MegaTagmension presents an unspectacular experience that could have presented a lot more with the concept it had. When put side-by-side with Neptunia U, I had a far better time with the latter - at least when it came to the single player mode.

I'm glad Dungeon Encounters exists. It falters in a few ways and it is definitely not for everyone, but overall it offers a satisfying dungeon crawler with simple rules, subtle depth, and just enough teeth to remain engaging.

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.

Honestly, Best Friend Forever feels like it's having a constant identity crisis. Mechanically and story-wise, everything feels incredibly disjointed. It feels like developers were throwing things at the walls to see what stuck, but then decided the pile of thrown stuff now sitting on the floor was good enough. There's no way I can recommend this title in its current state, and even if it was bug-free, Best Friend Forever still wouldn't be worth your time.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles is still a serviceable action RPG as a single-player game, and playing the dungeon content in a party with the known limitations in mind can be enjoyable in spurts, but the whole feels stripped almost bare of what originally made it unique. My renewed excitement for a remastered version of Crystal Chronicles was centered around revisiting a classic with modern multiplayer infrastructure in mind, instead, I found a product that clearly feels unfit for its new interpretation and unfaithful to the original.

The truth of Hellpoint is that even with all the jank and annoyance, it’s working with a well-known and beloved formula in an interesting setting, with enough tweaks to feel like its own thing. All of the satisfaction from near-deaths against big bosses and slow mastery of enemies and mechanics is here, it’s just dressed differently. The technical issues and world progression hold Hellpoint back, but for fans of the Soulsborne or sci-fi horror genre it’s worth checking out.

This short visual novel had big shoes to fill, and it missed the mark in most places. I finished the investigation feeling the adventure was simply okay, but nothing I’ll remember like Hotel Dusk.

Overall, Summer in Mara has an incredibly strong narrative with character art and light music that only strengthens it. It’s youthful and vibrant, but it also has more somber notes that aren’t always found in farming sims. The only downside is that music and a character driven plot aren't enough to get through all the tedious parts.

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.

Outside of the narrative issues, the VN itself is... fine. The art is nice, the music is alright, and the UI is actually surprisingly impressive - one of the most striking UIs I've seen for a VN. It's a shame that the actual story and characters drag the rest of the product down.

Anthem has sadly not resonated with any part of me, and no matter how much time passes, I don’t think this will change.

Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time is truly a terrible video game. There are signs of mediocrity between the seams, but it operates on such a fundamentally flawed level that it turns into a wrestling match between my sanity and its systems. I don’t know if it runs noticeably better on a PS4 Pro or the PC version, but an increase in technical performance does not excuse it of all the flaws in its design. I consider myself a fan of Little Witch Academia and Chamber of Time sometimes made me wish that I wasn’t.

Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness feels like a solid title that got trapped in old gimmicks. It’s beautiful, but empty. There’s nostalgia, but in the wrong places. I still enjoyed much of my time with it, and I’ll even revisit it soon for the bonus dungeons. So many little things hold Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness back, but there’s still something under the flawed surface that’s worth giving a shot.

Across its campaign of forty to fifty hours, Dark Rose Valkyrie tries to be many things and fails to excel or be memorable through any of those attempts. Perhaps it would have worked better as either a traditional RPG or as a visual novel, but it simply doesn’t work as a combination of the two. The story seems promising at first, but it’s average and marred by significant pacing issues. It stars a cast that is likable but not one that you will remember as anything groundbreaking in terms of characterization or development. Its battle system is restrictive and feels unbalanced, and as a result it makes battles have little enjoyment. The voice acting and character designs are great, but those positives aren't enough to compensate for the flaws this game has.

The Caligula Effect is a functional game, and some of the Japanse vocal music is fun to listen to. But it's actually difficult for me to give praise to much else the game has to offer. It's a diluted experience on a potentially interesting concept with some gameplay mechanics that are better off ignored. I can only recommend this to diehard Vita fans who are simply curious about the game, regardless of quality. Otherwise, this one is easily skipped.

Little Dragons Cafe is a charming game that has all the ingredients to be an ideal game to play when you’re feeling stressed or overwhelmed, but it doesn’t manage to be fun enough to make you want to commit to it. It would benefit from a pace that isn’t abysmally slow and having more activities to partake in. Even with my adorable dragon child following me around and the game’s visual charms, the overall experience lacks the substance to make me want to stay much longer than the customers who visited my cafe.

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.

While the multiplayer is nice to have back, and the controller support is solid overall, I was otherwise left uninspired. I will always appreciate games becoming easier for new people to experience or getting a console port, but between the harmless-but-still-annoying bugs, the bland menus, and the lack of meaningful quality-of-life updates, I don’t feel like this release lives up to the “enhanced” moniker it's given itself. The package feels like a missed opportunity. Enhanced Edition is okay. It didn’t crash on me (I’m not faulting this game for crashing due to a mod that wasn’t designed for it), so that’s always good, but that’s a pretty low standard to hold. If you want to play Neverwinter Nights 2 with your friends without installing a mod, or on a console/with a controller, sure, pick up the Enhanced Edition. If not, then there is really no reason to buy this version over the Complete Edition that is readily available and at a lower price.

MeiQ is a low quality title whose flaws permeate through every twist and turn of this dungeon crawler.

Neptunia Virtual Stars is largely unsuccessful at being a captivating product meant to represent Vtubers. The story is bland. The gameplay is boring. The character interactions are largely uninteresting. Some of its environments and storytelling bits shine momentarily, then drag players back to the reality that it is a repetitively dull experience. Compile Heart and Idea Factory tried to throw so many components and ingredients into Neptunia Virtual Stars that the resulting stew has no flavor at all; no single aspect or element quite stands out and is ultimately forgettable.

I really wanted for this series’ first worldwide release to be great, but unfortunately, Sword and Fairy 6 is just a bad game. It’s difficult to recommend the game to anyone with its myriad of issues, and that’s a shame. Let’s hope that this doesn’t discourage the developer and publisher into trying again, though, as there’s a lot the Chinese Paladin series has to offer. Maybe next time.

I do genuinely think that the story itself is serviceable, but its presentation absolutely destroyed my interest in it. There’s some merit behind constructing a band of characters manipulating an entire nation for their own purposes. It’s a nice change of pace from typical RPG protagonists and though all the story beats aren’t all that good, there were intriguing ideas behind it all. It’s difficult to recommend Valkyria Revolution if you’re looking for an enjoyable game. This was an ambitious direction to take the series to and I don’t think it was the right call.

As it stands, I finished the game feeling like I had accomplished and done absolutely nothing. It's almost impressive how hollow The Princess Guide feels.

‘Disappointed’ really is the key word for Werewolf: The Apocalypse- Earthblood. I went into it with little expectation beyond some fun shape-shifting gameplay and came away with nothing but wasted time. The constant dad rock and bloodshed might be a guilty pleasure for some people and fans of the World of Darkness may get a lot more out of exploring this world than newcomers, but the uninteresting plot and characters make that very doubtful.

The gameplay is a mix of Let It Die and Deathverse, but honestly, I don't even care to get into the specifics of it. Yeah, it has a somewhat interesting-if-simple roguelite/survival gameplay loop, and yeah, competing with other reviewers on the scoreboard was kinda interesting for a few nights, but I refuse to give any more of my energy to a game that uses generative AI to undermine the good work the other developers spent on this. I don't know if Supertrick leadership or Gungho leadership mandated the AI usage, but they need to get thrown out with the trash. I am beyond disappointed, not just as a game reviewer, but as a Let It Die superfan.

In its current state, I don't recommend buying Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader on Switch 2. While the first big update brought in some improvements and mouse controls, it was very much a one step forward two steps back patch. Not only was it disappointing that Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader hit Switch 2 with no DLC available or included, but this is by far the worst port I've played on Switch 2 since the console's debut last June.

Some of the core mechanics like the new perk system and pure gameplay loop are actually an okay foundation to build from, but they're mired in questionable design decisions made worse with several technical shortcomings that could take a significant amount of time to fix. Until that happens though, Fallout 76 is a difficult game to recommend to anyone except for maybe the most ardent fans of post-apocalyptic playgrounds.