What bothers me the most about the gameplay in Bear With Me is the overall lack of direction — it just didn’t feel like there was any reason to play. The script evolves into a predictable cartoonish melodrama and the case basically solves itself without challenging the player to come up with their own theories along the way. There’s no morally grey culprit or alternative outcomes. There’s only one way to play through Bear and unfortunately, it’s not one that kept my attention.

As long as players are happy to hang out with a likable cast of characters and watch some cute flirting, Rio Reincarnation is a success. It’s a pleasant diversion even for someone completely unfamiliar with the source material, and as smoothly playable a visual novel as I’ve ever encountered.

If Fit for a King‘s narrative was brimming with historical or pop culture references, or maybe if it had a deeper underlying message to discover, I might’ve been able to look past the tedium of gold gathering. As it stands, there’s novelty in making crazy decisions as a monarch and finding a few neat nods, but that novelty wears off quickly.

Both of these tables are a joy to play and the Universal Monsters Pack is a solid addition to the Pinball FX3 library. It’s a slight shame the pack includes only two tables, but the price still beats buying a pair of working machines.

So, with the fixes now applied to the pre-release version, is Logos worth playing? It’s a solid experience with plenty of beautiful environments to see, but the repetitive nature of combat punctuated with unfairness puts a damper on the whole experience, as if the disastrous launch month hadn’t made it damp enough already.

Like the Patriots in 2007, Axis Football 2019 isn’t perfect, but I enjoy it for what it is. So long as prospective players bring a lot of patience, the on-the-field play and deep franchise mode should keep them coming back for more. Second tier championship, here I come!

When comparing The Executioner‘s frustrations to its merits, the negatives outweigh the developers’ intentions. This title seems like it plans to do and say a lot about morality within a cruel society, but its stat-based design feels like it’s going to need a huge overhaul before the statements it wants to make can come out clearly.

I wanted to like Mistover. While I initially came to it hoping to find something that delivered on its obvious promise of being similar to Darkest Dungeon, what I got was more like a poorly-balanced work-in-progress. With annoying encounters and dull dungeons, it falls far short of the game it was so clearly inspired by.

Guildmaster Story doesn’t have a subtle bone in its body, but that’s for the best. Every part of this experience is crafted to get players to open their eyes and see the systems of exploitation all around them. Including — and especially — the one in their hands.

Straimium Immortaly is the second title I’ve tried from Caiysware (the other being Skelly Selest, also on Switch) and I see unreached potential in this work. Both offer good ideas and a few nice moments, but neither has the level of polish or balance needed to deliver an engaging challenge. That said, I do feel like the dev is on the cusp of greatness and I’ll be curious to see their next attempt.

Playing Draw Chilly isn’t complicated, but it has just enough nuance to keep it interesting. The story isn’t particularly deep, but absolutely no one will be able to predict the bizarre zigs and zags the script takes. The graphics are bursting with humor and charm, and even now after rolling credits, I’m still pleasantly confounded by this nearly inexplicable project. There were a few moments between unlocks when slaughtering monkeys lost some shine and a couple of bosses had me pulling my hair out (PROTIP: upgrade worm milk capacity ASAP) but I couldn’t stop playing Draw Chilly once I started, and as soon as I finished it, I bought the developer’s previous game. If that’s not a solid recommendation, then I don’t know what is.

On a non-VR platform, Eclipse would likely come across as empty-feeling and slight, but between the smart implementation of motion controls and a visual style that’s conscious of its limits, Eclipse makes enough of the right decisions to be worth a look for anyone who owns a headset. I continue to root for this technology, and I savor opportunities that transport me to the sorts of bizarre worlds that games like Eclipse can.

Heaven Dust is an oddity — it’s a game that can’t simply be dismissed as a rip-off of Resident Evil because the developers have made no attempt to hide what they’re doing. This isn’t simply ‘inspired by’ RE, it’s a literal recreation of Capcom’s seminal work in everything but name and a couple of minor plot details. It’s clearly a labor of love from people with a deep fondness for the franchise. I’m not surehow it will land for people who have no nostalgia for the original, but as someone who’s spent untold hours inside Spencer Mansion, I found it to be a delightful bite-sized homage.

I love pirate games so much that I would have stuck with Tempest right to the end if it hadn’t locked me out of completing one of the main quests. In order to research krakens, I was told to go to an island and buy some of their ink. I obeyed and headed straight there, only to find the resource couldn’t be purchased. I had plenty of money and space in my hold, and the ‘buy’ button was lit up, but no matter what I tried, the game wouldn’t let me complete the objective. I tried to meet Tempest more than halfway. I was willing to meet it 99% of the way, but in the end, it couldn’t even do that much for me.

My sense is that Azur Lane: Crosswave will appeal to established fans of the ‘moe’ subgenre of anime who will happily forgive the myriad problems, boredoms and irritations that will rise to the surface for everyone else. For those who aren’t ready to devote themselves to a seafaring waifu, Crosswave runs aground as soon as it sets sail.

Tortuga Team is the real deal when it comes to turn-based tactics, and this entry is a perfect fit for the Switch — I loved every minute of it.

I finished Later Daters in less than two hours and wasn’t sure that I experienced the entire game. After doing some follow-up research I discovered that this release is only the first half of the full experience. It’s good to know more is coming later, but this content is just too brief and the chapters offered don’t come to any strong conclusions. Unfortunately, this brevity hurts Later Daters in its current iteration. I suspect a full review of the entire game would be positive, but this ambitious visual novel simply feels incomplete at the moment — I suggest anyone interested wait until later this year when they’re able to experience the narrative in its entirety.

Overall, Construction Simulator 3: Console Edition is clearly meant for those who enjoy sims of this caliber. Myself? As a first-timer to this genre, I found it to be enjoyable, if a bit lacking. The moments where I was essentially role-playing as a construction worker were exhilarating, and the moment-to-moment gameplay kept me hooked. Unfortunately, the visuals hold it back and a little more polish on little things would go a long way. For now, though, I’m not quitting my day job to join a construction crew…

While the graphics are on the simple side and getting someone excited about the petroleum industry is a hard sell when we’re concerned with global warming and the future of the planet, I still found a great deal to like about Turmoil: the Heat is On. I appreciated its approachability, it led to a few good conversations about economics with my son, and it also helped that the oil I was drilling was just pretend — with no ecological damage being done, I could just relax and enjoy the systems.

Book of Demons isn’t likely to hold the attention of hardcore dungeon crawl enthusiasts or those who don’t care for loot-heavy titles like this one. However, players who are new to this style of game or those looking for something on the simpler side would be well-served to check this one out.

While the central quest in Boot Hill Bounties may have been cliche and the gameplay slightly disappointing, the time spent with my crew made it worthwhile. This Western yarn might not be a consistently excellent experience, but it still reminded me of how much I love the Wild West.

There’s very little to recommend BE-A Walker. The control concept just doesn’t work, and the design of the levels and encounters is abysmal. The core of its problems is due to choosing to focus on a colonial Goliath rather than an aboriginal David, but even on its own terms almost every aspect of BE-A Walker misses the mark.

Help Will Come Tomorrow is rich with nuance and content, and it often doesn’t end well, but those looking for a survival game with focus on dialogue or those wanting to get a taste of an interesting period of Russian history should check into it with no hesitation.

As experiments go, The Dread X Collection is a complete success. Out of ten games I found four to be legitimately wonderful, and I only regret loading up two. That’s an incredible ratio for a game jam, and the highs more than justify the paltry purchase price. I don’t know if I’ll ever get to see expanded versions of any of these works, but I’m happy that I got to see developers going hog-wild and coming up with truly unique experiences.

There’s plenty to appreciate for turn-based tactics fans willing to look past the terrible virtual cover art and learn the nuances of Depth of Extinction‘s combat, or for fans looking for something a bit different than the usual XCOM combat — just keep in mind that it might be difficult to find just the right amount of challenge.

Little Town Hero looks great and the combat has a nice puzzle-like quality, but it’s hurt significantly by random elements punishing the player and battles dragging out for so long. It’s got a quirky charm that a certain kind of player will love, but that kind of player is not me.

The eye candy is appealing, it’s LGBTQ-conscious, the writing is on point and the gameplay is just engaging enough to keep a player’s clicking finger busy on the quest to reclaim their fortune. Spending time on the spicier side was exactly the change of pace I needed, and I’m 100% on board with whatever these developers cook up next.

I want to be charitable towards DreamBack since it’s clear that a lot of work went into building these detailed environments, but Come Over Gaming didn’t populate them with anything of substance, and the resulting product feels like an old-school Resident Evil game with everything removed except the key-hunting. A flat version of this title would be the dullest thing imaginable, and the VR format only slightly elevates it.