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The Force is strong with Nightdive. They took an old, but iconic Star Wars shooter, adapted it to their magnificent engine, remade its assets, tinkered with the presentation and gameplay, and delivered the ultimate Dark Forces experience. A game once touted to be borderline forgotten is now available on modern platforms in way that makes its original build feel like crap in comparison.
Ufouria: The Saga 2 retains the feel of a quirky Japanese hidden gem from a few decades ago. It feels like something that should have been released for the PS1 back in, say, 1997, exclusively in Japan, only for it to become a cult hit and a must-have import for retro fans. Its retro-esque simplicity doesn’t mean it is clunky or dated. Its controls are basic, but are responsive. It is replayable, all due to some slight roguelike elements. And it’s one hell of a treat for your eyes and ears.
Devil Inside Us is actually quite a decent time, despite my pretty low initial expectations. As much of a coward as I am with horror games like this, I had my occasional fun (and massive jump scares) with it, when it decided to work, of course. As previously mentioned, it was a somewhat glitchy experience at times. Still, it wasn’t half bad, and somewhat worth checking out if you need some frights, or anything remotely close to an exorcism-like game in your life.
I honestly could not recommend this more. It’s faithful to the original and has a ton of quality of life improvements that make it so much more fun to play
I had a great time with Penny’s Big Breakaway, despite some glaring gameplay issues. It features a confusing control scheme, and the lack of camera control is something I don’t exactly miss from the late 90s. Still, it managed to win me over with its infectious charm, innovative ideas (even if some of them didn’t exactly pay off), and exciting set pieces. It’s hard not to smile while playing it, it’s just that upbeat, it’s just that fun.
Geometry Survivor is a rather simple title that could go one of two ways. Either it stays the way it is and just fades into obscurity, or it continues to build and becomes something great. The potential is there: the groundwork has been laid and the concept is solid. But there needs to be more in terms of every direction, from more areas to more weapons and more excitement. Make some fake achievements, create a daily scoreboard, add a massive time speedup, just do SOMETHING so this isn’t as small and shallow as a cloudburst puddle.
I would highly recommend checking out Flooded if you’ve wanted to give RTS games a chance, but find the whole thing overwhelming when you need to build cities or bases, build armies, defend yourself, attack others, and more at the same time. It’s a bit more of a relaxing pace, but can also get quite stressful as you get further and further through time.
Despite featuring some interesting ideas, Wrath: Aeon of Ruin suffers from an uneven pace, excessively dark (and repetitive) visuals, and some poor level design. The excessive emphasis on storytelling was also a bummer, as this is not particularly what a retro shooter enthusiast is looking for in a game. Whilst blowing demons up with a loud shotgun was indeed fun, there are countless other shooters which allow you to do the same thing, but on a more polished foundation.
I am not going to complain about yet another collection of entertaining and thought-provoking puzzles which fit perfectly on a portable like the Switch, but I am not sure if this was the best way to celebrate the franchise’s history. Are there that many people who love Picross and farming simulators? Whatever the case, Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons might not be as robust or polished as the titles in the Picross S series, but it’s still a very entertaining collection of brain teasers.
Dicefolk stands out in an otherwise stale and saturated genre by having one of the most addictive combat systems I’ve seen in a long time. Shockingly enough, that was what I liked the most about it, and not the monster collecting elements. Those were there, and worked wonders, but were quite minute at the end of the day.
Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island certainly succeeds at providing just enough clues of what’s possibly at the other end of the wall to make the arduous journey to climb it one that you’d want to partake in. It’s the sort of game where your investment won’t necessarily equal a tangible result no matter how much to kick and scream at it. Instead, it’s something that feeds our curiosity, and in that, there’s something to be said about having this be your entryway into this, one of gaming’s obscure and at the same time most influential of series.
Skull and Bones isn’t the absolute shipwreck that many expected it to be. However, after such a long period of time waiting for this come out, never truly knowing whether or not Ubisoft had actually cancelled it, it’s hard not to be disappointed with this corporate and generic end result. This is a shallow, empty, lifeless experience, where its admittedly solid core gameplay cannot carry the rest of its disappointing elements on its own. There is still some fun to be had, sure, but this isn’t worth the current pricetag, especially with other, much better pirate-themed games available in basically every modern system you can imagine.
Food Truck Simulator is incredibly, unbelievably janky. It doesn’t feel good to play with a controller, and I can’t speak on how it might feel to play with a mouse and keyboard since I played on Xbox (yes, yes, PC master race). Though, looking at the reviews of it on Steam, I don’t think I was missing out on a much better experience.
While I can’t recommend stopping and starting this game, it’s best to approach it as you would any NES game. Get fully immersed in the darkness and the frustration and just enjoy that momentum that comes from singularly reliving a time where gaming was simpler. Just rock out to the violence and know that not every game has to be a sixty hour long campaign. For just a handful of hours, be Vengeance, and then go back to your spreadsheets. It’s worth it.
Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore could have just been a solid joke title with everyone in on the punchline and then the developers would have laughed all the way to the bank. Instead, we have a banger of a title that is both artistically wonderful and plays like Shantae meets Rygar. It’s not just buffaloing ahead to watch the cutscenes: it’s getting better and finding satisfaction in exploration, response and style.
I am not exaggerating when I state that Balatro is a masterpiece of a game, a bonafide achievement in gameplay design. A single developer was able to take the core principles of poker, add in a ton of roguelike elements on top a brand new gameplay loop, and come up with something so addictive it will possibly ruin your productivity at work. This damn thing is basically a virtual drug. It’s so simple, so inviting, and downright impossible to put down.
If, like me, you have a curiosity and fondness for games from back in the day, then Cosmic Fantasy Collection is something that merits a bit more investigation, but I sadly can’t recommend it strongly. Besides the manual and the sound/movie viewers, the QOL improvements that other straight JRPG ports have received are nonexistent, and, without the ability to speed up encounters or exploration, the time takes its toll on your patience. Physical collectors would do well to grab their copies quickly, and, should the second Cosmic Fantasy Collection come calling, it definitely has my interest: it can only get better from here.
Qomp2 is a fun challenge while it lasts. It’s a game all about a tough, borderline unfair, but ultimately rewarding gameplay loop. You will shout at it, you will want to break your controller in half, but you won’t want to give up that easily. I don’t exactly feel like the game captivated me enough to want to replay its levels and collect its (very few) secret items, nor do I feel like it’s worthy of a second playthrough for the sake of it, but it’s not a bad time while it lasts.
Phantom Abyss is an interesting temple runner game that provides fast paced platformer gameplay and an ever escalating level of traps as you move from biome to biome. Despite having interesting ideas that should have spoken to me and my tastes, I didn’t find myself hooked into the game as much as I thought I would. Nothing about it, from its online systems to some of its later levels, did enough to make it worthwhile.
Even if nothing about Dementium: The Ward felt inherently broken (no crashes, no framerate drops, no game-breaking glitches), I just wasn’t having fun with this port of an old DS game with very unimpressive visual or content enhancements. This game was already mostly a novelty back in 2007, a proof of concept, a showcase of what that portable was capable of rendering. On the Switch, on a larger screen, with more horsepower, and in a library filled with other horror titles, Dementium has nothing that makes it stand out.