Hey Poor Player

Tales of Seikyu is a lovely addition to the farming sim genre that you’ll quickly yet quietly become a part of before you’re even aware you were dragged down into its coziness in the first place. It features everything fans of the genre love about farming sims while adding in fun features like shapeshifting, among others. But where Tales of Seikyu really shines is in its ability to make players truly feel they are an integral part of Seikyu’s village, that their actions matter to its inhabitants, and that they’re doing something worthwhile.

Honestly, Vultures – Scavengers of Death feels like a survival horror game made just for me. I love the mixture of tactics and retro style, and find the game offers a robust challenge without feeling completely overwhelming. Yes, the tactics can diminish the terror, but it’s never totally gone. If you’re at all a fan of the genre, I’d definitely check Vultures out.

If you have spent years waiting for a Bond game worth clearing a weekend for, 007 First Light is it. IO Interactive understood the assignment every other Bond game didn’t: the fantasy is the spycraft, not the shooting.

Despite my frustration with the aforementioned issues, Starbites is still one of my favorite recent JRPG adventures. Yes, it was a bit muddy and glitchy on Nintendo Switch. But it’s also incredibly charming, fun, and full of retro flair.

Ultimately, the Switch 2 version of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is a lot more compromised than the port its predecessor received a few months ago. That doesn’t change the fact that this is an absolutely stunning game overall and likely the best game the series has produced in the last fifteen years. If you have the option to play it on another piece of hardware, I’d recommend doing so, but players who can only access it on the Switch 2 will still have a great time as long as the pop-in doesn’t bother them too much.

Ultimately, Mara’s story is so relatable, and the ending hits so well that anyone open to games of this nature should absolutely check it out. You don’t even need to have played the original; Station to Station does enough to fill you in on the first Perfect Tides, even if playing both will provide a few moments of recognition. I immensely enjoyed getting to see Mara continue to grow up, and I hope that a few years down the road we get the chance to see what the next chapter of her life looks like. I have a feeling she’ll still be making plenty of mistakes but also still learning and growing from them.

I can’t help but rave about Moonsigil Atlas. It’s a truly innovative rogue-like deckbuilder with a compelling visual style, great sound and unique space-based gameplay. While I would love to play it on consoles, this is one PC exclusive that demands fans of the genre and newcomers alike check it out.

Fans of the genre aren’t going to find anything particularly new in Psyvariar 3, but I’m okay with that when we haven’t had an entry in the series in more than twenty years. Instead, it’s just going to provide more of what they love, and the team here has captured that incredibly well. If you’re new to the series, it also stands out nicely from other games in the genre. Either way, Psyvariar 3 is a SHMUP worth your time.

All things considered, though, I still think RoadOut is a great adventure. Sure, the controls can be tricky sometimes, and the reputation system is a hassle. But if you can look past those, there’s an inventive and energetic game that mixes Zelda with post-apocalyptic fervor. If you’re willing to give it a chance, this is one drive through the wastelands you don’t want to neglect.

R-Type Dimensions III is best enjoyed in its original 2D style, which is a shame because the new graphical update looks excellent. Even if you revert to the original look, though, you’re left with an inaccurate version of an SNES game with bad hitboxes and poor boss balance. I’d much rather have just had the original game added to the Nintendo Classics line. Releasing a remake that, even at its best, is inferior to the original from over thirty years ago is unacceptable. With a lot of work to fix some of the performance and hitbox issues, this might eventually be at least an acceptable version of a great game, but I don’t understand how this was released in its current state.