RPGamer's Reviews
Fans of the series will certainly be able to appreciate its take on the formula and how it connects to the wider series, and despite the game’s weaknesses, its story should be more than strong enough to get new fans into the franchise.
World of Horror is a compelling game that begs the player’s attention, providing an addictive experience that one cannot easily run away from.
Long Gone Days is ultimately a case of tempered expectations. The combat and visuals have little details that show a lot of care has gone into everything. The scope of the story is where the snag comes in, as too many hard-hitting moments get lost in the brisk pace that it attempts to juggle everything, making many of them fall flat in execution.
It is a game that tries to compete with the popular farming sims, but never quite does enough to stand on its own feet. While there are kernels of good ideas, they are marred by questionable design choices, with quests and goals that never feel satisfying.
The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails is a fun, breezy action RPG with an interesting story and great cast. Though combat can become repetitive and frustrating, it’s never enough to significantly detract from an addictive gameplay loop.
Although it never quite reaches the heights of the classic RPGs it takes inspiration from, Sea of Stars stands out as a superb, modern turn-based RPG due to its incredible polish and refinement.
Can I recommend OU? It is certainly an experience, even if it isn’t the sort of game I would seek out on my own. Still, it’s stuck in my head, and I must share.
CD Projekt RED has admirably stuck with the game past its launch troubles, offering patches and upgrades in the two years following as it looks to finally near towards its full potential. That work has reached full fruition through the arrival of both its vaunted Update 2.0 patch and full story expansion Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, which combine to give the game an excellent new lease on life.
I’m a little surprised to write these words, but I daresay that Lies of P is such a masterfully crafted hardcore gothic action RPG that it could even be said to outdo FromSoftware at its own game.
Anonymous;Code may not quite reach the same heights of Steins;Gate, but its exciting pacing and more intuitive path towards its ending makes for a highly engaging story. Despite some preposterousness, it readily captures players’ attention with its take on the near future, successfully blending wider ideas about the nature of the world and science with some traditional and modern conspiracy theories.
Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten is an attractive first entry for newcomers while being an opportunity for fans to get to know the origins of some characters of the series. Using a classic RPG formula, the game has everything it should need to satisfy genre fans, yet it lacks a voice of its own as it takes no real risks.
All the charm and the excellence of the original game shines through, with only a couple of decade-old gameplay elements sticking out. The game offers a great jumping on point for those not experienced with the series while staying quite accessible to those used to the gameplay of later entries. It is an easily recommended blend of life-sim and RPG that many RPGamers can find enjoyment with.
Unfortunately, while it brings some neat ideas to the ring, the execution places far too many roadblocks in the way. Repetitive combat, slow exploration and progress, and a pretty one-note cast fails to inspire the sort of hype that the game hoped to provide.
Like a fresh sip of caffe latte on a cool morning, it’s been a good pick-me-up for the rest of the season.
When push comes to shove, there’s just no way to ignore the terrible blow dealt to the game by its one-of-a-kind translation, evident in everything from the philosophical musings of the plot to how character arcs unfold. And if that alone wasn’t the deathblow, then the frustrating and plain unfun balance issues that made me beg for credits certainly did the trick.
While the localization offers many belly laughs, I wish more had been done to update the experience and bring in newcomers to this wonderfully zany series. As delightful a game as Rhapsody II is, there’s just not enough of an update to invite anyone new to join in the fun.
Remnant II is fortunately an improvement in nearly all respects, expanding on the the first game in interesting ways that push greater player agency and cooperative engagement while maintaining the same tight gun play. In that same breath, the problems from the first game are still present, though to varying degrees of annoyance.
To stretch an analogy worthy of the game, South Park: The Stick of Truth is much like its “magic” burritos. It is far tastier than it has any right to be, taking a solid, meaty system for combat, beans and cheese for field interactions, and then wrapping them up in the tortilla of South Park.
Fiction Factory Games adds another fun tale to its catalog of games, with every character’s story worth exploring. Fans of visual novels will find a lot to love and laugh about, as Penny Larceny steals hearts and your wallet.
This refresher course on the game that started a decades-long series may not be sitting at the top of the class, but it still earns high marks.