Noisy Pixel
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Wild Hearts has so much to offer. From the striking monster designs, distinct weapon variety, and engaging combat, hunters will have a new favorite game to join up with friends and take down enormous foes. Outside of some dips in pacing in the later hours and a few repetitive encounters, there is little holding this game back from becoming a new name in the genre.
Tales of Symphonia is a brilliant action JRPG that set a precedent for the genre. Even all these years later, its engrossing storytelling, vast array of side activities, character interaction, and layers of combative options all coalesce to make it a must-experience adventure. Yet, as a remaster, this specific release fails to hit the mark, ultimately providing a lackluster and disappointing resurgence that could have been so much more.
Wanted: Dead is a commendable effort from this team and a sign of much better things to come. It is unapologetic in what it wants to be, and so despite all of its quirks and faults, it offers a charming and memorable action game experience that is backed by a captivating presentation. Come for the brutally effective combat but stay for the utterly surreal game world filled with fun distractions and addictive carnage. With this debut title, 110 Industries takes us back to a time when a standout vibe made up for a lack of polish.
Theatrhythm Final Bar Line is a terrific rhythm experience that, even after over 30 hours in, I can’t get enough of. Its almost overwhelming number of playable songs, waves of unlockables, addictive progression, and endless methods of replayability coalesce to provide a game that all Final Fantasy fans, new or not, will fall in love with. Heck, even if you’ve never played Final Fantasy, Final Bar Line is worth picking up. It’s that good.
This puts Blanc in a precarious position. While length is not a determining factor for enjoyment, it can become a primary focus if there isn’t much else to offer. I went around the snowscape with a partner, searching for our families. Outside of the gorgeous aesthetics, both visually and sonically, no substantive content sparked any significant emotion. There weren’t a lot of facets done poorly, but they weren’t executed wonderfully either. And while there were some endearing and silly moments, I came out of the experience feeling like I went through an underwhelming roller coaster at a theme park.
The Crimson Flower that Divides: Lunar Coupling is an interesting otome game that I would praise for its more mature plot, but it shows signs of having aged considerably from its original 2012 release. The issue with story branches happening inside other routes made the experience confusing due to the lack of a flowchart. Further, when it came to specific love interests, the chapter names made navigating the routes a chore. A bit more quality assurance would have also gone a long way to remedy some of the typos.
Labyrinth of Galleria The Moon Society is an addictive dungeon-crawling RPG that fans of the genre will undoubtedly sink dozens upon dozens of hours into. Its involved yet approachable gameplay systems, meaningful sense of consequence, and cathartic breakthroughs of progress make it a joy to spend time learning. Even amidst some area design choices I perceived as stumbles, unnecessarily drawn-out tutorials, and bland environments, this was a journey I’m glad I stuck out to its end.
I had an excellent experience with The Symbiant, but my biggest gripe has got to be just how relatively short it is to go through it all. Nonetheless, I laughed a lot at the interactions with Brahve and Danya, perhaps even more than I should. The adult patch is not for the faint-hearted, but if you’re willing to be “brave” (pun intended), then maybe this short experience is just what you need.
Season: A Letter to the Future is a rush of emotions. You’ll feel happy, lonely, or even scared at any given time. It plays on the player’s curiosity and rewards those who take the time to explore. If you don’t have that time available, I’m afraid the experience will fall short. It’s a game that makes unremarkable situations remarkable through themes of memories and how we could lose everything in an instant.
All of this makes 8-Bit Adventures 2 shine as a quality game regardless if it doesn’t present any groundbreaking systems in the genre. This game is a love letter to retro adventures that we’re intimately familiar with by now. Rather than push it to be something that seeks to change the experience, it celebrates it. If you’re looking for something that seeks to innovate, you’re likely to find something better elsewhere. But if you want an entertaining, lighthearted, and endearing experience, this is the game for you.
ATONE: Heart of the Elder Tree is a title that has the definition of “jack-of-all-trades, master of none.” It does a lot of things, but it doesn’t stick the landing most of the time. The story is very short, and while the soundtracks are good, I wasn’t a huge fan of the rhythm portions, especially because of their severe disconnection to the main tale.
Through the lens of magical realism, A Space for the Unbound takes a whimsical yet mature look at what happens when a community is under unexplainable distress. It shows you the effect one small action or one person can have. Factor in a beautiful art style, excellent storytelling, and a gorgeous soundtrack, and there’s no denying the superb quality of the content.
If you’re new to roguelikes, Lone Ruin’s brevity and simplicity might make it worth a look; if the price is right for you, that is. Unfortunately, its issues with variety and a lackluster arsenal of spells, items, and upgrades hamper the experience. Nevertheless, it tried its best to strike that balance of elements, and I think it’s a commendable effort from a small dev team. To me, though, this doesn’t excel or evolve the roguelike formula in any unique or engaging way and, overall, comes across as a bit hollow and unremarkable.
Sailing Era is a beautiful game where the developers put a lot of thought into its presentation and historical enactment. Still, unfortunately, this title is constantly held back due to its frustrating gameplay loop, combined with a highly awkward machine translation. Unless you have a walkthrough on hand or have an immense amount of patience to fight your way through sheer trial and error, by the twelfth time you reset your save, you probably would’ve wanted to set aside time and play something else at that point.
Melatonin feels like a gorgeous love letter to long-time fans of the Rhythm Heaven series. Despite it being rather brief, the fact that every rhythm game has its own Hard Mode with a more challenging set, alongside the ability to create your own beatmaps, checks all of the boxes. If you’re looking to chill out and unwind from the sensory overload that some of its contemporaries have, Melatonin’s pastel colors beautifully represent relatable daily life and manage to form a great relaxing package that truly deserves noteworthy attention.
Lover Pretend is not a bad otome game, but it certainly isn’t without its faults. While the plot is full of cheesy moments, none of them were memorable. If you’re tired of overly serious stories this is a breath of fresh air with a more light-hearted romance. Unfortunately, it failed to subvert my expectations, even if I can’t “pretend” that they were perhaps too high to begin with.
Slow Damage is a game that I would absolutely not recommend for the faint of heart or if you’re not a fan of extreme violence and blood. Still, I can definitely see just how it shines as one of Nitro Plus’ best visual novels in the BL genre, even as someone who isn’t very familiar with it. The great translation combined with a story that packs a solid thematic punch and, quite frankly, a shockingly good soundtrack all made the wait totally worth it, even though I had my gripes with the typography and UI. I truly cannot truly describe the “feeling” I had when playing it, but if I had to pick two words for it, I would say it was “truly euphoric.”
Ace Angler: Fishing Spirits has a charming and cute appearance to it, and it can provide some decent time-killing, but it feels so much out of water outside its home country, honestly feeling more like a companion title for those who already were fans of the arcade game and wanted to try out the experience from the comfort of their home.
While Paradigm Paradox doesn’t stick the landing when it comes to setting up its premise, once you’ve gotten deep enough in its tale, you’ll start to appreciate and create a sense of fondness for each character. Even though the individual routes sometimes had some somewhat unfavorable endings, in my opinion, not to mention the countless editing mishaps, I enjoyed and even laughed at the interactions between the love interests. All of the different points of view were amusedly worded.
Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythm Festival is a great game, and I would argue that this is the best entry point for beginners to the Taiko games. Perhaps the only thing that prevents it from being a perfect title for everyone is the lack of a diverse minigame selection and the fact that you’re almost required to sign your soul in a subscription model to expand your playtime. Still, otherwise, it has a solid music selection with online support, making it a respectable and formidable package for both new and old fans of the series.