Given a little time to handle the learning curve, I found the greatest enjoyment in actually playing the game instead of pondering the prose, and isn’t that the point of a handheld title?

It's enjoyable through and through, and the introspective nature of the storyline will leave you thinking about what effect a more positive attitude could have on your own life. It's easy for me to recommend this game to any Pokéfan, regardless of whether they've played prior Mystery Dungeon entries.

A fun strategy RPG that offers something for everyone but lacks an enjoyable story, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics assumes players are fans of the original movie, which is absolutely required viewing to get the most out of this game.

Crippled by poor gameplay, redeemed at times by enjoyable dialogue and decent aesthetic qualities, Arc the Lad: End of Darkness ends up being a mediocre game.

If you really enjoy SRPGs and don't have anything on your plate at the moment, Spectral Force 3 is a decent buy.

It’s too bad the journey can feel so aimless and disjointed at times with the mixed storytelling and the cumbersome mechanics that stick each component of gameplay together. It can be occasionally exhausting to navigate through the menus, swapping in different spells and items constantly as you beat on your foe for a good 30 minutes. I really wish Square Enix would give it the fair shake it deserves with modern conveniences, instead of dredging up dated gameplay mechanics that overshadow a wonderful, mystical little world. Still, getting to play a family-friendly tale with my daughter does make up for a lot of this, and if you can get some friends together, it could be the same for you.

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.

Mars: War Logs is derivative, underdeveloped, and features one of the briefest, most rushed final chapters I've seen, but it's also completely playable and even charming in a B-movie kind of way.

Despite the faults, From the Abyss is a solid dungeon crawler. It does what it does well for the genre, and it is very easy to pick up and play. In the long run however, it's not going to be memorable game.

Face Noir is a game I can easily recommend. It executes well on every level (save the voice acting), and offers great puzzles, enjoyable characters, fabulous art design, and a fun (if pulpy) noir plotline. If you're interested in the Depression-era setting and enjoy a solid point-and-click adventure, you should absolutely check this one out.

If you've never played Lost in Blue 3 or any game like it, you ought to give it a try.

Those who liked the first installment will enjoy this one as well, and will appreciate the improvements brought about by the second screen, but weighing in at only 30-40 hours of mediocrity, it's probably a better rental than purchase.

I’m just glad that most of what Dragonborne has to offer at least put a smile on my face. The world is perfectly pocket-sized, and it’s easy to navigate and progress, and there’s a real charm about its humour and simplicity. Yet, the combat and the repetitive dungeons stop me from fully embracing the game. I played Final Fantasy Adventure for the first time in 2019; even though it was nearly 30 years old, I saw the ambitious spark that ignited the Mana series and how it inspired many kids growing up (even if that tree puzzle is ridiculous). Dragonborne isn’t far off from replicating that kind of nostalgia — and it succeeds in some ways — but it falls short in others and remains a sleeping dragon.

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.

Episode 2 is a short, disappointing excursion into what's shaping up to be an arduous five-episode series. I can't decide if Episode 2 is worse than Episode 1, or if the formula is wearing on me already.

Overall, The 3rd Phantom isn't exactly terrible, it's just devoid of much real gameplay to satisfy gamers looking for more meat than just a bit of fanservice and origin stories.

So many things don't fit, so many things work against each other, and everything just reeks of half finished game ideas.

Anthem is a painfully average RPG from a developer that is capable of so much more.

However, the game never really delivers much of anything. It feels more like an experiment in narrative presentation than an actual video game, and while I think there is no inherent problem with the design philosophy of The Starship Damrey, the reality is that it just isn't very exciting to play.

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

This is definitely not a game for the impatient or easily frustrated, and if you can look at the game's foibles as endearing "retro-chic" quirks, then there is joy to be found in Black Sigil: Blade of the Exiled.

As the developers rightly suggested in the Space Invaders side story, the day will come when the servers are turned off and this game is forgotten. It will not be remembered or celebrated nearly as much as Yoko Taro’s masterpieces NieR and NieR Automata. But for those who want in on a strange, wonderful, and limited-time experience, SINoALICE is the perfect pastime for you. Prepare to be shocked by some of the strangest short stories you’ve ever read, and hopefully you’ll have fun bashing baddies along the way.

Death end re;Quest Code Z is a game that had me constantly questioning who it was for. As a fan of the series, I wasn’t particularly interested in a mystery dungeon roguelike and found myself barely engaging with the combat. I also don’t see mystery dungeon fans being starved enough to pick up Code Z. If they were to stumble across the game, I can’t imagine they’d stick with it due to impenetrable story that is little more than a “What If?” scenario laden with references, hints, and nods galore. As a Death end re;Quest game, Code Z offers the bare minimum of what I expect from the series. While it may not have the lows of its predecessors, it also lacks the emotional highs and rewarding gameplay elements. As Death end re;Quest 3 has been in development for a while now, Code Z serves as little more than a detour. While not particularly bad by any means, Code Z is simply the least interesting entry.

Between its endless backtracking, lengthy, unskippable cutscenes and space battles in which nothing happens, this feels like a five hour game that was padded out to five-times its length, with some ridiculous cleavage grafted onto it in an attempt to distract. Integrity and Faithlessness is not a game that respects or deserves your time, and perhaps Star Ocean is a series that's ready to be jettisoned from the airlock.

Even putting the awful rhetoric aside, Shattered Space is a tone-deaf, regressive, poorly blueprinted, and poorly executed sorry excuse for a story expansion, favoring looks over substance and regression over progression.

Some hardcore D&D fans will be disappointed by the things left out of the 3.5 ruleset, but any tactical RPG fan who doesn't know about what's been left out or doesn't care will enjoy Dungeons & Dragons Tactics.

The Council continues to be unabashedly unpredictable in its twists and turns, but Episode Four's character developments leave much to be desired. Its Social Influence system remains a fun mechanic, but an overpowered Louis renders the skill tree mostly moot.

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.