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Ultimately, though, I'm just not as smitten with Electronic Super Joy 2 as I was with the first. The free price tag makes this a lot more palatable, but I do believe more could have been done here. It's a little disappointing, but still a fun time that fans of the first are sure to get something out of. Just don't go in expecting anything dramatically different.
Metal Wolf Chaos fulfills this criteria because of its unique premise that wouldn't be out of place in the late '80s, combined with From Software's penchant for mechicular (I just made this up) combat. If you hate old games and crave the newest visual advancements, avoid it. For everyone else: there is something here you can sink your teeth into that's more than just a novelty relic.
I'm so torn on The Blackout Club. The prologue is an amazing experience and the game itself, while drastically different, still kept my friends and I coming back. But it's not a good game. There are too many bugs and mishandled mechanics holding it back, in addition to a huge bait-and-switch on story and lore. I do think there is a lot of potential here, as The Blackout Club fills an empty void in the market, but dang it's just so disappointing in its current state.
Despite some unevenness, Forager is absolutely worth a look. If anyone ever asks me for a relaxing game that they can throw themselves into and become obsessed with for a week, this is my pick.
A Short Hike is far from perfect, but it absolutely is unique and worth your time. It's also super fucking rad, and I love it. Warts and all. If you're looking for something different, and you don't mind the price of admission, I think this is more than worth the price of entry. It may not be perfect, but life never is, and that's fine and beautiful in its own way.
So unless you're in the mood to ruin your day and possibly take a few years off of your life, do yourself a favor and skip Turok: Escape from Lost Valley. Whatever the core concept was, it has not turned out well.
Kill la Kill: IF succeeds in translating its namesake's hyper-kinetic universe, wild action, and extreme characters into a fun experience, but is held back by lackluster side-content and flaws inherent to its own design. It's worth your time if you're already a franchise fan, but those yet to be ensnared by Life-Fibers should wait until this particular couture number moves to the reduced rail.
I cannot stress enough how much Fire Emblem: Three Houses exemplifies the "RPG" part of the acronym "SRPG." While strategy is indubitably a large part of Fire Emblem's DNA, the vast majority of my enjoyment was found having lunch with classmates and getting to know them better, or doing errands while running around the lovely academy grounds. This is a world you can absolutely lose yourself to for months on end, but if you find menus tedious, you might be reticent to the modern relationship-heavy Fire Emblem formula that's cemented in Three Houses.
Maybe I just expected too much, but I find myself missing the careful balance of story and gameplay that The New Order had down pat. Youngblood makes plenty of strides forward for this series, but it also takes some steps backward that end up hurting the overall package.
It has a lot of potential, but Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot ends before it can reach most of it. Still, I hope Bethesda doesn't give up on VR. A few games like Doom VFR have been nice optional companion pieces, and I think they could stand to push that concept further, as the fundamentals are there.
Automachef is home to some mind-melting challenges, but if you're up to the task, you're eventually in for blissful breakthroughs. Just don't come in expecting to unwind after a long day at work.
That's it. The Council is over. I am now writing the last words about this godforsaken series ever. I think there are two parts of my life: pre- and post-Council. I am not the same man I was when I started playing these games. It's time for me to move on. Sayonara, The Council.
There's plenty of room for improvement, but I had fun playing through Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3. With the Marvel IP less muddled and the simplicity of this deal between Marvel and Nintendo, I'd love to see another with enhancements in tow.
Assassin's Creed Odyssey: Fate of Atlantis has been one of the more consistent DLC storylines in the history of the series. All of the folks who have been holding off for a full Game of the Year edition have a lot to look forward to, and those of you who have been waiting to see if the entire saga was worth it can safely pull the trigger.
Umihara Kawase Fresh! is easily my favorite entry thus far. I hope that the changes to the framework and the added accessibility manage to hook some new fans. Maybe this really is a fresh start for the series.
But that toolkit is only half of the equation. The other half is a platform game with no quality control, no impetus for putting legitimate effort into your original designs, and no way to weed out poor content creators other than trusting that players will be able to discern the difference between a bad level and good level and rate them accordingly. Given how many positive messages I've seen attached to genuinely bad stages, I don't have much faith in the Mario Maker community right now and I question whether it'll get better down the line.
I'm conflicted. Cooperative titles like this are hard to find nowadays, especially with drop-in, drop-out co-op. There's no denying it's fun exploring with a friend and the game contains some genuinely clever challenges, especially during the boss fights. There's the seed of a great game here, and I'd genuinely like to see more like it. I really hope BonusXP gets the chance to use this engine to make something else: It's pretty good for a licenced product, but ultimately, that's all it is.
With Blazing Chrome you kind of get what you get: it's an hour and change shooter that pays extreme homage to the Contra series. JoyMasher has already proved that they "get" the bygone eras of retro gaming with Oniken and Odallus, and now they have yet another triumph to add to their resume.
It's easy for me to say Dragon Quest Builders 2 is a good game because it'd be a lie for me to say otherwise. The groundwork laid by the first title is still sound, but it just didn't grab me the same way its predecessor did. That doesn't mean I'm going to stop playing anytime soon -- I still have my home island to complete -- but it does mean it's not going to get my undivided attention for weeks-on-end like the first game did.
Ultimately, though, the game ended up not being for me. I do believe it's worth a look to the right person, but you should know what you're getting into before taking the plunge. I'd also recommend you check this out on PC because that random bug in the Switch version could wind up causing you to waste a ton of time without you even knowing it.