Torment is a niche title for those who want to left click between pages of a book.

The game may look like Chrono Trigger, but it is decidedly not a traditional RPG. It is definitely more adventure game than anything else, as the doctors need to find various "memory triggers" inside Johnny's memories in order to move backwards from his most recent memories to his earliest.

Disgaea 5 Complete shines on Nintendo's new console by virtue of its convenient features and sheer volume of content. Its bright and colorful presentation pops on the Switch, opening a window to its nigh-infinite depth. Even in an unusually heavy season of strategy RPG releases, it's still worth picking up, though Disgaea 5 veterans won't find much new in this re-release. As a lapsed fan of the series, I'm glad I had the opportunity to reconnect with its off-the-wall gameplay, but I'm even more glad that there's an option to skip its blithering story segments.

It's not a must-have for those who already own the PC version, but it's absolutely worth a purchase for anyone who missed out the first time around.

Working Designs did an excellent job of localizing the game, not only providing a quality translation, good voice acting, and an informative full color manual, but also adding new options like the ability to mute out individual characters’ battle cries if they get too annoying and the ability to use the L & R buttons as shortcut keys in battle for quicker gameplay.

Whether or not you choose to invest time in Fantasian: Neo Dimension comes down to your priorities. Are you willing to sit or speed through a bland story to get to the meaty gameplay? Or is a more gripping narrative necessary to get you through a game that clocks in at a few dozen hours? It’s hard for me to say what I personally find more important, but I ultimately came out of Fantasian glad that I’d played it. And if I had to guess, I think that its flaws are forgivable enough to be worth it for most others.

If you loved Dragonfall, you're going to really like Hong Kong.

As a package, this title stands up impressively well, to this day. Every scenario presents a unique and compelling message with relevant lessons, and its short runtime means barely a second is wasted. Numerous cinematic touches throughout make it feel like a collection of experimental short films. And it all comes together beautifully in the end for a truly rewarding experience that any JRPG fan will not want to miss. It was also nice of Nintendo to confirm that both sides of the title are pronounced “live” as in “alive.”

If you've never played a Mario & Luigi game, this is a perfect entry point. If you're coming back to re-experience a game you've played and loved, it still holds up. If the main draw is the Minion Quest side game, this might be worth a pass, but it's amusing enough if you're going to pick up the game anyway. Either way, even after 15 years, I had a blast playing this game. I can't wait to get my hands on more Mario & Luigi titles, and hope they continue the series in the future.

Unlike other Guild Wars 2 expansions, End of Dragons doesn’t have one big feature to hang its hat on. Instead, it offers several smaller features and the game’s most enjoyable campaign yet. Factor in beautiful new maps and challenging but engaging late-game bosses, and there’s plenty of content for Guild Wars 2 fans to come back to.

It may sound as if I had more gripes than praise with Assassin’s Creed Shadows, but I truly enjoyed my time with it. It’s just that, with a series such as this from a historically controversial developer such as Ubisoft, it’s important to view Shadows with realistic expectations so you don’t get burned by what isn’t there and can instead appreciate where it excels.

The Walking Clementine has been a memorable journey thus far. Having the opportunity to see this young lady grow from Season 1 to the middle of Season 2 has been an absolute joy.

A decent RPG that could have been great.

On one hand the game is lovingly crafted with a superb amount of customization and options available. On the other hand, the insurmountable quantity of tasks that can be performed are so incredibly daunting that the number of people who would actually enjoy the game is very limited.

The mature storyline featuring well-written character arcs, the deep and engaging gameplay, and the overall high quality in every aspect are all reasons that I can easily recommend this game to any gamer interested in turn-based PSP fun.

If you like JRPGs, please play this game for the love of everything that is holy. Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore is so much more than "idol Fire Emblem." It's a solid JRPG that can hold its own among some of the best out there. Now that it's finally on Switch, I'm hoping it will succeed and people can see what they likely missed out on four years ago.

Saltsea Chronicles was a bizarre experience for me. I admired the quality of the writing, maturity in language, and world the developers sought to craft, but I was frequently bored and eager for something to happen. I couldn’t even call this game slice-of-life, which one could argue is a genre where nothing ever happens by definition, but at least slice-of-life stories are poignant and heartfelt. Saltsea Chronicles just felt flat to me, but I am certain this game will hit some beautiful notes for folks who are tired of melodrama and intensity.

If you’re tired of murder mysteries that take place on boring old planet Earth and want something different, Paradise Killer might be the game for you. If you’ve ever wondered whether death god-worshipping cults have to solve murders too and why they would even bother, Paradise Killer might be the game for you. If you just want to run amok around an island created in a pocket reality while talking to some evasive and immoral immortals, Paradise Killer might be the game for you. Which is to say that Paradise Killer might not be for everybody, but it’s certainly an interesting trip.

Proves that well-written adventure games still have a place on any system.

Lone Survivor bears doubtless resemblance to that classic survivor horror franchise, Silent Hill. After all, Lone Survivor has creepy monsters, a mostly-empty city, a basement you don't want to be in but must be, fleshy red membranes, and a psychological bent. I like to think of Lone Survivor not as a tawdry imitator, but as an intelligent and surreal homage to a once-powerful series, and even perhaps a comment on the genre itself.

This intangible attribute of the game is difficult to put into words, but Geralt's personality, the mature humor, the bizarre characters, and the sex and drugs combine in odd ways to create a game better than the sum of its parts.

I will end my review the same way I started it: Kentucky Route Zero is a very strange game. Although I did not enjoy it very much, I can see how it is a compelling piece of software. It is very artsy, very avant-garde, very surreal, and a very acquired taste.

There’s a wealth of single-player content in Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, not only with the extensive story mode but various other modes such as Arcade, Versus, and Golden Arena Mode, where you fight through dungeons and build stats. Unfortunately, the Switch port is lacking in the online compartment as it doesn’t offer the rollback netcode, unlike the other releases. I’m also hard-pressed to recommend the title to anyone who isn’t a fighting game fan and who isn’t familiar with both Persona 3 and Persona 4. But those who happen to fall under both umbrellas will undoubtedly find an entertaining, solid fighting game experience with some surprising RPG undertones in Persona 4 Arena Ultimax!

Between the fun gameplay, charming writing, retro presentation, and banging soundtrack, River City Girls 2 feels like it takes everything from the first game and does a little bit more and a little bit better. More moves, more characters, online co-op, and better gameplay variety are just a few of the major improvements in this sequel. If you liked the first River City Girls, you’ll love the sequel, and if you didn’t, I would recommend River City Girls 2 to anyone who enjoys beat ‘em ups or just wants a delightfully charming game with lots of laughs.

A daringly ambiguous piece of storytelling with some scary moments.

I was pleasantly surprised with the time I spent playing this SRPG. In many ways, it draws from classic heavyweights of the genre, but it also has more than enough substance to stand on its own. There’s certainly a lot to uncover and do throughout a playthrough, and it also has moderate replay value given the ways player choice alters certain narrative events. Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga is an adventure fans of tactical RPGs might want to keep an eye on.

So, does Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii deliver the madcap pirate-y quest starring Majima we were promised? Almost! It certainly isn’t the gold standard of Like a Dragon, or pirate games in general for that matter, but it delivers a solid representation of both. It features one of the series’ best protagonists, tells a pretty compelling story, and fills in many of the blanks left over from Infinite Wealth. I certainly enjoyed it more than The Man Who Erased His Name. Pirate Yakuza might not be the treasure we were hunting, but with its solid plot and a delightful cast of characters, maybe the real treasure was the friends (and enemies) we made along the way.

Sakura Wars ~So Long, My Love~ is a great game in its own right. It sports NISA's best localization to date and has truckloads of replay value to boot.