If you’re a fan of the franchise or you want something that feels a bit like a good old-school hack-and-slash platformer, you’ll get some enjoyment out of the game. But it ultimately feels like a very pretty and well-intentioned game that made itself too easy and ultimately lost out on its main appeal.

The story is convoluted and sloppy, the characters are caricatures of themselves, and the choice system feels pointless when the game is obviously linear and should’ve just stuck to telling the story it wanted to tell without the false sense of choice. Unfortunately, the only passable part of it all, the soundtrack, wasn’t able to make up for the janky visuals and tons of spelling errors. I was just left tired by the time I reached the end. Fortunately, Spire Games isn’t charging an arm and a leg for this game, but even ten bucks at the time of writing feels like a lot when the experience is so lackluster. For those that are somehow able to stay engaged, The VII Enigma has a total of 17 endings and 26 achievements, so there’s that to consider. I was just not one of those people.

The folks at DotEmu obviously cared about what they were doing here, and that by itself is worth consideration. They wanted to put out at least a worthy sequel, and I feel like they did that at bare minimum. This game is not a drastic evolution of its forebears, nor did it have to be. Those looking for a fun pick up and play game will find a lot to love here, and with good reason. Windjammers 2 is a worthy sequel, and a damned fun multiplayer experience.

It’s difficult to recommend on a story basis thanks to its generic narrative, and even harder to recommend on a gameplay basis thanks to the slew of glitches, loose controls, and boring progression. With more time and refinement, Blackwind could very well have been an enjoyable experience, but alas, it didn’t seem to be written in the stars.

It’s obvious that Endwalker is going to be a favorite of many Final Fantasy XIV, while for others, it might not have hit that high bar that was raised with Shadowbringers. Regardless, Endwalker is still a fantastic addition to a game that was originally one of the worst received in the series. It truly is the comeback story of video gaming. Naoki Yoshida and his team should be commended for the incredible amount of world building and story telling that they’ve been able to pull off for, now, over ten years. Final Fantasy XIV continues to be a game that we would recommend everyone experiences. That is, as soon as the game stops being so popular that it’s able to resumes sales.

Scarf is an endearing experience. It wears its inspirations on its sleeve and doesn’t shatter the genre’s conventions with innovative ideas, but still finds enough sure footing to set itself apart from its contemporaries. Moreover, an unsurprising story and a few instances of intentional time-wasters in puzzles aren’t enough to lessen the benefits of its brisk pace and variety of gorgeous environments. It may not hit the highest highs of the genre, but if you’re in the mood for an atmospheric puzzle platformer, you could do much worse.

If you’re looking to scratch that classic gaming itch, playing this version of a classic is a welcome addition to the Recharged line of games and is a worthy version worth considering. It’s not perfect, but it’s playable and still as fun now as it was when it dazzled arcade goers in its heyday.

If you’re a fan of space combat and can push your way through the first couple hours, I’m fairly confident you’ll find a lot to like in Chorus. The core dogfighting is just plain fun, and the setpiece fights are something to see. If you’re not already a genre fan, however, I’m not entirely sure this will be the game to win you over.

Really, if I had to boil down my issues to one thing, it’s that the developers need to understand how to add content to a game. Games are all about what we as players choose to do, and for extra content to actually mean anything it should ask me to make different choices. For every dating minigame I’m making the same choices every other time that minigame shows up, for every frame of bowling I am making the same choices as every frame before it. All the pretty visuals don’t change that it is the same minute or so of content repeated over and over.

There are plenty of remakes and rereleases of the classic Final Fantasy titles within relatively easy reach, but it’s hard for me to sit here and say the most recent stab at improving these games were a bad attempt. It respects the source material enough to not make any drastic changes, improves the presentation in the best way it possibly can, and sticks the landing as the definitive way to experience a well-established classic. Even with the fan favorite VI finishing up this batch of remakes, this is a game that’s still well worth your time. They hold up for a damned good reason. If you’re on the fence about picking this one up, don’t be. You’re going to enjoy yourself.

While I did enjoy quite a lot of my time in Battlefield 2042 (especially in the new Hazard Zone mode), there are a mix of gameplay, technical, and functionality issues of varying severity that really hamper the experience. This game is somewhat recommendable to Battlefield fans and those with a general interest in military-style shooters, but there is a strong chance that the game’s current flaws are going to really limit the potential for many. Because of this, if you’re considering this game, you may want to wait for a patch or two before you deploy to the battlefield.

I honestly can’t tell you the specific thing about Arcadia Fallen that made me fall in love with it, but I can promise you that it’s a good time. The lively cast will guide you through a grand adventure, where you will feel like an active participant rather than just an observer, and by the end, you will most likely be sad to see your journey end. The art style might feel outdated, but if you can look past that, you will be treated to excellent voice-acting and some fun, yet simple puzzles. There’s also plenty of content here, since you get four romance routes to try out and the opportunity to replay the game with different MC personality types, making it a whole new experience.

I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen a franchise take such a massive positive 180 as I’ve seen here in Second Light. What was easily one of the worst games I played in 2017 has received a follow-up that kept me coming back for more. It really feels like Gust took the criticism of the original to heart here. We’ve gone from a massive stumble of a game with some good ideas to an incredibly solid JRPG that does just about everything it sets out to do correctly. From the character writing to the speedy gameplay, the world design to the excellent soundtrack, this is a game worth taking a look at. If you are interested in jumping into this franchise, take my advise: just skip the first game completely. Start here with Second Light, it’s worth your time.

One would hope this monumental shortcoming can be fixed with a patch, but as it stands, this port of Panorama Cotton—a blast of a game in its original form—is a nonstarter.

Unsighted is awesome. More people should know about it and play it, especially considering that the game goes out of its way to be accessible even to people who usually find Souls-like titles too hard, or people who dislike the timer mechanic but still want to experience the game, or even people looking for a harder ride. This is a good game and you should go play it. It’s not quite for everyone… but it’s as close as any title I’ve reviewed comes to being a must-play.

Overall, Gleylancer isn’t some kind of boundary pushing or standard setting entry in the shmup genre. And it doesn’t have to be. What it does, it does well. The difficulty curve is a bit wonky, but even at its hardest it never feels impossible. Putting the options to use was a ton of fun, even if my method of using them ended up a bit…uncomfortable for my thumb. At its budget price ($6.99 at the time of writing), this game is an absolute no-brainer for shmup fans. I would argue that it’s a great option for genre newcomers as well, with its relatively easy opening levels before the difficulty really ramps up. As I continue my exploration of retro shmups, I’m glad this one fell into my hands.

In spite of a unique aesthetic and passable puzzles, Tandem: A Tale of Shadows struggles to keep itself exciting. The almost complete lack of narrative thrust and droning gameplay progression drag it down from the moment it begins, and its failure to capitalize on its more attention-grabbing elements guarantees a disappointing experience out of a game that could have easily been more.

While I have some minor quibbles here and there, by and large this is very good at being an educational tour of a historical period with a few fanciful elements to support beliefs. Ultimately, it’s not for me to decide who the target audience is supposed to be, but to tell you if this is worth the purchase price. And at $20 for the educational content it provides? Yes, it delivers enough information to be worth it. Just be aware of what you’re getting, because this is much more a pop culture tour of Norse history than it is an actual game with compelling gameplay.

Inscryption is an amazingly well-put-together piece of work. The atmosphere presented…well, I’ve already doted on it multiple times. And I’ll do so again: it’s unsettling, occasionally oppressive, and always keeps the player on their toes. It could easily carry the work on its own, but luckily the card game mechanics are solid and sound as well. It’s easy to pick up, but with a ton of variables to allow customization and multiple viable approaches to the challenges provided. If only it didn’t stumble literally right at the finish line, I’d call this a near-perfectly designed game. Unfortunately, that last moment soured me on the experience…not enough render the whole thing moot (a la Mass Effect 3), but I just can’t shake it off. Despite that, Inscryption is a game that I can recommend highly. Even if you’re not typically a fan of deckbuilding games (just as I used to be), if you want some unsettling vibes for the season, this is your game right here.

Tedious amounts of fetch quests, clunky controls, sloppy presentation/execution, outdated visuals, and a mediocre soundtrack are really hard things to ignore, especially when considering the $29.99 price point. All in all, I’ve heard a lot about SWERY’s games and was looking forward to this experience, so it’s a bummer it fell short.

If you’re looking for a quick and simple multiplayer game on the cheap, you can definitely get by on what you get here. Tip back a cool drink and hang out with some friends for this one, because that’s where you’re gonna have the most fun.

A Juggler’s Tale tried to do a lot for a two-hour game, and while that’s not always a bad thing, I wish it had instead just focused on one thing and perfected it rather than throwing so much at me and having none of it land. I also came across a glitch where one of the cutscenes kept causing everything on my screen to freeze. I was eventually able to move past it but this particular issue, coupled with the terrible lighting and clunky controls, made playing through this game feel like a chore.

This is a game that brushes up against a lot of different genres without diving too deeply into any of them, and some players are going to either clock out from that or find that they like one or two parts but not all three. It is kind of a weird game and it is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. But if the idea of the game sounds interesting to you? Hey, this is a classic remastered and improved, and it’s well worth the asking price.

Above all else, In Sound Mind is fun. The horror and melancholy of what’s going on in the plot is balanced out by light-hearted camp, the levels are all interwoven exploration puzzles where a new tool invariably makes you realize several new areas you can discover, it’s all so easy to just get lost for hours and hours until next thing you know it’s 3AM.

I’m not going to be subtle here. I loved this game. I can never walk away from any game in this franchise unsatisfied, and I feel that even with my nitpicks and misgivings that this is a worthy successor to what many have seen as an interesting distraction to the main series. Lost Judgment stands upon the shoulders of its forebears with ease, is a joy to play, tells an intimate story with a (mostly) deft hand, and knows how to value add with the best in the series. This is not only a great sequel, it’s also a great addition in any gamer’s library. Period. Saying this is a must buy is an understatement. It’s a shining example of what a great Yakuza game can be.

Knockout Home Fitness is a mostly well-built fitness game that, when played as intended at least, I definitely feel offers an effective workout routine and is fun and engaging. It’s not trying to be a game like Ring Fit Adventure, but that’s fine; for what it is, it does a good job of it. However, the game’s weakness lies in its apparent failure to make full use of the available technology of the Nintendo Switch system. Because of this, the game has to simply trust that you’re doing everything when it calculates your calories burned. For most people, I admit this won’t be a problem, since anyone who buys this is probably interested in getting an actual workout rather than cheating it. But the game could have definitely benefited from tech that it didn’t fully utilize. Knockout Home Fitness is both effective and reasonably fun in spite of this, so it is recommendable as long as you approach it as the fitness program it is supposed to be.

Honestly, I really didn’t expect much out of Hot Wheels Unleashed. I was expecting a throw-away licensed racing game. Perhaps, more cynically, a cash-grab targeting nostalgic aging gamers. What I ended up getting, though, was a surprisingly solid arcade racer by a team that obviously cares about the license they’re working with. It’s not without its quirks, unfortunately. The shocking aggressive AI racers created many moments of frustration, and I’m not a fan of the “gacha but not really” system going on here for obtaining new cars. But for fans of arcade racers, whether the Hot Wheels name strikes a chord or not, Hot Wheels Unleashed is a game worth a look.

It feels like a throwback to the PlayStation era in the best way, when there were always new JRPGs showing up in the hopes of getting the same sort of cult reception as Final Fantasy VII, always new titles to try out and new stories to experience, some of them winding up a bit generic but others turning into unexpected little gems along the way. Astria Ascending feels like one of those gems, except it’s a new game right now and benefits from all the hindsight that implies. If you love JRPGs, give this one a good shot. You’ll be glad you did.