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Rune Dice is a great idea with good execution. Combining dice like you're playing a game of billiards or hockey is excellent, allowing risky trick shots that offer substantial reward if you can make it. But the game doesn't go far enough, with each run ending in half an hour and limiting how much you can experiment with builds. There's the potential in here for an excellent game, but what we have is simply a good one.
The Remake of the End of the Greatest RPG of All Time is a fabulous addition to the meta-game genre. I went in as a fan of old-school 16-bit JRPGs expecting a hit of nostalgia, but came away thoroughly impressed by the inception-like degree of layers within layers I unravelled in completing the game. It goes beyond the titular game to explore what makes developers tick, and challenging you to think outside the box for its puzzle, and if the sound of that appeals, then you should definitely give The Remake of the End of the Greatest RPG of All Time a go. This is destined to be a classic and perhaps one day someone will remake it too…
Ghost Master Resurrection is a pretty good remaster of a classic, underappreciated game. It makes it looks a bit more modern, improves the controls, and even adds new content and upgrades. Maybe we are finally due for a breakout new genre about mastering ghosts? That'd be nice.
Darker Pokémon-likes are always enticing and I really wanted to enjoy Monster Crown: Sin Eater. The game's lack of direction, poor difficulty curve and bland monsters mean I didn't find this game as engaging as I'd like. The nail in the coffin, really, is that after a couple of hours of steamrolling this game, I found myself yearning for Cassette Beasts instead
Outbound is a gently paced, cosy camper game encouraging creative home building and exploration in beautifully varied biomes. With developer, Square Glade Games, highlighting a roadmap of upgrades and add-ons to come in the next few months, there's plenty of reasons to jump in your camper and join in the fun.
Luna Abyss struggles with crafting consistently rewarding gameplay moments, but even the dullest of shooting sections is worth getting through in order to inch further into the wonderfully weird world and unforgettable story of this game.
There are plenty of moments that charm and delight through Yoshi and the Mysterious Book. It's not always the most obvious game to play, emphasising experimentation over platforming fundamentals, but the collection of weird and wonderful new creatures it contains invite exploration in a way that should delight inquisitive young minds.
Kumitantei: Old School Slaughter has the potential to be a great murder-mystery horror title, and it has a lot of the key ingredients for that. It just needs to be a little more consistent in its leaps in logic and dial back on – or resolve – the other gameplay and aural annoyances. This is worth checking out for Danganronpa fans in particular, and I look forward to seeing if and how later episodes can improve on this entry's weaker points.
Duck Side of the Moon is a great addition to the cozy game genre and one that adds more interaction than many other titles. It often feels like a fusion of modern cozy game and classic collectathons which makes for a fantastic feel-good time and one that I really enjoyed.
Motorslice is a game that needs a few patches to sort out some of the clunkier elements of its traversal, like the parkour and jumps not landing as they should. There is some awkwardness with dialogue choices but they can be ignored as they have no bearing on the story. The world itself is well designed but it needs more substance when it comes to enemies too.
Quartet is a superb JRPG that takes the best of its influences and adds a welcome suite of quality-of-life improvements, from a built-in turbo mode to the removal of random battles. The story builds up well, the characters are engaging, and the regular drip of weapons and abilities keeps things interesting throughout. Quartet is an easy recommendation for JRPG fans in general and would also make for a good introduction to the genre for newcomers.
Forza Horizon 6 is another excellent entry in an excellent series, from an excellent developer. Part of me wants more than that, but I've no idea how that would work.
Vultures: Scavengers of Death masterfully brings together the survival horror and turn-based action genres, losing none of the foreboding feeling while dialling up the tension significantly. A handful of bugs do little to detract from the experience, so Vultures remains a triumph. A bloodied, tense, and foreboding one, but a triumph nonetheless.
Call of the Elder Gods is a very good puzzle adventure game that continues the narrative of the first game and adds some interesting new characters to the mix. At its best it contains some of the most engaging and enjoyable puzzles you'll find, though there are some dips in quality that drag things down a bit. I would recommend the first game over this for newcomers, but if you've already enjoyed that title then you'll get a lot out of this too, just don't expect it to be quite as polished.
I found Clockwork Ambrosia to be fun, but not as fun as I was hoping. The weapons do get absurd, but it takes too long to get there, a lot of the exploration can end up feeling unrewarding, especially as most weapons feel like there's one or two best builds for them, and swapping between weapons feels too sluggish, minimising the overall customisation I was hoping for. I like it, but I don't think it's going to stick with me.
Underling Uprising is an exuberant old-school beat 'em up throwback that absolutely nails the Saturday-morning-cartoon vibe, delivering a gloriously daft roster of player characters to boot. With a few friends sat on the same sofa, it's the kind of loud, colourful, coin-op-like chaos that I have loved ever since playing Captain Commando in my local arcade. It's just a shame that the input lag and framerate issues undermine much of what Dummy Dojo have achieved elsewhere. Still, provided there's some solid post-launch polish, this has all the potential to be a cracking co-op party brawler.
Directive 8020 is by far the best Dark Pictures game, embracing more stealth gameplay, making the branching story feel seamless, and setting a new bar for the genre.
Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes does a great job of wrapping the 2004 TV series aesthetic around a tense and fraught roguelite battle for survival.
Dark Pals: The 1st Floor is a hugely enjoyable dose of mascot horror that takes the conventions and mixes them up to offer up a well paced and action-packed hour and a half of gameplay. Forget your Gartens and your Poppy Playtimes, Dark Pals promises to be the future of this subgenre and I'm all in.
Mixtape is incredible. An indie narrative adventure that's part game, part movie, part album, it captures the end of teenage life, of friendship and family, all while looking to the possibilities and unknowable potential of the future. It is, in a word, essential.