Miasma Chronicles is more than just a solid tactical RPG experience; it’s a game that’s both tongue-in-cheek fun and darkly mature, chronicling a humankind on the brink of extinction. The world-building and presentation offer much to take in and enjoy, while the combat is deep and sound, with tons of variables to constantly keep up with that can turn the tide of battle at a moment’s notice. It also has quite a keen edge, and those who enjoy a firm challenge will be well-served by what’s on offer. Despite a few technical hiccups in its current state, Miasma Chronicles has a lot to love, and is an easy recommendation for those wanting to scratch their next tactical itch with a game that asks much of its players, but also offers a wealth of quality in return.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has immediately become one of the Switch’s standout titles. Creating something with a greater draw than the Breath of the Wild was always going to be a challenge, but Nintendo has taken lessons learned from and systems established in it to create a glorious follow-up that fully deserves the plaudits that have already come its way. Even for those who haven’t played many Zelda titles, Tears of the Kingdom is absolutely worth diving into and rewards every moment spent with it.

In spite of its technical issues, Marvel’s Midnight Suns is an easy recommendation to strategy and superhero fans or anyone who’s been missing the more traditional BioWare experience. Its tactical combat stands out in the genre and is consistently compelling. The plot is no great shakes but the characters are excellent renditions of decades-old favorites. It’s also a well-paced game, never getting bogged down in any one form of play for too long but free-form enough to allow for players to do that if they wish. Not only is Midnight Suns a great Marvel game, it’s a great game in its own right.

Hunt the Night is a great example of what a first-time developer can accomplish. It ticks almost all of the expected boxes, while nailing the balance and cohesion between its melee and ranged fighting techniques, and how one relies on the other. The game is a solid challenge, particularly in its boss fights, without ever feeling unfair. The times it doesn’t fully score a win at least show enough potential to hint at what could have been. Its relatively short runtime offers a tight and enjoyable experience that could do with a little bit more content and world-building to iron out the well-intentioned content provided. With a very solid presentation backing it up, it’s an easy recommendation for dark action RPG fans.

Ash of Gods: The Way is a solid strategic deckbuilder; its strength very much lies in its ability to generate a puzzle-solving feel through a straightforward base ruleset and a wide variety of combat scenarios and conditions. While it ultimately may not last too long in the memory after the fact, the time spent with it is enjoyable and it makes for a pleasing mental workout.

Cassette Beats is generally a good game that takes the classic Pokémon formula and tries to iterate upon it in almost all areas. For the most part, the ideas are indeed a step up from the first few Pokémon generations, but the execution doesn’t quite come off in the pace of battles and its more obscure puzzles. The double-battle nature of the game and the beast customization offers players a great deal of strategy to engage with while listening to an excellent soundtrack. With such a broad open-world setting, RPGamers will likely find themselves immersed far beyond the fifteen hours of mainline content the game has to offer.

Live A Live offers a unique and joyful experience full of charming characters and fun mechanics that is totally worth experiencing. Its originality will captivate fans of RPGs and other genres alike. With superb storytelling and fantastic art, Live A Live should be considered as a top-notch RPG.

Redemption Reapers took the relentless pessimism as its core tenet and pushed it as far it would go. Many stories would have heroes rise from the ashes like a Phoenix, in here The Ashen Hawks have a saying “Burn away your fear…and survive among the ashes” which easily alludes to they’re what remains after hope has left. This murky defeatist outlook at survival provides consistent entertainment with its harrowing combat and great soundtrack, but ultimately leaves players with a grave taste in their mouths due to the bleak subject matter. Taking something this dark and not taking it far enough to have truly invested characters or plot is a shame. It is fun to see the lengths a dark theme like this will go, but there’s little light to be found beyond the thrills of surviving to fight another day.

Despite a simple gameplay loop and basic level design, Mageseeker is a joyous, and addictive game to play. The repetitiveness never wears out the combat and continues to keep the player fully engaged. While the story of revenge is a familiar one, the cast elevates it to great heights and a thrilling conclusion. The Mageseeker’s overall experience is enjoyable and it’s as very easy recommendation.

Ravenlok is incredibly endearing on the surface with its charming visual style and vibe. It’s just a shame that the underlying game never completely lives up to that charm factor. With combat that ends up tiresome and an underwhelming story, there’s always a feeling that the game is missing something. The game fortunately doesn’t stick around too long, coming in at around six hours, but it’s disappointing that those six hours are not more memorable, as there are glimpses in Ravenlok that could have been something special.

I have to admit how pleasantly surprised I was by how much I enjoyed my time with GrimGrimoire OnceMore. I didn’t anticipate how much I would love the game’s overall atmosphere and real-time strategy combat. It’s also appreciable that the game doesn’t outstay its welcome, clocking in just shy of ten hours, though this can vary based on the difficulty and how much of the trial content is completed. It’s definitely not a game for everyone, but it has such a unique charm to it that it’s worth checking out.

Mato Anomalies has some good moments but all have caveats. Many quality-of-life features that current turn-based RPGs have are implemented in odd ways, and what new things the game tries tends to fall flat. Combat is enjoyable, but a disjointed user interface and repetitive ability use make it stale sooner rather than later. This is a game that is very dense, with a time-consuming interface and a story that tries way too hard to be something grand, throwing strained dialogue and empty contrivances together to the point where most of the meaning is lost. There’s some fun here, but mostly it is an unintentional headache that is hard to take as seriously as it’s trying to be.

I felt both so happy and sad when I finished Atelier Ryza 3. On the one hand, I was so happy that the story stuck the landing and Gust truly learned from the missteps in Atelier Ryza 2. On the other hand, I was so heartbroken that my time with these characters whom I have grown to love throughout three games was finally coming to an end. While there are a few hiccups, overall Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key is a brilliant send-off for Ryza, her friends, and fans of the series as a whole.

Despite being essentially the same game that was first released over a decade ago, Persona 4 Golden manages to avoid feeling dated to this day. A great cast of characters, an intriguing murder mystery story, and satisfying storytelling that moves at an unhurried pace are all completed by fun combat mechanics to preserve the game’s high standard. Even as the Golden iteration added some new content to it, these core sentiments remain largely unchanged. With a handful of exceptions, the majority of Social Links and sidequests underwhelm, while dungeons can be lengthy chores and the day-by-day calendar system makes completing all the behind-the-scenes checklists unnecessarily stressful, but though these annoyances require some getting used to, the game ultimately remains as much worth playing today as ever. The PlayStation 4 release may not bring anything new to the table, but those who’ve never experienced the game before will find a filling and satisfying meal awaits.

Despite all of the areas that The Outer Worlds could do better, it is still an enjoyable experience. Companions and the relative density of the game make the day-to-day quests by and large engaging, while the inclusion of the DLC goes a long way to raising up the interest in the setting. However, outside of it there is little to recommend Halcyon as a place to explore, particularly as players get assaulted by familiar foes more than necessary. The Outer Worlds sets a solid, if unspectacular, base that has plenty of room to improve.

Theatrhythm Final Bar Line is an easy recommendation for Final Fantasy fans. The rhythm gameplay is highly enjoyable and a fantastic way for players to enjoy a trip through the musical delights that the series offers. As a love letter to the series’ soundtracks it heartily succeeds, and every play session is bound to come away with players fondly humming at least one of the tracks they’ve played through for hours ahead.

It is a shame that more time and effort weren’t put into the monster variety and ensuring better performance at launch. With the ability to create traps and other constructs on the field of battle, Wild Hearts has created a new hunting experience that could certainly stand toe to toe with a more well-established series. Future patches and DLC could certainly iron some of these problems out, but as it stands upon release, Wild Hearts is difficult to recommend in its launch state to all but the most hard-core of hunters. With that said, the foundation laid out by this title is quite solid, and could certainly lead to greater things in the future.

This trip to the Ambrose Isles is short and certainly sweet. Thanks to the humanity of Sera, Freya, and their friends, players are reminded that family is who and what we make of it. Judging others by first impression or glance may be easy to do, but who we are inside is what truly counts. Absinthia reminds players of this to great effect.

For those who enjoyed Trails in the Sky, Trails from Zero or the Trails of Cold Steel titles, diving into Trails to Azure now that an official release has arrived is an absolute no-brainer. Despite the game’s aging presentation, an excellent story, quality localisation, and multiple quality-of-life improvements will overcome any qualms players may have about minor issues and fills in a critical narrative gap in the overall series. While it isn’t recommended as the first Trails title for newcomers, for established fans of the series, The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure is an absolute must-play.

An amazing array of excellent features carried over from the first title, as well as multiple improvements both asked for by fans and added by the creative team at Acquire, lead Octopath Traveler II to be one of the most enjoyable lengthy titles I’ve played in years. Even during some small moments of grinding needed during my 70+ hours, the battle system, sidequests, and character customization always kept me fully engaged in the story and what I was experiencing. There’s little doubt that turn-based RPG fans will find incredible satisfaction from the title, and those who enjoy expansive lore and deep, customizable job systems will fall head-over-heels in love.

Far from an unqualified win, Wo Long does manage to be an entertaining ride. When it leans into the strength of its combat it’s a joy. But much like that combat, there’s a push and pull to the changes that never quite coalesce. The inclusion of jumping makes the levels more fun to explore but the addition of Morale blunts any surprise the exploration might yield. The level of freedom given to customizing weapons is admirable, but when parrying is always the most powerful option everything else feels flatter as a result. Still, with top notch combat and a good amount of player experimentation there’s a lot of fun to be had. Just don’t expect to be blown away.

There are some solid bones in Ishin that I want to see in other Like a Dragon games, such as the inclusion of Another Life in different forms, and its ability to transport players into a different historical timeline is both unexpected and well executed, even if there’s still room for growth. Where Like a Dragon: Ishin shines its brightest, however, is its reminder that video games can be both serious business and absolute fun. It’s what the series has made a name for itself doing, and this newest entry does not disappoint in that regard.

One Piece Odyssey is a blatantly predictable and run-of-the-mill experience. While it may seem obvious that an anime game is targeted to an audience familiar with it, one may wonder why to waste an opportunity to make it more democratic and attract new fans. The tweaks to the classic turn-based battle structure are welcome but fall short due to the game’s unchallenging difficulty and easy-to-break equipment system. Die-hard One Piece fans will be able to appreciate the game as an interactive reminiscence of its arcs with minor redesigns. Yet, those looking for a bold and unique game may need to look elsewhere.

So, Meg’s Monster is not a long game. It could have been, and substantially longer at that, but its creators chose to focus on the presentation of the narrative by paring away all non-essentials, and what is left is an adorable and occasionally heart-wrenching story of loss, regret, and found-family issues with fun combat and puzzle interludes. While it only takes a few hours, the blend of narrative, plot-essential battles, and occasional puzzle elements was fun to work through. Anyone in search of a short but satisfying experience should consider this one at some point.

8-Bit Adventures 2 deftly finds a way to combine nostalgic charm and heart in a manner to make everything feel alive. Combat never outstays its welcome and vibrant visuals combine with old-school music to create unforgettable moments on their own. The real heart of the game lies with the character work and depth to its story. These are characters that feel important and matter to the world around them, as every action is taken with purpose. There is a great adventure built on the foundations of the past that harnesses a story so full of personality that it stands alongside classics of the genre.

Fire Emblem Engage emerges as a decent but ultimately fairly forgettable entry in the series. It seems like a game undecided whether it wants to spend its time celebrating the past or leaving its own mark on the series, and doesn’t really do either. Combat is definitely its strongest point, and here tactical RPG fans will find much to appreciate, but other systems feel like they are there out of sense of obligation rather than being designed to fully complement it. It’s still a good and enjoyable game, but with a firmer direction it could’ve made more of an impact.

Tales of Symphonia deserves to be available to the widest audience, yet the lack of attention or care demonstrated here is troubling. Remastered feels like a cheap and lazy port, and that alone makes this version disappointing, despite the strengths of the game itself. Why should gamers reward these tactics when there are remasters of PSP games and more recently, other GameCube games, that are truly modernized? There was an opportunity here to release the definitive version of Symphonia on modern consoles for fans and first-timers. Instead, Bandai Namco has doled out an inferior port of a decade old re-release at double the price it is sold elsewhere. If the math doesn’t add up to you either, don’t worry: the PC version is still available.

It’d be easy to simply compare Chained Echoes to some of the classics that clearly inspired it and call it a day. But the game brings to the table a lot more than simple callbacks to Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy, or Suikoden. It builds on the impressive groundwork set by these household names in such impressive ways that it easily establishes its own identity. Even those who have never played any of the above titans will be able to get into Chained Echoes without any trouble, and all that take the plunge are sure to be quite happy they did so.