GAMES.CH's Reviews
Confusing for newbies, Neptunia: Sisters VS Sisters hooks all genre fans. While it seems dated in many ways, it touches on red-hot topics surrounding influencers and AI, as well as media addiction. For this reason, a recommendation to play at least a little while.
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But what if you're brand new to the Persona series? Then we actually recommend you to get started with "Persona 5 Royal", the latest version of "Persona 5". Since the games do not build on each other and each devour 80 hours of play, it is worth getting started with the most modern and beginner-friendly offshoot. Then you can focus on the classic titles.
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But what if you're brand new to the Persona series? Then we actually recommend you to get started with "Persona 5 Royal", the latest version of "Persona 5". Since the games do not build on each other and each devour 80 hours of play, it is worth getting started with the most modern and beginner-friendly offshoot. Then you can focus on the classic titles.
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"Fire Emblem Engage" turns out to be the hoped-for tactical spectacle with considerable scope. For more than two dozen chapters, you'll experience nerve-wracking battles that are at their best, especially in Classic mode with the permadeath function turned on. The new break and emblem ring mechanics fit perfectly into the proven combat system, the design of the battlefields always holds interesting surprises in store, side missions are regularly linked to the unlocking of new additional characters, and the story is also peppered with some twists that we did not always see coming. Alear's Ring Odyssey is rounded off by a staging that is absolutely worth seeing by Switch standards, a bombastic soundtrack and numerous multiplayer functions that promise a lot of long-term motivation.
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The many small details and hints are perfect for fans. If you have never heard of the gum-gum fruit, you will have problems feeling as at home here as we do, despite flashbacks and summaries.
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For children or beginners certainly cool, for experienced players who have already played through, read or seen similar stories a hundred times, rather boring. Unfortunately, the graphics stand out negatively and somewhat inhibit the spirit of discovery. All in all, it's a solid, but not a special spin-off to the "Dragon Quest" series.
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Although we would have hoped for a lot more on the technical side thanks to current-gen exclusivity, "Need for Speed Unbound" leaves a positive overall impression. Sure, the strange mix of cel-shading and realism is not for everyone, but at least sets the game apart from other series parts and racing games. The constant threat from the police is initially entertaining, but quickly becomes annoying if you want to earn enough money to visually customize several cars. This is exactly where "Need for Speed Unbound" has its strength, which hasn't been in the series for a long time. The tuning and adaptation of the vehicles as well as the progress through the story motivate tremendously and are reminiscent of series highlights such as "Underground 2" or "Most Wanted". Sooner or later, however, the unpleasant smell of burnt rubber always remains in the nose.
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What The Callisto Protocol lacks in truly original ideas it more makes up for in presentation and atmosphere. A game this polished and confident from a newly formed studio that had to work through a pandemic is nothing short of impressive. While it won’t change anyone‘s mind who didn’t like the spiritual predecessor Dead Space, this brings back unsettling space horror at its peak.
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Marvel's Midnight Suns is a fine tactical RPG and also a great superhero adventure. So if you're a fan of Marvel comics and the game's genre, it is a need to play. But if you just like one of these „sides“, it's hard to get around this game.
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Grave just works better as an undead one-man army. But maybe "Gungrave: G.O.R.E" is so successful that one or the other participant could come up with the idea of bringing a phantom buried two decades ago back to life.
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Harvestella offers a unique mix of farming sim and action RPG Lee. While there are some flaws in both aspects, and the presentation, Harvestella still offers an entertaining experience thanks to the gameplay mix and story.
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In one point, however, opinions are likely to differ on "Pokémon Crimson and Purple": the technical implementation. The performance goes to its knees from time to time, Pokémon or NPCs pop into the picture a few meters in front of us. And "normal" graphics errors occur significantly more often than in any other "Pokémon" game on Switch before. How serious these and other weaknesses actually are, however, is, as always, in the eye of the beholder. We like the style overall, which is why we can usually overlook even the sometimes gross weaknesses in performance or texture quality. Nevertheless, these weaknesses are the reason why "Pokémon Crimson and Purple" has to take a back seat to "Pokémon Legends: Arceus", although we ultimately like the playful concept of adventure in Paldea at least as much, if not better.
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We love the more realistic story approach and character set of The Devil in Me as well as the expanded gameplay mechanics. Don't expect a totally different experience or an absolute genre high flier from the season's finale, but in any case the best episode inside The Dark Pictures Dye Anthology so far.
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Despite a very rough start and many technical issues is Sonic Frontiers a game that we thoroughly enjoyed. It may very well be an odd form of Stockholm syndrome, being enchanted by the cringe-worthy voice acting, the absurd story, all mixed with some of the best gameplay flow the sonic games ever had in the third dimension. As soon as some of the big boss battles hit, the game shows that it’s much more than just a cheap imitation of Breath of the Wild. A full recommendation however isn’t possible with the technical state the game released in. A few patches are desperately needed for fix some of the glitches and underwhelming textures and animations.
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Pentiment might just be one of the weirdest AAA-games released this year. By stripping gameplay down to little more than walking and talking, this medieval crime drama feels like a visual novel that took the genre’s title a little too literal. The graphical style is heavily inspired by the illustrations of medieval books, which ties directly back into the main character’s background story as an illustrator. With an excellent story, great dialogue and too many mysteries for just a single playthrough, this odd little gem is one that may take some getting used to, but will reward you for your patience with a story more interactive and deeper than most.
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I hadn't really expected a profound or exciting story, but rather thought that the superficial creep should be in the foreground. Here, too, I was very wrong. "Yomawari: Lost in the Dark" once again showed me how exciting it is to break through your own patterns and try something new. And it proved to me how wrong first impressions, assumptions and game theories can sometimes be. I really enjoyed discovering the story behind "Yomawari: Lost in the Dark", although I personally could have done without one or the other jumpscare.
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Your spirit is the only one that is a purely positive attribute. Spirit acts as a kind of mana for your special attacks, but can alternatively be used to restore your mind through meditation. So you need a constant supply of all three values. Through accumulated experience points in the three disciplines and hidden crystals, you can also expand your supply in a skill tree or unlock passive bonuses. These abilities are quite nice, but with the exception of the extended bar for health, mind and mind, they often only have a noticeable effect in very specific situations.
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God of War Ragnarök isn't free from weak spots, but the game is better in nearly every aspect than its great predecessor. There is more variety in combat. There are more spectacular boss fights. And you will visit all nine regions of Norse Mythology, all of them looking amazing on PS5. There is no way around this great adventure, if you love the series, action games in general and own a current PlayStation.
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The struggles and the slow work up in the medieval hierarchy are good enough to keep us glued to the screen until late into the night. Especially if you want to compete against other army leaders in multiplayer mode, you should definitely take a look here, because "Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord" is a gaming experience like no other despite its flaws.
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Gotham Knights should not be confused as a sequel to the excellent Batman: Arkham Knight. Instead this Spin-Off explores a new and interesting story about the death of Gotham’s protector and falls victim to some of modern gaming’s worst trends. The crafting system feels unsubstantial and while the four different playable characters are all different and interesting, it feels like substantial abilities of the prior games were taken away and locked behind different characters, rather than each member of the bat family bringing something new to the table. Despite its shortcomings and missteps, we found “Gotham Knights” to be very fun to play, when focusing on the story over the repetitive open world activities and the multiplayer is an excellent fit for both the story and style of game.
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