Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection is a great collection of some fantastic, over-the-top, and fast fighting games. By simply putting all of these games in one place with an affordable price tag it was already going to be a worthwhile purchase for me, but with its wonderful additional content, it makes buying this collection a no-brainer.

This collection puts together seven different Marvel fighting games, capturing X-Men: Children of the Atom, Marvel Super Heroes, X-Men vs Street Fighter, Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter, Marvel vs Capcom, and Marvel vs Capcom 2. Plus there is The Punisher beat ‘em up, which is an odd addition. But hey, why not? If you just want to bash heads to burn off steam by punching thugs after Cyber Akuma has stomped you flat for a few hours, it’s a nice thing to have. Having all of these games in a single package is fantastic for those who don’t want to have to hit the lottery to buy copies of them all. As well, having online without having to jump through certain hoops is really nice as well. Being able to launch all of these from one game is just really nice in and of itself.

There’s some fun extras to further entice you to pick up the Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection. The game features a museum for each of the titles that contains old pamphlets, marquees, comic ads, design documents, rough stage/move/character drawings, and other fun oddities from the game’s past. While most of it is in Japanese, it was neat to look back on how a lot of the moves and stages came together as the games were created. The museum also lets you play through each game’s soundtrack as well, which is a fun addition if you just want to enjoy the tunes without having to avoid Wolverine’s Berserker Barrage.

The marquees in the museum are especially important, as you’re going to need to take some time to introduce yourself to each game’s unique mechanics and tools. If you want to learn about what the Infinity Gems do in Marvel Super Heroes or what the various assist types do in Marvel vs Capcom 2, you’re going to want to check out your move list or the game’s specific marquee. There’s not a ton of wild mechanics, but it’s enough that you’ll want to take a bit of time in the basic move lists to see what you’ll be running into in each game. A part of me wishes that each game had a little introduction to its mechanics (maybe just some still images) for new players to know what to expect, but what’s in place is functional.

With Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection, Capcom does offer new players (or Street Fighter 6 players who use Modern controls) the ability to perform easy special moves and supers. On Switch, hitting the L button plus a direction allows you to do a special move. Hitting ZL allows you to do your Hyper Combos and Supers (sometimes with a direction involved if you have multiple buttons). This allows you to do pretty much any special move with ease. What’s unexpected is that there doesn’t appear to be any change in damage to the moves if you use the regular directional input versus the one-button method. I thought this might be pretty controversial, but it is locked out for Ranked play online (but can be turned on or off for Casual Matches or Custom Rooms). It’s a shame this couldn’t be worked into something resembling Modern controls in Street Fighter 6, but given the catastrophic possibilities it would add to balancing the moves in these older games, I understand why it was done this way.

For those who want to get their execution down for Ranked play, the games all have their own practice modes complete with hit/hurtboxes, on-screen inputs, attack data, and some dummy behavior you can set up (including recordings). It’s wild to me that I can go in and set up a training dummy doing specific moves in games that are this old, but it’s a really solid training mode that is a welcome feature. Far better than what I used to do when I set it to two player mode and then just beat up on the second player. Holding up with your toe on the second controller to make them jump was always a pain.

And once you get your moves down, whether through practice or just fiddling with the one-button specials, you’ll be able to hop in and have a great time with all of the fighters in the Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection. These are games I used to have a blast playing just by mashing buttons because they were fast and looked great. Each have their own visual quirks, but overall they are filled with big, detailed characters with flashy moves that are fun to see in action. I love them all in their own ways, so it’s fun to just bounce around them and enjoy how they look and feel. Considering you can queue for multiple games in the Online mode at the same time, you can also just see what games you get tossed into and enjoy.

If I had one gripe, it’s that the collection features a single quick save across all of its titles instead of having a save for each game. So, if you’re being menaced at high levels near the end of Arcade mode in more than one of the titles at once (or if you have a save in The Punisher), trying to save any other game overwrites it. It’s mildly annoying to be stuck having to finish one game before moving to another, but again, only a minor issue.

As for The Punisher game, it’s such an odd addition, but as far as a beat ‘em up goes, it’s good fun. Making use of guns periodically adds some good variety to punching thugs, and the enemy variety is fairly decent, digging into the character’s odd array of villains and some other weird Marvel bad guys. If you get kicked around by the enemies too much, you can even do a little rewind of the action by holding L and try again. Overall, it feels super out of place in this game, but as a little free addition that can be entertaining, I really can’t complain.

Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection is just a highly impressive collection of some of the most over-the-top and fun fighting games that have ever been made. By creating easier controls, it allows all of those button-mashing newcomers (like I once was) to hop in and have a great time. With its new practice mode, it allows those of us trying to get serious a means of practicing so we don’t get annihilated by the stone cold killers who’ve been playing the game for decades. It’s just a celebration of some of the greatest titles in the genre.

Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics will be available on Sept 12, 2024 on PS4, the Nintendo Switch, and PC. It will be made available on the Xbox Series X in 2025.

The post Review: Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection Is a Great Ride appeared first on Siliconera.

Pico Park 2 randos are the worst. Do you know how many multiplayer sessions I went into with the general public? About 20. Do you know how many of them were successful? Seven. In some cases, that only happened because everyone except for one other person and myself stayed in the level to finish it. Conversely, playing the game two-player with another trusted individual ended up being quite enjoyable! Truly, Pico Park 2 is a Switch game where who you play with and how matters.

Pico Park 2 looks a lot like the first game, and it plays a lot like it too! Each person in a session, which supports up to eight people, picks an animal-like avatar. Your goal is to either get through the 60 World levels, face off in the eight Battle games, or continually go through the Endless challenges. You’re often working together, aside from Battle, but the thing about the title is that it could be good at ruining friendships or making you hate other players depending on how well everyone cooperates. 

In general, each Pico Park 2 stage involves acquiring a key so you can open a door and progress. How you get that key can vary. Some involve platforming challenges. You may need to dodge, move into certain positions, hit switches, work with your fellowing players without touching them, or complete tasks in a timely fashion. Others can feel more like minigames, with tasks such as getting a certain time together, aiming balls at baskets, or shooting down opponents. Stages are typically rather short, so you can go through a lot together! This is especially beneficial in World or Endless modes, when you’re picking at stages or just continually playing. In the World stages it can make the experimental nature of some situations, during which you find out where the dangers lie, easier to bear. The concepts are fun, you can really feel how it built off the original Pico Park, and it is generally enjoying.

In most cases, the challenge comes from three points. One is figuring out the controls, as stages that involve shooting or other actions won’t tell you which button to press. (It’s X on a Switch!) Another involves gauging distance or momentum, as there will be jumping challenges where factoring in character placement or physics can determine your success. But the real difficulty comes from other people. 

Even if you do play Pico Park 2 in an ideal situation like I did, with someone who you can trust to make good decisions, sometimes it is frustrating! There are certain levels that can be infuriating due to the parameters, execution, or limitations regarding timing or distances. When I played, 50% of the time I worked alongside someone who was as practical, reasonable, and experienced as I was. There were still some stages, especially in the final area in World, that felt unpleasant. Even when we did manage to accomplish the goal, get the key, and reach the next task, it was so annoying that I felt a handful of stages weren't much fun. The 50% of the time I played with random people in a public match, it was infuriating if it wasn’t a Battle stage.

What I will say is that if you aren’t doing well with your chosen group playing, it won’t be due to connection issues. Whether I played alone with randoms in a public game or privately with one other person, the Pico Park 2 connection was fantastic on the Switch. My ping was routinely in the 40s, and even sometimes in the low 50s! Considering you’ll always be playing with others and very likely often online, that’s quite reassuring.

It means that Pico Park 2, much like the original game, is a “your mileage may vary” title depending on who joins you when you play. If you have a group of four people who can all be in the same room together, it might be absolutely incredible. Especially if they are all familiar with the series and experienced with how games like this work. If you’re only playing with one other person, it could still be great! But you won’t get the full experience and might be frustrated sometimes. I 100% suggest not playing this with random individuals. Even though the in-game messaging system is competent and I had a decent ping playing on the Switch against others, randos are a nightmare in Pico Park 2 and ruin the experience.

Pico Park 2 is available on the Nintendo Switch, and it will come to the Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC on September 12, 2024. 

The post Review: Pico Park 2 Is Great in Certain Situations appeared first on Siliconera.

Putting aside any personal thoughts about a certain Harry Potter creator for a moment, I surprisingly enjoyed Hogwarts Legacy as one of my favorite games in 2023. With fond memories of both that game and the classic Quidditch World Cup title from the original Xbox, I went to review Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions with a hopeful heart.

In the end, I find that Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions is a worthy rendition of the fictional magical sport. The star of the show is the gameplay, which translates the broomstick sport to video game form in a hilarious and incredibly fun way. In some aspects, it almost feels like my new obsession in how I shamefully played Blitzball for about 40 total hours alone in Final Fantasy X.

For those who might not be too familiar with the sport, Quidditch is essentially soccer or basketball but on broomsticks. Wizards and witches fly around on their broomsticks passing around the ball (known as a Quaffle) in hopes of scoring in one of the three enemy goals.

However, this basic idea has quite a few intriguing twists to shake everything up. For one, there are different roles in Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions. You have the three Chasers, which are the characters who try to score with the Quaffle. Then every team has a Beater that has their own ball they can throw at enemy players to try and knock them out.

Of course, there is also a Keeper who protects the goals from being scored on. Finally, there is the Seeker — my favorite role — that fans will remember well from the Harry Potter movies. This is the role that goes after the coveted Golden Snitch to score a healthy 30 points for the team.

All four of these roles come together to form a compelling and often complex gameplay style. There is so much to dive into from a gameplay perspective that it takes time to master each role. This is because, to developer Unbroken Studios’ credit, every role feels rightfully unique. The Chaser is the most standard, focusing on boosting, tackling, passing, and scoring.

But then the Beater takes that basic movement system and adds its offensive ball on top of that. It becomes even more of a skill-based experience with this role. It is all about eliminating other players, quite violently at times.

Keeper is quite simple but it has some intriguing hooks, too. Your movement is less free compared to the others, as you focus on shifting between the hoops. But there are layers to this defensive role, like intercepting and tackling others. In addition, you can lay down rings across the pitch for your team. These act as buffs that let your team gain extra boosts, providing a leader-like role.

While the Seeker is by far the most straightforward, it is also sometimes the funnest. Your entire goal is to locate the Snitch then chase it around the field. This is done through golden rings the Snitch drops for you to pass through. These let you boost indefinitely as you pass through them and get closer to it. Once you charge up a bar before your opponent does, you can snatch it. The challenge here comes from how fast the Snitch moves and the constant dodges you have to do to avoid other players, which makes it a blast to play.

I absolutely adore the gameplay of Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions to the point where I have been obsessing over it in my free time every day since I got it. However, the gameplay only gets you so far. Unfortunately, while the gameplay foundation is as solid as it gets, the content lets it down. At least at launch.

There is, thankfully, a singleplayer experience. It involves a training mode and four cups, ranging from the Weasleys’ backyard all the way to the iconic World Cup. However, you can absolutely go through all of these in a matter of two to three hours in total. And once you’re done, there isn’t much reason to go back to them outside of challenges.

This is certainly a game that runs its course with a couple of hours of game time. The real hook then comes from PvP, but even it lacks in the content department. There is only a single 3v3 game mode right now available, which feels underbaked. We know a full 6v6 mode is on the way in the future, but this game is built for that. Letting every player on the team play a dedicated role just makes sense. Not having that at launch is a shame.

It is also unfortunate because there are some neat systems at play outside of the modes. For one, there are plenty of skins and characters to unlock. Fortunately, you don’t need to pay a dime extra for any of these, either. There are no microtransactions available, which feels refreshing. The challenges, while basic, give some structure and slight reason to come back with cosmetic rewards.

It is just a shame there aren’t more modes, both offline and online, to enjoy. Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions lays such a brilliant foundation with its impeccable gameplay execution of this fictional sport. Every role feels meaningful, unique, and worth playing. It starts out so simple but has enough complexity for only the most dedicated to master.

While this foundation is great, though, it only goes so far. Despite having the potential to be my next online gaming obsession, Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions will, unfortunately, take a backseat for now until more worthwhile content and modes arrive.

Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions is available right now for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. It will also release for Nintendo Switch sometime in Holiday 2024.

The post Review: Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions Thrills Despite Lacking Content appeared first on Siliconera.

Fairy Tail: Dungeons offers quick, snappy roguelite deck-building for someone looking for a few quick hands of high-stakes cards. Strikingly simple, but with some great depth to the systems you can quickly pick up, it’s highly entertaining whether you only have a few minutes to play or if you want to spend a good deal of time in its dungeon depths.

As someone with no knowledge of the anime, the game offers a fast introduction to some of the characters that felt like just enough to get you rolling. I was concerned that I’d be totally lost after the last few anime games that I’d played when I didn’t know the show, but this title doesn’t really need you to know much. It gives you a handful of playable characters (as well as some other ones you meet), but all you really need to know is their play style and how they fight. As this game is light on plot, it feels like you don’t lose anything from not knowing the show and you still feel like you “get” everything that’s happening. That said, this game is extremely light on plot, but I didn’t find I needed a story.

Instead, I was more focused on the card play. In Fairy Tail: Dungeons, you get a small deck of cards to play with at first. You get a mixture of attack cards that deal damage to foes as well as defensive cards that will block incoming damage. These cards area dealt to you four at a time, and you’ll start each round with a full hand of four. You’re given three MP every round you can use, and you get to decide how you spend those MP with your cards (most of which cost one or two MP to cast).

As for what you should do with your MP every turn, that depends on what your enemies are up to. The game will indicate some damage numbers beside the monsters if they’re going to attack you. If they’re not, you can select an enemy to figure out what sort of defensive or buff spells they may be casting instead. Enemies can also prepare highly-damaging attacks that come with unique ways of stopping them (play X number of attack cards, for example). Knowing everything your opponents are doing helps guide you in what you should do each round.

And while you only have four cards to choose from each round, it feels like you really need to think about what to play – you’ll agonize a lot over that simple hand. Should you bulk up your defenses? Try to kill something before it hits you? Prioritize playing the right cards to stop and incoming big hit (always do this one)? Your life points persist across the dungeon, so you can’t just blunder through a fight and then recover afterwards. Mistakes pile on, and if you take too much damage over several fights, you’ll be back to the start of Fairy Tail: Dungeons.

You’ll agonize quickly, though. With only a few cards to play, things move briskly through the game. There’s only so much you can do with each hand, so things hurry along. You can spend a bit of your life to redraw your hand if it’s utterly useless, but usually you’ll want to play what you have. This means you’re not usually taking too long to make your decisions, but there still feels like there’s a great depth every round despite the small hand size.

The real depth lies in building your deck and planning what possibilities you want to have in Fairy Tail: Dungeons. As you explore the dungeon map by choosing tiles to visit, you can pick up cards after fights, events you can stumble across, or shops that appear. Now, I loaded my deck with high-damage cards whenever I came across one, and while it worked great for a while, it eventually meant that my defensive cards didn’t show up as much when I was in combat purely because I had more attack cards in my deck. It was a pure probability thing that I had foolishly ignored in hopes of just slamming enemies. Not that playing more defensively got me any further a few rounds later. Still, I really liked that I had to consider how I was composing my deck for probability.

And there are several ways you can shape your deck. You can improve some of your capabilities in combat or add better abilities to specific cards using an upgrade system that costs Lacrima, a currency you pick up as you play. You can also just outright refuse some of the cards you’ve been offered, as well as prune a card from your deck at specific points. After a short time, it felt more important to remove cards, refuse to take them if I felt I had too many high cost cards, or to focus on just improving what I had to better know what to expect each hand rather than continually expand and mess up a predictable probability of getting the cards I wanted.

Still, there are some cool things that may make you really want to take that new card. Some cards can play off of one another to cause improved effects (Magic Chains), so you’ll want to ensure you get those often. But is adding a new chain worth it if it bloats your deck? Alternatively, you might unlock a new chain in your upgrade tree that you’ll wish you had picked up a card for earlier. It gave me a lot to think about as I sat mulling over whether to take a card or not.

How you stack that deck also depends on the character you use in Fairy Tail: Dungeons. Natsu plays offensively but is still more an all-rounder, but Gray plays more defensively, stacking up huge amounts of protection against damage. Lucy offered some more buffs and support casts. The playable characters give some fun options on how to play and build your deck, and their abilities all look very different from each other’s adding some nice visual flair and variety.

You also have a fair amount of wiggle room in how you play based on the map as well. Not every tile you can reach is an encounter. There are spaces that have you meeting other characters and having events, tiles with Lacrima on them, and shops as well. You can only see so far ahead so you can’t fully plan your route, but you can shoot for paths with fewer fights to preserve life (or more if you want better rewards). How you walk matters as much as how you play your cards.

And when you die (and I died a lot), you gain points towards a rank that unlocks amulets for future runs. These rarely offered extreme bonuses, but can give you little boosts in health, the probability of getting zero cost cards, the ability to carry more items (which is limited gear that can also give you some nice effects), and more. They don’t really break the game so I never felt like I was gaining overwhelming power, but it was enough to get a little leg up here and there.

Fairy Tail: Dungeons feels like a straightforward, but still nicely tactical, deck-building game. Being able to play a few quick hands in a fight was great for moments when there wasn’t much time to play, and the ability to dive right in and pick up the rules in seconds made it easy to just jump right into. Even so, the systems underneath had enough depth that it kept pulling me back in to reshape my strategies for the next run.

Fairy Tail: Dungeon is available for PCs.

The post Review: Fairy Tail: Dungeons Satisfies With Quick Card Battles appeared first on Siliconera.

After literal decades, the original Fate/stay night is available on modern consoles in English, and it serves as a fantastic introduction to the grand (but not that complicated) world of Fate. Outside of very minor technical issues that were more than likely my own fault rather than the game’s, it’s a smooth and gripping experience for both veterans and novices of the series.

The overall premise of Fate/stay night is one that even non-fans should be familiar with at this point, considering how many adaptations and spin-offs there are. It follows Shirou Emiya, a deceptively ordinary high school student who finds himself wrapped up in the Holy Grail War. The Holy Grail War is a war between mages, fought by summoning historical or mythological heroes as Servants in order to obtain the titular Holy Grail. As Saber’s Master, Shirou somewhat reluctantly joins the war in order to prevent tragedies that may occur as a result of it.

There are three routes: Fate, Unlimited Blade Works, and Heaven’s Feel. Each route feels wildly different in terms of themes, main characters, and storyline, yet the game still meshes together in a cohesive manner. As for the actual gameplay, it’s similar to previous Type-Moon titles like Witch on the Holy Night and Tsukihime where you mostly make decisions at key junctures in the plot. Outside of those occasional key inputs, you can sit back and enjoy the show. I personally enjoyed the Unlimited Blade Works route a bit more than the other two, but they’re all very interesting stories with their own unique motifs and themes.

It’s actually very interesting reading Fate/stay night so soon after the Tsukihime remake because I can see how Nasu improved as a writer. However, I will also note that it can be hard to compare since as the introduction to the Fate franchise, Fate/stay night naturally had to be a bit heavy on the exposition. Things that we Fate fans think are common knowledge—True Name, Holy Grail War, Bounded Field, et cetera—were probably really confusing back when the game first came out.

Nonetheless, the narrative can feel a bit slow at times due to Nasu’s focus on either explaining the magic system or delving really deep into internal monologue. The second thing isn’t bad, since it provides insight on characters in a way that animated adaptations could never. Speaking of the narrative, I realized how much of my disinterest in the Fate route was from the Studio DEEN anime. Sure, ufotable has its problems when it comes to adapting Fate works but I still hope it decides to make a new anime for the Fate route one day.

I played the game after the issues with the English version were patched out. So I didn’t get the authentic experience of playing a Japanese visual novel. Though I did run into some performance issues, I’m pretty sure they’re avoidable if you don’t do what I did (thus it won’t affect the score). For one thing, playing the game on a second monitor doesn’t work in fullscreen. It keeps minimizing. I played Ace Attorney Investigations on a second monitor in fullscreen and it ran fine, so this is unique to Fate/stay night. Even windowed, issues cropped up. Letters would be missing or entire lines would run into each other. I know this is a problem with the monitor rather than the game because if I took a screenshot or dragged the window to my main screen, it looked fine. Moral of the story? Fate doesn’t like playing second fiddle.

Fate/stay night is a great read and introduction to the Fate franchise, and all three routes maintain the same quality in terms of the plot and themes. Personally, I don’t think any route was bad. It just falls to personal preference. Compared to Type-Moon’s newer games or stories, yes, it can be overly wordy. And yes, it looks dated in both Takeuchi’s art style and in the Powerpoint-like transitions. I honestly found it charming though, and it works in the context of such a classic game. So rejoice, Fate fans. Our wish has finally come true.

Fate/stay night Remastered is readily available on the Nintendo Switch and Windows PC.

The post Review: Fate/stay night Provides a Sturdy Foundation appeared first on Siliconera.

I miss Castlevania games. I’d love to see an entirely new one. But failing that, I’m also incredibly excited when Konami remembers that people would really like a chance to return to older installments. When it turned out Castlevania Dominus Collection ended up being a Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase shadowdrop, I was thrilled at the prospect of playing three beloved older games on the Switch alongside a new remake of Haunted Castle. Turns out, the DS games hold up incredibly well, and Haunted Castle Revisited is an absolute delightful revival of a game most people probably didn’t get to play.

With the four games in the collection, we’re getting glimpses back at different moments in Castlevania history. Chronologically speaking, and in terms of actual age, Haunted Castle’s events come first. Simon Belmont heads off to confront Dracula after his wife is kidnapped. From there, we see Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia’s events. Since there are no Belmonts present, the titular order intended to use the Dominus glyph against Dracula should he return. However, when one of two students steal the three of them, an amnesiac Shanoa must pursue him and retrieve them for her mentor and to save kidnapped citizens. Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin is another entry without a Belmont, with Jonathan Morris and Charlotte Aulin heading to Dracula’s castle to face another vampire named Brauner who moved into the more famous vampire’s old haunt. Meanwhile, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow takes us into the future with Soma Cruz, the reincarnation of Dracula, dealing with a cult trying to turn him into Dracula. 

While there are unique mechanics in each one, the three Castlevania DS games in Dominus Collection play similarly. In Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, we’re heading to the cult’s mansion and journeying through it. As Soma is the hero, his ability to absorb enemy souls is the method of getting stronger, unlocking new abilities, and gaining new types of attacks. With Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, we head into paintings to visit different realms to deal with bosses within and seal them away, and there are often puzzles or situations where switching between Jonathan and Charlotte is needed to progress. In Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, we have elements of both previous games present, as Shanoa gains new abilities and attacks by absorbing glyphs found or dropped by enemies in a fashion similar to Soma, but she’s also going across a region and traversing smaller spaces instead of a single, giant mansion.

My first concern when I heard about the Castlevania Dominus Collection is how well it would work on a console like the Switch when Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin, and Order of Ecclesia were all Nintendo DS entries. Well, it works flawlessly. Which I should have expected, considering M2 was involved in the process. On the Switch especially, it is fantastic. The main “action” appears in a larger screen on the left, while on the right you have two additional screens constantly showing the map and character details. It’s absolutely fantastic to have all this information on-hand at once. And if there were moments that involved touchscreen functionality, there are either now button inputs or an option to use the Switch touchscreen or buttons to make up for those moments.

I also felt like Castlevania Dominus Collection is a perfect example of including a game for someone at every skill level while also showing the progression of the handheld entries in the series. I feel like Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin can be quite accommodating, perhaps even more so than I remembered, due to the nature of the second character and the structure. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow is for someone more accustomed to the series and interested in perhaps mastering and finding every soul. Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia can be far more challenging than the other entries in this collection, due the way Shanoa’s glyphs work, the MP needed to use them, and the decisions you need to make to keep her alive when first starting out. Meanwhile, if you play them in the order they released (Dawn of Sorrow in 2005, Portrait of Ruin in 2006, and Order of Ecclesia in 2008), we can see the progress in terms of character designs, castle design, gameplay, and execution. So we can see Dawn of Sorrow’s souls influence on Ecclesia’s glyphs. Likewise, we can see how the paintings and smaller locations in Portrait of Ruin perhaps affected Order of Ecclesia’s locations.

Simply put, the three existing games part of the Castlevania Dominus Collection on the Switch? It’s absolutely fantastic. All of them are great. They’re fantastic fun, no matter which order you play them in. It’s a wonderful deal.

As for Haunted Castle Revisited, it’s just a lovely surprise. My experience with it is fairly fleeting, as I’ve only played it a few times when visiting Galloping Ghost Arcade. It retains much of what we remember from the original. There are six stages which you must get through in a timely fashion, with bosses at the end of each one. However, I found it felt a little more forgiving and like a traditional Castlevania experiences in some ways. For example, I found chickens to restore health sometimes, which was especially helpful in the first two stages as I got reacquainted with the title and last level. You can also upgrade the whip and get sub-weapons, which helps with additional tactics when facing foes. Not to mention it looks absolutely fantastic, especially when you play the also-included original Haunted Castle to compare.

Basically, Castlevania Dominus Collection is another fantastic compilation of Castlevania games. The three DS titles returning here are all wonderful games in their own ways, and they play quite well on the Switch thanks to M2’s efforts. Haunted Castle and Haunted Castle Revisited feel like a fun bonus and a way to bring the Belmonts into a collection that otherwise focuses on other heroes fighting Dracula and his forces. It’s a worthwhile bundle of titles, especially on the Switch.

Castlevania Dominus Collection is available on the Nintendo Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC. 

The post Review: Castlevania Dominus Collection Games Still Feel Essential appeared first on Siliconera.

2024 has been a fantastic year for Ace Attorney fans, between the Apollo Justice Trilogy in January and now Ace Attorney Investigations in September. As Miles Edgeworth, you get to prosecute criminals and bring them to justice. Psych! No you don’t, but you do get to solve cool mysteries, overwhelm opponents with the might of logic, and look snazzy with a fancy cravat and sleek new visuals. As a longtime fan of the series and a big Edgeworth fan, I can say with absolutely no bias at all that this was well worth the wait.

The plot of Ace Attorney Investigations focuses on Miles Edgeworth, one of the main characters from the original Ace Attorney trilogy and Phoenix’s rival. Though he is a prosecutor, he never goes to court in the games. Instead, Edgeworth focuses on solving cases outside of the courtroom. The cases all connect into an overarching story compared to somewhat more episodic first trilogy. It plays very similarly to the main series though. You still have to collect clues, put them together, and find contradictions in testimonies. Edgeworth’s unique mechanic of Logic doesn’t introduce anything too radical like the Emotional Matrix from Dual Destinies or the Jury of The Great Ace Attorney. But it’s still a fun way to advance the story and shake things up.

When I first played Investigations in high school, the story didn’t really resonate with me. At first, I thought it was because I liked how the more episodic first trilogy allowed for "breather" cases. However, the port helped me to figure out my initial disinterest. The setting for the duology reminds me a bit too much of how 5 and 6 became way grander in scale.

Edgeworth is a prosecutor, yet he’s doing work that seems far beyond his pay grade. I don’t know how the rules work in Japanifornia, but prosecutors leading a criminal investigation into an international smuggling ring seems pretty divorced from reality. Not that the games were ever trying to be realistic, but there was still some degree of credibility. It’s like watching CSI or Criminal Minds. I doubt those agents in real life go out in the field and apprehend criminals. It’s easier to accept Edgeworth doing this now than it was back then. I suppose I have 5 and 6 to thank for that, since those games jumped the shark in a way that nothing can really surprise me anymore in Ace Attorney.

This is subjective, but I really enjoy the cast of characters in the second game. They’re so much more colorful than ones in the first entry. The story is also a lot better, in my opinion, and I can see why some consider it one of the top three games in the entire franchise. I’m also a lot more receptive to Lang this time around, since I’m no longer a diehard Edgeworth-stanning teenager. Now I feel bad that the first thing I said when Lang appeared was, “Was he always this ugly?"

Something I vividly remember from when Ace Attorney Investigations first came out was an interview with the development team. Someone mentioned that they put a lot of care into Edgeworth’s running animations to make it look natural and effortless. The updated sprites in the game make those animations look even better than they were on the DS. He looks great jogging around, as do all of the characters. At no point did I ever feel like switching back to the original sprites and, during the brief period I did, it looked so wrong that I had to go back. It’s when the portraits appear that they revert to the ye olde “three frames per action” style of the DS era. The change is a little jarring, I admit, but not enough that it actively bothers me.

The little avatars on the field are so cute, especially now that we can see so many more details. I love Edgeworth’s smug little face when he does that annoying shrug. I love Gumshoe’s pathetic cringing animation. The guys in this duology are really lovable this time around thanks to their overall goofiness and the new sprites. I’ve liked Edgeworth and Gumshoe since the very first game, and this one really reinforced my affections for them. As for Eustace, he's a ridiculous clown boy but I adore him all the same. He was one of the things I was most excited for when Nintendo first announced this port, and all of his scenes were as delightful as I hoped they'd be.

The girls are no slouch either in that department, especially with Kay’s lively little animation cycles. She’s so similar to what Maya and Trucy (and later Athena) brought to the table though! It’s way too late now to complain about the writing, but sometimes I wish that they’d gone a different route with her personality. Her rapport with Edgeworth was fun regardless and I enjoyed her integration into the overarching lore. So this isn’t me pushing an anti-Kay agenda, mind you.

One thing that kind of takes me out of the experience is the occasional wordiness in the localization. This is only prevalent in the first game. I decided to reread my review for the Apollo Justice trilogy while writing up this one and to my shock, I realized I repeated my past mistake. Once again, I chose to replay a bit of The Great Ace Attorney during Investigations, and the memory of that game affected my impression of this one. I should stop doing that. While the localization for Investigations is strong, there are a few points where a different translation might have been snappier to read. The sentences can be long to the point of awkwardness, making them feel unnatural for dialogue.

It's one thing if the lines are, say, Edgeworth's. He talks in an overly stuffy and formal manner in the Japanese as well. But it's another thing for random characters who should be a lot more casual. That being said, I don’t believe that the occasional odd line is detrimental to the overall experience, especially if you’re someone who doesn’t work with words and writing all the time. It’s also a personal preference thing. I firmly believe all periods and commas should be in quotations, and that people should use harebrained rather than hair-brained. But according to my research, some people don't share this opinion.

Ace Attorney Investigations is a fantastic port that looks and plays beautifully on modern consoles. I’m so happy that people can finally experience the second game with an official localization! So happy that we can finally see that little wiener Eustace in HD glory! It strikes that perfect middle ground between the old Ace Attorney (the original trilogy and I argue even the fourth game) quality and the new Ace Attorney (Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice) zaniness that most fans of the series can enjoy it, so long as they suspend their disbelief. Just pretend you’re watching something like Criminal Minds!

Ace Attorney Investigations will come out on September 6, 2024 for the PS4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Windows PC.

The post Review: Ace Attorney Investigations Can Get Pretty Wild appeared first on Siliconera.

Behaviour Interactive allowing Supermassive Games, who previously developed the 90's slasher inspired Until Dawn, to create a more "cinematic" title set within the Dead by Daylight universe seems like an optimal choice. However, Supermassive Games carries in the same flaws and meandering and uninteresting direction that has plagued the developer since The Dark Picture Anthology's Little Hope.

Within the first hour of trudging through The Casting of Frank Stone I was so bored I was on the verge of tears. Because while the game does have some interesting narrative threads (particularly the stuff concerned with lore connected to Dead by Daylight's mysterious Entity), the character writing is cliched and at worst, just uninteresting. The tale begins in the 1960's, where players assume the role of a sheriff sent to investigate the disappearance of an infant. The game warns you that your choices will have consequences, much like every Supermassive Game, place a deep emphasis on player choice and how these actions could ripple outward.

From there you bounce between the 1960's, 1980's, and 2024 — with a different cast of characters to play in each decade. Something as simple as trusting a character with a bit of information impacting characters you meet throughout the established timeline. However, this isn't always the case. It felt like some decisions were just there to add tension when there wasn't any, just to warn me that I might have done something wrong or potentially killed a character when all routes ended up leading to the same outcome anyways. There are a few deviations here and there, but when I had to figure out how to get my hands on a new camera for an aspiring group of filmmakers, there wasn't much actual choice to be had.

All of these characters are also interconnected through the titular character, Frank Stone, in some way, and a supposedly cursed movie that was filmed where this mysterious killer met his end. Which I guess is supposed to make the narrative more compelling, but it all felt kind of lazy. It felt like a way to try and add stakes and pull something out of the player when something bad does happen to a character. I won't be elaborating on this for the sake of spoilers, but this was definitely something I was able to spot a mile away. Which isn't a bad thing. Cliches and tropes have existed in media and continue to exist in media for a reason, and when these ideas are executed on properly, they can be extremely compelling! Even in B-horror films, or games that give off the same kind of vibe.

But this has always been an issue for Supermassive Games, and continues to be an issue here. Along with the general pacing and direction of scenes. The game either goes at a breakneck pace or is agonizingly slow. The two hours of the game after the prologue chapter had me falling asleep in my chair, even if the narrative kept dangling bits of more interesting story or gameplay in front of me. Because The Casting of Frank Stone is as it's best when it's more Dead by Daylight than one of Supermassive Games' attempt at making a playable horror film.

I loved the little touches that reminded me of a game I enjoyed significantly more. The incorporation of scratch marks (a mechanic from Dead by Daylight that shows a killer where you've been sprinting towards survival) or little bits of lore tied directly into Behaviour Interactive's asymmetrical horror game. You can pick up little artifacts throughout the game that are nods to the game's Killers, and the antagonist of The Casting of Frank Stone does shed some light on the ominous Entity that has pulled some of the most twisted individuals and their soon-to-be victims into these weird little pocket dimensions that have been frozen in time that exists in a realm beyond ours.

But scenes drag on, the motion capture in a lot of them have prioritized facial capture over refining the whole of the performance of the actor, and transitions after making choices can be clunky and awkward. For those unfamiliar with Supermassive Games' catalogue, their games function are playable films where you do some light walking and exploration while choosing how to react to characters and do a QTE here and there to ensure the survival of the cast. It's sort of like a choose your own adventure novel, just a lot more linear. It worked for Until Dawn, even if it isn't my favorite horror game or kind of horror game, because of how it managed to balance these systems. The Casting of Frank Stone has an uneven mix, and you'll be sitting through characters chatting amongst one another for upwards of twenty or thirty minutes before actually being allowed to do something, until maybe something more exciting happens that has you interested, only for it to cool down again or for you to be forced to solve uninteresting puzzle or engage in boring combat.

If you do want to see how a different decision might have shaken out, you don't need to play the game again at the very least. Instead you can take advantage of the "Cutting Room Floor" option, which allows you to jump in at specific points in the story to see how a different choice might have gone. Unfortunately, you cannot skip cutscenes or right to the decision in question, even if you've seen the scene before. So you're stuck there waiting for fifteen or so minutes of the same, grating dialogue just to see if deciding to repair a camera at an old curio shop or the local pharmacy will have any other real outcome.

The game also has some issues when it comes to textures popping in, and was struggling on my PC even at medium settings. Thankfully the subtitles are easy to read, but there were some inconsistencies in terms of how the subtitles would display actions. Sometimes they would be in brackets, other times they wouldn't. But the game does have a fair amount of accessibility options ranging from text size, controller vibration, and even changing the kinds of QTE's you can get, or if they can time out.

For those that want to loop their friends into the fun, there is a multiplayer mode that facilitates five different players. However, there is only local multiplayer, which means that you have to physically hand over your controller to whoever you're playing with. I imagine players on PC might be able to finagle something where you'll be able to remote play with friends or family, but I didn't test that out.

Overall, The Casting of Frank Stone is an interesting attempt at feeding Dead by Daylight fans more lore through different means. I think there's a lot of potential there, but so much of the game could have just remained on the cutting room floor, tightening up the tension and overall experience to make it a more engrossing B-horror flick. Because there isn't anything wrong with bad or corny, it just isn't enough to be so bad that it's good. It's just kind of there, and it's a game I won't be playing again.

The Casting of Frank Stone is available for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X.

PC Specs:

• Processor: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12-Core Processor
• RAM: 32-GB
• Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060

The post Review: The Casting of Frank Stone Meanders too Much to be Thrilling appeared first on Siliconera.

The WitchSpring games always surprise me. The blend of character training, a relaxed pace, and shockingly deep lore tend to enthrall me. WitchSpring R, a major remake of the original game, fleshes out the original game even further while ensuring this version of the game looks and plays even more smoothly than the original.

Pieberry is a young woman and a witch. She doesn’t remember much about herself or her past! She knows she loves pies and berries, hence the name she gave herself. She also knows she’s pretty much stuck in the forest where she lives, due to a golem and all. However, there’s more to her, and the world around her, than she realizes. And since humans have been on a crusade against witches ever since, she’ll soon find herself leaving her safe space and going to the Springs around Vavelia, reviving them and learning who she is.

Now, as I mentioned earlier, WitchSpring R ends up being quite a dramatic and dark game. The witch hunts are no joke. Bad things happen to good people. There are times we see characters we care about broken. But at the same time, it’s also a very touching story! There are happy moments scattered throughout, and the nature of it means plenty of times it does feel downright cozy.  Pieberry herself is a fun, though perhaps a bit too naive, character. This version of the game and story stands out due to the extra attention given to supporting cast members. However, while I do appreciate the larger plot beats and lore surrounding witches and the world, there are some moments that feel a little… dumb. Like situations might be too obvious or ridiculous, spoilers aside. 

Like all other WitchSpring entries, WitchSpring R involves building up Pieberry’s magical repertoire via getting new spells, acquiring pets to help in and out of battles, taking part in turn-based fights, crafting, and training the witch. The general gameplay loop doesn’t change all that much between the original game and remaster. While the original version of this game also involved a time-limit, it takes a queue from other games and the Atelier series for a more relaxed approach that allows Pieberry to complete her objectives at your leisure. 

These are all introduced in a gradual way, to help you ease into the new responsibilities. So much so that it might feel a little overbearing or like your hand is being held too tightly. Even though you can right away see certain areas and opportunities to explore, Kiwiwalks determines when you get to encounter new items, gain access to new areas, and learn how to train or use certain features. While in a way, it makes sense since they show up when the story demands Pieberry need them. However, I wish it got through these elements a bit quicker so we could really let loose.

Which is funny, because WitchSpring R is good at respecting your time in other ways. Anti-grinding features such as easily avoidable enemies, frequently replenished material sources, and the game outright telling you that you won’t get EXP for redoing enemy encounters keeps you from wasting time going through certain routines. I honestly felt like I was strong enough to handle anything even when I raced through it for the sake of the review. I’d say in general the pacing is fine, once the tutorials are all done. It’s just the introduction and certain moments later on that get a bit bogged down, especially when it feels like there’s limited freedom when it comes to what you can do “next.” 

I honestly wouldn’t have minded more excuses to fight. The battle system and mechanics surrounding it are quite fun. When training Pieberry through scheduled classes, you determine her specializations. So you could make her a physical bruiser or lean heavy into magic. Having pets act as additional party members and traversal methods makes them feel more important, especially since you can bond with them with food to make them more powerful. The battle system clearly telegraphs the turn order, to allow you to plot things out and keep situations from getting overwhelming. Using magic first can strengthen and affect physical attacks after. Not to mention you can trigger bonus hits. Also, the magic system really lets you customize Pieberry’s spells via choosing the elements like the type of slab and magic circle to determine the effects, MP cost, critical hit chances, boosts, and power. If you want to go overboard making her a major powerhouse, you can! But also, the nature of it means you could take a more relaxed approach and still see her succeed.

But what makes WitchSpring R feel so much more worthwhile is how it differs from that original mobile release. The graphics, the character designs, the story, the overworld… it all is so much grander than it was before. It’s such a substantial series of changes that it feels like a new, fresh game that just so happened to pull from the ideas and concepts in the original. The systems and mechanics feel much stronger, even though you can see the inspirations and roots from that first release.

While I played it on the Switch and loved it there, I did experience one odd issue with Pieberry herself in the first few hours. This happened during the first Pudding Cave dungeon, after I unlocked the teleportation function there. After going through the tutorial and using it to teleport out to restock potions, I headed back in and teleported to the newly unlocked point. Even though it seemed to have worked and the game took me to the new area, I didn’t see her character model. Quitting, reloading, and retrying fixed it, and I didn’t encounter the problem again. So it is possible by the time you read this review, a patch rectified whatever that issue was and you won’t have to deal with it.

WitchSpring R feels like it is the comfort food of JRPGs. It isn’t too taxing. There are some typical JRPG story elements. Its turn-based battle system is sound. The story starts a bit slow, due to a tutorial holding your hand through every gameplay element. However, there’s some fun stuff happening with the lore and Pieberry’s story can be entertaining.

WitchSpring R is available on the Switch, PS5, and PC. An Xbox One version is in development.

The post Review: WitchSpring R Can Be Both Delightful and Deep appeared first on Siliconera.

So, if your mom dies of a strange, seemingly supernatural disease, then your wife does as well, maybe experimenting with fickle, dangerous entities to revive one of them isn’t a good idea? That isn’t what happens in My Lovely Empress. His uncle and kingdom’s grand duke decides that the grieving Emperor Hong can have a little necromancy, as a treat. The result is we, as players, attempt to help a kingdom thrive and survive so we can be monsters who sacrifice everything for a cause that absolutely, totally, definitely could maybe, probably turn out okay.

My Lovely Empress begins with a kingdom in the throes of multiple crises. Emperor Hong’s mother, the beloved Empress Dowager Wang, died of a strange disease. Within days, he discovers his pregnant wife Xiang is facing the same affliction. There is a potential treatment that could help, but it comes as a supernatural storm bears down on the capital. Whether you prioritize the natural disaster or search for medicine doesn’t matter when it comes to her survival. Empress Xiang dies, and for months the Crimson Empire falls into disrepair. It is then that Grand Duke Chen, who was also Xiang’s uncle, reveals the Crimson Empire family secret… Yaoguai.

His father Great Emperor Khan used them to make the kingdom rise. …And then they killed him, due to him doing things wrong. Empress Dowager Wang apparently perfected the technique and ritual, using Yaoguai properly and in the hopes of reviving Khan. But she stopped for some reason and dismissed them. Now Emperor Hong is taking up the family trade to summon characters that basically are hand grenades with the pins pulled, in the hopes they can fix his country and help him get the innocent souls needed to restore the recovered Empress Xiang’s soul and revive her.

My Lovely Empress is a balancing act, to be sure. Your goal is to help the kingdom thrive, summon and strengthen Yaoguai, manage diplomatic relations with other regions… and also probably kill millions of innocent human people or some of the very Yaogui you’ve come to rely upon to resurrect Xiang. Part of this involves keeping the various factions that make up the city’s population happy, to encourage population growth and income. 

These groups you need to balance are the army, citizens, nobles, and traders. As time ticks down each day and season, events will come up across the map and remain for a number of days. In the case of ones Emperor Hong can handle, it means clicking on it to make a choice that will likely anger some and please others. You can send a Yaogui with stamina to investigate the result. However, I noticed these events start to repeat a lot very early on, so that’s usually a waste of their energy. Other events specifically require a Yaoguai’s intervention and have no negatives when performed. In some cases, a neighboring ruler might even like you more for it. 

Since there’s always too much to do and not enough time to do it, the Yaoguai become critical agents. You start with one, a nine-tail fox named Gumiho. However, quickly you’ll learn that heading on expeditions to areas to unlock new resource items and performing rituals to summon more will make your life more manageable. These characters have different specialties for certain situations, and being able to tap into that and improve them helps significantly. 

As for the empress part of My Lovely Empress, that’s where the necromancy comes into play. Once you get what’s left of Xiang’s soul via Gumiho, it is constantly degrading. You’ll need to make sacrifices to make that happen. Someone could sacrifice the Yaoguai called into Emperor Hong’s service. However, Gumiho points out that a substantial number of human lives, those of the Crimson Empire’s subjects, could be used to repair it as well. While investing in the kingdom to increase its size, acquiring materials, and building up Yaoguai forces is important, so to is deciding what choices to make. This comes into play both from the earliest moments, when you handle the medicine search and storm, to when you decide what sorts of sacrifices to make for Xiang. 

As I mentioned earlier though, My Lovely Empress can get repetitive. You’ll be going through many of the same actions or events repeatedly. Not to mention that while it is a challenge, if you manage to summon enough Yaoguai and never sacrifice any of them, it might get to be a little easy. If you get invested enough, it doesn’t seem as noticeable. However, given that there are multiple endings, I expect it’d be a bit of a challenge to get through repeated runs in succession. 

It’s also important to note that people going in expecting to be able to date the Yaoguai will be disappointed. There is romance here! However, those endings are tied to the rulers of neighboring countries and decisions made while interacting with them. You can learn more about the Yaoguai themselves by talking with them and build up relationships, but there’s no romance associated with them. Which is a shame, because the designs and background for them are often really fun. GameChanger Studio and Neon Doctrine drew from supernatural beings and mythology for their designs, and it would have been fun to see more.

I was absolutely fascinated by My Lovely Empress during my first run, when I tried to avoid as much bloodshed as possible and search for a healthy ending. I was shocked the second time around when things got much darker. It can be intriguing, even when it starts to get repetitive, and I appreciated the new approach GameChanger Studio took with the My Lovely series this time around.

My Lovely Empress is available on the Switch, Xbox Series X, and PC. 

The post Review: My Lovely Empress Can Involve a String of Bad Decisions appeared first on Siliconera.

The Famicom Detective Club duology of remakes on Nintendo Switch instantly gripped me, as a fan of visual novels and mystery titles. When Nintendo revealed a third, original title in the series for the Switch, I couldn’t be more elated. It turns out Emio - The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club is narrowly my favorite in the series and possibly the darkest game Nintendo has ever made.

Emio - The Smiling Man involves an immediately compelling mystery about a student who is found dead with a paper bag over his head. On the front, a smiley face is drawn on it. This initial mystery only gets deeper, as it connects to an urban legend and previous murder case. Emio, the titular creepy paper bag-wearing killer, is horrifying in all the right ways from the start.

The infrequent horror scenes focusing on Emio put this title more in line tonally with The Girl Who Stands Behind. However, Emio - The Smiling Man stands on its own as one of the most unique games in Nintendo’s history. Its general gameplay will be familiar to existing fans of Famicom Detective Club or point-and-click adventures. Fortunately for newcomers, I did find the puzzle mechanics more straightforward, yet engaging, than ones in the past two titles.

Every scene in Emio - The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club boils down to a few key interactions. You think, talk, engage, and examine your way to the next part of the story. Most of the game involves using these key features to learn new details about the case as you question various witnesses and notable figures. Those characters look better than ever, expanding upon the beautifully detailed designs from the remakes with even sharper visuals and some of the most active animations I’ve seen from a visual novel or adventure game.

While the investigations may sound boring or a bit too simple from a glance, they work like a puzzle. In one instance, you may need to ask about the same topic a few times before you unlock a new question. You might have to examine the environment to learn about a new subject to talk about. Eventually, these portions lead to crucial review sequences near the end of each chapter. They act like tests of your knowledge about certain events.

The gameplay might be linear, but Emio - The Smiling Man makes up for that with a new addition. Ayumi, the main character’s sidekick and friend from past games, takes the role of the secondary playable protagonist for a portion of the experience. This perspective shift changes up the usual formula from the past two games in a significant way. You still play as the main character who you can name, but Ayumi has a slightly different investigative style. After all, she is able to question and interact with characters the protagonist is unable to meet. In addition, she has a much more gentle and calm approach. This idea leads to some of the game’s more heartwarming and ground-breaking scenes.

Those few lighter moments are a welcome respite, given the heavy content in Emio - The Smiling Man. On its own, it already sounds like a pretty disturbing murder mystery. This is especially apparent when you take into account the original three murders of girls 18 years prior to the start of the game. However, it doesn’t stop there.

Without giving too much away, some of the story elements and scenes the plot delved into shocked me. Emio - The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club is far and away the darkest game I’ve ever played from Nintendo. It deals with some plot points that even the past two games didn’t come close to addressing. There are some story beats, particularly towards the end, that I found difficult to experience.

I appreciate the developer going as far as it did with the Emio - The Smiling Man plot. It can be quite twisted at times, but it is all the more compelling because of this realism. That said, there are some occasional problems with pacing. For one, it overall feels just a tad bit shorter than I would have liked. In addition, it wraps up in a fascinatingly unique way that I can’t get into here, but I imagine will be received in a mixed manner. The chapters also feel quite short, especially early on. This leads to a couple of twists, key characters, and plot devices feeling like they needed a bit more time to cook.

Even with the pacing problems, Emio - The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club is the best entry in the series yet. The puzzle-like investigative gameplay is straightforward, doing just enough to challenge the player without overwhelming or being too obscure. It all complements well with the excellent but a bit unique storytelling. This tale is not for every Switch player, being a bit too dark at times, but it is highly rewarding for those it appeals to.

Emio - The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club releases for the Nintendo Switch on August 29, 2024.

The post Review: Emio – The Smiling Man Is Nintendo’s Darkest Story appeared first on Siliconera.

I’ve always loved the Gundam Breaker series. Even if I haven’t watched all the series included and don’t know every Gunpla I’m harvesting for parts, I adore everything it stands for. Beating up hordes of robots with pretty fun combos both at close range and a distance? Collecting tons of parts from different models to make my perfect custom creation? Then making my Gunpla pretty? It’s priceless. So I definitely think Gundam Breaker 4 is fun, even though it’s a huge grind of a game that sometimes feels better suited and balanced for co-op.

Gundam Breaker 4 begins with players being introduced to… GB4. We’re in the midst of a game-within-a-game situation. Your character is one of the people selected to take part in the GUNPLA Battle Blaze: Beyond Borders (GB4) beta. As such, you’re given access to a lobby where you can accept story, supplemental, and event missions, go to Your Room to customize your unit with pieces from other mechs, and create dioramas. One of the first things that happen in the story is you meet two other newbie players named Tao and Lin, and the three of you form a Clan with the goal of becoming the strongest players in the game. (You know, before things happen.) Given the setting, online is available, but it can be played completely alone.

That said, the whole concept of Gundam Breaker 4 feels like it is pushing you toward online play. After all, the story this time involves an online beta for a game. The grind to collect new parts and become strong enough to advance through missions is also a whole thing. So it is a situation where you might feel tempted to pay for online services, if you’re on a PS4, PS5, or Switch, just to take advantage of running through things with friends to make it feel like less if a time-consuming slog. 

Not that it isn’t playable alone! I spent the entire duration of my playtime offline and alone for Gundam Breaker 4, and I had a lot of fun. The combat system is rather tight, with buttons assigned to the left and right arms for both close range and long range options. I loved dual-wielding and triggering major combos. Switching between locked-on enemies involves a simple and natural movement. So with the right build, you could really cut through a horde of enemy Gunpla around you.

I felt the other gameplay elements were executed well too! Boosting is also quite effortless, so I never had any problems getting around the maps or eliminating the distance between foes. Ranged weapons can also pack quite a punch. If you’ve collected some really good parts, you can take advantage of them, not to mention the special skills. Cooldowns for those are reasonable as well. I also very much appreciated the Awakening system, which can help mitigate some of the issues with certain opponents being a tad tanky.

The thing I did notice is that some missions can be a bit of a slog when you go through them alone. They wouldn’t be too difficult for a solo challenge, mind you. Rather, it felt like certain boss-type enemies are damage sponges. In some cases, I think even if I was in a party with other actual players, it would still feel like they take too much damage to take down. The life bars could involve multiple ones to cut through. Since the earlier two waves for stages tend to also involve "cut down all the other enemy gunpla," it's rough on the hands.

Bandai Namco is a bit of a teaser when it comes to Gundam Breaker 4, however. Right in the midst of the introduction, a character named Tao with an SD Gunpla avatar comes up and reveals that hey! Those types of models are here to harvest parts from too! However, they aren’t as plentiful as the standard Gunpla. So even though there are over 250 base kits and a wide variety of options, I was disappointed that we didn’t get to see as many of the “new” kinds in this release. 

The thing is… it feels like the grind can be worth it! I really loved getting to build my custom Gunpla. The range of parts and kits motivated me to keep going through levels, especially so I could get the SD Gundam parts of my dreams to create an abomination that included mismatched pieces. In Assembly, you can set your head, body, right and left arms, legs, backpack, right and left close-range weapons, right and left long-range weapons, shield, and decorative builder parts. When in the Paint area, you can adjust the head, body, arms, legs, backpack, weapon, and shield colors. Decal and weathering options are available there. You can also go to Blueprint to save favorite sets.

The different customization options remain a highlight. I feel like the weathering elements also help parts from different kits, which may normally not look like they fit well together, do so when combined with all the other customization items. I absolutely spent as much time in My Room adjusting how my avatar looked as I did repeating missions. (Even with some bosses taking forever to beat alone.) Cobbling together custom builds with all of these iconic parts remains an absolute delight. So I need to replay a mission like three or four times to get the exact parts I need to kitbash my dream avatar. I’m okay with that! Especially since, once you clear a mission, it will note which opponents are around so you can be certain you'll find the pieces you need or want.

Going into Gundam Breaker 4, you need to accept that it’s the type of game that will involve grinding missions for experience and parts. I felt like the ensuing Gunpla I’d create and opportunities to collect even more customization elements was worth it! Especially since the combat system is tight and it all looks really good. If you’re not up for replaying a lot of assignments and dealing with occasional hurdles in fights that might feel better balanced for multiplayer, it might be wise to look at an older entry. But it can be a really good time, especially if you love the Gundam and this spin-off series or have a crew you’ll be playing it with.

Gundam Breaker 4 will come to the Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, and PC on August 29, 2024. 

The post Review: Gundam Breaker 4 Feels Like a Fun Grind for Friends  appeared first on Siliconera.

Visions of Mana may be flying under a few radars. After all, when talking about classic JRPG series, the Mana series might not immediately jump to the top of your list. In fact, some players might not even realize it is its own series. And who could blame them? For a long time, we simply didn’t get many Mana releases.

The last non-remake, mainline Mana game was Dawn of Mana, and it released during the PS2 era. That's practically a lifetime ago in gaming years. The situation only started improving recently, with the release of remakes like Trials of Mana reintroducing the series to a new generation of players.

Fortunately, these issues seem to be resolved with Visions of Mana, the newest entry in the series. As a standalone experience, it’s perfect for newcomers who haven’t followed the series due to its sporadic release history. It feels like the right time for Visions of Mana to act as a new beginning, while also paying homage to its classic roots.

For me, Visions of Mana doesn’t exactly feel new, but it does feel like a classic done exceptionally well. This series originally began as a Final Fantasy spin-off before becoming its own thing. A lot of that classic Final Fantasy vibe is present here, to its benefit. Square Enix does a fantastic job of capturing that nostalgic feeling of a classic JRPG with this Mana entry, while also incorporating the bells and whistles of modern games.

The story revolves around a world supported by the "Mana Tree," with villages tied to specific elements. Every four years, an "Alm" is chosen to represent their village’s element. These Alms make a pilgrimage to the Mana Tree, accompanied by a protector called a Soul Guard. The main protagonists are Val and Hinna, who respectively are the Soul Guard and chosen Alm of the fire village. As these characters meet new ones across the story, you start to see the humor and charm in the game. These characters aren't the deepest or most complex, but they're fun and play well together. I enjoyed listened to the party banter while traveling. There was a simplicity to the relationships that felt very cozy.

While the story is pretty standard fantasy fare, what immediately stands out is the game’s world. It’s capital-B beautiful, with art design and colors that create a visually stunning landscape. The character designs are solid, but the world itself is what truly shines. The first time you step outside the main village and see a massive fiery mountain in the distance. It reminded me of moments like seeing Death Mountain in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the first time.

The whole thing felt very magical and fantastic to me. It’s a perfect fantasy setting, brimming with magic, creatures, and lore, all packaged in a colorful, cartoony style that works exceptionally well. The game isn't open world, but it does feature large areas full of things to look for, items to find and baddies to fight.

Helping you navigate the world are also mounts that you can call to your party. The first you get fairly early and are adorable bat-like dog creatures known as Pikuls. You eventually get other mounts that can help you navigate other types of terrain too, which are also helpful and look fascinating.

One of the most refreshing aspects of Visions of Mana is the presence of actual towns and villages. I feel like towns in JRPGs have never felt the same since the shift to full 3D. Here, each village feels distinct and lived-in, adding to the game’s classic feel.

As mentioned before, almost everything in this world is tied to elements. The assistance of elemental vessels can help you to explore the world such as using wind to get to a higher area or using water to create floating bubbles you can jump inside. These elements also play a significant role in combat. While many games feature your basic elements, and some even have a few extras, Visions of Mana really throws them all at you with eight total elemental vessels.

These vessels not only determine enemy weaknesses and resistances, but also form the basis of the game’s class system. Each character can equip an elemental vessel to shift into a class representing that element. It's different for each character, meaning each character has eight classes, plus their base, non-elemental class. For example, Val is a guard class with no element, yet if he equips the wind vessel he becomes a Rune Knight.

These classes are upgraded and skills are unlocked using the games Elemental Plot. It's sort of like a skill tree where characters can use elemental points to purchase upgrades. Some of these abilities even transfer between classes. It's a surprisingly simple system, yet leaves room for some strategy as you get into tougher enemies. The combat itself is fully real-time and while I believe it's executed well, it doesn't exactly break the mold. What I mean is, it's far more interesting customizing your characters than it is actually using them in battle.

The combat felt very fluid in Performance Mode. I ran into a few frame hiccups in Graphics Mode, but I also didn't really see a huge increase to detail in that mode either. One thing I thought was an issue, then realized was actually maybe an artistic choice is that at times the backgrounds seemed to move at different frame rates then the characters. It seemed intentionally done, but I found it to be a bit distracting especially in action sequences.

Many times, Visions of Mana just felt older than it is. Not visually, visually it's stunning, but between certain aspects of the gameplay and some of the tropes on display it just felt like a JRPG from another era. This isn't inherently a bad thing. I think there's something to say about a game making me feel nostalgic and like I played it when I was younger even though it just released. A lot of people have wanted an experience like that, but it's important to know what you're getting.

In the end, Visions of Mana doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it knows damn well what makes a wheel work. It plays like a game we all remember from childhood, but with all the modern frills. The game delivers a beautifully crafted, nostalgic JRPG experience that’s worth checking out.

Visions of Mana will come to the PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC on August 29, 2024. A demo is available.

The post Review: Visions of Mana Feels Like a Classic JRPG appeared first on Siliconera.

Over the years, Star Wars video games have become their own institution separate from and adjacent to the source material. The massive multimedia franchise offers a wide range of playstyles ranging from RPGs, a variety of first and third person shooters, Lego platforming games, and even an ongoing MMORPG. However, the franchise was missing a proper open-world experience. Or at least it was before the arrival of Star Wars Outlaws, a full-fledged scoundrel adventure game spanning a galaxy far, far away.

Star Wars Outlaws is the first open-world game available featuring the Star Wars extended universe. This third person shooter adventure puts players in the role of Kay Vess, a fledgling scoundrel accompanied by her alien mascot Nix. After two failed attempts at her big break in the criminal underworld of Canto Bight, she gets thrust into a galaxy-wide underbelly world of intrigues, backstabbing, political alliances, where the powerful and influential have a lot to lose and everyone else has a lot to gain. With a reputation following Kay, a new and flashy spaceship in tow, and a death mark from the head of the biggest crime syndicate himself on her back, the scoundrel must now find a way to survive in a ruthless galaxy and make a credit or two in the process.

After a brisk and exciting prologue setting the events of the game in march, Kay Vess lands in the planet of Toshara, where she needs to get her act together and start acting as a true criminal and trickster. The first few main quests in the game introduce the players to the structure of the game and its main draw— the aforementioned open-world. While the first planet offers a vast expanse, the always accessible speeder allows for these big open areas to feel easy to cover. The focus is always on exploring and finding points of interest in the map, whether it be interconnected and detailed city hubs, settlements, caves, or Imperial bases to sneak into and get a hold of rare parts and materials.

What I found most interesting about Star Wars Outlaws is that it felt like games I’ve already played, but never before for a Star Wars title. Different parts of other titles combine to make something exciting. The main gameplay loop lies in semi-linear missions, third person action, and free-form exploration. On top of it all you have a healthy dose of stealth-action, some light roleplaying elements and decision making, and even some space travel elements added to the mix. Star Wars Outlaws doesn’t reinvent the open-world, but it adds layers of genres you’re familiar with to make for a fun theme-park ride that keeps itself fresh for long enough to captivate, but not to much that it bores or distracts from what makes the game enjoyable.

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the game is how reactive the world felt to my choices. Throughout both main story missions and other various contracts and side quests, Kay has the chance to ally herself or favor the four major crime syndicates that appear in the game, these being Crimson Dawn, the Pyke Syndicate, the Hutt Cartel, and the Ashiga Clan. During my time in Toshara I spent plenty of time favoring Crimson Dawn over rivals, which led to my reputation following me when I traveled to other planets.

The narrative of the game is mostly linear, meaning that the game only allows for some decisions to truly alter the world of Star Wars Outlaws. Despite that, the Reputation system of the game stands out for its interesting gameplay repercussions. If your stand with any of the crime syndicates is good, you’ll have it easier to get inside their home turfs both inside cities and in the open world areas. Meanwhile, a bad reputation means getting worse deals from their merchants, or even being persecuted and blacklisted if you mess with them too much. I like how this meld with both side content and main story quests, as you will often need to have a different approach to complete objectives depending on who you favor and who you betray for plenty of occasions.

This is different when it comes to the Galactic Empire, as they have no interest in making friends. Instead, the Empire and its iconic Stormtroopers act as the Wanted system in this game. If you cause too much trouble to them, the Empire will put a bounty on you that you can only clear by staying off their nose for long enough. Unless you max out your bounty, in which case they will deploy a full manhunt for Kay. I met this instance twice, in which I had to go to a Death Trooper camp and delete my record from their files to clear my name. While this sounds daunting, the manhunts are a good spectacle and show of might for the Empire, deploying an inordinate amount of war machinery against a single person. Fortunately for Kay and for the player, clearing your name is not too difficult or intrusive, and it made for very cool highlights of my galactic hijinks.

The events of Star Wars Outlaws are set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, allowing the Rebel Alliance and Force-sensitive characters to take a step back in the narrative and allow the criminal syndicates to take center stage. Star Wars hasn’t been historically great at allowing non-Force sensitive characters to take the spotlight, which is why I loved being able to soak in the more mundane and down to earth world of Outlaws, with its common folks trying to make a quick credit and its more unsavory fellas waiting to double cross you at the drop of a hat.

Some colorful and interesting characters complete the roster of the game, with the Clone Wars-era ND-5 battle droid being a standout with his sexy long coat. While he’s a great crew member, I wish he had gotten a bit more gameplay participation than just being your handler and your guy on comms, as he’s always a great presence to have. Likewise, Sliro and his Zerek Besh crime syndicate are an interesting addition and offer great tension throughouth the course of the game. Aside from them, the adorable Nix is your mainstay partner. Nix is great fun and acts as both great comic relief as well as a great gameplay element. Nix can fetch items for Kay or distract them during stealth, as well as attack enemies to blind them in the fray of combat. Using him to open vents or complete platforming puzzles always felt fun and quick.

Other gameplay elements that changed the experience somewhat noticeable were the varied costumes, tokens, and collectibles. Almost everything you collect has a gameplay purpose, and with exploring feeling fast and engaging every aspect of Star Wars Outlaws felt rewarding. It helps that both the various planets available in the game and their corresponding surrounding space areas are absolutely stunning and filled with unique looking vistas. Some maps like Akiva or Tatooine can feel vast and their scope too big, but the speeder and some smart fast travel points make them very easily accessible. Meanwhile, planets like Kijimi focus on a maze-like single city and hiding things at every corner.

With an oversaturated market for open-world games, Star Wars Outlaws keeps things varied, fast-paced, and constantly rewarding. Developers at Massive Entertainment focused on variety and quality over quantity, and didn’t skimp on visual spectacle. There is always something for Kay Vess and her Trailblazer crew to do, whether it be treasure to find, some gang territory to sneak into and rob, an Imperial space base to assault, or even some card games to play. For a true space scoundrel there is no limit in the galaxy.

Star Wars Outlaws will release for the Playstation 5, Xbox Series X, and Windows PC via Ubisoft Connect on August 30, 2024.

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When you meet certain people, even virtual ones, you may also find yourself hoping for the best for them. Maybe it is because of who they are. Perhaps it comes down to what they’re facing. Tales of Toyotoki: Arrival of the Witch is one of those games, in part because the personalities of lead characters Hikaru Nishime and Lilun and situations leave you hoping they’ll achieve their goals and thrive.

Hikaru is an orphan. His aunt and her family took him in following his parents’ death. However, when he should be starting high school, he’s instead being shipped off to a small island with less than 1,000 residents to live with a grandfather he barely knows. Worse, once he gets there he finds that said grandpa is gone. He took off to another continent, and Hikaru’s aunt didn’t even register him for classes at the new high school. After being forced to sleep in a sugarcane field his first night, he meets a mysterious young woman who’s also come to Toyotoki Island, is also all alone, and was mistreated in the past as well. The two end up working together to get by, and in so doing find new places for themselves and ways to achieve their goals. This also leads to them meeting other residents of the island and getting close to them as they too grow as individuals. 

So the first thing you should know going into Tales From Toyotoki is that this is a kinetic novel, and not the sort of visual novel where you’ll make decisions. Yes, there will be a point when Akari Akatsumi will make it seem like you have a choice as to which route you pursue or what you do. You don’t. So those looking for the ability to influence the outcome or a little more interaction won’t find that here.

However, that doesn’t mean you should abandon or overlook Tales from Toyotoki. This is a situation in which that focus works to the benefit of the story. The official descriptions for it reference it being a coming of age tale and story of self-discovery, and the linear nature means Fragaria really gets to focus completely on that element of it. There are no distractions. We’re 100% seeing how our leads and other individuals grow as people. 

I especially appreciated how while everyone gets some time in the spotlight and development, it’s really Hikaru and Lilun getting the most attention. The mystery behind Lilun’s background is handled well, and I appreciated how it didn’t push too hard for immediate answers and reveals. Likewise, I liked how things are never just clean cut or immediately solved for Hikaru. Even when he does make some strides forward, he’s never getting an easy answer or immediate salvation. 

The way the two play off of each other is also a critical part of the story. Hikaru and Lilun each have their own areas of expertise. Alone, they wouldn’t get far. But we constantly see how together, the two are able to help each other out, progress, and get closer to accomplishing things they need to do to grow as individuals or meet their desires.

Tales from Toyotoki’s artistic direction and voice acting also help “sell” its premise. We’re experiencing life on a small island, thanks to seeing things from Hikaru’s perspective. The art direction and character design is, likewise, quite quaint. It feels rustic and homey. The voice acting is good as well, with a cast that feels well suited for the situation. Especially when it comes to Lilun and Akari. I did notice a few awkwardly phrased lines. (For example, one of the earliest ones is “The person I was supposed to live with was nowhere to be seen.”) But those instances are infrequent and don’t detract from the overall experience.

Tales from Toyotoki: Arrival of the Witch feels designed to keep you captivated by the events of Hikaru and Lilun’s lives as they deal with the odds that are stacked against them. Every win for them is one for the reader as well. It takes its time to show how these young people develop and find their footing, and it’s great when we get to see them succeed.

Tales from Toyotoki: Arrival of the Witch is available on the Nintendo Switch, PS5 and PC. 

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