Considering the story’s weakness and the high gameplay to story ratio, I can’t recommend Quantum Protocol to visual novel fans looking for a decent story with a bit of gameplay. Still, I would recommend it to fans of strategic card games. The difficulty could use a few tweaks to make it friendlier to beginners, but experienced players looking for a challenge will certainly find one.

At its core, Nanotale is certainly enjoyable. The simple act of typing being morphed into an RPG format sets a sturdy foundation for a fun experience. Further, the adventure is one that I genuinely felt attached to. It’s a shame that so much weighs on this, though, from soft locks to unoptimized systems and choppy framerates, a handful of offputting implementations hinders this overall decent idea for an adventure.

No Straight Roads is such a good game in concept, but the mechanics hold back this gorgeous adventure from being something great. The world feels empty, and the level designs become a repetitive mess. However, if you can look past that, then you are rewarded with some stand-out character writing and fantastic animation work. Call me when No Straight Roads gets its own Netflix series.

Cursed to Golf has so many good ideas that never truly come together. I never really cared about the story; all I was left with was a zany roguelike golf game. Random glitches aside, I could help but feel cheated no matter how much time I invested. Still, it’s undeniably clever, and the puzzle nature of the courses have you mastering your form to get through purgatory as quickly as possible.

Piofiore: Fated Memories is a game that drips in style and premise, but unfortunately doesn’t really know what to do with it, so it ends up making base appeals to those who like dark, edgy, and more morally questionable entertainment. If you liked the developer’s most recent western releases, you’d be disappointed with the lack of plot in this mafia narrative, but if you were more into Amnesia, this might be right up your alley.

The thing with sitcoms is that they’re implied to keep going unless we’re told otherwise. If a show ends on a cliffhanger, the audience expects that unless the series is canceled, there’s more to come, and eventually, things will end on some kind of satisfactory note. If not, they’ll be left speculating what will happen next. When placed next to its influences, Fall of Porcupine is a mostly-pleasant time despite technical shortcomings, but the ending feels like the network brought down the axe a few episodes too early.

Idola: Phantasy Star Saga could have been great, but its more promising early content slowly turns into a standard waifu collector RPG within the first few hours. There’s a unique raid system woven in with the Idola themes that make for some fun moments of gameplay, but everything else feels almost too familiar. I wish the developer did more with the Phantasy Star brand instead of simply reusing mechanics that we’ve seen before. It may still be worth it in the end, though, because the gacha drop rates for 5-star characters seem to be really high, or I’ve been insanely lucky.

Ikai is a light horror experience providing genuinely qualitative puzzle design. Unfortunately, its presentation is somewhat lacking, and its brief playtime may not be enough to satiate some crowds aside from scant collectibles. Regardless, if you’re yearning for a simple but effective horror title, you could do much worse than Ikai.

Rise Eterna is a decent throwback to the various classic and old-school titles in the SRPG genre that shows passion and potential. But along the way, the game also inherited some of the issues that have since been ironed out in modern titles or at least redefined. I couldn’t help but wish that the influences weren’t so prominent in the adventure because this game deserves to stand out a little more. Still, fans of SRPGs who are nostalgic for the more old-school and classic gameplay systems will find exactly what they’re looking for here.

Megadimension Neptunia VII on Switch is perfect to play through if you haven’t already experienced this entry. The narrative holds up, but the same can’t be said for the dungeon design. The state of the Switch port is lacking modern quality-of-life updates, which does hurt the user experience, but the battle system makes it a decent RPG experience on the go.

Liar Trick is interesting despite its flaws. The gameplay is unique, and with the amount of research and detail that went into it, it’s clearly a labor of love by the developer. It’s difficult to recommend to a general English-speaking audience with the translation in its current state. Still, fans of detective games and unusual visual novels should enjoy it if they’re willing to have a little patience.

The Cosmic Shake is a mixed bag. It works exactly well enough to make me alright with continuing to play and will probably be a decent enough game to give to your kids who don’t have the finesse to get through Super Mario Odyssey yet. However, for a comeback in a long-running franchise, it’s severely let down by an unoriginal concept, a severe budget deficit, and levels that feel like a developer just going through the motions to crank out a game.

Seven Knights: Time Wanderer is a rather straightforward attempt at a JRPG with the inclusion of a unique active battle system. There’s a ton of room to grow here in terms of improved dungeon design, less repetitive encounters, and a more interesting gameloop. Still, the story is rather good, and the character interactions are reason enough to see the adventure through until the end.

Yukikoi Melt is a beautiful visual novel that falls apart within the first hour. There is so much potential crammed in the beginning moments that are never brought up again and make you question why you just spent 20 hours hoping for something that never happens. However, if you’re looking for an exceptionally humorous and lighthearted visual novel about a boy overcoming his hatred for winter, look no further than Yukikoi Melt.

There is clearly a direction and vision for Grand Alliance, but it’s pretty much downhill after the game’s opening. I know I’ve always touted that I’m into games with amazing stories despite the gameplay, but Grand Alliance made it difficult to stick with that idea. At least this was leagues better than Overlord: Mass for the Dead.

Despite its flaws, Seven Pirates H is an addictive and fun adventure. Underneath the fanservice exterior is a cute RPG, just don’t go into this expecting anything challenging or remotely intellectually stimulating and you’ll find yourself having fun.

There’s no doubt an appeal here for fans of cozy experiences, and Mineko’s Night Market delivers all the charm one could expect from this genre. But the experience is shortlived as it offers little focus on player expression. Similar titles present a much wider range of activities to invest yourself in that makes the experience feel like your own. However, there really isn’t any of that here. It all feels just a little too static and unimpressive. For a younger audience, this could be an entry-level introduction to this wholesome genre, but there may be better ways to spend an evening than at the Night Market.

Layers Of Fear 2 on Switch is a well-developed port of a decent psychological thriller. The numerous puzzles and mind games thrown at the player add a layer of engagement that sets this title apart from others in the genre. However, the reused jumpscares and predictable plot remove the player from the haunting halls of this ship to remind them that this is just a game, and they might have a better time playing one of the more recent releases from Bloober Team.

Maid of Sker ends up excelling in its atmosphere, as it absolutely nails the feeling of tension during the more competent stealth sections. While it doesn’t move the genre in any direction, this is a horror experience that will make for a fun evening for genre lovers, but it might lose you with its narrative.

Chocobo GP isn’t the Chocobo racer from my past, but it is just as whimsically unique as ever. I’m still unsure if it’s a game for children or older Final Fantasy fans; maybe it falls somewhere between. There’s some balance needed, and the tracks have no identity, but you’re playing a game where a bird is wearing rollerblades, so find fun in that. Just be sure to turn down the volume when you get to the menu; oh god, now the song is stuck in my head again.

Card Detective marries noir and comic aesthetics, unraveling a murder case entangled in corporate corruption. While the narrative starts strong, it falls short on character depth and conclusive storytelling, with many characters feeling forgettable. The game's innovative card-based mechanic for uncovering truths and lies adds a unique twist to the detective genre, though it suffers from unbalanced difficulty and predictability. Despite these flaws, Card Detective remains a captivating, if not replayable, journey for fans of narrative-driven detective stories.

It’s an unfortunate step down from the developer’s previous games. You see, the story never truly catches on as the game’s main focus seem to be on its battle system. Here’s to hoping that updates iron out the kinks of this adventure. Otherwise, this is just another standard strategy RPG to fill your phone storage with for a few minutes of fun.

Adios excels in its creative writing through its complicated moral narrative. The characters are shown as complex even with a short runtime, and it’s easy to get emotionally invested in this farmer’s life. However, the limited interactivity really weighs on the experience as it drags in places that make it feel longer than it is. I wasn’t sold on the direction and really felt like there could have been a lot more here.

Mazm: The Phantom Of The Opera is an extremely good adaptation that turns the classic novel into an enjoyable adventure game, and updates it for the modern audience. It faithfully recreates what the original story did well and improves upon what didn’t stick as much. Whether you’ve only heard the name of the story or you’ve seen multiple variations of the tale, you’re sure to get something out of this title, despite the strange lag.

Madden 23 returns to its roots by focusing on gameplay improvement and player experience. Though no significant developments or additions were made to its multiple game modes, this still feels like a step in the right direction for a franchise that has otherwise been taking it in the shins in recent years. It still remains to be seen whether EA can build on the solid foundation of this year’s release, but at the very least, the game is a fitting tribute to the legend of John Madden, who preached fundamentals above all else.

The enjoyable moments become dampened by the inane control scheme and inconsistent pacing. It’s unfortunate that there was such a tug-of-war between immersion and complete disengagement. In a way, Daydream is a fitting name, as my moments of joy and peace kept getting interrupted as I popped back to reality, making this experience become a gradually-fading memory.

Rune Factory 5 offers bouts of fun, but unfortunately, it ultimately feels like an outdated experience no matter which platform you play it on. Still, the unforgettable characters keep you invested, but the sluggish combat and empty world keep gameplay largely uninteresting. Performance is far better than the Switch release, so players can look forward to that.

Tomoyo After ~ It’s a wonderful life~ ends up being anything other than wonderful. It may be aesthetically fantastic and audibly great, but it falters in delivering a message that it came so close to executing on, only to get lost in its numerous plot distractions. Hardcore Clannad fans will feel right at home with this story delivery, but there are some missed opportunities here for the casual player.