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ToHeart is a rather mixed package. Ultimately, it falls short of an unreserved recommendation, despite having an enjoyable time spent with the heroines and it being a very reasonable price considering the amount of scenes. Certain aspects just set it back too much, including how underdeveloped each heroine’s story is, the systems it uses, how the graphical redesign was handled, and some very odd design decisions. Despite that, while I’d not suggest it’s a priority to pick up, the ToHeart remake does carry over a lot of that retro charm and it’s easy to see why it was so popular when it first came out with just how lovable many of the heroines are. Time has moved on, and writers have learned how to more effectively target the hearts of genre fans, but the roots can clearly be seen here and appreciated for what they are. Even if I’d not suggest that you rush out and get it today, it is worth experiencing both as an important part of visual novel history and in its own right.
At its best moments, AI: The Somnium Files – Nirvana Initiative was some of the most fun I’ve had playing an adventure game ever, even topping its predecessor on occasion. The characters are still fun, the game made me laugh plenty, the Somniums are similarly creative, and there’s still plenty of enticing mystery to go around. Unfortunately, while the first AI: The Somnium Files manages to pull its story together to a thrilling conclusion, I cannot say the same for its sequel. Outside of one particular part, its final act is immensely unsatisfying and does not hold up well under scrutiny, with a big twist that felt more to the detriment of the story than to its benefit. Some of its new characters are welcome additions, others are not, and the antagonists of the story don’t contribute much value. It also adds some unnecessary retconning that feels worse coming off the first game. The story is fun in the moment and has a strong first half, but doesn’t carry its own weight all the way through and feels lacking the same substance that made the first game so memorable for me long after I finished it. AiNi still has a lot going for it, but for a game where so much of the enjoyment is centered around its story, I really wish it could have brought it all home. It’s still a really engaging experience, it’s just substantially more uneven.
I really enjoyed the excuse to load up Lies of P again and consider it my favorite non-Fromsoft title of the genre. The new areas in the Overture DLC are fantastic and the boss fights are easily on par with the best ones from the base game with a fantastically emotional final boss fight. Admittedly, the playtime vs cost might not be for everyone in this post-Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree world, but for someone who loves the world of Krat, Pinocchio, and the Stalkers, I found it to be well worth the wait and the price.
AI: The Somnium Files became one of my favorite adventure games through its combination of inventive concepts, great use of sound and music, a thrilling mystery, and a strong emotional core that made me care about the characters the story was happening around. It’s delightfully weird, often to its benefit and occasionally to its significant detriment, but it’s unabashed in what it is. It has its rough edges in places, but it was made with a lot of love in spite of its limitations. It’s compelling and hilarious, but most of all it’s immensely rewarding to play through.
Is Deltarune worth purchasing? Yes, 100% yes. It’s such a unique and quirky title with so much to discover in its more than 20 hours of gameplay across the two routes currently. In addition, that purchase is your down payment on another 3 chapters of the game, a game that is getting bigger and quirkier with every chapter to the point I wouldn't even be able to hazard a guess at where the game will end up. While the world is still lavishing praise for several recent releases being a return to form for the JRPG genre, why not take a walk on the wild side and join the fun squad with the anti-RPG, rebellious teenager who has an obsession with anime, monsters, and bullet hell? Deltarune is one helluva drug.
For a pretty modest price point, Kanade is ultimately a sweet and short visual novel, and how much you enjoy it will depend on what you’re looking for and how you feel about the bubbly main character. It’s very cute, at times endearingly funny, and has just a pinch of sentimentality to spice things up. There’s not a lot of depth to its characters even with its small cast, and its attempts at theming feel like they only scratch the surface of what they maybe could have with an otherwise rather interesting concept for a setting, which left me a bit wanting for more of substance. Still, I enjoyed my few hours with Kanade for what they were.
Survival Kids is best suited to playing multiplayer and could be an ideal title for a gamer to play with their child or a younger sibling. Even alone though, it's a fun survival game with some light puzzles, and a good amount of charm to it. There's a good amount to discover here and a higher level of challenge than you might expect, at least if you want to clear all of the objectives.
It’s difficult for me to really pin down exactly how I feel about A Tithe In Blood on the whole. Its setup, its theming, and its presentation are all incredible, making for a memorable experience with reading the visual novel. As a story of the experience of grief and living through it, I connected with it quite a lot. Once it gets to actually having to progress its narrative, however, things gradually get shakier and shakier in the way it pieces together its various sections, and it features an overall letdown of a conclusion. While in its set-up act, it’s one of the most emotionally resonant and striking parts of a visual novel I’ve read in some time. Unfortunately, by the time I was done, I spent more time dwelling on how I felt about the story rather than the impact it had on me, the sign of something with a share of missed potential with the direction it took. Still, there are compelling aspects to this story and a lot that I did really like about it. There is something genuine beneath it all, and I found I got more out of it than I do from a lot of attempts at this subject matter. It won’t work for everyone and the story that it tells is rough and uneven, but it manages to have the memorable good aspects to stand out just enough.
Putting a new spin on a long legacy, Mario Kart World provides incredibly fun core gameplay, both offline and online. Knockout Tour is an amazing addition and Free Roam is certainly a great addition, even if some improvements could be made. If you want a chaotic kart racer that anyone can play, you won't go wrong with Mario Kart World.
Affordable and gorgeous, there’s no real reason why fans of NEKOPARA shouldn’t pick up NEKOPARA After. Featuring the same cast of cute catgirls with their familiar shenanigans, it reinforces its already successful formula of high-quality visual assets by making good use of the e-mote system to provide a reading experience that is both heartwarming and pleasing to the eyes. Just be careful of suddenly diving into the experience. The water level on the beach is pretty shallow and is only really going to appeal to people who want a little extra time with their favorite catgirls and to see Shigure finally have her moment, even if it isn't as well done as it could have been.
While Perennial Dusk -Kinsenka- has an interesting setting and memorable story, they’re too deeply buried under terrible writing for me to be able to recommend it.
With copious amounts of special effects and a plot that relays the protagonists' struggles to the readers really well, The Pillagers of Raillore is a fantasy adventure that's sure to both excite and make you feel sentimental with what its story has to offer. Although it falls a bit short in terms of maximizing the potential of its setting, the dialogue and events are still plenty of fun for a fan of the genre. It has an electrifying atmosphere, unexpected twists and turns, and heartfelt emotions. There are a lot of sights to take in, so go ahead and schedule your own visit to this fantastical city!
Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour won't be for everyone or even most people, but it is very good at what it sets out to do. It nicely shows off all the features of the new console, includes some entertaining gameplay, and is surprisingly informative about how the technology behind it all works. If nothing else, it gives a hint of how future games may use some of these new features.
Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma is the most fun I’ve had with a Rune Factory title yet. It’s certainly not perfect with quite a few little issues holding it back, but the core experience is so fun that it didn’t stop me from enjoying every moment. There’s just so much to enjoy here that it makes it easy to recommend.
Yoru ga Kuru! -Square of the Moon- Remastered is a visual novel with RPG elements featuring a group of students as they fight against those who want to create an unending night. Simple and straight to the point, it employs consistent themes of hopes and dreams to create a story that is fantastically but relatable. With remastered assets and accessible features, it makes an attempt to appeal to audiences both young and old by reconciling its slow-paced retro gameplay with a faster progression system but falls short of effectively balancing the early game experience around its new tempo. Although clear in what it wants to establish as a story, Yoru ga Kuru! feels like it lacks slightly in character impact due to the minimal buildup of tension in the story. While its various character arcs have clear conflicts that head towards their own resolutions, it hardly feels like a proper payoff because of how short their spotlights are. The way they structured the spread and concentration of important, relevant story events taking place within only a few in-game months undermined the game's potential by withholding opportunities for the reader to become invested in the cast early on in a playthrough. As a visual novel with gameplay elements, Yoru ga Kuru! -Square of the Moon- Remastered is able to put its own spin on the classic RPG formula without being too overwhelming for players not used to the genre. Despite its flaws, it’s a pretty solid game as long as you take the time to tailor it to your own preferences. If you're a visual novel fan looking for something to shake up the monotony of clicking through dialogue, Yoru ga Kuru! isn't a bad pickup. Just make sure you're not looking for a title that'll change your life.
If a slow-life JRPG and a lighthearted fantasy are your sort of game, FANTASY LIFE i: The Girl Who Steals Time would certainly be a title to pick up. Spend your time gathering, crafting, or taking down enemies, or search out new friends and make your island look great. There's plenty to explore here and you'll have a great time doing so.
There’s a share of good and bad to Saeko: Giantess Dating Sim. It’s certainly one of the more unique horror experiences I’ve experienced, enough that the novelty alone makes it worth consideration even if you aren’t inclined towards the particular kink this game ostensibly is marketed towards. It left me with enough moments to kind of dwell on thinking about how I would respond to this situation. The fact that much of the cast really doesn’t come out at the end of this story looking like a good person might not be for everyone, but it gives it a fairly believable side. The first ending I got was unsettling in a way that was genuinely interesting, one which worked particularly well given what all you do in this game. At the same time, it can be a somewhat tedious experience to play given all the repetition. Though I wouldn’t call it quite an “ironic dating sim” despite it using the genre for means beyond conventional romance, the “dating sim” side of things can feel somewhat more burdensome rather than the neat little twist on the genre it perhaps could have made for. This game offers a memorable experience, though a noticeably flawed one in part due to the relatively small package this giantess dating sim comes in that keeps it from reaching its full potential.
Mixing entertaining moments with friends, romance with some lovable heroines, and an engaging mystery to unveil, Happiness! Sakura Celebration is an interesting read. I particularly enjoyed how it used the route structure to reveal different aspects of the plot, building it up as you enjoyed the romance with different heroines. There are a few weaker areas and it won't be for anyone who has an aversion to incestuous routes, but I felt it was well worth the read.
Doom: The Dark Ages was a personally divisive title, and I can imagine some people will not stick with it long enough for it to experience the best of it. It feels completely different from the previous games in both good and bad ways. The game was already released under a dark cloud, but looking back after the credits hit, I had a lot of fun with the game. It just took far too long to show me how fun it could be. You’ll rip and tear until it’s done, you’ll plod along at some places, and go face-meltingly fast through some combat encounters, but at the end of the day you’ll still be playing one of the best modern boomer shooters to date. It seems every third Doom is born to be controversial but Doom: The Dark Ages just grabs the devil by the horns and kicks all kinds of ass…eventually.
Capcom Fighting Collection 2 is yet another fantastic collection of Capcom fighting games. The selection is a little more mixed in terms of overall quality, but I feel this collection especially has more of “something for everybody” than the previous two. This is an absolute must-buy for fans of classic fighting games. It may be slightly lacking in the stronger single-player content, especially compared to newer fighting games, but between the charm of titles like Power Stone and Project Justice and the intense action of Capcom vs SNK 1 and 2, you’ll lose just as many hours as you would credits in the arcade.