So if you are the kind of anime fan who doesn’t mind the inclusion of A LOT of fanservice, Moero Chronicle may just be the game for you. For everyone else, it’s a serviceable title that feels pretty basic in design with some funny moments, but tries a little too hard to pull in a particular audience. Just be aware it may take you awhile to get over having Io in your party.

I really enjoyed Millennium Twilight, even without any sort of attachment to the anime that the game represents. It’s nothing particularly revolutionary, but I thoroughly enjoyed most of my time with it. Moments of confusion and the unintentional nerfing of most Brain Burst characters aside, this is a fun action RPG that is worth a look if you’re not a fan of these MMO anime series, and most likely worth a buy if you are.

There’s not much to engage the player here--almost everything about the game is completely average. I wouldn’t say Mercenaries Wings is a bad game, it’s simply difficult to recommend spending your time playing it when there other, more polished games. If you’re an SRPG nut that’s starved for new games then Mercenaries Wings might be the game you’re looking for, but otherwise, I’d spend your time elsewhere.

Vampire: the Masquerade - Shadows of New York is a good game to spend an evening with. On those Sundays where you have all day to relax or those randomly dreary days when any kind of chore feels like too much. That’s when this game will feel just right. Getting both endings doesn’t take long, so it’s easy to play and move on. The main word that comes to mind is: simple. Some parts are good, others tiring. It works as a way to get into some of the worldbuilding involved with Vampire the Masquerade games, but as a standalone visual novel I don’t think it will appeal to the masses.

I will never not love Tales of Symphonia and appreciate that it introduced this wonderful series to me. I will forever love Raine’s manic professor mode, Colette’s clumsiness, and the fact that Lloyd is voiced by Robin from Teen Titans. That said, Tales of Symphonia Remastered has made me realize that unless Bandai Namco deems it worthwhile to do a ground-up remake of the game, I think I’m fine sunsetting Symphonia and letting other worthwhile Tales shine in the spotlight for a while.

Aside from several gameplay design decisions that irked me and a mediocre story didn’t do anything for me, my time with Arcadian Atlas was pleasant and admittedly insignificant. I don’t have any strong feelings for what I played. It took me roughly 12 hours to finish with all the sidequests done. The music had a nice jazz-infused flavor that made it more memorable than I expected. If you’re looking for a new strategy RPG and are willing to give a new independent studio’s first shot a genuine chance, this one is alright.

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.

Chocobo GP is a wonderful controlling Final Fantasy-themed kart racer held back by a lack of content and uncomfortable monetization. When you’re in the zone, playing a race, you’ll be sure to have a great time. However, it’s hard to give the game an outright recommendation when all the fun is locked behind a story mode that is easy to bounce off of. There’s also a strange lack of QoL in vital areas and a menu that presents its modes in an unintuitive way. It’d be nice to see Chocobo GP make a comeback from its messy launch. There’s potential here, and a brilliant Kart Racer underneath the monetization. Your mileage will vary on how much they impede enjoyment in the short term.

There are aspects about GreedFall: The Dying World that remain compelling -- the overall world-building remains top-notch, the RPG progression systems are well-designed, and fans of GreedFall's established lore will have plenty to latch onto. However, the narrative doesn't carry the same inventiveness as the original game, the combat changes appear to be courting a more niche playerbase, and multiple gameplay and technical shortcomings compromise the experience entirely. If Spiders and Nacon can manage to support the game after release, it's possible that many of these issues could be addressed, but the state in which this game was released doesn't have me feeling optimistic.

Despite its various shortcomings, I came away from The DioField Chronicle satisfied with its uniquely refreshing take on strategy RPGs. DioField's storytelling style was specifically a highlight for me, and its take on tactical combat offers something different from its contemporaries. While its mission design, sidequest variety, and some skill systems hold it back, DioField is worth a try for anyone looking for something just a bit different in their tactical RPGs.

There simply aren’t enough engaging and worthwhile gameplay elements in Edens Zero to make it worth experiencing a worse version of the story. Superfans of the series might find something to love if they dig deep enough – but Konami’s Edens Zero, more than anything, is another grim reminder of the unrealized potential of anime-based video games.

YIIK: A Postmodern RPG is a game that falls under the weight of its own ambition. Sloppy storytelling, bad pacing, poor characters, and some questionable (and potentially offensive) writing undermine what could have been an interesting story about young adults in the late ’90s, and the gameplay can’t carry the rest of the experience on its own. Even if it looks and sounds good, it’s just not enough to make its 25 hours an enjoyable time.

Astria Ascending is not a great JRPG. I would hesitate to label it a good one. In a year of winners, it's not a complete outlier but it's no contemporary classic. Despite a few flirtations with intrigue, the story is generally vacant of anything compelling enough to stick around until the credits. Poor writing compounds the problem and unlikable characters can't overcome it. Gameplay ranges from strong to stale, with just enough gumption and innovation to keep things lively. Pound for pound and for all its pedigree, this is a disappointing experience I'm not inclined to recommend.

It’s a bummer that Yasha: Legends of the Demon Blade just feels sparse overall. While I enjoyed my time experimenting with each of the three protagonists’ different weapon synergies, the identical progression of every single run gets old very fast. Seeing the same stage layouts, same enemy spawns, same boss patterns, and same… everything every time was disheartening. Even when Yasha tries to punch above its weight narratively through some of its cutscenes, the whole experience of playing it is mind-numbingly repetitive. I wish I liked it more, but what it offers feels so little compared to many, many other games competing in the same Hades-like space.

When it comes down to it, Poison Control fails to do anything interesting in any manner. There's nothing about the game that is outright broken, but there is just no substance to anything at all. A forgettable nothing story, forgettable gameplay, tedious maps, all lead to an experience that is an easy skip.

There's nothing inherently broken about The Lost Child's mechanics or narrative, but there's also nothing compelling about them either. Ultimately, The Lost Child is just a gravely tepid dungeon crawler with nothing interesting to show. Check it out if you love the genre and are simply curious what's on offer here, but this RPG is easily skipped.

Super Neptunia RPG is a fun little game but leaves a lot more to be desired. I could see a sequel full of potential, but at its current state with all the technical hiccups, it really boils down to you being a Neptunia fan or not. The game lacks enough polish for it to be a great game, but perhaps a sequel down in the line or even using a fresh IP without Neptunia holding it back can make room for a more interesting project.

Lost Soul Aside wore on me pretty quickly, with its repetitive arena-to-arena flow, characters I never spent enough time to care about or what happened to them, and unpolished issues and quirks. Except for the aesthetics and decent combat (which had their own drawbacks), I can’t really point to a part of LSA that I can say I genuinely had a good time with. While I wasn’t someone that has been eagerly waiting with bated breath for the game, I still was hopeful and intrigued by what the final game would turn out like after being worked on for so long, and it's disappointing how much it fell flat for me. Sometimes being cool just doesn’t cut it.

Unfortunately, I wouldn’t be able to recommend this game as enthusiastically as Kodaka and Uchikoshi’s other works. While I found many of the characters likable, the story didn’t register any stakes for me. All the twists seemed to take away urgency from the story, so much that the triumphs felt predictable by the end. In that way, World’s End Club is like the watered-down version of the two works that inspired it. Understandably, it’s not supposed to be the same. However, World’s End Club still doesn’t quite stand on its own. To its credit, it's successfully uplifting and heartfelt -- just not in the most cohesive way. I’d give a light recommendation to those who enjoy coming-of-age anime stories without the need to overthink them.

ClaDun Returns might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it will definitely fill a void for players who want a throwback to something from the retro days that displays strong fundamentals towards its dungeon crawling roots. The game is loaded with content as there are tons of stages, and its compact brevity is ideal for portable playthroughs. Unfortunately, this same feature is also holding the game back, making it an extremely repetitively and somewhat flawed experience.

As a whole, I’m confused with what Conception was going for. It’s not necessarily a bad game, but I’m hard-pressed to find anything it does exceptionally well outside of the localization. It was an enjoyable time once I turned my brain off, but the gameplay doesn't remain engaging and the constant use of sexual innuendo is goofy at best and exhausting otherwise. It’s a solid remaster of a PSP game, but it never felt like anything more than a cleaned-up PSP game -- maybe that description alone is enough.

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.

Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls is a serviceable dungeon crawler that doesn't have anything going for it. Being relatively simple in dungeon design and difficulty, but still containing characteristic quirks found in the genre, it might actually be a decent entry point into Wizardry style games as long as you are willing to figure things out without the help of tutorials. However, there are certainly better dungeon crawlers out there that are more worth your time.

While some of the tank building and character class systems in Metal Max Xeno are moderately interesting, nothing else in this RPG is remarkable enough to stand out, which makes this a difficult game to recommend. At least the game's relatively short run-time and budget price means it's not a tremendous investment for those curious enough to check it out.

I was excited to see my country represented properly in a video game, and that did happen. Sadly the game itself isn’t worth a damn, it’s a classic style RPG but none of my choices matter and I can hardly make any of them. Many systems and choices are just odd and make it unfun to play. They have a roadmap to change some issues I had, and some minor odd design decisions have already been fixed, but we’ll have to wait and see if that really fixes the poor story. The only real redeeming quality this game has is the art.

Katana Kami: A Way of the Samurai Story isn’t quite the Way of the Samurai game I wanted but that doesn’t make it terrible; there is just an untapped well of potential that it ultimately fails to reach though.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Isekai Chronicles strives to retell a chunk of Rimuru’s story, but does so through this medium to limited success. A relatively static presentation and repetitive combat system make this a difficult entry point for series newcomers, while fans of the series may question some of the design choices as missed opportunities to fully translate Rimuru’s adventure from page to screen.

Not only did the uninspired (and downright boring) maps dull my senses, but the glacier pacing left me fighting the urge to take multiple breaks during my coverage. I hate to say it, but you should stay far away from this one - there is very little that is redeeming about The Witch and the Hundred Knight 2.