NintendoWorldReport

Heave Ho 2 provided new and entertaining premises for us to play with the mechanics, sabotage each other, and broke us into laughter so hard we could barely breathe. Heave Ho 2 takes the perfect formula from the first game, and adds onto it. Sometimes you don’t need to mess with perfection.

Once you click with what Verho is going for it can be pretty incredible. But it is very unapologetic in its dogmatic adherence to mid-90’s first-person-rpg mechanics. Even with a fair amount of nostalgia for the style that Verho is aiming for, it can be hard not to feel like some light modernization would help smooth over the rough edges. But if you’re willing to keep a notebook handy, are willing to grind through some occasionally awkward combat, and maybe draw your own map, Verho offers an experience that is otherwise largely lost to time.

If I were to score these Luminous Avenger iX 1 & 2 Dual Collection individually, I would give the first game an 8 and the second a 6. It truly feels like a new development team was handed the design document from the first installment, but half the pages were missing and they just "made do." While both are interesting Gunvolt spin-offs, Luminous Avenger iX 1 is the much more satisfying experience, which makes the package as a whole difficult to fully recommend, even if the Switch 2 upgrades are noteworthy.

Final Fantasy X | X-2 HD Remaster is an excellent package if you just consider the merits of the two games in a vacuum. However, we're seeing a glaring pattern emerge where Square Enix is bringing older titles, RPGs especially, to Switch 2 as full retail releases without any possibility of data carry over or any form of modest or reasonable upgrade path. In a time where anti-consumer practices are becoming more and more the norm, I would hope against hope to see more flexibility from publishers, large and small, to reward rather than punish early adopters and fans who have already supported them. If you're new to Final Fantasy and RPGs or a veteran who's never dabbled with FFX, this is a good place to start, but you can likely find the package on sale elsewhere and wouldn't be missing out on any vital Switch 2 boosts.

Gurei takes a growing modern genre and adds some novel wrinkles to it, creating an ultimately unique experience. One annoying issue with the game is the high number of crashes, which forced me back to the Switch home menu on nearly every run; the game’s autosave meant I never lost any progress, but I was constantly worrying that I would experience a crash during one of the boss fights, rather than before or after–which added unnecessary tension beyond what the game was already offering. I’m a major fan of how the bosses scale up as you take down their compatriots, leading to tough but meaningful choices as you plan out the route of each run. Those who enjoy the difficulty of titles like Hollow Knight, Blasphemous, and Nine Sols will relish how much Gurei pushes you, but it will need a patch to address the crashes before I wholeheartedly recommend it.

The Mermaid Mask’s parts all add up to this wonderful narrative with its own identity and a cast of characters that I loved to spend time with. While the ending could’ve been a bit more involved for my taste, I did like that it left me with a bittersweet feeling. That’s not something every mystery game is able to pull off, but it felt right for this particular tale. It adds to the strength of these characters that I felt satisfied leaving them in this particular place, even though I wanted to see more of them. I think that’s the mark of great writing: something that is thought provoking and allows you for a moment to inhabit a character or view the world through a different lens. It is so hard to weave a compelling mystery adventure but SFB Games have simply struck gold with this fourth Detective Grimoire adventure. The passion for their work oozes from the game and I think it is impossible to not love all of these characters. Frankly I cannot wait to see them return to the world of Detective Grimoire. But until then, The Mermaid Mask is a must for anyone looking to dive into the weekend with an engrossing mystery experience.

Culdcept Begins is the best opportunity to experience a brand new Culdcept game fully in the west since the days of the Xbox 360 (as I said, the 3DS game came out in a post-Switch world; that wasn’t a fair shake!). It’s a surprisingly user-friendly version of a complex game that does a great job of teaching you the basics and occasionally kicking you in the face with its random-number reliance. The single-player content is a great tutorial with a little extra, but the breadth of this game is in the customizable card decks and the potential long legs of multiplayer, be it locally or online. This is likely the most approachable Culdcept has been in English-speaking countries ever, and thankfully it’s an enjoyable, somewhat-streamlined version of it.

Digimon Story Time Stranger is a fine turn-based RPG with creature collecting and some rough story and progression edges. A notable feather in its cap is how smooth it runs and how nice it looks on Switch 2, not to mention miniscule load times both portably and on TV. I'm glad to have finally checked out a modern Digimon game, even if my expectations weren't fully met, and I'm curious what form the next one ends up taking. Maybe start with clear bad guys that aren't just evil Digimon.

D-Topia paints a compelling picture of an increasingly plausible future for humanity. In an era where AI is being aggressively forced upon us by tech companies looking to make a quick buck, this game serves as a brilliant reminder that algorithms alone cannot solve nuanced human problems. It is a deceptively serene adventure that proves true utopia still requires a human heart.

Having Moss and Moss: Book II together in one package is, from a narrative perspective, a much improved way to experience these games. Moss: Book II is less of a sequel and more just the second half of Moss. The original game cuts off somewhat unceremoniously so being able to immediately swap over to Book II greatly improves that element of the presentation. The move to non-VR displays clearly hasn’t been the easiest for a game so inherently built for VR. And even with that in mind, there are some clear areas where this misses the mark. Still, if you can get past the awkward moments, the Switch 2 makes a great window through which you The Reader can go along with this little mouse on her tiny adventure.