I can safely say that, with or without the additional horsepower, the QoL updates, the very real and massive expansion, and the entire new game arc makes Shin Megami Tensei V – Vengeance the biggest package I’ve ever seen from an SMT title. It might not have the three hundred hour target of something like Persona 5 Royale, but it does have a sprawling, captivating, and positively enthralling appeal that gives you all the demons and none of the dating aspects.
As much as I enjoyed the moments when the game loop clicked, there were so many more points where it didn’t. If you want and need to burden your life with perfection in an imperfect scenario, be my guest, but don’t be surprised by how often you croak.
If you like Magical Drop or have a humiliation fetish that you channel through video games, have I got great news for you. Forever Entertainment has put together a visually charming and aurally pleasant game that seems to be free of really wonky translations and any shortcomings in a technical realm. But if you’re looking for a fun new puzzle game to dip your toe into, know that this water is infested with piranhas and has the same replay value as such. If this is your jam, them play on, it’s all yours. I’m getting the hell away from this game as fast as my legs will carry me.
I don’t want to dissuade players from picking up Rocket Knight Adventures: Re-Sparked. If you loved these games and want to replay them on your current rig without emulation, go for it, the games are here and they run great. But I also don’t want to encourage players to pay money for something that feels very lazy in the grand scheme of things. We’ve seen Limited Run Games do amazing things with modern ports and remasters, so I’m left scratching my head why Sparkster and company were given such a spartan treatment. Don’t deny yourself a wonderful gaming experience, but also temper your expectations: if it looks like a throwback title and talks like a throwback title, you’re probably getting a throwback title – and nothing else.
If you must only play one Shockman title, I have to say Shockman 2 is still the pinnacle of the series. But, if you find yourself enjoying the first couple, then absolutely jump into Cyber Citizen Shockman 3. It’s short, it’s sweet, and it’s the perfect end to a trilogy of titles that I fell in love with. I hope there’s a chance we may see a fourth to help revive the series, but, if not, this is the ideal spot to end the adventures; with Tasuke and Kyapiko on the beach, outrunning insane aliens.
If you see the screenshots and expect something on the Super Mario Kart level, you’ll be sorely disappointed. If you want a decent 16 bit race title that’s a bit unfair in solo mode, then we’ve got the game for you. Rider’s Spirits is a fun couple of hours with friends or a decent thirty minutes by yourself, and that’s more than enough incentive for retro enthusiasts to take a peek. And honestly, for about five bucks, you’ll get your money’s worth by the time the last checkered flag gets waved.
I’m still really happy with Neurodiver. It’s got the shine and polish that you wouldn’t have expected, and the interactions and storytelling are excellent right up until the end. It does what I wanted: it gives me more of the world that is Read Only Memories without forcing you to go back and play the first or sit through a rehash of the initial story. It’s got the meat and bones that let it exist independently, and gives me more of a Shadowrun vibe than I would have imagined, though less grim.
While there are certainly better, more robust and more inventive dungeon crawlers, Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord is a classic that deserves recognition and, in this new form, can be appreciated both on modern systems and in modern terms. If you’ve any love for the spice of yesteryear and the rawness of digital fantasy, then this early incarnation of Wizardry merits your attention and investment. Now to see if The Knight of Diamonds will be in our future, or if this jaunt back in Wizardry’s history is a one and done journey.
This little piece of Netizen fanfiction is quaint, engaging and really stands on its own two feet. I love the ideology and the execution, and the combat is an ideal length of time. The buffs can be wild, but they never get overly available, and I was constantly impressed that I kept finding new ways to fight and new enemies to encounter. Internet Generation is a brilliant pastiche of the gaming worlds of old, and perfect for anyone who grew up with Maple Story, Ultima: Online, or even MUDs. And, if you just want a pixel-picturesque brawler, we’ve got the perfect server for you.
Neptunia – Game Maker R:Evolution is a drill set you keep jotting down even though you understand it because the teacher thinks you’re stupid and need to study harder. Now you haven’t learned anything new and you hate math, and I’m walking away from this game before I really start to dislike Neptune.
Musashi vs Cthulhu would do well from having something more to it – there’s apparently talk of a story mode or multiple characters – but it does okay for what it professes to be. A simple, repetitive, and ultimately points-driven game of fast fingers and split-second decisions. I feel like it’s not a bad pickup to make, but know what you’re getting, and be ready to put it down and probably forget about it the second you finish. There’s nothing wrong with that, but this is definitely one game where the excitement of monster slaying wears off in a flash of steel.
It was sweet, good-natured, and the directionality allowed me to just enjoy the interactions without worrying about saying the wrong thing and getting a bad ending. The score is lovely, the character design is bright and engaging, and the settings change enough to have plenty of variety.
Outside of that all, Please Leave Me Alone, I Need to Poop is a short joke, not overpriced or overstaying its welcome, but is decidedly hard to motivate players into unlocking everything.
It’s a disheartening game that is tedious, seemingly random and honestly runs so terribly slowly on console. I Am Your President is trying to poke fun at the establishment and probably provide some spoof-esque humor, but the delivery is underbaked, flat and just a slog. For Americans, unless you’re already a zealot about the elephant or the donkey, this isn’t going to ingratiate the political circuit to you any further. If you’re from outside the U.S., I cannot imagine the appeal of this game in any capacity.
Maybe it was too difficult to incorporate, maybe it made the game too easy, I couldn’t tell you. What I can say is Rainbow Cotton is the magical girl wrapped version of a Cybertruck. Quirky and odd, the novelty wears off when you can’t control it and it ultimately crashes and burns, killing you with design flaws that the creators were well aware of.
Having said all that, Horrific Xanatorium had its moments, regardless of how short they were. The art styling was good (though I LOVED the pixel art in the credits), the concept was mostly well realized, and this is a really good first work from an up and coming designer and writer. The moments of hallucination, the fears and the inability to distinguish fact from fiction all nestled into my brain quite nicely, and I’m thrilled to be sure that I’m really here.
There’s charm, there’s cuteness, there’s a generous difficulty curve and there’s a plot that passes the Bechdel test. This is the right step forward for Peach into the spotlight, and I hope Showtime! is the first of many more adventures to come.
The major issue is, for something so potentially grand and promising, there’s just no fuel to keep the fire going. You find handfuls of tinder and the occasional decent stick to build a little heat, but when the most exciting moments come from shooting massive spiders and finding innovative ways to run around the map, it’s just a bit of a splodge that doesn’t ever quite find its shape.
I feel The Hungry Lamb is for a specific audience, though I can’t quite align with whom that might be. It’s not thrilling enough to land in constant VN recommendations, it’s got uncomfortable relationships which will put most people off, and the endings never hit the high note that satisfies everything.
Overall, I think Stitch is an ultra quaint title that oozes warmth and welcome in gameplay and visual presentation, and is just such a decompression tool after a long day doing literally anything. It gives me such joy and relaxation to bring together the numbers and colors until I’ve made a bicycle or a nutcracker or whatever. I’ll do Christmas puzzles in April, it’s fine and the game doesn’t judge me. Unlock more and more pieces, don’t wait for power ups or villains because there are none, and just keep making yourself happy.