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From the title screen, I knew I was going to like Twisted Tower. Drawing on a clear love of Bioshock, it tells its own twisted story in a fun and creepy way. Satisfying, brutal combat will take you on a compelling, and gory, adventure to save the damsel in distress through a well-crafted carnival of madness.
Starsand Island goes beyond in-game grinding. Instead of prioritizing productivity, it prioritizes relaxation and the feeling of truly being submersed into a game. A game you can customize and make your own. A game you can play solo or with friends. A game that goes beyond the code, and focuses on the players and their experience.
Humor? Check. Heart? Check. Satisfying combat? Check (if you want simpler tactical combat). Satisfying character growth? Check. Good gameplay? Check. Romance? Check. It checks so many boxes. Combat is smooth and satisfying, even rewarding at times. The voice acting is fantastic which is no surprise with the amazing cast of talent.
The Sinking City 2 is a game meant to be enjoyed by fans of cosmic horror. Its emphasis on those tense moments that make every survival horror game great is enough to make anyone scared of the dark, while its story is one intent on challenging your sanity. As always, H.P. Lovecraft's mythos is deployed masterfully and shows no signs of its age even a century later. The Sinking City 2 presents itself as Frogwares' defining moment, and it should ultimately be remembered as their greatest accomplishment yet. So do yourself a favor, survival horror fans —book the trip to Arkham. The water's freezing, the locals bite, and I can't recommend it enough.
Duskfade isn’t simply a love letter to the action platformers of the ’90s and early ’00s; it’s an ode to them, bringing their influences together so effortlessly that the result feels like something you’ve played before and something new and exciting at the same time. Weird Beluga has clearly spent years studying what made those games so special, but Duskfade never feels trapped by its influences. Instead, it takes those ideas and gives them new life, building a world and adventure that feels familiar without sacrificing its own identity.
Wild Blue Skies is a solid homage to Star Fox 64 overall. It’s visuals are fantastic and it’s gameplay controls well and is fun overall. Unlike other recent rail shooters however, the game doesn’t do enough to step out of the shadow of Star Fox, nor does it really seem to try to. If you don’t have a Switch but want a Star Fox style experience, it’s still worth checking out however.
Steins;Gate RE:BOOT is one of the more intriguing visual novels that I have gotten to experience. It makes you think, makes you question choice, and makes you ponder how your own actions can reverberate outwards. This complex and rich story, coupled with some unique styling designs, will be a major sell to those looking to revisit this series. But if you are new to the visual novel universe, this one might be too convoluted (or too pricey) to gamble on.
A technical disaster that rarely works, layered on top of a hollow game with very little substance, Agefield needed to spend many more semesters in development detention. I cannot recommend Agefield to anyone, even the most hardened Bully, American Pie, or 00s pop culture fans.
Overall Marvel Tokon is a blast to play as a fighter. The game looks fantastic, its combo system is fun and it pays great respect to the rich lore of Marvel with how the characters are designed to fight. While a couple things do hold it back from perhaps standing with Arc Sys all time great fighters, it’s another good game in the current line up of fighting games that doesn’t seem to stop growing.
Echoes of Aincrad feels designed to deliberately waste your time. It’s by no means a bad game, there’s a lot of interesting elements to enjoy including the story, the world, and the combat. However, it does itself a disservice by padding the game out excessively with repetitive missions and forced exploration. With strange restrictions on exploration and questionable design choices, it doesn’t respect the player, and suffers for it.
Of course, visual novels, management games, and choices matter games are not for everyone. However, if you enjoy the idea of ruling your own magical tower, sending knights out on various quests, and turning back time to ensure everything is perfect, I highly recommend this game. With a fun cast of characters, lots to find, and plenty of reason to challenge yourself with turning back time (or not), Sovereign Tower is definitely one to enjoy this year.
Kynseed has its grubby, overachieving, honey-soaked fingers in many pots. It looks fantastic, the world and its style suit it extremely well, and it sounds amazing. The menus, quality of life, and user interface make it an easy game to play, albeit having a deep, and steep learning curve. It has many jobs and social-building responsibilities that I would NEVER EVER want to do in real life, but I find them cozy in video game format. Not only that, but a combat system that completely took me by surprise! Like, what even is this game? The story is wacky, the NPCs are mean to me, and the jobs are stressful, but it’s a world that I want to be in, and if you take the time to learn it, a world you can be in forever.
Through laser sharp design in its progression and combat mechanics, Splatoon Raiders offers one of the best shooter campaigns of the year. It takes all of the learnings from its predecessors and expertly adapts them to an addictive looter shooter that’s packed to the gills with content and wrapped in a delightfully endearing package.
While Midnight Moments may not be for everyone, that’s exactly what makes it stand out from others. It isn’t trying to be filled with objectives or fast paced. So many times games try to add so many elements that key gameplay gets drowned out. Developers Happy Volcano on the other hand chose to stick with one element and do it well. They embrace slowing down, and focusing on a more a tranquil experience. Simply enjoying the lulling sounds of the rain and vibrant neons, being truly immersed in a cyberpunk oasis.
The missing features might hurt another game much more but, Avatar Legends gameplay is so good that it still didn’t deter me from playing it a ton. Mechanically, I truly think it may be the best fighting game to come in a long time and if those issues get sorted soon, hopefully the game can see a long life cycle within the fighting game community.
The Green Light is a competent, eerie walking simulator which delivers suspense, some good environments and better than expected sound design. Fred may have seen the lighthouse at the end of his monotonous career tunnel, but with some of the plot being thin or confusing, it’s not the games brightest light. However, much of that is acceptable for a solo-developed title. The Green Light is worth the small price of admission if you have an itch for a new one-sitting horror game.
It’s disappointing that even in the three and a half hours I spent making my way through Truck-kun is Supporting Me from Another World?!’s story, I was validated in feeling like I’d seen everything after my third or fourth romp around its small open-world. While I admire the modest scope that Strange Scaffold set out to achieve with this tightly focused premise, its structure is quickly burdened by a lack of variety.
Case Solved: London Files really got my brain moving. It’s nice to not have time limits or pressure of decisions. Just a relaxing set of puzzles to work your way through. The smooth jazz and 2D hand-drawn art were the icing on the top of the cake.
Steeped in style, with excellent animations, Kusan is a stunning neon world with its own unique way of telling a gritty story through a graphic novel. This game exceeded every expectation, even having played the demo. I sincerely hope we one day see a successor, even if it’s just to parry the brains out of every wolf once again.
While The Planet Crafter has some technical and progress halting issues, its sense of exploration and scale over time are something I don’t come across in many games. The game is absolutely worth checking out, even if you’re not into the survival genre. With the addition of co-op up to 10 people, this is a game that gives you almost limitless ways to shape the world how you want it.