Fairy Fencer F: Refrain Chord is a fine sequel that I never thought would happen. Yes, it doesn’t do anything too innovative or different. However, it does combine personable and genuinely enjoyable characters, raunchy and anime nonsense humour that I couldn’t help but laugh along with, and some simple, but clean tactical action. The long and short of it is that it has been a real joy to hang out with this gang again and go on one more hilariously juvenile adventure with them (especially Tiara. I love her so much).

More than 10 years on, Mugen Souls remains a wildly entertaining little game. It’s never going to appear in those “1000 games you must play before you die” books, but that’s okay. Not every project needs to aspire to be that. For those who missed out back on the PlayStation or PC, or who always wanted to play the full experience with that missing minigame, EastAsiaSoft has done you all a favour with this release.

All my fears around whether or not Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus & Butterfly were completely unfounded. The game is warm, grounded in realism despite its fantasy world, with an amazing soundtrack and great drinks to learn about. It is a great compliment to a chilly, rainy day. The characters all have unique personalities so they sometimes clash, but they always figure it out in the end. It’s a wonderful, feel-good visual novel; I can honestly say I hope there is more to come. I’m sure there are more stories to tell. I’m 100 per cent sure the game did its original creator, who has since passed on, proud.

Trinity Trigger fills a very specific niche: It’s there for people that either grew up with the likes of Secret of Mana, or who have come to appreciate them. The game wears its heart on its sleeve and risks being seen as the wrong kind of quaint by sticking to such a classical approach. Thankfully, the soul and love for the genre are so obvious that I imagine most people will be enchanted by this.

Labyrinth of Zangetsu isn’t the longest dungeon crawler (though if you choose the “hardcore” difficulty mode, prepare yourself for a grind that chews through some hours). It is, however, one of the most imaginative examples of the genre in recent years. I find it most similar to Dark Spire, an old (and, sadly, nearly forgotten) DS dungeon crawler. Just like that one, Zangetsu is a fundamentally retro-themed dungeon crawler that plays like a modern game, making it far more accessible than, say, trying to tackle the original Wizardry in 2023. And, as an added bonus, it has an absolutely incredible art style.

The 8-bit and 16-bit Final Fantasy trilogies are both genuine masterpieces. These games wove deep, compelling stories that were as thought-provoking and artful as they were entertaining. Back in the day, they were a promise of what video games could be, and what people had to look forward to as the medium emerged as an art form. Increasingly, they’re a sad statement for what games could have been, had the medium not shifted to a pastiche of Hollywood excesses.

I find myself in a conflicted position with Advance Wars 1+2: Reboot Camp. On the one hand, it is essential. To this day, these are two of the finest tactics games of all time. On the other hand, there is no reason for this remake to exist when a re-release would have been sufficient. If it’s Nintendo’s way of exploring a revival for the series then great, and I hope it sells a bucketload. I just wish WayForward’s talents had have been deployed better.

Picking up the IGS Classic Arcade Collection is curiosity-worthy. Even among brawler fans, I would guess many of these games are obscure. This is therefore an opportunity to dip into a largely forgotten part of arcade history. They’re also decent games that play well, albeit in a genre that has changed significantly (and for the better) over the years. The lack of “museum” material makes this a disappointingly minimally-featured collection, but it might be fun to bash buttons over for a weekend or two.

Despite these minor issues, Process of Elimination is high quality, authentic, classical example of Japanese detective fiction. It’s not subversive or particularly boundary-breaking, but it’s also a very good student of the genre. So long as you can still kick back and enjoy a good Conan Doyle, Christie or Ranpo story, you’ll enjoy what this has to offer.

Your enjoyment of NightCry is going to depend a lot on your perspective, which is why I suspect this is going to be one of the most divisive horror games since Deadly Premonition. To judge NightCry at face value would be to grossly overlook all the work that Nude Maker has done to create an authentic Clock Tower-style, classic stalker horror experience for the modern day. You’re going to have to look past the game’s often ugly exterior to see the beauty behind every design choice, every camera angle and every mindblowing plot twist, and you’re going to need to be a horror fan who isn’t spoiled on the modern trends of jump scares and instant gratification.

Despite some initial confusion over the puzzle aspects of Murderous Muses – which I blame more on the way my brain works than the game, sometimes I need to be blatantly told something or I miss the obvious – I still felt that I got a really complete experience. The mash-up of a procedurally-generated environment with FMV is highly successful, and fit together hand in hand. I came into this game loaded with expectations and fearful of being let down… but that fear was completely unfounded. I mean, I’m a games journalist/critic with a degree in art history and a love of true crime – Murderous Muses was basically made for me.

Between the lack of personality, inconsistent aesthetics, physics that, accurate or not, look broken, and cynical always online requirements, EA Sports PGA Tour gets just about everything wrong. I found myself jumping right back to Easy Come, Easy Golf almost immediately. Sure, it’s not the most realistic golf game out there, but at least it has fun with the sport and I’m not booted from the game after every other hole. EA’s dour, miserable effort is the “you must be fun at parties” joke/insult manifested as a sports game.

The real reason for this release is that the “sequel” fandisc, Norn9 Last Era is currently being prepped for release later this year, and Aksys realises that the best way to get people to buy that is to have played the original. It’s mildly cynical, but at the same time, for something this niche. understandable. There are certain visual novels that I think I would have rather seen on Switch first (Hakuouki springs to mind), but nonetheless, this is a really exceptional page-turner sci-fi tale that boasts some great characters. Don’t let it miss you a second time.

The Great War: Western Front is an excellent way to learn something about the battlefields and conditions of a war that, let’s face it, is one we rarely learn much about these days. It’s always inspiring when developers take the time to be meticulous with their history games and aim to present something that doesn’t just entertain, but also informs.

What I’m saying is that I’m not entirely sure who is going to enjoy Curse of the Sea Rats. I do know that there’s going to be an audience out there for it, because while it has several issues it also has many redeeming qualities. However, when it’s one of a few million Metroidvanias that are already on the Switch, I fear that Sea Rats will struggle to find that audience, despite being a clear passion project from everyone involved.

Fundamentally, though, MLB the Show 23 is a good game. MLB the Show 22 was a good game. Adding the Negro Leagues mode was noble from Sony (and no doubt the kind of goodwill-generating progressive addition that will keep the licensor happy with how Sony is treating the IP). However, the misstep with the World Baseball League and a complete unwillingness to build on any mode but the awful Diamond Dynasty also make this year’s The Show unacceptable. If you missed last year’s iteration, then you can add a couple of stars to this score, because for you, it won’t be one of the most cynical annual iterations that we’ve seen in sports games for quite some time. For the rest of us, though. No. Not good enough.

Omen of Sorrow is a missed opportunity. It should have been more extreme and followed Mortal Kombat in dancing with taboo. The Switch version also needed optimisation, because loading times are a killer to the fighter genre. Because it plays things too safe, this won’t be remembered as an all-time great example of the genre, however, it is still a bit of fun fantasy dark gothic action and, should there be a sequel, I would expect a more confident development outfit to really deliver on to the excellent potential this fledgling property has.

Putting aside my disappointment at the lack of AI competition, Transport Fever 2 is every bit as good on console as it is on PC. And since it’s a very, very good game, you’ve got no excuse to skip it for the second time.

Anno’s core strength is the cities that it allows you to create. Sometimes it does feel more like a puzzle game than a simulator, as you desperately try to figure out how to give your most demanding residents access to everything they crave. However, the satisfaction of doing it well is almost incomparable for the genre. I am a firm believer that simulation games, at their best, teach you about real-world jobs, processes, and social/cultural/environmental dynamics, whether that be flying a plane, driving a train, running a hotel or building a city. Anno does that, and it presents players with a vision for cities that will, hopefully, be the future of urban planning.

Atelier Ryza 3 should be the final chapter for Ryza, and it’s a fine send-off. It’s a game in which nostalgia plays a key thematic role, and has been made for nostalgic Atelier fans first and foremost. I know this probably sounds like faint praise, but Atelier is my favourite JRPG series and Ryza 3 is a perfectly fine game in that context. Hence the store. It’s just that, more than anything else, I dearly hope that after the next Marie remake, Gust settles down to give us new stories, new adorable alchemist girls, and some new ideas again.

It’s fun, mostly fluid and packed with content… as long as you ignore the money-making My Faction mode entirely.

Mato Anomalies had picked the right kind of experience to ape. The Persona series is consistently the most intelligent and thought-provoking in the JRPG genre. The developers have also done a decent effort to understand the thematic basis of those games, and at least attempt their own spin on it. Unfortunately, whether for a lack of resources or an inability to bring the creative elements together cohesively enough, Mato Anomalies’ greatest achievement is simply demonstrating just how hard it really is to make a game like Persona 3, 4 and 5.

I know I can never recapture the fresh-faced wonder of my youth, but goddamn does Resident Evil 4 remake make me want to try.

The one and only problem with Labyrinth of Galleria: The Moon Society is that it is a sequel. Where its predecessor was so memorable because of the way it played with genre and convention, Galleria has the unfortunate distinction of being more of the same, and therefore no longer a surprising delight. It still tells a wildly entertaining story, has a tight and creatively different approach to dungeon crawling, and is a great way to spend 40-50 hours of your time. It’s just not as exciting because it’s no longer different.

It’s just as well for the game that it does give us a relatively fresh look at World War 2, and some strategically interesting battles that we just don’t often get to flex our strategic minds with, because the presentation of it would make it hard to stomach otherwise. Thankfully, presentation aside, Strategic Mind: Spectre of Communism is impressive in the way it presents history, the depth of the tactics offered, and the selection of battles that we get to play through.

Am I going to be raving about Seven Doors for years down the track? No, of course not. It’s not a game of the year, it’s not going to wind up on those “1001 games you must play before you die” lists and books. But Seven Doors is a good way to spend a few dollars, and something you can enjoy without stressing about what the game demands back of you. It’s too easy to overlook these kinds of games, but they have their place.

Catan – Console Edition is a perfectly fine adaptation of a hugely popular board game. The developers have done their best to make it work for both online and offline play, and present it gorgeously. I just wish that another, equally talented developer, took Twilight Struggle, or the Game of Thrones board game, or any of a few hundred other incredible board games and adapted those instead.

Those gripes are minor indeed. Bayonetta Origins is a far more brilliant addition to the Bayonetta character and mythos than I would have ever guessed it could be. It’s by turns sensitive, charming, exciting and dramatic. The game gives Bayonetta a depth of character that adds so meaningfully to the world and story of this incredible character. This is essential. It’s not a “spinoff.” It’s a critical addition to the franchise. PlatinumGames has truly delivered something both surprising and special with this effort.