The ending didn’t sour me on Visions of Mana overall, but did leave me pondering its squandered potential. This is a game that could have brought the Mana series back to its former glory, but it appears that the development team weren’t given the room to shine. If you decide to try it for yourself, you’ll still find a beautiful game befitting of the Mana series, with some of the best battles it has to offer, but just be prepared for a story that goes nowhere.

Burning Shores doesn’t add a great deal to the story and character development is seemingly optional, but if you want more beasts to bash, more ways to bash them, and gorgeous scenery to ogle at, you won’t be disappointed.

As a visual novel connoisseur Emio – The Smiling Man doesn’t go to the top of my list. However, it does gain points for taking risks with how horrifying the story is willing to go, and for the few instances of breaking the fourth wall. The pacing and characters are strong, but the way you interact with the world can be repetitive and ultimately frustrating. It’s one for those who love a mystery and don’t mind occasionally hitting a brick wall.

The Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters aren’t necessarily the perfect versions of the original six Final Fantasy games, but they’re the easiest to jump into and play right now, and they’re well worth it. If you’ve ever wanted to play the original games, this is how you should do it.

Ex Astris is a very solid start for Nous Wave Studio and worth picking up for anyone willing to sink their teeth into a deep combat system on the go or wanting to experience a mobile JRPG without the gacha looming in the background.

It doesn’t do anything special, but it is a solid story that will keep you intrigued with some tense decision-making. I captured my imagination enough that I wanted to see all six routes, with not only the good but the bad endings too. It’s a cliche, but Otome fans will enjoy this one, though it doesn’t have enough of a mystery to attract those outside the genre.

These minor niggles aside, it really is an excellent story. It’s tightly woven with clues to the eventual conclusion woven throughout from the very beginning. I thought there were glaring plot holes at first, but these are well wrapped up by the time the epilogue comes around. If you like games that challenge you with twists and turns then I can’t recommend it enough. It uses the interactive elements well, but could have tightened up how right and wrong answers are handled.

I hope Ubisoft continues to make city-based Assassin’s Creed games because it’s refreshing to play something this tight and focused after the more bloated, RPG-focused AC games, but the developers need to update it for modern tastes. From the tech powering it to the structure and base mechanics, I’d love to see where the series could go with a proper overhaul. I’m not asking for a completely different game, but the physics and parkour controls feel drastically dated, and it’d be nice if they could find a way to let us infiltrate buildings beyond making us search for keys like it’s Doom.

Planet of Lana does many things right, and there are certainly parts you’ll remember, it just doesn’t do too much different. It needed something more to subvert your expectations, but when the inspiration already did this, it’s harder to take it further. Still if you haven’t played these three games, you’ll definitely enjoy your time, or even be wowed by what you find.

The Rising Tide is considerably more content-packed than the initial Echoes of the Fallen DLC, but it doesn’t change 16’s fate. If you want more of Clive Rosfield’s adventures to defy the gods, then The Rising Tide is for you, but if you only have a passing curiosity, then you probably won’t regret skipping over Leviathan in Final Fantasy 16.

Feeling more approachable than its byzantine predecessors, Men of War 2 is a solid entry into the iconic franchise, keeping its core tenets intact: It’s challenging, highly moddable, and offers tons of ways to experience the game – unfortunately, it comes with the same baggage of jank, preventing it from reaching higher spheres.

Football Manager 2024 is inevitably an end-of-cycle game. SI's passion meant that even this year, we got a number of decent innovations, some surprising like the improvements in animation. However, the outdated engine and gameplay patterns, more and more easy to read, are still there with them. You'll play it and enjoy it, but don't necessarily expect a memorable release.

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy is a mostly solid port of a trilogy of games that are at best messy and at worst frustrating for all the wrong reasons. The series’ signature gameplay has been preserved very well, and the three games in the collection are a lot of fun to play, as long as you don’t mind the characters being all over the place. A bit more care could have been put into the PC port, but the complaints I have with the port are minor at best.

The part that felt they didn’t fit in with the rest of the game was the reliance on stealth. There are numerous stealth sections throughout, and I felt they were put there to make it feel more ‘gamey’. There should have been more faith in the words as the gameplay, as they are the strongest aspect, and the stealth is just a distraction. Clearer maps to work your way around also would have done a lot for the exploration and prevented some frustrating backtracking.

It’s certainly not a bad roguelike if you’re into the genre. The content there is engaging enough to keep you going for a while, just don’t expect it to be the kind of game that’ll be in your regular rotation for years to come.

Overall, I enjoyed my time with Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood, but I couldn’t stop thinking about what it could be. Some tweaks to the formula would lead to a much stronger game, though the game at its core is a fantastic and innovative idea, and gave plenty of new concepts to excite me.

What most interested me is that the ending you achieve isn’t only in the choices you make, but in the way you play. Without spoiling the surprise, even meta aspects of how you play lead you down certain paths. You can’t save at a seemingly important choice and go back and see the other path, but you have to play again, and you will notice a whole different outcome. This way of path choosing was an innovation that I had never expected, and what left me thinking about the smaller things I do in real life too. This system is something special, and despite smaller issues with the characters, this system has shown a new era for visual novels.

All in all, Hexarchy is a casual turn-based strategy game worth checking out.

Unlike Slay the Spire, this is not an endless roguelike. Maps are predetermined and have a set number of paths, though you can’t explore all of them in one go, so you’re still incentivized to go back several times. There are also secret locations you can unlock by bringing certain heroes. Team composition is also important because some characters unlock additional powers when teamed up with certain other heroes. The biggest problem with the game is that it’s a bit janky. Targeting your cards at the right character is sometimes difficult, and there is always a delay between playing the card, the little character animations this triggers, and the sounds of the animation. It’s also a very easy game, so those looking for a challenge won’t exactly get one here.

While it’s not perfect, I truly enjoyed my time with The Lost Crown. The platforming and world-building are top-tier, which makes up for many of its pitfalls (remember those in the original?). It matches up with the metroidvania greats: Hollow Knight, Axiom Verge, Symphony of the Night, and Ori and the Blind Forest in terms of the game’s map, hidden secrets, and platforming challenges. The Lost Crown gives metroidvania fans everything they crave – if that’s what you’re here for, you won’t be disappointed.

I’m left struggling with how to talk about The Teal Mask. Like the main game, it is one of the most enjoyable mainline Pokémon games ever produced, but the series’ old problems keep rearing their ugly heads and dragging the experience down from both a technical and gameplay standpoint. I love this DLC and I love Scarlet & Violet, but there is still a lot of room for improvement.

While not every game in the Jackbox Party Pack 10 hits quite right, the few that do are some of the best the series has ever seen. Unfortunately, as high as the highs are, the lows are just as low, with FixyText souring the experience somewhat with unfortunate desyncs and boring prompts.

What distances it from Persona – and it really is similar in many ways – is the detail and design of the monsters, as well as the real-time combat. There are a huge number of systems at play here, combos, special moves, elemental effects, partner skills, and special skills all work together to help you take down what can be fairly difficult bosses. The downside of a condensed story is that you won’t be as close to the characters by the end but it did what it wanted to do effectively, and I’m excited to see what else comes from the team.

Personally, I’d rather play a co-op shooter that’s flawed and interesting than the third iteration of a hyper-polished template – Far Cry 2 will always be more interesting than Far Cry 6 and the Breaking Bad man can’t even change that. Redfall has a personality all of its own. If Arkane stands in front of a mirror and takes stock, it will probably see all the scars and imperfections, too, but it’s better than seeing no reflection at all.

Infold Games built a beautiful world I’d not be unhappy to live in. It’s a world in which creativity, passion, and empathy are the highest of virtues and can make a real difference – a message that’s more important than ever. Strolling through the landscapes of Miraland, you can forget about everything, reinvent yourself on the spot if you’d like, and simply space out as you veer from melancholy to wholesome vibes. If such a sandbox, such a retreat, is what you’re looking for, then Infinity Nikki hits the mark dead-on – but it falters the moment you crave a little more substance...For the moment, that is. Infinity Nikki will evolve over time, as live-service games tend to do, and many of its starting issues are in the realm of being fixable.

You have to come into Sunshine Shuffle with the right expectations. You’re here to listen to an enjoyable story while a basic game of poker happens in the background.

Showgunners doesn’t let a clutter of subsystems distract it from its main focus, which is to deliver a series of intense and varied turn-based battles in an atmosphere that neatly fits the genre – it’s not revolutionary and you won’t find yourself replaying the game again and again. Those looking for exactly that, however – a well-defined and very competent experience – will get their money’s worth.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is an improvement on Fallen Order, and while the highs are high, much of the game can feel monotonous or unsatisfying. One thing is certain: Respawn is inching closer than ever to making an excellent Star Wars game.