Built for simplicity and entertainment, Upwards, Lonely Robot is a worthy title. With a budget price and a boatload of levels and modes to conquer, the buck to bang ratio is in the audience’s favor.

Knee Deep is unique, but in the end fails to capture its potential into a truly memorable experience.

It would be great to see more titles in the genre take on criminal narratives rather than those of pure romance or action, but this visual novel stumbles rather than strides confidently down that path.

Even with unfortunate performance hiccups, it’s safe to say Ravegan have created one of the more interesting and cleverly addictive shoot ’em ups in recent years.

Dear RED – Extended is an interesting but very short visual novel.

With some editing to cut down on the padding, Tokyo Babel could have easily been an even better experience. Luckily, the unique premise and religious backdrop ensure that this visual novel stands out from the pack.

If there was a bit more polish to it when it came to challenge and variety in certain areas, LOUD on Planet X could be a potential rhythm game classic. As is, though, the simple and quick arcade-style gameplay combined with the incredible, lighter-worthy soundtrack still ends up making it worth the few bucks its asking for.

With some extra polish, additional scenes and maybe even voice acting, Starlight Vega would really begin to shine.

With its stock-reliant appearance and seemingly uncombed delivery, Hyposphere feels like a game hurriedly rushed out for presentation sake, with little else put into refining the experience underpinning it.

Sure, there’s a few oddities here and there, but overall Gahkthun of the Golden Lightning has rocketed up the list of must play visual novels on Steam.

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth deserves every member of its rabid fanbase. The game is is filled with so much to find and explore; there are innumerable secrets to discover and things to figure out. Afterbirth adds more of that and anyone who enjoys the original would be well served to download this pustule-covered add on.

As intriguing as the world building is, it does not feel fully fleshed out yet.

Although Conclave does require an unusual amount of hard work on the player’s part, as well as the patience of a saint, the expansion is still mostly worthwhile (many of the bad changes were in the free patch, so there’s no way to avoid them without reverting to a previous version).

Europa Universalis IV’s online multiplayer used to have significant problems to the point where it was basically non-functional. With the debut of Mare Nostrum, multiplayer seems to be working very well now and despite the occasional disconnect which requires one to restart the entire game, it’s now more enjoyable than the single player experience.

The leap in quality in the sequel compared to the first entry is comparable to the transition that Final Fantasy made when it graduated to the SNES. With this in mind, hopefully Black Tome is not the final book in the world of Dragon Fantasy.

It may have taken its sweet time to finally arrive in English, but now that it’s here, you absolutely owe it to yourself to play The House of Fata Morgana.

Sometimes sappy and sweet - and at other times terrifying - OZMAFIA!! is one experience that otome fans aren’t likely to forget anytime soon.

Outlands doesn’t change anything up in a meaningful way, doesn’t find a way to mix its two distinct styles of gameplay into something altogether more fun and doesn’t even fix the original game’s unfortunate frame rate issues. In every sense of it, Outlands is just “more TRON RUN/r.” That’s too bad, but it’s also not the worst thing to be.

Unlike some cringe-worthy games, the characters feel developed and not as if they’re simply jumping into relationships willy nilly. The storyline is sweet, sometimes saddening, and makes AlienWorks a developer to keep an eye on in the future.

While some of its aspects when it comes to controlling things could use a bit more polish, the simple-yet-challenging gameplay can easily captivate you, finding yourself in for a meaty round of quick matches.

If you feel that you’ve already braved the darkest, scariest secrets of Hinamizawa then you will be surprised by the latest chapter.

My Little Kitties is a two to four hour visual novel which might appeal to people looking for a brief view into the life of a high-school aged father, but it is somehow not nearly as cute as the name implies.

If you’ve got a few hours to kill and are looking for a cute, simple story, then KARAKARA will likely fill the void.

If there was some innovation or more effort was made to carve out a unique identity, this could have been a great retro title. Instead we have something rather forgettable and only recommended to the most hardcore retro game fans.

A title marred by technical and visual anomalies, perhaps its run-time could be considered an ironic hindsight.

There are plenty of games that are built around ridiculous ideas, but they have enough content built into them that make them enjoyable for more than five seconds.

New Retro Arcade: Neon had everything going for it, including a tremendous amount of goodwill thanks to the original proof of concept on Oculus Rift. While this paid version adds new features and more reasons to play, there’s still a feeling that something is missing.

With a bit more content, Blade Ballet could have the potential to be another multiplayer classic, which is why hopefully we’ll see more additions to it in the future. As is, though, it’s still really fun, especially when combined with a few good friends.

Mountain Goat Mountain is a simple and accessible game that’s easy to drop into for a quick hit of gaming, and a wonderfully replayable combination of cute, fun and challenging.

For now, though, it is something that should only be acknowledged by the truly masochistic.

The biggest let down is that the game engine leads to a great deal of frustration when playing. If not for that total annoyance, this release would be the ideal way to experience Umineko When They Cry.

Granted, it’s easy to see this unique take on the first-person experience fall by the wayside, especially when you consider its initial technical follies and weak player onboarding, but flaws aside, Valley has the potential to serve as an introduction to the first-person adventure genre for players who are used to more combat-heavy experiences.

Cat President ~A More Purrfect Union~ gives us all a chance to step back from potential fears of the actual impending election and have a laugh at the whole process.

It’s outrageous that a slice of life game that actually makes an effort to create a great backstory and memorable characters still ends up with a beginning that drags. Luckily, both audio and visuals are outstanding, showing that a lot of care went into creating this visual novel.

Pan-Pan may provide a short journey in the end, but it’s definitely worth setting out on. If the absolutely stunning graphics and art style don’t draw you in, then hopefully the intriguing world and enjoyable puzzles will.

While the gameplay found in Featherpunk Prime does offer some momentary enjoyment on each of its self-contained floors, the frustrations lie with how reliant the game feels on the same design structure aspects and same layout in each of its floors; the repetitiveness eventually begins to grate.

DOGOS is mostly great and a little bit broken, but if you bring a giant helping of perseverance to its more troublesome sections there’s a fantastic, great-looking shooter trying to blast your heavily-armed experimental final-hope-for-humanity gunship into a smoking shower of red-hot shrapnel before you do the same to it.

In 2016, Dead Rising is fantastic nostalgic trip that benefits from the higher resolution, frame rate and graphical options greatly, despite the overall textures and models not being as magical as they once were.

Having a darker sense of humor is somewhat of a prerequisite to truly appreciate this title, but for people possessing that attribute there is much fun to be had within 60 Seconds!

It is a bit lacking in content and could use some slight tweaks for difficulty purposes, but it still controls like a dream, looks and sounds great, and has enough solid and addictive gameplay to pack a punch.

With the right mindset, the game design is perfect for a brain cleanse or to serve as a half distraction while contemplating a more complex problem.

Star Trek Online is a game that casual and dedicated Star Trek fans should check out. While it doesn’t beat out Neverwinter as far as mechanics goes, it allows players to inhabit a fascinating facsimile of the universe, exploring, undertaking complex missions and always boldly going forward (because we can’t find reverse).

There’s a lot to like about Carrie’s Order Up! The charming concept and visuals enhance its core frantic arcade gameplay. Serving customers is hectic fun and failures usually seem fair. Completing the main mode might not take very long, but the game continues to add value with additional modes and challenges.

Most interested in Mad Father, however, should wait until confirmation of a new patch which resolves these massive issues before diving in.

Thoth is a solid and clever twin-stick puzzle/shooter hybrid, sometimes frustrating in its progress but nicely creative in its challenges, and a little determination mixed with practice and copious swearing will earn the sense of satisfaction from the final credit roll. And a string of randomized levels afterwards, because why stop at the end?

The barely contained chaos and sheer variety of things to do keep Final Approach interesting. It’s action packed while still being family friendly, all while offering a lengthy campaign. The fact that the scoring system keeps the missions replayable seals the deal. Phaser Lock Interactive has released one of the best games for VR. [Tested with HTC Vive]

Harmonia is a bite-sized taste of what VisualArts can do with the visual novel genre. It is not the most emotionally intense of their releases, but still packs a punch in just a few hours of storytelling.

The simulation gameplay is utterly engrossing as you work to help your daughter down a wide variety of paths.

Blue Revolver is a rock-solid arcade shooter that hits all the high points of the genre without getting bogged down in its excesses and easily earns its place in any genre fan’s library.

DoDonPachi Resurrection is a monster of an arcade shooter.

Yomawari: Night Alone is a game that will be remembered more for its tone and story than gameplay, but that’s enough to recommend it. The PC port is clearly unoptimized from the Vita build, with issues like having to shoo the cursor off the screen every time you fire up the game, but the adventure of a little girl wearing a big red bow and a bunny backpack going out again and again into a haunted town is instantly engaging, hooking the player completely within the first couple of minutes.

Anyone who especially loves Rika (or Ooishi) will also get to see those characters more in depth then they’ve been presented previously. With this chapter complete, it’s now time to get ready for the Answer Arc to begin.

While Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare Jackal Assault VR Experience is lean on content, everything presented in the package is outstanding. The core gameplay is well-crafted and easy to grasp even for those new to dogfighting games.

Memory’s Dogma CODE:01 provides an intriguing start to an episodic visual novel. Unlike others, it also provides a rather meaty look at the world rather than just an hour long glimpse. The only problem is that the story it’s telling depends completely on players caring about the characters and their plight. With the lack of focus on developing the protagonists as actual people, there’s a disconnect between the game’s highly-charged scenes and failure to endear the cast to players.

Destroy All Humans! shows its age under the coat of HD makeup, but still holds up well. Some of the missions suffer from lack of direction or being too repetitive, but I would be lying if I said blowing up tanks and burning down buildings wasn’t enjoyable.

With some great stories that don’t overstay their welcome and an endearing cast of characters, the King’s Quest reboot series manages to overcome some rough spots to become greater than its parts.

One Night Stand feels more like a think piece than a proper game. It’s strongest on the first playthrough and slowly loses its allure with each subsequent one. Perhaps the most poignant experiences to be had with this game would be playing once or twice and then having conversations with friends about how you felt and what different choices led to what ending.

Mekazoo proves to be a joyous platformer built on the ideas of just about any platformer one can think of, specifically sticking to ones that came out of the 80s and 90s.

Overkill VR is nowhere near the worst experience a gamer can have in VR. In fact, it’s great using its cover system to trick the player into performing facsimiles of squats and burpees. It’s just that there is so much fine tuning that needs to be done to make it a great game. The enemies’ hit points needs to be dropped, reloading is screaming for reworking to allow for better player immersion and levels need to be more than figuring out the enemy spawn points and dominating them.

This title attempts to meld an educational focus with endearing characters. Unfortunately, it doesn’t manage to create compelling characters or plot. The information gained about Japan while playing is valid and factual, but that alone isn’t enough to make the entire experience enjoyable.

Sure, there are issues to be had with the limited resolution or generally simplistic puzzles, but none of these things impede the overall experience to a point where a playthrough becomes annoying. If you’ve enjoyed other creepy indies such as Corpse Party or Mad Father, then Alicemare should be next on your lineup.

While the game concept and interaction methods are simple, Bounce has some heft to it. Fifty discrete levels that can be solved in ridiculous ways gives it quite a bit of staying power. The only limit is how over the top the player wants to be with the tools on hand. Anyone looking for a solid puzzler in VR will have a great time with Bounce.

Stern Pinball Arcade contains a good amount of excellent pinball action in its opening tables and it’s going to be a lot of fun watching it grow into its own unique collection in the coming years.

If this game sounds interesting but you haven’t played RIFT or MMOs in general, check out the base game and see if you enjoy it enough to explore the expanded content. For those who already play and anxiously want more RIFT this expansion will not disappoint.

Drive!Drive!Drive! ticks off all the right boxes on the Awesome Arcade Racer checklist, but somehow never rises up to become the game that it could have been.

LoveKami -Divinity Stage- is an incredible about face from MoeNovel. Once poised to strip any hint of sexuality from visual novels, they’ve now completely reversed course with their fanservice-filled release.

Perfect doesn’t do a lot — but what it does is executed very well. There’s a grander scope to the idea of a relaxation spot simulator the game presents to you that the technology just can’t provide right now. As something designed to relax users, Perfect works nicely even if the concept isn’t as fleshed out as it could be. The environments stand out, even if the things you can do in each one don’t vary all that much. That sense of sameness hurts the activity portion of things, but each area does stand out with its look and feel — with the strong sound design making each place feel unique.

The best aspect is absolutely the ability to use and counter spells, but even that strategic element is unnecessary during the majority of battles. From the adequate but eyebrow-raising animation to forced rather than desirable replay value, it’s tough to recommend MAGICAL×SPIRAL.

An absolute dream for fans. This is the exact game we’ve been waiting for since the first disappointing PC release over a decade ago.

There’s a lot to love in Angels of Death because it isn’t yet another indie horror copycat. In almost every way it pushes toward different directions. From the offbeat storyline to gameplay which is always shaking itself up, players are in for one heck of a ride.

Hive Jump combines many sub-genres of action-platformers into one game, and does them all fairly well. Its shooting is fantastic, with strong sound design making each kill feel rewarding.

Smashbox Arena is a fantastic take on dodgeball, combining the classic playground activity with an arena FPS to make something fast enough for good competitive gaming while remaining appropriate for all ages.

While another round of polish would do a nice job of knocking off the rough edges, the core experience is a lively game that remains fun and playable from start to finish.

If Super Pixel Smash was one part of a larger collection of mini-games, it would be a standout. Things can get a bit hectic and there is some skill required, but it doesn’t manage to extend past feeling like a mini-game.

It would be easy to criticize Rosenkreuzstilette for copying so much of its content from Mega Man games, but that is what makes it so enjoyable. There have been many games that try to piggyback on more successful franchises on a superficial level but completely miss what made the source material so great. This is a blatant Mega Man clone, but it is a clone that was properly done.

The best thing about Sweetest Monster is the story it presents. On the other hand, it’s likely the storyline which is sure to turn some readers completely away. If you’re coming to this game from something vapidly sweet like Nekopara then it may totally rock your world in a bad way. Others with a taste for dark, disturbing tales may love it — or find it doesn’t go far enough. With such a wide array of opinions, the only way to know if you’ll enjoy this one or not is to simply play Sweetest Monster yourself.

For a first attempt at the genre, Bat Country Games shows a clear understanding of how to integrate the player’s abilities within the level design, coercing players into switching between them in a rapid-fire fashion. Despite this, Dye still stumbles at the finish line by eliminating any sense of motivation to progress further, as uncontrollable, frequent deaths and infrequent checkpoints raise the challenge beyond what is necessary, or arguably feasible. Dye will still likely find an audience among speedrunners, as well as equally dedicated gamers who can put up with the repetition, but with plenty of challenging platformers already available that offer a more attainable rate of success, it will be hard for Dye to have that same rate of return that these demanding platformers so often rely upon.

Forma.8 is an interesting (if flawed) take on the concept of lone exploration in its most pure and absolute sense. It’s not pretentious to talk kindly on the use of color and geometric abstraction to give meaning to one’s World, because the way MixedBag manage to conjure intrigue with such basic structures alongside their chosen tones and particularly hollowed-out level design deserves a warm reception. Though skating a little too precariously in its more long-winded moments, Forma.8 ends up being an enjoyable alternative to the Metroidvania thesis.

Da Capo 3 R is a massive visual novel that is set to provide hours upon hours of entertainment for the sort of visual novel fan who loves their slice of life tales with a dose of fantasy. Anyone not enthused with generally sappy tales of high schoolers may unfortunately find large parts of the story dull — in which case the huge length is a detriment. At least MangaGamer has provided an option for fans to get an all-ages edition or 18+ release via Da Capo 3 R X~Rated. No matter which you choose, you’ll be in for an enormous visual novel with a likable cast, mysteries to uncover and an anime-styled look at magic.

Stranger of Sword City Revisited is an improvement over the original release, making this the version to play if Stranger of Sword City is a title on your radar that you haven’t gotten to yet. Stranger of Sword City Revisited is an intelligent old school dungeon crawler and is among the better games that have attempted to utilize this style in recent years. For fans of old school dungeon crawlers, this is a must-play title. The tricky part is, is this worthwhile for someone revisit that has completed the original version? The changes are many, and they do improve the overall game quite a bit, but Stranger of Sword City was not a short game, and revisiting it for those who completed the first game would probably be limited to only the most die hard fans. Old school.

The Shadows of Pygmalion provides a tremendously enjoyable dramatic story which showcases just how strenuous being a “hero” can be — especially when you’re just a normal high schooler. While it sounds initially like yet another one of those stories, you’ll find that The Shadows of Pygmalion takes things in intriguing directions. It also manages to give the yuri community a more action-driven tale than what they might be used to, which is fantastic. The biggest letdown may simply be that there is not room for more gameplay choices. Fortunately, most readers will find themselves swept up in the story so quickly that they won’t even notice a lack of dialogue options on their journey.

88 Heroes is an excellent 2D platformer that makes great use of a unique premise to make it infinitely replayable. Having 88 characters to choose from keeps each play session different while also giving you enough familiarity with the main goal to ensure that you have some idea of what to do for each stage. The controls are sharp and the graphics are gorgeous for what they need to be. The music could use some improvement, but its shortcomings are overcome by strong voice and sound effect work. Anyone craving a new 2D platformer with a unique twist on classic gameplay should check it out.

Battlefield 1: They Shall Not Pass feels like it shouldn’t have taken as long as it has to release. While it feels good to finally have something new to sink our teeth into in Battlefield 1, They Shall Not Pass feels like content that should have been there at launch or earlier in the lifecycle. Three of the new maps are fantastic and stand strong when compared to the base maps, but there’s a strong sense of déjà vu about them. The final map, while good on paper, is ultimately brought down by poor design decisions, and the new weapons, while fun, are locked beyond arbitrary walls. There’s a decent amount of content here, but it doesn’t justify the asking price, or how long it’s taken to actually get a substantial amount of new content in Battlefield 1.

PacaPlus excels at being a strange visual novel with a girlfriend turned into a fluffy alpaca. It falters when attempting to create a tale which is joyful to read, through. With middling writing, readers will most likely find themselves playing simply because of the silly premise rather than because they care at all about Kazuma or Yukari’s plight. That’s not awful — but it would have been fantastic to see the second English version of this game offer immensely improved translation quality. Instead, we’ve got a bare-bones effort which reduces the Engrish-ness but otherwise leaves the mechanical script alone. In some respects, the game is far funnier in the PacoProject translation and as such may be worth grabbing from DLsite instead of Steam. Still, if all you need is ridiculous sequences with a goofy alpaca, PacaPlus has you covered.

Twisted Arrow is ugly, simple and fails to break any real ground. What little plot there is during the short campaign shows the same lack of creativity as the graphical design. Yet, through the feel of firing the bow and dealing with the enemies in various ways, it succeeds where it’s the most important: it’s fun. Remarkably fun, at that. It ties the mechanics in so close with the player’s skill, using the motion controls in a way that’s more noticeably tuned than other games that have tried the same thing. This might be enough for quite a few players, this reviewer included. As a package, this is a rough offering, but for the forgiving, Twisted Arrow is worth the time.

While Aaero’s challenge is enticing to tackle, the unfortunate string of performance and gameplay issues add detriment to the overall package. Outside of its confined choice of soundtrack and noticeably similar level design from beginning to end, enjoyable as it may be to rack up as high a score as possible and even push one’s self to higher difficulty modes thereafter, Aaero doesn’t quite demonstrate the same degree of intrigue or immediacy that past and even fellow contemporary efforts within this genre have so clearly shown. A few interesting mechanics here and there, the majority of the game’s run-time is spent retreading the same loop — perhaps worrying more so on when the next game-breaking hiccup will pop up next.

The Las Vegas DLC is absolutely a great addition for Project Highrise. Players have already been doing their best to make hotel-like atmosphere in the game, so this gives them an actual option to do so. SomaSim could have easily stopped there. Instead, they fleshed out these new room types out with additional gameplay in the form of VIP booking and visitors ranking your hotel. If you’ve fallen off the Project Highrise bandwagon over the past few months then this DLC will likely get you right back on. Any newcomers should grab the base game plus DLC as they provide a compelling package when combined.

The Falconers: Moonlight is an awesome debut for developer Bionic Penguin. Sure, it does show its indie status at times with a small intermittent soundtrack and lack of voice acting, but the pitch perfect writing, scenario and visuals pull things together in spite of a few missteps. From start to finish players will find themselves hungry to uncover what’s going on. Cassie and the rest of the crew ensure that there’s never a dull moment in the story. The heavy amount of player choice in such a short game also ensures that even non-visual novel fans can have fun playing. If you have a few hours free and are looking for a good story, check out The Falconers: Moonlight.

Nightshade has tremendous promise but tends to fall short in the moments that it fails to empower its own protagonist. As this continues to occur from route to route, one can’t help but wonder why she is even portrayed as an equal to the other ninjas if her skills are rarely demonstrated. Those who don’t find issue with it shall experience a tale filled with heroic men doing their darndest to save Enju and Koga’s good name. With excellent artwork and CGs, otome fans get a great share of eye candy. The star-studded Japanese voice acting cast adds to the experience and allows players to immerse themselves. If you’d like to experience a tale where beautiful men save you at every turn then Nightshade is probably for you.

NEKO-NIN exHeart is not a game for every visual novel lover out there. It’s squarely targeted at the audience who knows they like catgirls and seek out stories about them regardless of quality. This isn’t an experience for someone looking for deep storyline, epic romance or even a lot of dialogue choices. The dull writing and technical issues don’t make a great impression either. The best aspects of artwork and voice acting help smooth out the rough edges, but only to a degree. Still, if you’re waiting on more Nekopara goodness to arrive then NEKO-NIN exHeart will probably tide you over for a couple hours.

When approaching Mighty Monster Mayhem, it’s fair not to expect top of the line, wiz bang graphics. Rank17 is a low budget indie studio and needs to make some understandable compromises. Instead, it’s reasonable to hope for a title to competently take the narrow focus of emulating a game from the 80’s using simplified graphics, allowing the novelty of the input to carry it the rest of the way and have it come out playable. The developer got some of it right, but the vast majority of this game is riddled with too many cracks in the facade, indicating it was launched way too soon.

Higurashi weaves such an intense tale each and every chapter. After being involved for this long, it’s nearly impossible for fans to stop playing now. We’re finally being rewarded with an Answer Arc and getting to learn far more about the events which transpired. As future chapters release, players will finally begin to hone in on the actual truth of the matter. Higurashi When They Cry Hou – Ch.5 Meakashi offers a rather bloodthirsty introduction to Answer Arcs and also a much-needed explanation for earlier events. There are still more chapters to go, but if they’re anything like this one, players are going to be in for an amazing ride.

Grisaia Phantom Trigger Vol. 1 is just a small bite of the new world of Phantom Trigger. Clocking in at just a couple hours, some may feel it takes a few missteps at truly utilizing its short gameplay length fully. Still, players should easily find themselves wrapped in a militaristic world that is both intriguing and a bit frightening. The likable, if odd, cast also ensures that most will go on to read Vol. 2 after completing this one. Hopefully that chapter finds it footing as Vol. 1 definitely has promise but doesn’t fully utilize this potential.

Lily of the Valley is best enjoyed in a single sitting on a quiet day. It doesn’t take long to finish both endings and deserves being completed rather than left hanging with only one ending. Over the brief playtime you’ll get to know a few characters and (hopefully) feel for them by the end. However, even great visuals and a decent soundtrack can’t turn this into a total tear-jerker of a visual novel. But, since that is variable between people, it’s worth checking out if you’re at all interested in short visual novels which have little to do with fanservice or silly hijinks.

Some folks are really into slice of life tales, and for others, it makes reading a visual novel a total slog. If you’re interested in a slightly mystical take on the genre then perhaps A Butterfly in the District of Dreams will excite you. For most, however, it’s an average tale which plods along with no real meaning for the majority of it. There’s nothing harmful about this, and there’s far worse you can play on Steam, but your hours of reading time might be better served elsewhere.

There are pros to picking up Deemo: The Last Recital on Vita. This single purchase opens you up to tons of what the mobile game has to offer without any need of DLC purchases. The width of the Vita itself, however, might inhibit comfortable gameplay for some out there when compared to thinner smartphone screens. No matter which version you play, though, there’s still some gameplay design decisions which don’t make total sense to music game fans. Fortunately, the highly varied soundtrack makes grinding mostly bearable as players pursue growing a magical tree to its fullest. In a rhythm gaming dearth, Deemo: The Last Recital stands as an imperfect, but mostly enjoyable, title to spend time with.

Despite all its issues I honestly enjoyed SmuggleCraft. The tracks are a bit lonely, the challenge level is fairly low even when a mission says Death Trap and the menus desperately need another round of polish, but the courses are beautiful and fun to fly through in their detailed, low-poly way. Zipping through a canyon at mid-day looks very different from dawn, and weather effects dress up the scenery as well. Most sections can be done by tearing through at high speed but every once in a while you need to let up on the gas during the thin, guard rail-less sections, and while it’s eventually unlikely you’ll fall off the edge failure is still a possibility. There’s a lot of work left to do to get SmuggleCraft to become the game it should have been on launch, but if it can get there it’s going to be a fantastic chase through gorgeous low-poly worlds.

Nekopara continues to grow with each release. Although somewhat predictable in regards to its sexual aspects, the storyline is becoming less of a throwaway component, even if it’s still short. Fans finally know a lot more about each of the characters and likely have their favorites. There’s still something to be desired of Kashou’s characterization, as well as the tale in general, but it seems to be going along the right path. Fans should feel confident they’ll enjoy Nekopara Vol. 3 and then find their appetites whetted for the upcoming Vol. 4.