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It has been a real joy playing Aven Colony.
Nintendo has taken one of the few genuine highlights that it enjoyed with the Wii U and successfully brought it to the Switch and, one suspects, a new audience to do with the old.
I always wondered if I had a threshold when it comes to games about pretty anime girls. I guess this is it. I hope Bandai Namco wasn't using Cinderella Girls as a gauge for interest in Idolm@ster in the west.
Inverness Nights tells a unique, unpredictable and touching story which encourages audiences to foster an empathy for its main cast, and the result is an emotional payoff which cannot be understated.
Fallen Legion shows all the potential in the world to become a great IP. The core ideas are strong, and the attempt to tell an interesting, deep story is admirable. Unfortunately this one doesn't execute on its ideas as well as it should, and, critically, this lets down the game's themes, but it is on the cusp of being something special.
Levels+ is a completely forgettable game. It's got some gorgeous aesthetics, and functionally it's a refined, balanced, and perfectly competent Threes clone, but there is no longevity to the game whatsoever, and the lack of an online leaderboard for a game like this is downright amateur.
Transport Giant takes itself seriously. It's enjoyable and rewarding, but as a serious simulation, rather than something fun to unwind with on the weekend after a long week's work. It's not a game for everyone by any means because of that, but it is the kind of game that will continue to reward you the more you put into it.
What this all amounts to is an expansion that doesn't push Final Fantasy XIV in bold new directions because, quite frankly, it doesn't need to. Stormblood takes everything that makes the game good and doubles down on it, expanding the world of Hydaelyn and filling it with more to see, do, and experience. Minor issues with its story and storytelling notwithstanding, this is everything I could want from a Final Fantasy XIV expansion.
Yonder is a game that matches is aesthetics, design, and vision in a way that very few games could even hope to achieve; even those games that end up with astronomical Metacritic scores and GOTY awards from every corner. It's a beautiful, clearly heartfelt masterpiece, and if more games were to follow this one's lead, I would have a great deal more faith in the emergence of video games as an art form.
Do this game again, but shift the focus so that everyone can enjoy it without relying on others being online, and then we'll talk.
Get Even may not be the best looking game on the market but with a story as well written as it has and with an atmospheric sound design it is hard to remember that you're playing an indie game.
Finnish studio Housemarque have produced in Nex Machina another game to sit alongside its well-received titles of Alienation and Resogun, and that showcases the serious pedigree it has built since their start in the early nineties with Stardust. It is a rush of colour that delivers a satisfying experience that'll steal your calm and let you imagine a future where the robots don't wipe us all out.
Flip Wars' problem is that it has no depth whatsoever. That silly, simple, chaotic, and utterly pointless button masher that you had a quick laugh at when you play it for the first time really is all that's on offer.
In general, I like what The Golf Club 2 has to offer. It is a really solid representation of the sport both in terms of mechanics and the overall aesthetics.
While it's not to the standard of its rhythm games, Rayark did well with its first RPG. Implosion looks gorgeous and is a very slick production.
Shephy is mechanically sound and intrinsically fun, but it's also a harrowing experience if you think about it hard enough.
There's room for Ever Oasis to further refine its basic formula, but its vision is a refreshing one that indulges the strengths of the video game medium.
Final Fantasy XII's willingness to be different and innovative has left it feeling every bit as modern and poignant now as any new JRPG on the market, and it remains my favourite game within a series that I hold very precious to me.
Damascus Gear is fun. It's clean, well-playing fun. It could have been an awful lot more, and it's a little frustrating that the game didn't make better use of the opportunities that the setting provided it. It's also not a game that you'll remember a year down the track, let alone feel nostalgic for in a decade. But it's, again, good clean fun, and if you've got a weekend to kill, this one will do it.
Chess Ultra is as good as I can conceive Chess actually getting.