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I’ve got to be honest with you, I’m put between a rock and a hard place with Demon Slayer: The Hinokami Chronicles. This is a 3D fighting game from one of my favorite game studios with a popular anime franchise backing it; it sold me from the very moment it was announced back in March 2020! The fact it was published by one of my favorite game companies, SEGA, didn’t hurt matters either! I’ll admit, I had a blast of a time playing it, even though I’m not the biggest fan of Demon Slayer when compared to Naruto, but there are some inexcusable problems that hold it back from excellence. The lack of online options, the input delay, and the slow-paced story deter me from making a solid recommendation, but I know more than anyone that there is a market for a game like this. If you’re the slightest bit curious about this game, I implore you to give the manga or anime a try and see if it’s your thing. If you like it, great! This game was tailor-made for you and you won’t regret your purchase! If you’re someone who wants to dabble your toes into fighting games but are afraid of the heavy time commitment to play them at a competitive level, this is definitely a game I’d recommend as an entry-level fighter. But I must warn you: there are imperfections present and you’ll have to accept them to see the quality title that’s buried within, especially if you intend to play it on the last generation of consoles.
With elements and features that allow players to truly take their time playing, Garden Story is an excellent choice for those looking for an easygoing game. Although some core activities can get tedious due to the system design, and gardening and building could have been more fun or at least more purposeful, it has been a wonderfully pleasant journey on the whole. From the melodious music to the pleasing pixel art and cute characters, there is plenty to savor in this game.
Besides its stylish cutscenes and bold color palette, Fire Tonight has little to offer. The gameplay is simplistic while the characters and story have no chance to develop over the game’s paltry one-hour runtime. Even at the budget price of $5.99, I don’t think Fire Tonight is worth it.
Lost Judgment feels like a worthy successor to the original. While I feel it’s a great story, perhaps it doesn’t live up to Judgment as a crime thriller. In its place, it makes notable improvements in gameplay and brings in some new elements. I really enjoyed it, but certainly recommend that you go and play the first title, then come back and play this one.
While I have my complaints about the Eternal Cylinder, I'm ultimately glad I played it. It takes a bit to get going, can meander at times, and the storytelling often frustrated me. It also consistently nails the most important moments, and by the time the credits rolled, I realized The Eternal Cylinder had been something special that I’ll remember for a long time. Maybe The Eternal Cylinder isn’t a masterpiece, but it’s an experience unlike anything else--one well worth having despite its flaws.
Metroid Dread is one of the finest games to release this year. It not only encapsulates everything that makes Metroid, Metroid, but it does so in a way that feels new and fresh. Dread stands on its own two feet and demands to be played. The genre has been missing its namesake for far too long now, so I am happy to say that Dread is a worthy crown-bearer. I hope to see more from Samus, Nintendo, and Mercury Stream in the future.
Chernobylite is a great game that has suffered through the porting process. While held back by some ideas that were only partially baked, it still offers a good ol' Chernobyl time. I would just suggest playing it on a PC and using mods to tidy up aspects, along with hopefully much better performance.
Xuan Yuan Sword 7’s biggest sin is that it’s boring. Really boring. It might look nice, sound great, and be steeped in culture, but actually playing is closer to a chore than anything else. It’s also really long, coming in at 20+ hours. The gameplay on offer here can barely sustain a game half – or even a quarter – of that length. This is scratching at the heels of mediocrity, and it’s not with the time.
Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania is a roaring success and a fitting anniversary title for a mostly forgotten series. When it comes to fun, challenge, and charm, Banana Mania delivers in spades. It’s a crying shame about a lack of online, even if the leaderboards were a neat inclusion. I don’t think I have smiled, raged, paddied, and cheered this much in any other game this year. It’s a good time to monkey around, and I am excited to see what the future holds for the series.
Harem Kingdom is a laugh-out-loud comedy. I’d not say to come here for the story, but you get to know some rather interesting characters and have fun along the way. It’s a fantasy where you get whisked away to another world, but instead of fighting and adventuring like most isekai stories, you get to relax and enjoy yourself.
Overall, The Medium left me with feelings of general frustration. Not at the quality of the game, or the mechanics themselves, but the length of the ride. The game is simply too long and the vast majority of my issues are a result of the core game growing stale, or the story being broken up by long stretches of nothing. All that being said, I had a good time with The Medium. It’s not something I’d recommend people rush out and buy at full price, but it’s certainly a game worth experiencing.
While WarioWare: Get It Together! does occasionally feel unfair, it’s tempered by the random nature of the game and that each round is only seconds long. The brilliance shines through minor letdowns, between the variety of characters and minigame matchups, additional modes, multiplayer integrated into all areas, and a surprising amount of longevity.
Overall, Monster Train is outstanding. The few issues I have with it are minor at best, and what the game delivers shines through with ease. This is not only the best Roguelike I’ve played all year, but quite possibly the best game. Period. It’s taken four long years for the genre to move beyond Spire, and Monster Train manages to stand beside that titan and carve its own path to greatness. This is highly recommended for any Switch owner.
Overall Islanders is a game that I was not expecting to like - at all. It didn’t take long for it to sink its hooks into me and gently coerced me down a winding path of tranquillity. Genre be damned, in a world full of elevated heart rates and perpetual soul-crushing stress, Islanders is a nice break from reality. Its gaminess can be a bit off at times, but for the most part, this is a fantastic hybrid of a game.
As it is, Ambition: A Minuet in Power’s story is solid and its romance is satisfying. The writing is polished with few typos seen, though bugs have made certain dialogue choices become invisible and some others to overflow past the textbox’s width. Characters are lively and have a depth to them, plus Dušo the cat never fails to bring a smile to my face. Details in the art are amazing and the music is captivating. Additionally, I find the stats-raising difficulty to be comfortable for a casual play. Still, when looking at the technical side, there is much the game can improve upon, and for now, visual, audio, and game bugs are a regular occurrence even if the majority of them are not game-breaking. As much as I think visual novel fans who do not mind stats-raising elements would likely enjoy what this historical title has to offer, I would say to wait for the game to be further patched first.
El Shaddai: Ascension of Metatron has always been a title I've enjoyed but often struggled to recommend. It's repetitive due to shallow combat and few and far between set pieces. Visually the game is untouchable, but in such a way it almost damages the game by trying to make such rich visuals with an experience that's otherwise average at every turn. It's not all bad, the game does what it sets out to do and provides a memorable and unique experience. It's just a pity that shallow gameplay and a lack of significant improvement in the PC version knock it down somewhat. I do think gamers who enjoy more cult classic titles will find enough to love here to justify a few nights of angel chasing.
Parquet unfortunately suffers from a weak protagonist and a sometimes slow story that doesn’t delve as deeply into its transhumanist setting as you might hope. That said, it hits on almost everything else. Well-developed heroines, fun side characters, and meaningful friendship evoke warm feelings, while top-notch production values make the experience a feast for the senses. Parquet is a departure from the usual Yuzusoft romance and might not be their greatest work. Still, I think it’s worth experiencing on its own terms: as a heartwarming story about friendship and finding one’s purpose whose setting offers a welcome change from the usual slice of life experience.
Fort Triumph isn’t a bad game. I’d even consider it a good game for a little while. Its issues are its general lack of polish and how quickly every one of its systems dull by the end of the first or second act, let alone the final act of the fourth campaign. There is oodles of content on offer here, it just wasn’t worth experiencing to the fullest. This is all made worse by the poor production values and general jank. Probably something to look out for on sale.
Zengeon catches the eye with stylish art but offers little else. Combat is a sluggish chore, progression feels meaningless, and what little variety comes from the different characters is quickly exhausted. Add in a clunky interface and shaky performance, and there’s not much to recommend Zengeon. If you and a friend have cash to burn, you might be able to eke out a few hours of amusement, but I’d say this is one you’re better off leaving on the shelves.
NIS Collection Volume 1 is probably not worth buying, and it pains me to say. One of these games is one of the best turn-based strategy games to release on the PS2, and all it needed was a tiny change to its speed. Considering that PC players have been using cheat engines to add in 2x speed increases since the mid-2010’s it’s baffling how this wasn’t just included as standard. Even Soul Nomad could have been redeemed. Alas, what we have here is a cheap cash grab that does nothing obscure that intent. If you must play Phantom Brave on Switch, then this might be worth it on sale.