Neptunia Game Maker R:Evolution is a mixed bag. If you want a charming story with plenty of nerdy goofs about consoles from the 90s, you’ll find something to enjoy here. If you want interesting and in-depth mechanics, then you’d be better off looking elsewhere. One for the established fanbase that’s unlikely to win over many newcomers.

Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories feels a bit like a slice-of-life mystery with a hidden seedy side. There’s darkness afoot, and players can make a difference. However, it often feels like it attempts to imply a familiarity with the characters and world that may not be there. While sometimes charming and pleasant enough, it can feel like a very surface-level adventure. There’s nothing wrong with that, though it might be a good idea to wait for a patch or two before heading to Hog Town before catching up with this crew.

I applaud the fact that Voltage does preserve its mobile otome games with Switch ports like Court of Darkness: Temptation’s Kiss, but wish there was more to this one. It’s a really fun story involving magic and school life, and the heroine actually has a personality and speaks up so she isn’t a total blank slate. The love interests included are interesting too. Unfortunate, we aren’t even halfway into each of the routes for the characters who are present, and people need to head to another source and potentially spend more money to find out what happens next.

The Star Named EOS has a fairytale vibe to it like the start of a Pixar movie, but the same breezy pace and lightness of detail can also make the story feel flat or overly sentimental. Still, there’s a pleasant and affecting time for those who can slow down and enjoy it.

Arcadian Atlas is fine. It’s not revolutionary or remarkable, but it’s entertaining enough. Especially if you’re looking for a tactical title that looks and feels a little like Final Fantasy Tactics, albeit is a bit simpler and less of a challenge. It isn’t going to really challenge you, and odds are you’ll find a team that helps you “break” the game pretty quickly. But it has its moments.

Cold Winter is sort of like the "C" student of FPS games. It's good in almost all areas, but doesn't excel in any. If you can't get enough shooting action, its worth a pick up.

When stripped down to its bare essentials, Exoprimal can be a really fun time. However, its strange monetization choices, locked content, repetitive mission types, and rather sparse options on release ends up adding more tedium than fun to an otherwise refreshing experience.

An experience that is as frustrating as it is engaging.

The appeal of WitchSpring3 Re:Fine is having an entry in the series on the Switch. The concepts behind it are fine. I had an okay time playing it, even if I didn’t feel terribly motivated to explore what the post-game had to offer. Some of the UI decisions don’t exactly feel comfortable, the localization isn’t great, and it isn’t terribly memorable. It’s not bad and people interested in the series will probably have a good time. But those with a passing curiosity may want to look at the more reasonably priced mobile versions instead.

Synduality: Echo of Ada has the potential to become a fun mech-based exploration third-person shooter game with a waifu/husbando companion. But while I wanted to recommend it to my fellow mecha-loving friends, I really cannot at the moment due to the lack of personalization features in that aspect.

Arcana of Paradise: The Tower feels like the concept is sound. A roguelike deck builder with more puzzles to it and possibly caring for your current and future party members is a novel idea. However, even with the real-time element forcing you to act quickly, it doesn’t feel like this is a critical affair. There’s a lack of tension that keeps it from feeling like an achievement when you do well, and the recurring events means you’re rarely surprised and already prepared for most things headed your way.

Demonschool is definitely going to be a “your mileage may vary” kind of game, and I suspect fans of classic Persona games or Necrosoft titles may end up appreciating it most. The art direction and design looks gorgeous. The concept is good, and handling demons each week leading up to a possible apocalypse is interesting. But it does feel more like the script takes more cues from sitcoms than dramas with occasional comedic moments, which may not appeal to everyone. This take on a tactical combat system also involves some design choices that might be off-putting and not appeal to everyone. It’s an interesting concept for a game, but also quite niche.

Nostalgia for a character like Pac-Man can only do so much, and I fear the uneven nature of Shadow Labyrinth could prove too off-putting. The story isn’t handled well and can plod along, many gameplay elements aren’t precise enough, progression isn’t well-balanced, and the 2D skeletal animation with its paper doll puppets don’t feel like the right choice. There are too many other titles that do what it does better in every way. If you love Bandai Namco classic series, that are some fun references, but you need to put up with a lot to see them.

Polish issues aside, Gungrave G.O.R.E. is a nostalgic trip to a certain era of action game design, dressed up in improved visuals and performance. Its anachronistic take on shooting gameplay and late-90s anime aesthetic won’t be for everyone, but the separation of years makes it clear that there’s nothing quite like it on the market.

Wanderstop tells a fascinating story and very much captures the stress, anxiety, and pressures that come from being trying to meet all these expectations and not fail. Especially when you try to stop doing that. However, I often found myself wishing this was a short animated series or movie, rather than a game. Alta’s journey and many of the characters around her are fascinating, and I love watching them. But this ended up being an unexpectedly stressful, inconvenient, and broken sim at some times, and that got in the way of my enjoying everything. I believe there are many people who will love and identify with Wanderstop! I just found it clunky, broken on the PS5 at launch, and far from cozy.

It’s a shame that the experience of actually playing Bunhouse feels so off, because it’s a cute game with a lovely, laid back atmosphere and it’s a clear labour of love from Reky Studios. It’s just that for all the charm points and rabbits in hats, the simple things can bring you right out of the experience. Fighting unwieldy controls, a molasses slow camera, and unclear visuals makes the game often frustrating to play, rather than the relaxing experience that was intended.

Pretty Princess Magical Garden Island is a very pleasant experience. Especially if you enjoy the idea of customizing a whole area and games with relaxed farming elements. It doesn’t always offer the depth of an Animal Crossing installment, but there’s a novelty to going through some tasks, waiting a 15-30 minutes, then gradually building up and decorating Carrot Isle.

Pac-Man Mega Tunnel Battle: Chomp Champs is rather boring. There’s no adrenaline rush when I manage to make it into the final groups of players. The cosmetics are fine, but I didn’t feel a drive to unlock specific maze designs or items for my Pac-Man. While it is designed to feel competitive, it seemed like more people I faced were more concerned with dealing with the ghosts and eating pellets, rather than gunning for the top spot in any way. I honestly had the most fun when I’d play through Elimination or Ranked like I would any other Pac-Man game, without engaging in maze invasions, which probably defeated the point of a battle royale.

I’m a fan of Fubuki: Zero in on Holoearth, especially if I drop down to the easy difficulty level to really enjoy myself. It’s an entertaining Mega Man-like game wearing a Hololive Vtuber skin. I do think it is at its best if someone really enjoys both that type of game and Cover’s performers. If not, then the length, fact that the weapons from each boss don’t feature any strategic element, and injection of Holoearth and Hololive lore with no explanation could be too high a barrier to jump.

I enjoyed Mado Monogatari: Fia and the Wondrous Academy in spite of itself. I think the characters can be cute and fun, and I’m a sucker for any Mystery Dungeon style roguelike. The problem is that it really moves at a plodding pace, the combat system’s AOE and range systems get in the way of themselves, and the dungeon exploration feels more boring than challenging. I do think that, if there’s a sequel, a lot of this could be used as a foundation for something better. Trim some of the fat, like gameplay elements that didn’t work, tighten up the story, and adjust things to play more like Sorcery Saga (which was great) or the original first-person dungeon crawlers. I feel like the issue is that what’s here is too easy of a game with too cumbersome of a combat system for folks looking for a new Mystery Dungeon type of roguelike, but perhaps too slow-moving and awkward for those unfamiliar with the genre.

Everybody’s Golf Hot Shots seems like it should include everything we expect from the series, but it falls short of Clap Hanz’s work. Characters come across as annoying, rather than charming, and it’s a lot of work to unlock them and build them up. The general selection of modes available are fine. However, some technical issues and design choices keep it from running and looking like it should. It’s okay and might be better after a few patches, but past entries were more enjoyable.

I don’t think Little Nightmares 3 is one of the best games in the series, even though it absolutely looks ominous. I appreciate elements of the tale that it tells. Especially the dynamic between the leads Low and Alone. There are even some enemy designs I really like. It even offers a bit of a lore implication that I’d like to see addressed in the next entry with Six. The problem is that it sometimes doesn’t feel as cohesive due to the lack of a central villain, setpieces that sometimes make it difficult to see what you need to interact with or do to move forward, and co-op elements that don’t feel all that necessary or valuable. Little Nightmares and its sequel feel far more interesting and essential, with this third entry feeling more like optional supplemental material.

Sadly, the charm of the writing doesn’t prevent Farmagia from feeling mediocre overall. It’s repetitive, disjointed and half-formed. If you want a game that better combines adventuring and farming, Marvelous already have an excellent alternative in the form of Rune Factory.

Ultimately, what hurts the most about launching in the long shadow of Balatro is the expectation of a wide possibility space and near-endless depth. Dungeons & Degenerate Gamblers is more of a diversion than a new avocation, with interesting ideas that play out fairly quickly and funnel toward a few very specific viable strategies. It’s fun! Briefly.

I think whether or not someone will enjoy Atelier Sophie 2 comes down to how much they loved the original game and its characters. There are marked improvements from Atelier Sophie. It is clear Gust took what the team learned from more recent installments and applied it here. But it might not foster the same enthusiasm as other installments, due to its focus on certain characters. It might even leave you a bit frustrated when you need to perform certain actions to get needed recipes or run into inaccessible areas because you don’t have the correct “keys” to open those metaphorical doors. People who love Gust and Atelier Sophie will likely be all-in and satisfied to see Sophie and Plachta’s relationship grow. Everyone else may want to wait for the next entirely new entry.

Sword Art Online Fractured Daydream shines in some departments but flops in others. I wish the game had concentrated more on the primary campaign because the story here is terrific, and with a few tweaks to the open map environment and battle mechanics, it could have been a quintessential play for any fan. But the multiplayer feels so half-baked and unrewarding that only hardcore fans will enjoy the long, tedious grind to grab every morsel item.

Hollowbody has a pretty fascinating atmosphere and really strong vibes, but fails to deliver a fleshed-out survival horror experience. The game is clearly inspired by classic PS2 titles in the genre, but this comes at the expense of the game offering unique mechanics or a thoughtful narrative. And while I have pretty strong feelings about Hollowbody, I still want to jump back into New Game+ and try to get other endings and find answers to the mystery, no matter how vague they might be.

It’s a dancing game designed for hardcore dancers that are willing to spend the time to relearn their footing.