Rue Valley has something to say; in fact, it has some things to say. Unfortunately, philosophical intrigue is mired in inconsequential tongue wagging and book reading, as well as gameplay mechanics that feel left at the side of the road close at the start. While I love the vision and ideas, Rue Valley misfires on the launchpad and never makes it into the stratosphere.

Period: Cube ~Shackles of Amadeus~ is a hard game to recommend. I’ve played better VN/RPG hybrids and feel that there are stronger otome titles available on the Vita. I also think there are stronger “main character stuck in a different world” plots out there. However, I can recognize that a lot of care went into it, and there were elements of it I truly enjoyed. I’d probably only recommend giving the game a shot once you’ve exhausted your better otome options.

With more time in the oven or expansions, I can see Evertried becoming a much more exciting adventure. As it stands right now, it’s too simple to be called a serious game, but it’s also too cutthroat and challenging to be called a casual game. The systems aren’t clear, information seems almost hidden, and the game just isn’t deep enough to make me want to jump back in after a loss, which is absolutely essential in any roguelike or roguelite. I found some enjoyment in Evertried, and I want to love this game for all its charm and originality, but I quickly tired of it.

It was difficult for me to give a proper overall score for the game. Despite my many criticisms of the game, Fragments of Him definitely succeeded in leaving a lasting impression. At its core, Fragments of Him is a hopeful reminder that death and existence are not mutually exclusive — the fragments we leave behind transcend the border between worlds.

Aside from the above-average graphics and music, this game is as run-of-the-mill as it gets. I'm all in favor of seeing more localizations of otome/"girl's side" games, but not if they're mind-numbing swill like Norn9: Var Commons.

Unfortunately, its few shining points are obscured by a massive dark cloud of flaws. I loved the visual design and the gameplay elements that required me to think a little differently. An RPG I can’t just play on autopilot is certainly intriguing. Sadly, the game’s faults are just too numerous for me to wave off. Try before you buy is the order of the day with The Revenant Prince, so I urge anyone interested in the game to take the available demo for a thorough test drive before committing.

While Calico‘s current state is vastly improved from its initial release thanks to these patches, its initial launch state can’t just be swept under the rug. But the continued effort to improve the game, combined with its welcoming, comforting, and charming nature shining through these unpleasant mats of fur, makes it clear that Peachy Keen Games is a developer with a lot of potential — and I can’t wait to see what they can do in the future with more experience.

Perhaps Ar tonelico Qoga will quench the thirst of many wanting to play a console JRPG, but the game is filled with debilitating flaws. Almost everything that Ar tonelico Qoga provides has been done before in a JRPG; the lack of original content and presence of overused content doesn't leave much to praise.

Romancing SaGa 3 is a remarkably frustrating experience hampered by poor storytelling, lack of character development, and impenetrable mechanics.

Many who pick up Epic Quest for the 4 Crystals will have to put far more into the game than they’ll ever get back out of it.

The mystery of what FFXIII holds is far more pleasing than the experience itself.

Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness is by no means a bad game; it just happens to be an uninteresting one. Five games into the series, it's become far too predictable.

Heroland has charming character art, hilarious dialogue, and a unique premise. Unfortunately, its style can't make up for its repetitive, monotonous gameplay and unwieldy length.

Only for the most devoted roguelike fans who want a quick fix.

Though Death end’s engaging narrative pushes me to reconsider my skepticism of games whose titles include semicolons, this Switch port’s monotonous combat system, cookie-cutter progression mechanics, and serious technical failings keep me from dumping this aversion altogether. For fans of top-notch visual novels willing to tuck in for the hours of tedium much the rest of the game amounts to, I can wholeheartedly recommend Death end re;Quest — just not on Switch. To all others: steer clear of this one or, if you can’t resist experiencing this odd series for yourself, nab this on PS4 or PC and dodge this technical travesty.

Breathtaking graphics, beautiful soundtrack, poignant ending—unfortunately these are not enough to carry a game through to the end. Silence feels like an ambitious project that got cut short, and it's unfortunate considering the exponential room for growth in the game.

If you’re just here for the gameplay, then you’ll get a lot out of Torchlight III. But the balance is askew if you’re wanting a substantial story and cast to support the wending journey from point A to B with no deviations in between. Perhaps future updates will refine the weaker points in the game, but at the moment, Torchlight III is far from the definitive entry in the series.

At the end of the day, Neversong is a game that lacks in creativity as much as it does in execution. Its incredibly short runtime clashes with the themes and emotions it tries to convey in its story, while the minimal gameplay and easy puzzles make for a decidedly unsatisfying gaming experience. With neither gameplay nor story fully covered, the end result is a game that can’t quite decide if it wants to be a point-and-click adventure or a puzzle-platformer, and quite frankly, it doesn’t try very hard to make you want to find out.

Overall, Jikandia: The Timeless Land is a rather disappointing game that pales in comparison to similar titles like Half Minute Hero.

In poking fun at RPGs of old, Artefacts Studio elicits laughs, but it loses sight of what makes those classics special: an engrossing narrative. The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk’s threadbare story does little to help you stay engaged beyond its opening hours, and inexcusable technical failings dampen the fun thereafter. I recommend The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk to fans of the source material and anyone with a high pain tolerance in desperate need of SRPG combat goodness. But for all others, you’re better off picking up one of the RPGs this one mocks.

Rondo of Swords could have been a great strategy RPG.

Even though this game was trash, if it gets enough support, then there may be hope for a <I>real</I> Lunar 3 in the future.

Repetition and game-breaking bugs cannot be excused. While I understand that some bugs just slip by and patches will likely rectify issues like the one I experienced, this is what separates top-notch games from the rest.

I went into Reynatis with many expectations formed by the previously mentioned Crymachina and The Caligula Effect 2. I expected a jankfest that would narratively punch skyward, seeking to shatter the heavens with razor-sharp words like its predecessors. Instead, the result was middling, and I feel this is due to the dual protagonists having to split the story—and thus split the focus. Reynatis has a bit of an identity crisis, and rather than it feeling like clean cuts on where one ends and the other begins, it’s all blended up into a mess that is both fun and taxing to play, both narratively intriguing and vapid, and both exciting and mundane. My one consolation is that if The Caligula Effect 2 and Crymachina are anything to go off of, a sequel to Reynatis could be one of my favorite games of the year. With that hope in mind, I eagerly look forward to the next strange FuRyu collaboration.

If not for the grating gameplay and clunky controls, Weird West would be another Devolver classic. I love Devolver’s games, and I was excited for this one. Weird West would be fantastic as a novella, actually–I loved the writing, atmosphere, and unique narrative. Chef’s kiss stuff right here. I’m sure some folks out there will find the gameplay good enough, but even knowing how fascinating the story is, I wouldn’t have put over twenty hours into this game if I knew at the outset what I know now.

Fragile Dreams offers an intense RPG mixed with a survivor horror eeriness that is bound to provide some with hours of enjoyment. Those who don't the patience to put up with the game's flaws, however, are best to look at a survival horror game for their survival horror fix or to an RPG for their RPG fix.

It’s too bad because the positive things this game does with its gameplay, characters, and how those elements interact with one another are impressive, innovative design and could easily be scooped out of this game and dropped into a much more agreeable story. But the premise and the all-around gross vibe drag down Kowloon High-School Chronicle. There is fun to be had if you’re willing to wade through the muck, but some people just won’t want to.

While it starts off fun, Nights of Azure gets boring very quickly and never seems to fully utilize its array of other features.

Do yourself a favor and wait until this game hits a major price drop. Honestly, I've never felt so let down by a Kingdom Hearts game. As fans of the series, we all deserve better than this.

The Devil in Me brings a very uneven first season of The Dark Pictures Anthology to a close, and I’m left a little ambivalent from the experience. I enjoyed all four of these games to some extent, and I’m curious as to what they’ll do with the next game, Directive 8020. But it’s clear after playing The Devil in Me that Supermassive needs to give these games a little more breathing room. While it’s certainly impressive that they’ve maintained a yearly release schedule for the Anthology, games like The Quarry show that these experiences could be made so much more. I genuinely hope that The Dark Pictures one day become truly great horror games rather than just novelties.

Though Farabel possesses quite a number of interesting ideas, the end product isn't as polished or complete as it could be. I enjoyed the short venture I had through its rewinding war, but I'm in no hurry to try again. Perhaps the developers will be able to take the refreshing concepts in Farabel and push it two steps further—I would love to play that game.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but when the imitation does little to add its own twists and ideas to an already established formula, it ends up as little more than a cheap copy of the original. For those desperate for Sony to finally port Bloodborne over to the PC, Thymesia might be a good stopover. Still, for anyone looking for a genuinely good Soulslike experience, your time is better spent elsewhere.

Overall, Record of Agarest War Zero is a lackluster title that does not bring much to the table for gamers who are not devoted followers of the series.

Eldest Souls has a New Game+ mode where the bosses hit harder, players heal for less, and the enemies have significantly more health — as well as new moves — but who wants to go through that? If you’re hungry for a fresh Souls-like experience, this isn’t it. If you’re the type of player who craves a challenge and loves memorizing boss patterns, then this could be for you. Just don’t expect to have meaningful options.

There are more little gripes with the game, but nothing game-breaking or truly miserable. It's the larger issues in gameplay, combined with an almost indifferent attitude to plot, character, and story that send this game into the realm of nigh-unplayability.

BRS is not actually broken, but there's nothing about it that will make you glad you put even 10 hours into it.

The amount of heart and soul Last BeNeVoLeNcE put into his entire Tales of the Elements project is readily apparent. There is simply no denying this game's eccentric vibe and excellent soundtrack. Unfortunately, clumsy controls and grindy gameplay marred my overall experience. Game aside, I wholeheartedly recommend lending an ear to Last BeNeVoLeNcE's soulful music on Bandcamp and taking in his evocative rhymes and lyrics. Tales of the Elements is a one-and-done game for me, but I totally see myself grooving to Last BeNeVoLeNcE's music over and over again.

The Longest Five Minutes does well with its unique premise, but falls short in providing a fun gameplay experience. Most of the gameplay is a waste of time and only serves as an obstacle to experiencing the story. Flash Back's adventure is only worth it for the good art and final revelation.

If you’re looking for an introduction to isometric RPGs Ember might be the game for you, but if you’re looking for a deeper, more memorable experience, I recommend looking elsewhere.

This field trip to Luna Nova is more frustrating than fun, though fans of Little Witch Academia will likely find more enjoyment than others.

While LISA: The Painful attempts to do something unique and bold, it misfires and instead tells a story that works against its own ends, ultimately feeling gratuitous and pointless.

The 3rd Birthday is disappointing; it brings back a series and a character that fans adore, and destroys what fans held as a paragon. The narrative is filled with holes and problems, the tough Aya people were hoping for is absent, the gameplay is a mess, and the story tries harder to throw you into cheap plot twists rather than to be enjoyable.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure is a game that fails to capitalize on its premise. Although the soundtrack and occasional moments of intrigue are commendable, they are overshadowed by poor character development, confusing plot choices, and a lack of polish. The technical issues, combined with the short length and unresolved storylines, make this entry feel rushed and incomplete. Longtime fans of the series might find themselves disheartened, as they may genuinely dislike the narrative choices that diverge from what they loved about the original. While some may find enjoyment in revisiting the world of Life is Strange, for many, this game could feel like a disappointing misstep.

Aside from the bears, there’s little to recommend here on the game’s own merits. Great strategy RPGs aren’t hard to come by these days, but it’s generally a time-consuming subgenre, and Crown Wars comes across worse in their shadow. Bearing that in mind, even if you’ve exhausted all other options, you may be better off firing up another run of XCOM, Jagged Alliance, or Fire Emblem.

Anima: Gate of Memories is a game filled with potential that it generally fails to execute.

I doubt I will look back on Sorcery Saga: Curse Of The Great Curry God fondly, if I remember it at all. If you cornered me and forced me to give it a compliment, the best I could come up with is that it is mercifully short.

Airoheart is a pale imitation of the game it strives to be and could have benefited from more polish and flair. Unfortunately, any glimmers of potential are buried under flawed design and general mediocrity. The biggest flaw is undoubtedly Airoheart’s lack of identity. In its effort to be Zelda, Airoheart never had a chance to be Airoheart.

Despite having themes and concepts that speak to me, the game was ultimately a mediocre experience. I liked the vivid graphics and endearing characters but was turned off by the tepid music and mushy controls. My final thought regarding Viola: The Heroine’s Melody is that it’s simply another game that falls into my “I wanted to love it, but I didn’t” category.

Opoona is yet another example of a game where very little is actually broken, but very little is noticeably good, either.

It pains me to say this, but SINce Memories: Off the Starry Sky is a subpar Memories: Off game and a mediocre-at-best visual novel. Visual novels live and die by their storylines and characters, which fall flat here. Lovely graphics and Takeshi Abo’s stellar music are not enough to save SINce Memories: Off the Starry Sky from being one of 2024’s biggest disappointments.

What a heart-wrenching disappointment. Dungeon Drafters opens strong, but fails to use what makes it great to create a fun experience for the player. This goes far beyond “git gud.” Dungeon Drafters provides an illusion of choice, and with this many options, that’s borderline cruel. Allowing this amount of customization but requiring players to play a certain way is like hanging a steak out in front of a dog and never letting them eat it.

Uninspired slop. MKA had quite a bit of promise, and we were extremely excited to play the game based on interviews with the staff members, but issues with the control scheme and gameplay functionality killed what we were hoping would come about in Mage Knight: Apocalypse.

As with its handheld predecessors, Dark Kingdom is a game that can be enjoyable to hardcore fans of the genre who are willing to overlook its flaws, but probably not to anyone else.

It's fun, but incredibly flawed. As long as it's taken as such, fans of the adventure genre will probably have fun playing it like I did.

How to Sing to Open Your Heart is another entry in the massive pile of games I've played that don't do anything wrong, but don't really do anything right either. Localized otome games have become surprisingly ubiquitous within the past decade, and with several fantastic titles to choose from, there is no reason to waste your precious time and hard-earned money on uninspired fluff like How to Sing to Open Your Heart.

If you like a straightforward plot and don't mind Lovecraftian-like animations.

If I had to describe Ann Achronist: Many Happy Returns in one word, it would be "indecisive." The game has an identity crisis about what it wants to be, and its dichotomy between silly and serious is off-putting. I wanted more of the artful visuals and heady writing of the prologue and epilogues and less of the uninspired graphics and corny writing from the game's middle. These two extremes do not mesh together well at all, and it feels like eating a sandwich featuring tasty artisan bread but with a slice of cheap, processed cheese in the middle. Ann Achronist: Many Happy Returns is not a bad little time-waster, but it's difficult to recommend unless you can snag it at a bargain bin price.

Too Human is repetitive, unbalanced, and frustrating, made complete with an uninteresting story.

Mario & Luigi: Brothership has you covered if—and only if—Mario RPG mechanics are your favorite thing and you want the largest mass of them yet. If they aren’t, you’re probably going to struggle to get over the initial five-hour hump before the game truly begins. While I didn’t outright hate most of my time with the game, would I have even seen it through to its conclusion if I weren’t reviewing it, even as a fan of Mario RPGs who wants to see Nintendo make more? Possibly not. Perhaps the best thing to do about Mario & Luigi: Brothership is to hope Nintendo realizes the missteps here and has the resolve to try their hand at the franchise once more instead of abandoning it again.

The bottom line regarding Monster Kingdom: Jewel Summoner is that the game is a colossal disappointment.

For all the twisted, macabre, death-worshiping crap that's found in this game, it only makes sense that the game itself should suffer a terrible fate.

Super Neptunia RPG feels like a game that's stuck in limbo, not knowing where it wants to go. There is certainly potential here, but it falls flat of what it wanted to accomplish. I do like the return to a simpler, light-hearted story but I wish the rest of the game didn't have to suffer for it. I always wish the best for Neptunia, but this is one spin-off I'm afraid I must leave in the past.

Metal Slug Tactics tends to play it safe while simultaneously encouraging players to not play it safe. With few bells and whistles, everything just feels slightly different, rather than a mind-blowing change in gameplay. Even in an old-school SRPG like Shining Force, characters feel starkly different from each other—except the centaurs—though in this title, everything just kinda runs together. It feels like Metal Slug because it looks like Metal Slug, and the sound effects help in that respect, but in no way does this game evoke frenetic joy like its forebears.

There's some playability at the core of the game for those who enjoy mindless, droll beat 'em ups, so Code of Princess isn't the worst game out there for the 3DS, but for $40 you can do a lot better.

Save your money (or spend it on "Persona 3," Atlus fans!) and skip this mediocre mess. [Import]

Tardy's uncomfortable sci-fi atmosphere and beautiful pixel visuals are the biggest successes for this otherwise by-the-numbers adventure game.

While Dawn of Heroes is a stalwart effort by the developers, and I can't say that there's anything truly wrong with the game, it simply underwhelms in every single aspect.

Overall, I do like Wild Hearts S as a faster and flashier alternative to the games that inspired it. It may not be as newcomer-friendly as Monster Hunter Wilds seems to be, but it’s still a fun time, especially if you’re coming off of that game and looking for something slightly different. It’s a shame that this new Switch 2 version doesn’t offer quite enough to justify the purchase, but if you’re looking for a fun, yet flawed, Monster Hunter clone to play on the go, there’s enough here to scratch that itch.

Clocking in at a measly 20 hours, with very little replay value, this is not a game that will be worth hard-earned money.

I'm frustrated because I wanted to like Oninaki a lot more than I do. It's absolutely not a bad game; rather, it's yet another "serviceable" outing from Tokyo RPG Factory, who continue to try their hardest.

An unlikeable, frustrating, and boring JRPG dungeon crawler.

Neither a very good Etrian game nor a very good Mystery Dungeon game.

I can’t say I was compelled to explore the board with every single character, nor was I enamoured with the story or the writing. If anything, I felt a bit weird playing this after V3. And while the main games are rarely longer than 30 hours, I can see people grinding forever just to get something satisfying out of Danganronpa S. Unless you’re a hardcore fan, I don’t think it’s worth it. But if you’re picking up Danganronpa Decadence, it might be worth a peek.

There are flashes of brilliance in Cassette Boy; the perspective gimmick applied to a top-down Zelda framework is delightfully novel. The game has a cozy retro aesthetic and a breezy, lo-fi soundtrack. If only the game had not been so slavish to its inspirations, ditched the lackluster combat & levelling system, and leaned into the complexity the shrine puzzles hint at underneath the surface. Instead, I’m left with a game brimming with promise that goes frustratingly unrealized.

The ultimate downfall of Michonne's tale is that the writers attempted to shoehorn what should have been a ten-hour narrative into three hours.

There is the seed of an interesting, enjoyable, funny, and simple SRPG in Grotesque Tactics: Evil Heroes, but it's buried in fertilizer.

With SoM, Square Enix failed to leverage modern game design concepts and technology to improve on a treasured JRPG. Instead, they opted to do the bare minimum, and that's a damn shame.

Overall, RuinsMagus has enjoyable combat and lovable characters, but it fails to create an immersive world for players to dive into. Additionally, while the combat mechanics are sound, a lack of enemy variety means players won’t have to evolve their strategy much after the first hour. For VR JRPG fans, RuinsMagus is worth a look, as it’s one of the only JRPGs available on VR platforms. For general VR enthusiasts, there isn’t too much to get excited about. If you’re looking for a cozy game with bubbly characters in a fantasy world, might be a good choice. Just don’t expect a deep RPG experience or a gripping story.

It's not that Final Fantasy for the PSP is bad - far from it - it's just that it's nothing gamers haven't seen, and played, many times over.

In terms of quality versus quantity, Episode 2 doesn't improve upon Episode 1 in any regard other than artistic direction. In fact, any sort of wonder or anticipation is now completely gone, since the hope that Episode 1 might just be setting up some cool new direction for the series is lost now that we're two-thirds of the way through.

I really like what Hero Must Die. Again is trying to do. The idea of playing as a character with endgame stats who gradually weakens over time is really interesting, and I think the game as a whole works, but my issue is that it really doesn't do much with that concept. There's no emotional weight to the story, and by the third or fourth playthrough, everything gets very repetitive. I think with a bit more polish, the ideas behind Hero Must Die. Again will make for a great video game, but this initial step just doesn't do enough to excite or interest me.

My time with Osteoblasts was a mixture of confusion, frustration, intrigue, challenge, and laughing at the absurdity of what was going on or what I was battling with. While I had fun in some instances, I spent much of my time sighing as I missed yet another attack that would extend battle for another minute or so. There is a lot to like in the game, but it feels like it’s laser-targeted at the crowd who enjoys wandering around dungeons in a masochistic rage. As someone who isn’t the biggest fan of dungeon RPGs, Osteoblasts didn’t quite click with me. That said, despite being a game about skeletons, it certainly has a lot of heart.

Honestly, if you want more Tales of Arise, just go play the base game again. It’s still fun to play and has better storytelling and characterization, along with the added bonus of being a full, complete game all on its own. The only people I can imagine enjoying this DLC are diehard fans who simply want “more” Tales of Arise and spend more time with the characters. If that’s what you’re looking for, you came to the right place, for better or worse.

A short adventure worthy of the breezy gamer's attention — once multiplayer is fixed.

It's a visual treat, but underneath that style, State of Mind is lifeless, too wrapped up in its own ideas to even try and push the boundaries of the genre. I wanted to come away from the game with questions, but instead I came away feeling almost nothing.

The very definition of mediocre, Shining Resonance Refrain fails to stand out from the crowd in another packed year of RPGs.

While its queer twist on a usually heteronormative story deserves to be recognised, the game is let down by not letting the new ideas come to fruition. It feels like I received a bouquet of violets, but instead of them being fresh and in-bloom, they are already wilting. With just a few tweaks, the bouquet could revitalise into a fun roguelike, and while it’s overall a serviceable experience, there’s really no reason to go back once you have the true ending, if you don’t feel tired out before then.

Compile Heart, and the Neptunia series in particular, have the kind of negative reputation that begs you to push through and find the treasure that keeps these games releasing a full decade later. Sadly, if there is a diamond in all this rough, it’s not to be found in Neptunia ReVerse. The repetitiveness of the core experience is unlikely to win over non-fans, and longtime fans will feel disappointed, if not insulted, by the lack of changes from Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1, and PlayStation 5 exclusivity proves the final nail in the coffin for this remaster in search of an audience.

Magical Eyes isn't the worst visual novel on Steam by far, but there's plenty more out there that are more deserving of your time.

Riviera: The Promised Land Remastered is not a bad game, but my taste in games has moved on. It’s probably the perfect game for someone, but I suspect its appeal is limited. Things that were new and exciting to me 20 years ago are now mind-numbingly boring or just annoying. It has taken me almost a full year to finish replaying the game because I quickly grew bored every time I resumed playing. Unfortunately, this is one game I think should have stayed in the past, and it’s a shame that my fond memories of it have been so broken.

Actually kind of fun once you get past the game's daunting early portions.

Operation Darkness isn't so bad as to be unplayable, but it gives no motivation for the completion of more than a few hours of play.

There are plenty of superior RPGs available, and if you want to see sexy Japanese cartoons, the internet is always there for you.

If I were to over-simplify and equate most video games to desserts, I'd put them in two camps: you have your rich chocolate mousse slice of cake and the super-sized bag of salty, greasy potato chips. Some games don't have a lot on the plate, but that labored over mousse screams quality. Other games are meant to make you mindlessly go from the top of that bag of chips to the bottom without even realizing it, relying heavily on quantity of good enough content. Borderlands 3 is certainly the latter, and just like eating that bag of chips, I feel awful afterwards, regretting what I'd done.

I don't derive pleasure from admonishing Sparklite, especially when it expertly establishes a fun, lighthearted vibe, but in this era, games need to do more — and do it better. What especially perplexes me is that it's labeled as having co-op gameplay, but the second player's only ability is to drive a drone around and dig up holes that don't offer a whole lot in terms of treasure. The whole affair felt either rushed or like a product borne from a lack of experience. While the game is not without merit, I definitely can't recommend Sparklite to anyone.

Overall, Redemption Reapers has a sound combat system that isn’t strategically interesting in the early game and a story that never grabbed me. Things start to pick up by the mid-game, but many players won’t be willing to give the game time to redeem itself.

I don’t think any of the themes really landed, because there were just too many to tackle in a twelve-hour jaunt, and the song selection made the best part of the game a chore to embrace. The Tenzerk have bold, imaginative design, but after learning a Tenzerk, timing notes and falling into a pattern happens too quickly. For its novelty, I can recommend Steel Century Groove, but as a lasting, packaged deal, I am not sure I would suggest anyone grab this.

Sacred Citadel should best be treated as a light romp while waiting for friends to log on to play something multiplayer.