Digitally Downloaded's Scores

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For 3,536 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 52% higher than the average critic
  • 11% same as the average critic
  • 37% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 2.2 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Game review score: 73
Highest review score: 100 Lost Judgment
Lowest review score: 0 Hentai Uni
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,801 out of 3536
  2. Mixed: 1,411 out of 3536
  3. Negative: 324 out of 3536
3538 game reviews
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    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    PGA Tour 2K21
    It's an excellent simulation of an excellent sport. With most other sports properties out there aiming for intensity, action, and excitement, having the laid-back, strategic pace of golf is a nice alternative, and this will likely be a game I keep coming back to for some time to come simply for that change of pace and undemanding nature.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Aokana - Four Rhythms Across the Blue
    Aokana is an excellent example of a romance visual novel. It's lightly entertaining, often whimsically so, but has a compelling and rich cast of characters that you're left rooting for. The art is impeccably beautiful, and while you could bemoan the removal of the explicit sex scenes for the console release, I think what's left behind takes on a different texture. It's a sweet and playful little thing on the Nintendo Switch, with some fun and teasing fanservice to go with the energy, but liberated of the need to make the sex the big payoff to playing the game, Aokana's narrative is more than enough to carry the experience. I really love this game and find it very much inspiring, so you can expect to see Dee Dee and the other girls strapping on anti-grav boots for the next DDNet visual novel, I guess!
    • tbd Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Chinese Parents
    I have no idea how a non-Chinese person might react. All I can do is be honest and say that seeing my own experiences represented in a game like this is a truly powerful thing.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Through the Darkest of Times
    The writing in Through the Darkest of Times is evocative, powerful and poignant. Too often it's undermined by the game also having systems that contain the same kind of resource juggling and time management that we see in anime dating sims.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Death end re;Quest 2
    While Death End re;Quest 2 didn't have quite the same impact on me as the original, that's only because things are never as surprising the second time around. I still found this game to be an intensely engaging blend of a brutal kind of horror, classical turn-based JRPG, and fan service. It's a mix that I would never have thought could work prior to this series, but Idea Factory has proven otherwise, and done so incredibly effectively. I wish I could delve more deeply into the themes in this review, because there's a lot to talk about with this particular dark mystery and I'm looking forward to discussing it at greater length with people down the track, but just be aware going in that there are layers of nuance to this game that it will never get the credit it deserves for.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Cruel Bands Career
    It’s hard to review Cruel Bands Career without conflating the design’s very intentional dreadfulness with judgements of the game’s quality. It’s clear from just a few moments of play that this game wants to make the player feel bad. That’s the whole schtick. And it is wholly successful in doing so – it’s a fascinating case study for emotionally resonant mechanics and non-traditional game design. And while it’s interesting, it doesn’t have a whole lot to say beyond its cruel exterior. It’s not particularly insightful or rewarding. It’s just a mean-spirited joke at the expense of the player. And even if the joke is well crafted, you’ve got to ask yourself if you really want to be on the receiving end of it.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Samurai Shodown! 2
    I will say, however, that Samurai Shodown! 2 is the slightly weaker of the three Neo Geo Pocket Color titles we have on the Switch right now. It's purely a result of the hardware limitations inhibiting the aesthetics rather than the way it plays though. Samurai Shodown was always about the ambient mood, with very careful use of music and exquisite implementation of weapons-based violence and bloodletting. That mood just can't translate to the limited hardware, and so while the game is perfectly playable and enjoyable, it doesn't maintain the atmosphere quite as well as the other two.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    King of Fighters R-2
    Excellent-sized rosters, and even with only two buttons available the developers have done a great job in making each of them feel distinct to play with. This is particularly important with King of Fighters, because you're choosing teams of three, and that melting pot of different combat styles and proficiencies is core to the KoF experience. R-2 manages to maintain that, and so playing around with the many characters to find your ideal set of three is still the big learning curve within the experience.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Game of Thrones: Tale of Crows
    It took me one day to start forgetting to check in to the app to issue new commands. It’s never a good sign when a game that is meant to encourage a constant check-in has lost its audience within 24 hours… especially given that I’m a big-time fan of the property it’s based on. The presentation of Game of Thrones: Tale of Crows is gorgeous and I would love to see a more meaningful game do something with this aesthetic. If only because it would also mean that, finally, a developer has figured out how to do the franchise justice.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Banner of the Maid
    The developers have done what is needed to bring the game to the Nintendo Switch as a highly proficient port, though they’ve done nothing of substance to update what the original release offered. Aside from the localisation, it didn’t need any updating anyway, and even considering that terrible localisation Banner of the Maid is one of the most refined, enjoyable tactics JRPGs on the console. Also, Pauline really is an excellent protagonist, and she is just that pretty. I hope it’s not the last we see of her… now that this is on Switch, let’s get her into Smash Bros next. I might even start playing that game again if she was.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Familia Myth Infinite Combate
    There’s a lot to admire in this game, and it only gets better once you’ve hit the end and are ready for the extra mode, where you’ll be able to really test out your mastery of the combat and ‘crawling. Is It Wrong To Try To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon is entertaining stuff. It's neither the perfect dungeon crawler nor the most stand-out visual novel, however, the blend of the two, coupled with the strong anime license leveraged with the greatest of competencies, still make this one a very solid time-filler.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Fantasy General II: Invasion
    This is a really enjoyable strategy game, and has so much room to grow that it's genuinely exciting. Adding additional factions and campaigns will add to the longevity of Fantasy General II, but even as it is right now, this is a near-perfect blend of tight, varied tactical action, gorgeous fantasy aesthetics and plenty of depth. It has been great to welcome a beloved classic back.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Necrobarista
    Necrobarista is an eclectic mix of things. It’s a character-driven musing on life and death. It’s a deeply Australian story written by Australians. It’s both funny and sincere. It’s one of those games that will stay with you long after it’s done, and it’s the kind of culturally-relevant artefact that gives it value beyond its scope as an entertainment product (though it’s certainly entertaining too).
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Othercide
    The real issue that Othercide isn't technical, it's thematic: this is a game that is at odds with itself. Nothing about it suggests that it needed to be difficult like a Darkest Dungeon or Bloodborne... indeed its narrative and themes would have better lent themselves to a much more condensed, intense, and high-impact experience. But that would have also made the game shorter, and so once again we have a casualty of developer obsession to preference content over cohesion. Othercide had all the elements it needed to become something truly powerful. Sadly, it tries to stretch that material too far and forces players into too much repetition, eventually diluting the game's impact and leaving it as something which, as vivid and entertaining as it is, is also just a game.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Skully
    I really wanted to like Skully because it falls neatly into a genre I have fond memories for – I’ve played more Marble Blast on old iMacs than I’d like to admit – but Skully very rarely succeeds at being the frenetic action platformer that it wants to be. Lacklustre level design and an inconsistent difficulty curve, matched with a meandering and confusing story, make this a hard sell for just about anyone. It’ll take a lot of patience to enjoy this one, even if you are a seasoned fan of 3D platformers.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Dodo Peak
    Dodo Peak plays really nicely. I know the knee-jerk response to any mobile game-like “cute and charming arcade experience” is to assume it’s some kind of cheap shovelware, but Dodo Peak is precise, clean action, with well-designed levels that straddle the line between encouraging creativity among players and giving them a specific range of different puzzles and logical traps to overcome. It’s bright, cheery fun that people of all ages can enjoy, and is something well suited to the Nintendo Switch platform. You could go much, much worse than giving this a spin.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Nowhere Prophet
    I do say my criticisms with a grain of salt; I have definitely under-appreciated many roguelikes in the past, only for them to "click" much further down the track on a repeat play. At this point, I feel like I get the gist of where Nowhere Prophet is going, and I think for genre fans who grow weary of the old mainstays of Into the Breach, Slay the Spire and FTL, there is a familiar compulsion to the way Nowhere Prophet’s systems are constructed, even if they often pale in comparison to games which came before. If there’s anything to be learned from Nowhere Prophet, it’s that a successful rogue-lite is like intricately designed lightning in a bottle, and no amount of mechanics which look good on paper can recreate a truly well-planned experience.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Hellpoint
    I can appreciate why a developer would want to try its hand at a Souls-like. It's a hugely popular genre that doesn't have that many entries at this point in time, and there's a veritable goldmine of unique settings and concepts to explore. A horror-themed Souls on an abandoned space station, circling a black hole, is appealing on every level. Unfortunately, this genre is also incredibly demanding, technically and creatively, and while I admire the ambition of Cradle Games, with Hellpoint they've shot for the stars but well missed the mark.
    • 34 Metascore
    • 10 Critic Score
    Mittelborg: City of Mages
    The game has an intriguing premise and I want to believe the developers had some intelligent ideas behind what they're doing, but between the painfully shallow strategy, the laboured (via translation) writing, the mundane, uninspired presentation and the shonky interface and UX, there was nowhere left for me to go to find something I admired about this game. For story-driven roguelike strategy, I highly recommend Thea: The Awakening (also available on Switch). Mittelborg is a different game to it, but the energy and intent does cross over between the two. It's just that Thea is also made exceptionally well, and this is not.
    • 29 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    Tiny Racer
    Tiny Racer is a bad game. Its premise is a fairly uninspired circuit racer, its physics system is constantly failing and its design choices seem to suggest the developers knew the physics system doesn’t properly work, and yet leaned into it. It does have multiplayer, so if your friend group goes out of their way to play janky games, this could be worth a laugh over a beer or keg. But it’s not memorably bad, rarely does your car glitch so spectacularly that it creates a response. Most of the time, you’ll be placated, maybe interested in the bold course design, but also hoping to play some better racing game instead.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Fairy Tail
    Fairy Tail is pure comfort food for people who, like me, count the JRPG as the favourite genre. It lacks the subversive intelligence of a NieR: Automata or Final Fantasy VII Remake. It also lacks the rich refinement of a Persona 5 or the epic scope of a Trails of Cold Steel. Even in comparison to Gust's own titles, it lacks the rich character development of Atelier or the sheer beauty of Blue Reflection. But Fairy Tail has one thing in spades; it's joyous, and it's the right kind of frivolous. It's a celebration of an anime that I can only assume is both silly and fun in its own right and that works as the perfect promotion for Fairy Tail: I really want to watch the anime now. Fairy Tail isn't going to be on any of my game of the year lists, but not every release needs to be pitched at those lists to be well and truly worthwhile. Fairy Tail being the game that reminded me why I loved JRPGs in the first place is more than enough.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Hotel Sowls
    I had a lot of enjoyment with Hotel Sowls, which lasted for its entire run time and never overstayed its welcome. Its one of those games which cares about quality over quantity, and the control over tone and mood which Studio Sott exhibits is genuinely admirable. This game goes highly recommended to the inquisitive, the curious, and those for whom your standard video game characters and settings are proving just a tad predictable. You won’t have any idea what’s up ahead in this hotel.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Destroy All Humans!
    In some ways, Destroy All Humans! shows its age, being a remake of a game that's now 15 years old, in a genre that's grown a lot in those years. But it's also got a sense of humour and parody of American life that feels more relevant today than when the original game first came out. That's a depressing reflection on the state of the world today, but it also means that the satire that underpins everything else in the game hits harder than the original creators ever could have imagined.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Carrion
    As a horror aficionado, and someone who also likes the extreme ends of horror, I find Carrion to be fascinating. It's not the kind of game I generally like playing, but it's pitched at the easy edge of the Metroidvania "genre". The exploration and puzzles are fluid and in service of the game's main purpose, which is the most unapologetically visceral thing I've played in some time. Not everyone will be able to stomach Carrion's atmosphere and gleeful violence. But those that can will find an experience that is beautiful in being so grotesque.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break
    There's nothing else quite like Rock of Ages out there. It's a mesh of things that shouldn't work together, and that's why I suspect no one else has tried to replicate the mad genius of ACE Team's work. Yes, Rock of Ages 3 has some mild issues with pacing and the loading times could be better to suit the experimentation that is at the core of the experience, but this is also the definitive version of something that is very funny, ideal for both single-player and multiplayer parties, and, thanks to that most excellent course designer, Rock of Ages 3 is functionally endless.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    void tRrLM(); //Void Terrarium
    I went into Void Terrarium a little apprehensive. With every indie out there scrambling to call their game a "roguelike", and with so many Mystery Dungeon roguelikes on the Nintendo Switch already, it can be difficult to muster up enthusiasm for yet another one. NISA and Furuya Masayuki surprised me, though. From the gentle subversion of the nature of progress in roguelikes, to the razor-focus on a sweet, paternal-style relationship between a robot and his ward, told with minimalistic elegance, Void Terrarium is a mature, different, and interesting take on the genre.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    TroubleDays
    TroubleDays is fine, all said. It’s a fairly brief romance visual novel with a really gorgeous character model and pinup-worthy key art. Narrative and characterisation is all over the place in the attempted service of humour, and the cheap localisation is distracting at times, but let’s face it, if you’re going to play TroubleDays it’s for one particular reason and, lack of nudity aside, you’re not going to be disappointed in what you get back out of it.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Paper Mario: The Origami King
    Paper Mario is such an eclectic and generally experimental series that it's difficult to define what makes a good entry in it. Some people like the specific combat systems that the series plays with. Others enjoy Mario in the JRPG context. For me it's the sense of humour that's important. On that basis I couldn't be happier with The Origami King. I feel that there will be discussion about that ring-based combat system and some of the world design elements, but through it all I do think that most people will be too busy enjoying the deadpan, dry, droll and refreshing humour that they won't care about much else. This is a fine return to form for Paper Mario at what it does best.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Waifu Uncovered
    People who come to it looking for a quality SHMUP are going to be disappointed. It's functional, but that's really not the point. The point is the fan service and pin-up aesthetic, and while Waifu Uncovered is limited there, as a cut-price hour or two of fun, as someone who enjoys anime and fan service, I had more fun with this than I should probably admit in public. Also, I really am genuinely impressed that eastasiasoft has paved the way for anime nudity on the Switch. There's hope for the Dee Dee visual novels to debut on console yet.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Ghost of Tsushima
    And so, at the end of nearly 5,500 words of review, everything that I’ve written leaves me in a conundrum. On the one hand, just with The Last Of Us 2, I found the moment-to-moment gameplay of Ghost of Tsushima to be excellent and massively entertaining, if a little derivative at this point in time – the open world genre as a whole does need some new ideas. Tsushima doesn’t do anything that will surprise you if you’ve played any of Sony’s other first party games in recent years, but it does it all in a way that’s as refined and sharp as a samurai’s blade, and that is fundamentally enjoyable. I can’t stress that enough – this game is fundamentally enjoyable. However, as much as I had issues with The Last Of Us 2’s narrative, it was an American story told by Americans, and it had a thematic and tonal resonance as such. It was consistent and uncompromised. Ghost of Tsushima by contrast is a wild misfire with every narrative element it attempts, and it boils down to this: Sucker Punch decided to do a historical epic inspired by Kurosawa… and produced something that fails as both history and as a pastiche of Kurosawa. There are going to be a lot of people that love this game, but I don’t think that should be overlooked, nor dismissed as irrelevant to the quality of this both as artwork and entertainment product.
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