Songbringer was a fun time, first and foremost. It didn't change how I look at indie games or set my world on fire, but I had fun during most of my playthrough. However, I also see little reason to invest time in it after the credits have rolled — very few games get a second run-through from me these days. It isn't a game free of faults: the narrative was never more than window dressing, and the game's randomly-generated aspect really required some better guidance for essential gameplay systems. However, the main component, the game's combat, works well and is downright satisfying. Anybody with even a passing interest in classic experiences will likely find something of value here, and some will even discover a second home that they'll return to again and again.

Ys VIII puts players back in the shoes of Adol as he sets off on his new adventure. It brings a first class, action-packed and responsive combat system Falcom fans expect, and keeps a high-energy pace throughout the adventure. It also surprises fans with an increased focus on story that pays off with a generally engaging narrative with great pacing, and a cast of simple but varied characters that will keep players interested. Though it doesn't match the technical prowess of other games with a similar visual style, it nevertheless manages to create a highly immersive world and engaging exploration through a wide array of different and interesting environments, a strong soundtrack, and Metroidvania-inspired exploration.

Despite the fact that Undertale didn't tick all my boxes, it was still an enjoyable game. Its visuals and music brought to mind some of my most cherished memories from my formative years, and are top-notch even for games that try to evoke that retro vibe. Its narrative is tongue-in-cheek and consistantly sends surprises the player's way. The game excels at asking players to enjoy it in ways that are incongruous with the traditional way RPGs are designed. Unfortunately, those looking for a more traditional experience may feel short-changed here. The lion's share of the game's character, lore, and emotional impact is experienced by challenging yourself to play the entire game in a completely different fashion.

At twenty-some hours to completion, Children of Zodiarcs can feel like a long row to hoe. The weight of the story drags it down a bit, as it increasingly becomes obvious that the only character who isn't fundamentally broken in some fashion is the weird foreign kid who only appears in the side story. Everyone else is a bundle of neurotic fears and psychotic motivations, shaken hard and unleashed on an unsuspecting narrative. But negatives for characters aren't always negatives for the game as a whole, and Zodiarcs puts it all together well. It's a good game, and I'm glad to have finished it, but I cannot stop wondering if certain points weren't actually branching paths or plot flags in disguise, if there weren't some way to eke out a happier ending from it all. That may be wishful thinking on my part, but it's a small hope nonetheles. In a city as messed up as Torus, we need all the hope we can get.

Viking isn't the most refined game, with limited camera control, repetitive graphics that lack detail, and a lack of high-production presentation. It nevertheless succeeds in immersing the player in its world through an intriguing main story focused on local politics and motivations and driven by realistic struggles and constraints. Viking effectively impresses upon the player its main themes about the illusion of choice and the binding chains of circumstance, and also offers a multitude of poignant side-stories and strong character development. To top it off, the game features a unique combination of combat mechanics and abilities that allow creativity and enable some very interesting and satisfying strategies, as well as a novel take in timed and deliberate progress and out-of-combat party maintenance. Players looking to take part in a realistic and historically-inspired world with an engaging politically-driven story should look past the game's lack of technical polish and definitely pick up Expeditions: Viking.

Yakuza Kiwami is a very modest remaster with very little new content. What is new is swell, but it's nothing groundbreaking or even necessary. It's more like nice little bonuses to a game that hasn't entirely aged well story-wise and graphically. Still, it was nice to come back and see where the series started without all the rough edges of the original PlayStation 2 release. I will say that Kiwami made me love the first Yakuza a touch more than I did when I originally played it years ago. As a crazed fangirl for the series, even though Kiwami is a solid effort, it still doesn't hold a candle to later games in the franchise.

Many times while playing Ever Oasis I wanted to improve my settlement, which is an addictive pastime. Tracking down all the recruitable characters is a task that must be pursued into the post-game period, and I'd like to continue doing so. The game isn't all about building up the oasis though, and the combat engine isn't enough on its own to entice players. This is still a charming title though, and worth investigation by the many players who haven't attempted it yet.

I can't deny that the fifty or so hours spent playing Valkyria Revolution had some fun times. The litany of problems present made it more enticing to stay in an endless loop of free missions rather than return to the story though, and even when doing that I kept finding issues quality improvement should have spotted. If this is the best Sega could do to revive the Valkyria franchise, no wonder it's been dormant for years.

I do not care for sports games, and yet I adored Pyre. It's one of those games where in the hands of an amateur developer, the idea could have been flimsy and the execution awkward. Supergiant Games constantly shows passion and innovation with each of its titles, and doesn't seem to be afraid to go back to the drawing board when something isn't quite working. Pyre is essentially the high fantasy version of Space Jam, only the Reader is not Michael Jordan and no one from the NBA had their powers stolen, yet the team has heart, soul, and is made of a bunch of rag-tag misfits. It's easy to root for the little guys.

Keeping a quick pace helps to emphasise Fallen Legion's strengths and mitigate its weaknesses. There are times where the game's interesting flavour can't quite mask the lack of substance in certain areas, but despite this it remained enjoyable to play throughout. It's certainly a title worth checking out, and should provide a good few evenings worth of entertainment. Plenty of neat ideas and an interesting, if underutilised, world mark a solid debut title for the developer and put it in good standing for future titles.

Its combination of inspirations means Tokyo Xanadu may sit in an odd place for RPGamers. The deliberate pacing of the story more in line with The Legend of Heroes focus may frustrate those who want a pure action RPG. However, coming from the other direction, I very much appreciated how the game divided its time between the great charm that one expects from Nihon Falcom's narrative and quick but highly enjoyable dungeon experiences. The game is another excellent showcase of the PlayStation Vita, and the latest strong offering from a developer whose reputation is deservedly at its peak.

Cladun Returns boasts great dungeon crawling with countless options for customization and optimization to take on any situation. It features a ~25 hour story campaign as well as endless side content. While combat is simple, the controls are responsive and the dungeon design is fun and increasingly challenging. Unfortunately, the game overall comes off as one-dimensional in this respect. It lacks any semblance of a narrative, and the small piecemeal levels and lack of a cohesive world don't offer much in terms of exploration or immersion. It is also graphically unsuitable for the PlayStation 4 and large TV displays. Those looking for a pure dungeon crawl with both roguelike and standard dungeons will find that Cladun Returns delivers way more than its fair share. Players looking for a more immersive, story-driven classic RPG experience should look elsewhere.

Mercenaries Saga 3 is just about as enjoyable as its predecessor, though the slight difficulty increase would make me place 3 above 2 by a narrow margin if forced to choose. I also remember the lead mercenary's name of Marion Balbastre thanks to its constant repetition by one character, though whether this is a positive I can't really evaluate. Both of these games offer entertaining packages to be found by rooting around in the 3DS's digital library, and deserve to be experienced by more people.

River City: Knights of Justice succeeds in many ways as a retro piece of nostalgia, but it fails at having enough variety to keep it engaging. It lacks the humour of the previous games in the series by instead amping up the cheesy factor, and while that's fine and dandy, I wish it hadn't been so straight-laced in its approach. While I am glad the game clocks in around six hours, I feel like the amount of repetition and padding is still a large issue in Knights of Justice. While it's fun to transplant a series into a new setting, it's hard not to expect that more be done with it. Knights of Justice is a simple, straight-forward title that is mostly unremarkable. There isn't enough here that makes it different from other River City Ransom titles and that really is the true shame in all of this.

Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age is a game worth experiencing, be it for the first time or just for the first time in a decade. While there are touch-ups in the visual and music departments, the biggest positive change is the added Zodiac Job System, which provides unique license boards to characters by locking them into jobs. The meat of the game hasn't changed noticeably, which is by and large a good thing, with a story that is well-paced and engaging if not particularly novel or as well fleshed out as it could have been. The Active Dimension Battle system also remains unchanged, and will continue to be a divisive factor among players. Ultimately, experiencing what the game has to offer, including its wealth of secrets and content intended to extend the endgame, is absolutely worth its learning curve.

This is not the type of tactical game likely to attract anyone who doesn't normally like the style. It's good enough to get some recognition though, and is certainly worth the effort to find on the eShop. I wasn't blown away and can't remember the names of any characters right now, but eagerly plowed through it when I had the chance because the combat was addictive. That's more of a recommendation than many other games will ever get from me.

I played some of the original Final Fantasy Adventure but never completed it. Now that I've played Adventures of Mana, I don't think playing the original again will ever be necessary. Square Enix originally made this version for mobile phones, which perhaps explains why not much was changed. It's still a minimally-altered rendition of something I wasn't enthralled with in the first place. Many others have much more affection for the original than I do, and will doubtless be overjoyed that Square Enix allows them to play it on a modern platform without rendering any memories of how to progress inaccurate through alterations. Those hoping for something more akin to certain acclaimed later installments of the series, or a title that plays in a fashion better taking advantage of the Vita's capabilities, will be disappointed.

While it isn't a revolution on the tried-and-true gameplay formula, it nevertheless takes the genre into a fresh direction, retaining what makes it work for fans while putting some unique touches on the combat system, setting, and overall flavor. It presents a bleak, dystopian future and is wracked with unrelenting difficulty, but if the cost of admission is a few prematurely grey hairs, it's absolutely worth it.

My experience of Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception went through some distinct phases, starting with interest, then devolving into boredom as nothing significant happens for a long while, before finally sucking me back in once things finally got moving. Those coming in expecting a deep tactical RPG simply won't find one. However, as a visual novel, and ignoring the problems of the first half, its second half did exactly what it needed to do to suck me in. Thankfully, the ending at least implies that the missteps of the first half should not be repeated in Mask of Truth, so taken as a package the two games could end up being a very worthwhile experience overall.

Fire Emblem Echoes provoked a multitude of emotions from me, not all of them positive. It's different than anything else in the series, and shows what happens when a developer feels like veering away from the established path. It's to the game's credit that I found it quite addictive and sank a lot of hours into it, plus much of what takes place is genuinely interesting. Yet some of the nasty tricks it pulls in the last battles were just infuriating. A somewhat mixed bag, but absolutely worth investigating by series stalwarts.

Vikings: Wolves of Midgard manages to provide some fun for those who know what they're getting into. Simple yet serviceable combat and a competent graphical presentation make for a game that is as easy to handle as it is to look at. Its multitude of extraneous features, however, fail to add much engaging and compelling to the mix; resource management and town-building, multiple skill trees, repeatable hunt maps, and a rage combat ability can all safely be ignored. Though it has a lengthy campaign and relatively low challenge, it never really manages to rise past the basic thrill of its combat, and will disappoint those looking for a deep, satisfying story or anything beyond the hack-and-slash loot-a-thon it is.

Despite a great localization and plenty of solid aspects, Akiba's Beat's strengths never manage to overshadow its glaring problems. Its copy-paste combat system, constant revisiting of dungeons, and other minor problems all add up to a bland and occasionally irritating experience.

While I have spent most of this review ragging on Harvest Moon: Skytree Village's issues, I am glad I played the game because it satisfied my curiosity in regards to how Harvest Moon has changed in the last five years. While there are inklings of interesting ideas, the overall package feels hollow, as though it's missing a spark of greatness where other games have succeeded. Skytree Village doesn't offer enough incentive to keep players actively engaged, and I can only hope that the next iteration of the series makes some drastic changes to get this series back on track.

What Tides of Numenera offers is a rich experience in learning lore and then making a final multiple guess at the ending, all the while never being fully satisfying in terms of presentation. There's more playability to this take on this game, but it might be better off being used for a title that has far less baggage.

So, in the final analysis, we have a game that works hard to be more than the sum of its parts, which is especially important when one of those parts isn't up to par with the industry of today. The result is a package that would have wowed audiences twenty-five years ago, and which holds up decently (but not spectacularly) today. Since Zeboyd Games has shown itself capable of learning and growing from every experience in game design, its next game will hopefully be twice the level of awesome.

While I loved Dragon Quest Heroes back in 2015, Dragon Quest Heroes II is a very safe sequel that doesn't add much to a stale formula. While this is a good sequel, it definitely has its moments where it could have ended much earlier than it did. Musou and Dragon Quest enthusiasts, of which I am both, will be easily sold on this game. Still, part of me feels that if this game had been a tad shorter and more cohesive, I would have loved it as much as the first.

Sadly, The Caligula Effect really just amounts to a waste of time. It's a shame because there's some neat ideas within it, particularly on the premise and story side of things, that are stuck behind terrible design choices and poor implementation. Despite its short length — approaching twenty hours depending on how well players can avoid the mindless drones — there's no reason to abandon other plans to give it a try.

Shiness teases us with an adventure that is pure fun. The developers bring back much of the style from the early 90s games that inspired them, while successfully infusing the game with modern gameplay elements and mechanics. The world is engaging and the story presentation is great, complimented by a competent soundtrack, vivid visuals, and stylish manga-like cutscenes. The ideas behind the battle system are carefully architected and work wonderfully together to offer variety of play, action, and battle planning. Unfortunately the game seems to be a case where the realities of the world caught up with the developers' fantasy too soon. As a result, it fails to follow through on both its story and the promises of its combat system, and is marred by a lack of technical polish and bugs, leaving players with a distinctly average experience.