Yes, Octopath Traveler 0 can feel a bit bloated at times, but it’s also the best thematic use of the series to date of the “anthology” style of storytelling, all held together by deliciously dark villains and an uplifting core message. More than anything, it’s astounding how ambitious this game is in terms of transforming a mobile experience into a single-player RPG — on a level that we’ve quite honestly never seen in video games before. It’s experimental and messy in many ways, but so much more compelling because of that exact reason...In a world where mobile games end service and ultimately disappear from history, I genuinely hope this is a blueprint both Square Enix and others can continue to use. But in the meantime, I can at least say Octopath is on the right track.
Ultimately, much of Metroid Prime 4 feels like a failed experiment. As great as it is to explore the lightning-struck Volt Forge or pick through the haunted remains of the Ice Belt facility, the game’s standout moments are buried in drudgery.
There’s something for everyone here. For Marvel fans, it's chock-full of crowd-pleasing Easter eggs and fan service. For nostalgic arcade junkies, it's an absolute blast to play through, and it looks and sounds damn good the entire time. Marvel Comics Invasion is the definitive Marvel beat ‘em up, and one that will be well worth revisiting as many times as we did its arcade forebearers 30 years ago.
Kirby Air Riders is absolutely not going to be a game for everyone, and it doesn’t want to be. And it won’t be a constant in your life either. But like that weird uncle and his larger-than-life stories, it’s probably an experience you’ll remember fondly now and again. And in a world where video games are obsessed with occupying your time and stringing you along for weeks, months, even years — that’s undeniably refreshing.
I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a game that manages to capture the very feeling of the word ‘resilience’ quite the same way. And that applies to even the gameplay experience of methodically learning the systems and improving. I can easily see Lumines Arise being one of those yearly games for me, the select few I play through as a kind of comfort pick. And I guarantee you’ll find your own something out of it too – even if I can’t say exactly what that’ll be.
It’s almost impossible to find copies of many Tales games today, and Bandai could’ve simply ported the game to modern platforms and been done with it. But Tales of Xillia Remastered is the best version it can be, a hidden gem polished to a sheen. RPG fans shouldn’t miss it.
I might hesitate to call Age of Imprisonment an “essential” Switch 2 game, but it’s a crucial piece of giving the system a strongly varied first-year lineup. And, more than anything, it makes me excited to see the future of Koei Tecmo and Nintendo’s budding relationship.
This remake is one for the ages, and that’s whether you remember playing Dragon Warrior 2 on a little CRT television three decades ago or whether you’ve never even touched the series in your life. And there are decades of games and history to dive into if you can’t get enough.
The sequel utterly revels in the absurdity of its satire on capitalism, government, authoritarianism, and individuality – even if it takes a bit longer to get situated than the first game.
Overall, it feels like Z-A has made a definitive statement about what the “Legends” games are able to aspire to – a way for Pokémon to get weird and experimental alongside the main games. Looking back, that’s the most compelling part about Z-A: the promise it holds for the series’ future and the steps it takes to do something different. So even if Z-A isn’t everything I wanted it to be, it’s a world I dearly enjoyed getting to live in.
