Laid-Back Camp -Virtual- Lake Motosu is a cute, comfy, and wholesome experience. While fans of the anime and manga might enjoy it, those on the fence may want to wait for a sale due to the minimal and limited interactivity in the content department and not to mention, the strange control scheme.

Crymachina offers an immersive and well-told sci-fi drama that leaves a lasting emotional impact through its characters and the portrayal of humanity’s end. However, the gameplay fails to match the storytelling’s quality, presenting surface-level upgrade systems, and mission mechanics that can frustrate players. While ambitious, the game primarily excels in its campaign experience.

If you can get through the fetch quests and borderline walking simulator elements, then The Good Life has an intriguing narrative for you to unravel and enjoy. It’s charming and unique in its own way, with its goofy presentation and silly supernatural elements. Maybe it’s the good life that SWERY65 had always imagined.

Ebenezer and the Invisible World is a fairly middle-of-the-road metroidvania that, apart from its presentation and premise, doesn’t do much to stand out from the crowd. Its passable combat and exploration achieve the bare minimum, making its subtle flaws more noticeable. Players may find themselves invested in the strong writing of the main story, sidequests, and profiles, but these elements only go so far in an action-adventure game. If you’re eager for a new metroidvania experience, Ebenezer and the Invisible World is an option, but with the genre being so densely populated, your time might be better spent elsewhere.

Billion Road has a lot of potential to be a great party game. While it can be fun in short bursts, it quickly becomes dull due to a lack of variety.

Hellpoint ends up being for Soulslike fans who are just dying for more experiences within the genre, but if that doesn’t describe you, then you’ll be disappointed. The sci-fi nature of the game and its story offering allows it to find its footing right before it ultimately falls apart from its uninspired gameplay. There’s a decent experience to be found during some late-game plot offerings, but that will require you to be invested past the first boss, which is asking a lot.

KamiYaba: Destiny on a Dicey Deadline offers cozy times with some cute characters, but it doesn’t manage to handle any unique plot point it brings up. The generic feeling and too frequent text issues are a big blunder, but players looking for just some fun with cute girls can probably overlook those issues.

Cotton 100% undoubtedly has some interesting charms and cool boss battles, but there isn’t much to it as a classic shooter. This 2021 release does the absolute bare minimum to preserve this oddity from the ’90s. If you need to try one game from the franchise, you might as well pick up the Saturn Tribute release of Cotton 2. As for this curious SNES shooter, it’s not among the games you need to play before you die.

Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp is an odd experience to recommend because its inclusion within Danganronpa Decadence makes it approachable to all purchasers of the package. Further, its base standalone $19.99 price point is fair, if only for hardcore fans of the genre to spend a little more time with these characters. Those who found enjoyment in the Ultimate Talent Development Plan minigame will find a familiar experience, but there’s nothing really here to keep you engaged outside of a sub-par board game with gacha systems.

Dusk Index: Gion presents an intriguing sci fi murder mystery that blends dual timelines in Kyoto with themes of AI and human dependency, but its execution struggles to match its ambition. While the premise and occasional standout scenes hint at a more compelling experience, inconsistent writing, poor pacing, and limited presentation hold it back from reaching its potential as a memorable visual novel.

The narrative is absolutely worth experiencing from beginning to end as it provides an exceptional core coupled with impressively satisfying connective tissue to the franchise’s past and future. Truthfully speaking, writing this review was quite a challenging process given its nature, but I’m glad I gave this game the limelight it deserves.

Warborn has a great foundation of SRPG mechanics and beautiful animations. However, I never once felt connected or concerned about my units or challenged after the first few minutes of a match. Each campaign plays out relatively the same, and after hours of gameplay, you’ll feel like you are merely playing the same mission over and over. I enjoyed the overall aesthetic, but nothing about the gameplay held my attention.

However, the dreadful method of narrative progression is enough of a turn-off for those not willing to sink in the time to engage with it. Furthermore, its locking of the new fantastically designed bosses adds greater insult to injury. Here’s hoping the following two DLCs don’t suffer from a similar grave failing when I experience them.

Milano's Odd Job Collection is a charming revival of a long-lost PS1 title, offering a quirky blend of life-sim elements and eight arcade-style minigames wrapped in nostalgic late-90s anime aesthetics. While the localization effort and visual style shine, shallow mechanics and repetitive gameplay limit its lasting appeal.

LoveKami: Divinity Stage gives us a fun story of idol Goddesses just trying to make it in this world. Its comedic elements and lewd imagery carry the narrative but don’t expect to feel too attached to the characters after the conclusion. Ultimately, the Switch version holds this release back with a lack of additional features and low-quality assets. At least the CGs are their to hold the reader’s attention.

Prinny Presents NIS Classics Vol. 1 is a brilliant idea in concept. Nippon Ichi has a large library of games that deserve to be readily available to modern players. However, they need to take the advancements found in recent remasters and apply those options to these titles. Phantom Brave is a lengthy and beautiful JRPG with its remastered assets, but Soul Nomad & the World Eaters really doesn’t compare, and it shows from the second you boot of the game.

Umbraclaw is an ambitious platformer that tries to shine with a standout death mechanic influencing the future of the protagonist. However, this concept is messily executed, not melding well with the stage design that is built around the main character's default abilities. Consequently, progression never feels fulfilling, doubly so when considering the weak characterizations and meager challenge.

WILL: Follow The Light delivers a visually striking and emotionally driven sailing adventure that shines brightest when it embraces the loneliness and danger of the open sea. Its lighthouse routines, weather systems, and immersive boating mechanics create a strong sense of place, while the narrative explores grief, family, and isolation with genuine ambition. However, uneven pacing, awkward controls, and inconsistent storytelling often interrupt the emotional momentum. There is a compelling game hidden beneath the surface, but the journey toward its payoff can feel frustratingly unfocused.

Toy Soldiers HD is a competent preservation of a classic Xbox Live Arcade Game. Even with an HD coat of paint, this release feels far less memorable than the game we saw over a decade ago. The single-player has plenty of content enhanced by a uniquely charming presentation and art style. Still, the tower defense gameplay can only stay fresh for so long before it runs thin. There’s hardly going to be an active online community for this one, so unless you’ve found some players to connect with, there won’t be much to keep you hooked.

Kao The Kangaroo is platformer comfort food, not boasting any exceptional traits but still managing to be a genuinely enjoyable time for crowds desiring a simple, low-stakes experience. The engaging puzzles and varying aesthetics aid in keeping the stages somewhat diverse in execution, though the superficiality of the powerups and combat needlessly pads out these areas. Moreover, the subpar voice acting and lackadaisical narrative don’t ruin the package, though they’re certainly aspects players won’t be clamoring for more of as they progress. Regardless, it’s a fun time if you’re yearning to punch stuff as a kangaroo.

Long Live The Queen is a deconstruction of the princess trope for what you will eventually discover about its world and characters. It takes time, effort, and patience to see the best that it has to offer. Those looking for another Princess Maker experience will probably already know not to look any further than here. For everyone else, the main caveat is that it takes a lot of commitment to see the worth of Long Live The Queen, but as a triumph over adversity tale and one that runs smoothly on the Nintendo Switch with its touch screen making reruns all the more seamless, Long Live The Queen will undoubtedly surprise you one way or another.

Reverie Knights Tactics is a good game with a good story, but unfortunately, lacks a compelling user experience. While the story was engaging, the controls made gameplay a more frustrating experience that limits enjoyment, and that’s a shame.

Heartworm delivers a moody and nostalgic survival horror experience, drawing clear inspiration from genre staples like Resident Evil and Fatal Frame. Its retro presentation, eerie sound design, and clever environmental puzzles evoke a sense of dread that fans of classic horror will appreciate. However, despite a promising setup, the game falters with a thin, disjointed narrative and several underdeveloped mechanics, leaving the full promise of its design unrealized.

R-Type Final 3 Evolved feels more like an R-Type Final 2.5 than a full-fledged sequel. If you have a copy of R-Type Final 2, then it’s worthwhile exploring the updates made to that release first. If you are interested in the release as a PS5 exclusive, then it’s probably worth waiting a little longer to see how the promised features pan out. This game isn’t really a sequel, and it doesn’t quite feel like an evolution, either.

Slobbish Dragon Princess’s narrative is all over the place and exceptionally hard to follow. The relationships are silly and meaningless, just like the main protagonist. Still, some quality CGs and character illustrations make up the visual novel’s finer points, and sometimes a cute dragon girl is all you need.

Cogen: Sword of Rewind would likely only satisfy those yearning for challenging action-platformer regardless of its reception. You could do much better with the genre, and I hope the development team learns from these efforts to potentially make a far more fulfilling game in the future. With an especially meager playtime to boot, there isn’t much-instilled replay value with this gameplay quality nor enough bang for your buck. At the very least, Kohaku is pretty cute.

Legacy of Kain: Ascendance captures the series’ gothic identity with a compelling narrative, strong performances, and striking pixel art, but struggles to maintain engagement due to repetitive combat and uneven gameplay design. While longtime fans will appreciate the expanded lore and character-driven story, the lack of depth in mechanics and inconsistent pacing make it feel like a missed opportunity to fully revive the franchise.

I appreciate how easy Bubble Bobble 4 Friends is to pick up and play. I’d recommend it to fans of chasing high-scores in the arcade, especially if you liked the original Bubble Bobble. However, past the nostalgia, there’s nothing that will keep you playing for much longer after you get through this incredibly short experience. Throw in the high price tag, and I’d say that you’re better off blowing a few quarters at an actual arcade then bringing this experience home with you.

Lovekami: Useless Goddess is a well-paced comedic romance that doesn’t overstay its welcome. It’s not going to surprise you, and it might be tough to remember a week after you played it, but it’s fun while it lasts. I would have appreciated balanced character routes and possibly an additional character to help round out the story. It’s okay for what it is, but it’s nothing special.

Soulvars is fast and addictive, but the repetitive nature of the gameplay and the limited tutorials makes experiencing the best parts of this game more effort than they’re worth. It has the style and energy to keep your attention for a few moments, but it doesn’t last when the character writing and world-building lay in an optional encyclopedia than in the game’s story. Still, this game is all about speed and combat, and it delivers in that regard.

Sonic Origins Plus had the opportunity to really deliver a collection of classic Sonic games that fans could experience on newer hardware. While Amy’s playable inclusion is fantastic, the poor state of some Game Gear titles introduces too many points of frustration to overlook. Features like the Classic Music and Premium Fun packs should’ve been a free update. In fact, the amount of purchase bonuses and content locked behind DLC makes experiencing Sonic Origins Plus exhausting. So if you’re desperately trying to complete this collection, then it’s here, but you could just as easily skip this release.

Girls in Glasses doesn’t do anything particularly notable or memorable, but it’s an enjoyable read as an average lighthearted high school romance. And if you like cute girls in glasses, you probably won’t find a visual novel with a higher concentration than this.

Dead Island 2 is all about breaking skulls and bones, but it won’t be breaking any bloody records. At the end of the day, it’s just dumb old fun, killing zombies in a badass gory fashion with your buddies. The high asking price and frustratingly unbalanced gameplay prevent me from recommending this as a day-one purchase, but I have confidence it will find its bearings among its zombie-slaying fans someday.

There seems to be an apparent disconnect between what fans loved about Bayonetta and what Platinum thinks fans loved about Bayonetta. Whether it’s the story that feels compelled to make sure the entire cast is by themselves or the gameplay that overly relies on giant enemies, everything feels like it could have used another pass. The game is enjoyable but isn’t an experience I’d like to return to, like the first two entries of the series. This is disappointing as dancing with Bayonetta has always been a wonderful time before now.

It remains to be seen how post-launch updates and community engagement will shape Blazing Strike’s future. The game could evolve into a hidden gem with time and improvement, especially if it manages to build a dedicated player base. For now, unless you’re eager to support an indie developer or are curious about its unique mechanics, there’s little reason to rush into this title. Patience may prove rewarding if the game receives the polish it needs, but at present, it struggles to justify its place among the fighting game ranks.

Predator: Hunting Grounds is a game that still needs a lot of work. If you can make it past the sometimes unbearably long matchmaking times, it can be a ton of fun. Constant glitches and gameplay issues, however, hold it back from being reliably enjoyable. A little more time in the oven might make Hunting Grounds a must-play multiplayer experience, but, for now, it’s probably best to wait a while before picking it up.

Survival Kids on the Nintendo Switch 2 is a charming yet highly simplified co-op adventure aimed squarely at young children, offering basic problem-solving and guided exploration that may leave older fans of the original series feeling underwhelmed.

Pretty Princess Party is, at its core, an incredibly casual game. It’s a low-stakes and low-effort title that lets the player use their creative potential should they decide to get involved. If you’re a parent looking for a safe title for kids to play to explore their skills and reaction times, this is a solid pick. Otherwise, I don’t really know who’s going to play this game. On a more positive note, It’s got fewer bugs than Cyberpunk 2077.

Ultimately, Demon’s Tier+ is a charming twin-stick shooter that doesn’t take a whole lot of skill to get into. Its entry-level mechanics make it approachable to new fans of the genre, but skilled players will quickly discover how to take advantage of the game’s systems and get through it without much trouble.

Princess of the Water Lilies is a charming yet deceptively challenging 2D puzzle-platformer that blends watercolor visuals with quirky mechanics. You play as a silent feline hero guided by frogs through five whimsical biomes filled with puzzles, light combat, and hidden secrets. Despite some frustrating control quirks and balance issues, it delivers a memorable indie experience with heartfelt personality.

Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered brings back Lara Croft’s later classic adventures with modernized controls and visual enhancements. While The Last Revelation still shines as a franchise high point, Chronicles and Angel of Darkness struggle to justify their place in the collection. Inconsistent lighting, minimal extras, and aging mechanics hold this remaster back from being a must-have, but die-hard fans may still appreciate the preservation effort.

Gungrave G.O.R.E lacks quality-of-life found in more recent games. While I’m a sucker for nostalgia, G.O.R.E tends to be more frustrating than fun. There are some exciting moments of arcadey action, but you’ll likely grow tired of the waves of enemies and artificial difficulty that stems from annoying mission objectives. I’m glad Grave is back from the dead, but I can’t help but want more.

Roadwarden is an impressive text adventure RPG, but the Switch version is severely lacking when it comes to technical conditions. It's a shame as this should be one of the best of its kind on the platform, but it's just impossible to recommend it compared to the PC release.

While the attempt is commendable, this game falls flat in providing an enjoyable experience, though there is tons of room for improvement. If you were a fan of the predecessor, the price of admission to experience a new chapter in the SENSE anthology may be worth it for you. However, as a stand-alone product, you may want to wait for a future title that works with the presented mechanics in a more refined way.

Bloodrayne Betrayal Fresh Bites is a title that deserved this re-release to get it in front of new players. Combat is initially fun and easy to grasp, and the gorgeous art is enough to get anyone into the door. However, once you are there, the slightly inconsistent art style of the protagonist and easy trivialization of the combat; makes this title hard for me to recommend outside of players looking to give themselves a challenge intentionally.

Unknown 9: Awakening is the best PS3-era adventure game released in 2024. It has everything I remember from the genre during that time, and it managed to hold my interest until the conclusion. While the story eventually comes together, the pacing getting there is plagued with flimsy character growth and world-building. The character dynamics and relationships are also lacking due to the genuinely emotionless design of this cast, which also affects the pacing. You eventually play for the combat alone, but even that becomes a repetitive mess. I hope to see more from this team because we don’t get enough of these classic adventure games.

Fighting Force Collection resurrects two failed 3D experiments that have not aged gracefully, pairing clunky combat and awkward design with a bare minimum remaster effort from Limited Run Games. While the historical curiosity of a lost Streets of Rage 4 prototype may intrigue genre historians, weak emulation, poor presentation, and fundamentally sluggish gameplay make this a tough sell for anyone beyond preservation purists.

Redout: Space Assault should have been a different game and not just a port-up of its mobile counterpart. Little went into resigning the UI or adjusting the gameplay experience for more powerful hardware, and the lack of speed makes it a strange fit within the Redout universe. I enjoyed the shmup direction, but auto-fire and short on-rail missions don’t make it even close to a memorable entry of this genre.

Zoids Wild: Blast Unleashed is a relatively harmless licensed anime arena fighter. Superfans may enjoy its presentation, but nothing is here to rewards them for their time. The fighting system lacks any real depth of engagement, which boils down to a mindless button-masher until there’s a winner. Like the franchise, for me at least, Zoids Wild: Blast Unleashed is just forgettable.

It’s not fun to play. Despite how smooth Kay feels to control, it never reached its fullest potential due to the dull linearity and thoughtless platforming sequences. Some players may find this to be a worthwhile title to experience from its story elements alone. Still, it solely depends on how one intakes depression and overall grief and whether or not the game ties to your own struggles and interpretations thoughtfully.

Metroid Prime 4 is an ambitious yet uneven installment that struggles to balance its legacy with experimental design. While the game introduces bold ideas like open-world segments and vehicle traversal, its execution often undercuts the core strengths that define the Prime series. Longtime fans may enjoy moments of classic exploration and well-designed boss battles, but weak character integration and unmemorable environments drag the experience down.

Outrider Mako delivers a visually charming but mechanically uneven action-adventure experience, with its inventive Red Nectar combat hindered by resource scarcity and inconsistent pacing, ultimately resulting in a forgettable gameplay loop.

It all just falls short of what could otherwise be a decent, engaging adventure. I just did not find myself having fun with the combative scenarios. That, coupled with the weak performance, brings the title down a good number of notches. The title is fairly short but is also priced rather modestly. If you are mildly curious, feel free to pick it up. If you can stomach some of this title’s frail aspects, you can find yourself enjoying a beautiful, hearty adventure.

Tsukuyomi: The Divine Hunter delivers striking visuals and intense roguelike gameplay rooted in Kazuma Kaneko’s iconic style, but stumbles under clunky AI mechanics and frustrating monetization that undercut its potential.

Forgotten Trace: Thanatos in Nostalgia has a great first chapter that may be overly wordy, but sets up a gripping mystery. However, it almost immediately turns into a mess due to poor pacing and character building. The timeline feature works to a point but fails to really capitalize on the system, which ends up doing nothing for the narrative. Hopefully, the sequel delivers a more promising structure for these characters to grow in.

Hirogami blends beautiful origami aesthetics with creative transformation mechanics, but its underwhelming level design and lack of polish keep it from reaching its full potential.

Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed brings back the iconic 2010 Wii platformer with a fresh coat of paint. Though the nostalgia is undeniable, the gameplay mechanics and morality system feel outdated, leaving much to be desired. Its charming premise and art style may appeal to diehard fans, but performance issues on PC further dampen the experience.

The House of the Dead: Remake is a welcome return of an arcade classic on a less than an ideal platform. On paper, it would make sense for this to work on Nintendo Switch, but the gyro functionality of the Joy-Cons just doesn’t lend itself to the experience as smoothly as one would hope. Diehard fans are probably better off dusting off their Nintendo Wii, while most Switch owners will need to fiddle around with the controls before they can appreciate this classic.

Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree is a visually charming and narratively ambitious roguelite that explores themes of sacrifice, time loops, and divine responsibility. While the world-building and character interactions show genuine heart, the gameplay struggles to support the story’s weight. Repetitive run structures, a tedious weapon durability system, and emotionally flat consequences undermine what could have been a standout experience. It’s a game full of good ideas, but one that ultimately lacks the cohesion and polish needed to make its ambition truly resonate.

Neversong is an aesthetically pleasing platformer with absolutely killer sound design and overall presentation. The six-hour adventure doesn’t overstay its welcome and is full of clever puzzles and interesting boss encounters. However, if you plan on playing this for the narrative, you’ll discover a decent set up that never pays off.

Tears of Avia attempted to present a larger-than-life indie SRPG but bit off way more than it could chew. Creating a world that players don’t care about and a battle system that is broken after the first hour is a huge misstep for any title in this genre. There are some great ideas here, though. Character designs, animations, and writing make for some of the best moments, but all at the cost of an unmemorable adventure.

Star Overdrive once had the potential to be a delightful indie project in which its hoverboard-based open-world exploration was the core of a digestible playtime. However, the additions and emphases of numerous conjoined systems, such as combat, crafting, and upgrading, make the title feel like an overly ambitious mini-Breath of the Wild. Unfortunately, none of the ideas besides the exploration cleanly stick the landing, resulting in a mixed bag of an experience that is often more of a chore than not.

Sword and Fairy Inn 2 reveals its gameloop within the first few hours. Outside of the event scenes, you’d have experienced everything the game offers in that time, with new areas and menu items only making your daily checklist longer and more monotonous. The cafe sim features aren’t present and are coupled with a capable auto feature that, if anything, gives you a break from playing. Sword and Fairy Inn 2 is cute enough to want to check in, but you’ll be checking out just as quickly.

Animal Trail * Girlish Square is a 4-hour-long VN, where what you see is what you get. It’s cute girl shenanigans, a self-insert protagonist, and some ‘extras,’ should you get the title’s patch from Denpasoft. As I opened this all with, best reserved for a Friday night.

Twin Mirror’s foundation of returning home to a tragedy after leaving because of a tragedy doesn’t work. The characters are as forgettable as the story, and the mystery is handed to you on a silver platter as you make your way through the narrative. Nothing makes you want to finish the game, which is sad because I did enjoy the more mature tone of the characters that deviated from what we are used to seeing from the developer.

Sleep Awake is a moody and inventive psychological horror game that experiments with storytelling and visual style. While it offers a unique blend of mixed media aesthetics and surreal atmosphere, its gameplay lacks depth and its narrative pacing often stumbles. As Katja navigates a fractured reality where sleep means death, the game’s haunting tone and inventive moments keep players intrigued, even as structure and interaction falter.

Mugen Souls is finally complete in the West and available on Switch for fans to experience the mysterious bathhouse mini-game. Sadly, the messy nature of gameplay doesn’t hold up compared to modern releases. The entire experience feels like a blend of ideas, creating a haphazard experience for the player. Still, considering the nature of the gameplay, this might be what the developers intended. However, the missing quality-of-life features such as auto-save, scene skip, and faster loading don’t do this forgettable JRPG any favors.

Unfortunately, this is sadly brought down by glitches and unwieldy controls, causing frustration and ultimately ruining the experience by breaking the game and preventing progression. Having only played the Steam version, I can’t exactly recommend this game. Still, the console version may run better, so it’s worth researching if you’re interested.

There are definitely good ideas here that could be polished even further into a phenomenal game, but the state of it now doesn’t make me care about the island or the people who live in it. Instead, they feel like window dressing for a single mini-game that gets dull after a few hours in.

Menherarium is a chaotic blend of Cee-Lo gambling and toxic romance that fully commits to its absurd premise. Trapped with the blood sipping Chinchiro, you roll dice for survival in a system that swings between broken and brilliant. Beneath the balance issues and technical hiccups is an oddly addictive optimization loop, where busted talismans and custom dice builds can flip runs from impossible to effortless in seconds. It is unstable, unfair, and self aware, but when a setup pops off and the numbers spike, it delivers a sharp roguelike dopamine hit that makes the chaos hard to quit.

SaGa Emerald Beyond is a game that pushes the boundaries of player patience with its complex systems and lack of coherent storytelling. While it innovates with its combat mechanics and the breadth of worlds to explore, the game struggles to provide a cohesive and engaging narrative experience. Characters feel underdeveloped, and the story is often confusing, leaving players to piece together the plot without much guidance. Despite these challenges, the game offers a depth of strategy that may appeal to hardcore fans of the series or genre.

Everything in Kawaii Deathu Desu is hidden behind a repetitive mechanic that forces you to level up characters to progress. The lack of accessibility options for this console port is a considerable oversite and makes navigate any menu within the game a chore. Sure, the character sprites are cute, but that’s no reason to endure a cramping wrist for hours of clicking. You’ll more than likely break the shoulder buttons of your Joy-Con long before you unlock everything this game has to offer.

Neptunia ReVerse is a title that sticks too closely to its roots to be a standout, next-gen experience. Despite the presence of a moderately entertaining gameplay loop, decent mechanics, and delightful character banter, the embarrassingly feeble graphical quality, lack of innovation for the series, and disturbingly overt reliance on old systems from a Vita remake from over half a decade ago brings this experience down more than a few notches.

Olympic Games Tokyo 2020: The Official Video Game is a functional and serviceable sports video game at best. While it features various events, the play mechanics and controls are too basic, so there isn't much long-term replay value. The biggest problem here is that the experience sits somewhere between a sports simulator and an arcade game, and it doesn't succeed with either approach.

Sailing Era is a beautiful game where the developers put a lot of thought into its presentation and historical enactment. Still, unfortunately, this title is constantly held back due to its frustrating gameplay loop, combined with a highly awkward machine translation. Unless you have a walkthrough on hand or have an immense amount of patience to fight your way through sheer trial and error, by the twelfth time you reset your save, you probably would’ve wanted to set aside time and play something else at that point.

Narin: The Orange Room is a short but visually striking indie horror puzzle game that captures attention with its strong atmosphere and distinct art direction, though it struggles to fully deliver on its narrative ambitions. While its moody environments and evolving puzzle design show clear promise, issues with pacing, localization, and storytelling cohesion prevent it from reaching its full potential, making it an intriguing but uneven debut.

Yes, Your Grace’s clean presentation and likable plot elements do a lot to win over the player, but it’s not enough to stomach the bad taste left by vague objectives and arbitrary fail states.

Ruined King: A League of Legends Story is a competent narrative adventure for fans of the base game, but it barely scrapes by as a standalone game for newcomers to the series. The turn-based combat mechanics are refreshing, and the story elements are there. Still, the number of outdated gameplay components and flagrant unpolish that make progression borderline impossible ultimately makes this an engaging spectacle than an enjoyable playable experience.

The Villainess Is Adored by the Prince of the Neighbor Kingdom offers a charming love story with beautiful illustrations, but it’s held back by poor translation quality, a lackluster interface, and limited narrative depth. While fans of isekai romance may enjoy Tiararose’s journey, the title falls short of genre standards in both writing and presentation.

To truly do this game justice, mechanics needed to be updated to make the overall experience more enjoyable. Faster pace and more fluid gun gameplay could bring new audiences. The game should be played by anyone who has never experienced the series and are interested enough to visit the Darkside themselves. I’m sure longtime fans will feel that nostalgic love, playing this occult hit exactly as it was published two decades ago but personally, I feel it could have been left on the shelf.

Milky Way Prince: The Vampire Star uses an experimental visual style to tell a story about a topic that is very tough to talk about. While it exceeds in conveying these themes, it feels empty and pushy. All of the actual content in the game is condensed into the first few hours, and then there’s really nothing more to it. I enjoyed the artistic approach and themes, but the execution makes it tough to recommend.

Reverie: Sweet As Edition is a cute 16-bit game. While its presentation has everything you’d want from a retro-inspired adventure, its systems sadly don’t hold up. The entire experience is over before you know it, with the credits rolling to an unfulfilling conclusion. Regardless, the price is right for this release, but I can’t help but urge you to play something else.

This is the Zodiac Speaking is a decent psychological thriller significantly hurt by the Switch’s underpowered hardware. The narrative is there, but everything else falls short in terms of visuals, graphical glitches, and sound. There are some nice features here, but I urge you to play the PC version if you can.

Spiral Memoria manages to be a competent otome game, doing everything that is expected from the genre, but in the process fails to make a distinctive experience, leaving the game entirely forgettable. The story is generic, the structure is inherently flawed, and the presentation is average. If you’re simply looking to have pretty boys romance you, then you may be okay with what this game offers, but the premise seems to be pulled right out of a standard list of what makes an otome game.

The additional enemy types and weapons are appreciated, but the gameplay is still riddled with bugs and performance issues. Given that it’s a standalone game priced at $20, I expected more content considering the full base game is priced at $40. For the amount of content offered versus the price, I suggest playing Serious Sam 4 first, which has been patched up since launch and is usually on sale. However, if you’re just craving more Serious Sam, well then, this game is for you.

Awaken - Astral Blade delivers flashes of promise with its boss battles and combat mechanics but ultimately suffers from repetitive enemies, lackluster exploration, and a weak narrative. While the game has its moments, it fails to reach the heights of other China Hero Project titles.

In theory, a co-op, loot-based isometric RPG like The Ascent has the potential of being a great cyberpunk-themed experience to play with a group of friends. The world-building is appealing visually and aurally, but it’s ultimately unsatisfying and often unrewarding during exploration. The lack of replayability, broken cooperative play, bugs, and unbalanced artificial enemy difficulty make it tough to appreciate its positive elements. It’s sad to say that The Ascent is another over-hyped cyberpunk game that is all fluff and no substance.

Kandagawa Jet Girls is not a good racing game, it’s not even a good fanservice game. Nothing from the developer’s previous works can be found here, and we are left with a dull and uninteresting experience. The quality animations and unlockable content can’t save this game, which makes me wonder why it was localized at all.

Anything good about the game is immediately overshadowed with the things that players need to look past, which is terrible because I really enjoyed the dark premise of this game. As unique as Arc of Alchemist tries to be, and as much as it stands out in the lineup of games that Compile Heart has produced, I believe this a huge step back for the developer. Still, if you are just trying to fight monsters and look at cute chibi characters save the world, then this is the game for you.

Charade Maniacs has so much potential, but the cast becomes bloated, and the conclusion comes way too early without any level of fanfare to cap off the routes. The narrative ends up tripping over itself as it tries to balance all the relationships, causing Sena to be more of an everchanging object for plot progression instead of her own character. The translation also comes across as questionable due to the inconsistencies within the cast. Sadly, the few memorable routes aren’t strong enough to carry enough the flimsy plot.

Death Note: Killer Within attempts to bring the tension and drama of the iconic anime into a social deduction game format. While it offers solid fan service with familiar characters like Light, L, and Ryuk, the gameplay feels overly familiar and limited, failing to innovate within its genre. Frequent technical issues, limited task variety, and an underwhelming use of the Death Note itself make it difficult to recommend, even to die-hard fans. There are moments of charm and humor, but overall, Killer Within struggles to live up to its potential.

The Fox’s Way Home is a decent dance experience. The low-stakes narrative and gameloop remove any tension or frustration you may have with a spot-the-difference game, and the cute fox girl makes it more worthwhile. You’ll know if this is a game for you after a glance, but whether you’re willing to pay full price now or wait for a sale is up to you. There are a few options and modes that I feel were left out that would make the post-game replayability easier to recommend, but as it stands, this game begins and ends too quickly

Seeing that Project Eden is designed to be a story-driven game, I could have overlooked these issues and took the game as it was meant to be. Instead, what I feel it was meant to be was a game that could have been more fleshed out with more weapons, abilities, and an extra round polish. Because for such a small team to develop a complete vision of a sci-fi world, it seems that all was needed was some more time.

To enjoy Sword of the Necromancer requires you to be invested in the narrative, but to do that, you’ll have to get through gameplay that lacks many refinements that a roguelike needs. The system of bringing monsters back alive to fight for you is limited because you have to manage only four slots of items, which often shadows the game’s most unique systems. As charming as this game looks, it doesn’t ever become a challenging adventure or an interesting experience.

South of Midnight feels like a game that wanted to soar but never really left the ground. It’s undeniably gorgeous and hints at a level of creativity that, under better direction, could have led to an unforgettable adventure. However, between the undercooked combat, stilted platforming, and a meandering story that can’t decide on its central theme, it’s tough to recommend without a few asterisks. Hazel deserved more, and so did we. For now, South of Midnight remains a curiosity—worth a glance if you’re keen on its aesthetics or folk-infused premise, but ultimately lacking the cohesion it needs to shine.

Utawarerumono: ZAN on PC delivers a visually engaging yet narratively shallow musou adaptation of Mask of Deception, best suited for existing fans of the series. While it features flashy 3D visuals and a solid soundtrack, its gameplay loop and storytelling fall short of the source material's depth.

Danmachi Infinite Combate is sadly not a good experience for fans or newcomers. It fails on both its visual novel and gameplay offerings with strange design choices and uninspired execution. Post-game offerings aren’t enough to warrant getting through this mobile-like game brought to console. Still, that may not stop the most diehard Hestia fans from enjoying some aspects of it.

Code Shifter is a game that had me extremely excited when I saw it but managed to not only dash my expectations but bury them six feet underground. Inconsistent hitbox placement, a lack of movement options, and a lackluster story made for a game with a whole lot of missed potential.