GameBlast

Final Fantasy XVI dares to bring a new approach to a franchise with more than three decades of existence, reinventing part of its mythology to offer a unique and revolutionary experience, meeting the needs of a new generation of consoles and players. All in all, FFXVI is exactly what the franchise needed to stay relevant in this day and age in terms of storytelling, gameplay, and technical merits. While nostalgic fans might disagree, this game is a worthy successor to the crystals legacy that began in 1987.

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Gimmick! Special Edition brings an interesting charm with the global ranking to a title known by few. Still, it's worth giving it a chance, mainly because of its gameplay, which remains different even today.

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PowerWash Simulator does manage to be interesting and even intriguing, with the proposal to clean different places, and it's something to be played with no urgency to finish. The visuals show a surprising amount of care when portraying places full of details, but the lack of musical support to break the irritation of the washing machine's sound and the repetitiveness of objectives abruptly affect the experience provided.

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Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg brings back a title that in essence is a very simple adventure, especially when compared to what we currently have on the market. Even in this context and with the support of several adjustments to improve the quality of life of the experience and graphically modernize it, we have a charming RPG in our hands and I hope that more titles in the franchise previously available only in Japan can receive similar treatment.

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Front Mission 1st Remake is a good way to experience a tactical RPG classic originally developed by Squaresoft on SNES. Though there are elements that could have been better when it comes to properly conveying information, the rich mecha customization and the bigger focus on combat amidst a straightforward war story are some appealing points for adventuring into the game.

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Layer upon layer, Buddy Simulator 1984 extends its mystery by following the maxim that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. With that, it allows itself to vary by different designs that form an unexpected and gradual evolution to explore the good, the bad and the ugly that there is in friendship. The textual adventure's slow start makes sense within the bigger picture, but it's a relief that the gameplay prefers something more dynamic for the rest of the game. Behind the simplicity, the nonsense, the cuteness and the macabre, a subtle mystery awaits those who want to venture into this fable of an artificial intelligence endowed with human anxieties.

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With Eyes of Ice, though not exactly an otome visual novel, is an excellent narrative by ebi-hime, who did not shy away from exploring scenery and habits different from those the author is used to write. Even though Iceland's Nordic culture (especially the names) may cause some non-European players to raise their brows, the plot is solid enough to keep your interest from start to finish, especially thanks to an excellent audiovisual presentation and characterization.

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Despite these issues, The Bookwalker: Thief of Tales is a fun experience. Getting to know different worlds through books, and learning about their stories while solving the puzzles makes you want these stories to be available in our world for reading, even if some are inspired by very famous books. For fans of point-and-click games, and good stories, this game is a sure choice, even more so when the aforementioned problems are fixed.

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Voidigo is a fast-paced, fast-paced action roguelike. The big highlight is the boss fights, which can appear at any time and constantly move through the stages — it's all very unpredictable and the fun is being able to adapt to these challenges. Countless weapons and creative abilities make the matches very unique and the universe itself is charismatic and humorous. As is usual with the genre, there is a bit of repetition between stages. Also, sometimes there's so much on the screen that it's hard to understand what's going on. However, these details do not compromise the experience, as there is a lot of content to explore and options to customize various aspects of the game. With intense confrontations and dynamic bosses, Voidigo is a must for those who enjoy a good roguelike.

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Possibly Sega's definitive hedgehog collection (but probably not the last), Sonic Origins Plus managed to go a little further than the base title. Major additions include 12 Game Gear games and the availability of more playable characters. The point is that Plus is not justified for all audiences, as the content is not very interesting — in fact, Origins was not exactly perfect. Therefore, this is a good suggestion for any library, and only those most passionate about the character should prioritize the acquisition of the complete package.

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Sludge Life 2 is a very interesting adventure into a morally questionable future. Its tendency towards total freedom for exploration is a double-edged sword, as it also leads the player to be lost even when it comes to realizing what is interactive or not. However, even so, the game brings an interesting social perspective marked by “living on the margins” in a society that ironically only moves forward even in ruins.

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The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie is a honorable conclusion to the Crossbell and Erebonia arcs. Though it's not recommended for those who haven't experimented the previous games yet, the title offers a beautiful emotional catarsis to the challenges the characters faced so far.

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The seventh generation of consoles was marked by a creative peak for the industry, which began to take advantage of the new ways of playing that became popular there, as is the case with both the motion sensors on the Wii and the touch screen on the Nintendo DS. Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective is yet another inventive, consequential title from that era that has finally managed to break free of its shackles to reach a wider audience. Furthermore, with charismatic characters, striking visuals and unique gameplay, the game is one of those fascinating experiences that every now and then arise to remind us why we like video games in the first place.

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Crash Team Rumble offers a lighthearted, fun idea but it's hindered by little initial content and it made achieving the available prizes a repetitive chore. Even so, it's an excellent alternative for those who always wanted to try out an arena game but never found a friendly choice.

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Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story 2 manages to present two opposite sides when it comes to quality. On the administration side, the title has a good challenge and diverse possibilities to manage and plan the studies of the future heroes. On the RPG one, it fails to present any attractive content, delivering tedious and monotone moments. Despite its qualities, it's hard to recommend it due to how many hours it takes to explore its bland scenery and to overcome the repetitive battles.

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Aliens: Dark Descent is a title that offers a solid experience within the genre of games inspired by the Alien franchise. With an ambience extremely faithful to the movies, it'll definitely please fans of the series looking for a challenge, even if too steep, in tactics and strategy.

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Even with some narrative cliches and elements that could have been further explored in the plot, Loopers is an extremely beautiful and competent visual novel in its audiovisual and textual aspects, and it has a wide variety of configurations to make it more comfortable for reading. It's hard not to get emotional with the story that, despite being short, resonates a lot with bits of our daily life.

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AEW: Fight Forever came with good intentions, but it needed to have more practice before stepping into the ring. Even though it brings a totally different proposition compared to any recent WWE, its various problems and weak content make it a game that will not even pass the door of the Hall of Fame.

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Love Shore is a visual novel with an enticing and well written plot but, curiously, its gameplay leaves a little to be desired. The lack of quality of life elements already considered trivial in the market to the point of being default features in visual novel engines cuts down a little of the player control. The result is a really interesting story with an inconvenient gameplay that should be fixed to offer a much better experience.

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It's not often that a strategy game manages to be as dynamic and addictive as Company of Heroes 3 - Console Edition. With a good variety of features and fun campaign and multiplayer modes, it's easy to get involved in the competitive battles set in World War II. There are a few problems that make the player's life difficult, but make no mistake: if you're a fan of games that require tactics and planning, preferably seasoned with a good dose of action, then this is a great addition to your library.

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