Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia is a worthy entry to the series, and it helps bring attention to one of the series’ oft-forgotten games. It might not have the impact of its two 3DS predecessors because its old Famicom roots still show through, but this is still a Fire Emblem game worthy of your time, especially if you want a glimpse into the history of the series. This is an old-school Fire Emblem, for better and worse, but mostly for the better.

All-in-all, though, Phoenix Wright ends up winning my heart with its charm and overall presentation. The characters are certainly lovable and the stories are far from boring.

If you've enjoyed the Mario & Luigi series in the past, buying this entry is a no-brainer, and if you've never played the series, now's a great time to start.

Everhood wears its inspirations proudly on its sleeve, but it’s a different beast entirely. With hidden secrets, harder difficulties, and an absurd world that I’ve grown fond of, I think I’ll be back more than a few times to get on the dance floor with some old friends.

I love the main cast of characters and many of their allies, with every new scene featuring a particular character making me want to know them just a little more. The fact that the routes themselves skew more towards heartwarming, non-problematic stories is also a nice touch. Temirana: The Lucky Princess and the Tragic Knights is a sentimental romantasy VN I can easily recommend to fans of the genre!

A worthy finale to Professor Layton's adventures, whether you've played the previous games or not.

Although Episode 2 struggles in terms of pacing, a strong Act 2 to this brief entry makes for a worthwhile venture.

Tales from the Borderlands still provides worthwhile entertainment, but the comedic edge is losing its grip.

Rune Factory 4 Special is a fairly underrated game from the 3DS library that I'm glad got another chance on Switch. If you were ever curious about the Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons games but perhaps farming wasn't your thing, you should check out Rune Factory 4 Special. It's the most polished game of the Rune Factory series, and if they can improve on Rune Factory 4's formula going forward, I'm looking forward to the future of this series.

Reckoning provides many hours of good, solid fun based around character development and skill progression. Those looking for a deeply immersive experience should probably look elsewhere, but don't be surprised if your Civic runs nice and smooth while the other guy is busy patching the crap out of his Ferrari.

Finding Paradise is a memorable experience that may last me a lifetime, like a good book or film. The care placed into each scene is one of the reasons why Finding Paradise is such a masterpiece. Each string of dialogue, each reference to other games, every joke, and every pixel — they all feel deliberate and labored over, yet also so smoothly executed, as if effortless.

There are some minor elements of Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar that feel like remnants from its outdated DS counterpart. But there’s so much more that is lovingly updated, elevating the experience to one that stands out among its predecessors. Grand Bazaar is a grand remake that’s easy to recommend to fans of the series and fans of farming sims in general. Just like the winds of change brought it richer character stories, an emphasized overarching narrative, and voice acting, hopefully Grand Bazaar’s eastward winds carry these new features and concepts into future Story of Seasons games.

Overall, I spent well over one hundred twenty hours playing the Switch port of Trails of Cold Steel IV. While I certainly felt that the game dragged at times, it was ultimately still a solid JRPG experience. At times, “the end of saga” might have felt like it was going out with more of a whimper than a roar, but the conclusion of the True Ending more than makes up for the game’s pacing struggles. I’m glad I got the opportunity to experience the ending of the Erebonian story arc, and even with some Switch-specific flaws, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV is yet another truly solid addition to the console’s JRPG lineup. If you picked up the Switch’s port of Trails of Cold Steel III, then the fourth game is certainly worth playing on that system as well.

There is so much to love about Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, from its improvements to farming to its lovable cast and how its story calls back to previous Rune Factory plot elements. The game clearly loves its heritage just as much as it loves Japan, so it’s easy to love it back. Guardians of Azuma is by far the greatest Rune Factory game yet, thanks to its forward strides in farming and player expression. And while there are still some minor limitations to overcome, Rune Factory 6 has some massive shoes to fill. The best simulation games keep you coming back to maintain your personalized worlds, and Guardians of Azuma does just that, with flying colors of all the seasons.

Darkest Dungeon 2 isn’t a perfect game by any means, and as someone who isn’t a fan of difficult games or games that I feel intentionally aim to cause me grief, I cannot say I wasn’t annoyed or even lashed out at the game. But the design behind Darkest Dungeon II, the care put into exploring this world, telling this tale, and making a game that you’d want to play repeatedly is absolutely brilliant. As it was the first time around. Iteratively, Darkest Dungeon II is a must-play for anyone who found anything enjoyable about the first game. Newcomers be warned: Darkest Dungeon II is an incredible experience.

The game presents a unique mix of visual novel and puzzle gaming, with a distinctive puzzling setup supported by a fair learning curve.

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.

It's plain to see I adored my time with Timespinner. Its little niggles couldn't prevent me from going back to New Game Plus, or even experimenting with the level cap mode or higher difficulties. I stopped everything for Timespinner and in return I was rewarded with tight gameplay, a rich, beautiful world and all the queer representation I've ever wanted.

With a fresh combat system and a lovable cast, Final Fantasy XV excels at its goal of being a title for both fans and newcomers alike.


Genshin Impact might not be the most original game in a lot of respects, but it certainly has a wealth of things to offer players should they still be willing to give it a chance. Overall, I greatly enjoyed my time with it, and I plan to continue playing once future updates are implemented. The fact that it can be played for free is also quite impressive given just how much time you can invest in the game, especially with people perhaps staying at home more and being on a budget. All in all, Genshin Impact is a surprisingly solid action RPG adventure!

A great first expansion for an already robust and fun MMO.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV has been a long time coming. Not just because of the cliffhanger Cold Steel III ended on, but because it’s the conclusion to the Cold Steel arc and a convergence point for all three arcs. The game is truly at its best when it’s resolving long-standing plot threads and nodding to previous events and characters in the series. Unfortunately, it spends a lot of time spinning its wheels, and this can be frustrating given how long we’ve waited for this conclusion. It’s not a bad experience, though — just an unnecessarily long one. If you’ve come this far and want to know how it all ends, then settle yourself in for the long haul and keep going forward, relentlessly.

Bravely Second redeems the worst sins of Bravely Default and is an entertaining homage to the classic turn-based RPGs of yesteryear.

As it stands, I had a blast stepping into the role of the Hunter and getting to hang out and battle with a colorful assortment of Marvel heroes in a supernatural-tinged adventure. I’m already eagerly awaiting the future DLC for Marvel’s Midnight Suns. Sometimes, you do draw a winning hand.

Overall, Jagged Alliance 3 is an impressive and endlessly entertaining production that not only revives an old series but does it justice in a more modern style. The story and characters make for another compelling entry in the series. Grand Chien is wholly believable as a vibrant nation, even though it’s non-existent. Combat is expertly converted to a 3-D environment, and there are so many strategic layers that it’s good to the last drop for the 50-ish hours it should take to complete. It’s easy to see how players could return time and again to check out all of the mercs and challenge themselves to level up the weaker ones. Haemimont Games wrung all the fun they could out of this system and served it up on a diamond-crusted platter. Jagged Alliance 3 gets the job done and even throws in a little extra. I love it when a plan comes together.

Assassin's Creed: Origins is the best game in the series, but it's a mediocre action RPG at its core. In this sense, it both succeeds and fails at being a much-needed franchise shakeup.

For the amount of fun, hilarity, and challenge it provides, I would say it's well worth it. But don't get this game if you're unwilling to do plenty of reading. To play this game, you need a computer with a mouse, and a fairly ranged knowledge of English vocabulary.

While Revenant Wings may be little more than a handheld equivalent to Final Fantasy X-2, it does what it was meant to do quite well.