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Somehow I was convinced radiofloyd played this when it came out in Japan and made a topic. I played it for about five hours over the weekend, which is roughly the length of the tutorial/prologue. Origins and VIII are the only Ys games I've played, so I'm not an expert on the matter. Chronologically this seems to take place almost at the very beginning of Adol's adventures (after 1 & 2 to be exact), but in classic fashion it's not really necessary to be aware of those other games. Characters hint at certain things early on, but it's very much self-contained otherwise. So in Nordics you end up in a very cartoonish, pop-culture version of northern Europe with Vikings Normans who have claimed the northern seas for their own. After some exposition and the game introducing major NPCs, stuff happens, magic happens, and you then sail around the archipelago with a young Norman princess, Karja, in tow. While the whole Norse/Viking theme has been a bit overdone in the west in recent years, it's nonetheless interesting and refreshing to see it through the anime/Japanese lens for a change. I'm definitely quite enjoying the setting, and Karja is a surprisingly likeable sidekick, a bit of a tsundere voiced in a very bratty tone, but with a reasonable side to her as well. I remember some people, myself included, being a bit disappointed when they announced it would only feature a party of two, but after experiencing the battle system for a bit I can see that any more would easily have overwhelmed the player. There's a couple of ways in which you can fight: the basic one is just running around as either Adol or Karja, attacking by yourself and letting the AI take over the other character. I find this relatively useful when engaging groups of smaller enemies, in a 'divide and conquer' kind of way, as the AI draws some aggro, too. While playing like that, however, you can always change to the other character by pressing a button, which happens instantly and also works mid-combo. There's not much use for that early on, but I can see maybe casting special attacks with longer durations and then immediately switching to keep the pressure on as an option when unlocked. There's a second Duo mode for combat which activates while holding the right trigger and it's here where it becomes a bit much to wrap your head around early on. In this mode, both characters are linked by a magic chain and can't move, but they can block and parry (with very forgiving timing) and attack in unison while also having access to a different set of special attacks fueled by their combined Mana pools (in a funny twist, you can also use these if one character can make up the cost with their mana bar in case the other doesn't have enough – no idea how the developers expect you to properly gauge all that mid fight while parrying and dodging). But all this is only the very baseline as the game keeps giving you tools upon tools in rather quick succession. Early on you unlock a grappling hook for traversal, but it can also be attached to enemies, you unlock launchers for air combos or a unique move activated by holding the attack button which lets Adol cast a burst of fire and Karja a pillar of ice, affecting certain elements in the area (plants, water etc.). And that's just the feature handed to you in the first 5 hours. I find it a bit overwhelming at the moment, but it's cool to see so much depth and potential – I did really liked VIII, but combat in that game mostly revolved around last-minute dodges and not much more. The other big part of the gameplay, outside the usual traversal and exploration, is naval combat, which I think is a first for the series. So far this feels like its weakest link, as the ship is rather unwieldy – but not in a physically realistic, but rather a 'that's an odd control scheme' kind of way. In the early game you have two options to attack, a long-range cannonball to slightly damage and stun ships, and a short-range barrage which does enormous amounts of damage. So you use A until you get close, use B to finish them off, rinse repeat. It does suggest a lot of upgrades to you ship which I'm hopeful will make these encounters more fun and engaging the further along you get, so I don't want to judge that aspect too harshly as of yet. It's not as immediately gripping as the ship combat in AC Black Flag for example though, just to set expectations. I'm playing it on Switch, and compared to VIII, which suffered from severe aliasing or IX with its wonky framerate (at least going by its demo), this feels like a more polished product all-around, with clean visuals and an almost rock-solid 30fps with good frame-timing. The downside of this is that a lot of objects and NPCs pop in very close to the character, which I'm not too bothered about, but not everyone is as forgiving. I suspect the PS5, or I guess even the PS4 version, to have none of these issues, but in any case there's a demo on every platform to check for yourself. As always, can't do screenshots on Switch anymore, so here's a Karja plushie:

That is '1000 times resist', according to one of the creators I think. I put this on hiatus a week or so back, but wanted to write down my thoughts on the first half anyway. I think some of us have this on our backlog It is a sort of 'walking sim' type deal set in a very Yoko Taro-coded version of the future. A mass extinction event occurred, aliens invaded and spread a virus. The game jumps back and forth through time via a sort of memory technology called 'communion'. You're playing as this character called 'Watcher' and you live in this enclosed, somewhat infantilised sisterhood where everyone's names is their role. Nobody can ever take off their mask. There's a sort of COVID allegory to some of it, but also as the name suggests there's a theme of resistance and cycles which gets into slightly more interesting real world allegories, which I'll leave out here but they're mentioned in reviews if you're curious. Put in simple terms, it's an interesting sci fi story with lots of overlapping layers that develop its themes in interesting ways and are successful at generating empathy for their characters. Playing the game is a real struggle though, which is why I put it on break. You just talk to people in it, and you navigate these really confusing environments. It all sort of looks a bit like a second life level, or a custom map from VR chat or something like that. In a way the aesthetic is kinda refreshing or maybe nostalgic if you've ever played F2P MMOs from the noughties or something. The game does find some neat tricks with perspective, how it changes camera angles from third person free form to first person to fixed angles, trying to inject things with a cinematic flair. But it is a bit like doing the fetch quests in FFXIV or FFXVI and having being a bit traumatised by that design it makes it very hard to recommend. You'll see a few articles on some gaming sites praising the story, like massive praise calling it the greatest of all time. I'm not on that level with it, but I do think it's doing something interesting but in a way that's kind of draining to interact with, personally speaking. So I'm very mixed on it, but I'll probably try to see through the second half over Christmas. It seems like the kind of story where you can take an intermission cause of how it's structured

Played through the first two worlds and a bit into the third one over the weekend. I'd say if you've seen any trailer for this you kind of know what to expect, with a minor caveat maybe. Fundamentally this is a Donkey Kong game with a character palette swap. It's classic 2D platforming, with mounts, barrels and, well, not a rolling but a sliding attack. Unlike the DK games both playable characters have the same toolset, so it's just down to personal preference whoever you want to play as (and equal rights in multiplayer). The land-based mounts meanwhile can be summoned at will (if you have their token in your inventory) in certain segments of the stage, which I actually haven't done yet. The game doesn't really incentivise you to use this feature, so I've been relying on the sections where you break a box and they pop out, DK style. What the game isn't is a Crash Bandicoot copycat, despite the trailer maybe suggesting as much through the usage of 3D segments during the stages. Those amount to at best 5% of your playtime and are mostly there to add a bit of visual flourish to proceedings, so it's ultimately more of a gimmick than a true feature, so more reminiscent of how they were implemented in Trine 3. I don't think that's an issue at all, just putting it out there because I was expecting this to be closer to a 50:50 ratio. As for the game itself, you run around your typical tropical locations, do platforming, defeat enemies. Controls aren't quite at the same level as its inspiration (the Dino mount in particularl feels needlessly floaty), but it's still a very nicely tuned platformer. The stages themselves are rather diverse, though I will say there hasn't been anything particularly memorable so far yet. It's very much replaying the DK orchestra while missing a beat here and there, which still results in a very enjoyable platformer, but not a game that's going to alter the perception of the genre. Speaking of orchestras, while this certainly isn't Wise's best work, his tracks ooze the same charm you've come to like from recent DK games. In terms of difficulty I find the normal stages to be rather easygoing so far, but some of the special mini stages (of which there are two per level) can be rather devious. Completing those unlocks a key, which I presume will unlock something else at the end of the game, but I'm not that far in yet. The collectibles are hidden pretty well, too. It's rare that I finish a stage on the first try with everything bagged. As for the negatives, I think some checkpoint placements are a bit off and it also does that annoying thing where you sometimes need enemies to reach collectibles but they don't respawn if you mess up, so you have to kill yourself if you want to try again. I've also run into two bugs so far, one where I couldn't use the glide anymore until I killed an enemy and the other one was when the water mount (seahorse) didn't despawn so I could just float around the remaining part of the level. Which was hilarious, but also kind of adds to the feeling of it lacking a bit of polish here and there. Nothing game breaking though, just these two oddities so far. Loading times are also surprisingly long, relatively speaking. In general though I think this is really solid. The actual gameplay (controls, 'feel') is slightly below that Marsupilami game we all played, but it IMO makes up for it by being a bigger and more ambitious project overall, and visually this is a really nice-looking game easily on the same level as Crash 4. It's a difficult genre to get into as a small developer because it has basically been perfected years ago, but this is probably as good as a DK game can get without having the backing of a big publisher and the skillset of a Nintendo employee.

Found out about this by chance when I went through the Golden Joystick nominees and after watching its trailer I immediately bought it. Looked like it'd hit all the right notes for me and thankfully that proved correct. It's from a small French studio called Plane Toast (the food-puns seem to be all over the place) and seemingly their first project. You play as a young adult girl who receives an SOS signal from the ship her sister disappeared in six years prior, proceed to leave the space station you're currently residing at and start following the trail of the signal to a mostly deserted colony planet where you grew up. It's not the most unique setup, but it gives you an immediate emotional hook for what is essentially a purely exploration-driven open world game. And it mixes in some slight Dune-ish mystery elements via the titular Sand Witches and some subtext about environmentalism and corporate greed in there as well. The gameplay foundations are very light, there's a bit of climbing and platforming, there's a lot of driving around, and the only thing you find when exploring are either materials to build new tools or certain items you need to collect quests. Because there are still some people living on the planet and they're struggling to survive, so they're more than happy to have a newcomer there who can help out. Story progression is linked to the tools you build, as unlocking one moves the plot and timetable a bit forward. There's no combat, so when I say tools I mean a gadget to allow you to use ziplines or a scanner for your car to more easily find interactable objects, among them signal blockers which jam your map and are basically UbiSoft towers (they only reveal a couple of question marks on the map though, not a hundred). I can't put my hand on what it is exactly, probably just all the gears perfectly fitting together, but it's an incredibly engaging experience IMO. It's not a deep game by any means, at least mechanically. Think of it as a less obtuse version of Sable, or the bigger cousin of A Short Hike, and you get the idea. The world is densely packed and gives the impression of being vast, but you can drive around from one edge to the other in I presume less than five minutes. But it does evoke an incredibly sense of place, mostly due to the strong artstyle, great soundtrack and grounded, believable writing. It's also unmistakably French, and I don't say that with any kind of fun-poking subtext, because the media landscape has become very unified in recent years, so it's nice to see something European with a unique cultural influence for a chance. I guess part of why I like it so much might also be because it just came out of nowhere, which nobody reading this and deciding to pick it up will have the luxury anymore, but I do believe it's a really good 'experience' if you like more challenge-free games. I'm not quite through yet, but I suspect it will conclude at around the 10 hour mark, which seems like a reasonable length for a game without much mechanical depth. One last thing: I play it on Switch because I don't have a PS5 or a decent PC and I wouldn't really recommend that version. It permanently runs sub-30fps and has horrible pop-in and dynamic resolution drops. It speaks to the quality of the game that I'm still enjoying it, but unless you have no other option like myself, I'd strongly recommend playing it anywhere else.

Been playing this for around 6 hrs on Series S - and it's quite enjoyable. Has some similarities, in terms of roguelike progression, as Into the Breach, although game presentation and pathways are significantly different. I've defeated the first boss, and so I'll see how well it keeps my interest (probably up to a point where it turns into a grind (or not)). Anyway it's certainly a bit different in looks at least to the mainstream.

Seems a lot (relatively speaking) people got this, so I think a topic here makes sense after all. I don't think this needs context, but just for the record: this is a collection that includes three classic Castlevania games initially released for the DS (Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin, Order of Ecclesia) as well as both the original version of Haunted Castle, an arcade game from the 80s, as well as a complete remake with SNES-style visuals and some other changes of this last game. I started with Dawn of Sorrow, because it's my favourite of the bunch and also the first one that came out (despite being placed at the bottom of the list in the menu). Plus from what I recall it's the one that made most 'use' of the touchscreen, so a good litmus test for this specific release, too. On Switch you can use the touchscreen if you're playing in handheld mode, so there's nothing lost there either way, but the alternative is holding a shoulder button and moving a cursor around, which is a less than ideal alternative. Thankfully the magic circles you have to draw are now also QTEs, but stuff like destroying ice blocks is a bit finnicky so I decided to play that section in handheld mode. IIRC the further you get the less frequent these gimmicks become, so it's only really a small issue in the first hour or two. We've already discussed the multiple screen options in the News topic so I'm not going to repeat those, but I noticed there's also a setup where both screens are displayed vertically, like they were on the original system. I think it would have been really cool to have that setup in Tate mode, but that's really just a nitpick because it would only really be useable on Switch (and maybe PC depending on your monitor setup). As you can see in the picture there's a lot of extra stuff in there as well, like the complete OST that works as a music player (and those games have some of the best tracks in the entire series IMO), a gallery which even includes the game manuals, and you can also choose which version you want to play (EU, US, JP and in Ecclesia's case, even the Korean version, though I'm not sure what's different about that one except the language). In any case, I've been really enjoying the little time I played so far. I usually only associate consoles and games I played as a kid with nostalgia, but the moment I stepped into the first area with its wonderful music I got hit by quite the wave of good old times. Absolute recommendation, these are classics for a reason and M2 did a great job of porting them over, as usual. Not to mention that we get a completely new remake as a bonus, too. [Also, a bit off-topic: while I was going through the gallery I noticed a promo picture for Castlevania: Judgement, which was on the back of one of the manuals back then. I wonder if they plan on re-releasing the 3D games as well considering we're now kind of 'through' with the 2D games. I realise they're not as well-regarded, but I think the PS2 ones are somewhat decent and Judgement, despite being a super broken and unbalanced fighting game, is quite a fun little guilty pleasure with a ridiculously good OST.]

Not sure how popular this series is over here, haven't seen it mentioned much. I never got into the Dig games, but really enjoyed Quest and Heist, and as I was looking for a nice handheld title I picked up the latter's sequel right when it came out last week. For those unaware, Heist is a turn-based, squad-based tactical RPG that is rather unique, but describing it as Valkyria Chronicles in 2D probably comes rather close to how it plays. After positioning your units you can aim freely, either directly at your enemy or letting your bullets ricochet off walls and objects if the line of sight is obscured. Where VC makes up for the lack of agency while aiming by applying RNG to hit quotas, Heist makes things a bit more complicated by weapon sway during aiming or some classes and/or weapons not having aiming sights at all, so you kind of have to eyeball the direction and hope for the best. Speaking of classes, this is a big new feature for this sequel. You still control predetermined characters but you can now freely switch classes around by equipping different weapons. Some skills you learn this way can then be activated in a different class by using cogs, so you can, for example, give the 'Boomer' (grenadier) the sniper's line of sight skill so that they can fire their rockets with more accuracy. There's six classes so there's decent potential for experimentation but also not an overwhelming amount that will make you lose interest in it, and with certain weapons having different properties and additional equipment there's definitely enough depth here to finetune your crew. The second big new feature is that, this being a pirate themed adventure, you now travel the ocean by ship instead of just picking missions from an overworld. And this isn't just for show, as the ship can also be equipped with weapons and will be pulled into naval battles with other vessels. It's all very streamlined – you only have to get in range and in position and you will fire automatically whatever weapon is equipped to the front and sides – but it adds a nice little extra dimension to progression and gives you something else to do than just the tactical encounters. I'm about ten hours in and close to completing the second area and while I don't want to oversell it, I think this is excellent. There was one slightly annoying enemy type in the second area, but otherwise it almost feels flawless so far, the right balance between accessibility and depth, rewarding progression, overall high levels of polish (as usual for their games, but still worth pointing out). It can be challenging at times, but it has multiple difficulty setting and even one that lets you completely customise certain aspects like damage, health etc. Haven't messed around with that though. Good year for unique tactical games between this and Unicorn Overlord I'd say. (Not my screenshot, because Nintendo hates Musk.)

It's hard to explain The Cub without being reductive. It's kind of a really pretty Limbo, except without the puzzles. The most striking thing about it, without doubt, is how it looks. It looks like a cartoon, the devs have done an amazing job with it. It's even got the choppyness to the animation, without it being too overbearing. The characters look great, the backgrounds look great, and there's even a few bespoke animations that are only used for set moments. It runs really well too, my desktop hitting it's max framerate on a game like this isn't a huge surprise I suppose, but it was locked at 60fps on Steam Deck too Gameplay features a lot of platforming, nothing especially challenging, we're not talking Celeste or whatever, but you will likely die a few times. Often this will be because you have to encounter something to know it's coming, the mine cart section for example, it's just a case of failing until you learn it. It's also where I noticed a did of animation delay. Pressing to duck actually takes a few frames to happen because The Cub animates to duck. That caused a few deaths. The double jump either gets taken away from you at points or it's more temperamental than it should be. Similarly there were a few times The Cub didn't grab ledges. It adds to the feeling that the platform mechanics aren't quite there The rest of the game is made up of stealth, chase, flying and a couple of swimming sections. With the stealth it's not always clear what will act as stealth, a problem from the art style I suppose, but it's not too frustrating. Which sums up the game I suppose, you'll die a decent amount, but it isn't hard, it's just a case of learning what to do A word for the story too. Humans have fled earth, they're now Martians and are taking trips back to mine resources and play golf. The Cub is a mutant who has survived on earth. The catastrophe that made earth uninhabitable was caused by late stage capitalism, and the rich abandoned the rest of us to die here. There's a ton of moments that are pulled from the headlines, I suppose your mileage with that will vary. All in all The Cub is a decent game. It came out earlier this year and had a pretty significant discount on Steam during the recent sale. It's a few hours long, nothing too demanding

This game came out in 2021, but I was unaware of it until the current steam sale. It's a lovely, chilled golf-puzzle game. Over a number of different themed worlds, you complete golf holes, earning more stars for completing in fewer shots. Working out how to do some of the holes in 2 or 3 shots to get the maximum star rating is actually quite fun. Some levels have a hidden secret hole/cube/other object to seek out and hit with your ball, which will unlock an alternate path on the map leading to extra stars or a special hole. Completing that hole will add an extra hidden collectible "blue things" to some of the holes on the map, which are used to unlock access to more challenging caverns which make use of the various features and gimmicks you've played with on that map. They can take a bit of figuring out, but are very satisfying. There are only a couple of barriers to progress requiring you to have earned a certain number of stars to pass, or the caverns mentioned above needing x number of the collectible things. The requirements aren't high, helping the game to feel pretty relaxed (the final cavern at the end of the game only needs slightly more than half the total number of collectibles). I got right to the end without engaging much with the secrets, then went back to the first 3 or 4 worlds and completed a bunch of them and had a great time doing it.

I find myself needing to take breaks from FF7 Rebirth. What better then to play the last of the Classic Era I am the least familiar with? I played this originally with the PSOne collection many years ago now. The newest playthrough is via the Pixel Remaster. So let's get this out of the way. The story isn't the main focus of this one. This is a "four chosen heroes gather to protect the elemental crystals that power the world". I'm already two and half hours in and the story has been on the lighter side, so far. As is the tone. This is almost at odds with FF4 and FF6 that start strong on the story front. You play as four characters almost from the very beginning. So there is no real "main one" to focus on. So what is the main focus of this one? Job Classes. This is basically the last game to refine the job system that debuted in FF1. Here's the gimmick though: You level up your job class and past a certain cap. Unlock a skill IE use of White Magic that you can retain when transferring to another job. For example, when the job classes are first unlocked. I set one character as a Monk IE the physical powerhouse. A couple levels in, you unlock "Barehanded". A skill the grants other job classes the physical strength of a Monk, when unarmed. Therefore, that character is now a Black Mage. Who when the skill is set also happens to be one of the strongest attackers in the party. This opens up a lot of variety to each build and character. Magic is also done a bit differently in this. You don't "learn" a single spell. You buy them from a Magic shop. Now levelling up White and Black Mages grants higher levels of proficiency. The initial unlocked skill grants use of Level 1 White/Black Magic EG Cure, Fire etc This goes upto level 6. So it pays to have one of two of your characters set long term as a Mage. Blue Magic also returns. Which is weirdly done. Because you don't influence enemy attacks in anyway. You just have to wait and see if the enemy has something you can learn. You don't even gain the "Learn" ability until Blue Mage lvl 3. This is the kind of grinding that I find really relaxing. Especially with the speed up battle option.

A bit surprised this doesn't have a topic yet as I think the other games did have a few fans here. But then again I bought this on release and only now felt in the right mood to play it, so maybe it just came out at the wrong time. This immediately feels a lot more like 1 than 2, which is most likely a byproduct of it being made by Deck Nine (Before the Storm) who feel probably more comfortable reproducing what worked in the first place and a desire to, well, get back to what worked in the first place. Alex, the protagonist, is extremely approachable in an almost ironic way as she's a bit of introvert with a loaded background, so not unlike Max from the original. Setting the game in a small, rural area in some fictional part of an American mountain range gives it a very idyllic and soothing feel where standing around and rotating the camera is a joy in itself. A byproduct of this is that it also goes back to a fixed cast of NPCs with their own jobs, motivations, backgrounds and personalities. It is not without its faults – Alex' superpower is 'just there' and I find it baffling how the promo material spoiled this game's Aerith moment – but I felt right at home from the first minute. It's just a wonderfully cleansing experience, though it'll probably throw some existential angst in my direction soon (I'm only on chapter 2). One other thing I want to point out is that it looks phenomenal. The lighting, use of colours, the significantly improved facial animations all result in this not being the best-looking LiS title but a genuinely beautiful game even by other standards. It's also the first game in which I actually noticed Raytracing (which can be activated in Performance mode, too) when looking at the extremely realistic reflections on Alex' glasses. They look so good in fact that they almost clash with the slightly dreamy and soft art style. Playing this amidst the recent Square Enix news feels a bit bittersweet as well because I'm unfortunately not expecting them to finance another one of these anytime soon. So I'm definitely taking my time with it and enjoying the ride. Edit: Glasses

Backlog time! This is one of those projects that came out of Riot Forge, the unfortunately now defunct initiative from Riot to establish the LoL universe beyond the base Moba. In this case, we're looking at a relatively classic, linear action-adventure title, made by Tequila Works (Deadlight, Rime, Gylt). On surface level it looks a bit like a companion game à la Last Guardian or Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom, but it works a bit differently in the sense that you control both Nunu (the kid) and Willump (the blue Magic Yeti) in predetermined sections. So there's no manual switching or anything like that, which makes the entire thing relatively streamlined, but also rather simplistic. Nunu can play the flute which allows him to manipulate certain objects to solve puzzles, whereas Willump comes into action for, well, the action when you have to fight. There's also a bit of platforming which both can take part in and a multitude of other little gameplay gimmicks to mix things up, some of which born out of the most unexpected inspirations (Katamari). They can also both throw snowballs, either at each other for fun or to interact with distant objects. Overall its systems, mechanics and difficulty level suggest this is very much a game aimed at kids, with the writing also mimicking your usual tales of family and friendship you'd see in an animated movie. For me I looked at is as a light palette cleanser type game and for that it worked really well. There is a certain amount of ambiguity about the antagonist, resulting in a conflict based around perspective rather than just being black & white, which is a neat touch that goes a bit beyond what you'd expect. It's a cute game overall, 7-8 hours long so doesn't overstay its welcome and even has a few cool surprises up its sleeve. The beginning is a bit bland, both visually and in terms of gameplay, but the latter half really picks up in both of these areas. Not a must play or anything but if you like some simple, well-made classic videogame stuff, this is a nice little project. And also probably a good pick for the intended audience, because it has so many different gameplay elements (platforming, puzzles, combat) that it's a good appetizer for what videogames are about. Forgot to upload some screenshots, I might edit them in later if I don't forget.

I wanted to play this from when it first came out, but refused to pay full price for a SpongeBob game in... 2023. Huh, I thought this was more than a year old. Anyway. It's a typical mascot platformer that seemed to breed and multiply in the PS2/Xbox/GameCube days, but brought to life with a glorious new-gen shine. I sound highly cynical, and to be honest, I am on this one. It's linear to a tee (definite positive), but you get a few little side quests that require a touch of exploration - collect a number of golden coins, find a specific character, discover golden spatulas. However, a lot of these extra bits and bobs are locked behind power-based gates. Things like a karate kick, or swinging on a fish hook, or a mega smash. What this means is that if I want to collect everything, it's not a one and done situation, but I essentially need to play the game twice. It's false padding. Anyway, how does it play, I (don't) hear you ask? Meh. It's serviceable. Jumps can be very awkward. Combat can be awkward. Skills can be unresponsive. However, despite all this meh-ness, there's still enough to keep me playing. I think this might be one of the first games I finish this year. Won't be getting 100%, though. Fuck that noise.

This had a cool demo so I decided to treat myself to a little sidegame over the long weekend. I'd actually encourage giving the demo a shot, because the game looks like a run-of-the-mill pixel indie title but it has an amount of quality and polish to it that really makes it stand out. In a Nintendo-ish way, it's entirely designed around a singular idea and that's the drill your character carries around. It allows you to drill through certain areas of the map, be it ground, snow or other, it works as a propellor underwater, it can revv up certain machines etc. I'm not going to spoil in detail what the developers have cooked up, but there are genuinely cool surprises here throughout and no two levels feel the same – again, very much Nintendo-like. This seems to have been in development for about seven years, which sounds absolutely bonkers, but it shows, because it's really an incredibly accomplished take on one of the oldest genres out there. There is one caveat though and those are the boss battle. I'm not going to mince words, they're all pretty bad. Well, at least the three I played so far. The first one was okay-ish I suppose, but the two that followed were just very tedious 'death by a million cuts' affairs that don't use its central mechanic in an interesting way. The third one, in fact, is easier if you just don't drill into the ground at all. It's weird to see how devoid those fights are of ideas considering how excellent the rest of the package is – almost as if they had been made by a completely different team. So while that might sour the experience a tiny bit at the end of every world, I don't think it drags the game down overall. From what I read it's not super long, but quality over quantity seems the focus here, and there's time trials for crazy people to get a bit more out of it. As a final commentary, the soundtrack is extremely good as well and I wish I could link a few samples but nobody seems to have uploaded anything yet. It's on Spotify though, if you want to give it a listen. Completely misrepresenting screenshotTM

This came out to very little fanfare in January and I forgot I pre-ordered it at some point. Was in the right mood to (re)visit it over the weekend, so here goes. First off, the way they bundled this together is rather curious, because you can't simply pick the games on the title screen. Instead it simply throws you into the remake of the DS game and after you beat it it more or less goes straight into its sequel. So if you didn't know any better you'd think these would simply be two chapters of the same game. So far I've only completed the first. The original DS game is a weird one because you could almost call it a tech demo without really offending anyone, but it's also a rather relaxing and charming 'baby's first mystery adventure' kind of game. By remaking this in full 3D without having access to the DS' unique hardware features this would always have been an interesting case study for how to approach remakes and, well, it's not exactly a triumph. Puzzles feel very menial and by-the books, the very first one requires usage of the system's gyro controls and barely works -- after that, they're all solved with classic input methods. Due to the nature of the original it had to spell out a lot of things because it couldn't visually represent them in detail, and unfortunately they didn't adapt the writing to the fact that you can, indeed, now see everything. So you're permanently running into situations where the characters tell you what you see, which adds an unnecessary layer of inactivity to a game that already feels extremely passive. On the plus side, they did make good usage of their apparent low budget by bringing the mansion to life in a rather accomplished fashion. Character models are also very nice and clean, but the camera is placed so close to Ashley I was just waiting for the FBI to knock on the door. On the other hand, the VO is pretty abysmal in terms of audio quality (and, in some cases, the acting itself -- though Ashley herself is thankfully pretty good), camera controls are absolutely awful and the only time it hits its fps target is on the main menu. As a remake I think this is a downgrade in almost every way, but unfortunately I don't have access to the original at the moment to properly compare it to. You could of course make the point that this was mostly made for newcomers, but I wonder if the very simplistic nature of it might turn them off rather than draw them in. That said, I actually did like my second visit to the mansion, to an extent. It's a cool setting and it has a wholesome, if super predictable plot. And if nothing else it's still rather unique, more than two decades later. I think the second game might actually benefit more from the switch to the over-the-shoulder view, because the 2D plane you moved around in always felt oddly restrictive. I've only played the first hour of that one so far, so it's too early to tell, but it already feels like a better fit.

Balatro. What can I say about Balatro that will do it any justice...? For the uninitiated, this presents as roguelike poker. You're dealt a hand of cards and use your card counting skills, or your natural-borne luck, to build a game-winning combination. Everything from high card draws to the fabled royal flush will score points, and it's your job to work through eight rounds of three games. I've managed to get half way through a game up to now - ante 5/8 - before crashing out horribly. Like I said, though, it presents as poker. Realistically, it takes poker to a whole new place, and this is thanks to the store between rounds. You can buy a range of bonuses to increase your chances of reaching the end. Tarot cards apply specific bonuses to individual cards from your deck (this could be anything from giving you an extra $3 if it's not used by the end of a round to a multiplier if it's played and scores). Planet cards provide bonuses to specific hands - I'm a fan of bumping up my two-pair bonus, as it's one of the most common hands I play, and it can become especially prolific for points the more you increase its level. You can get packs that add more cards to your deck, and then there are Joker cards (that's Poker with a J... Coincidence?) that give you overall bonuses. The key to the game right now seems to be the Joker Cards. A two pair hand with two 10s and two 5s can score around 50 points as a base. But add in a Joker card that adds 4 to your multiplier if you play clubs, as well as the joker that adds 30 chips if you play a 10, AND a +4 multiplier for the same numbers, and that two pair hand quickly shoots up to almost 10,000 points. Skipping some rounds is an option, and will present you with a bonus if you do so, but this comes at the cost of making more money to go into the store with. Is that card pack, which is usually $6 worth accepting, rather than playing the round and getting to $10 so you can buy a new bonus card or a couple of new Jokers? In each round of three games, there's also a 'boss' match. This will add further complications to the gameplay. Some of the ones I've encountered include all face cards being dealt face down, specific suits being debuffed (so those awesome bonuses are completely negated) and even ALL dealt cards being handed out face down. These are super tough at times, and if you hit a bad run, you're essentially screwed. I'm under no illusions that I'm not great at this game, but it has a fantastic 'one more go' quality that makes you hop in for another round. I honestly can't express how much I'm enjoying it right now. I'm determined to figure out a way to get through all 8 rounds.

Its a game where you drive a train. Got this recently on switch, was previously sort of interested in trying the ps4 version, which supports VR so thats cool, but didnt get round to it. And sort of though i might find playing it really boring. Not really sure where my interest in this came from, saw some youtube videos on it and wanted to try it. have been enjoying it, its not the most amazingly exciting thing ever, struggle to explain why im enjoying it but think it helps that its something a bit different and new, to me anyway - thats what i was thinking after the first few missions. Later i got to the 3rd set of missions which are much more involved, with more speed check areas where they try and catch you out like by putting a high speed limit check just before a stop or reduced speed limit, its much more action packed, been really enjoying this set of missions. the main thing to do in the game is stop at the right position at the next station, this is worth the most points etc, and im rubbish at it. But im quite good at doing the extra stuff like arriving on time, dimming lights for other trains, and beeping and pointing at all sorts of stuff. Theres a point button. As in finger pointing. Apparently train drivers are supposed to point at things (and say a catchphrase) to keep them more engaged and stop them from falling asleep or something. i think it helps that this is more arcady than a full on train sim, and the line choice of the tokyo ring road (yamanote line) so has loads of stops and scenery and stuff to do. There never seems to be more than 2 mins between stops. anyone else played one of these? i could find a useful video explaining it better or something but heres this instead

The best way to describe this is what if Suda51 had a queer Indian cousin who also made games? It's really out there, in every sense of the phrase. The setup is basically Scott Pilgrim through an Indian lens, with the protagonist returning to her hometown after a breakup and then having to confront all her exes. From a gameplay perspective you're either talking, skating around, doing some QTE-based minigames or fight in turn-based battles. I don't want to call the gameplay loop gimmicky because it's a bit derogatory, but it still explains it best. There's not much depth to anything you do, but it's a very enjoyable cocktail presented in a very wacky and charming way. During dialogue sequence you can pick answers which in turn give points for one of three different 'thirstsonas' (their word, not mine). Supposedly this impacts both the narrative and gameplay, but I haven't noticed the former and the latter just boils down to minuscule shifts towards either your HP pool, your offense or your defense. Skating is wonky and clunky, but you can skip every challenge the game asks you to do before progressing. I think it's a nice enough diversion, but it's no Tony Hawk for sure. Combat meanwhile is a solid spin on the Paper Mario/Mario et Luigi formula with timed button inputs influencing damage dealt and received. Debuffs are called taunts and certain skills you have deal bonus damage if a debuff has been applied. That's pretty much it, but it's a solid template and the boss fights, while quite a bit talkative, are the clear highlights, with the exes withdrawing into some sort of mind palace where they take different forms (a bit Persona-like, now that I think about it). There's also a part where you can cook meals for combat use or to make up with your exes, which is technically just a series of QTEs intertwined by a heart-to-heart with either your mum or dad (depending on what menu you choose). I'm definitely enjoying it a lot and it also has a very stylish presentation. 3D modelling can't quite keep up with the art but it's a really 'cool' game to look at with a lot of visual flourishes, nice UI art etc. The OST is really good as well, though in a less eccentric way. Overall a nice little feelgood game that still tackles some deeper subjects from a different perspective than we're used to in games.

There isn't a thread for this already? It's a gem of a game! Simple loop of fishing and then selling your catches in a restaurant, both of which can be gradually upgraded and for some reason, you'll want to get them upgraded! There are side stories, or maybe main stories (not sure yet) that give you loads of new objectives. Plus you'll want to get your restaurant ranking up, which means you need to get better at fishing, so you'll want better gear... It's a fantastic loop that is very very difficult to put down. The swimming physics are nice too, it all feels great!

This is more of a personal archive than a real topic, as I doubt there's much interest in this game here. Fundamentally it's a relatively straightforward resource-collecting and crafting game. The gameplay loop consists of collecting wood, flowers, stone and other materials to use for some art & craft stuff you can then sell at the weekly eponymous night market, which in turn gives you enough money to buy new gathering tools, which in turn unlock new areas with new resources, which, you guessed it, allow you to craft more stuff. You basically go through this process on repeat until you reach the final area, as every area is part of a larger story that involves a mysterious agency, a legendary guardian animal and a truckload of cats. It does mix up proceedings here and there though. The first time you enter an area you have to free a couple of caged cats and get rid of the agents there, which in gameplay speak is always a little stealth section (albeit a very simplistic one – think OoT's castle garden). Gathering and crafting involves completing short QTEs and every night market ends with a little minigame, like a play, a cat race or something along those lines. It's not really a game that'll draw you in for its gameplay mechanics, but rather its unique charm and presentation, the classic carrot dangling in front of you and a genuinely touching narrative that falls a bit into coming-of-age territory. I've heard people say they find it grindy and repetitive and I technically can't argue against it. Sometimes you need to gather certain materials a couple of (ingame) days in a row to get what you need and if you mess up hoarding season-specific items like, say, certain spring flowers, you'll have to wait for the night market in summer to stock up on them. But I still quite enjoyed it, it's super relaxing and super adorable and its quirky sense of humor and narrative can pull you along when maybe the gameplay alone couldn't. I saw the credits after roughly 20 hours but it's also open-ended, so you can still go about maxing out friendship levels with NPCs (which always involves giving them items you crafted or found) or completing the little museums with resources you found, even after the story has reached its conclusion. Switch version is a bit wonky (though way better than on release) with comparatively long loading times that also result in the music stuttering, making the whole thing feel a bit unpolished. There's also some formatting errors in the text (they have it set up to give plurals always an -s, so you end up with stuff like 'Got 10 sands' or '5 Special Nikko Flowerss'). It also, oddly, doesn't use the B button or the D-pad at all, so you have to navigate menus with the stick and close them with the same button you opened them with. But I can forgive those problems as it's made by a really small team that also had to take a long break in development due to burnout. I suspect at least the loading times being shorter on other platforms, but I also think it's really well suited to handheld play. Disclaimer: it's not a farming game, despite what this image might suggest.

Seems pretty good. initially was a bit disapointed as its more like a traditional mario game than i was expecting, thats on me as i only watched the first trailer and thought it was going to be even more crazy. Anyway, it is a somewhat crazy and pretty cool! Been really enjoying it. i want some flowers like that in real life that give me some encouragement and stuff. the crazy bits are a bit hit and miss, well hit and less of a hit as some are a lot of fun and others are less so, wouldnt say anything has been bad so far. the levels are rated for difficulty, the hardest one ive done was 5 stars, dont know if it goes higher, but that level was really hard but i enjoyed it too. i dont like the old style lives system, although to be fair running out of lives wasnt as annoying as i was expecting. the graphics are nice. So far its probably up there with my favourite 2d mario game - the wii u one - was sort of hoping a bigger 2d mario fan would start the thread but here we are! seen a few people got it in the pics thread, how you guys getting on with it?

A Space for the Unbound is an adventure game set in Indonesia in the 1980s. It’s about a couple of high school students but there are magical elements to it too, which gives it the atmosphere of something like a Studio Ghibli or Makoto Shinkai film. I’m impressed with it so far. If nothing else, l would love to see a Final Fantasy game made in this style.

Picked this up because I needed something to get my gaming juices flowing again and it has reviewed very well. It’s basically out on everything. I’ve played around 40 minutes and it mostly involves solving environmental puzzles similar to something like Hob, without the combat, which was a game that I quite liked. Nothing taxing so far. My current save file is saying 22% which would mean that the game is probably in the 3-5 hour range. I don’t have any problem with that considering the length of other games I’ve played this year.

First of all, Nintendo can go screw themselves for coming along with this almost 20 years after the previous game in the series. The last time they were this tonedeaf was when they announced Federation Force. Secondly, it's not so bad. I mean it's basically just classic F-Zero with more direct controls and without a collision detection that makes Newton spin in his grave. It adds the spin attack from GX but puts a cooldown on it and tackled enemies drop coins which fill up a special bar you can use instead of your boost to drive 'on top' of the course and avoid the massacre below. I don't see it having a huge lasting impact or the immediate pull of something like Fall Guys, but it's decent enough for a freebie (if, again, extremely poorly timed). Anyway, I immediately won my first race. I guess the newbies in the lobby thought Death Wind was easy after looking at its map.

Maraca based rhythm action game. The original on dreamcast was great, with maraca controllers, not played it in years mind. Was a bit sceptical about this, didnt think the joycons would work that well for the motion controls, but it works a lot better than i expected, probably partially because it seems pretty lenient in recognising hits. But at the same time it doesnt work quite as well as as it could, id expect the vr version to be better, think its quest exclusive? the music selection is sort of similar in that its better than i expected, but it could also have been better still. Didnt recognise most of the songs by name but playing through them theres certainly enough songs that ive been enjoying playing through, even though i maybe wouldnt listen to them outside the game. To register normal hits It doesnt work based on the height of the controller, it uses the angle of the controller, so if you hold your hands up the controller will angel up automatically, for middle hits your supposed to hold them straight, and for down you point them down. Its probably easier to explain how it works with a video (ill try and add one later) but theres 6 locations you can shake a maraca/controller at (top middle bottom, and each have left/right) thats how the original worked, with iirc some posing where you hold a pose. The new version has maybe too much posing and other stuff like movements/dancing stuff going on. The ones where you slide the controllers around to match movements on screen are a bit odd too in that they start far too quickly for you to follow them entirely (unless you memorise them i guess), the game doesnt care too much though and will give you a perfect hit as long as you follow the last bit ok, its sometimes a bit vague what youre supposed to be doing though which isnt great for a rhythm action game. Usually the game just gives you the benefit of the doubt and registers a hit even if im not sure i hit the note, sometimes it goes the other way though, although maybe i need to get better at it. Because of the above, if you want to play it seriously for high scores and stuff its maybe not great, although again maybe i need to get better. But i would say it is pretty fun and im enjoying it, no regrets on getting it. not tried playing with a pad yet, which worked well in the original, suspect with all the dancing/sliding going on in this it might not work as well here? the graphics i quite like (after thinking the graphics looked a bit crap in the trailer) its mainly just a load of mad stuff going on in the background, and ive got a cool hat. Its very colourful. for sonic fans the blue guy is in this dancing and stuff. oh yeah theres a roulette thing which seems odd, you can toggle it off, which i have. theres also an ios version, not sure if its quite the same game though. ive mostly been playing the songs in the quickplay mode, but there is a sort of single player thing which seems to be just challenges, most of which are quite easy so far but the one to not miss notes is really annoying but looks like it can be skipped. anyone else giving it a go? The trailer shows how the gameplay works, although in very short bits