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.