GameBlast

Shovel Knight Dig proves the knight's versatility in a great roguelike action title. Digging ever deeper is addicting, and the mix of platform moments, battles and exploration makes the stages quite frantic. Besides that, there's a good variety of content to explore and an atmosphere full of charisma with a great 16-bits pixel art style. Even with so many qualities, the game has really annoying issues, such as dangers that show up out of nowhere, unbalanced aspects and the camera position gets in the way of some movements. It's important to be ready to ignore those negative points, but, overall, the result is positive. In the end, Shovel Knight Dig is yet another great addition to the franchise.

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eFootball 2023 finally took the franchise out of the relegation zone, putting it in a more comfortable position. The sharper visuals, the inclusion of more teams, and the significant improvement in gameplay made the free-to-play experience adequate and fun. The thing is, some of the biggest issues remain, including limited local experience and minimally enough content.

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Jack Move is a modern JRPG that pays homage to its origins by bringing a very casual experience of a genre that usually demands a lot from players with a well-written plot, well-built characters and simple gameplay to master. It is great for those looking for a less demanding, but still satisfying, experience in this classic video game genre.

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Return to Monkey Island is a tight hug for fans of the series. The game features familiar mechanics from the original games with the addition of elements that make the adventure more intuitive and dynamic. Despite its accessibility, it will hardly be as attractive to those who don't know the details of Monkey Island's history, being a product intended mainly for older fans of the series. But that doesn't take away from its shine. All elements of the game manage to captivate the player in the story brilliantly. It's a light, innocent and funny adventure that oozes charisma in all its aspects, just like in its first games.

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Temtem is a fun RPG, but it definitely lacks originality. Without a lot of ideas of its own, it's hard not to think about the concept of a missed opportunity, especially when you consider the creators' multiplayer ambitions and the pretty stable formula. Even so, it is an adventure recommended for fans of the genre — it is enough that expectations are properly dosed, as there is absolutely nothing revolutionary here.

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No Place for Bravery takes a serious and mature look at the hopes and fears of a father searching for his missing daughter. Every aspect of the game competently fits together to create a gripping story, as well as presenting a richly detailed and very interesting mythology. Despite occasional bugs and inaccuracy in the platform sections, this game is highly recommended for those looking for a moving story and challenging combat.

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Shin Chan: Me and the Professor on Summer Vacation - The Endless Seven-Day Journey manages to use a simple premise and execute it well to create a relaxing adventure that can be enjoyed by players small and big.

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The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero finally comes west in a great edition that the fans who followed the series so far will enjoy a lot. Unfortunately, the PS4 version doesn't have the same benefits of the PC and Switch editions, but to JRPG fans who have access to the non-Sony systems, the title is an excellent choice. Expectations are high for Trails to Azure also getting a high quality port in 2023.

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Foretales combines cards, puzzle elements and a bit of RPG to create a compelling narrative experience. The journey of the thief Volepain is filled with intriguing situations and their solutions include more than one possibility — experimentation and creativity are essential to advance the plot. Combat, puzzles and the variety of events enrich the experience, but there are a few issues: some objectives have way too complicated answers, navigating through some areas is tiresome and its reuse of locales and situations bring some repetition to it. Luckily, the ambientation includes an awesome dub, vibrant visuals, and charismatic characters, compensating the negative points. Overall, Foretales is a unique adventure worth checking out.

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LEGO Brawls left me really frustrated. Seeing a vast creative opportunity being wasted this way was vexing. Not even having a huge amount of pieces to unlock motivates more than an hour of playing. A shame, to say the least.

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Isle of Arrows is an interesting and unpredictable tower defense. The game works with the traditional formula of the genre and adds interesting concepts, such as fortress building and random elements to offer an acceptable experience. Matches can be complicated but the real fun is mounting good defenses with what can be found along the way — a challenge that demands planning, improvisation and luck. However, the title ends up abusing a little in its [overreliance on] random elements, creating frustrating situations that seem to lack strategy. Besides that, some mechanics are way too restrictive, hindering the tactical planning. Nonetheless, many of its issues can be fixed with balancing and patches. In the end, Isle of Arrows is a great tower defense, as long as the player is ready to deal with unpredictability.

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Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R may not be a 100% new product, but it manages to kill the longing for fans who were bitter about the previous title in the series. Even leaving those who don't know the characters in the dark, its performance improvements make it a great fighting game, with a varied cast and a lot of charisma.

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Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling into Darkness is a curious interpretation of the universe created by Akihito Tsukushi, but a variety of technical issues and lacking polishment end up weakening the experience considerably. Fans of the original work who want to feel the despair of diving into the abyss may find the game really interesting but the experience tends to be mediocre, especially for those who don't even know Made in Abyss well.

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Tinykin is an endearing action and 3D platforming adventure. Fast exploration is its biggest trump card, and the stages entice us to explore everywhere with its well thought locations. Besides that, there are many interesting puzzles that demand finding and using different tinykin — the challenge is low but it's fun to solve its creative puzzles. A soft atmosphere filled with charisma turns the experience into something even more enchanting. The areas are expansive and it has some fascinating and unique concepts, but the game suffers with some issues, such as the simplicity of tinykin usage and situations that repeat themselves from the very beginning to the end [of the game]. This doesn't hinder the journey as a whole but it still feels like a missed opportunity [to make something even better]. Overall, Tinykin is really worth a try.

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EA has shown that it has listened to fans of the franchise after the bad feedback of the last two years and has brought small changes that give more options for how to play the classic American football simulator. The graphical improvements in the new generation are very sharp and the amount of bugs has decreased. The game modes are pretty much the same and the small changes don't sustain interest for long.

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Melty Blood: Type Lumina became more interesting in the long run than some of its "big brothers" for simple reasons like free content and easy-to-handle gameplay. It's an excellent title coming from a studio that once again hits the nail on the head in a genre that is beginning to lack new and fresh ideas.

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Pac-Man World RePac presents a renewed and beautiful production that only highlights the qualities of the original game: well-thought-out levels, solid gameplay, many challenges to discover and face. Unfortunately, this has also left out many standard elements of current games, such as online functions and cosmetics. Even with this limitation, the experience is still very good and worth the place in your library, especially for fans of the platform and the late yellow acorn.

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Islets is a metroidvania that enchants with its charisma. Exploring floating islands is quite enjoyable as there is a great balance and variety between combat, exploration and platforming. The boss battles, in particular, are very creative and interesting. Also, the atmosphere is lovely, with humorous characters and beautiful visuals. The game competently executes the main platform concepts, but leaves something to be desired as metroidvania with some underdeveloped ideas. However, the intention is clear to offer a friendly and relaxed experience, and in that the title gets it right. In the end, Islets is a simple and captivating adventure.

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SD Gundam Battle Alliance is yet another product that suffers from the stigma of anime-based games, as it has elements that will be better used and valued by those who enjoy the original product. Despite the great quality with many elements to please the fans, the repetitiveness and lack of inspiration in the progression does not contribute to attract the interest of more players, even those who don't even know what a Mobile Suit is.

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Soul Hackers 2 is an entry that manages to showcase with primacy the potential that a Soul Hackers series can have within the Shin Megami Tensei universe. It's a thought-provoking new beginning and an honest return to a classic world that deserves to be explored further.

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