RPGamer's Reviews
This is not a title that will reach everyone, but for those it clicks with, it is an instant guilty pleasure that will keep them coming back time after time for just one more campaign.
While Voidling Bound does have shortcomings, they’re overshadowed by what’s great about the game. The gameplay is fast-paced and exciting, with a wide variety of creatures and abilities to choose from, keeping things fresh through both the main campaign and the endgame. Voidling Bound is a delightful and inventive twist on the creature collector, and one worth checking out.
Its successful visual refresh helps make this the best version of the game, even if its narrative adjustments are on the subtle end. There’s no denying that Steins;Gate remains just as superb as it was originally, and Steins;Gate Re:Boot is a strong reminder of just how good its narrative, centered on time-travel and cause-and-effect, is.
Feed the Scorchpot is a decent strategy board game roguelike that can gobble up inordinate amounts of time if one isn’t careful. As an adherent to the roguelike philosophy of design, however deviant, it somehow makes the player happy to serve up one failed game-state after another in search of that perfect twenty-course feast.
Metaphor Games’ Celestial Return wonderfully nails the tension-filled angst with a twinge of hope in its world-building and presentation. However, this doesn’t coalesce with the plot or gameplay, creating some dissonance in the dice-powered narrative RPG.
If I am being completely honest, I wish Palm Sugar: A Village Story was less of an RPG and more of a visual novel. The gameplay elements spend more time harming the overall experience, taking away from what makes the story so captivating and strong. There is a great story and world within Palm Sugar, but given its many issues, it’s hard to recommend, even if it’s mercifully short.
Ledgerbound decides early on what it is setting out to do and as a result it does it very well. In the end, it offers plenty of entertaining moments, aided by a fun set of characters and the excellent performances of its cast, wrapping them up alongside strong and satisfying tactical gameplay to keep players fully engaged.
Doloc Town is another strong energy in a sub-genre that is currently in rude health, with its side-on view and pixel art style helping the game to stand out. While the gameplay systems may not ultimately deviate greatly from established formula, it nonetheless provides a charming experience with enough depth and farm customisation options to keep players engaged for a significant amount of time.
Granblue Fantasy: Relink – Endless Ragnarok is an entertaining twenty-five to forty-hour expansion that stretches the complete package out to over a hundred hours. The new bosses are worth the trek to get there, but the repeated fights needed make taking breaks preferable to a marathon.
There is a lot to like about Montabi, as it does a great job of pulling the player in and hooking them into the game’s very addictive game loop. It’s just a shame that this creature-collector roguelite has such a bare-bones story and performance issues on the Nintendo Switch that prevent it from true greatness.
Its combination of atmosphere and discovery, even at the expense of a little jank, ultimately gives Beast of Reincarnation a distinct experience that more polished games lack. There is plenty of room for refinement, but Game Freak has nevertheless delivered a solid action RPG.
Kingdom of Night [is] a game that manages to feel both intriguing and grindy in turns, with a sweeping scope and ambitious storytelling that are undercut by copy-and-paste combat and vague sign-posting.
As an avid fan of the written word, it was an enjoyable experience for me, but it does require a different mindset from the usual JRPG grind.
Battles are fun to blast through, and power-leveling a character before cranking up the difficulty can be a blast. Like the main series, it’s not something that everyone will enjoy, but fans of Disgaea will find it an enjoyable spin-off that stays true to the series’ fundamentals. It may not ultimately be as delicious as the dessert it revolves around, but it is a tasty experience while it lasts.
Culdcept Begins is a competent, if slightly dated, strategy experience; it serves as a functional return for the franchise, though one that occasionally relies too heavily on the simplicity of its past.
While it looks and sounds just about identical to its predecessor, it takes a few steps away from the standard turn-based combat system, instead presenting players with a deck-building card battler of sorts. Some will undoubtedly prefer the first game in the series, but the difficulty curve is gentle enough and there’s enough overlap between the games to make it absolutely worthwhile to still give this one a go.
Its yokai-themed setting, alongside its heartwarming and welcoming nature, goes a long way to giving it its own character, even if much of the gameplay fundamentals do little to stand out from the rest of the genre.
It may be severely lacking in replayability, and its roguelike nature means with the right luck some runs will simply become trivial, but it still serves up a very fun and stylish package for sports and RPG fans alike.
On one hand, the game has some exceptional presentational qualities, a heartwarming narrative, and interesting combat ideas within the tactical genre. On the other hand, the narrative is a bit unfocused at times and a finicky UI along with some questionable design choices turn what could have been a fun system into a chore.
For players who are fascinated by the human condition or poignant stories, Schrödinger’s Call is an easy recommendation. Acrobatic Chirimenjako has made all the right calls in this compelling debut, and players are sure to hold the line for future games.