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The Monkey Island series are adored because of their humor and charm, and Return to Monkey Island is no different. It retains all the same wit, puns, and groan-worthy dad jokes as the rest of the games. In fact, Return to Monkey Island feels more in-line with the earlier titles, no doubt due to Gilbert’s involvement, as well as most of the original cast. The art style might be initially off-putting for some, but it really does grow on you after a while.
Potion Permit is brilliant, offering some incredible quality of life improvements to ease a player into the genre. It introduces several accommodations that I hope become the golden standard of slice-of-life romps.
Madden NFL ’23 is one of those years that if you skipped it, you wouldn’t really be missing anything. The additions to the Face of the Franchise mode aren’t significant enough to drop last year’s iteration and start again here, and that goes for any of the modes. The one big feature, FieldSENSE, didn’t live up to the hype, and even if it isn’t a setback, it didn’t improve upon the main things that annoy me.
I love that Easy Come Easy Golf exists for the Switch. Everything that was wrong with Mario Golf: Super Rush (and honestly, all Mario sports games released over the past decade or so) isn’t present in this adorable title that keeps thing simple, but also fresh. Its gimmicks are minute, only improving what’s still an easy and intuitive gameplay loop. It might be a bit grindy, but it’s also quite addictive. In short, this might actually be the best Mario Golf game in years, and it doesn’t even feature any Italian plumbers in its roster.
The developers behind the project had a specific niche of players they wanted to target, and delivered in spades. You need to like heavy metal, DOOM and rhythm games in order to enjoy this innovative, slightly flawed, but ultimately amazing experience. Brutal, fast-paced, mechanically sound, replayable, and most importantly, a blessing for metalheads’ ears. You will need some time in order to get used to its mechanics, which feel confusing at first, but once everything clicks, you will have the loudest and bloodiest of times with this hellfest of a shooter.
The premise seemed interesting, but it gets bogged down by exceedingly dull dialogue and horrendous pacing. The visuals are an eyesore and the sound design is atrocious. On top of that, the puzzles are of the worst variety, either being too easy, making no sense, or being somewhat broken. Add in the fact that this is basically the same game from 2008, just with the slightest of face lifts, and that makes its thirty dollar price tag almost criminal. I asked you to rock me, Amadeus, not bore me to tears.
This is not an easy recommendation, given how unbelievably challenging this game is, even on the easiest of difficulties. Radiant Silvergun is a gem of its time, but one that has managed to age gracefully. Few bullet hell shooters released in this day and age are able to stand next to it and its sequel, Ikaruga. Being able to take this absolute classic on a portable, with a handful of simple, but welcome quality of life improvements, is worth the entry fee if you’re a fan of bullet hell shooters.
The only thing that makes NBA 2K23 better than its predecessor, even if by just a little bit, is the inclusion of the excellent Jordan Challenge mode, a great love letter to the best player of all time. Does that make the game worth your time? Well, if you’re into basketball, you don’t exactly have a choice, but, at the very least, 2K23 isn’t worse than the games that preceded it. Small wins, y’all.
I was skeptical when I first picked it up, but now I’m positive: Justice Sucks is a surprising hit, and I’m glad for my time with it.
It’s a bit janky and it has some questionable design choices, but Steelrising is yet another pretty good effort from Spiders, solidifying the small French studio as one of the most interesting developers in the industry nowadays. Its absolutely unique premise, mixing the freaking French Revolution with robots and Dark Souls, is the main reason you’ll want to play it. Even though it has some progression and level design issues, as well as a bit of AA jank, it’s still well worth your time.
Into the Radius is of the most immersive VR experiences out there, but the hardware it is on doesn’t allow it to quite hit its full potential.
Tyrant’s Blessing is one of the most interesting tactical RPGs in recent times. Everything throughout the game is looking to make this genre more interesting than it’s been before. There are blemishes in the game for sure, a lack of map variety for starters, or the sheer repetition in the mission variety, but they don’t make it any less enjoyable.
Way of the Hunter is one of the best hunting simulators, not labelled as a simulator, that I have ever played. Once you move past (or just simply ignore) the story missions that can drag down the experience, you get to a hunting game that offers the right kind of ease and complexity. While there are some annoyances with movement, pop-ins, and strange perks, you have a beautiful game that offers co-op and two full maps with their own types of animals to hunt for. If you’re a hunting game fan, I recommend this one.
Idol Manager is a riveting hidden gem buried underneath piss poor performance. The way mechanics actively attempt to sabotage each other is quite the head-scratcher, too.
This might not be the most adventurous of the Shin Megami Tensei games, especially since after Shin Megami Tensei V lived up to the hype, it was a tough band to beat. Yet, Soul Hackers 2 delivers everything I needed in a tidy package.
Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 is a lot of fun. This is definitely a game that aged better than most, especially in this genre with so many games coming out at all times.
Gerda: A Flame in Winter might be a bit of a slow burn, but hopefully it’ll light a fire in you to not repeat the same mistakes of the past.
As a whole, I can’t stress enough how impressed I was with Rollerdrome. Roll7 perfectly picked up two completely different gameplay loops and mixed them together in a cohesive and addictive title with a shockingly intuitive control scheme. It’s fast-paced, it makes you feel cool as hell while playing it, and it’s ridiculously addictive. It’s one of the perfect examples of creativity still looming in today’s seemingly tired and creatively bankrupt industry.
You’re here because you want to witness first-hand the fact that a Behaviour Interactive-endorsed dating simulator where you can date serial killers and monsters actually exists. Thankfully, the novelty aspect isn’t the only appealing factor in this game’s favor. It’s funny, snarky, and really well-written. There’s not a lot else that needs to be said. Hooked on You is exactly what it looks like. One of the weirdest games I’ve played this year, but one I certainly do not regret tackling.
I would have already loved Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection if it were a mere collection of a handful of TMNT titles from back in the day, with little to no extras. But the addition of online co-op, gameplay modifiers, regional variants, and that adorable Nintendo Power-esque tips guide for each title just elevates this compilation to nonsensical heights. This is Rare Replay levels of good, one of the best retro compilations of the past years.