Psientologist
They actually did it.
I am certain that I wasn’t alone in the build up to Tears of the Kingdom’s release in feeling hesitant, concerned, possibly even scared that Nintendo would trip over this hurdle, that making a sequel to what many people consider the greatest game of all time and even the people who (for some reason) felt Breath of the Wild was overrated couldn’t deny had a huge impact on games and how we see them, both from the perspective of players and developers.
Could Nintendo catch lightning in a bottle twice? Would revisiting an existing Hyrule simply feel like a retread or just some big DLC?
How would they, how could they possibly improve on the exploration, the mechanics, the magic that the Switch game which sold more copies than machines had done?
Capturing the magic is a term that I have seen floating around before and since TOTK’s release, like so much about this game and games in general that “magic” is subjective.
To me it was an impossibility to capture the same magic BOTW did simply because so much of that magic was tied into the launch of the Nintendo Switch for many of it’s early adopters, myself included.
My stand on magic being captured is Nintendo succeeded, it is not “that” magic but a new variation on it - the romantic in me wants to describe it like falling in love again, the depressed anxious part of me feels it is best compared to when you get a new pet after a previous one has passed.
Exploring TOTK’s Hyrule, even on the land level feels similar yet different.
You discover new exciting things on it, rediscover parts you may have forgotten or were always a favourite, sometimes you learn new things or have your perspective changed.
A lot of work has been put into the game to not make it just be a revisit. The sky islands add a plethora of extra exploration and great discoveries as well as a beautiful new view of Hyrule as you fall in from above.
The depths give Tears a darker side whilst being its own new type of investigation and all three of the layers do a wonderful job of symbiotically aiding each other in discoveries and progressions.
Mechanically the headline act is Ultrahand, it is almost like Nintendo saw all the crazy glitches and extreme modes of travel people had been sharing since BOTWs release and went “hold my beer”.
Ultrahand opens up creativity if you want it, great new puzzle mechanics that for me improve the overall enjoyment of shrines and most importantly more ways to explore.
Breath of the Wild allowing you to “climb anything” was so freeing, but being able to make some sort of air contraption has taken that one step beyond and it’s incredible.
Ultrahand may be the headline, the lead act of Link’s new abilities and cool new style but the ability that impresses me the most is Ascend.
Link being able to fly upwards and through terrain is not only a great way to help vertical traversal but it is simply a wild feat. When we were given previews I assumed ascend would be very limited, a modern day clawshot to be used only on very specific spaces, the places and depth in which it can be used however is astounding.
BOTW’s Sheikah Slate powers were and still are great but the powers in TOTK are greater, they’re more diverse, more impressive and honestly, just more fun.
When coming to talk about Tears in any form, be it writing this “review” or chatting with friends I don’t want to just gush about how good it is, it has to be compared to one of the best games ever and as an unfair task as that is that means that even the most minor issues need to be looked at and compared.
In a lot of my reviews I speak about friction, the sense of how easy it is to slide into a game, take the wheels, feel part of a world, become immersed and not be fighting against it. Be that via systems, graphics, options, mechanics, and TOTK is by no means a completely frictionless experience.
To point out many of these faults is the equivalent to saying a meal has a single grain of salt too many, the controls definitely feel strange, even with options to swap them and some of the menus (especially Fuse) are not as intuitive as you may expect. All of this however is so easy to forgive because it becomes second nature - the line “it gets good 30 hours in” is typically a terrible one that is often used in games but TOTK is not meant to be a short experience and getting comfortable becoming Link is something that will eventually come to most people.
A lot of the friction or discomfort in the controls, combinations and powers to me are a funny one, because essentially - it’s too good.
TOTK’s issue is that it “loves too much”. BOTW was so big that the only way to ever attempt to top it was throw everything at this game and sometimes that can mean the player is a little overwhelmed with not only their freedom in discovery and traversal but their discoveries in powers and just everything they can do. In that sense TOTK really is a sequel, Breath’s walking and crawling becomes Tear’s running and leaping and sometimes that comes before the player feels ready.
While continuing the extremely obvious comparison of this game to its former, one thing that comes to mind is once again the complaints that bonafide masterpiece Breath of the Wild did receive.
I will state here that weapon degradation was never bad, still isn’t and anyone who thinks otherwise shows little understanding in its genius, that conversation has continued for six years and will continue onwards and I do not want to give too much air to it within this review.
I will say however, something that may appease the degradation haters, the Master Sword doesn’t feel cool and powerful enough.
The more interesting and understandable issues with Breath of the Wild centered around dungeons, temples and how Divine Beasts and Shrines don’t compare positively in all aspects.
This is another six year old discussion, one about structure, personal preferences, the amount a game should lead and what makes a Zelda game. Cowardly I will not be writing about all of that because it is too much but I can see and understand many points of view.
The comparison now comes to be; how are TOTK’s shrines and temples versus BOTW’s and not only are they better but do they bring back any of that “classic Zelda” to this game.
Shrines are a shorter and simpler answer, I think Tears edges it here just because its powers are more interesting and the spread of the shrines and how you access them tends to be a little more interesting, the difference really though I feel is miniscule.
Temples in comparison to the Divine Beasts is a much more interesting and diverse answer.
I will say here that right at this very moment I believe I preferred the Temples by the smallest of margins, and I will also say now that I was never a Divine Beast disliker.
Both games do a very good job of not only making these much more vast and epic feeling places of puzzles and occasional fighting but both have absolutely fantastic lead ups which in many cases are the more memorable and enjoyable bits.
I can’t go through each on a case by case in detail because I can’t possibly spoil and take away the magic for people but I would say what the temples have in their favour is a much greater sense of variety and typically more interesting and exciting boss battles.
The Divine Beasts however felt more consistent in their enjoyment, some of the temples are far worse than others where the Beasts were on a fairly similar quality level.
Ranking them all would be a headache but I can foresee it being a somewhat sandwich like structure with Tears being to top and bottom crusts.
My final comparison and somewhat the final thoughts I have on these two Legends of Zelda are the stories.
Tears may be a little overwhelming for players but where it does handhold a little more is in its story and side objectives but by taking your hand it shows you some much more memorable and exciting scenes.
I enjoyed the plot that ran through BOTW and the final boss battles were great but TOTK has taken it to a much higher level. The plot, where it goes, its twists and turns are far more thought provoking and caused many more scenes where my mouth was agape or I was cheering at my screen.
Some of this ties back to bosses, some of this is simply down to cut scenes and a lot is down to vision and scope for me; Tears of the Kingdom just piques Breath of the Wild for me and that is down to the narrative and cinematic presentation it wraps it all up in.
The difference is so small. They are both 5 star games, 10/10’s but maybe one is a 97 percent while the other is 98.
They’re the two best presents you got at Christmas and TOTK takes the lead because the wrapping was just a little tidier.
I am certain that I wasn’t alone in the build up to Tears of the Kingdom’s release in feeling hesitant, concerned, possibly even scared that Nintendo would trip over this hurdle, that making a sequel to what many people consider the greatest game of all time and even the people who (for some reason) felt Breath of the Wild was overrated couldn’t deny had a huge impact on games and how we see them, both from the perspective of players and developers.
Could Nintendo catch lightning in a bottle twice? Would revisiting an existing Hyrule simply feel like a retread or just some big DLC?
How would they, how could they possibly improve on the exploration, the mechanics, the magic that the Switch game which sold more copies than machines had done?
Capturing the magic is a term that I have seen floating around before and since TOTK’s release, like so much about this game and games in general that “magic” is subjective.
To me it was an impossibility to capture the same magic BOTW did simply because so much of that magic was tied into the launch of the Nintendo Switch for many of it’s early adopters, myself included.
My stand on magic being captured is Nintendo succeeded, it is not “that” magic but a new variation on it - the romantic in me wants to describe it like falling in love again, the depressed anxious part of me feels it is best compared to when you get a new pet after a previous one has passed.
Exploring TOTK’s Hyrule, even on the land level feels similar yet different.
You discover new exciting things on it, rediscover parts you may have forgotten or were always a favourite, sometimes you learn new things or have your perspective changed.
A lot of work has been put into the game to not make it just be a revisit. The sky islands add a plethora of extra exploration and great discoveries as well as a beautiful new view of Hyrule as you fall in from above.
The depths give Tears a darker side whilst being its own new type of investigation and all three of the layers do a wonderful job of symbiotically aiding each other in discoveries and progressions.
Mechanically the headline act is Ultrahand, it is almost like Nintendo saw all the crazy glitches and extreme modes of travel people had been sharing since BOTWs release and went “hold my beer”.
Ultrahand opens up creativity if you want it, great new puzzle mechanics that for me improve the overall enjoyment of shrines and most importantly more ways to explore.
Breath of the Wild allowing you to “climb anything” was so freeing, but being able to make some sort of air contraption has taken that one step beyond and it’s incredible.
Ultrahand may be the headline, the lead act of Link’s new abilities and cool new style but the ability that impresses me the most is Ascend.
Link being able to fly upwards and through terrain is not only a great way to help vertical traversal but it is simply a wild feat. When we were given previews I assumed ascend would be very limited, a modern day clawshot to be used only on very specific spaces, the places and depth in which it can be used however is astounding.
BOTW’s Sheikah Slate powers were and still are great but the powers in TOTK are greater, they’re more diverse, more impressive and honestly, just more fun.
When coming to talk about Tears in any form, be it writing this “review” or chatting with friends I don’t want to just gush about how good it is, it has to be compared to one of the best games ever and as an unfair task as that is that means that even the most minor issues need to be looked at and compared.
In a lot of my reviews I speak about friction, the sense of how easy it is to slide into a game, take the wheels, feel part of a world, become immersed and not be fighting against it. Be that via systems, graphics, options, mechanics, and TOTK is by no means a completely frictionless experience.
To point out many of these faults is the equivalent to saying a meal has a single grain of salt too many, the controls definitely feel strange, even with options to swap them and some of the menus (especially Fuse) are not as intuitive as you may expect. All of this however is so easy to forgive because it becomes second nature - the line “it gets good 30 hours in” is typically a terrible one that is often used in games but TOTK is not meant to be a short experience and getting comfortable becoming Link is something that will eventually come to most people.
A lot of the friction or discomfort in the controls, combinations and powers to me are a funny one, because essentially - it’s too good.
TOTK’s issue is that it “loves too much”. BOTW was so big that the only way to ever attempt to top it was throw everything at this game and sometimes that can mean the player is a little overwhelmed with not only their freedom in discovery and traversal but their discoveries in powers and just everything they can do. In that sense TOTK really is a sequel, Breath’s walking and crawling becomes Tear’s running and leaping and sometimes that comes before the player feels ready.
While continuing the extremely obvious comparison of this game to its former, one thing that comes to mind is once again the complaints that bonafide masterpiece Breath of the Wild did receive.
I will state here that weapon degradation was never bad, still isn’t and anyone who thinks otherwise shows little understanding in its genius, that conversation has continued for six years and will continue onwards and I do not want to give too much air to it within this review.
I will say however, something that may appease the degradation haters, the Master Sword doesn’t feel cool and powerful enough.
The more interesting and understandable issues with Breath of the Wild centered around dungeons, temples and how Divine Beasts and Shrines don’t compare positively in all aspects.
This is another six year old discussion, one about structure, personal preferences, the amount a game should lead and what makes a Zelda game. Cowardly I will not be writing about all of that because it is too much but I can see and understand many points of view.
The comparison now comes to be; how are TOTK’s shrines and temples versus BOTW’s and not only are they better but do they bring back any of that “classic Zelda” to this game.
Shrines are a shorter and simpler answer, I think Tears edges it here just because its powers are more interesting and the spread of the shrines and how you access them tends to be a little more interesting, the difference really though I feel is miniscule.
Temples in comparison to the Divine Beasts is a much more interesting and diverse answer.
I will say here that right at this very moment I believe I preferred the Temples by the smallest of margins, and I will also say now that I was never a Divine Beast disliker.
Both games do a very good job of not only making these much more vast and epic feeling places of puzzles and occasional fighting but both have absolutely fantastic lead ups which in many cases are the more memorable and enjoyable bits.
I can’t go through each on a case by case in detail because I can’t possibly spoil and take away the magic for people but I would say what the temples have in their favour is a much greater sense of variety and typically more interesting and exciting boss battles.
The Divine Beasts however felt more consistent in their enjoyment, some of the temples are far worse than others where the Beasts were on a fairly similar quality level.
Ranking them all would be a headache but I can foresee it being a somewhat sandwich like structure with Tears being to top and bottom crusts.
My final comparison and somewhat the final thoughts I have on these two Legends of Zelda are the stories.
Tears may be a little overwhelming for players but where it does handhold a little more is in its story and side objectives but by taking your hand it shows you some much more memorable and exciting scenes.
I enjoyed the plot that ran through BOTW and the final boss battles were great but TOTK has taken it to a much higher level. The plot, where it goes, its twists and turns are far more thought provoking and caused many more scenes where my mouth was agape or I was cheering at my screen.
Some of this ties back to bosses, some of this is simply down to cut scenes and a lot is down to vision and scope for me; Tears of the Kingdom just piques Breath of the Wild for me and that is down to the narrative and cinematic presentation it wraps it all up in.
The difference is so small. They are both 5 star games, 10/10’s but maybe one is a 97 percent while the other is 98.
They’re the two best presents you got at Christmas and TOTK takes the lead because the wrapping was just a little tidier.
There’s something to having a vision, a style you can call your own and consistently executing it time and time again which I find impressive.
Rusty Lake have built and executed the release of a dozen or so point and click, escape room-like games and to do so all since 2015 is no mean feat.
This collection of nine games is an excellent showing in the exact Twin Peaks, like creepy story telling and freaky puzzle logic they love and the connections between what are in their own rights nine separate short games is a solid bit of storytelling and universe building.
There is no denying that there is value in this package, price is not something that I feel should always be mentioned speaking about any art form but at just a little more than 50p a pop each game is not leaving you ever feeling short-changed and definitely worth highlighting.
As you would expect though, to have so many games in such a short period of time and available at such low prices the quality isn’t particularly high.
The art assets are nice enough and the horror effects can range for good to laughable, connecting this Rusty Lake Universe also reuses assets a lot, although I think smart asset reuse is something to typically be praised.
I use the word typically there because sadly I think with each of these nine adventures it’s on a case by case basis.
I won’t even try to fill this review with nine separate reviews, grades or even lists (we do love lists online) but I will say at its highest peaks I could see imagine having bought a game separately and felt pleased whilst at down in the valleys I find myself rolling my eyes, exclaiming “I’ve seen this before” and almost falling into the classic Internet trap of calling Rusty Lake “lazy devs”.
Between the nine games there are some smart puzzles, good sequences and also intelligent uses of callbacks. In some however there is pixel hunting, complete nonsense logic and crap attempts at jump scares.
When I review anything, although as I said earlier monetary value is not the deciding factor on where I rate something, I ask myself “would I recommend this” and even at a fiver being extremely poor myself I do have to question it deeply.
If you’ve played any of the other singular titles from this developer and enjoyed them enough this is a great collection and I had a better time with them than some of the individual games of theirs I had played previously.
If you’ve not then it’s down to how much you think you click with “Twin Peaks vibes”, the quotation marks doing a lot of heavy lifting.
For me, more often than not that “vibe” came across more “zany and kooky” with touches of teenage edge which at its worst affected not only the story but also the gameplay negatively.
Overall, the Cube Escape Collection is great value and if you want some simple little puzzles to pass the time then give it a go, I was say it’s good-enough.
Also, at least it's better than that White Door one.
Rusty Lake have built and executed the release of a dozen or so point and click, escape room-like games and to do so all since 2015 is no mean feat.
This collection of nine games is an excellent showing in the exact Twin Peaks, like creepy story telling and freaky puzzle logic they love and the connections between what are in their own rights nine separate short games is a solid bit of storytelling and universe building.
There is no denying that there is value in this package, price is not something that I feel should always be mentioned speaking about any art form but at just a little more than 50p a pop each game is not leaving you ever feeling short-changed and definitely worth highlighting.
As you would expect though, to have so many games in such a short period of time and available at such low prices the quality isn’t particularly high.
The art assets are nice enough and the horror effects can range for good to laughable, connecting this Rusty Lake Universe also reuses assets a lot, although I think smart asset reuse is something to typically be praised.
I use the word typically there because sadly I think with each of these nine adventures it’s on a case by case basis.
I won’t even try to fill this review with nine separate reviews, grades or even lists (we do love lists online) but I will say at its highest peaks I could see imagine having bought a game separately and felt pleased whilst at down in the valleys I find myself rolling my eyes, exclaiming “I’ve seen this before” and almost falling into the classic Internet trap of calling Rusty Lake “lazy devs”.
Between the nine games there are some smart puzzles, good sequences and also intelligent uses of callbacks. In some however there is pixel hunting, complete nonsense logic and crap attempts at jump scares.
When I review anything, although as I said earlier monetary value is not the deciding factor on where I rate something, I ask myself “would I recommend this” and even at a fiver being extremely poor myself I do have to question it deeply.
If you’ve played any of the other singular titles from this developer and enjoyed them enough this is a great collection and I had a better time with them than some of the individual games of theirs I had played previously.
If you’ve not then it’s down to how much you think you click with “Twin Peaks vibes”, the quotation marks doing a lot of heavy lifting.
For me, more often than not that “vibe” came across more “zany and kooky” with touches of teenage edge which at its worst affected not only the story but also the gameplay negatively.
Overall, the Cube Escape Collection is great value and if you want some simple little puzzles to pass the time then give it a go, I was say it’s good-enough.
Also, at least it's better than that White Door one.
I am very glad that detective games, if we can count that as its own genre, continue to exist.
Exist but also innovate.
It is very easy to compare this title to Return of the Obra Dinn, which is a blessing and a curse.
It’s a blessing because Obra Dinn is a classic, a cult favourite and the type of game there isn’t much of so the people who want it, and I include myself among them, need whatever version of it they can get.
However the curse comes along because the comparisons mean that this will always feel “less than”, it will always be compared and it feels almost impossible to rate it purely on its own merits.
Less than greatness though is barely an insult though and Golden Idol at least tries to do things differently.
You’re not a character directly in a story but one piecing it together. You are just figuring who people are out, although a major factor, but finding evidence and words to piece together their stories.
Golden Idol is also quite funny, seeing these 18th century idiots fight, backstab, lie and deceive each other inks a wonderful tale that is ludicrous but also quite interesting.
As the game moves forwards through the different scenes you start seeing returning faces or notice connections from chapters prior and it does a good job to paint the world but also start you thinking about where it may end.
Sadly though not all chapters are created equal and some of them feel less of an advancement and more just, well, more.
I can’t help but continue to go back to the Obra Dinn comparisons and it pains me to be so blunt about what is a good game but it doesn’t have one factor of that comparison where it wins.
The comedy helps to keep them apart but boiling it down they’re too similar and Golden Idol is just not as good.
If it were just a case of aesthetics I couldn’t rate it so lowly, but the biggest and hardest thing to explain is the game “felt” much worse.
You’re not a detective as such in Golden Idol and honestly I think it hinders it, major parts of the puzzle I found I didn’t solve with detective-like logic but just plain grammar.
I want to feel like I’m a detective with these games, not that I’m looking back at one of these backloggd reviews and noticing I skipped a word or completely misspelt something.
As I said earlier though, the game is good and if you want a bit more of that Obra Dinn type of game in your life then grab this. There’s also recently been some DLC too.
Exist but also innovate.
It is very easy to compare this title to Return of the Obra Dinn, which is a blessing and a curse.
It’s a blessing because Obra Dinn is a classic, a cult favourite and the type of game there isn’t much of so the people who want it, and I include myself among them, need whatever version of it they can get.
However the curse comes along because the comparisons mean that this will always feel “less than”, it will always be compared and it feels almost impossible to rate it purely on its own merits.
Less than greatness though is barely an insult though and Golden Idol at least tries to do things differently.
You’re not a character directly in a story but one piecing it together. You are just figuring who people are out, although a major factor, but finding evidence and words to piece together their stories.
Golden Idol is also quite funny, seeing these 18th century idiots fight, backstab, lie and deceive each other inks a wonderful tale that is ludicrous but also quite interesting.
As the game moves forwards through the different scenes you start seeing returning faces or notice connections from chapters prior and it does a good job to paint the world but also start you thinking about where it may end.
Sadly though not all chapters are created equal and some of them feel less of an advancement and more just, well, more.
I can’t help but continue to go back to the Obra Dinn comparisons and it pains me to be so blunt about what is a good game but it doesn’t have one factor of that comparison where it wins.
The comedy helps to keep them apart but boiling it down they’re too similar and Golden Idol is just not as good.
If it were just a case of aesthetics I couldn’t rate it so lowly, but the biggest and hardest thing to explain is the game “felt” much worse.
You’re not a detective as such in Golden Idol and honestly I think it hinders it, major parts of the puzzle I found I didn’t solve with detective-like logic but just plain grammar.
I want to feel like I’m a detective with these games, not that I’m looking back at one of these backloggd reviews and noticing I skipped a word or completely misspelt something.
As I said earlier though, the game is good and if you want a bit more of that Obra Dinn type of game in your life then grab this. There’s also recently been some DLC too.
This review contains spoilers
In all my earlier reviews on this site I have avoided using the spoiler tag, typically I would like to explain why someone should consider playing or avoiding a game with my words.
I want to give my feelings but much like any aggregator I want to be able to give my friends a temperature of a title.
I cannot, however, and I am sure it is completely understandable, do that with some DLC for a story-based game.
If you want a TLDR that isn’t going to spoil anything; get this if you’ve played the others, don’t get this if you haven’t but please go grab Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition and start your own journey.
Xenoblade Chronicles as a “trilogy” is one of if not the game series that I love the most.
I use quotations because although I’m still yet to play one of the games with “Xenoblade Chronicles” in its title (X), it’s hard to look at the rest as a trilogy when much like Future Redeemed does, the other DLCs and extra content feel like games in their own right.
Future Redeemed has a tough job, a lot of responsibility in being the final piece of this more than a decade long saga.
It has a job that honestly is impossible; answering questions, tying up loose ends and giving a satisfying conclusion.
It is something that, for all I might not have found it perfect, it succeeds in doing and in about 20 hours.
The choice of telling the story of the city founders which in the main game we only really saw as statues that had some very interesting similarities to characters in the game and earlier ones, was equal parts obvious and a stroke of genius.
Having the game introduce us to the single lettered Consul we never met, A, and to tie them all the way back to Xenoblade 1 was also extremely smart.
Whilst I was left a little unsatisfied because I wanted the impossibility of knowing what everyone from the previous games had done, were doing etc. the ones it did give either directly in the case of the protagonists Shulk and Rex or via not-always-explicit-but-quite-obviously descendants in party members Nikol and Glimmer or even NPCs such as Linka and Panacea was fantastic.
This made side quests worth playing alone, the chase for just that slither of extra information, a line of dialogue or just more of a look because we’ve got this far, and we need to know.
I would never have played this and ignored the side quests but one small criticism I do have to make while I’m here is I don’t think tying character progression (in mechanics not story) to side quests so directly is the best design choice.
Torna was, for how amazing that DLC is too, even worse for this with gating you off from the main story until you’d done so many but I could see this DLC for someone who does want the primary narrative but that’s it, have a rough time without being able to give characters accessories, gems or even abilities because they’ve not adventured outside the story.
As far as a complaint I do realise it’s moot, as like myself I can assume that most people will be doing most if not all the extra content they can in this game, especially the side quests.
Speaking a little more on the characters, I don’t have the time or want to go through what I felt about every single one, but I would like to mention some key points which are mostly good but include a little bad.
The main six characters:
As far as a new protagonist goes Matthew is class, mechanically he’s interesting, he’s a great hang, has heart, brings comedy and brings together many interesting loose ends from the core game.
Glimmer and Nikol, I like. They reflect their parents in interesting ways, have really cool weapons and are a good extra bite of the Keves vs Agnus plot from the main game.
I never truly fell in love with them, design wise for sure, but character wise they are unfortunately shafted by being in a much shorter story that already has so many key characters the player wants to give attention to.
Speaking of which; Shulk and Rex especially are absolutely amazing in this.
Both have grown and become more badass and reflect not parents but parental or heroic figures in their lives from the 2 and 3.
While Shulk is still my favourite lead, Rex raises the bar for himself so much and in game is a total badass with the best introduction I think the entirety of Future Redeemed has, a proper fist pumping moment.
For me the weakest part of the characters were the antagonists.
I would never go as far to say any were terrible, I can even see how some have actually improved via context such as N but overall, to me this is the bit I felt was most “under baked”.
Na’el, a protagonist turned antagonist due to Alpha, has a direction that is understandable but although different feels too much of an echo of many characters from XC3 wanting an “endless now”.
Alpha wants to create a new world, not stay in the now or go back to the way things were but other than that statement of intent the feeling is always that they’re just there.
That they are more an objective, a place to go and to me it felt fairly hollow.
Na’el because they are so intrinsically tied with Alpha felt quite similar and much like Nikol and Glimmer are admittedly shafted by limited time.
We know they’re good with kids, they play piano, and they want a peaceful world but it’s all either hollow, vague or just comes across as a repeat.
I’ve had a good amount of time to think about these characters and their motives, how it ties in with the overall narrative and although I see it’s place and do respect it all more than I did when I was watching the credits roll I have not fully shaken the feeling that these characters were just a little too weak for me.
For complaints I might as well speak on the game mechanically and in the simplest terms, why I’m not rating this as high as I did Torna.
As if I need to say it again, this game is great. I enjoy the new version of the collectopedia, whilst I don’t like how progression is tied to side activities. I do like its version of leveling characters, especially considering the DLC’s length.
Also I actually think there’s an argument to say the whole Unity Skills and Combos part is better than the equivalent in the base game.
The element I miss the most however is the class systems and the amount of customisation and experimentation that could bring which Future Redeemed is lacking.
I say this though with an understanding that again, due to time constraints it would be wild to try and fit new versions of all that in and really would make Shulk and Rex - characters fans have already played as - feel less defined.
Overall, yes, my complaint amounts to “I prefer the base game’s mechanics” knowing it’s too much to ask from a 20 hour version of a 100 odd hour game.
However, Torna showed us that even with changing things due to restraints you can actually be better. I understand really, I’ve just elaborated on something which is at best critical opinion but more likely pointless feelings but that is where I land with this.
In the end I’m comparing something that is great to pure greatness.
Over time, like the winds, my opinions may change, and my personal rankings may slip and slide but so far this series they have stayed pretty locked in place.
Future Redeemed biggest weakness, if you can even call it that, is that it doesn’t succeed in the impossible.
It can’t be perfect, but it was satisfying, it was fun, it did answer many questions and recontextualise so many things (and I’m not even going to talk about the Xenosaga implications).
I have seen and can understand some people preferring this to the base game. I am not one of them, but I think I am with Xenoblade Chronicles 2.
If there is ever a review that I will go back to edit or do again it will probably be this. Just to further the stream of consciousness that is my feelings on a series I love.
I will end here though after typing well over a thousand words with what I would like from the future of this series.
I have already seen people over the internet clambering for X and/or ‘saga remakes.
I’m not opposed to that idea, but I want to see something new, more often than not it’s actually preferable for stories to have an ending.
They can be vague, open for interpretation and keep your imagination going but fresh starts, new stories and a lack of baggage of needing to be connected and make sense to dozens of the previous stories is superior.
I’d rather imagine not what is next for this universe but what Monolithsoft and Takahashi can do with a brand new one.
I want to give my feelings but much like any aggregator I want to be able to give my friends a temperature of a title.
I cannot, however, and I am sure it is completely understandable, do that with some DLC for a story-based game.
If you want a TLDR that isn’t going to spoil anything; get this if you’ve played the others, don’t get this if you haven’t but please go grab Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition and start your own journey.
Xenoblade Chronicles as a “trilogy” is one of if not the game series that I love the most.
I use quotations because although I’m still yet to play one of the games with “Xenoblade Chronicles” in its title (X), it’s hard to look at the rest as a trilogy when much like Future Redeemed does, the other DLCs and extra content feel like games in their own right.
Future Redeemed has a tough job, a lot of responsibility in being the final piece of this more than a decade long saga.
It has a job that honestly is impossible; answering questions, tying up loose ends and giving a satisfying conclusion.
It is something that, for all I might not have found it perfect, it succeeds in doing and in about 20 hours.
The choice of telling the story of the city founders which in the main game we only really saw as statues that had some very interesting similarities to characters in the game and earlier ones, was equal parts obvious and a stroke of genius.
Having the game introduce us to the single lettered Consul we never met, A, and to tie them all the way back to Xenoblade 1 was also extremely smart.
Whilst I was left a little unsatisfied because I wanted the impossibility of knowing what everyone from the previous games had done, were doing etc. the ones it did give either directly in the case of the protagonists Shulk and Rex or via not-always-explicit-but-quite-obviously descendants in party members Nikol and Glimmer or even NPCs such as Linka and Panacea was fantastic.
This made side quests worth playing alone, the chase for just that slither of extra information, a line of dialogue or just more of a look because we’ve got this far, and we need to know.
I would never have played this and ignored the side quests but one small criticism I do have to make while I’m here is I don’t think tying character progression (in mechanics not story) to side quests so directly is the best design choice.
Torna was, for how amazing that DLC is too, even worse for this with gating you off from the main story until you’d done so many but I could see this DLC for someone who does want the primary narrative but that’s it, have a rough time without being able to give characters accessories, gems or even abilities because they’ve not adventured outside the story.
As far as a complaint I do realise it’s moot, as like myself I can assume that most people will be doing most if not all the extra content they can in this game, especially the side quests.
Speaking a little more on the characters, I don’t have the time or want to go through what I felt about every single one, but I would like to mention some key points which are mostly good but include a little bad.
The main six characters:
As far as a new protagonist goes Matthew is class, mechanically he’s interesting, he’s a great hang, has heart, brings comedy and brings together many interesting loose ends from the core game.
Glimmer and Nikol, I like. They reflect their parents in interesting ways, have really cool weapons and are a good extra bite of the Keves vs Agnus plot from the main game.
I never truly fell in love with them, design wise for sure, but character wise they are unfortunately shafted by being in a much shorter story that already has so many key characters the player wants to give attention to.
Speaking of which; Shulk and Rex especially are absolutely amazing in this.
Both have grown and become more badass and reflect not parents but parental or heroic figures in their lives from the 2 and 3.
While Shulk is still my favourite lead, Rex raises the bar for himself so much and in game is a total badass with the best introduction I think the entirety of Future Redeemed has, a proper fist pumping moment.
For me the weakest part of the characters were the antagonists.
I would never go as far to say any were terrible, I can even see how some have actually improved via context such as N but overall, to me this is the bit I felt was most “under baked”.
Na’el, a protagonist turned antagonist due to Alpha, has a direction that is understandable but although different feels too much of an echo of many characters from XC3 wanting an “endless now”.
Alpha wants to create a new world, not stay in the now or go back to the way things were but other than that statement of intent the feeling is always that they’re just there.
That they are more an objective, a place to go and to me it felt fairly hollow.
Na’el because they are so intrinsically tied with Alpha felt quite similar and much like Nikol and Glimmer are admittedly shafted by limited time.
We know they’re good with kids, they play piano, and they want a peaceful world but it’s all either hollow, vague or just comes across as a repeat.
I’ve had a good amount of time to think about these characters and their motives, how it ties in with the overall narrative and although I see it’s place and do respect it all more than I did when I was watching the credits roll I have not fully shaken the feeling that these characters were just a little too weak for me.
For complaints I might as well speak on the game mechanically and in the simplest terms, why I’m not rating this as high as I did Torna.
As if I need to say it again, this game is great. I enjoy the new version of the collectopedia, whilst I don’t like how progression is tied to side activities. I do like its version of leveling characters, especially considering the DLC’s length.
Also I actually think there’s an argument to say the whole Unity Skills and Combos part is better than the equivalent in the base game.
The element I miss the most however is the class systems and the amount of customisation and experimentation that could bring which Future Redeemed is lacking.
I say this though with an understanding that again, due to time constraints it would be wild to try and fit new versions of all that in and really would make Shulk and Rex - characters fans have already played as - feel less defined.
Overall, yes, my complaint amounts to “I prefer the base game’s mechanics” knowing it’s too much to ask from a 20 hour version of a 100 odd hour game.
However, Torna showed us that even with changing things due to restraints you can actually be better. I understand really, I’ve just elaborated on something which is at best critical opinion but more likely pointless feelings but that is where I land with this.
In the end I’m comparing something that is great to pure greatness.
Over time, like the winds, my opinions may change, and my personal rankings may slip and slide but so far this series they have stayed pretty locked in place.
Future Redeemed biggest weakness, if you can even call it that, is that it doesn’t succeed in the impossible.
It can’t be perfect, but it was satisfying, it was fun, it did answer many questions and recontextualise so many things (and I’m not even going to talk about the Xenosaga implications).
I have seen and can understand some people preferring this to the base game. I am not one of them, but I think I am with Xenoblade Chronicles 2.
If there is ever a review that I will go back to edit or do again it will probably be this. Just to further the stream of consciousness that is my feelings on a series I love.
I will end here though after typing well over a thousand words with what I would like from the future of this series.
I have already seen people over the internet clambering for X and/or ‘saga remakes.
I’m not opposed to that idea, but I want to see something new, more often than not it’s actually preferable for stories to have an ending.
They can be vague, open for interpretation and keep your imagination going but fresh starts, new stories and a lack of baggage of needing to be connected and make sense to dozens of the previous stories is superior.
I’d rather imagine not what is next for this universe but what Monolithsoft and Takahashi can do with a brand new one.
Not offensively bad but for all the graphics, licensed music and first party Sony shine it has it just feels like a Poundshop Mario.
Most cases the licensed music isn't implemented all that well; Jungle Boogie being a good use but Uptown Funk being disappointing.
Sackboy feels too floaty, flutter jump as a mechanic often feels like a concession, as if they know the jumping doesn't feel right but it's actually double worse here as often the flutter jump doesn't work how it feels it should.
The melee seems hit and miss as do the enemy hit boxes, possibly a "skill issue" on my half but it doesn't feel hard - just frustrating.
New levels occasionally bring new ideas but at a rate much slower than you would like and either unoriginally or badly applied.
I may go back to this, it's a great addition for PS+ (how I'm playing it) but there's too much else I want to play.
Shelved as I've got Advance Wars to play, XC3 DLC out this week and TOTK on the Horizon
Most cases the licensed music isn't implemented all that well; Jungle Boogie being a good use but Uptown Funk being disappointing.
Sackboy feels too floaty, flutter jump as a mechanic often feels like a concession, as if they know the jumping doesn't feel right but it's actually double worse here as often the flutter jump doesn't work how it feels it should.
The melee seems hit and miss as do the enemy hit boxes, possibly a "skill issue" on my half but it doesn't feel hard - just frustrating.
New levels occasionally bring new ideas but at a rate much slower than you would like and either unoriginally or badly applied.
I may go back to this, it's a great addition for PS+ (how I'm playing it) but there's too much else I want to play.
Shelved as I've got Advance Wars to play, XC3 DLC out this week and TOTK on the Horizon
2023
I have to preface this whole “review” with admitting the fact that a few chapters in I ended up skipping most of the cutscenes.
I’m sure the story is nice, what I did glean from it certainly was and I feel bad because I’m sure I could have learnt more about a culture I know next to nothing about but I found it all so tepid and boring. The way it looked and was presented did absolutely nothing for me and I could feel my eyelids getting heavy.
So look at the relatively low score, take to heart as much as you feel needed (as you should with any criticism honestly) and if you care, read on for some more game based ramblings about my time with the latest new game to hit the PS plus higher tiers.
There’s a lot to enjoy, the world is vast, plenty of things to collect and many ways to explore it thanks to the game's biggest strength; the possession ability.
Run around as a dog, fly and shit as a bird, swim as a shark.
While staying in human form, climb any surface, glide from heights, use trees to fling you or just sail the sea on a little raft.
All of this is pleasant. It’s just it’s all a little janky.
The possession is great but sometimes you feel desperate to find a bird or something fast to get out of the barren land you find yourself in and at best you find some rocks (you can possess rocks too, I dunno). Everything you possess feels floaty and wobbly, there’s little unique between the different animal types of land, air and sea bar some speed, shitting and occasional attacks which I found one single (very smart) use for.
The sailing is nice and calm but with the only fast travel being restricted to finding ports and traveling too and from them if you’re sailing somewhere new it’s a long slog.
Climbing and surface and gliding is a part of why the Breath of the Wild comparisons have been made and while that is a little reductive and I have no issue with games borrowing from what is probably the best open world to date - it doesn’t borrow it well.
Tchia can climb any surface but you’re like a poor Spider-man. You don’t climb ladders in a usual way and altogether much like the movement with the possessions it all just feels unsatisfying.
Unsatisfying is really the word of my experience. Speaking about it to friends while playing it I found myself going “it’s… it’s not crap but..” and feeling like I was having to defend against my own true feelings because I was having a mostly bad time but there was something there, some elements of enjoyment to found and a good few ideas scattered in.
For the most part the movement is mid to poor but occasionally you’ll slide really fast down a hill, just at the end into the air, fly with your glider then stop and possess a passing bird.
The exploration is budget BOTW with combat encounters that are laughably bad and I’d actually rather were not in it.
There are these cool little rock stacking and totem carving mini games that can unlock abilities and caves and I like that, but everything before and after is tedious.
The tedium is really capped off by some terrible end game segments which are best when you avoid all the combat and therefore the bulk of the segments. These are sandwiched between some walk-slowly-and-do-nothing except get some lore dump bits which as by this point I was skipping the cutscenes really, really sucked.
Am I glad I bothered playing this game? There are bits that will stick with me and it was at least polite enough to be short.
I can’t recommend spending money on this but if you’re intrigued and have access to it for free. Pop it on and see for yourself, feel it for yourself.
I’ll finish this off with one final moment I’d like to share because I found it funny and that was just the feeling of playing this game, wrapping it up a few minutes after watching the final Tears of the Kingdom trailer.
“What the fuck am I doing?” I asked myself as I rolled my eyes at some of the junk of this game.
The comparisons are a little reductive and even if not I don’t expect everything to hit that height but my word; Tchia looks, sounds and feels worse than Breath of the Wild a six year old game for the Wii U and it’s being promoted for the all powerful Sony Playstation 5… come on.
I’m sure the story is nice, what I did glean from it certainly was and I feel bad because I’m sure I could have learnt more about a culture I know next to nothing about but I found it all so tepid and boring. The way it looked and was presented did absolutely nothing for me and I could feel my eyelids getting heavy.
So look at the relatively low score, take to heart as much as you feel needed (as you should with any criticism honestly) and if you care, read on for some more game based ramblings about my time with the latest new game to hit the PS plus higher tiers.
There’s a lot to enjoy, the world is vast, plenty of things to collect and many ways to explore it thanks to the game's biggest strength; the possession ability.
Run around as a dog, fly and shit as a bird, swim as a shark.
While staying in human form, climb any surface, glide from heights, use trees to fling you or just sail the sea on a little raft.
All of this is pleasant. It’s just it’s all a little janky.
The possession is great but sometimes you feel desperate to find a bird or something fast to get out of the barren land you find yourself in and at best you find some rocks (you can possess rocks too, I dunno). Everything you possess feels floaty and wobbly, there’s little unique between the different animal types of land, air and sea bar some speed, shitting and occasional attacks which I found one single (very smart) use for.
The sailing is nice and calm but with the only fast travel being restricted to finding ports and traveling too and from them if you’re sailing somewhere new it’s a long slog.
Climbing and surface and gliding is a part of why the Breath of the Wild comparisons have been made and while that is a little reductive and I have no issue with games borrowing from what is probably the best open world to date - it doesn’t borrow it well.
Tchia can climb any surface but you’re like a poor Spider-man. You don’t climb ladders in a usual way and altogether much like the movement with the possessions it all just feels unsatisfying.
Unsatisfying is really the word of my experience. Speaking about it to friends while playing it I found myself going “it’s… it’s not crap but..” and feeling like I was having to defend against my own true feelings because I was having a mostly bad time but there was something there, some elements of enjoyment to found and a good few ideas scattered in.
For the most part the movement is mid to poor but occasionally you’ll slide really fast down a hill, just at the end into the air, fly with your glider then stop and possess a passing bird.
The exploration is budget BOTW with combat encounters that are laughably bad and I’d actually rather were not in it.
There are these cool little rock stacking and totem carving mini games that can unlock abilities and caves and I like that, but everything before and after is tedious.
The tedium is really capped off by some terrible end game segments which are best when you avoid all the combat and therefore the bulk of the segments. These are sandwiched between some walk-slowly-and-do-nothing except get some lore dump bits which as by this point I was skipping the cutscenes really, really sucked.
Am I glad I bothered playing this game? There are bits that will stick with me and it was at least polite enough to be short.
I can’t recommend spending money on this but if you’re intrigued and have access to it for free. Pop it on and see for yourself, feel it for yourself.
I’ll finish this off with one final moment I’d like to share because I found it funny and that was just the feeling of playing this game, wrapping it up a few minutes after watching the final Tears of the Kingdom trailer.
“What the fuck am I doing?” I asked myself as I rolled my eyes at some of the junk of this game.
The comparisons are a little reductive and even if not I don’t expect everything to hit that height but my word; Tchia looks, sounds and feels worse than Breath of the Wild a six year old game for the Wii U and it’s being promoted for the all powerful Sony Playstation 5… come on.
In starting to write this review I cast my mind back to when I started playing it, knowing that I took far longer in days to finish it than the run time of the game actually is.
Thinking about the start though started to make me cast my mind a little further back, “when did I even hear about this?” I ask myself with no answer and start to feel annoyed as of course this was not in an English speaking direct even if published by a major company.
Paranormasight, developed and published by Square Enix, is a paranormal horror visual novel.
Without going into spoilers the game surrounds as the subtitle says “The Seven Mysteries of Honjo” and the curses that are linked to them.
Early on you are introduced to the idea of curse stones, an item that allows its bearer to kill someone with a curse as long as the person targeted fulfills certain requirements.
Who has these and what they lead to and what their motives are become a long winding story with multiple characters you get to follow the perspective of.
Outside of that I don’t want to explain any plot but this set up leads to what I find are the greatest parts of the game, the interactions between these curse stone bearers.
Yes, a mild spoiler there but (shocking) being there are “seven mysteries” more than one person has access to these stones and when they meet conversations are just interesting, but they can be tense and exciting.
It may be a fairly bad analogy but these meetings reminded me of Stand Battles from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, just with less muscles and bombast.
Each character is trying to figure out each other's motives but also if they have a power and what will fulfill it.
In terms of gameplay this becomes some very exciting puzzles and Paranormasight does a lot to make you scratch your head and think outside of the box.
Each of these curse fulfillments are tied back to their mysteries, the ancient tales that have been told and makes use of your classic in game files better than maybe any other game by you wanting to read them for clues and not just because the story isn’t being given to you well enough.
At one time or another Zero Escape games appear in my top 5 on backloggd. I love it when a visual novel gives you more, not just conversational choices but puzzles. To me this is why videogames are one of the greatest mediums that exist because even things such as Fighting Fantasy books can’t quite give you the same level of interaction with reading.
Paranormasight at its peaks are like the Zero Escape games even with much less elaborate puzzles. This is where a negative comes in however and that is the amount of even consistency that it does get to those heights.
A game which I do love that is actually this short should not have taken me almost a month to finish, but the reason being was that I started put it off around the middle of the game because the absolute genius it had shown at the start had seemed to disappear and, look, I’m a dummy, I can’t be doing with just reading.
Thankfully it picked back up and reached the same heights once again. I feel that my own delaying may have also made that “middle” larger than it was in reality.
In the end I would recommend this to anyone who has enjoyed the Zero Escape or Danganronpa games. I’d say if you’ve got the patience for a more interactive VN then give it a go too, though I can appreciate it’s not a genre everyone enjoys and I guess even Nintendo and/or Squeenix didn’t think it was worth mentioning to English speakers because “we’re not into it”.
It’s a great story. The characters are class, the visuals and music are both really nice and because it is fairly “simple” it’s a budget game (around £15) so will not hurt your wallet as much as many recent games.
Thinking about the start though started to make me cast my mind a little further back, “when did I even hear about this?” I ask myself with no answer and start to feel annoyed as of course this was not in an English speaking direct even if published by a major company.
Paranormasight, developed and published by Square Enix, is a paranormal horror visual novel.
Without going into spoilers the game surrounds as the subtitle says “The Seven Mysteries of Honjo” and the curses that are linked to them.
Early on you are introduced to the idea of curse stones, an item that allows its bearer to kill someone with a curse as long as the person targeted fulfills certain requirements.
Who has these and what they lead to and what their motives are become a long winding story with multiple characters you get to follow the perspective of.
Outside of that I don’t want to explain any plot but this set up leads to what I find are the greatest parts of the game, the interactions between these curse stone bearers.
Yes, a mild spoiler there but (shocking) being there are “seven mysteries” more than one person has access to these stones and when they meet conversations are just interesting, but they can be tense and exciting.
It may be a fairly bad analogy but these meetings reminded me of Stand Battles from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, just with less muscles and bombast.
Each character is trying to figure out each other's motives but also if they have a power and what will fulfill it.
In terms of gameplay this becomes some very exciting puzzles and Paranormasight does a lot to make you scratch your head and think outside of the box.
Each of these curse fulfillments are tied back to their mysteries, the ancient tales that have been told and makes use of your classic in game files better than maybe any other game by you wanting to read them for clues and not just because the story isn’t being given to you well enough.
At one time or another Zero Escape games appear in my top 5 on backloggd. I love it when a visual novel gives you more, not just conversational choices but puzzles. To me this is why videogames are one of the greatest mediums that exist because even things such as Fighting Fantasy books can’t quite give you the same level of interaction with reading.
Paranormasight at its peaks are like the Zero Escape games even with much less elaborate puzzles. This is where a negative comes in however and that is the amount of even consistency that it does get to those heights.
A game which I do love that is actually this short should not have taken me almost a month to finish, but the reason being was that I started put it off around the middle of the game because the absolute genius it had shown at the start had seemed to disappear and, look, I’m a dummy, I can’t be doing with just reading.
Thankfully it picked back up and reached the same heights once again. I feel that my own delaying may have also made that “middle” larger than it was in reality.
In the end I would recommend this to anyone who has enjoyed the Zero Escape or Danganronpa games. I’d say if you’ve got the patience for a more interactive VN then give it a go too, though I can appreciate it’s not a genre everyone enjoys and I guess even Nintendo and/or Squeenix didn’t think it was worth mentioning to English speakers because “we’re not into it”.
It’s a great story. The characters are class, the visuals and music are both really nice and because it is fairly “simple” it’s a budget game (around £15) so will not hurt your wallet as much as many recent games.
April Fools can actually be pretty tiresome, you get a few good gags but a lot of stuff that isn't funny or worse - looks good but is never happening.
This falls under the much rarer category of looks good and actually happened.
Judging this game against other VN murder mysteries is fairly pointless, it's not as deep or as clever as any of the good ones but for it's run time (a couple of hours) it has a fun plot to follow, decent writing and a clever mechanic to keep it away from just clicking through text.
This mechanic [protagonist/you] Dream Gear is a little auto runner with Sonic that is used to represent the lead coming to conclusions. It's a good idea and gives it a positive comparison to games like Danganronpa.
The issue is, the game is kind of crap.
It's completely serviceable and there is more variety to it that it really needs but it simply does the job.
A potentially unfair complaint I have is it doesn't feel like a Sonic, I'm surprised and oddly sad that for once they didn't just re-use Green Hill again. Pieces of that or just mini zones would have been much better and a cooler celebration of Sonic but that could be expecting too much.
At the end of it all, this leans on the side of actually good and worth the couple of hours if you have any love for Sonic and/or crime VNs.
It's all quite basic in game play but the art is nice and the music in places is truly class.
Best of all, it's free.
This falls under the much rarer category of looks good and actually happened.
Judging this game against other VN murder mysteries is fairly pointless, it's not as deep or as clever as any of the good ones but for it's run time (a couple of hours) it has a fun plot to follow, decent writing and a clever mechanic to keep it away from just clicking through text.
This mechanic [protagonist/you] Dream Gear is a little auto runner with Sonic that is used to represent the lead coming to conclusions. It's a good idea and gives it a positive comparison to games like Danganronpa.
The issue is, the game is kind of crap.
It's completely serviceable and there is more variety to it that it really needs but it simply does the job.
A potentially unfair complaint I have is it doesn't feel like a Sonic, I'm surprised and oddly sad that for once they didn't just re-use Green Hill again. Pieces of that or just mini zones would have been much better and a cooler celebration of Sonic but that could be expecting too much.
At the end of it all, this leans on the side of actually good and worth the couple of hours if you have any love for Sonic and/or crime VNs.
It's all quite basic in game play but the art is nice and the music in places is truly class.
Best of all, it's free.
2001
He’s got a W on his hat because, this lad is a winner!
Wario Land 4 absolutely slaps, the art is great, the music is weird and wonderful and the mixture of excitement and exploration that make good platformers great is all on display here.
Coming off the back of its GameBoy Colour predecessor (available on Nintendo Switch Online) Wario looks better, sounds better, feels a little smoother and is just as funny and inventive.
Where 4 may shed 3’s metroidvania aspects it still retains the unique “powers” for what were for me more satisfying puzzles and platforming challenges.
You lack a feeling of progression from Wario getting more powers but in the same hand it allows you to just do everything you expect of the big man and not have to find and unlock it.
Returning to levels isn’t needed but what is allowed is hopping between different stages so if a particular theme is starting to bore or frustrate you can swap and each zone's boss is a fun time and just feels more relevant than the mid-bosses you had in 3.
Again, returning to levels isn’t something you need to do unless you missed treasure or just fancy getting a better score. What is something you do need to do is one of the elements Wario land games are best known for and that retreading back through to the start with your treasure and within a time limit.
If you’re reading this and know a little about Wario it’s maybe a waste of my time to explain, but for those unaware.
At the “end” of the level Wario sets off a gadget that starts a timer as he yells “Hurry Up!” and it’s your job to go back to the start, through the portal that brought you here with a key and all the treasure you’ve gathered along the way.
In itself that is quite clever and fun but on top of the added excitement and anxiety of the ticking clock is that the gadget which set the timer off normally adds or clears some blocks which change the route a little - causing you to not only use your memory of your journey to this point to help but your wits to figure out how to navigate the new things in front of you.
It’s brilliant.
This is a gimmick that never gets old and always makes a level more interesting.
I can’t post this without my very minor complaints. The first is really the throwing and also some of the climbing, maybe it’s the controls, maybe it’s the device but I found both a little fiddly at times and although that awkwardness did add some extra tension to some of the bosses I was a little disappointed as the rest of Wario’s movement felt just that little bit smoother here than usual, almost perfect. Otherwise the only reason I’m not scoring this higher is simply that whilst a lot of the music and visuals are great there are a few bits that are just “good”, which by definition isn’t bad but holds it back a little for me.
Overall Wario is great and this is peak Wario.
I may make a lot of folk completely discard my opinion for saying this but I think that Wario is more fun than Mario in similar 2D spaces.
Is “fun” the same as “better”. That’s for you to decide.
Give this game a go. Hopefully it too will find its way from the 3DS Ambassador program on to NSO much like similar GBA greats Metroid Fusion and TLOZ: Minish Cap have.
Wario Land 4 absolutely slaps, the art is great, the music is weird and wonderful and the mixture of excitement and exploration that make good platformers great is all on display here.
Coming off the back of its GameBoy Colour predecessor (available on Nintendo Switch Online) Wario looks better, sounds better, feels a little smoother and is just as funny and inventive.
Where 4 may shed 3’s metroidvania aspects it still retains the unique “powers” for what were for me more satisfying puzzles and platforming challenges.
You lack a feeling of progression from Wario getting more powers but in the same hand it allows you to just do everything you expect of the big man and not have to find and unlock it.
Returning to levels isn’t needed but what is allowed is hopping between different stages so if a particular theme is starting to bore or frustrate you can swap and each zone's boss is a fun time and just feels more relevant than the mid-bosses you had in 3.
Again, returning to levels isn’t something you need to do unless you missed treasure or just fancy getting a better score. What is something you do need to do is one of the elements Wario land games are best known for and that retreading back through to the start with your treasure and within a time limit.
If you’re reading this and know a little about Wario it’s maybe a waste of my time to explain, but for those unaware.
At the “end” of the level Wario sets off a gadget that starts a timer as he yells “Hurry Up!” and it’s your job to go back to the start, through the portal that brought you here with a key and all the treasure you’ve gathered along the way.
In itself that is quite clever and fun but on top of the added excitement and anxiety of the ticking clock is that the gadget which set the timer off normally adds or clears some blocks which change the route a little - causing you to not only use your memory of your journey to this point to help but your wits to figure out how to navigate the new things in front of you.
It’s brilliant.
This is a gimmick that never gets old and always makes a level more interesting.
I can’t post this without my very minor complaints. The first is really the throwing and also some of the climbing, maybe it’s the controls, maybe it’s the device but I found both a little fiddly at times and although that awkwardness did add some extra tension to some of the bosses I was a little disappointed as the rest of Wario’s movement felt just that little bit smoother here than usual, almost perfect. Otherwise the only reason I’m not scoring this higher is simply that whilst a lot of the music and visuals are great there are a few bits that are just “good”, which by definition isn’t bad but holds it back a little for me.
Overall Wario is great and this is peak Wario.
I may make a lot of folk completely discard my opinion for saying this but I think that Wario is more fun than Mario in similar 2D spaces.
Is “fun” the same as “better”. That’s for you to decide.
Give this game a go. Hopefully it too will find its way from the 3DS Ambassador program on to NSO much like similar GBA greats Metroid Fusion and TLOZ: Minish Cap have.
2000
It’s not every time I write about a game I feel the need to say a lot about it.
Wario Land 3 is a very strange but importantly to me, interesting game.
I don’t want to write much because right now I feel my “review” will be more just a straight description or thousands or words questioning my own opinions and going back and forth.
This, for the most part, is a good thing.
However can I recommend it, do I think overall the game itself is good and not just a curious thing?
I’m more inclined to say “check it out” because it’s “free” on Nintendo Switch Online.
It does a lot to test your patience but also does a decent amount to surprise you.
Grab a couple of treasures, save and come back later. It’ll make the game a little longer than you’d expect but this is the way I did it and found it easy to digest, and don’t worry, you can always find where you should be going every time if you do get overwhelmed but how the map and abilities have opened up.
Maybe this will be a game I re-review. Unlikely but I have already started Wario Land 4 so it’s definitely grabbed my attention.
TLDR? Here’s a Haiku:
Wario Metroid
The poor lad gets hurt a lot
Golfing really sucks
Wario Land 3 is a very strange but importantly to me, interesting game.
I don’t want to write much because right now I feel my “review” will be more just a straight description or thousands or words questioning my own opinions and going back and forth.
This, for the most part, is a good thing.
However can I recommend it, do I think overall the game itself is good and not just a curious thing?
I’m more inclined to say “check it out” because it’s “free” on Nintendo Switch Online.
It does a lot to test your patience but also does a decent amount to surprise you.
Grab a couple of treasures, save and come back later. It’ll make the game a little longer than you’d expect but this is the way I did it and found it easy to digest, and don’t worry, you can always find where you should be going every time if you do get overwhelmed but how the map and abilities have opened up.
Maybe this will be a game I re-review. Unlikely but I have already started Wario Land 4 so it’s definitely grabbed my attention.
TLDR? Here’s a Haiku:
Wario Metroid
The poor lad gets hurt a lot
Golfing really sucks
Pokémon has been plastered over every sort of thing you can think of, so of course an already existing puzzle game - Panel De Pon - got the treatment.
Half a decade later and although some things have been added, such as a 3D version, the game is still the same and in fact I would say that although this version is more “content complete” it's a little worse.
I would normally not "mark down" due to a Pokémon skin, even based off of the anime. I have nostalgia for it. I enjoyed the short intro and laughed when I beat Tracey in 14 seconds because I always thought he was crap.
It's just as a skin it comes across a little cheap.
This is probably due to the technology, using existing art from the cartoons makes sense but the quality is low and for me doesn't stand up to the beautiful pixel art Panel De Pon had.
The campaign is as simple as you'd expect in a puzzle game but again feels less than the game it's copying.
I finished Normal and Hard, so maybe I missed on the really cool stuff like Misty with a machine gun in Very Hard, but I doubt it.
It's a shame that it's so half baked, the panels can either look like the classic ones or Pokémon themed but where some are 'types' like water, fire, grass, there is also "circle"... could they really not have thought of something else?
I would have also liked that picking your Pokémon could actually affect the match up. A bonus for matching your types panels maybe?
Overall, this is fine. It's good even because it's Panel De Pon but I find almost no reason to recommend it over just playing the classic outside of if you are truly Poké-pilled, high on them Ash-fumes and then maybe the skin will be worth it.
I only clicked on the game to remind me what it was exactly and then completed it twice though, so if you want to gauge how addictive it can be then there's a clue.
Half a decade later and although some things have been added, such as a 3D version, the game is still the same and in fact I would say that although this version is more “content complete” it's a little worse.
I would normally not "mark down" due to a Pokémon skin, even based off of the anime. I have nostalgia for it. I enjoyed the short intro and laughed when I beat Tracey in 14 seconds because I always thought he was crap.
It's just as a skin it comes across a little cheap.
This is probably due to the technology, using existing art from the cartoons makes sense but the quality is low and for me doesn't stand up to the beautiful pixel art Panel De Pon had.
The campaign is as simple as you'd expect in a puzzle game but again feels less than the game it's copying.
I finished Normal and Hard, so maybe I missed on the really cool stuff like Misty with a machine gun in Very Hard, but I doubt it.
It's a shame that it's so half baked, the panels can either look like the classic ones or Pokémon themed but where some are 'types' like water, fire, grass, there is also "circle"... could they really not have thought of something else?
I would have also liked that picking your Pokémon could actually affect the match up. A bonus for matching your types panels maybe?
Overall, this is fine. It's good even because it's Panel De Pon but I find almost no reason to recommend it over just playing the classic outside of if you are truly Poké-pilled, high on them Ash-fumes and then maybe the skin will be worth it.
I only clicked on the game to remind me what it was exactly and then completed it twice though, so if you want to gauge how addictive it can be then there's a clue.
2023
I would call myself a fan of JRPGs but like many of us with other hobbies and distractions there are dozens I have never played.
The Shin Megami Tensei series and all its spin offs I have all of two vague memories of playing; first is SMT IV(I think) on the 3DS for a few hours, it was probably just a demo of sorts.
The other is grabbing Persona 5 when I got my PS4 which I installed, played maybe 10 minutes of and turned off. At that time I had only just got the console (late into the cycle) and had a pile of things to look at so a 100 hour JRPG went down the list.
Persona is a series which everyone I know who loves it, Loves it. Even those who are late adopters rate P5 as one of their GOATs.
A small part of what took me so long to get into the series was also I didn’t want to start at 5.
In a way I’d have liked to start at the very start, but then should I start from the first SMT if I’m going to go back? The decision itself caused some paralysis.
Persona 3 and it’s multiple remakes were the earlier games I heard a good amount of chat about and when good ol’ Game Pass added Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden to the service I felt that finally, in 2023, I was going to dive into this series and check it out.
I’ve started this review with a little life story because I’m sure random Backloggd users may read my thoughts and compare it to more recent games. I am aware of some of the changes, but this is essentially a Persona game reviewed in isolation so if it seems too positive or negative when thinking of the rest of the series, that’s why.
P3P then. It was quite a trip and one I would recommend to most players. I found the story engaging, the characters well written, the combat decent and the other systems interesting and fairly deep, some more so than others.
Going into P3P was a headache. A million articles and forum posts of “P3P is the one to play” “P3P is terrible, play FES” put me in a position where I wondered if I should bother.
Skim reading a lot of this stuff I could see that a major point was P3P being a Portable version was a little stripped back, I didn’t care.
I went in thinking of this as an older game and also with the look towards the future of enjoying the series improvements in graphics, QoL etc
No walking about the world manually and a visual novel style look for conversations and cutscenes worked well.
In fact the point and click nature of Iwotodai actually made me worry that in the future it may feel more tedious checking out everywhere if I had to walk around.
There were definitely scenes I would have liked to have seen more than just still images (as an aside I’m watching the anime films to get that hit as it were) but the writing and the music were easily engaging enough that for the most part the thought didn’t cross my mind.
The characters are something I’ve already mentioned a lot and without a decent cast this game would fail and would not get the love it has.
I worried at first, was playing a Japanese school kid going to feel too cliché?
Was the “Social Links” aspect of the game, which I knew would inevitably include dating, be too cringe-inducing?
How often would this game make me groan due to Japanese social ideals?
Happily, with a few caveats, none of these problems actually came in and ruined my time.
You do play a protagonist (I chose male as it was my first time, where a female protagonist was a later entry for this remake) who is a junior at school, one of the main team members, as well as a few s.links, are horny teenage boys.
For the most part I found it to either felt it reflected my experiences of that time fairly well or was actually more tasteful than I expected. Even the team member who from start to finish is obsessed with the girls ends up having some deeper elements to him and felt much more of a redeemable character.
The biggest moment that made me feel uncomfortable wasn’t even within the social links aspect of the game but actually within the dungeon crawling of Tarturus (I’ll get to that later) where some optional armours are themed.
There’s Summer and Winter uniforms, Tuxedos and swimsuits. The latter while obviously there as fan service at least felt fitting, you gained clothes that the characters would wear throughout a year and that would include beachwear. What doesn’t however is “Battle Panties”.
I’m not a prude, I watch anime, I love Xenoblade, I’m used to this stuff but underwear, some in a fetish style being selectable for teenagers, children, is fucked. Also and this is both funny and annoying at the same time, the biggest groan I got was the first female team member who got access to them… they were better than any other armour available. “Fuck off!” I exclaimed at my screen.
Back to how the social links are good. Without spoiling there are a variety of characters, lots of different stories you have the chance to see all the way through, seeing changes in other people’s lives. I didn’t max out all of these links but did just about find all 22 of them, represented by the major arcana of Tarot.
I actually enjoyed the fact I missed out on some, to others spending almost 70 hours on a game and missing some content could be annoying and I get that perspective, but to me it was nice to show real value and meaning in how I had the protagonist spend their spare time and, just like in real life, time management is not a simple task.
It’d be easy to sit and dissect the social links, speak about how some really hit me, some surprised me and how much they added to the overall feel of the town, the characters' life and the importance of what the heroes are doing.
However, the much quicker point I wanted to note was how good this ends up being a loop and how actually the time I spent in this game felt big and memorable. It never dragged and flew by.
I mentioned Tartarus earlier; during the game’s “Dark Hour” (a time only a select few experience) the school becomes this monolithic tower which has floors upon floors of dungeons crawling with “shadows” the game’s enemies. The protagonist and friends can enter here at the end of most days, your goal to simply fight and head towards the top.
A common complaint I have heard is that Tartarus is extremely basic, it has blocks but each floor barely seems any different and the enemies, while there is a decent variation after a while, just become palette swaps with better stats.
This is true and it also feels most like the point of the game where the dreaded “grind” can kick in, but honestly, and I might be too forgiving, it never bothered me.
Each full moon the game gives you a different place to enjoy combat with some interesting bosses, so there is variety. The side missions that involve combat are mostly not too “grindy” and at the end of the day I don’t think the dungeons are even half the game anyway.
This brings me back to these loops.
This is why I said earlier the game never dragged. The gameplay loop was always going to school, picking an after school social link or social skill to increase via other means (studying etc). The evening then would be either preparing for battle while also increasing s.links or skills and once or twice an in-game month I’d make my trip to Tartarus.
The trips to Tartarus would then feel like their own game, a challenge even of seeing if I could get to the next barrier that would unlock later.
For me the difficulty was pitched perfectly, the combat wasn’t the best I’ve played but as far as turn-based tactics go, discovering weaknesses, setting up the right tactical loop in your team it was all enjoyable.
Tartarus itself added further gameplay loops that made me feel like “just one more go” through either the side missions or more often getting stuck into the almost Pokémon-like system of getting new Personas themselves.
Oh did I not mention the title refers to ghosts your protagonists summon by shooting themselves?
It’s a great hook, it’s basically Stands from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure gamified.
If it wasn’t clear from the words I’ve written or the score I’ve given. I loved this game.
Things were not perfect, it felt stripped down in areas as expected and I hope the sequels do build upon and tighten the formula as they go and I’m sure they will.
I will be surprised however if I find the future stories and characters themselves to be “better”.
If you’re a person who doesn’t need their games to feel modern, a person who’s played and enjoyed some JRPGs then I would say you should definitely give this a go.
Saying “Persona good” is the least hot take you’ll find on here today but I just want it to be clear that even stepping back (at least this far) didn’t feel too archaic or confusing and it may feel like I’m excusing it more than I should but the stripped back nature actually helps the loops, the mild addiction that a great game can bring.
One where, if it weren’t for there being sequels I want to check off my personal list, I’d be going back almost straight away to play again, see new things, try new ideas, max out more social links and defeat more enemies.
Persona (said aloud as I type it).
The Shin Megami Tensei series and all its spin offs I have all of two vague memories of playing; first is SMT IV(I think) on the 3DS for a few hours, it was probably just a demo of sorts.
The other is grabbing Persona 5 when I got my PS4 which I installed, played maybe 10 minutes of and turned off. At that time I had only just got the console (late into the cycle) and had a pile of things to look at so a 100 hour JRPG went down the list.
Persona is a series which everyone I know who loves it, Loves it. Even those who are late adopters rate P5 as one of their GOATs.
A small part of what took me so long to get into the series was also I didn’t want to start at 5.
In a way I’d have liked to start at the very start, but then should I start from the first SMT if I’m going to go back? The decision itself caused some paralysis.
Persona 3 and it’s multiple remakes were the earlier games I heard a good amount of chat about and when good ol’ Game Pass added Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden to the service I felt that finally, in 2023, I was going to dive into this series and check it out.
I’ve started this review with a little life story because I’m sure random Backloggd users may read my thoughts and compare it to more recent games. I am aware of some of the changes, but this is essentially a Persona game reviewed in isolation so if it seems too positive or negative when thinking of the rest of the series, that’s why.
P3P then. It was quite a trip and one I would recommend to most players. I found the story engaging, the characters well written, the combat decent and the other systems interesting and fairly deep, some more so than others.
Going into P3P was a headache. A million articles and forum posts of “P3P is the one to play” “P3P is terrible, play FES” put me in a position where I wondered if I should bother.
Skim reading a lot of this stuff I could see that a major point was P3P being a Portable version was a little stripped back, I didn’t care.
I went in thinking of this as an older game and also with the look towards the future of enjoying the series improvements in graphics, QoL etc
No walking about the world manually and a visual novel style look for conversations and cutscenes worked well.
In fact the point and click nature of Iwotodai actually made me worry that in the future it may feel more tedious checking out everywhere if I had to walk around.
There were definitely scenes I would have liked to have seen more than just still images (as an aside I’m watching the anime films to get that hit as it were) but the writing and the music were easily engaging enough that for the most part the thought didn’t cross my mind.
The characters are something I’ve already mentioned a lot and without a decent cast this game would fail and would not get the love it has.
I worried at first, was playing a Japanese school kid going to feel too cliché?
Was the “Social Links” aspect of the game, which I knew would inevitably include dating, be too cringe-inducing?
How often would this game make me groan due to Japanese social ideals?
Happily, with a few caveats, none of these problems actually came in and ruined my time.
You do play a protagonist (I chose male as it was my first time, where a female protagonist was a later entry for this remake) who is a junior at school, one of the main team members, as well as a few s.links, are horny teenage boys.
For the most part I found it to either felt it reflected my experiences of that time fairly well or was actually more tasteful than I expected. Even the team member who from start to finish is obsessed with the girls ends up having some deeper elements to him and felt much more of a redeemable character.
The biggest moment that made me feel uncomfortable wasn’t even within the social links aspect of the game but actually within the dungeon crawling of Tarturus (I’ll get to that later) where some optional armours are themed.
There’s Summer and Winter uniforms, Tuxedos and swimsuits. The latter while obviously there as fan service at least felt fitting, you gained clothes that the characters would wear throughout a year and that would include beachwear. What doesn’t however is “Battle Panties”.
I’m not a prude, I watch anime, I love Xenoblade, I’m used to this stuff but underwear, some in a fetish style being selectable for teenagers, children, is fucked. Also and this is both funny and annoying at the same time, the biggest groan I got was the first female team member who got access to them… they were better than any other armour available. “Fuck off!” I exclaimed at my screen.
Back to how the social links are good. Without spoiling there are a variety of characters, lots of different stories you have the chance to see all the way through, seeing changes in other people’s lives. I didn’t max out all of these links but did just about find all 22 of them, represented by the major arcana of Tarot.
I actually enjoyed the fact I missed out on some, to others spending almost 70 hours on a game and missing some content could be annoying and I get that perspective, but to me it was nice to show real value and meaning in how I had the protagonist spend their spare time and, just like in real life, time management is not a simple task.
It’d be easy to sit and dissect the social links, speak about how some really hit me, some surprised me and how much they added to the overall feel of the town, the characters' life and the importance of what the heroes are doing.
However, the much quicker point I wanted to note was how good this ends up being a loop and how actually the time I spent in this game felt big and memorable. It never dragged and flew by.
I mentioned Tartarus earlier; during the game’s “Dark Hour” (a time only a select few experience) the school becomes this monolithic tower which has floors upon floors of dungeons crawling with “shadows” the game’s enemies. The protagonist and friends can enter here at the end of most days, your goal to simply fight and head towards the top.
A common complaint I have heard is that Tartarus is extremely basic, it has blocks but each floor barely seems any different and the enemies, while there is a decent variation after a while, just become palette swaps with better stats.
This is true and it also feels most like the point of the game where the dreaded “grind” can kick in, but honestly, and I might be too forgiving, it never bothered me.
Each full moon the game gives you a different place to enjoy combat with some interesting bosses, so there is variety. The side missions that involve combat are mostly not too “grindy” and at the end of the day I don’t think the dungeons are even half the game anyway.
This brings me back to these loops.
This is why I said earlier the game never dragged. The gameplay loop was always going to school, picking an after school social link or social skill to increase via other means (studying etc). The evening then would be either preparing for battle while also increasing s.links or skills and once or twice an in-game month I’d make my trip to Tartarus.
The trips to Tartarus would then feel like their own game, a challenge even of seeing if I could get to the next barrier that would unlock later.
For me the difficulty was pitched perfectly, the combat wasn’t the best I’ve played but as far as turn-based tactics go, discovering weaknesses, setting up the right tactical loop in your team it was all enjoyable.
Tartarus itself added further gameplay loops that made me feel like “just one more go” through either the side missions or more often getting stuck into the almost Pokémon-like system of getting new Personas themselves.
Oh did I not mention the title refers to ghosts your protagonists summon by shooting themselves?
It’s a great hook, it’s basically Stands from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure gamified.
If it wasn’t clear from the words I’ve written or the score I’ve given. I loved this game.
Things were not perfect, it felt stripped down in areas as expected and I hope the sequels do build upon and tighten the formula as they go and I’m sure they will.
I will be surprised however if I find the future stories and characters themselves to be “better”.
If you’re a person who doesn’t need their games to feel modern, a person who’s played and enjoyed some JRPGs then I would say you should definitely give this a go.
Saying “Persona good” is the least hot take you’ll find on here today but I just want it to be clear that even stepping back (at least this far) didn’t feel too archaic or confusing and it may feel like I’m excusing it more than I should but the stripped back nature actually helps the loops, the mild addiction that a great game can bring.
One where, if it weren’t for there being sequels I want to check off my personal list, I’d be going back almost straight away to play again, see new things, try new ideas, max out more social links and defeat more enemies.
Persona (said aloud as I type it).
2023
Trying to rate a game jam game made in 48 hours on the same scale as all others feels a little bit of a pointless task.
Some people will believe that no way can a game which can be finished in 15 minutes be rated this highly, but I tell those people leave.
If you're still here, why have I rated it so highly?
I'm officially Daniel Mullins-pilled after Inscryption but this game in the short amount of time you play it does much more interesting, thought-provoking and funny than full "AAA games" do in 30 hours.
It's also sort of "just a clicker", but then so is Vampire Survivors and lots of folk were saying that was a GOTY.
Play it, it's free, it's short and asks very little of you.
I guarantee you'll at the very least give a positive and inquisitive "hmm!" if not some "oh god" and/or laughs.
Some people will believe that no way can a game which can be finished in 15 minutes be rated this highly, but I tell those people leave.
If you're still here, why have I rated it so highly?
I'm officially Daniel Mullins-pilled after Inscryption but this game in the short amount of time you play it does much more interesting, thought-provoking and funny than full "AAA games" do in 30 hours.
It's also sort of "just a clicker", but then so is Vampire Survivors and lots of folk were saying that was a GOTY.
Play it, it's free, it's short and asks very little of you.
I guarantee you'll at the very least give a positive and inquisitive "hmm!" if not some "oh god" and/or laughs.
Until about two weeks ago I didn't even know this game existed.
I played a lot of the first game on my Game Boy Pocket and after my recent Nuzlocke run I fancied something else Pokémon that I knew wasn't as long or intense.
One google rabbit hole later and I discover that actually Japan got a sequel but it never made it outside of there, I think to myself "I might be able to play it untranslated, I'll give it a go" and thank my lucky stars I didn't have to.
It's a real shame this never did make it out of Japan officially because overall it's really quite good and a much better package than the first.
You have a much vaster pool of cards, the AI and/or the opponents decks seem much more competitive and there's twice as many locations and more than twice as many opponents to face.
What starts as a smart sequel reusing many many assets ends up becoming so much more.
The addition opponents who require you to fulfil certain deck requirements also means you're much more likely to experiment and this along with some additional rules with other opponents means there is a lot more variation.
The card game itself is unfortunately not the best, whilst I won't review the current state of that TCG I will say that it has all the problems from today plus a ton more from being a game in it's first years.
Things like coin flips, which there are a lot of, make games feel too based in variance and can cause frustration when the inevitable is being delayed.
A tip I would give is save often, because unlike a real game of cards you cannot scoop if you can see the writing on the wall (and nor will the opponent) and this can turn a fun session into a tiresome chore.
If like me though, you like Pokémon and you like card games - together or separately I'd encourage you to give it a shot.
It's got some great to terrible art but it's all so joyous.
It just makes me hope that maybe one day a third game will appear on the Switch for us all to enjoy.
I played a lot of the first game on my Game Boy Pocket and after my recent Nuzlocke run I fancied something else Pokémon that I knew wasn't as long or intense.
One google rabbit hole later and I discover that actually Japan got a sequel but it never made it outside of there, I think to myself "I might be able to play it untranslated, I'll give it a go" and thank my lucky stars I didn't have to.
It's a real shame this never did make it out of Japan officially because overall it's really quite good and a much better package than the first.
You have a much vaster pool of cards, the AI and/or the opponents decks seem much more competitive and there's twice as many locations and more than twice as many opponents to face.
What starts as a smart sequel reusing many many assets ends up becoming so much more.
The addition opponents who require you to fulfil certain deck requirements also means you're much more likely to experiment and this along with some additional rules with other opponents means there is a lot more variation.
The card game itself is unfortunately not the best, whilst I won't review the current state of that TCG I will say that it has all the problems from today plus a ton more from being a game in it's first years.
Things like coin flips, which there are a lot of, make games feel too based in variance and can cause frustration when the inevitable is being delayed.
A tip I would give is save often, because unlike a real game of cards you cannot scoop if you can see the writing on the wall (and nor will the opponent) and this can turn a fun session into a tiresome chore.
If like me though, you like Pokémon and you like card games - together or separately I'd encourage you to give it a shot.
It's got some great to terrible art but it's all so joyous.
It just makes me hope that maybe one day a third game will appear on the Switch for us all to enjoy.
2023
It turns out that surprises can sometimes not only just be good, they can be great.
Going into the Xbox Developer Direct I wasn’t expecting much, my thoughts were more surface level on whether the showcase would be fun or really dragging, if Xbox had finally started to crack these videos.
I never suspected that during the middle section not only would a game be revealed that, whilst having a minorly annoying trailer, piqued my interest but it would be out the very same day.
HiFi Rush being a secret to me seemed wild at the time and after finishing it seems even more so.
The game feels so marketable. Possibly a strange word to describe it but one that I use in a completely positive way.
HiFi Rush is No More Heroes for a PG audience, it’s a Saturday Morning cartoon brought to life, it’s an interactive music video that doesn’t require the player to be a rhythm game master and I love all of these elements.
HiFi Rush is fun, the characters are on just the right side of clichés, the protagonist Chai for example very much feels like a teenage MCU Starlord - a dummy who loves their music but has a heart of gold, says a lot of what I would consider cringe teen comedy which in isolation (like the trailer) puts me off but within the world which constantly shows he is stupid to be light-hearted fun.
The art style reminds me of (one of my loves) Jet Set Radio or probably more appropriately Viewtiful Joe, pulled back to be slightly more palatable for some and aesthetically something I just want more of in games - bright, loud, fun -, the transitions between, in-game cutscenes, cinematics and playing are all smooth and very characterful all of which more than once gave me thought that “I’d definitely watch a cartoon of this”.
Combat is fantastic, the game teaches and layers on combos, specials, counters, dodges and all the usual things you’d expect from your character action games.
The rhythm element purely adds to this and is extra brilliant because unlike some rhythm games it never takes away by making you feel crap at the game.
Chai, the enemies, the entire world all goes to the beat. Following that beat will give you a bonus and at most points in the game missing it simply just gives you a lower score but keeps the music pumping and the game progressing.
Admittedly a person like me with no musical background, poor timing and also playing this via the cloud (more on that later) did mean that certain aspects, did feel frustrating at points but the game always just let you have another go, I could always turn the difficulty down and also if needed the game has a generous amount of accessibility options to help.
The story is potentially a weak point, with the style and the demographic that would usually be aimed at - I was never expecting something that would burrow deep and plague my thoughts for weeks.
Protag gets caught in an accident, gets powers, receives help and tries to bring down an evil megacorp. alongside some pals who have their own links and a couple of (fairly obvious) twists along the way. It’s nice, it’s a fun ride more than a deep journey and whilst you can barely call it a huge plus point for the game it certainly is not a negative in my eyes.
There are some negatives though.
One thing I haven’t mentioned outside of the rhythm is the actual music. The licensed tracks add some incredible moments of fun and excitement but for me at least a third of the original soundtrack just isn’t that good.
There are points where I was much more up on it, “Track 8” got me bopping and tapping a long a bit more but earlier stages I felt that weirdly whilst the animation of the characters and the world itself added to the flow, the beat you want to keep to, the music did not feel exaggerated enough.
This becomes more of a thing during the platforming sections where the movement of everything is smart but I feel that actually it’s been done better. Of course this is in Mario.
Maybe the game could have been made with more licensed music. I mentioned JSR earlier and I was really hoping that this game would join the pantheon of good soundtracks that happen to be in games like that.
The platforming sections are not bad, Chai’s jumping never feels quite right but the game gives you the tools and the checkpointing is extremely generous if you have a point at which you’re struggling. My issue with these segments was more the time they took up.
Average platforming keeping you away from excellent combat means that those segments can become ones that you start to resent.
The balance wasn’t quite there for me and the world isn’t diverse enough for the platforming segments to become much more interesting as the game goes on.
Maybe it’s just a case of eating your veg before you get dessert.
A couple things to finish with.
Post credits this game has more to offer and it’s very generous, I won’t list it all but you’ll want to replay levels not just for higher scores but also secrets.
The other thing is how I played this.
It seems over the past year or so I’ve been using Game Pass more and more, this brand new fantastic game is included so is “free” and also a thing that helps me - the poor lad with no modern Xbox or gaming PC - is that it’s playable via cloud gaming.
I appreciate this isn’t a solution for everyone but my older laptop can’t run this natively but my internet is good enough to stream it.
I worried that input lag and the like would cause this rhythm based game to be unplayable and as I write this after finishing the game and doing extra bits you probably realise that thankfully that is not the case.
Oddly I got stuck in a tutorial right at the start, I couldn’t do the beat hit and my work around was install it, play that bit running like crap and melting my laptop then go back to cloud.
In hindsight, it definitely worked but not sure if it was needed. I’ve since done a million of those beat hits, I’ve even done the tutorial again all via the cloud.
Was this a dip in the Internet? Was this the unreliability of having to run a program to trick Xcloud into thinking my ds4 is an Xbox pad? Is it the fact I just have no rhythm?
Honestly, it’s probably a combination of all three to varying degrees.
If there was lag throughout the game I would say it was consistent which meant that I could get used to the rhythm eventually.
The only downside I had was when you occasionally see a screen refresh, but for me they were not very often, very short and other than the mild surprise from it visually it never affected my playing of the game.
With many comparisons to make I will finish by saying that I think this game is more enjoyable than Bayonetta 2.
That doesn’t mean I think it’s better, but it’s a much smoother ride, not just in terms of difficulty but it’s presentation and how it does that.
I will happily take a sequel to this down the line and as I’ve said earlier, I’d for sure watch a show based on this game.
Going into the Xbox Developer Direct I wasn’t expecting much, my thoughts were more surface level on whether the showcase would be fun or really dragging, if Xbox had finally started to crack these videos.
I never suspected that during the middle section not only would a game be revealed that, whilst having a minorly annoying trailer, piqued my interest but it would be out the very same day.
HiFi Rush being a secret to me seemed wild at the time and after finishing it seems even more so.
The game feels so marketable. Possibly a strange word to describe it but one that I use in a completely positive way.
HiFi Rush is No More Heroes for a PG audience, it’s a Saturday Morning cartoon brought to life, it’s an interactive music video that doesn’t require the player to be a rhythm game master and I love all of these elements.
HiFi Rush is fun, the characters are on just the right side of clichés, the protagonist Chai for example very much feels like a teenage MCU Starlord - a dummy who loves their music but has a heart of gold, says a lot of what I would consider cringe teen comedy which in isolation (like the trailer) puts me off but within the world which constantly shows he is stupid to be light-hearted fun.
The art style reminds me of (one of my loves) Jet Set Radio or probably more appropriately Viewtiful Joe, pulled back to be slightly more palatable for some and aesthetically something I just want more of in games - bright, loud, fun -, the transitions between, in-game cutscenes, cinematics and playing are all smooth and very characterful all of which more than once gave me thought that “I’d definitely watch a cartoon of this”.
Combat is fantastic, the game teaches and layers on combos, specials, counters, dodges and all the usual things you’d expect from your character action games.
The rhythm element purely adds to this and is extra brilliant because unlike some rhythm games it never takes away by making you feel crap at the game.
Chai, the enemies, the entire world all goes to the beat. Following that beat will give you a bonus and at most points in the game missing it simply just gives you a lower score but keeps the music pumping and the game progressing.
Admittedly a person like me with no musical background, poor timing and also playing this via the cloud (more on that later) did mean that certain aspects, did feel frustrating at points but the game always just let you have another go, I could always turn the difficulty down and also if needed the game has a generous amount of accessibility options to help.
The story is potentially a weak point, with the style and the demographic that would usually be aimed at - I was never expecting something that would burrow deep and plague my thoughts for weeks.
Protag gets caught in an accident, gets powers, receives help and tries to bring down an evil megacorp. alongside some pals who have their own links and a couple of (fairly obvious) twists along the way. It’s nice, it’s a fun ride more than a deep journey and whilst you can barely call it a huge plus point for the game it certainly is not a negative in my eyes.
There are some negatives though.
One thing I haven’t mentioned outside of the rhythm is the actual music. The licensed tracks add some incredible moments of fun and excitement but for me at least a third of the original soundtrack just isn’t that good.
There are points where I was much more up on it, “Track 8” got me bopping and tapping a long a bit more but earlier stages I felt that weirdly whilst the animation of the characters and the world itself added to the flow, the beat you want to keep to, the music did not feel exaggerated enough.
This becomes more of a thing during the platforming sections where the movement of everything is smart but I feel that actually it’s been done better. Of course this is in Mario.
Maybe the game could have been made with more licensed music. I mentioned JSR earlier and I was really hoping that this game would join the pantheon of good soundtracks that happen to be in games like that.
The platforming sections are not bad, Chai’s jumping never feels quite right but the game gives you the tools and the checkpointing is extremely generous if you have a point at which you’re struggling. My issue with these segments was more the time they took up.
Average platforming keeping you away from excellent combat means that those segments can become ones that you start to resent.
The balance wasn’t quite there for me and the world isn’t diverse enough for the platforming segments to become much more interesting as the game goes on.
Maybe it’s just a case of eating your veg before you get dessert.
A couple things to finish with.
Post credits this game has more to offer and it’s very generous, I won’t list it all but you’ll want to replay levels not just for higher scores but also secrets.
The other thing is how I played this.
It seems over the past year or so I’ve been using Game Pass more and more, this brand new fantastic game is included so is “free” and also a thing that helps me - the poor lad with no modern Xbox or gaming PC - is that it’s playable via cloud gaming.
I appreciate this isn’t a solution for everyone but my older laptop can’t run this natively but my internet is good enough to stream it.
I worried that input lag and the like would cause this rhythm based game to be unplayable and as I write this after finishing the game and doing extra bits you probably realise that thankfully that is not the case.
Oddly I got stuck in a tutorial right at the start, I couldn’t do the beat hit and my work around was install it, play that bit running like crap and melting my laptop then go back to cloud.
In hindsight, it definitely worked but not sure if it was needed. I’ve since done a million of those beat hits, I’ve even done the tutorial again all via the cloud.
Was this a dip in the Internet? Was this the unreliability of having to run a program to trick Xcloud into thinking my ds4 is an Xbox pad? Is it the fact I just have no rhythm?
Honestly, it’s probably a combination of all three to varying degrees.
If there was lag throughout the game I would say it was consistent which meant that I could get used to the rhythm eventually.
The only downside I had was when you occasionally see a screen refresh, but for me they were not very often, very short and other than the mild surprise from it visually it never affected my playing of the game.
With many comparisons to make I will finish by saying that I think this game is more enjoyable than Bayonetta 2.
That doesn’t mean I think it’s better, but it’s a much smoother ride, not just in terms of difficulty but it’s presentation and how it does that.
I will happily take a sequel to this down the line and as I’ve said earlier, I’d for sure watch a show based on this game.