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  1. Fair warning: this game will make you desperately hungry for donuts. Freshly Frosted, from developer The Quantum Astrophysicists Guild, is an utterly charming puzzle game centered around donuts. The delicious confections appear on a conveyor belt, and it's your job to get them to the goal with the appropriate toppings. It's a sweet and simple premise that is quickly put toward wonderfully brain-twisting challenges. Freshly Frosted doesn't have a story to speak of, but each level does begin with a short narration that is simply the most pleasant little bit of dialogue that you'll ever hear. This isn't a game about slaying monsters or going on a grand adventure, it's just a cozy little donut-themed puzzler, and the narrator's brief musings on sugary confections makes that abundantly clear. It's also not the most elaborate voice acting out there but it adds a ton of charm to an already adorable little game. Every level has the same basic goal: there's a starting point and an end point, and you have to place conveyor belts to get the donuts to the goal. That's literally the only control input you'll have through the entire game, but naturally there will be increasingly complex donut demands. You'll also need to add the appropriate toppings to your donuts as the stage requires, and there's a specific order in which to add toppings: frosting, sprinkles, whipped cream, and cherries. Early on you might have just one goal for frosted donuts, but how do you handle multiple starting points and multiple endpoints? What if one endpoint only accepts sprinkles, while another requires everything? What about teleporters, or special blocks that separate the donuts? Across 144 levels, divided into 12 boxes of 12 levels each, Freshly Frosted throws plenty of curve balls at you to keep you on your toes. What's great is that the game perfectly finds that sweet spot of challenge and accessibility. Each box introduces a new concept so the first couple of levels are pretty simple to just show you how to deal with the new obstacle. The game is not afraid to ratchet up the difficulty though, and the end of each box has some significant head-scratchers that can easily leave you stumped. However, the game never feels unfair. There's an excellent escalation of challenge that pushes the player but won't throw you into an insane scenario without giving you the basics that you need to succeed. Freshly Frosted is challenging without being overwhelming, and the mellow, relaxed vibe of the game also makes it easy to just hang out for a bit without feeling frustrated. And if you do need help, the game has a couple of ways to put you on the right track. For one thing, you can just skip a puzzle if you're truly stumped. Each box unlocks in order as you complete the previous one but you don't have to finish every single puzzle in a box, so you can jump over one or two and come back later, perhaps with better insight from a later level. The game also has a built-in hint system that reveals part of the solution to you. It's only one piece of the puzzle so it's not like the game just hands you the answer, but oftentimes just having a solid base to start from is a huge help, especially in the more complicated puzzles where it feels like your conveyor belts could go anywhere. It's great to have these in-game assists to guide you while still rewarding you with the final "eureka!" moment. As already mentioned the whole aesthetic of Freshly Frosted is tranquil puzzle solving. From a design standpoint this is a very simple game, but it gives you all the visual information you need with stylish color palettes and a fun variety of donut shapes for each box. The music is wonderfully meditative and will definitely put you in a zen-like puzzle-solving state. It's also a lot of fun to watch your conveyor belt solution unfold as the donuts move in time with the music (and since some of the solutions are pretty dang long, you can choose to speed up or entirely skip the solution-check part of the game). Freshly Frosted is a delightful puzzle game that takes a simple premise and puts it to tons of clever and challenging uses. 144 levels feels like a perfect length with puzzles that are engaging and complex but never wear out their concepts, and the cozy aesthetic, charming narrator, and catchy soundtrack that bounces between zen-like puzzle-solving mode and buoyant solution mode add tons of personality to a stage-by-stage puzzle game. Puzzle fans will love seeing their solutions take off on these donut conveyor belts—just be ready for some sweet cravings after playing Freshly Frosted. Rating: 8 out of 10 Donuts Review copy provided by publisher Freshly Frosted is available now on the Switch eShop for $9.99. Get 10% off as a launch discount, now to 6/7.
  2. After all her hard work saving Scuttle Town, Shantae is off on a well-deserved vacation to Paradise Island when, wouldn't you know it, danger strikes and it's up to the half-genie hero to save the day. Shantae and the Seven Sirens puts a few new spins on the dance-based magic that the series is known for, but the core gameplay is the same sleek side-scrolling action. Even if there isn't much evolution to the formula, Shantae's gameplay is just as charming and engaging as ever. Shantae is on an all-expenses-paid vacation to Paradise Island, where several half-genies have been invited for a special celebration. Shortly after Shantae meets the other half-genies though, they're spirited away in a sudden kidnapping, leaving Shantae to rescue them and discover the secrets of the island. The plot is fun and serviceable—you don't need much more motivation in an adventure like this than "go explore a part of the map you haven't been yet"—and like past entries in the series there's a lot of humor thanks to the tongue-in-cheek writing. The new characters are fun but it's the returning cast of allies and enemies where the bulk of the writing's charm lies. Seven Sirens mostly plays more like a traditional Metroidvania rather than being segmented into separate stages like past Shantae games, but the essentials are the same: Shantae can use her hair like a whip to fight, attack with magical items, or transform into animals in order to explore. This game streamlines the dance-magic concept that Shantae is known for. Now she can transform into animals with just the press of a button, and the dance is only for special spells. You also don't have to dance for longer to use a different spell, now you just press a direction on the control stick/D-pad to select what spell to use. Shantae's dance transformations were charming, but the fast-paced gameplay of Seven Sirens feels so much smoother and snappier. Transitioning from a lizard to climb a wall into a frog to swim through water happens in a split second and the flow of gameplay is better for it. More importantly, all of Shantae's transformations and spells feel well used here. Instead of being one-use abilities like in some of her past games, most of her abilities have uses for combat and exploration, making her arsenal more well-rounded and less like a checklist of skills. Seven Sirens also has an entirely new feature: Monster Cards. Defeated monsters sometimes drop cards which Shantae can equip, granting various abilities such as faster climb speed or less magic consumed when using the fireball item. There are fifty cards in all but you can only equip three at once, so you'll need to be choosy. The cards' effects can feel somewhat unbalanced though—some are useful only in specific circumstances while some are so overwhelmingly useful that it seems silly not to use them. Still, a little customization is a nice touch for Shantae. Seven Sirens should only take around eight hours to complete, though like past Shantae games you can challenge yourself to complete the game faster or with 100% item collection for added artwork rewards. Thanks to how smoothly the gameplay flows now, these speedrun challenges feel more manageable. Since its original release, Seven Sirens has received some updates for extra modes as well, including an easy mode, a definitive mode with rebalanced difficulty, and a mode that allows you to equip more than three Monster Cards. Even the definitive mode feels pretty easy though. This game regularly throws healing items and money at you, so outside of the first thirty minutes or so it seems like it'd be difficult to actually die. Perhaps to compensate for this bosses tend to feel like damage sponges, taking dozens and dozens of hits to die and giving you a reason to use up the plentiful health items you've collected. It's not a terrible difficulty balance but it still feels like it could've been handled better. It's also worth mentioning that post-release updates fixed one of the big complaints at launch: the map does a better job of pointing you in the right direction and reminding you of points of interest, specifically caves that often contain health upgrades. You still have to do the work for 100% completion but it's less of a chore now. The game's presentation is as sharp as ever with stunning 2D artwork, charming character/monster designs, and a handful of fully animated cutscenes sprinkled throughout the game. The cartoonishly colorful scenery is the perfect backdrop for a Metroidvania adventure like this, and the bubbly character design and animation gives Shantae her classic buoyant personality. The cutscenes are mostly pretty brief but they add some nice flourishes to the story. The soundtrack is also solid, though it doesn't have quite as many standout tracks like past games. Shantae and the Seven Sirens is another finely crafted 2D adventure from developer WayForward. The little quality of life changes and updates naturally fold into the Shantae formula and help streamline the gameplay without losing any of the personality or charm that the series is known for. The Monster Card system is perhaps not as in-depth as it could be, but an extra little touch of customization is nice nevertheless. In the end, Metroidvania fans will be charmed by the distinctively fun, cute style of Shantae and should love exploring everything that Paradise Island has to offer. Rating: 9 out of 10 Sirens
  3. The hero who saves the world can't always be a predestined warrior of legend—sometimes it's a nobody. Drinkbox Studios (the developer behind the Guacamelee games) puts their hilarious, inventive touch on top-down dungeon-crawling with Nobody Saves the World. Despite some inherent repetitiveness, this adventure oozes charm (especially if you're playing as a slug) and makes for a fantastic time-killing game either solo or with a friend. When the game begins you wake up as a nobody with no memories (or pants). With the aid of a magic wand though you're able to transform into different forms, from a rat to a knight to a zombie, and you'll have to stop the calamity before it engulfs the world. Drinkbox Studios' games are hilariously silly and this one is no exception. It's a dungeon-crawler so you'll spend most of your time just exploring and fighting monsters, but anytime you encounter NPCs in villages or through side quests you're in for a funny, charming time. Swapping forms is the key to Nobody Saves the World: each form has different abilities, so you might need the rat to crawl through small areas or the mermaid to swim across water. Each form has a couple of attacks/abilities and these all have one of four elements (sharp, blunt, light, or dark). Sometimes monsters are only weak to a certain element so you'll need to swap to deal damage. You'll also gain the ability to mix and match abilities across forms, allowing you to do a greater variety of damage with a single form. You can also level up each form by completing form quests. For example, the rat can poison enemies so one quest might be to poison fifty enemies. On top of all this is the dungeon-crawling aspect, with randomly generated dungeons that sometimes have extra challenges like monsters that are immune to status effects. Nobody Saves the World is inherently grindy and repetitive: you enter a dungeon, fight through hordes of enemies, defeat the boss, then explore the overworld to reach the next dungeon. What makes the game so engaging though is the variety of forms and the addictive challenge of completing every form quest. This is really a game for completionists—if you're not challenging yourself with completing form quests, you're not getting the most out of the game. If you try to do everything possible though, you'll have a wealth of tasks to complete, and the little nugget of accomplishment that you get from finishing one task after another is incredibly satisfying. The forms themselves are also well designed and thought out. You've got some classic video game classes like knight and ranger, but then there are wackier ones like horse or bodybuilder. Some forms are harder to learn than others—not every ability is useful in every situation—but there are actually a lot of inventive combat approaches here, and learning to master each one is a blast. Swapping and combining abilities also means you have a ton of opportunities to customize your play style or accommodate a form's weaknesses. Experimenting and discovering effective combos to effortlessly wipe out a screen full of monsters is definitely one of the joys of the game. Swapping forms, despite being a central aspect of the game, does feel a little clunky though. You can open up the menu to swap to any form you've unlocked, or you can quickly swap with a radial menu. However, there are a couple of minor problems with it; opening the radial menu doesn't pause the game, so you have to be fast as enemies attack you. You also can't customize the radial menu, it only shows you the last eight forms you've used. One or the other of these little quality of life issues isn't a huge deal, but both of them make the radial menu a lot less useful than it should be. Nobody Saves the World is a decent length but wraps up before the repetitive gameplay gets too tedious. Even while pursuing every wacky side quest and leveling up each form you can expect around fifteen to twenty hours of game time, which feels like the sweet spot. There's also both local and online co-op. It doesn't transform the gameplay much, but it's still fun to have a friend along for the ride. Finally there's a New Game+ mode which makes enemies and dungeons even tougher, though with the skills you've honed by playing through the game the difficulty level feels pretty satisfying. The quirky, colorful art style is excellent—it feels like it's straight out of a 90s cartoon, just bright and inventive and weird. Even if the environments and enemies are repeated often throughout the game, the vivid color palette and little funny touches to the scenery are just delightful. The soundtrack is fun as well. It's got a chill groove to it to get you in the mindset for fighting through waves of baddies, but always with a low-key vibe. Nobody Saves the World is another excellent game from Drinkbox Studios, filled with their love for vivid, colorful artwork, hilarious writing, and simple but sharp gameplay. The cycle of exploring dungeons and trying out new forms is repetitive but never tedious. Instead, you're always propelled toward completing another form quest, unlocking a new form, and testing out powerful ability combos. And on the Switch, it's perfect for sitting down and diving deep into the adventure or just playing around with different forms on the go. Rating: 9 out of 10 Nobodies
  4. If I didn't know any better I'd say Triangle Strategy was targeted specifically at me. It features tactical-RPG gameplay similar to Final Fantasy Tactics or Fire Emblem, the lovely HD-2D art style first seen in Octopath Traveler, and the kind of morally gray political intrigue you'd find in modern fantasy novels. So yeah, I'm probably predisposed to liking this game just based on its premise, but the final product really is a delightfully engaging strategy game that challenges your wits and convictions. Just stick with it through the first few hours. The story takes place in Norzelia, where three nations have established a relatively new peace. Each country has control of a valuable natural resource, so open cooperation and trade is vital. Naturally, everything starts going to hell once the game gets started. The main protagonist is Serenoa Wolffort, a high-ranking lord from the kingdom of Glenbrook with close ties to the royal family. Your journey takes you to the other nations as well, the duchy of Aesfrost and the holy empire of Hyzante, where different ways of life offer pros and cons for the people and the ruling class. Ultimately, your choices dictate what kind of person Serenoa is, what his convictions are, and how they align with these three nations and your allies' morals. I have to admit, the game throws a lot of information at you early on. Even as someone who reads a lot of fantasy novels, with endless lists of characters and their relationships with each other, my head was spinning in the first few hours of Triangle Strategy. Thankfully the game provides a handy chronicle of all these details in the menu, so you can always refresh your memory on places and historical events. This is not a game for players that skim through cutscenes, though. The most important hook in Triangle Strategy is the branching paths system. During major decisions Serenoa will consult with his allies and advisors to decide how to move forward, and you can even talk with them to convince them to follow whichever path you prefer. These scenes unfold with a dramatic vote at the Scales of Conviction that weigh each option. Despite being introduced early, the branching paths don't come into play too much until about a third of the way through the story, but once they do, oh boy. You'll be faced with some agonizing decisions, and having to stand by your choices is an intense experience. You'll both dread and anticipate every time the Scales come out, because you know something serious is about to happen. There are plenty of times where you're forced to consider the lesser of two evils rather than a "good" and a "bad" path, which also nicely adds to the game's replay value. It's good to see a game where the choices have some weight and aren't just slight variations of one path. But while the setting is solid and the decision system is engaging, the characters themselves leave a little something to be desired. They're not bad, but most don't quite find the kind of personality and charm found in recent Fire Emblem games. Some of them are pretty flat, or at the very least don't get further fleshed out until you've raised their levels and have used them in battle for hours and hours. The antagonists are also perhaps a little too antagonistic. The whole concept of the game wants you to agonize over whom to trust and what path to take, but some of the villains are moustache-twirling-levels of villainy, so of course you won't trust them. For a game that wants to emphasize morally gray choices, it would have been nice to have more morally gray characters (and granted there are a few standout morally-gray characters, and they're great, but the game could've used more of that). Finally I should get to talking about the gameplay, though maybe that's appropriate since the game can feel a little lopsided at times and weighted toward cutscenes instead of battles. Nevertheless, once you're actually in a battle they are delightfully crunchy tactical challenges, especially by the end of the game. In a lot of strategy games your characters end up feeling like wrecking balls by the late game, but not here. You'll need to carefully plan your moves and weigh each character's strengths and weaknesses. Don't worry though, there's no permadeath so you can be a little cavalier in how you play. Each character has a unique class and unique abilities (you also can't change classes but you can upgrade them to unlock additional abilities). You'll need to consider the standard elements of strategy games—turn order, environment, attack range, etc.—and manage each character's TP, which allows them to use skills. Another key feature here is the follow up attack system, which allows you to deliver an extra attack if you surround an enemy with two of your characters in a pincer formation. Beware though, because enemies can do the same to you. Since each character acts independently in the turn order based on their speed, you may inadvertently put a character into peril by pushing them forward without backup. On the other hand, clumping up makes you an easy target for magic attacks. At every second you'll need to consider these kinds of challenges. Triangle Strategy does a great job of gradually raising the stakes on you. Early on, while you're still learning the basics, the game takes it easy on you, and risky plays aren't punished. But around the same time that the story takes off the gameplay takes off the kid gloves and you'll need to carefully consider how to approach each map. There's a good amount of variety in maps and encounters as well, so you're not just defeating every enemy in each battle, which makes every chapter feel like a fresh challenge. Sometimes caution is key and sometimes the game won't give you the luxury of moving forward slowly, so you'll need to adapt to each battle. For a strategy fan, the whole gameplay structure is excellent. There's enough meaty tactical thinking involved to get your brain churning, but it's also not so tedious that you need to exhaustively track stats or things like accuracy and terrain effects. It's very easy for a strategy game to be unwelcoming to players, but Triangle Strategy finds a nice balance while still pushing you with challenging and engaging encounters. Like a lot of strategy games, the roster of characters is far larger than the number of units you can actually bring into battle, so you'll inevitably leave some back at camp, never leveling up. Since each character has unique abilities there are actually tons of strategies you can come up with, though admittedly it's hard to not use the more basic characters you get early on—they're just useful in virtually every scenario. Of course, that means there's plenty of replay value if you want to try out each character, plus you can obviously replay the game to experience the branching paths and multiple possible endings. It's also nice that one playthrough of the game isn't terribly long—around thirty-five hours or so if you're fighting optional battles to ensure your main characters are properly leveled—so playing through each path isn't an overwhelming time commitment. As I already mentioned, I was excited to see the return of HD-2D sprites, like those found in Octopath Traveler. The art style is a little less diorama-y in Triangle Strategy than that previous game, and since the enemies are mostly human characters you don't get quite as much variety of sprite-work as in a standard RPG, but the blend of classic 2D artwork and modern HD sensibilities still looks great. The soundtrack is also excellent and helps hammer home the grand drama of both your political and combat maneuverings. The voice work, however, isn't quite up to par. The dialogue is written in a somewhat formal, stilted way, perhaps to convey a feeling of courtly dealings, but the effect doesn't quite land. The voice work seems to have been given the same direction—a lot of the delivery is stiff or just unnatural, and just doesn't quite bring the characters to life. It's a minor complaint though, and the voice acting is still good, just not necessarily great. Triangle Strategy is a satisfyingly balanced tactical-RPG experience. Though it comes across as dialogue heavy and strategy light in the first few hours, the story progresses in engaging ways that force you to make hard decisions while at the same time evaluate and perfect your combat strategies. There's enough depth here to satisfy strategy fans but enough wiggle room that you don't have to be a master tactician to get the most out of the game. And with the wealth of strategic approaches and replay value found here, players may grow to become tactical masterminds just by exploring every branching path that Triangle Strategy offers. Rating: 9 out of 10 Strategies
  5. Sometimes you just know a game is going to tug on your heartstrings. Arise: A Simple Story is an emotional journey through one man's memories of life, played out in puzzle-platformer stages and propelled by a sweeping soundtrack. This game serves as a good reminder that oftentimes a simple story can be the most impactful. The game begins with the main character's death, and shows his journey through a snowy mountaintop afterworld. Here he revisits chapters of his life, starting with his youth, and leading through joyous and sorrowful memories. Arise knows how to tell an affecting story even without any writing or dialogue, because the emotions that this reflection on life elicits are so universal. You don't need an exhaustive backstory to be swept up in this man's life story, or be moved by the highs and lows he experiences. It's a sweet, gentle, and beautiful tale. Since there is no dialogue or writing, a lot of that emotional storytelling comes from the game's presentation. Notably, the soundtrack does an outstanding job of sweeping you up in the emotional heart of the game, whether it's in a fun, light-hearted memory or a dark one. In every instance the music is soulful and rich. The simple but stylish art design also does an excellent job of letting the emotions of the game speak for themselves. Simple shapes and strong colors convey so much with so little. Arise features a fairly unique and simple gameplay mechanic. Within each memory you, as the old man, run and jump and climb through various environments, but with the right control stick you're able to manipulate time. In each stage this means something different—in one instance it allows you to raise or lower the level of rain/water, allowing you to reach high or low areas. In another, it allows you to time the lightning to the point where you can see and are safe from whatever lurks in the dark. There's a short length that you can move time back or forward, plus you can pause it if you need to hold it on a specific moment. It's a great gameplay hook because it's so easy to understand and still allows for a good amount of variety and inventive interaction. Just exploring the environment becomes more engaging when you have such a unique tool at your disposal. That said, the platforming controls in Arise are a bit clunky. It's not enough to spoil the experience, but the protagonist's movements are somewhat slow and lumbering, and the button commands for scaling a cliff or swinging on a rope don't quite feel snappy and satisfying. It's especially odd since the time manipulation mechanic feels pretty decently thought out. Again, it doesn't impact the game terribly, but the controls could be smoother. Arise is only about four hours long, so it definitely feels like a quick one-and-done kind of game (though the emotions of the experience will still linger with you). There are optional collectibles in each stage which you really ought to pursue, both because the game will feel even shorter if you just run through each level and because the collectibles provide adorable artwork that further fleshes out the narrative. Sometimes these images feel even more central to the story than the main game's storytelling. Arise also features a co-op mode where one player controls the old man and another controls the flow of time. It's a bit of an odd set-up—and ripe for the time-controlling player to troll the other player—but the option is there. Arise: A Simple Story tells you exactly what it is in the title. It's a simple story about one man's life, but what makes it resonate so well is the universally relatable journey of emotions, a journey of empathy. It's a simple story because it's a human story. The game also offers a clever take on time manipulation, even if the controls feel a bit clunky. In the end though, the main reason to check out Arise is to experience a simple yet beautifully told story of life. Rating: 8 out of 10 Memories
  6. Decided to make Legends Arceus dedicated fully to this game and everything in it. Feel free to post any experiences, tip or general talk about this game. For the time being, for those who played far into this game, please use spoilers. I won't post anything spoiler-y a week after this thread is created. Enjoy!
  7. I was surprised to see that it's actually been a minute since the last LEGO video game. For a while there it seemed like there were three or four coming out every year, whether based on licensed properties or original content, and all of them sporting the same gameplay formula that has practically become a genre unto itself at this point. But with a bit of time since the last brick-based game, does LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga come off feeling like a more fresh experience? Well, yes and no. Perhaps more importantly though, fans of the LEGO game formula will still be well-satisfied with this one for dozens upon dozens of hours. Skywalker Saga covers all nine of the main Star Wars movies, and you can begin your journey with the first of any of the three trilogies (i.e. episode I, IV, or VII). The game serves as a condensed version of each of these nine episodes, with cutscenes that rapidly take you through the set-up and exposition of each scene and gameplay levels that cover all of the blaster firing, lightsaber dueling, and spaceship battles that Star Wars fans know and love. Especially for having not watched any of these movies in a long while, it was fun to run through them again, even if the game does add the usual LEGO slapstick humor—it's not all bad, but some of the predictable jokes definitely drag on for too long. Each episode includes five main missions which play as like the usual LEGO games, meaning there's some light puzzle solving as you craft objects or use characters' unique skills to help you progress as well as battles with melee attacks, blasters, or space dogfights. At its core, the LEGO formula still has a fair bit of charm. It's rather predictable and obviously skews on the easy side to accommodate young players, but even if it's rarely demanding it's still pretty fun to run around breaking apart LEGO brick objects and exploring. There are even a handful of clever, fun challenges sprinkled throughout the game—not as much as I would've liked perhaps, but it's nice that there's a bit of variety here. The combat also feels a little more engaging this time around with some variety in your attacks. This still isn't exactly an action game by any means but fighting stormtroopers is a bit less mindlessly repetitive. And like past LEGO games there is an insane amount of things to collect, not all of which is possible on your first playthrough since you'll need characters with specific abilities that might not be there during the "canonical" first playthrough. Characters are divided up into categories and each one has unique abilities—Jedi can, obviously, use lightsabers to cut through specific walls, while scavengers like Rey are able to craft items that help them traverse the environment. The main levels are already filled with plenty of things to discover, but the real bulk of the game comes from the sandbox areas between levels that are oftentimes massive and packed with side quests, optional challenges, and collectibles to grab. Finishing just the main missions might take you around fifteen hours or so, but trying to 100% complete this game could easily push it closer to eighty or ninety hours. That absolutely insane amount of content is great for hardcore collectible fans but like a lot of LEGO games it can feel like padding. Most missions and challenges are pretty basic and once you've done a few dozen of them it's a little hard to maintain the energy to keep at them. There is at least a good incentive to gather up those collectible bricks while you progress, though. They can be used to upgrade your characters (increased speed, attack power, health, etc.) which at least gives you a more substantial reason to grab them beyond just trying to reach 100% completion. Considering there are over one thousand collectible bricks in the game, it's good to have a little extra motivation to find them. The presentation in Skywalker Saga is just about everything you'd expect from a LEGO game. The animation wrings a ton of charm out of these blocky characters, and the environments have plenty of polish to them that make them feel fully realized, even when they look like a bunch of LEGO bricks. So much of the dialogue is taken straight from the movies which is a great touch, and of course it's always a treat to hear the familiar Star Wars songs in any context. While the art design is pretty solid though, the technical side of the game leaves a lot to be desired. Frame rate dips are a bit annoying but understandable on a multiplatform game. There were plenty of more severe glitches during my playthrough though, which really soured the experience. Textures sometimes failed to load fully during the opening crawl, leaving the text basically unreadable. A scene transition would fail to load so I'd be stuck staring at a wall of the previous scene, unable to progress without exiting and reloading. Visual effects would sometimes get stuck on the screen, so a blurry effect from being hit by a powerful attack would stick around until I'd finished the entire level. Most frustratingly, there were several crashes which necessitated replaying parts of levels. Beware that the game's technical polish is far from complete and there will likely (and hopefully) be some important patches down the line. LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is a staggeringly massive playground for Star Wars fans to run around in and collect their favorite characters and ships in familiar locales. The usual LEGO formula has a bit of an upgrade here though it's still an undeniably repetitive one, especially if you're hardcore enough to try to collect everything possible in the game. If that sort of thing does tickle your fancy you'll find a wealth of easy but entertaining gameplay here, just be wary of the technical hiccups that will pop up on occasion. Rating: 7 out of 10 Bricks
  8. A throwback to classic side-scrolling beat 'em ups of the 90s, The TakeOver wears its Streets of Rage influence on its sleeve, from genre staples down to some of the character and level design. This game isn't just a copycat though and manages to throw in a couple of novel ideas into a formula that hasn't changed much in decades. But despite those shake ups, only die-hard fans of the genre are likely to dive into The TakeOver. In a story that definitely feels like it came out of the 80s or 90s, the city of Steel Haven has been overrun by crime—taken over by it, you might say. When police officer Ethan's daughter is kidnapped amidst the crime spree, he, his girlfriend Megan, and his friend Connor take to the streets to find her. It's a super generic story told through pretty bland cutscenes. Granted, story-telling isn't usually a priority for beat 'em up games, but the developers might as well not have bothered with any kind of plot in that case. Just have a bunch of cops/protagonists beating up gang members, simple. No need to try to give the final boss some thin motivation literally in the final cutscene of the game. The TakeOver has all the fundamentals of a side-scrolling beat 'em up with one or two notable additions. Instead of a single attack button you've got two: punch or kick. By chaining the two together you can use long combos that oftentimes stunlock enemies into place, which is a nice way of speeding up fights sometimes (though it won't work on every enemy and obviously not on bosses). You've also got special moves that drain health and a super meter that gradually fills as you land hits (and decreases when you take damage) that can be used for a powerful burst attack. Finally there's a rage meter that also gradually fills as you attack and allows you to enter an invincible, super-powered state for a short while. You can also sometimes find melee weapons and every character comes equipped with a gun for ranged attacks, though ammo is limited so you'll need to find it as you progress through each stage. The end result is that The TakeOver's combat has one or two fun wrinkles but ultimately plays like every other side-scrolling beat 'em up. If you're playing a beat 'em up in this millenium that's probably all you want anyway, something that evokes that classic sense of arcade combat and progression, even with all its little flaws like missing an enemy because you're not quite on the right y-axis even though they can hit you just fine. Still though, it would've been nice to have even more new, unique features in The TakeOver, especially since they clearly touched upon a couple of ideas. The game does have a couple of bonus action stages to break up the action, though these are also pretty simple and don't really change the fact that The TakeOver is repetitive, even though it only takes a few hours to play through it all. Even with combos and various special attacks the combat system always feels like the same thing over and over, and it's rarely rewarding, i.e. it doesn't often feel like you win because of skill or planning, you just win by mashing the attack buttons over and over. It's mindless action, which can be fun for a bit but gets stale pretty quickly. Aside from the main arcade mode, there are a couple of other game modes to try, though they don't switch up the gameplay much at all. Challenge mode literally just has you replay individual sections of the game with some side-goal in mind, like not letting your health drop below 50% or never using special attacks. As far as bonus modes go, it's pretty lackluster. There's also Survival mode where you just fight waves and waves of enemies—not a terribly inspired game mode either but at least you know what you're getting right off the bat. You can also play any game mode with two-player local co-op, and although this doesn't spice up the gameplay much either, it is nice to have another couch co-op game out there. The presentation in The TakeOver is a little hard to pin down because, while individual elements do look pretty good—the character design, level design, etc.—the overall style is so busy and has something of a plasticky, stiff feel to it when animated. The cutscenes are played in a stylish 2D comic book, but the artwork is a bit bland and unpolished. And last but not least, the soundtrack is energetic and gives off that 90s arcade vibe, though the individual songs don't stand out much. The TakeOver is, like many throwbacks or revivals of classic video game genres, a good imitation of an older form of gameplay, but doesn't seem to want to push the genre forward at all. Separate punches and kicks with combo chains is a fun addition but doesn't quite break up the monotony of the side-scrolling action formula, and the uninspired writing and visuals aren't switching things up much either. Fans of beat 'em ups might enjoy having another side-scroller to punch their way through, but anyone not already charmed by the genre may feel that The TakeOver is too generic. Rating: 6 out of 10 Takeovers
  9. 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is coming to the Nintendo Switch next year. Made by Vanillaware, creator of games such as Muramasa: The Demon Blade, Odin Sphere, and Dragon's Crown, the game is a Visual Novel with some RTS elements thrown in. My personal favorite game of 2020, it has a really great overarching story that spans over 13 different viewpoints. If you haven't already, please play this game, either when it comes out on Switch, or on PS4; it really is an amazing visual novel.
  10. We've got plenty of stories about a hero rising up to fight monsters and demons, but Skul: The Hero Slayer flips the script. In this game you play as a lowly skeleton soldier on a quest to rescue the Demon King who has been attacked by human warriors. With fast and frantic combat and roguelike randomization and progression, Skul is an addictive adventure. It's a lot of fun to be playing as a "bad guy" undead fighter, rescuing other monsters like witches, trolls and the like. Aside from the premise though, Skul doesn't delve too deeply into storytelling. The first time you reach a new region of the game you're treated to little cutscenes that add some context, but it's pretty minimal and since you only see them once in the dozens (or even hundreds) of times you'll play through the game, they don't leave much of an impact. Skul is a roguelike, meaning that the levels are randomly generated, the items/weapons you find are randomly provided, and when you die you start back at square one to try it all over again. The twist here is that Skul can literally swap his skull for other ones, granting him different abilities. Skulls, then, essentially act as weapons. You can pick up basic sword fighter or archer skulls, magic-user skulls, or more unique ones like rockstar and even skulls that reference other roguelike games. The amount of skulls feels great—there are enough that you can experiment with tons of options, but not so many that you'll get overwhelmed by them, especially since you can't control which skulls you'll find in each playthrough. Skulls can also be upgraded to be stronger (only in your current playthrough) so once you do find ones you like you can keep them and just keep upgrading them to improve your damage output. Aside from skulls, you'll also pick up items on each run that provide various buffs, from basic extra damage to special effects like granting you a temporary shield every so often. Like a lot of roguelikes there is a ton to learn when you first start Skul, so figuring out which items work for your playstyle will take time, and this is all further complicated by the affinities that each item provides. Items have two affinities which grant additional bonus effects which can be stacked, so it might behoove you to have a lot of items with similar affinities to get a bigger bonus effect. Like I said it can feel overwhelming at first and the game doesn't actually do a good job of explaining these little features, but since this is the kind of game that you're expected to play over and over and over, you'll gradually learn what affinities do what and which ones might be most beneficial to your current run. The combat itself is fast, frantic, and satisfying. Some skulls are speed-based and some are power-based, but either way you'll have a blast smashing your way through groups of enemies as you dodge enemy attacks and juggle the cooldown meters of your special abilities. There's a good amount of variety in enemy types so you'll be up against different challenges in each region of the game, though by the end enemies can feel like damage sponges if you haven't carefully curated your skull/item set up. There are also mini-bosses and bosses to truly test your skills, and like all roguelikes it's super satisfying when you get good enough to take them out without much effort. Although the maps are randomly generated you do have some control over where to go next. Most rooms end with two doors and the decorations around the doors indicate what kinds of challenges/rewards await you. You might want to just take on a normal door if you're low on health and are hoping to make it to the next merchant room to buy healing items, or you might want to try a skull door to get a new skull or break it into bone shards that can be used to upgrade your current skulls. There aren't that many different types of rooms but having some control over where you go next helps you plan out your playthrough. Skul features some fantastic 2D artwork as well as a pretty catchy soundtrack. The scenery is incredibly detailed and the sprite-work on the skulls/enemies is sharp. Even though you're going to see these environments and characters over and over, there's a lot of depth and personality here as well as good readability when the screen is filled with chaotic combat. The music does a great job of building up the intensity of the action as you progress as well, and is catchy enough that it doesn't grow stale anytime soon. Skul: The Hero Slayer adds just a couple spins to the standard roguelike formula, but with such a solid foundation those little touches add a good amount of personality. Slowly learning how to efficiently fly through the game is always a satisfying challenge, and although Skul has some particularly obtuse mechanics that will take time to learn as well as a very slow progression system to upgrade your abilities between runs, the core gameplay is polished enough that roguelike fans will enjoy coming back for more, one playthrough after the next. Rating: 8 out of 10 Skulls
  11. Which came first, the bomb or the chicken? Thankfully, 2D platformer Bomb Chicken isn't too concerned with such philosophical musings. This game is all about one chicken's desperate adventure to escape a fast-food chain's surprisingly elaborate facilities, using only her wits and a seemingly endless supply of bombs she can lay. Its oddball premise doesn't change the fact that there's some unique and clever platforming challenges to enjoy here. Bomb Chicken's simple controls yields some complex puzzle-platforming. The only two actions you can perform are moving left and right or laying a bomb—this chicken can't even jump, much less fly to freedom. In order to reach ledges or climb over obstacles you can push yourself up by dropping a stack of bombs. To make matters trickier your own bombs can damage you, so after dropping one you have to be careful to avoid the blast radius. The result is a pretty clever twist on typical platforming challenges. Even a small step can prove dangerous since you'll need to push yourself up with a bomb then move away before it can detonate. Add in challenges like enemies, moving platforms, or flaming hazards and you'll find a great variety of unique platformer scenarios that make great use of the simple bomb-dropping mechanic. Seemingly every level presents a new challenge to overcome as there's always an engaging new hazard to contend with. In addition to simply reaching the goal of the level, each stage has a handful of blue gems for you to collect. More than a typical gold coin collectible though, these gems can be used to give you additional hearts. You may die in one hit, but it's not game over until all of your hearts are used up—each stage is divided into several rooms, so dying puts you back at the beginning of the room while losing all hearts sends you back to the very beginning of the stage. Obviously collecting gems is pretty crucial then, though grabbing them can occasionally be more challenging than it seems. There are even secret areas you can uncover that will reward you with gems hidden behind the trickiest challenges. Collecting gems can be a great secondary objective to truly test your bombing skills and give you a handy crutch on the harder levels. The main downside of Bomb Chicken is simply that the game doesn't last that long. There are only 29 stages in the game, and even with numerous deaths/retries the average player isn't going to need more than a few hours to finish the whole game. Collecting all of the blue gems might be a more difficult challenge, but even that won't extend the game's length by much. There's something to be said for keeping the gameplay to a tight, short experience to ensure the action stays fresh and never gets too repetitive, but still, it would've been nice to see even more levels here. The game's presentation mixes some great pixel graphics with only so-so audio. Even if there are only a handful of enemy designs and three different worlds to traverse, the sprite work is top notch, particularly around the chicken's hilarious waddling animation. The graphics may not be too flashy but there's still a lot of personality to enjoy here. The music is less charming though, with little that stands out throughout its repetitive background music tracks. Bomb Chicken presents a fun, unique twist on platforming and manages to get a lot of mileage out of its explosive poultry premise. The game may not last long but there are plenty of clever puzzles and challenges to enjoy, many of which will leave you on the edge of your seat as you narrowly outrun a chain of deadly explosions. 2D platformer fans will have a blast with this one. Rating: 7 out of 10 Bombs
  12. With so many RPGs that take place across huge, sweeping narratives and 50+ hour time commitments, it can be a refreshing change of pace to play one that is smaller and somewhat cozier in scale. The Cruel King and the Great Hero is a storybook adventure about one little girl's dreams of becoming a hero, told through an adorable hand-drawn art style. But while the game's aesthetics are undeniably charming, the gameplay and pacing could use some work. You play as Yuu, a young girl who is being raised by monsters. Her adoptive dad is the Dragon King, a powerful but kind dragon that hilariously watches over Yuu during her adventures by peeking through the background. Yuu aspires to be a great hero like her father and gradually takes on quests to aid the monster village and accomplish great deeds. It's an almost saccharinely cute story and Yuu is an adorable protagonist, always eager to help and lend a friendly ear. The twists are mostly predictable but the game really doesn't present itself as a complex narrative anyway so the relative simplicity of the story doesn't feel out of place. The Cruel King and the Great Hero is a turn-based RPG with random encounters, equipment to find, special skills to learn, etc. At first it's just Yuu on a solo adventure but she soon picks up allies that join her in battle—only one at a time though. The combat system doesn't have many fancy frills. You've got standard attacks, special skills, items, etc. Skills require energy which naturally recovers during battle, so you can't just spam them all the time. It's a pretty easy system to learn but it can also feel too simple at times. Standard battles can get pretty repetitive as you end up using the same tactics over and over. In fact, there aren't that many special skills available in the game, so even that aspect of combat feels somewhat bare. If the story and presentation are anything to go by, The Cruel King and the Great Hero may seem suited for new or young players, so the simplicity of the combat system may seem appropriate. However, the game also has some pretty significant difficulty spikes that can be pretty draining as you devote time to level grinding or just doing side quests to power up a bit. The tone of the game and the difficulty of the gameplay feel at odds with one another, and it can make progress a bit discouraging. It certainly doesn't help that the pacing of the game is as slow as molasses. Yuu walks slowly through some pretty large environments, and the flow of battle, while not terribly slow, isn't exactly fast either. Progress is absolutely plodding in The Cruel King and the Great Hero, and then there's the random encounter system to weigh things down even more. I'm normally not one to gripe about random encounters—they were standard in the RPGs I grew up on, after all—but they can get annoying here. For one thing, your slow walking pace means it feels like you've hardly made progress across the screen before you're thrown into another battle. For another, the "avoid encounters" item that you can use isn't 100% effective, so even when you're backtracking through areas full of weak monsters in order to complete a side quest you'll still have to sit through some battles. And since battles themselves aren't all that interesting, the cycle of random encounters can feel oppressive. It's okay to have a leisurely paced game, but The Cruel King and the Great Hero is almost tediously slow. And the story isn't actually that long, especially by RPG standards, but you'll feel every minute of the game thanks to its slow pacing. You can finish the story in around twelve hours, though there are also a lot of side quests to tackle which can be useful since they'll reward you with rare items, or at least money. The downside is that the side quests are, you guessed it, pretty repetitive, and the constant backtracking gets obnoxious. Even though it's not as much of a time commitment as other RPGs, you have to mentally prepare for how long and slow The Cruel King and the Great Hero feels. The presentation, though, is probably the highlight of the game, and it doesn't disappoint. The hand-drawn art style is gorgeous, like an animated storybook, and even the monsters you fight are just adorably designed. The art style's charm and playfulness goes a long way in boosting the game's personality even when you're walking back through the same areas over and over. The soundtrack is pretty sharp as well with a suitably cute but adventurous tone. The Cruel King and the Great Hero boasts a great sense of style and an adorable little story, but the core gameplay elements will likely leave players wanting. The combat mechanics are decently done but there aren't many new ideas brought to the table, and the noticeably slow pace of the game really stretches out what is actually a very modest run time for an RPG. Players interested in a cute little RPG might want to check out The Cruel King and the Great Hero, but be prepared for surprising difficulty spikes and a sluggish sense of pacing. Rating: 6 out of 10 Heroes
  13. It seems like some stories are just guaranteed to tug on your heartstrings, and To the Moon is definitely one of them. Originally created a decade ago with RPG Maker XP, the game tells the story of an old man's dying wish to go to the moon. The story that unfolds though is beautifully touching and surprising. Virtually every other aspect of the game feels lacking, though. You play as doctors Eva Rosalene and Neil Watts who use a sci-fi headset to enter the memories of patients and can even change or manipulate those memories. For dying patient Johnny Wyles, they enter his mind and implant a false memory of wanting to travel to the moon, thereby allowing him to live out the experience in his mind. It's an awesome sci-fi setup that quickly dives into relatable human experiences. The doctors travel backwards through Johnny's memories, so the most recent ones are of his late wife River, their courtship, then all the way back to his childhood. This backwards narrative for his life story is naturally engaging and intriguing—why is he the person he is in his old age? You'll have to travel farther back to find out. It's not just a clever narrative format—To the Moon is incredibly touching and you can't help but be misty-eyed by the end of the game. It's easy to feel for Johnny and River throughout all stages of their lives. On the other hand though, the two doctors are terribly written. They're meant to be the commentators who react to the memories we're watching, but their dialogue is corny, full of awkwardly inserted pop culture references that aren't funny or charming, and their playful bickering just comes off as obnoxious. In terms of being comedic relief, the doctors fall flat completely. It's also just awkward to have such rapid tonal shifts between the two doctors' clumsy attempts at humor and the often heartfelt scenes unfolding in Johnny's memories. As far as gameplay is concerned, To the Moon is thin, and what's there isn't all that compelling either. This is mostly a visual novel, but you do have to walk around in Johnny's memories and collect tokens or clues that allow you to progress to the next memory. Literally all this means is walking up to any notable objects in the scene and pressing A. Once you have all five clues you have to solve a simple puzzle that feels more like busywork than an integral part of the story or experience. The game is also plagued by stiff controls that will often have you stuck on a corner or you'll think you can walk through a space but you'll hit an invisible wall. All of the actual gameplay or interactive elements of To the Moon feel completely superfluous and oftentimes are more of a hindrance than anything. This is also a fairly short four hour game, but the slow walking speed and slow text speed (which you can't increase, unfortunately) can make it feel longer at times. The presentation of To the Moon is understandably lackluster given its RPG Maker roots. These graphics are cookie cutter, picked out of a basin of pre-made sprites and stuck together for this game. The old-fashioned sprite graphics can still be charming but don't expect anything amazing here. The music, however, is original, and does a fantastic job of elevating the emotional beats of the story. Even if the soundtrack can be slightly repetitive at times, it perfectly sets the atmosphere of traveling through memories of love and loss. To the Moon is a wonderfully emotional story that is well worth reading. It's touching and reflective with a few surprises that keep you on your toes. That said, all of the video game aspects of To the Moon fall flat, from stiff controls to bland, unnecessary interactive elements. The comedic aspects of the writing are also terribly integrated into the narrative, rapidly pulling you out of the more engaging story being told through Johnny's memories. Ultimately To the Moon might be in the wrong medium, but it still tells a heartfelt story. Rating 6 out of 10 Moons
  14. 2022 marks thirty years of the adorable pink puffball's adventures across Dreamland, Planet Popstar, and beyond. Over his storied career, Kirby has dipped his toes into plenty of different platforming mechanics—indeed, for a long time Kirby seemed to be the go-to mascot for testing out unusual game features, whether it was using tilt or stylus controls, yarn-based artwork or splitting into multiple smaller versions of himself to work together. His latest adventure, Kirby and the Forgotten Land, comes with a new ability that is a mouthful and takes place in a 3D environment. No matter what new features or settings Kirby finds himself in though, his games are consistently delightful, and this one is no different. Kirby is minding his own business on Planet Popstar when a mysterious vortex in the sky opens up, sucking him in alongside tons of Waddle Dees (as well as optional co-op character Bandana Waddle Dee). After a rough ride through space and/or dimensions, Kirby awakens on the beach of a landscape filled with crumbling ruins of a forgotten civilization—a civilization that looks suspiciously like our modern world. In order to find a way home though Kirby will have to battle the villainous Beast Pack and rescue captured Waddle Dees. It's a simple, straightforward story elevated by just how cute Kirby and the Waddle Dees really are. Although the settings are in 3D, the core gameplay of the Kirby franchise is perfectly preserved. Kirby can inhale basic enemies and shoot them out, or he can inhale enemies with abilities and copy them, such as fire, sword, ice, etc. There are a couple of new abilities that fit right in with the rest of the classics, and you'll need to use these abilities to fight, explore, and potentially discover hidden rooms or bonus items (or bonus Waddle Dees). Completing a level immediately rescues three Waddle Dees, but scattered throughout each stage are extra ones that require a bit of effort to find, as well as hidden bonus objectives that require more Kirby expertise. These are extra challenges though and not required to simply finish the game. All in all the core Kirby gameplay feels fantastic in Forgotten Land and really exemplifies how simple and well-polished game design can be engaging and exciting even in a franchise with such a long history. The game does err on the easy side, but that just makes it perfect for young or novice players, and Kirby pros will still find reaching 100% completion a worthy challenge. Kirby's fancy new ability is Mouthful Mode, which allows him to (mostly) inhale real world objects and take on their properties. By inhaling a car, he can zoom around crashing into enemies and obstacles. As a traffic cone, Kirby can leap into the air and crash down on the point of the cone to break blocks. Each Mouthful Mode object has just one or two defined uses, but they all make for a fun change of pace when you encounter one, and seeing Kirby stretched around a real world object is hilariously charming (and maybe a tiny bit creepy as well). Like most limited time or limited area power-ups, Mouthful Mode objects provide some fun little puzzles that reward careful and keen-eyed players. The game is divided into levels but between stages you're able to return to Waddle Dee Town, a hub area that hosts all of the Waddle Dees you've rescued. There are a few side features here, like the chance to rewatch cutscenes, collect more figurines through a gacha (aka "Gotcha") capsule machine, and once you rescue enough Waddle Dees new facilities will open up with extra features. The most important part of the town though is probably the copy ability shop, where you're able to upgrade your abilities once you've found a blueprint and have paid the requisite coins/power stones. You'll find coins just about everywhere but power stones come from side levels that are themed around a specific ability or Mouthful Mode ability. They're fun little mini-challenges and the power stones you earn are invaluable since upgrading copy abilities is extremely useful. The abilities don't just become stronger, they'll also take on new properties, like turning the basic sword into a massive blade that is slower so it takes a bit more precision. Adding these new little wrinkles to your arsenal of abilities is a blast, plus you can always opt to use the weaker versions if you'd like. There's not actually a huge selection of copy abilities in Forgotten Land, but the chance to upgrade and experiment with the same abilities over and over more than makes up for it. Where Forgotten Lands really shines is in how sharply designed the whole game feels. The main adventure is only around seven or eight hours long, but it never feels like there's a wasted level or a tedious challenge. There aren't actually that many different types of enemies, but fighting them and exploring platforming/puzzle challenges never gets too repetitive. The selection of copy abilities is kept relatively simple but that also means you don't have a ton of different effects to remember—each one is easy to pick up and use immediately. However, if you do want to see everything the game has to offer you'll probably double that seven/eight hour length when you tackle the more difficult post-game levels and challenges, so no matter your Kirby skill level there's something for everyone here. And naturally, Kirby is just so darn cute. The Waddle Dees and enemies are just as adorable—every single one looks like a plush toy that you just want to squeeze—and the juxtaposition of seeing them all in more realistic settings is actually pretty striking. They don't look all that out of place and instead the scenery helps highlight the charm and personality in all of the character designs. The music is also a total delight. It's energetic and exciting and exactly as fun as you want this kind of platformer soundtrack to be. Kirby and the Forgotten Land is another charming adventure for everyone's favorite puffball. Even in the 3D setting the platformer gameplay remains smooth and satisfying, the puzzles aren't brain-busters but they are fun to discover, and the opportunity to upgrade copy abilities adds an engaging sense of progression as you move from one level to the next. Mouthful Mode is delightfully goofy, and while the main adventure is more or less simple enough for novice players there's plenty of extra content to satisfy completionists. However you like to play though, Kirby and the Forgotten Land exudes fun and charm. Rating: 8 out of 10 Mouthfuls
  15. Nintendo put this video not long stating they need more time produce a product worth experience Hyrule in whole new ways. At least we have release window of spring 2023. I like Aonuma new haircut, tho it makes look more dignified with it short like that in older more profound way, lol. EDIT: Oops, I didn't realizes I made this in general gaming, can someone put this in the Nintendo section. Thank you!
  16. Switch firmware 14.0.0 is now available! 🔗https://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/22525/kw/switch update#current Praise Jesus, folders are finally here!!!! 😭
  17. 3D puzzle-platformer Ever Forward takes players on a mysterious journey through imagination and memory as one little girl pieces together fragments of her past. Despite some clever and challenging puzzle mechanics though, Ever Forward's clunky controls and technical hiccups make it a forgettable and occasionally frustrating adventure. You play as Maya, a little girl on a suspiciously idyllic but empty island. Scattered throughout the white sand beaches and green fields are strange corrupted structures that lead her to puzzle arenas. Completing a puzzle grants you a short cutscene, revealing a glimpse of Maya's past with her mother. These scenes certainly tug on the heartstrings but there's not much depth or originality to the story being told. Worse, the scattered structure makes the mystery just kind of bland—it's hard to get invested in the narrative. The puzzles themselves show off some pretty clever game design though. In each puzzle you'll need to reach the goal with a cube that unlocks the goal. Sure enough that task gets more and more complicated in each level, and Maya's limited abilities to interact with the environment means you'll need to be especially clever to overcome obstacles. Most often you'll need to avoid guard robots that will zap you if you're spotted, which is only made more complicated by the fact that Maya automatically walks more slowly near these robots. By the end of the game the puzzles get awfully creative and will treat players to plenty of "eureka" moments when things finally click into place. That said, Ever Forward has some surprising difficulty spikes for what appears to be a fairly casual puzzle-platformer. The good news is that you can collect leaves and spend them on helpful tips during a puzzle. The bad news is that these tips aren't always all that clear, and you're given basically no direction on how to find leaves on the island. It's great to have a built-in help system, but it's not quite as comprehensive as players might want. The real issue with Ever Forward's puzzles though is just down to the controls and core mechanics of the game. Moving, picking up objects, judging distances—everything is pretty stiff and unsatisfying. Maya's slow, awkward movement often makes puzzles more challenging than they ought to be. Lining up precise movements feels clumsy, and late in the game you'll come across timing puzzles that are a real headache. Thankfully you're able to save at almost any time, so sometimes you can slowly creep your way toward progress without having to replay entire puzzles, but in the end Ever Forward's controls and core gameplay mechanics just aren't enjoyable. Ever Forward is also surprisingly short. If you blaze through the game you can finish in just about two hours, and even if you end up stuck frequently you probably won't spend more than three hours on it. There's nothing wrong with a short adventure, but for a puzzle game like this it's a bit odd since there are so many more opportunities for puzzle ideas. It almost feels like the game is only just getting going when it ends. And of course, as a puzzle game there's not much of an incentive to replay it, which makes this one-and-done two-hour adventure a hard sell. The game's minimalist style isn't half bad and certainly fits the ethereal, dreamy quality of the experience, but you can't help but wish there was a bit more to the art style. The real issue though is that even this minimalist style runs pretty poorly on the Switch. It doesn't inhibit the gameplay, but the frame rate can get pretty choppy and the visuals experience some crazy pop-in on both near and distant objects. It's jarring and pretty distracting. The audio doesn't have much more depth than the art style. It's also dreamy and mysterious but somewhat bland, and the voice acting is a surprising touch but also doesn't elevate the story much. Ever Forward presents some promising puzzle concepts, and as soon as things get more complicated the game ends. That brief play time wouldn't be quite as disappointing if the other aspects of the experience were better polished though. Clunky controls, poor frame rate on the Switch, and a minimalist but bland art style leave a lot to be desired in this 3D puzzle-platformer. Rating: 5 out of 10 Puzzles
  18. The original Life is Strange game took me completely by surprise. It came out at a time when episodic story-based games felt done to death so I had few expectations going in, but the supernatural mystery plot, clever gameplay mechanics and emotional narrative pulled me in fully. The second game in the series didn't hit me in quite the same way, but Life is Strange: True Colors has a new developer and, despite still being split into distinct chapters, was released all at once as one big game, so how does it stack up in the world of story-based games? You play as Alex Chen, a young woman who moves to a frankly idyllic small Colorado mining town named Haven Springs in order to reconnect with her estranged older brother. The siblings have some shared trauma from being bounced around the foster care system after losing their parents as teens and haven't seen each other in years. If all that wasn't enough, Alex has the unique power to see and absorb the emotions of people around her, and her imperfect control of this ability has brought her plenty of trouble in the past. Although Alex makes an effort to settle into the new setting, a tragedy at the end of the first chapter launches what is essentially a murder mystery to solve on top of all the other challenges weighing on her mind. It's easy to get invested in Alex's story. The writing is sharp and blends together both comedy and tragedy with charming scenes of small-town life filled with interesting, likeable characters. You'll quickly empathize with Alex's struggles, and the overall message of facing and working through emotions makes for a nice narrative hook. That said, the pacing of the story does feel a little rushed. The mystery doesn't have quite enough time to percolate into a fully engaging enigma, and many of Alex's personal relationships come off as effortlessly simple. It hurts some of the more dramatic moments when you, the player, haven't had time to see how much these scenes actually weigh on the characters. The characters are so likeable that you'll be rooting for them regardless, but a little more time to live with them might have helped give the big scenes more punch, particularly the finale. A big part of the game's charm comes from the stellar vocal performances of the cast, particularly from Alex since you see so much of her and need to understand and empathize with her perspective. The entire voice cast does a great job of bringing the characters to life and adding depth to their animated lives. The soundtrack as a whole, just like the first game, is filled with chill indie songs that reflect the emotions running through both Alex and the entire town. Sometimes the song selection comes off as a bit cheesy but fans of the genre should enjoy it all the same. True Colors runs pretty smoothly on the Switch, which isn't all that common with multi-platform releases. There are definitely some technical hiccups, like textures or colors that are slow to load (making some characters' hair color seem to flicker between scenes) and the load times are a little long, but overall the colorful, painterly effect of the art style looks great on the Switch. The visual design makes the town feel cozy and comfortable even in the face of tragedy and drama. As for gameplay features, True Colors seems to have even fewer interactive elements than previous Life is Strange games. You'll spend the vast majority of the game just looking at objects and talking with characters as Alex's power over emotions has more story uses than gameplay uses. It's still engaging thanks to the strength of the characters and their relationships but it doesn't quite compare to how, for example, Max's time powers in the original Life is Strange naturally fed into the gameplay structure. There are some fun mini-games in True Colors though, and the third chapter in particular plays out as essentially a side-game that is pretty charming. And as always in these games your choices have consequences, so you'll see story beats play out a little bit differently based on what you choose to do, and comparing your choices with other people is always fun. Life is Strange: True Colors is a worthy sequel in the franchise. The narrative design and emotional core of the story are excellent and you'll easily be charmed by Alex and the residents of Haven Springs. Alex's power over emotions may not have the most interesting gameplay uses but it makes for a strong storytelling element. The game's shorter, roughly ten hour length might have hurt it in the end as not all of the dramatic moments are as fleshed out as they could be, but there's still an engaging, emotional story to enjoy in True Colors. Rating: 8 out of 10 Colors
  19. West of Dead: Path of the Crow combines the snappy action of a twin-stick shooter with the tense, ever-changing stakes of a roguelike, all within an Old West setting. It's a stylish and engaging experience while it lasts, but unlike most roguelikes this one might not have the legs to sustain playthrough after playthrough. You're a dead man. You awaken in a mysterious, shadowy realm, Purgatory, and learn that souls aren't being sent to their final resting place in the afterlife, so you take up a pair of guns to get to the bottom of the problem, and you may learn that the source is more closely tied to your past than you realize. It's an undeniably cool setting for a game and the writing does a good job of giving you enough detail while maintaining the curt, gruff vibe of an Old West cowboy adventure. Your character is also impeccably narrated by Ron Perlman, whose recognizable voice adds a perfect layer of gravitas to the story. In some instances it might have been nice to flesh out the worldbuilding a bit more, but in general minimalist approach works well in West of Dead. That philosophy kind of extends to the rest of the game's presentation as well. The visuals are highly stylized like a comic book page, drenched in harsh shadows and bright, jagged artwork. The effect looks great and also serves a gameplay purpose as enemies can hide in shadows and you'll need to light lanterns to reveal your targets. The music is appropriately Old West-y and tends to be understated too. The whistle and guitar audio while you're wandering from gunfight to gunfight definitely puts you in the right Wild West vibe. The gameplay combines twin-stick shooter mechanics and tactical cover usage with the random level design and deadly consequences of a roguelike. You'll start each playthrough with just a basic set of weapons and explore randomly generated rooms, each one filled with enemies, as you collect new guns, abilities, and stat upgrades to aid you on your quest. You'll also pick up a few permanent upgrades that allow you to explore a bit further and open up shortcuts to further customize your adventure. You can also spend the currency you collect—Sins from fallen enemies—to unlock other permanent boosts to make subsequent playthroughs a little easier. So while West of Dead is a roguelike, each playthrough still earns you progress toward a stronger gunslinger on the next run. The game also uses Old West guns to smart effect. These old fashioned pistols, rifles and shotguns don't have quick reload times, so you'll need to use cover intelligently to give yourself breathing room against groups of enemies. It's a simple but satisfying loop of popping up to shoot, ducking back to reload, and maybe rolling toward another piece of cover when the crate you're hiding behind is destroyed by enemies. This formula also lends itself to some intense but fun boss fights, though oftentimes the hardest parts of the game are when you have three or more enemies barreling down on you and you've got nowhere to hide. All that said, West of Dead's gameplay loop struggles to maintain speed from one playthrough to another. There isn't enough variety in each run to keep the game interesting for hours on end, perhaps partially because of how slow it is to unlock new guns and abilities with the Sin you collect. Even the added weapons and regions from the Path of the Crow expansion can't make the experience feel fresh and exciting after a few playthroughs. The actual shooting mechanics are fun but it wears thin far too quickly for a roguelike that expects you to replay it over and over. West of Dead: Path of the Crow combines the right elements of twin-stick shooters and roguelikes in a stylish Old West package, but doesn't quite nail the inherent replayability factor that is so vital to roguelikes. Each playthrough is a little too similar to maintain interest for too long, and the slow pace of unlocking new weapons can be a bit discouraging. It's a fun game for a while but maybe the roguelike formula wasn't the right fit. Rating: 7 out of 10 Sins
  20. Today marks 5 years since the Nintendo Switch released! Hard to believe the Switch is already 5 years old. Seems like just yesterday I got invited to that Switch Preview Event and picked up my Switch with BotW at my local GameStop's midnight launch, which I'm still rockn' After all these years the Switch is still a really cool system, with a ton of great games and even more on the way just this year. The big wow moment for me wasn't Breath of the Wild, but when I finally got Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. I previously needed the Wii U to play it and now I could play it anywhere! Too bad this far in we still don't have folders or any new themes. I thought we would have at least gotten folders by now, because it's such a simple QoL feature. Why does Nintendo always have to start a square one when it comes to this (referring to how long it took the Wii U to get folders, when the 3DS had them)? Hopefully we at least get folders soon. What's your fav. memories with the Switch? Some highlights for me are... Getting invited to that Switch Preview Event (see link above). The launch of Breath of the Wild. Continuing our Mario Kat 8 night's (almost 10 years old) with MK8D.. The launch of Super Smash Bros.: Ultimate and all the DLC characters The launch of Animal Crossing: New Horizons and it exploding in popularity during lockdown. Tetris Effect finally coming to Switch. Watching the Switch grow in popularity, despite more powerful consoles being on the market. Watching the Switch explode as an indie platform.
  21. Beyond a Steel Sky is another blast-from-the-past franchise revival that feels particularly old fashioned thanks to its point-and-click adventure format. This a sequel to Beneath a Steel Sky, a 1994 adventure game set in a dystopian future. Thankfully players won't need to know all the details of the first game to play Beyond, but you'll definitely need a little patience for some of the genre's quirks. In this sci-fi futuristic setting, the world has been ravaged by conflict and humanity has largely consolidated into massive city states. Those less fortunate live in the wastelands between cities, called the Gap, in close-knit tribes. You play as Robert Foster, a Gaplander, who is spurred toward the massive city state Union City when a young child is kidnapped from his community. Robert was also the protagonist of the first game and there are plenty of little details that have carried over, but for the most part new players can jump right in. All you really need to know is that Robert is on a rescue mission in the seemingly idyllic Union City where not everything is as it seems. As a point-and-click adventure the storytelling is obviously hugely important in Beyond a Steel Sky, but the final product is incredibly uneven. The world-building and setting is fantastic: all of the details about Union City that you pick up paint a nicely detailed picture of a utopia being held up with duct tape and deceit. The actual personal story of Robert and the characters you encounter though is awfully flat. Robert is a frankly boring protagonist who, even during dramatic moments, is way too bland. Dialogue can be weirdly repetitive and a little tedious to get through, which is a huge problem in a story-driven game like this. The comedic beats are also not great—too much reliance on tired joke structures means you're not going to get laugh out loud moments, just awkward silences. Learning about the world of Beyond a Steel Sky is engaging, but the actual plot can be slow-paced and even boring at times. Like so many point-and-click adventures, there's a lot of running around to do as you collect a new task then scour every inch of the environment to find items or talk to NPCs to suss out clues about what to do. Despite its old fashioned origin there are actually very few tedious puzzles in Beyond a Steel Sky—you're never forced to figure out a complicated, illogical solution by just clicking on everything around you. The puzzles are pretty well constructed for the most part, and since most of the game takes place in self-contained areas there's not too much running back and forth. There are even a couple of standout puzzle sequences, such as when you're impersonating someone so you need to learn as much about him as you can very quickly. A lot of the game's puzzles revolve around a scanner item that you pick up early on. This device allows you to hack electronics and rewrite their programming, which you can use to open a locked door for example, or reroute a robot in its task loop. It's a fun concept but is perhaps used too much when all's said and done. The actual puzzles with the scanner don't evolve much so they can feel a little repetitive. Perhaps more importantly, when the solution so often involves the scanner it limits the "eureka" moments, when the solution finally clicks for you, that make puzzle games satisfying. Beyond the actual puzzles and puzzle mechanics, Beyond a Steel Sky also leaves a lot to be desired with how the game controls. Even while running Robert moves obnoxiously slowly. Highlighting the right object to interact with is clumsy when there's more than one item next to each other. Robert's movements are weirdly tank-like at times. Obviously this isn't a fast-paced, dexterous game, but little discomforts in the very way that you interact with the game can really weigh down the experience. The presentation is a mixed bag as well. There's a unique colorful style to the setting that is certainly striking, and the comic book influence adds a lot of personality. On a technical level though it lacks soul. The animation is a little too stiff to make the story moments engaging, and the little issues of pop-in on distant objects or low-res textures prevent the setting from fully coming to life. The voice acting is also a bit weird. There's some good work on display here and some colorful side characters but again the voices just don't have the energy that they need, especially for Robert whom you're going to hear the most. Beyond a Steel Sky is quite a mix of old and new. It's a sequel to an over 25 year old point-and-click adventure and yet manages to avoid the kinds of complicated puzzle pitfalls that made old-school games frustrating. And yet, at the same time it still has the slow, plodding pace that drains the energy from a truly interesting world setting, and the puzzles largely end up being a bit too repetitive. Worst of all though, the writing just isn't all that engaging in this story-driven game. Fans of its predecessor may enjoy seeing old friends again in Beyond a Steel Sky, but if you're new to the world that's not a lot to latch onto here. Rating: 5 out of 10 Skies
  22. In a brutal, Medieval-inspired landscape of war and conflict, one prince bears the heavy burden of the crown and fights against ruthless invaders who decimate his people. Also, the prince is a rat and the invaders are frogs. Tails of Iron pairs up unlikely, cartoonish artwork with a grim setting and fiendishly difficult combat system that demands precision and patience. The effect is undeniably unique though certainly not for the faint of heart. You play as Redgi, prince of the Rat Kingdom who awakens on what should be a joyous day. Your father the king has planned a test of combat to prove your worthiness to inherit the throne, but just as you succeed the kingdom is brutally attacked by your people's longtime nemesis, the Frog Clan. Now you'll have to rebuild your forces and fight back against the powerful invaders as well as any other threats that challenge your kingdom. Telling this gritty story with adorable little animal folk is an odd but charming formula. However, that really only applies to the broad worldbuilding. The characters in the game are all pretty one-note, largely because the animals don't talk, they only communicate with little pictograms. Instead there is a narrator who will come in and basically explain everything the characters have just said, which comes off as a weird blend of concepts. Either stick to just pictographs and keep directions/storytelling simple enough that they communicate what needs to be said or just use the narrator—both makes for an awkward middleground of over-explaining ideas while also providing no character depth. Tails of Iron is a side-scrolling action-RPG, though the RPG elements are really just collecting equipment (Redgi never levels up throughout the game). There's a heavy emphasis on precise combat here. Your attacks are fairly slow and basic so you have to strike carefully, especially since you can't hit-stun enemies and you can inadvertently slide past them if you're not positioning yourself well. You also have to be thoughtful about when you attack: some attacks can be parried which allows you to get some hits in while others are unblockable so you have to dodge out of the way. There's a helpful indicator that pops up whenever an enemy attacks letting you know to parry or dodge, but you still need lightning fast reflexes to respond accordingly, so a big part of the game is learning each type of enemy's attack patterns. The downside is that so often you're just waiting for enemies to attack in order to find a small opening, which makes battles reactionary and a bit tedious—even fairly basic enemies require this slow, measured approach. There are some strategic elements to combat though. Your equipment not only improves your attack and defensive stats, it also adds weight which makes your attacks slower. Do you want to load up on the strongest equipment and be a slow, heavy hitter or will you risk it with lighter armor and faster attacks? Ultimately though there's not a wild difference between speed or strength builds, not unless you're using extremely basic, light equipment late in the game. The three weapon types—spears, swords, axes—also feature slight speed differences but again it's not significant enough to make choosing your equipment feel engaging. You'll find a ton of equipment throughout the game but there's not much incentive to play around with different builds, which is a shame. The setting of Tails of Iron is sprawling but not actually too big, and exploration is overall fairly linear. That's not a terrible thing but when side quests keep sending you to the same areas it does get a bit repetitive. Furthermore, "side quest" is a bit of a misnomer. These quests are actually required to progress the game thanks to the gold they reward you with; you can just choose what order to tackle them in. A bit more depth to the game world and actual optional moments would have been nice. Tails of Iron should last you around eight hours, which feels like a good length for the adventure. If there were more variety in enemies and equipment it could have sustained itself longer, but as it is the combat gets pretty repetitive by the end of the game, aside from the extra-challenging boss fights that will likely require plenty of retries to conquer. There's some light post-game content as well as different difficulty levels to tackle if you want to see everything the game has to offer. Although the characters themselves are pretty cute little cartoon rats, the aesthetic of the game certainly matches the grim story being told. Heavy shadows and thick, dark outlines make for a gloomy, bleak setting appropriate for the grisly deaths happening on screen. Again, it's a bit odd to have such brutal scenes carried out by tiny animals that move with a charming paper-doll-like animation, but the contrast certainly makes it feel unique. The soundtrack certainly skews toward the more serious tone with ominous background music when you're exploring murky caves and brighter but still not excessively cartoony music in town. Tails of Iron is an odd but engaging mix of cute animal characters and tough as nails combat, which really just raises the question of who is the target audience here. And even if you do appreciate a precise, difficult battle system you're left with fairly limited options in terms of attack variety or approaches to enemies. If you're willing to challenge yourself though, Tails of Iron is a unique experience and rescuing the rat kingdom through hard-fought battles is certainly gratifying. Rating: 7 out of 10 Rats
  23. Developer Inti Creates continues to keep the spirit of NES-era action games alive with Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2. Like its predecessor, it's a love letter to NES Castlevania games, combining the simple controls and visual style with a few modern twists to spice up the gameplay. The game walks a fine line between nostalgic throwback and tediously old-fashioned, but for the most part stays on the former rather than the latter. Curse of the Moon 2 brings back Zangetsu as the protagonist, a demon-slaying swordsman who is on the trail of a new supernatural threat: the Demon Tower. Like the first game, Zangetsu teams up with fellow fighters—including a dog in a steampunk-style mech suit—which has an impact on how the story unfolds across subsequent playthroughs. Storytelling is still not the focus of the game, though. In true NES fashion there are pretty minimal plot scenes outside of the opening setup, and even when brief dialogue sequences do pop up it's easy to ignore them entirely. The gameplay feels like classic Castlevania, down to the stiff, specific movements of your characters. Each one has a standard attack as well as subweapons that cost energy to use (energy that can be refilled, of course, by destroying lanterns, candelabras, and more). The gameplay feels simple and streamlined, though the reliance on old-school conventions perhaps hurts the game more than it enhances the experience. On standard difficulty you'll get knocked back by any hit, which makes pits incredibly deadly when there's a bat fluttering overhead. Your jumps are also locked to very specific ranges—you can't just adjust your trajectory midair, and you can't even jump forward from a stationary position. If you're after that classic NES feel, Curse of the Moon 2 does a great job of recreating it. Other players might be annoyed by the tedious design though, or at least want to switch to easy difficulty which eliminates the hit knockback. A happy medium between easy and standard would have been convenient, as easy mode eliminates almost all challenges from the game. Both Curse of the Moon games do shirk old-school design with the party system though. You can swap between characters at any time, and each has their own health bar, mechanics, and subweapons (though all subweapons use the same energy). Dominique, for example, jumps higher than other characters and can use her spear as a pogo stick to bounce off of enemies or lamps, which sometimes allows her to reach hidden areas or alternate routes. Playing through the game just once only takes a few hours, but exploring all of these optional areas and truly seeing everything the game has to offer will last significantly longer. Mixing up the standard side-scroller action with unique characters and alternate paths goes a long way toward making these games feel unique and not just imitations of an older era of gaming. Curse of the Moon 2 also introduces 2-player co-op. Having two players gets pretty hectic during platforming sequences but it's an interesting inclusion if you and a friend want to really challenge yourselves. As usual Inti Creates knows how to do a lot with very little, when it comes to the visual design of the game. The pixel art is sharp and bosses look great (even if they can be incredibly tedious to actually fight). The soundtrack isn't half bad either and nicely balances new and old influences to feel both fresh and familiar. Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2 is another fine-tuned homage to Castlevania made for fans of those original NES games. The feel of the gameplay is undeniably old-fashioned, but the challenges that that affords will appeal to many nostalgic players, and the variety of characters, abilities, and paths through each level provide a fun modern twist. Just be ready for some frustrating deaths once you start jumping over pits. Rating: 7 out of 10 Moon Curses
  24. The Pokémon franchise has played host to countless spinoffs and side adventures that re-imagine the world of Pokémon, but one that actually changes the core mechanics of catching and battling Pokémon? That apparently took 25 years to happen, but it's arguably worth the wait. Pokémon Legends: Arceus opens up the traditional series gameplay structure into a more open-world adventure where you can walk up to wild Pokémon and simply throw a Pokéball at them. The concept has been a long time coming, but Pokémon fans will undoubtedly enjoy this new take on the Pokémon formula. A new gameplay structure apparently also demands a new story structure. Rather than starting your adventure as a child in a well-established Pokémon world, your player character is mysteriously sent through time and space to the island of Hisui, an old-fashioned version of Sinnoh from generation 4. Here Pokéballs are a brand new technology and most people still live in relative fear and uncertainty about Pokémon. With just one city (your base of operations), you quickly join the ranks of the Galaxy Expedition Team in order to gather Pokémon and discover the cause of the mysterious rift in the sky that seems to be sending powerful Pokémon into a frenzy. The style and tone of the game is still very much the same cute, friendly vibe of the mainline games, but just having a more unique setting for the adventure is a welcome change for the franchise's storytelling. In Legends: Arceus, you'll travel to different biomes to catch and study Pokémon. Within these wide open areas you can see Pokémon milling about everywhere and you can simply walk up to them and throw a Pokéball to catch them. Of course, it's rarely that simple, since Pokémon will flee if they see you so you'll need to sneak up on them or hide in tall grass to get close, but fundamentally this is an incredibly streamlined process that also makes catching Pokémon more mechanically interesting. Approaching cautiously and aiming your throw just right is surprisingly satisfying. You can also still engage in battle in order to weaken the Pokémon for a better chance at catching it, and this too is much faster and easier to dive into than the usual battle screen structure. The core catching, fighting and training structure of the game is still there, but the quick, snappy nature of Legends: Arceus is a blast, especially for players who've spent ages catching Pokémon over the years. In order to still incentivize you to fight and engage with wild Pokémon as much as possible, you need to put in a little extra effort to fill out your Pokédex. Each Pokémon has a variety of tasks to complete in order to fully fill out their Dex entry. Catching them and defeating them in battle are always there, but there are other unique tasks as well, such as catching a Pokémon without alerting it, or defeating it with its type weakness. These tasks are a simple but fantastic way of encouraging the player to fully engage with the world of Legends: Arceus. In past Pokémon games, oftentimes it feels like there's no reason to catch the same type of Pokémon over and over (unless you're shiny hunting or hardcore about catching Pokémon with different temperaments and stats), but this game gives you that little extra incentive to keep tossing Pokéballs even at basic Pokémon. Since it's so fast and easy to catch them, it's a lot of fun and awfully satisfying to just walk around catching every Pokémon you see, and with so many tasks you can keep at it for hours and hours. There's a simple joy to it that personally I haven't felt in a Pokémon game in years. The battle system has also seen a slight revamp. The basics of type strength/weakness are the same (though some Pokémon have new types in the Hisui region), but speed and turn order is now a huge factor in a Pokémon battle. Rather than the typical one turn apiece system, you can actually attack twice if you're fast enough and use certain attacks. Some abilities like Quick Attack will naturally give you a speed advantage, but you can also augment an attack with Strong Style or Agile Style (Pokémon will learn these style options over time). Strong Style boosts the power of an attack but pushes you back in the turn order while Agile Style does the opposite. For normal battles this feels like a mostly unnecessary distinction, but against bosses or other special battles the ability to attack twice makes a significant difference. It's a clever way of injecting a bit of variety into the gameplay without rewriting the battle basics that we're all used to. The downside is that the turn order provided isn't always accurate, so in terms of deep strategy and tactics it's a bit muddy, but having anything change up the usual battle system makes for a fun challenge. Speaking of which, Legends: Arceus does a decent job of making the experience accessible but with opportunities to challenge yourself. All of your active Pokémon share experience points, but if you progress through the game at a steady pace you won't find yourself too over-leveled. In addition to the usual pocket monsters you'll see around Hisui, you can also find Alpha Pokémon, stronger versions that are generally several levels higher than your own team and are harder to battle and capture. They're optional but obviously catching them can be a boon thanks to their higher stats (plus it's just cool to have a fancier Pokémon—this is what shiny hunters must feel like). Like so many open-world games these days you're free to tackle these more difficult encounters as you wish and push your Pokémon skills. You can comfortably finish the main story in around 20 to 25 hours, but since this is a Pokémon game there's a ton of optional content that can occupy your time as well as post-game content. Completely filling out the Pokédex is a time-consuming (but fun) process, plus there are plenty of side quests to take on. The side quest system is one of the few areas that the game falls flat though, simply because it is a needlessly clunky system for tracking multiple quests. You can only have one active quest at a time, including the main quest, which just makes it a hassle to keep track of. There's no reason not to have at least a few active at once, and opening up the map to access the quest menu is a small but bothersome UI issue. Legends: Arceus tries to split the difference between an open-world environment, with the scale and detail that comes with it, and the classic Pokémon art style that relies on simplicity. The resulting blend is overall fine, though far from extraordinary. You'll see some pop-in when approaching distant landmarks, sometimes wild Pokémon have a comically jittery low-frame rate animation as you get closer, and the low res textures on objects are hard to ignore, but on the other hand walking around a forest or coastline or icy tundra and seeing Pokémon in their habitat is just plain cool. Battles have more variety in animation that make the Pokémon feel a bit more alive and diverse, and the sense of scale between Pokémon is generally more accurate than it's ever been. In a franchise known for making baby steps toward new art styles this is yet another small step, but it's at least a step in the right direction. Meanwhile the soundtrack does a great job of adding to the unique ambiance of Hisui in a way that suits the freedom of exploration at play here. Pokémon Legends: Arceus is the shakeup that some fans have waited decades for. The new sense of speed and freedom perfectly plays into the classic Pokémon gameplay loop and actually makes the most basic elements of the series feel fresh and compelling again. Wandering around in a Pokémon game has never been more rewarding, nor the sense of discovery more engaging. Some of the little details aren't entirely up to par with an open world game, but this may well be the most exciting evolution of the franchise yet. Rating: 9 out of 10 Pokédex Entries
  25. It's easy to pick up quick, casual games, the ones that only require a few actions so anyone can quickly learn, but the other kind of games? The ones that make you work to even understand the mechanics of how to efficiently play? Those ones hit differently. They challenge you at every turn and make every little piece of progress feel like an incredible success. Star Renegades, a roguelike with turn-based battles and a unique action speed system is hard to learn and hard to master, but the process of learning it is awfully satisfying. If only the game ran more smoothly on the Switch. Star Renegades takes place in the midst of a galactic war—worse than that, it takes place in a multi-dimensional war. The alien invaders, the Imperium, are conquering planets across dimensions, so it's your job to hop into different realities in order to fight them off. Talk about a brilliant concept for a roguelike game—the whole reason that you fight, die/win, and repeat is baked into the premise of the narrative! That said, the writing itself comes off scattered. The game throws a lot of details at you, a lot of names of people, places, and alien races which can be overwhelming to follow. The actual characters you play as aren't terribly fleshed out either and are mostly two-dimensional warrior types with some scattered backstory that pops up in dialogue which is funny but doesn't always seem to suit the game's setting. But since this isn't a linear, narrative-based adventure some of that writing can be forgiven in favor of the focus on combat. Star Renegades is a roguelike with turn-based battles. You start off a run with three characters and travel to different planets to fight off the Imperium. You can see the whole map but you have a limited number of days to explore, so you have to choose which paths to travel down. Virtually every area includes a battle but they might also feature bonuses, like items, defensive buffs, or DNA which is used to level up your characters. There's a nice sense of strategy at work here: do you want to fight the harder enemies for a chance at finding better items, or do you slowly level up by fighting normal enemies and collecting more modest bonuses? Healing is also limited in Star Renegades so the health of your party is always a major factor. These decisions make for an engaging, thoughtful challenge as you progress through a run. The battle system features its own set of strategic challenges as well, which is fun once you have a grasp on it but honestly pretty hard to follow when you first start up the game and are overwhelmed by information. Granted, there are a lot of details to learn here, but the way the game dumps this info on you will make the first hour or so—and likely your entire first playthrough—fairly confusing. The most important thing to know is that battles are turn-based, and during one turn your characters and the enemies all act across a 60 second span. Some attacks (usually more powerful ones) occur later on that time span, while others will trigger earlier. If your attack lands before the enemy's, you'll gain a critical hit bonus, though the same applies if they attack before you. Most of your attacks have the ability to push the enemy's action later in the turn order, giving you a bigger window to land critical hits. If you push an enemy's attack out of the turn completely, they'll "break" and won't attack at all on that turn. Managing the order of attacks during a turn, both yours and the enemies', is the key to combat in Star Renegades, and once you get a handle on it it's a blast to play with. Some characters might excel at pushing an enemy's action, allowing other characters to follow up with a big critical hit. Because healing is rare, avoiding enemy attacks or tanking them with shields (which regenerate at the end of combat) will be your main defensive strategies. It's a lot to keep in mind while playing but once you find a good rhythm with a balanced team it's incredibly satisfying to direct the entire flow of combat to your advantage. As your characters level up they'll gain access to new attacks and abilities that further allow you to manipulate the tide of battle in unique ways. Star Renegades also features an adversary system similar to Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor. Some powerful named enemies—lieutenants in the Imperium's army—can actually level up if they manage to kill you. The next time you face them (on a new run, potentially with new characters), they'll be stronger. It's an interesting way of further stretching out the replay value of a roguelike, though the effects aren't so major that they'll significantly change the enemy lieutenants. It's more just a fun way to take revenge on the boss that killed you previously. And yes, like all roguelikes there's a huge emphasis on replay value in Star Renegades. Your character choices will significantly affect how you play, the maps and placement of bonuses is always random, the items you get are random, and there are several difficulty levels to test your skills. There are also some permanent boosts you can unlock, like class modifiers that grant extra bonuses for your characters, so there's still a slight sense of progression every time you complete a run. Star Renegades' biggest fault is simply how it runs on the Switch. In a word, it's poor. Frequent crashes which may necessitate replaying parts of a battle (there's auto-save but sometimes it'll take you back to the middle of a battle you just finished), choppy animation and sound even during the opening cinematic, notable loading screens—the whole experience of the game on the Switch just isn't optimized (based on the 1.0.5 version of the game). Even outside of those overt technical issues, the game's UI doesn't feel like a good match for the Switch. Reading all of the information you need during battle—your attacks, enemies' attacks, special effects, etc.—is a hassle and often feels clunky. Even just navigating the menu while examining or equipping your party doesn't feel smooth. The UI may work better on other systems, but on the Switch it's awkward, which is particularly frustrating in a game where you need to monitor a lot of information at all times. Even the game's pixel graphics—which is a fun art style—comes off cramped and cluttered, which really doesn't allow for the visuals to shine. Star Renegades is a unique roguelike whose overwhelming amount of ideas can make it hard to get into, but rewarding once you do. The Switch might not be the right platform for it though, based on the frequency of crashes, choppy animation, and cramped UI that make simply playing the game a challenge, when the difficulty should come from the rich strategy gameplay. There's definitely something fun here for roguelike fans, but the Switch version is probably the wrong place to play it. Rating: 6 out of 10 Renegades
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