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On the whole, I did thoroughly enjoy Axiom Verge, and knowing that there’s a sequel to play too makes me happy. The setting is interesting, as are the characters, and things are well thought out and designed. There’s plenty of fun to be had with this game if you put in the time and effort and the retro aesthetic, while sometimes just a pinch irritating, overall, is quite charming and really succeeds in throwing you back to the era of gaming some of us grew up with.
Overall, I find the Atelier Dusk Trilogy DX to have been done well. The games themselves are all very enjoyable and this is the definitive version of them, with some great additional features which improve things even more than most remasters would.
The current Switch build of No Place for Bravery is so buried under technical problems that you should stay far away. But if and when the problems are fixed? I wasn’t able to see the end of No Place for Bravery, making it difficult to fully evaluate. It certainly has some good pieces: great art, a strong concept, and satisfying combat. Maybe that’s enough for it to be worth a shot. Still, from what I did see, it’s hard not to feel that with a bit more thought and care No Place for Bravery could have been a much better game than it is.
Ballads at Midnight is a short and sweet vampire romance OELVN served elegantly with enigmatic darkness, amusing banter, and romantic kisses. Its tale is performed with utmost careful attention to detail from start till end, stringing you along with vividly descriptive writing, dreamy visuals, enchanting music, and moving voice acting. Despite the absence of CGs and the lack of full voice acting, Ballads at Midnight is a delightful little morsel to sink your teeth and time into.
Legacy of Kain: Ascendance is a game that frankly doesn’t just tarnish the franchise but outright hurts it. It feels like a cheap cash-in based on a polarizing graphic novel with no love and care for the series it’s representing. Waiting twenty-three years for this to be released feels like a massive slap in the face for fans. There’s only a boring and trite time to be had with this title, where the only good aspects are the soundtrack and the voice acting. The only other accolade I can gift Ascendance is that it has managed to dethrone Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2 as the most dislikable title in the franchise. Hopefully, the fanbase can just emulate Raziel and forget this ever happened.
There may be some small entertainment value in Together VR, but it's mostly based on the appeal of Mei as a character. The gameplay just isn't engaging and the technical issues certainly don't help either.
Breakneck City is the worst-case scenario of the above. It looks horrid, it plays badly, it's boring and it lacks enough content to keep masochists coming back after the game's paltry offering of an arcade run. Do yourself a favor; If you like Beat 'em ups or want to experience the genre, look at literally ANY other Beat 'em up. This game is just almost offensively bad at every juncture.
I enjoy playing card games casually with friends, but Pretty Girls Battle: Texas Hold’em fails to capture that same charm. The game is obviously just doing the bare minimum, both in terms of its gameplay and presentation, and it’s very apparent throughout. You’ll have a much more enjoyable time buying an actual deck of cards; that way, you can play with more than one deck, play against people with different strategies, and have more varied locations to play on.
Unfortunately, I don’t really recommend Gungrave VR. Perhaps if you happen to be a die-hard fan of the series, but even then I’d think carefully before spending $30 on a two hour game, with such low quality. This game really does not feel like it was designed for VR.
Liberated feels incomplete. The writing is poor and never really explores the characters. It never tells you much about them or allows you to get invested. Its a go, go, go game. Not necessarily a bad thing, but we’ve seen examples of this done and still maintaining a good story. Even with nonsensical dialogue, fun gameplay can save it. Unfortunately, neither are here.
Overpass is as rough as the terrain they are trying to make you traverse. Badly implemented systems, boring gameplay and a slew of technical issues make this a painful experience from start to finish.
I wanted to like Tokyo Scramble so much. A Switch 2 exclusive horror with dinosaurs and a generous dose of that sweet, sweet jank is exactly something I can get behind. Trust me, I can somewhat look beyond janky visuals and horrendous sound, but what I can’t get beyond is just how devoid of fun this game is. It’s stiff, awkward, and restricting, much like the undercity in the game, which is the nicest thing I can say about this one. Tokyo Scramble is a scrambled mess of poor choices and bad gameplay, and I couldn’t recommend this one to even the most seasoned horror jank veterans.
Sadly and not so shockingly, Ebola Village isn’t going to be the title that dethrones any of the kings of horror. And looking at it, did any of us really think it would be? There are flashes of good in the game, but for the most part, it just feels like a painfully phoned-in Resident Evil Village clone with a poor excuse for a story and some unintentionally shocking and funny things going on in the rather short run time. I knew I was in for a ride when the game gave me an option to watch a movie. I assumed it was the intro, so I chose to watch it, and the game just opened up my browser and started playing a bizarre live-action short film based on the game, which was oddly hosted on a Resident Evil fan channel on Youtube rather than implemented in the game itself. Whatever strange puzzle-coded apartment you live in, I wouldn’t recommend you leave to venture out to Ebola Village, not even to save your family. Instead, save your money and pick up literally any other bigger-name horror game, and you’ll have a better and more cohesive time. Now, excuse me while I go get hepatitis and try to immunize myself from this series.
I cannot recommend Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream. To anyone. Even the most committed Sword Art Online fans are unlikely to find much to love here. It is a live service title without legs. A real disappointment coming from the developers of Fatal Bullet. Perhaps with more development time and a clearer idea of what the game should be, it could have been a worthwhile endeavor. As it stands though it’s a sad, vapid outing for the series.
In the end, Sword Art Online Last Recollection is a disappointment. The enticing promise of 45 playable characters is undercut by the monotony of combat, and the story is decently executed but entirely trite and predictable. This is the last entry in the Sword Art Online Gameverse, and I went in really wanting to love it. I’ve developed an appreciation for the game series over the years, in spite of its flaws. But I can’t find much appreciation at all for this. The game took me about forty hours to clear, and all I can say is that was about thirty hours too long. At least it's mercifully short compared to Alicization Lycoris. For diehard fans of the series perhaps it is worth picking up eventually, if only to see the journey through to the end. But for the majority of players who might be interested, I can’t recommend Sword Art Online Last Recollection. There was potential here, but it’s squandered. For the last entry in the series, this is no swan song. More like a goose gurgle.
I found very little to enjoy during my time with Lorena and the Land of Ruins. Through and through, it’s a very poorly made game that can’t really do any of the things it sets out to do well at all. Gunplay is poor because of an appalling lack of polish and bad game balance. Platforming is weightless, unsatisfying, and thoughtless. Then there’s the game’s moe aesthetic, which is completely ruined by incohesive, wooden, and massively dated visuals. The only thing I’d say is sort of a saving grace is the rather novel speedrunning element, but that’s only if you’re willing to put up with the many warts of gameplay. Lorena may be a treasure hunter, but all you’ll find in this game are duds.
Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise has quite an ironic title considering it just made me appreciate what a flash in the pan the original title was. Everything in this sequel is a step or more back and despite that intoxicating SWERY quirk, this title just isn't enjoyable. I don't think I'd be able to recommend that anyone plays this game. Fans of the original and SWERY enthusiasts may get a few kicks from it, but in my humble opinion, this ranks as his worst work and feels as bad as the consensus about Deadly Premonition 1 is.
Panorama Cotton is a nice museum piece. It’s nice to look back and appreciate what the game was back in the day. It isn’t, however, a game worth playing. Its main draw is and was its visuals, and they simply haven’t held up. The gameplay isn’t as refined or as playable as Cotton’s 2D ventures, so all that really leaves is a good soundtrack and the occasional interesting boss. Give this one a miss.
Bright Memory: Infinite has a nascent vision of what it wants to be. And honestly, that vision is kind of good. With the right elements around it, Bright Memory: Infinite’s combat could have shined. Unfortunately, everything else is an incoherent mishmash of undeveloped ideas, lazy design, sloppiness, and technical problems. Even at the budget price of $9.99 I can’t recommend this mess.
Besides its stylish cutscenes and bold color palette, Fire Tonight has little to offer. The gameplay is simplistic while the characters and story have no chance to develop over the game’s paltry one-hour runtime. Even at the budget price of $5.99, I don’t think Fire Tonight is worth it.