionary developer than the one that produced the game. That’s not to say it isn’t entertaining, and there is a lot to enjoy with the game, however, it is also true that the overall experience is messy and the team lost control over what they were trying to achieve, making for something far too clumsy and clunky for the kind of precision that it needed.
I really don't know what the developer was trying to achieve with Red Colony, and I suspect the lack of cohesion is a result of him making it up on the fly after deciding to "do a Resident Evil homage". The Resident Evil homage, which is by far the most solid and cohesive part of the game, works. It's not perfect, but it's conceptually sound and executed with an understanding of the material it draws inspiration from. The rest of the game, however, is a confused mess. Whatever point Red Colony is trying to make about communism, guns, sex, violence and horror the creator was just unable to translate what was in his head into something that we mere mortals can comprehend.
Fantasy Tavern Sextet's biggest problem is that for a sex-fuelled comedy, it's not nearly outrageous or wild enough. The "embarrassing" situations are pedestrian and easy to anticipate, and the wordplay is hampered by that localisation. That localisation means that even if the game had all its sex scenes in there, it would still be hanging around the lower rungs of the visual novel genre on Nintendo Switch. There are just so many other ones to go with instead.
Fatal Fury: First Contact is still a joy to play and - I really can't say this enough - it remains impressive that the developers were able to create such pristine fighting games on such modest hardware. With that being said, the five games Neo Geo Pocket Color games that have now been released really should have been compiled together into one collection, and I would really like to see some of the other, non-fighting games that appeared on the console given the same emulation and restoration process now. I don't begrudge SNK going to the effort with the five fighting game classics that it has, but enough's enough with this genre. It's time for something different, please.
Blacksmith of the Sand Kingdom isn't going to turn heads or win awards, and it's not quite to the same standard of refinement as Rideon's tactics JRPGs tend to be. With that being said, it offers an enjoyable, pleasant and pleasing way of spending time in-between meatier fare, and the efficient and bubbly approach makes it very easy to pick up and play.
Ultimately, I’m probably expecting a bit much for a three-hour visual novel, based on a pen-and-paper tabletop game, to engage with a subject on a meaningful and nuanced level. The developers have succeeded in doing the Werewolf: The Apocalypse property justice, and the game’s presentation is distinct, interesting, and often brilliant. However, there are so many high quality visual novels that do have the thematic depth and quality, and are written in such a way that they don’t come across as condescending. Heck, there’s another werewolf story that does all of the above on the Nintendo Switch in Raging Loop, but does it better, so there's a direct alternative available. That being said, I’d love for this developer to get another shot at the Werewolf: The Apocalypse property, and for them to handle the writing with that little bit more maturity that would elevate it and make it something special.
Sense: A Cyberpunk Ghost Story succeeds as far as a "ghost story" is concerned. It offers up some good and creepy moments to go with some nicely classical point-and-click adventure elements. It struggles as cyberpunk though, failing to engage with the themes that make cyberpunk a distinctive, interesting genre, and proving unable to integrate those cyberpunk elements with the horror. I'm glad I played Sense, but there are too many inconsistencies for it to be something particularly memorable.
Abyss of the Sacrifice is close to being something special, but its little irritants around presentation, puzzle consistency and design, and localisation mean that you'll need to be pretty far down the visual novel rabbit hole to want to play this. It wasn't long ago that Root Double was debuted on the Nintendo Switch, for example, and that game too takes place in an underground facility that the characters are trapped in. It might lack the puzzles, but it is incredibly well written, and as we see with Abyss of the Sacrifice, sometimes a VN is better off without the puzzles anyway.
Choices That Matter's big problem is that it's so easy to overlook, as it doesn't screenshot easily. A black screen with a paragraph of text, unfortunately, is not going to excite a significant number of people (you'd wonder what such people think of books, but you just know that a lot of gamers aren't readers). For those that do spot it and give it a go, however, it really is a special kind of experience. From the opening paragraph the atmosphere, tone, and structure of And Their Souls Were Eaten makes it simply impossible to put it down.
I was genuinely excited to play Lily of the Hollow - Resurrection. It seems like such a beautiful little visual novel and while I wasn’t expecting a masterpiece of localisation based on its low price, I was expecting to be able to read it. But that just cannot be done. Developers from Japan, China, Taiwan, Indonesia, and every other emerging game development centre through Asia-Pacific, listen to me carefully: You can have the most beautiful aesthetics and a heartwarming concept for your game. If the localisation isn’t going to be good, though, do not bother with an English release, because it is going to get reviews like this one. Make “invest in proper translation” your big resolution for 2021. I do not want to play any other games like Lily in the Hollow - Resurrection ever again.
The Nintendo Switch has plenty of excellent board games already available on it. Wingspan is one of the best, if not the best of them. Admittedly the developers were fortunate in that they had the most beautiful, well-designed base material to work with, but rather than do a pedestrian copy/paste of the game to make for a boring digital release or, worse, somehow mess it up by trying to change the game in some way, the team has shown some real respect and appreciation for what makes Wingspan a special experience. Without changing the fundamental appeal of the game, the developers here have taken advantage of the video game medium to enhance the experience in all the right ways. Wingspan, on Nintendo Switch, is nothing short of perfect.
Nekopara is what it is. As a highly fanservicey, comedy-themed visual novel, it's hugely entertaining and delivers on all of its promises. The fan service is excellent thanks to the superb art, and the humour is there - it's silly, but you won't be able to help yourself but giggle along with it. If the pornographic scenes that are available on the PC version of the game are of interest to you, then the Switch port's going to feel like it's missing something. It's still more than fanservicey enough, however, and I actually think the narrative and thematic elements are strengthed in the restraint. Couple that with the portability of the Switch form factor, and I think this is the best way to go for Nekopara Vol. 4.