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I have no complaints about this game. There is perhaps room for improvement in a sequel, but this is a masterpiece. It’s extremely unlikely that there will be a game to come out this year that will unseat this game for my game of the year. Of course, as a Soulsborne fan, that was a likely outcome. But even I was surprised at how well this turned out. Honestly it is pushing on Bloodborne to take my favorite FromSoftware game. But time will tell, I do still have 2 more endings to go before I have the Platinum trophy. For my first time through, exploring absolutely everything and defeating every single boss and mini-boss available, it took me just over 60 hours. Of course, the game can be finished in much less time than that if you know exactly where you are going and you don’t take the time to farm all the materials for every Prosthetic Tool upgrade (except two which will require NG+ to get more Lapus Lazuli). Either way that is a whole lot of game for the $59.99 asking price. I would have easily payed double for the game. But if difficult games are not for you, or if you are totally turned off by being a ninja, then this may not even be a game for you no matter the price. The game is punishing, but for those with the courage to put in the time and effort, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice will reward you for it.
Overall, I really enjoyed 428: Shibuya Scramble. The story is excellent; incredibly engaging, getting my very emotionally invested in all the characters especially as things ramped up in the later hours. The writing style perfectly combines seriousness and occasional lighthearted jokes when appropriate, making it enjoyable even during relative downtime. None of the main characters stand out as particularly weaker than the others, and each of their stories carries the same weight and quality all the way throughout the game. That’s a long way, too; completing everything took me just shy of 50 hours, with just playing through until the end of the epilogue taking just over 40 hours. Even though it’s on the longer side, it still kept me fully engaged through all of it, and is definitely worth the $49.99 USD, having easily earned the respect it has among visual novels. If you’re at all interested in visual novels, mystery and detective stories, or you just want something exciting and different (there’s even a demo on PS4 if you don’t want to take the full plunge right away), I can’t recommend 428: Shibuya Scramble highly enough.
Fate/EXTELLA LINK proves that sometimes little tweaks can make a huge difference in a game. The combat here is so much better than in the previous game. It’s much faster and far more fluid. The new mission objectives make the stages feel alive and ever changing. Last but not least, the soundtrack here is one the best I’ve heard in a long time. At its $49.99 price tag, you get about 15 hours of story missions and a slew of extra missions that unlock while you’re progressing through the story. If you are a fan of the Fate series, this is a must own title. The characters and story alone are well worth the price of admission here. If you love Musou games, this might be the best of one of this generation. This game did what a good sequel should do, it improved on the first game in every way possible and I cannot wait to see what’s in store for this series down the line.
Killer7 is a game that defies convention at every turn. Nothing it does ever feels by the books, sometimes it seems to deliberately break certain “rules” just for the sake of breaking them. It’s a shooter, but it does things so differently from other shooters, its hard to really put it in the same category. The game oozes style in all aspects. If you’re in the mood for something that’s astonishingly unique, it’s really hard to go wrong with this game. It’s $20 on Steam, a single playthrough will last about 15 hours, and there’s extra modes you can unlock to play around with for added value. It’s well worth the money and certainly worth your time.
There are literally no complaints I have with this game. It combines all my favorite parts of a series that I love and make them even better. For those of us who have followed the series since its inception, this feels like a love letter from the developers to us. Of course, if this is your first game in the series, there is still a lot here to recommend. But you are going to miss out on some of the brutal difficulty and many of the references and call backs throughout the game. That being said, I can still recommend this to anyone who is interested in drawing your own maps (with some handy recent tools that help auto-map some) and who is interested in a difficult (but fair) combat with strategic character builds. This game took me 80 hours to beat on Expert and an extra 20 hours to beat the final labyrinth and two bonus dungeons that unlock after you roll credits. You also have the option of New Game+ in which you can choose to carry over your whole Guild with all the items and maps that you want (other than story items). So even that 100 hours can be dwarfed by how much long term content you can take advantage of. The $39.99 retail price seems paltry compared to the amount of content you get, and at this quality. This is very likely to be my favorite RPG of the year, and we already have a strong contender for my Game of the Year. Oftentimes as a part of the gaming press we set aside a review game and never come back to it. But there is no way that is going to happen with Etrian Odyssey Nexus for me. I cannot wait to go through the game again with an all new crazy party combination. A Farmer as my main tank and a Nightseeker as my main healer? It’s possible. This entry isn’t just the last of the series, but it’s the best. Hopefully we can have another entry eventually, in whatever form that takes.
Heart of the Woods is the quintessential modern day fairy tale. With enough love, drama and touches of fantasy to make for a ride like no other. The best part is that it’s only $14.99 to enter this attraction. The future is bright for Studio Élan so get in on the fun early. Congratulations to the team on the launch!
While I didn’t touch on everything found in VenusBlood Frontier International I feel this is a pretty good overview of how the game flows. While this combat sounds complicated it’s really not once you start playing and is actually highly addictive. I haven’t had this much fun with an SRPG in many years. The story here is top notch and I loved all of the characters found here. This is one of the few times I can say a game truly met my expectations, and I sincerely hope Ninetails will bring more of these titles to the West. For the $40 you’re getting 100+ hours of solid gameplay and story in a game that has some of the best music and artwork I’ve seen in a long time. This is a must own for visual novel fans and SRPG players alike.
Tetris Effect is the full realization of what Miziguchi set out to do when he first made Lumines all those years ago. In a word, Tetris Effect is transcendent: the perfect synchronization of puzzle game, art, and music. Beyond the sights and sounds, it’s got killer-app worthy PSVR compatibility. I’ve already spent a good five hours on Effect, and I’m not done yet thanks to its various extra modes. Who would have thought that a Tetris game would be considered as a Game of the Year contender? Videos and screenshots alone aren’t enough to explain its genius; you only have to experience it yourself to see it.
If you haven’t played this game and read this review anyway, I still highly recommend playing this game if any aspect of this sounds compelling to you. I didn’t go over every little thing in the game, and it’s worth going through yourself. It only takes a few hours to play, and despite the somewhat steep price tag of $30, it’s well worth it. Judging it on the mechanics alone, it might seem underwhelming. But the way it ties all of its mechanics into the narrative and theme is fantastic, and the final sequence just knocks it out of the park, and had me in tears. Despite the odd direction in voice acting and the really lackluster visuals, its sincerity is what makes it compelling. It’s easily one of the more memorable games I’ve played this year, and it’s one I’m gonna be thinking about for awhile.
Yakuza Kiwami 2 is a pure joy on every level. This game excels in every area that I feel like Western gaming completely fails. It balances amazing gameplay and storytelling seamlessly. This is why it’s so damn good. If you’ve never played a Yakuza game before, you can jump right in at this one with no problem. There is a huge optional story recap at the front of the game that will catch you up to speed. I spent about 30 hours with this one and there is still a ton of stuff to see and do. The bonus content here is crazy, from the Majima side story to the ability to play the 2-player arcade games straight from the main menus. That’s right folks, you and a friend can play Virtual On or Virtua Fighter 2 right from the main menu. This game is worth every penny of the $49.99 price tag and I would recommend this to anyone that loves a good story or open world games. If I could give this bad boy 6 out of 5 stars, I would!
All in all Unavowed was a really fun experience that I’m planning on going through multiple times just to see how things play out. I’m currently on my second playthough and have a total of 9 hours in the game, which is really good for the $14.99 price tag. I would definitely recommend that anyone and everyone picks this game up. I had a blast and the story/character interactions genuinely brought tears to my eyes on a number of occasions, and made me laugh even more. It’s definitely a must play!
So, I ended up really glad that I took the time to go through this game, and a lot of time it was. By the time I finished the True Ending I was just shy of 110 hours of gameplay. That is before I’ve even gone back and done entirely optional things like finishing all the Side Quests and getting H’aanit a full compliment of super rare boss summons. Is it worth the full price of a new game, $59.99? Even with the retro style graphics, that is without a question the case. Not only is there many hours of great gameplay, but there is actually quite a bit of innovation in combat that makes this not just an exercise in nostalgia. Not only does this game restore some of the faith I had in the developer/publisher, but it also makes me care a little less that Kingdom Hearts is not really for me and perhaps Final Fantasy XVI won’t be either. I now have Octopath Traveler and Dragon Quest as my staple franchises from this company, and that is enough to keep me happy. Bring on a sequel, now it will be a game that I pre-order the moment it’s announced.
I have to say my time with Touhou Genso Wanderer Reloaded has been a pure joy. I love the stories and characters. The music is fantastic, and could be my favorite of the console Touhou games I’ve played. Gameplay here is fun, simple and challenging but fair. The amount of content here makes it well worth the $49.99 price tag. PlayStation 4 users can load their save from the previous version to carry over story progress, bestiary, and equipment. This means those folks jump straight into the new content. This is a must own title for Touhou fans. The amount of fan service to the franchise is huge and done in the best way possible. Rogue-like fans will have a blast with this one as well. This is one of the best game’s I’ve played this year and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone!
There are some minor graphical improvements and the music seems to be a bit more clear. But the largest improvement in that department is the fantastic opening cinematic and a few scattered cinematic scenes that were added in this version. You can easily tell which scenes were from the original by how grainy they are. But they are still functional. The new demons, some completely new to the series, all have wonderful art. It might be a negative to some that there is no English dub, but frankly I always play SMT games in Japanese so that doesn’t effect me at all. And the voice acting is quite good, especially for a portable game. This is a very long game, it took me just over 110 hours to see as much as I could with one playthrough. But there are additional regions you can go to in New Game+, also additional demons that you can battle and then fuse. So 110 hours is probably about half of what I will end up spending, especially if I want to finish out my Demon Compendium (it’s at 94% currently). I definitely consider this game well worth the $39.99 whether you played the original or not. They took a game that was really good, but rough around the edges, and made it what it always had the potential of being. I enjoyed Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse slightly more, but they are both masterpieces and two of the greatest games on the Nintendo 3DS regardless of genre. I’m not sure when the ATLUS SMT team will make a genuinely bad game, but it’s not this one. They are on an amazing streak and should be applauded for it.
The one word that comes to mind the most when playing this game was spectacle. There were amazing spectacles when just wandering around the world or rowing in your boat while Mimir relates the history of the Aesir. There was also amazing spectacle when you fight the massive bosses that you have come to expect from the God of War series. Surprisingly some of the greatest spectacle comes from the human sized bosses who quickly reveal themselves to be other Gods. You discover only a couple hours in that this game has the greatest superhero fights you’ve ever seen in a video game. This game takes around 20 hours for the main story, and around 15-20 more hours to finish everything else (over twice as long as previous God of War games even though it’s the same standard price of $59.99). During none of that time did I feel like I was just going through the motions. I never felt bored, I never felt underwhelmed, and I never felt like the game was taking control or agency from me. This isn’t just an amazing “experience”, this is an amazing game. So yes the other reviewers are correct that it’s a masterpiece. But it’s not a masterpiece despite being a God of War game, they didn’t leave us fans behind. It’s a masterpiece because they took Kratos and they made him even better. Not only did they make possibly the game of the generation, the anticipation for a sequel is rabid and will not abate until we have it in our hands.
Pit People is a wild ride from beginning to end, and I can only wonder what The Behemoth will show us next. But for now I really recommend this game if you’re already familiar with previous games made by this developer, fans of strategy in general, or if you wanna have some fun in a senseless world filled with charming little people.
MO:Astray is one of the best games I’ve played in the past 5 years. I mentioned this earlier, but this game truly feels like a passion project by developers that truly care about game design, as well as making the player feel the weight of the situation Mo has to go through. Personally, I’ll be recommending this game to everyone who loves story driven platformers – Archpray Inc. knows how to deliver.
Everyone wants to be the hero of their own story. Whether it’s taking care of loved ones, overcoming hardship, or grasping for a dream, I can think of no one who isn’t seeking some sort of place in this world. To say 2020 has been a bit rough for a whole lot of people would be an understatement, and Ichiban Kasuga was definitely the hero I needed this year. His strong heart, unwavering resolve, and unconditional love for those most important to him were the sort of positivity I craved. He would have been my favorite protagonist of all the games I played this year regardless, but he shone extra brightly in the darkness, and I adore him all the more for it. Ichiban’s struggles and triumphs were relatable and heartbreaking and beautiful, all at once, and helped propel his game not only to Game of the Year status, but also ousted Yakuza 5 from its pedestal as favorite game in the series. Ichiban is the hero everyone deserves, and I think his absolute banger of an anthem puts it best: “You may have nothing, yet you’ve got the bravery to go forth and lead a wonderful life.”
Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy is just a great game from start to finish. The characters are amazing, the world is very intriguing, and gameplay is just fantastic. I’ve played a lot of games in this series over the years, and this one is certainly one of my favorites. Gust has done something a lot of folks fail at. They took a very well-received title and made a sequel that is even better. It will take you right round 35 to 40 hours to complete the story here, and it’s worth every penny of the $59.99 retail price. I can’t wait to see where Ryza and her crew go from here!
There’s really nothing else I can say about Majikoi! Love Me Seriously! This is one of the best visual novels I’ve ever read. The characters are all amazing, the voice acting is top tier, the artwork is stellar, and the soundtrack is fantastic as well. This one is well worth the $39.99 price tag. You can also pick up an All Ages version of this on Steam for $34.99 and snag a patch from JAST’s site, if that is more your style. This one will give you well over 40 hours of gameplay, if you decided to tackle everything there is to see. I have no issue recommending this to any fan of visual novels. There is nothing else that mixes character work like this with action and comedy in such an amazing way.