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I have to say I had a lot of fun with Void Bastards. The artwork is here amazing. I loved all of the different designs for the enemies and comic book style cut-ins are just a pure joy as well. The quirky British voices the aliens have and just the overall silliness of what you’re doing gives you a big smile. The shooting here is pretty tight and there are a few different difficulty levels to choose from, if FPS games aren’t really your thing. At the $29.99 price you get a nice 15 hour campaign that has New Game + so you can keep collecting and killing bigger aliens. This might seem a little steep, but PC games go on sale often, so if you wait for sale you’ll get an even better value here. I would recommend this one to anyone that has a passing interest in rouge-like or FPS games. This is one very unique title. It does have some quirks and you will get screwed over by the rouge-like nature of it, but there’s nothing else quite like it out there.
Last year was such an amazing year for indie games that it felt like CrossCode got a little lost in the shuffle. I would strongly suggest people who missed out on the game initially check it out now. The 1.1 update added some free content including a major arena mode that adds even more longevity to the game. Casually it can run you between 10-20 hours depending on how much of the sidequests you want to engage in. While the NMG (No Major Glitches) records are currently hovering just above two hours, it’s also a fun game to just take your time with like you would in a real MMORPG, and for $19.99 that is frankly a steal. While there are obvious comparisons to be made (story-wise) to the massively popular Sword Art Online, the gameplay was a whole lot tighter. As a result, with a whole lot of practice, Lea feels much more like a real badass who responds exactly to how good you are at the game itself.
Honestly for $19.99, it’s hard to go wrong with the Castlevania Anniversary Collection. It’s packed with great retro gaming, easily 10+ hours worth, and tons of lore about the series. It should put a smile on the faces of many fans. I definitely feel like more of a true fan after playing it, and gained new appreciation for what Konami accomplished back in their glory days. Unfortunately, due to the aforementioned glitches and frankly inexcusable lack of a music select, I couldn’t give this a perfect score like I wanted. But if you’re a fan, old or new, of Castlevania and want a handy collection on any current console, you have plenty to sink your teeth into with this.
Much as I enjoyed playing the game, it left me a little conflicted. While the style and controls are fantastic, there just isn’t a lot of meat on the bone for ravenous Metroidvania fans. That said, I enjoyed all the time I spent with Gato Roboto, and other than the aforementioned glitches, it played effortlessly. For $7.99 I couldn’t put the game down, and that says a lot. Once the developers manage to fix that glitch, you can add another star to my score. But for now, I could only highly recommend this one to other hardcore Metroidvania addicts like myself. Here’s hoping we see more adventures with Kiki from doinksoft in the near future.
I have to say I was very surprised at how good Lapis x Labyrinth was. After 20 hours I found the gameplay fast, fluid and most importantly fun. The upgrade system is slowly introduced so you never feel overwhelmed, and I thought the difficulty curve was just about right for this type of game. Some of the maps can get a bit confusing even with guidance they give you and some of the enemies late in the game can be very cheap with attacks that cause instant death or knock your stack out of whack. Still I have to say if you want a great Action RPG you could do a lot worse at the $49.99 price for the limited edition that comes with some extra goodies.
Overall, I found both Tangledeep and its expansion to be fun and very charming experiences, albeit challenging. If you haven’t played before, I suggest giving it a try as long as you’re an experienced RPG fan and want a difficult challenge. But if you’re like me and you don’t PC game, the Legend of Shara DLC is supposed to eventually come to Nintendo Switch as well.
It only took me about an hour and a half to finish Classic mode on normal, then another half-hour to get the other secret items and finish the final stage. That doesn’t sound like much, but there’s enough to do in Venture Kid that I played through it a couple times and went through Survival mode too. Also, there’s next to no downtime in this game; it’s almost constant action, and it just feels good to clear a room of spike pits or avoid flame jets and the like. It’s a pleasant retro-styled experience, one worth the $10 price tag if you’re planning to do all there is to do. Whether a veteran of the genre or just getting into it, there’s room for both to enjoy this.
Vandals was a bit of a mixed experience for me. I enjoyed parts of it, and found others held it back. I also really wish the game had more lore or something to ground things in. I don’t need a story to enjoy a game, but the fabric of the world it inhabits is still important. And while the art is simple and focused, they do tend to reuse environments and assets a bit too much. Though thankfully the main musical theme is pretty catchy. Then again, at $3.99, this is the most affordable version of the game, and I got at least 8-10 hours out of it. If you like quirky indie games on Switch, I’d say to give this one a shot. But if you want something incredibly meaningful and lasting, this might not be for you.
Overall, Type:Rider was an enjoyable experience and I walked away having learned a bit about fonts and typography in general. As mentioned above, I only sunk about 3 hours into this one as it can be completed in a rather short span of time. There are some additional trophies that you can unlock by doing special tasks throughout the game, but I managed to grab most of those just by playing through once. If it there was a bit more content available in each level, I could see this game being even more enjoyable. Having said that, the content that is there is still really neat and for its listed price of $2.99 on the Nintendo Switch eShop, it may still be worth taking a look at if you enjoy platformers.
Overall, Homo Machina is merely an average puzzle game with educative elements. Outside of engagement and conveyance issues, it is completely harmless without any other problems to be had. For an experience of about an hour with a price of $2.99, you could do far worse. The art style is by far the game’s biggest selling point, with everything else effectively an extra part of the package. If you are interested seeing the art in motion, it doesn’t hurt to give the game a whirl.
Overall, Prison Boss VR does a great job of making prison seem like a fun little adventure. My first few in-game days at the first prison seemed pretty straightforward and not overly challenging. Things picked up from there though and each decision I made began to feel important. I had to restart multiple times due to poor handling of my funds and my own inability to plan effectively. Each level takes around an hour to complete, depending on how many times you fail and how fast you move. In total, I’d say I spent about 7-8 hours playing this game and had a lot of fun doing so. It retails on both Steam and the PlayStation Store for just $19.99 and I think that it is more than worth picking up at that price point. If you’re looking for a quirky, fun title to pick up and play with your PSVR headset and you’ve got a pair of Move controllers handy, Prison Boss VR is certainly worth a look.
Sabbat of the Witch is my choice for the best visual novel localization of last year. It’s without a doubt a masterpiece of a story featuring a very lovely and memorable cast. Furthermore, you’re going to get your money’s worth. For clarification, the game currently sits at $29.99, and I spent well over 40 hours reading. It’s worth every penny and second. The question remains if anything will release this year that will fill me with as much joy as this one.
Moero Chronicle Hyper is an excellent port. The new features such as auto travel and HD Rumble make the experience even better than before. If you love dungeon crawlers and want to spend some quality time with amazing monster girls, this will be the best 20 bucks you ever spent on the eShop. I highly recommend it.
Sweet Sachiko’s Hysteric Birthday Bash may hold appeal to hardcore Corpse Party fans, giving the chance to see several characters from different schools meet or reunite and interact with each other. Beyond that, the story can’t figure out what it wants to be, tries to be everything, doesn’t do anything particularly well, and ends up undermining what it does right. Padded out to about 10 hours in length, it’s at least worth the $20 price tag in that regard. I’ll still play the regular Corpse Party games some time, but ultimately I took little away from this spin-off.
After playing for roughly 10ish hours, I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the game. There isn’t much in the way of replay value since the game is very linear, but that’s in no way a detriment to the game. For about $4 a chapter you get 10+ hours of enjoyment per chapter. If you ask me, I’d definitely try to get into this series if you can. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some catching up to do.
Despite some quibbles and the now trademark EDF performance problems, this is a very solid arcade shooter. It builds on the strengths of past games while addressing some of the issues that have cropped up. Less of a grind for a normal playthrough with the introduction of some very engaging enemy types. If you love EDF, you’ll be sure to love this. If you’ve never played these games before, this is basically as good as it gets, so feel free to jump in here. I sunk in about 100 hours into it, though it should take probably around 40-50 to beat it. It’s $60, which is a bit on the pricey side. If you’re a fan of past EDF games, I can recommend it at that price, if you’re a newcomer, waiting for a sale might be a good idea.
All in all, most of the issues addressed above happened in the second half of the game. Vaporum almost literally felt like it lost steam the farther I progressed. Which is, personally, the most disappointing aspect. The beginning and most of the mid-section was where I had an actual wonderful time, where the later half continually soured my perception. There was definitely heart put into the project, which only serves to disappoint me even further. The game is priced at $19.99 on both Steam and Humble Bundle, whereas it’s priced at $24.99 on Switch, PS4, and Xbox One. I am not sure why there are two different price sets, but even at $19.99 I recommend for the game to go on sale before purchasing. I appreciate Fatbot Games’ attempt, especially at the beginning, but I can’t in good faith ignore the second half of the game.
I won’t say Nelke and the Legendary Alchemists ~Ateliers of the New World~ is a bad game; it’s just not a very exciting one. The game looks good and has a wonderful soundtrack, but the gameplay is just kinda boring. After around 25 hours of playtime I was totally burned out on the city building. The lack of exploration, way dumbed down alchemy and combat really hurt this one. It is wonderful to see all your favorite alchemists from previous games hanging out and having fun together. These interactions are pretty much the highlight of this game, and everything else is lacking. At $59.99 I would only pick this up if you are hardcore fan of the Atelier series. For everyone else I’d recommend you hold off for the upcoming Atelier Lulua ~The Scion of Arland~ to get that alchemy fix.
Having said all that, it’s impossible for me not to recommend Katana ZERO. Not only is it a great game, it’s a perfect example of why I have such faith in indies. For $14.99, you get a fantastic and unique action platformer with some of the most phenomenal boss fights I’ve ever experienced. Sure, it could be longer and the plot could make more sense, but it’s still a wild and satisfying ride. And when you factor in how one ending hints at a sequel, it’s very possible my minor complaints could be cleared up in the near future. I’m really happy Askiisoft and Devolver Digital brought this gem to Switch, and I can’t wait to see the next game they have up their voluminous sleeves.
I think the developers largely succeeded in achieving their vision for Rym 9000, so I don’t want to come down too hard on it. It’s not like there are any bugs or real problems with the game, the speed of the ship and the art style just really make it not a game that I enjoyed very much. The 5 stages do offer some good variety, even if the game is rather short. While it may take less than an hour to play through the game, you are very unlikely to be able to complete it until you have put in at least 5 to 10 times that amount of time. It’s hard to argue with the $7.99 price point, the game is worth it for the soundtrack alone. But if you are going to actually play the game, you may want to watch the trailers, which will give you a better idea of how the game plays than I can with screenshots or description. Even if it didn’t work overall for me, I have a lot of respect for the developers bringing a different artistic aesthetic to a very crowded genre.