Candy Rangers tries to blend rhythm-game precision with candy-coated shooting chaos but ends up melting under its own messy mechanics. Despite some good ideas, this sugar rush turns sour all too quickly.

Irem Collection Volume 2 contains two respectable run-and-guns and one intense shoot ‘em up that expose the run up to Nazca’s Metal Slug series. But with little historical context and a few minor emulation issues, the classic games here deserve better.

Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef's hand-drawn art is fantastic and the action is suitably frenzied. But do yourself a favor and play it on another platform.

Grit and Valor – 1949 pares the real-time strategy genre down to the fundamentals. The results are taut battles between your customized mechs and waves of enemies and bosses. But progression stems from the technical advantage of collected parts more than tactical insights.

If you are yearning for controller-tossing difficulty and can tolerate a bit of imprecision, Aeterna Noctis offers an expedition that will test your reflexes and just as often, your patience.

FULL METAL SCHOOLGIRL is an outrageous mix of satire and spectacle, where cyborg schoolgirls demolish office culture one cubicle at a time. It’s can be rough around the edges and proudly so, making it a chaotic, stylish throwback that proves Yuke’s still knows how to make mayhem fun.

Instead of offering players the freedom to walk the blurred line between justice and corruption, The Precinct mostly keeps them bound in a city sandbox. This lack of narrative risk makes the game feel more like a simulation of procedure than a true exploration of power or responsibility. But if you can overlook that, there’s an atmospheric underworld in need of old-fashioned justice.

Nutmeg! is what happens when football management and card battles collide in the best possible way. It’s weird, charming, and way more fun once you finally figure out what you’re doing in both the office and on the pitch. Part spreadsheet, part sizzling highlight reel, Sumo Digital’s latest oozes late 90’s nostalgia and bleeding-edge creativity.

Energy management decisions continue to sustain Tour de France 2023’s chase for the yellow jersey. But the game’s unsophisticated physics modeling and middling aesthetics don't help the sense of simulation. This season, there are actual athletes in Team mode and basic online multiplayer racers. But it's clear that Cyanide is coasting.

At launch, Hammerwatch II doesn’t live up to the legacy established by its predecessors. It’s evident that Crackshell wanted to push play toward an open world. But convoluted characteristics like vague quest details, an underdeveloped day/night cycle, inadequate control schemes, and time limits on quests all work to undermine the studio’s ambitions.

Even with those minor blemishes, Atomic Owl manages to distinguish itself in a genre saturated by competitors. By embracing a pulled back POV, leaning into platforming, and surrounding its core mechanics with polished aesthetics, Monster Theater has delivered a title that’s worth exploring for players craving a bit of divergence. It’s not a reinvention of metroidvania formula, but it’s a sharp reminder that a few creative risks are as welcome as a new spring plumage.

Armed with a quartet of spells, Nobeta is one-witch-army, prepped to take down a castleful of antagonists. The presence of stamina and mana gauges means that the game draws from Souls-like formula. But this little enchantress offers more than your usual swing- and slugfest, extending the energy of a solid third-person shooter.

If you’re seeking a unique roguelike, look no further than Ninja or Die. Runs are split between soaring across the screen and managing your inventory, which might seem like a dissonant approach. But that kind of creativity is overflowing in Nao Games’ inaugural outing, which is poised to become one of this summer’s sleeper hits.

Like any respectable first-person shooter, Phantom Fury provides some imaginative weaponry. Outside of the middling firefights, the rest of the game is a chore built around bad design decisions. From hunts for colored-colored gate keys to scanning faux emails for passwords, most of Fury is either tiresome or tedious.

Space Adventure Cobra – The Awakening nails the look and swagger of Buichi Terasawa’s cult classic with slick anime cutscenes and a faithful retelling of the early series. Unfortunately, once control is handed over, clunky movement and overreliance on the Psychogun drag the adventure down.

At best, Ed-0: Zombie Uprising recalls those wonderfully offbeat PlayStation 2 titles that would intermittently emerge from Japan. Unapologetically janky, this is the interactive equivalent of a pulpy B-movie, with ambitions that obviously outstrip the game’s budget.

With its skeletal tutorial and complex supervisory tasks, venturing into Pro Cycling Manager 2024 can be overwhelming. Undoubtedly, this is an experience suited for the statistically obsessed, who find enjoyment in seeing their decisions potentially garner advantages. As with simulations this sophisticated, there’s some unfortunate jank, which is perplexing for a franchise that is nearly two decades old.

Parcel Corps is a game with a dozen good ideas and two underdeveloped ones. Although playing as a bike courier delivers some moments, unreliable physics and using your awkward in-game phone weakens the enjoyment associated with jumping, wall-riding, and stunting through cell-shaded environments.

Look past the game’s beguiling ‘arts and crafts’-inspired visuals and Ufouria: The Saga 2 is woefully unmarkable. Exploration, combat, and the game’s dialog are all just adequate, rarely producing the kind of enjoyment delivered by Ufouria 2’s peers. 33 years in the making, Sunsoft’s follow-up is tragically unessential.

Instead of a confident stride forward, Neptunia: Sisters vs Sisters demonstrates Idea Factory’s franchise taking another peculiar sidestep. The result is an experience that delivers amusing writing, but combat is clumsy and bolstered by overbloated systems. While the spin-off is one of the property’s better digressions, you'll probably yearn for the proficiency Neptunia’s mainline entries deliver.

Dreams of Another is a gorgeous, surreal stroll through the subconscious, where gunfire builds worlds instead of tearing them down. But beneath its mesmerizing visuals and soothing soundscape, the fragmented story and hollow characters make it feel more like a half-remembered dream than a game you’ll want to linger in.

Twelve years after the original release, this port of Toy Soldiers feels a bit dated. Sure, there’s some mild gratification found in gunning down the game’s mechanical infantry. But between the infuriatingly resistant bosses and the negligible improvements, you’ll want to think twice before enlisting.

As a collaboration between FuRyu and Natsume Atari, Reynatis is crammed with interesting ideas. But like a chef who couldn’t resist holding back on the number of ingredients, the result is a muddled mess. An action RPG starring oppressed wizards has potential, but Reynatis waters down its ambitions under a layer of ununified mechanics.

Varlet delivers some sharp psychological commentary about an always-online generation, but it too often buries them beneath tedious combat and filler tasks. With the story and themes are engaging, if you’re hoping for a Persona-level experience, expected to be frustrated by the game’s conspicuously uneven execution.

Once you’ve mastered the fine art of aquarium design, the game evolves into a tycoon sim. Here, the relaxing pacing gives way to a bit more urgency, as you ensure that everything in your garage is ready for sale by the time the crowds trickle in. Fortunately, the easy jazz soundtrack can calm any worked-up nerves. Like Cruise Ship Manager, you’ll notice a fair amount of bugs and oddities, but given the affordable price point, some of the jank is forgivable.

Shooting Insight’s four kinds of shooting are mostly tolerable. But the inability to freely shift modes and the rather dull enemy attack patterns will make for muted enjoyment by hardcore Macross fans.

Dust & Neon provides some engaging twin-stick firefights across its fifteen-minute missions. Between the taut pace and tight play, this is an above-average action-roguelike mainly undermined by above-average pricing.

Fans of Compile Heart’s quirky charms are likely to be enamored by Calamity Angels: Special Delivery’s dialog and characterization. Although combat grows repetitive long before the final credits, a whimsical entry in the RPG space is always welcome.

Unconventionality in gaming is gradually being devalued, replaced by overly sanitized, painfully generic efforts. But venturing through Kingdom Connect’s seven continents delivers a much-needed dose of nonconformity. Across that quest, you might even run into a hairdresser willing to change your appearance. Anyone who misses the era when cosmetics weren’t sold for actual money, is likely to have time with Dokapon’s wonderful weirdness.

Yars Rising delivers a notable deviation from the original Atari 2600 title. Here, Howard Scott Warshaw’s classic is imaged as a hacking mini-game placed inside a metroidvania adventure. While these transitory throwbacks and their variations are absorbing, the principal play between them is too lifeless.

Samurai Maiden is at its best when the game depicts a gentle caress or two hands demurely interlocked. But between those moments of heartfelt affection are long stretches of tepid action, which flirt with frustration across the game’s final hours.

Yasha: Legends of the Demon Blade dazzles with its ukiyo-e-inspired visuals, character-specific narratives, and customizable combat, offering a vibrant roguelite that’s rooted in a mythologized Edo-period Japan. However, repetitive level design and uneven difficulty spikes, dull its blade over time.

Lone Ruin is the equivalent of one of those mediocre made-for-Netflix films. It looks good and offers some unexceptional action but nearly everything here feels copped from superior works. Factor in an extremely short running time and you’re better served with one of the many other twin-stick roguelikes on the market.

Disregard the reviewers who can’t appreciate a bit of horndog humor- Mugen Souls Z is routinely funny. The downside is the occasional sections between the snickers, with conversations that sporadically drag.

A reoccurring goal in the Hyperdimension Neptunia series is saving gaming from imminent disaster. But ironically, Neptunia Game Maker R:Evolution demonstrates some of the same ailments of the gaming industry, with a lazy spin off built around salvaged concepts and sloppy combat. Undoubtedly, Nep Nep and the rest of the Guardian Goddesses deserve far better.

Wreckreation captures flashes of Burnout’s celebrated, high-speed chaos, but too often crumbles under the weight of its own ambition. Its playground of racing and destruction can be stimulating in short bursts. But underneath the hood, technical hiccups, uneven design, and the lack of crash junctions restrain any high-octane potential.

Nitro Kid can be an enjoyable, roguelike deckbuilder, but don’t expect the urge of “just one more run” to hit as hard as its contemporaries.

With its explanations of the Turing Test and machine learning, QUALIA ~The Path of Promise~ offers more than just a basic tale of love between man and machine. Although the first two hours can be a bit dull, the visual novel’s central relationship is tenderly written, allowing for a few wholehearted moments.

Robots at Midnight delivers striking visuals and moody soundtrack, making its world feel like a playable animated film. Unfortunately, shallow, repetitive combat and simple storytelling make the journey feel more like a chore than a rousing adventure.

Dead Dragons has most of the fundamentals of a role-playing game but lacks the ambition that elevates the genre’s better efforts.

Effectively, Rose & Camellia Collection is an assemblage of five of the series’ six games with Joy-con play and a two-player competitive mode patched in. While the decision to preserve the now-defunct Flash games is reasonable, it feels like the publisher should have expanded the games. Inserting the catfights around an expanded visual novel would have nurtured a sense of tension and would have been a welcome supplement that would have helped justify the shift toward Rose & Camellia becoming a paid product.

Delightful visuals and rigid controls make Curse of the Sea Rats a decidedly uneven experience. The Don Bluth-looking animation is superb, which might be enough of a draw for some. But more particular players will be disappointed by conventional navigation and combat which is often a chore.

Critter Café first hour exudes coziness as you begin collecting creatures and decorate your modest coffee house. But soon, it becomes painfully apparent that the developers did not flesh out their designs. The next eleven hours are filled with routine sokoban puzzles, playing four basic mini-games, and seeing the game’s eponymous animals not do much of anything. Do not squander your time with this one.

Battles in Crown Wars: The Black Prince can be determined by minutiae. If you’ve properly kitted out your soldiers and created a well-balanced party, victory is always within reach. Likewise, if the game can mend some of its imperfections, success seems likely. As long as the Artefacts Studio’s battle plan involves a long-term commitment of listening to feedback and making necessary modifications, Crown Wars has the potential to become a minor hit.

Uncovering these sorceresses in strip Tetris-style matches is the real allure. But given the game’s pixel-art visual style and the simplicity of the falling block placement, the game ends up being nearly as silly as it is sexy.

A reoccurring goal in the Hyperdimension Neptunia series is saving gaming from imminent disaster. But ironically, Neptunia Game Maker R:Evolution demonstrates some of the real-life ailments of the industry, with a lazy spin off built around salvaged concepts and sloppy combat. Undoubtedly, Nep Nep and the rest of the Guardian Goddesses deserve far better.

Much like its lead character, Death end re;Quest: Code Z commits a few missteps. From near-obliged grinding to stinginess with a key resource, you will encounter frustration nearly as often as witnessing one of the franchise’s Death Ends. Players with limited patience might be better off revisiting the previous two entries.

Hotel Barcelona is messy, weird, and sometimes downright frustrating, but that’s exactly what you’d expect from Swery65 and Suda51 teaming up. It may lack polish, yet its eccentric charms and grindhouse style make it a ride worth getting on.

Adventure Academia: The Fractured Continent’s storytelling might not be exceptional but it’s hard to find deep fault any of the game’s other attributes. Art is eye-catching and alluring, while traditional instrumentation offers a treat for the ears. But the most remarkable element is the game’s RTS-style battles, which offer an appreciated break from the norm.

Snow Bros. 2 Special’s inclusion of new character with distinct abilities is an improvement, while the smoothed-out visuals are more of a lateral shift. Less successful are the extensions to boss battles and modes that offer only a modicum of difference.

Even if you adore C-tier action titles like Wet, Total Overdose: A Gunslinger's Tale in Mexico, and Stranglehold, Wanted: Dead will disappoint. The cutscenes are torturously bad and the derivative action is monotonous. Not even a collection of quirky mini-games can help save this ill-fated hack-and-slash/shooter hybrid.

With its roots in text-based simulations like Hamurabi, Princess Maker 2 remains a relic from game’s past. As such, some might not perceive the allure of a child-rearing simulation were players balance dozens of variables, so that their heir finds success. But for those who remember when gaming was young and experimental might find Regeneration’s decision-making engaging. You might raise a debutante or a delinquent but either way, the detail of the simulation is beguiling.

Elrentaros Wanderings’ core tension comes from its depiction of parallel worlds and the uncertainty of which one is real. But time spent in both realms proves uninteresting, with monotonous combat in one and insubstantial exposition in the other. There’s a very real sense of dread when the game asks you to repeatedly descend into its insipid dungeons.

Lackluster role-playing combined with exploit-laden five-on-five matches means that Soccer Story is a substandard contender.

Sadly, Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs: The Thrilling Steamy Maze Kiwami is neither naughty nor novel enough to recommend. While fans of the manga or anime might be tempted to go dungeoneering with ghosts, ninjas, and cat-girls, the Mystery Dungeon-style gameplay is too derivative.

Sacred 2 Remaster smooths out some of the original’s worst technical issues, but it still can’t quite rein in all the chaos that made the game infamous. Sure, it’s the best way to revisit Ancaria, but you’ll still need plenty of patience.

Too often, Solar Crown embodies what’s wrong with the modern racer. Sure, the cars are meticulously modeled and even have working windows. But these minutiae matter little when fundamentals like a fluid framerate and the ability to race offline are absent. Sadly, the latest entry in the Test Drive Unlimited franchise struggles to match the competency of decade-old racers.

While technically competent, Bloodhound offers few reasons for giving its tedious single player campaign a try. You’ve used all its guns and protagonist abilities before. Defeating waves of foes in cramped arenas isn’t worth revisiting unless there’s a modicum of innovation.

Sadly, Neptunia Riders VS Dogoos feels more like an expanded mini-game rather than a fleshed-out experience. Given the franchise’s reference-filled saga, it would be great to see the cast star bring their banter to action games. But here, there’s not enough style or substance to hold attention spans for more than a few hours.

Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader delivers some of Owlcat’s strongest writing, meaningful player choice, and smartly streamlined turn-based combat, making it an excellent fit for the grimdark 40K universe. But a shaky Switch 2 port weighed down by performance issues and lingering bugs undermine those ambitions, resulting in an ambitious CRPG that feels rough on Nintendo hardware.

Commendably, The Kodansha Game Creator’s Lab pays developers 10 million yen a year to develop games. It would be great to see a program like this succeed, but if the results are as bad as Fairy Tail: Beach Volleyball Havok, the publisher should just call the program, “marketing”. This is a seven-dollar, slightly playable advertisement that would have been free a decade ago.

Everyone’s favorite otaku-dad returns for another bout of hyper-kinetic boss butchery. While Suda51’s impish charms continue to delight, performing menial tasks isn’t quite as comical anymore.

It’s been seven long years since the last entry in the fault series. While much has changed in the world, fault – StP – LIGHTKRAVTE delivers the same kind of heartfelt payoff it did in 2015. Only now, the presentation is approaching top-tier.

With dual weapons systems right out of Taito’s Ray series and visuals that resemble PC Engine classics, Moon Dancer should delight fans of retro shooters.

Orbital Bullet is undoubtedly a novel roguelike action-shooter. But the frustration overpowers the sense of fun as enemy attacks become relentless in subsequent stages.

Game Type DX is the shoot ‘em up equivalent of an indie pop-punk album. It’s succinct, spirited, and aims a middle finger at the suits. Best of all, it’s priced at six dollars.

Hatsune Miku Logic Paint S offers a sizable collection of puzzles and the lure of a serenade by the twin-tailed songstress. For vocaloid fans, that privilege will probably push the game toward requisite stratus. But just make sure you have a controller handy. Apparently, Miku doesn’t like mice.

The Rumble Fish 2 is a dishearteningly barebones port of the arcade game, lacking modern conveniences like lobbies, and being able to play in the original aspect ratio. Given the price (and the decision to resell characters included in the original game), you’ll want to think twice before getting into this fight.

The Crackpet Show offers respectable roguelike action for up to four cooperative players. But the game’s real strength is its send-up of reality television, depicting mutant animals engaging in fierce firefights to earn social media likes.

Please Be Happy employs the perspective of a solitary fox girl to examine the callousness and kindness of the human spirit. In Studio Élan’s talented hands, the method is a stirring success, filled with evocative prose, stunning visuals, and a skillful soundtrack.

Using a lightning gun to tackle an armada of antagonistic robots is entertaining for a few hours. But unlike most contemporary takes on arcade action, the gameplay doesn’t evolve enough to sustain long-term appeal.

The major publishers have seemingly abandoned the thrills of vehicular mayhem. Turbo Sloths revisits the chaotic sub-genre, providing the control of oversized asphalt rollers with jet engines strapped to them. The result is a bit unpolished but curious and compelling enough to occupy a few weekends.

Beyond the adorable 3D character models Frontier Hunter: Erza's Wheel of Fortune doesn’t do much to evolve the genre. If you are ok with that, expect a normative blend of action and exploration, augmented by light cooking and crafting components. [Early Access Provisional Score = 73]

With an oddball mix of volleyball and gunplay, Hyper Gunsport absolutely shines with in-person groups. As a single-player experience without any online capability, other audiences won’t enjoy the same level of engagement, especially with a restrained number of teams and incentives.

If you missed the original, let Graze Counter GM send you through a mostly manageable bullet hell. While it’s a brief trek, with different modes, unlockable ships, and even a quirky bonus game, this is a solid value for fans of the genre.

Although Wings of Bluestar’s difficulty can waver and play can be visually bewildering, there are some solid mechanics in Shinu Real Art's debut shoot-‘em-up. It’s the kind of labor of love that doesn’t quite hit the mark but is deserving of a refined sequel.

Comprised of a base game and a rebalanced follow-up that didn’t add much innovation, this isn't a deep anthology. But Breakers Collection's fighting remain appealing 27 years later thanks to mechanics that are accessible to newcomers while fulfilling to those with more fighting game experience.

Boasting two additional stages that weren’t present in the arcade version, a trio of playable ships, and a gratifying alternative soundtrack, Raiden IV x MIKADO remix is a winner that should satisfy STG fans, especially if you don’t own the previous release.

Look past Alice Escaped’s adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s nonsensical dialog, and you’ll find an expedition that’s worth taking, even in a crowded genre. A pair of tag-team characters and the freedom of being able to select your own new abilities endow the trek with distinction. But it’s the visual beauty that truly elevates illuCalab’s latest effort. This is one of the most magnificent depictions of Wonderland.

Like A-Train 3D: City Simulator, I am an Air Traffic Controller - AIRPORT HERO HANEDA is another thorny transit sim set in the land of the Raising Sun. It’s not for everyone, but if you appreciate semi-realistic assessments where hundreds of lives depend on your decision-making skills, then you'll want to book some time Haneda.

Some might take issue with Tiny Troopers: Global Ops’ vague stereotypes or its glorification of war. The real problem is the simplicity of the game, where you’ll face eight hours of near-continuous circle strafing. It’s incentivized by a multitude of upgrades, which not be enough of an incentive for enlistment.

From capturing monsters on the battlefield to producing heirs back at home, Record of Agarest War is an eccentric epic. Five generations of characters will do the fighting while your dialog responses help determine the qualities of your offspring, offer some novelty to an unevenly paced 140 to 160-hour campaign.

Catan- Console Edition does a decent job at adapting the game into a digital format, offering a high-definition sheen to the tabletop classic. Expect a serviceable base game that’s elevated when facing off again humans. Given the lack of any campaign or unlockables, playing against CPU-controlled opponents might give you a case of island fever.

Caverns of Mars: Recharged lingers on the low-end of Atari revivals. SneakyBox adds in elements like different types of weaponry and the ability to slow your descent, but none of these profoundly expand on a rather basic formula.

With an adorable cast and near-perfect performance, Alice Gear Aegis CS Concerto of Simulatrix makes a stunning visual showing on the Switch. But the graphical beauty isn’t tantalizing enough to disguise the game’s gacha roots. Mechanized maiden battles aren’t well balanced, resulting in little more than a grind for cute costumes.

Without a set of mock instruments, rhythm games don’t always capture the feel of musical performance. Spin Rhythm XD resists that trends with an innovative control scheme that might have your sliding mice or flicking the analog stick - providing a physicality that cadenced button tapping can lack. A 60-song EDM track list is a pleasant surprise given the asking price.

Likely, the road to revenge is lined with dozens of retries, as SIFU injects a bit of permadeath into its martial arts-driven brawling. But given the game's robust new Arenas mode, walking the warriors' path at least offers a compelling value, with the game's story augmented by a collection of challenges that reference some of the greatest moments in action movie history.

Tower defense games have grown a bit stagnant recently. Although Witch Explorer isn’t perfect, the game offers a curious blend of strategy and shooting. Customary for the genre, it’s grind-heavy, but not prohibitively. The perks you earn provide perceptible upgrades, justifying the extra exertion.

Before long, expanding your basic oceanic oil rig into a complex city grows tedious. That leaves random events to maintain interest, which is a short-term solution. When coupled with issues arising from the lackluster Switch port, that means you might want to pass on Drill Deal – Oil Tycoon’s offer of an offshore career.

A Light in the Dark’s central refrain is how unfair life can be. Although that might sound like a cheerless premise, the visual novel effectively cultivates the complicated emotional state of a hostage. Whether the writing was just that good or I bonded with my captors, I didn’t want my confinement to end.

Labyrinth of Zangetsu revisits the fundamentals of classical function crawling. Peer past the attractive ink-wash-styled visuals and you’ll find an experience that’s a faithful adaptation of board gaming with graph paper and pencil. Largely, this should satisfy purists looking for a timeless crawl where a deluge of crits are ready to punish the imprudent.

Whether played solo or with two non-compulsory local partners, Trinity Trigger channels the enjoyment of a ‘90s-era action role-playing game. From interacting with each town’s NPCs to delving into dungeons, almost every part of the game distills a sense of enjoyment.

While the fashionably-dressed gents will grab your attention, a respectable rendition of Breakout will maintain it for a few hours. Given Otoko Cross: Pretty Boys Breakup’s reasonable price, the game is an easy recommendation for those attracted to brick smashing or the game’s line-up of heartbreakers.

Adventuring through Abalon will allow you to flex your strategic prowess without taxing your cognitive abilities. Factor in a massive deck of collectible cards as well as an inventory of playable characters that can conquer gridded battlefields, and there’s the potential to maintain a player’s interest for quite a while.

While Murtop probably won’t mesmerize over marathon sessions, it’s an inexpensively priced experience that is perfect for brief playtimes. Anyone with a tenderness for the coin-op era should immediately make Murtop a part of their collection.

Trials of Kokoro is an ambitious blend of visual novel and turn-based battling. Fans of the former component might find a bit of frustration. But those who appreciate when role-playing combat delves into buffs and weaknesses will want to undertake this trial.

Thwarting disaster through the cultivation of social bonds is a promising idea, as Makoto Shinkai and the Persona series have demonstrated. While Loop8: Summer of Gods transports port us to rural Japan, circa 1983, it does little with either the context or concept. The result is an unsatisfying time cycle that delivers few role-playing rewards and few characters worthy of truly caring about.

At present, the game is lacking polish and the potential to be a scumbag. Yet there’s enjoyment to be had when your ship is gliding along smoothly and a fire breaks out below deck. As such, those without patience will want to wait for a deep discount before sailing the simulated seas.