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Despite some unique ideas and a solid art style, Shuffle Tactics has a very high difficulty curve and a roguelike loop that isn't rewarding enough, especially early on.
Ruffy and the Riverside is full of whimsical exploration and joyful personality. You don't have to look any further to experience a bright, colourful, and animated world this summer!
Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster is a good port, and it holds up well a decade-plus later thanks to some incredible gameplay choices, excellent music, and exciting twists midway through.
Rematch does a great job of creating a fun and rewarding skill-based sports game while providing a challenge and promoting teamwork.
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is a bigger and bolder expansion that will once again split fans and critics. The improvements across the board are felt immediately, bringing about a significant amount of much-needed change to the formula. Between the changes to stealth and combat, the new structures you can build, and the new settings, cast, and music, Death Stranding 2 has proven that Kojima is not only on point but also an auteur of the industry. There is nobody like him doing what he does, and I sincerely doubt there will be.
Mario Kart World moves the series in a bold new direction with open world and battle royale elements, but there's a distinct feeling of loneliness in the free roam.
The Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour features some elegant ideas, including minigames, medals, and tech demos, that give you an idea of what the Switch 2 hardware offers. Some of it, mainly the tech demos, are excellent samples of what the system can do, but ultimately, the medal chasing is little more than busy work, and it just leaves an awkward impression of being a game that should've been on the hardware for free. The minigames are also extremely simple and sometimes entertaining, but they never enticed me to return to them once I had finished what I was asked to do.
The Alters is a mashup of some of the best sci-fi movies of the last few decades, taking the idea of an isolated human and turning it on its head. The base-building and survival mechanics are fun, and they flesh out and elevate the story of a wayward soul looking to get back home in one piece.
Date Everything has a lot of heart, great writing, and memorable characters, but it is hampered by uneven game flow.
Fantasy Life I: The Girl Who Steals Time should not work with so much content crammed inside of it, yet it remarkably does.
Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma is a really cool spin-off for the Rune Factory series, and it's an overall good game that'll tide you over until the inevitable sixth numbered entry.
JDM: Japanese Drift Master has the potential to be the best drift experience out there. It embodies the lifestyle and uniquely showcases it.
Blades of Fire is a weird game with a solid story, good-looking visuals, and a unique approach to combat. However, the game is a slog to explore, one of the best parts of playing video games.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered doesn't deviate much from the original, but the improved graphics and modernized quality-of-life improvements make it easier to enter Cyrodiil.
Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny is an improvement over Warlords and is easily a highlight for the series.
Sea of Stars: Throes of the Watchmaker is an excellent follow-up that further fleshes out supporting characters and backstory.
Capcom Fighting Collection 2 might not change much regarding its appearance, but it's a solid collection of Capcom's greatest fighter hits now readily available for genre fanatics.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a likely frontrunner for Game of the Year. For a studio comprised of newcomers, Sandfall Interactive has crafted a love letter to JRPGs and rekindled the discussion of whether or not turn-based games have faded into obscurity.
Doom: The Dark Ages is much more focused than its predecessors and more fun thanks to id Software’s ability to continually refine the Doom formulas to feel different enough that it never gets boring.
Drop Duchy is the perfect blend of real-time puzzle solving and roguelike mechanics. I didn't know I needed a Tetris-like game in my life, but add a few archers, some resource management, a great progression and reward system, and a finely tuned difficulty curve.