Ultimately Silent Hope is a refreshing return to form for Marvelous. Cute characters, great voicework, fun (and grindy) beat’em up combat. It’s a distillation of Rune Factory combat with simplified crafting and no conventional farming mechanics (there is a farm though).
Paleo Pines is a great game for young gamers just starting out with farming/life sims, but it lacks that all-ages appeal.
If you like edgy humor? Great. If you just want to be a hot girl trying to solve hot girl problems. This is the game for you. It’s crude, it’s funny, it has fantastic voice acting, and despite what little there is to find fault with; I had the most fun with a Western VN I think I’ve ever had. I just wish there was more.
Hopefully Rune Factory 6 will be a return to form for the franchise but in the meantime, Rune Factory 3 Special is a spectacular remake that will delight fans who have never gotten a chance to try it, and will tide over old fans of the series. The future looks bright for Rune Factory.
Ultimately, Baldur’s Gate 3 is virtually everything I’d want out of a tactical RPG. Like the Divinity series it ditched the live-combat in favor of more interactive tactical combat, it remains rooted firmly in the lore of Forgotten Realms, and it’s not afraid to be gritty with its depictions of violence, dark magic, and the brutality of life in the near lawless life of a fantasy adventurer.
Ultimately, Arcadian Atlas is an RPG with an exciting and dramatic story, strategic gameplay, and a fantastic soundtrack; though a lack of polish and quality of life features sometimes breaks the nostalgic illusion.
If you’re after a grueling challenge then this might not be the game for you, but with a fun and campy plot, enough mechanics that the game requires some thought, you’ll probably have fun whether you’re new to the genre or a city building veteran looking for something a little more relaxing.
Ultimately, Rise to Ruins has a few troubles with its villager AI but that’s more than made up for by the originality of the game and the way almost everything else handles. During the day you flex your city-building muscles, and at night your defenses are tested by growing waves of enemies.
With the sparse QOL additions, Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection is still an impressive compilation that gives the player a lot of bang for their buck. These aren’t cleverly-written RPGs, but they are dense with complexity and gameplay options that will challenge genre veterans.
Vanillaware fans will probably be sold based on the artwork and faith in the company alone. So if you’re sitting on the fence still, you’re going to have to trust your gut. All in all, I had a great time playing and my problems with the game are a symptom of how unique it is rather than an actual flaw.
At the end of the day, you’ll probably have fun with Warlander if you’re a fan of Team Death Match style games. Whether that means Mordhau or a first-person shooter like Team Fortress 2, the action is chaotic and the deaths aren’t punishing so you can always just sign in and get to fighting, and you should.
If you love FPS games but aren’t into PvP deathmatch style games like Halo, or you just miss the gameplay of Left 4 Dead (and Back 4 Blood wasn’t your thing), then Darktide should be right up your alley. After dozens of hours of gameplay you’ll only just be getting to the end game and the most hardcore of missions.
Ultimately, as a fan of Made in Abyss I’m disappointed more than anything given the potential of the source material. The game’s writing carries most of what’s good here and it’s a good introduction to the first part of the manga’s story.
So if you like immersive sniper combat and the satisfaction of landing those sneaky headshots, then Sniper Elite 5 is a game for you. The game is nothing but wall to wall tactical and precise sniping, bombing, and assassination. There’s some running and gunning, but if you play the way the game is designed, you won’t be doing much of that.
At the risk of projecting my own prejudices about this sort of game, it seems apparent to me that gameplay and strategy came second to fanservice, and that’s perfectly fine. You just have to embrace it like they did in this game.
The change to 3D and other changes introduced in Rune Factory 5 are well intentioned but poorly executed. Asides from some new quality of life features, I’d only recommend this game if you’re a fan who’s already exhausted all the content of Rune Factory 4 and just wants more Rune Factory, and if you haven’t played the fourth one already then you definitely should.
Ultimately, Triangle Strategy is a strong narrative RPG with an identity all its own. Triangle Strategy is a worthy successor to Final Fantasy Tactics, but if you’re like me you’ll have to learn to remove that expectation and let the game have its own identity.
Lost Ark tries to be an MMO however and features a shared world (with multiple “channels”, similar to WoW's controversial “shards”). But with a limited amount of NPCs and resources at any given time this is probably for the best. For a free to play game, the graphics are fairly good for an action RPG.
Whether you’re a hardcore platforming speedrunner, or someone who wants to try their hand at a platformer a little more difficult than you’re typical Nintendo fare. I’d be hard-pressed not to recommend Glyph.
Ultimately, Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker continues the game’s legacy of immersive storytelling, fantastic music, and inspiring dialogue. Which is fitting, as Endwalker is to be the end of the current saga of Hydaelyn and Zodiark. This statement which has left gamers scratching their heads over what will come next.