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Arknights: Endfield is a solid game. It has fun combat, a robust building system, expansive environments to explore, and is a visual treat to look at. Unfortunately, it’s held back by its work-in-progress nature and gacha mechanics. If you’re looking for a free game to play with fun gameplay and nice visuals, I think this is the game for you. Arknights: Endfield has tons of room for growth and a lot of potential, so I look forward to seeing how it proceeds from now on.
Shujinkou is clearly a love letter to Japanese language and culture, created by a team with passion for both games and language. Despite the technical issues and uneven pacing, I really loved my time with this game. As someone relearning Japanese, immersing myself in the language learning aspects was both a great refresher and a genuine learning tool at times without ever losing focus on also being a fun game experience. The combat is engaging with just the right amount of difficulty, and the characters are charming and memorable. I still listen to the music every chance I get. It’s a long game, so if you get it be prepared for the commitment, but I think it’s well worth your time.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails beyond the Horizon is an excellent entry in the Trails series and the strongest game in the Calvard arc. The combat system is one of the best in the series and the music will leave a lasting impression on you. The story is interesting and will grip you until the end. It resolves mysteries from previous games all while setting things up for the future and leaves you clamoring for more. If you have been following Trails for a long time, I highly recommend you pick this game up, you will love it. Newcomers, however, should play earlier entries first before tackling this one, to maximize their enjoyment of the game.
Overall, I enjoyed Mistonia’s Hope. It wasn’t my new favorite otome, but it was as enjoyable as any other. So many are released nowadays, not every title stands out above the rest. But I will say, I’m grateful we’re in a timeline where we get so much otome localized in the West. I know that wasn’t always the case. I mostly enjoyed the romance with the different love interests, plus uncovering the secrets behind what happened to Aprose’s family, or moreso why. I didn’t run into any significant issues in this game either. The usual grammar mistakes weren’t too extensive, it was mostly near the end of the game where I ran into most of them. If you’re a longtime otome fan, you’ll have as much fun with Mistonia’s Hope as any of the tons of other Otomate titles that have been localized. Nonetheless, I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily better than the others. Although, I do think this one is way better than Battlefied Waltz: a somewhat similar Otomate title I reviewed earlier this year, which also had a main girl who lost her family and home. One last note, Mistonia’s Hope took me just about 55 hours to go through every single route and check out the extras I unlocked.
Donkey Kong Bananza is an excellent game. I had a ton of fun bulldozing my way through enemies and the underground world with DK and Pauline. It is visually impressive, the music is a bop, and the sound design is impeccable. Despite my gripes with its performance in some spots, it doesn’t take away from how much fun I had with this game. I feel players, both young and old, will definitely enjoy their time with this one. If you have a Nintendo Switch 2, I highly recommend you grab a copy of this one, it’s definitely a must-have title on this console.
in the end, Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist & The White Guardian felt very much like a mobile spin-off game. While it is mostly standalone, the events of the mobile game starring Resna are constantly vaguely referenced. Plus, it clearly didn’t get the same effort and care typically put into a mainline title, and it didn’t run amazingly on Switch either. I should note real quick, I have yet to get my hands on Atelier Yumia, so I can only compare to the two Ryza games I’ve played, as the most recent offline titles. Despite having some issues with this one, though, I did have a lot of fun playing Resleriana RW overall. Mostly, I enjoyed the relationship between Rias and Slade, and learning more about the mystery behind what happened to Hallfein when they were both kids. I think that’s where this game shines the most. Unfortunately, due to the various issues performance wise, the aspects where it felt like a quickly made mobile spin-off and with the game freezing in the worst possible place it could, I can’t be as generous with my score as I wanted to be. Sure I had a lot of fun playing this one, but there were still a lot of problems. Regardless, if you’re an old fan of the Atelier franchise, I think you’ll find a lot to love.
Disgaea 7 Complete is a pretty good package for the $69.99 price tag. The base game is great and like I said in my previous review, this was a return to form for this franchise. The DLC adds quite a bit to the game if you’re a fan of the Disgaea franchise, or if you just want a bunch of special characters to fill out your party with. I think this is a must for Nintendo Switch 2 owners that haven’t already invested in the previous release. You’ll find a great strategy game here that runs very well on your hardware.
Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter is an excellent RPG and a perfect example of how a remake should be done. It kept the story, which helped me fall in love with the Trails series, intact while also greatly improving the visuals and gameplay. And the music is still exceptional. Despite some of the small issues I had, I really enjoyed revisiting Liberl and following Estelle and Joshua on their journey, and I feel this remake has managed to surpass the original game. Those wanting to get into the Trails series usually ask where they should start. I can proudly say this is the absolute best game to start the series. Newcomers and veterans of the series will definitely have a good time with this one. Now, I just hope Falcom brings us a remake of The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC sooner rather than later.
Overall, I really enjoyed Illusion of Itehari. While this otome was lacking in a lot of ways, the story still had me hooked pretty quickly and I couldn’t seem to put it down. One last thing I should mention, is that this is nowhere near Aksys Games’ worst release in regards to grammar mistakes. Forgive me for comparing the two again, but I will say it wasn’t nearly as bad as the two Piofiore games in that regard. In looking into Itehari a bit after deciding I wanted to do this review, I saw that a fandisc had already been announced for Japan. I’m not sure if it’s out there yet or not, but I really hope Aksys will localize it next year. I’m now actually waiting for sequels and/or fandiscs for a few different otome. I really hope despite the Switch 2 now being out, that we’ll continue to see more otome localized for the original Switch, especially the fandiscs and sequels to previous releases us otome fans in the West have already come to love.
After over 80 hours of playing Grand Bazaar, I can still say this is a wonderful new entry in the series. And yes, I do think this is the very best STORY OF SEASONS game to be released on the original Switch. If you don’t mind a more hectic farming game, where you’re constantly running around growing stuff, collecting stock to sell at a weekly bazaar and raising the quality of your products, then I highly recommend Grand Bazaar over the other STORY OF SEASONS games currently available. This one might not be for you if you like a more relaxing Bokujō Monogatari game, such as Animal Parade. Nonetheless, I adored the time I spent with Grand Bazaar. I was pleasantly surprised to see Marvelous turn things around and put more time and effort into releasing a fantastic new entry in the series. The game has a lot of life and personality, and I don’t believe it’s at all too short either.
Overall I had a good time with Yomegami: My Sweet Goddess. I found all four heroines’ routes to be interesting and nothing ever got too serious, which was a big plus for me personally. I love light-hearted comedies like this and I hope JAST picks up more of these in the future.
Ultimately, I found Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma to be an okay game. I enjoyed it for the most part, mainly the story and getting to know the different characters. But as I’ve described above, it also has a lot of flaws which keep it from being a great game. Not to mention, it dragged on a bit too much in the latter half, constantly throwing you at multiple dungeons and bosses per one story issue. Nonetheless, I think existing fans of Rune Factory will find plenty of fun to be had here, I just wouldn’t say it’s nearly as good as older entries prior to the Switch era. I spent around 60 hours on Azuma, though I should mention, I did lower the difficulty to easy near the end after it started to overly drag on.
The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy is a fantastic game. The story is amazing, and once you see the twists and turns it will hook you in and not let go. I loved all of the characters, the soundtrack is just fantastic and this features one of the best English dubs I’ve heard in a long time. I had a blast with combat as well. It can be pretty tough on normal mode, but if you want easier combat so you can enjoy the Visual Novel aspects there is a safety difficulty that is much easier. At the $59.99 price tag it’s likely gonna take at least 100 hours to see all the endings here if not more, so it’s well worth your coin. It’s very rare a game comes along that does everything right, but The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy does just that.
The overall plot of Battlefield Waltz wasn’t amazing. Although, the romance I would say is better than 9 R.I.P., the last Otomate title I reviewed. I’m not sure if this is just how these games were back in 2014, or if Battlefield Waltz just happens to be a more basic otome. If you like otome, I’m sure you’ll get some enjoyment out of it, it truly did grow on me after I got through a few routes. It simply wouldn’t be my top choice from this developer.
Ultimately, Mario & Luigi: Brothership was an immense pain to play. Between trying to constantly time things perfectly and button mashing my way through to inflict damage, plus constantly having to heal when enemies finally stopped attacking, it was not a fun time. I wouldn’t call it a bad game necessarily, I do think some people may enjoy it. If you love button mashing and timing stuff and don’t mind getting very few turns in between your enemies’ attacks, then this may very well be the game for you. But for anyone who wants a fun RPG adventure with an amazing story, atmosphere, charm that actually sucks you in and enjoyable battles that don’t take an eternity and kill your button mashing muscles, this is not the game for you, whatsoever. I feel like if the story, characters and everything else outside of battles, was just better and more worth going through these battles for, I would’ve liked the game a lot more. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be picking up another Mario & Luigi title anytime soon.
Overall, I really enjoyed Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land. I found the full open world setting a joy to explore, the new combat system is fun, and the story is pretty good. The darker tone will be jarring for longtime fans, but I think it is very fitting for this world and character. Yumia is a different kind of alchemist than we are used to, and that is what made this journey even more special. There is plenty to discover as well, my playtime barely cracked the surface of everything that is here to discover. I feel the game is well worth the $69.99 asking price. This is also a great starting point for someone wanting to check out the Atelier series for the first time, since you need no knowledge of any of the previous games to have a good time here.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II is a good RPG with a fun combat system, great visuals, and a strong soundtrack. Unfortunately, this game is a prime example of one step forward and two steps back. It definitely improved upon the battle system and overall gameplay, but it’s hampered by a flawed story with a plot hole that’s too big for me to ignore, which is a shame because it had the foundations and the potential to be one of the best in the series. If you liked Trails through Daybreak or are a Trails series veteran, you’ll most likely find something to enjoy in this game, and I do recommend it. If you’re a newcomer to the series, at least play Trails through Daybreak before jumping into this one.
Overall, Neptunia Riders VS Dogoos is a fun game. Each of the stages has unique features, the Dogoos provide a good variety of effects that make each run a bit different, and the game runs well on PlayStation 5. My biggest issue is you can complete the story in 2 hours and this is a $39.99 title. I get you can extend this by doing the extra challenges the game has to offer, but there should’ve been more unlockables or maybe a two-player split-screen mode to give this one a little more value. I can really only recommend this one to the hardcore Neptunia fans out there. This isn’t a bad game, but it doesn’t offer a lot of meat for non fans of the series, but on a good sale there is fun to be had here for them as well.
All and all, I had a pretty good time with Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero. The story and characters are great, and the music is very fitting for the game, overall. If you are a fan of other NIS strategy titles, picking this up is a no brainer at $59.99 price tag, you’re gonna find a lot to love here. This is a good entry point for newcomers as well since the story is self contained and you really need no knowledge of the previous game to have a good time here. Now if you will excuse me, I have some more random levels to attend to.
Overall, I had a great time with Dynasty Warriors: Origins. The new combat is great, the storytelling is much better than previous entries and the music is just a pure joy to listen to. I do miss the fact you cannot use just any character in combat and I hope they add a Free Mode where you can do this in the game at some point down the line. I feel bad for folks that bought these games to play multiplayer as well, since this one is single player only. That being said, I got about 30 hours out of one story path without doing the extra bits, so there is plenty to love here at the $69.99 price tag.