If there was a succinct way to sum up Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, it’d be a celebration of Kiryu’s legacy. There are subtle callbacks of his past adventures that don’t intrude on the central themes and internal struggles that he faces as the title connects the past to the present. While it may not be his grandest adventure, Like A Dragon Gaiden sets an important milestone for the Dragon of Dojima. We’ll meet him again in Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, but Gaiden establishes an essential foundation and roadmap in what’s next for this legendary character.

All in all, the PC port is simple but sufficient for a first person dungeon-crawler. Performance at windowed resolutions might be problematic for some but hopefully NISA can investigate those issues. Picture Gate implementation is a fun addition that probably should have been explained better.

Despite these qualms, those who are fans of Gust’s library will love what Blue Reflection offers. It's clear the developers had a lot of fun experimenting with this game, and one can hope this inventiveness will extend to their future catalog.

A great conclusion to the Zero Escape series. Its incredible storytelling through fragmented scenes fittingly structures the entire plot as a puzzle that the player pieces together one at a time. Several characters we've come to hate and love throughout the series now have a conclusive explanation to the situations they faced in the other games. While some of its flaws may leave some areas feeling half-baked, Zero Time Dilemma will be something that won't be leaving our minds anytime soon.

Ray Gigant is an interesting mesh of dungeon crawling and visual novel elements. The combat is unique and the presentation is great for the genre, but the repetitive nature, lack of challenge, and disappointing conclusion prevent the game from reaching excellence.

Miasma Chronicles is a demanding but well-balanced tactical RPG that should scratch the itch of XCOM fans or anyone seeking a modest challenge. It's disappointing that the narrative elements don't hold up on their end, because they easily detract from an otherwise satisfying game.

Valkyrie Elysium is an okay game with a fun battle system. Its biggest strength is that it’s fun to play when there are enemies on-screen. Everything else about it is relatively lackluster. This new take on the Valkyrie series is a solid gameplay foundation while leaving a lot of room for improvement in many other areas. Still, I think the developers at Soleil have done a decent job as newcomers taking their own interpretation of the series. I don’t think I’d want Valkyrie Elysium to completely overtake the Valkyrie Profile series moving forward, though I’d be happy with a peaceful co-existence as each strives to improve themselves - given that Square Enix greenlights more Valkyrie titles, of course.

Reflecting back on the series' now ten-year history in the West, Tamsoft has made the best Neptunia spin-offs. Much like the other Tamsoft spin-offs, Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars is nothing special, but it's also not a poor game outright. It's a decent action game without a lot of depth, but its simplicity allows it to be fun in small bursts. Neptunia and Senran Kagura fans will most likely find this game an enjoyable addition to the family of both series. I played on PlayStation 4, but the game is also coming to Nintendo Switch and PC next year, so even more fans will be able to check the game out.

The Surge 2 makes several smart gameplay refinements from its predecessor that polish up some rough edges, and environmental design & traversal have improved considerably. However, the lack of enemy variety, disappointing boss encounters, and overreliance on blocking prevent The Surge 2 from making the full next step into being a great action RPG.

Fuga 3 is still a great game, but it's hard not to wonder exactly what the point of it all was. Fuga was a daring and highly focused release, and at the time Fuga 2 felt like a similarly tight experience relying on the knowledge that players had already grown accustomed to the gameplay. Yet Fuga 3, in it's attempts to expand its scope feels like it just misses the mark. What should have been a satisfying conclusion to a trilogy feels like a coda to a performance whose curtains had already fallen years ago.

I’m conflicted about Dissidia Final Fantasy NT because I think it looks fantastic and makes good on its total makeover to a thrilling 3vs3 fighting game. Each character is different enough to make them all worth checking out. My problems with its netcode is a hard thing to overcome though; some characters that have strict timings on their mechanics are almost impossible to fully utilize online; these include Sephiroth’s dash cancels, Squall’s trigger on his bravery attacks, Jecht’s very brief window to parry attacks, and so forth. Plus, there’s just not much else to it if you’re not planning to play it online with others a lot. Offline NT fighters can go through its slim excuse for a story and then play Gauntlet endlessly to unlock more treasure and gil to buy more things from the shop I suppose.

While I appreciate their attempt to modernize the experience, this one doesn't seem so much as a love letter to the fans as much as an attempt to fix what wasn't broken. It won’t do anything to hurt a person’s enjoyment of the original, especially my own, but it’s altogether a lackluster effort for something that could have been so much more. In the end, you may be better off investing in the SNES Classic and trying it out that way instead.

I went into Dark Envoy curious about the title, but I came away apathetic and annoyed. There are some interesting class & skill systems in place, but tedious encounter design, a sluggish narrative, forgettable characters, and a multitude of performance issues, all make this title a difficult RPG to recommend.

Coromon is a game filled with potential but past sinking sands and perplexing puzzles it starts to fall flat. Fans of the genre will be delighted by the levels of customization thanks to the potential system and easy skill switching. Though, once you beat the roughly twenty-three or so hour campaign you'll find little to do. While some elements are stated to be getting worked on, two months after release, the game is still the same. Hopefully those who are waiting on the delayed Switch and mobile release will get them at the same time as any major updates to the game. For the PC and budget gamer, however, this is still a fine choice, and there is an accessible demo letting you play the start of the game. The shake-ups do let Coromon stand on its own and create an enjoyable experience, but it could’ve evolved to be something a little more.

Wintertide Miracles just feels like the light fluffy snow on Christmas Day--pretty and charming, but ultimately fleeting and a pain to move through. If you’re really wanting more time with your favorite Code: Realize characters after Bouquet of Rainbows, then Wintertide Miracles might be worth your time. However, don’t expect anything of the same caliber as the previous games.

While the plot and its characters did not necessarily engage me, the Servan system has a lot of untapped potential just waiting to be realized.

Persona 3 Reload for Switch 2 should've been the easiest win for Atlus, but it is lacking in some key areas. If you've not played it before and mostly play docked on Switch 2, it is a good but conservative port, and P3R remains worth your time. The real issue is how Persona 3 Reload for Switch 2 doesn't feel great to play at all right now on the go, the real draw of this new port. Had Atlus included all DLC, it would've been a good excuse to replay the game with different costume and music options, or even made it so those who played the base game last year could experience Episode Aigis on the go.

Episode Ardyn is fine, but it’s held back by repetitive gameplay that doesn’t really live up to Episode Ignis or Prompto. Unfortunately, the only thing really worth going in for here is the story and how it expands on FFXV universe lore.

For anyone who prefers pure farming and enjoys the Story of Seasons franchise, this can still be a game for you. Everything that the series is well-known for is present in this game. However, it doesn't seem like the series has really taken any real steps forward since I last played a Story of Seasons game back in 2007. For now, I think I'll stick to Rune Factory.

Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling into Darkness is certainly not a game for everyone. It is a challenging balancing act between being faithful to Made in Abyss and being a “fun” video game. It does an admirable job in implementing the “systems” and “rules” of Made in Abyss’s world into a game, but the overall result just feels underwhelming in its presentation and execution. Fans of Made in Abyss will enjoy Binary Star Falling into Darkness if they are seeking the hardcore survival aspect of being a Cave Raider in that world, but it has little to offer for complete newcomers.

I wish I could be coming away from Biomutant recommending it to other players. In fact, before starting it I was damn near certain that I’d enjoy it, but it sadly didn’t live up to my expectations. It’s charming and has a great suite of RPG mechanics and customisation, but it’s also surprisingly generic in most of its mission design and has combat that is unique but unsatisfying. I had some fun with it, and I’m sure others will too, but I walked away from it mostly feeling nothing, which is the biggest shame of all.

I jive a lot of what Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin sets out to achieve conceptually as it juggles between tight fast-paced action RPG combat and thorough rice farming mechanics. Edelweiss unfortunately fumbles on key areas to an otherwise charming title. Platforming is a hassle most of the time, especially in later areas. Every system feels a step too steep into resource micromanagement, and it made me feel as if I was always playing on a tight schedule rather than being able to progress at my leisure. I wish I loved this game more, because there is a lot of heart, but sadly I came away merely lukewarm from the experience.

Despite everything, I greatly enjoyed my time with Utawrerumono Zan. However, I can't gloss over the title's numerous faults. It's not worth $60, except for the most of ardent of fans. Maybe if a followup title were to happen down the line adapting Mask of Truth as well, it would be worth it. As it stands, even if you're an Utawarerumono fan, it's hard to recommend anything other than to wait for the game's price to drop. It's a solid game at its center, and I'd have no trouble recommending it on a sale, but as a full-price release, it just doesn't make much sense.

For all its ambition, Forspoken doesn't bring much new to the genre, and instead falls into various pitfalls common with open-world games. While the combat is serviceable and fun in spurts, the game's narrative, characters, and exploration all come up short. It's too bad it seems like Forspoken won't get a second chance, because I think there is some potential sitting dormant underneath all the imperfections, but it looks like Frey's journey will remain a missed opportunity.

If you’ve played the original recently, I wouldn't suggest playing this port straight away, but for newcomers it is absolutely the best version, that I can definitely recommend it as a beginner friendly RPG. As a fan of the original I’m glad I got to play it again with much better visuals and fun new features, but they failed to tune some of the annoyances to make my jaunt more jolly.

It's still Utawarerumono, and if my experience playing the games on Vita are anything to go by - blurry graphics probably won't ruin your experience - I still have to hope that these issues will get patched up in the coming weeks. I certainly hope they do.

It's still Utawarerumono, and if my experience playing the games on Vita are anything to go by - blurry graphics probably won't ruin your experience - I still have to hope that these issues will get patched up in the coming weeks. I certainly hope they do.

At the end of the day, Nepenthe is charming enough to invest an hour or two playing it and just experiencing its strangeness. It’s doesn’t feel quite complete in places and is far from perfect, but it has moxy, and moxy is what is going to entertain you some weekend afternoon in the future.