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Olympia Soiree stands out for its nuanced characters, detailed world-building, and ambitious storytelling that thoughtfully tackles difficult subjects. Oh, and the romance is great too! I wish the bad endings and choice system had been more robust and that there was more of the excellent art and music, but these are minor quibbles. If you’re open to a serious story that touches on challenging themes—and want to romance some dashing men along the way—I’d highly recommend Olympia Soiree.
Overall Monster Harvest is an average entry into a genre that, for the most part, is oversaturated with average entries. It tries to emulate the genre patriarch and does a respectable job in terms of the farming mechanics, overall feel, and presentation. The town, the folk, and the whole monster thing hold the game back, however. There is very little reason to invest your time and money into such a temporal vacuum when that game is merely adequate.
Project Zero: Maiden of Black Water is a fine introduction to a series most will have passed by over the years, though doesn't quite land the Fatal Frame it could have. It's still a worthy addition to any horror fan's collection and it's great to see the series being more available than ever.
While there is a lot to love about The Good Life, the slow pace, lack of action and the gameplay loop comprised of fetch quests isn't going to be for everyone. It's a lot more niche than it initially seems. The Good Life is a recommendation for fans of the more "punk" titles from directors such as Swery, Suda 51, and Onion Games/Love-de-lic. Those who enjoyed the quirky and obscure Simple Series of PS2 will likely enjoy it too. Its archaic formula may not be for all, but it has more heart than all of the AAA games combined.
Sadly it is very tough to suggest anyone picks Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl in the state it is in currently. It is very bare-bones in content, unbalanced, and feels soulless and cheap. Apparently, the developers are looking to further add to the game post-release but this model makes it feel like an overpriced Early Access run. The basics just aren’t here for the game, and I can’t help but feel that between the memes and rollback inclusions, they just doubled down on meme culture to sell copies of the game and hoped the fighting game community would stick with it.
Despite mentioning quite a lot of issues with Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars in my review, I still enjoyed playing it. It’s not the best hack and slash gameplay around, but it was fun seeing the Neptunia characters and how they interacted with the Senran Kagura ones. Still, if you want a hack and slash game, Senran Kagura Burst Re:newal might be a better option.
I had a great time with Renai Karichaimashita: Koikari – Love For Hire. I found the comedy hilarious and it never felt like it went overboard. The premise was interesting and it was used well to set up fun situations. The eccentric cast of heroines was particularly great. I hear that the fandiscs are planned to be translated too and I look forward to them.
I enjoy playing card games casually with friends, but Pretty Girls Battle: Texas Hold’em fails to capture that same charm. The game is obviously just doing the bare minimum, both in terms of its gameplay and presentation, and it’s very apparent throughout. You’ll have a much more enjoyable time buying an actual deck of cards; that way, you can play with more than one deck, play against people with different strategies, and have more varied locations to play on.
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.