Disgaea 5 Complete certainly appeals more to people who have never played the game over the fans that jumped into it first on PS4. What is great is that nothing is sacrificed on it’s move to Nintendo’s new hybrid system, so those fans who like the idea of playing the game again with a portable aspect will be happy with the transition. For newcomers, what should be known is that Disgaea 5 Complete is a great strategy RPG with some unique features going for it that no other strategy RPG does (e.g. Item World). It also brings deep gameplay, fanatical characters and a silly story that makes Disgaea 5 Complete a fantastic additional to the Switch’s library, filling in a genre that the system doesn’t have at the moment, while being the best version of Disgaea 5.

All in all, Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 is a welcome upgrade for fans that own the previous iteration (they even get a discount), and an especially meaty experience for newcomers, even if the story will be far ahead of their level of understanding. With Injustice 2 and Tekken 7 falling in the same month, it’s been a heck of a comeback for modern fighting games.

The Town of Light is a beautiful title, with great sound and reworked voice-overs that improve on the original release, but it needs harder puzzles, some work on the camera and maybe be a bit darker to give the flashlight some purpose. Besides that, The Town of Light accomplishes what it promises, and is a game people need to try, because it is something different to experience within the video game medium.

The episode, and the game in general, is not bad. In fact, it is good. There are moments of tension and a narrative that goes some way to engage the player. And since, I’ve been a bit of a downer about the whole thing, I would like to add, the voice acting is superb, as expected. Plus, Jesus turns up again in all his man-bun glory which made for a great ending to his character. But by the standards of Telltale, the episode is simply, and frustratingly, just ‘fine’ or ‘OK’. For any other franchise, this would be par for the course. But for The Walking Dead, a series revered and loved by many, it seems crushingly disappointing.

Injustice 2 is a bigger, better, more beautiful follow up to Gods Among Us that improves on the irks of the first game to make it a polished fighter. No matter if your enjoyment falls into single player or multiplayer, there is so much high quality content, from the big budget flair of the story mode, the impressive presentation, the Multiverse’s changing challenges, and the solid online code built in Injustice 2 that it can supply many hours, days and weeks of brutal entertainment, no matter the skill level of the player. I feel confident in saying that Injustice 2 is the best work NetherRealm Studios has ever done, and in that, making it an excellent fighting game for fans of the genre or lovers of superheroes.

Overall, Dragon Quest Heroes II is easily the most lovingly-recreated celebration of fanservice since Hyrule Warriors. There is an undeniable charm in its presentation, dialog and audio cues, and the shift towards more gameplay variety than the average Musou title is greatly appreciated, even if it isn’t the biggest step forward. There is also an RPG worth’s amount of extra content, including periodic updates featuring additional characters to fight alongside and powerful new foes to fight against. Musou titles may more commonplace than sports games these days, but this is definitely one of the few worth seeking out, and an absolute must-have purchase for longtime Dragon Quest fans.

Deck 13 took what they learnt from working on Lords of the Fallen and added their own ideas to allow The Surge to be more than a pure Dark Souls clone. The combat is fantastic, engaging, and features a neat limb target system, and the skill progression is refreshingly open to experimentation, but the overall experience is sadly hampered by the lack of enemy variety and a monotonous sci-fi location, which has so much potential wasted with the current industrial environment. Even with those faults, The Surge is a better game than Lords of the Fallen, and one that I can recommend to fans of the popularised action RPG subgenre, because there is a good, fun experience to be had with The Surge, and some of its unique ideas bring solid additions to From Software’s concrete formula.

Overall, “average” is the perfect descriptor for Akiba’s Beat. While there is nothing particularly bad about it, it does little to stand out among the most recent releases that truly revitalize the JRPG genre. It is both baffling and disheartening that the developers chose to rob the very things that made Akiba’s Trip stand out among the sea of Japanese games only to have it conform to a pale imitation of more polished JRPGs. If you haven’t done so already, consider passing over this game in favor of seeking out its more unique (and entertaining) predecessor for cheap.

Little Nightmares is a thrilling game of horror built around its twisted and fascinating location. It drops the conventional cheap scare tactics and shines with psychological fear when it is delivering its unnerving, sinister frights through the eerie atmosphere, creepy visuals and stellar sound. If it wasn’t for some of the minor control issues, Little Nightmares would be a near perfect package in what it is trying to deliver, but even with the slight tarnish on the overall experience, there’s no denying that Little Nightmares is one of the more imaginative horror titles currently available.

This series has been disappointing so far. This episode is probably the best yet but the glitches and just general lack of improvement in the writing mean that it is still substandard. The last episode would have to be incredible to draw everything together into a meaningful arc which lives up to its predecessors.

Dawn of War III brings with it a campaign that starts off on the slow end, but eventually warms up to be an enjoyable, if fairly standard, single player mode. It’s the inventive multiplayer that is the biggest change, and one that will upset traditionalists who wanted a return to the original game. The blend of both predecessors’ ideas to bring the mix of base building and hero powered Elite units goes well with the new focus on exhilarating, faster-paced multiplayer. But if you hate the idea of a game that promotes aggression, pushing hard and relying on having such powerful units that can turn the tide of battle, then your experience with the game is no doubt going to wane. While it won’t be a genre defining twist nor shape the future of RTS multiplayer, it’s still remains a unique take on the typical RTS conventions and one I’ve grown to relish more as I keep playing.

The Disney Afternoon Collection still represents some of the most treasured third party titles of yesteryear, and solid proof that not every licensed game should turn out to be disappointing garbage. That’s a lesson today’s developers should learn, just as this collection should be checked out by nostalgic adults and curious kids alike.

Nonograms are nice little time-killers, especially on the go, which is obviously lost on a PC. Secondly, a touch screen is easily the best way to play. It makes everything so much easier to control, being able to fill in complete lines at a time with a single stroke, which is much harder when using a mouse. In fact, I disliked using my mouse so much I grabbed my graphics tablet and used that instead – much better, but unfortunately a luxury not everybody has access to. Honestly it just feels wrong to play picross on a PC. Using such a large screen for small, simple puzzles and not being able to take them with you is really awful and I can’t say I’ll ever be playing a picross game on the platform again.

I went into Shiness: The Lightning Kingdom with a lot of hope that it could successfully achieve all it was set out to do with this unique blend of arena based fighter injected into an action-RPG. The indie studio had a lot of ambition and heart for the project, but it disappointingly doesn’t manage to pull off all these cool ideas together into a coherent package. Shiness has the visuals right, but there are too many minor faults throughout the game across its combat, platforming and performance that it is hard to truly recommend what is actually a refreshing RPG at heart, especially with so many great games releasing lately. That said, there is fun here in small doses, so if you are looking for something a bit different after exhausting all the big guns, then it might scratch a certain itch that people are looking for, and with it not being the longest of RPGs, you might get through it without as much irritation with its faults as I did.

The controls are intriguing enough to hook a player in and it’s quite fun to embrace the elementary mastery of them once they’ve become second nature and platforming through formidable-looking obstacle courses is a breeze. Plus, relaxedly exploring the 15 stages for collectibles (20 wisps and 5 coins per level) is made more enjoyable by the charming, bright design and chilled out tunes that accompany it, which is all it really aims to be – a laid back game that shows off a new angle for a bit of fun. No real replayability after the few collectibles or big skill wall to overcome, or even any kind of lesson to learn, but instead to almost act as a kind of sandbox for a new type of control system and whilst it could have been built on, it does do what is set out to do, just a bit lazily.

Without a doubt, Kingdom Hearts 1.5+2.5 Remix is the definitive collection of the landmark crossover series. While the PS4 re-release of these games don’t offer the most substantial upgrades from the PS3 editions (aside from slightly faster load times and 60 frames a second during gameplay…sadly, all cutscenes remain in their original 30 fps rendering), the sheer convenience of having all these games under one collection (not to mention one console) is as tremendous as the value. Old fans and newcomers alike owe themselves to step into this adventure spanning multiple worlds (and games).

Telltale have surprised me before, and for Clementine’s sake, I hope they manage it again by the end of this season. Otherwise, The Walking Dead: A New Frontier may join the series with a whimper, rather than a ferocious zombie bite.

I found it a ton of fun and terribly addicting to the point where I just consumed it in about 2 days.

Toukiden 2 is a packed title that sacrifices complex depth, but in exchange continues to offer people a faster, more easy to understand hunting game for anyone who does not gel with the methodical style of Monster Hunter, while also bringing a fun single player story. Omega Force switched up the formula with the inclusion of an open world, an idea that works well within its framework, but isn’t perfect – it could do to express the “open” aspect further, and also branch it out to the multiplayer component of the game. Fans should be happy to know that the sequel is a good follow up to the original, adding a little creative divergence, but upholding what was fun about the first title, while also allowing single or multiplayer gamers to jump in and enjoy without frustration.

For those who already owned both Danganronpa games in handheld or PC, this PS4 collection offers little-to-no additions, and becomes a case-by-case basis of whether it’s worth dipping in again. For newcomers, this is a bargain price for two of the most memorable adventure games in years, featuring all sorts of stylized artwork and utterly insane twists and turns. It may be more of an extracurricular than a mandatory course, but this collection tour of despair is still worth enrolling in.

Simply put, Dead Rising 4 is going to upset the serious hardcore fans of the series who have enjoyed its quirky mechanics over the years. Signs began with Dead Rising 3 that Capcom was moving in an direction to simplify the game to allow more accessibility to the mainstream. Dead Rising 4 will not do anything for those people, but for anyone who did enjoy the previous title or would like a game that’s about dressing up in dumb clothes and killing zombies in stupid ways with bizarre weapons, while celebrating the wonderful festivities of massacre over a Christmas theme, then this title is for you. It makes an improvement over the third entry, offering a few hours of silly fun for a series that still manages to bring a unique experience like no other when it comes to dishing out the zombie violence.

Nier: Automata is a brilliant, slick action RPG pumped with so many cool and distinct features, and a story that that I could keep talking about all day, but let’s not spoil what should be experienced, nor bore everyone with mechanics and finish up the review with a final statement. Nier: Automata is a thrilling piece of entertainment, one that sticks out for being unique, for being refreshing, and that little bit bonkers. With so many quality games released so far in 2017, Nier: Automata‘s brave approach to bring something outlandish makes it a worthwhile investment. By combining the madness of Yoko Taro’s stories with Platinum Games expertise in adrenaline action, it has enabled it to deliver an exceptional and solid paced video game, with both teams complimenting each other in this sequel that improves on everything wrong with Nier, while blowing your freaking mind after reaching its full conclusion.

In the end, Nights of Azure tries to prioritize style over substance, which should be enough to gain the attention of its target audience, but a bit more tightening up of the latter would have been preferable. Whether the grinding gameplay is enough to enjoy a saccharine sweet girl/girl romance plot will depend on the player’s tolerance, not to mention their own priorities for a game like this.

Berserk and the Band of the Hawk is cast away into the depths of the eclipse as a gory average Warriors game with a captivating mature theme, but lacking substance to keep people motivated to playing past a single completion of the story.

In the end, while there is a flat story with a protagonist that lacks any real personality, they aren’t big enough issues to spoil where it matters most. Sniper Elite 4 releases with such confidence in what it wants to be that it is easy to see why all the improvements make it the best entry in the series. The advancements are in places where it matters most, making use of the current generation to bring larger maps to make way for more gameplay options in its sandbox environment, an implementation that advances the franchise in a better direction, one that could lead way for an impressive sequel that truly knocks it out of the park with the great foundations set in stone with Sniper Elite 4‘s refreshing design for a series that could have remained stale.

Although the mechanics may get same-y in the long run, due to the lack of much variation, The Flame in the Flood is pure art. It’s full of emotion and is abundantly clear that it was made as a labour of love, making the lack of a true challenge or any real replayability an even bigger shame as it falls short of being great.

While I did often find myself frustrated by it, ultimately I enjoyed my time with Alone With You. But as to whether I see myself playing again, unearthing the secrets and getting to know its cast of characters from another angle – there, I’m not so sure. But for fans of the adventure genre – and particularly visual novels – it’s well worth at least one playthrough.

Atelier Shallie Plus: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea is overall a pleasurable tale, and even when the overarching story has a depressing theme and the graphical performance is a little lacking, nothing stops it from being just a bliss of fun, a warm bundle of charm in a climate where we kind of need something to give us a smile from time to time.