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Fights in Tight Spaces (Prologue) is self-described as “A stylish blend of deck-building, turn-based tactics, and thrilling animated fight sequences in classic action-movie settings.” The game is currently in very Early Access and only the first campaign is available. As a result, please take my criticisms with a grain of salt. Overall, the idea of a turn-based fighting game intrigues me and the mechanics are pretty solid. However, there are some balancing issues that made me sigh or frustrated during my playtime.



You are Agent 11, some sort of super-agent in an unnamed agency that deals with major gang threats around the world. The first campaign is “Death’s Head Biker Gang” and you go to Scandinavia to deal with them. There is some flavor text on what they do, but it is never mentioned or reference in the actual campaign. You fight your way to the boss, defeat him, and get congratulated by your boss. Afterwards, the game ends. Overall, I am intrigued with how things in this world operate and the mission select screen teases 4 different gangs and a “final mission”. Card-based roguelikes are typically light on story, so it would be welcome if this game had a stronger emphasis on narrative.



Gameplay is both turn- and grid-based with an isometric camera. All cards have a Momentum (energy) cost and a specified range. In addition to dealing damage, attack cards can also reposition enemies on the grid, nullifying their actions if you are out of range and causing them to choose another action on their turn. The tutorial states that enemies will commit to attacking regardless of who is in their range, but this is inconsistent as pistol enemies sometimes refused to fire when I had lined up one of their allies in their attack range; they just repositioned and my hard work went down the drain. Attacks build up Combo, a resource necessary to do higher-tier attacks and also a number that affects certain move’s power.

Moving reduces your Combo but some moves allow you to move/ reposition AND gain Combo. Movement and positioning are very important in the game as there are contextual moves that can only be used when near certain objects (e.g. Wall Smash). Additionally, you can “ring out” an enemy if you push them outside the map’s boundaries. This is a cool system, but very hard to line up. You can see all enemy stats by holding ALT and attacks if you hover over them. You can also see projected enemy movement paths on your turn, allowing you to strategize your placements.
https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2362068340
One giant negative of movement is that some enemies have innate overwatch and will always attack the first character that moves within range or attacks them. To circumvent this, you can just kick them to do damage safely or use a ranged attack. This can easily disrupt the entire enemy team’s plans for that turn, which is good. What’s not so good is that most levels have a turn quota; beating a level under a certain turn limit grants you bonus Euros and this is only major way to make money. However, constantly moving enemies around and playing safe/smart is disincentivized as you are taking longer to win.

A basic heal costs €40 and the cost DOUBLES for another one. Upgrading and getting new moves also costs Euros and some costs are in the hundreds. You also have to pay for the right to upgrade then pay an additional fee for the card you choose. Thus, the game seems to be sending mixed messages about how the game is meant to be played. The economy should be seriously rethought as I barely scraped by in my runs.

There is replay function but its execution needs work. Instead of showing a cool flowing action sequence of a level, it cuts any repositioning but continues the combat replay normally. This is very jarring and feels rather flaccid when everyone is teleporting around. Additionally, buffs also show up on screen and the camera zoom sometimes causes the buff icon/ window to cover the action. I can honestly see the love and detail that went into the fighting, but it is a shame we cannot really admire it when we aren’t preoccupied by combat.
https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2362069553
The game also features adventure dilemmas like most roguelikes. You are presented with a choice of options with a chance at goodies but also a chance of other things occuring. Good results are usually more Euros or an Enhancement- an “artifact” that improves 11’s abilities. I didn’t get any Enhancements unfortunately, but got some Injuries, the exact opposite. These really alter combat by doing things like draining 1 HP per round and increasing all Momentum costs by 1. The scenarios are fun and spy-themed. Like other roguelikes, after a normal fight, you get a choice between some cards to supplement your deck.

Overall difficulty is okay, but fights do drag on for a bit too long even when I was just focusing on doing damage against basic grunts. Enemies that regen block were especially annoying to deal with; elites were a pain due to their inflated health pools. There is a solid foundation for a good game, but things really need to be rebalanced.



https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2362072303
The game goes for a super high-contrast look with environments being completely white, Agent 11 being black and white, and enemies being varying other colors with black and white for contrast. That being said, the white backround did strain my eyes a bit. Everything appears to be textureless so the emphasis is placed on the colors, modeling and animations. There are only a handful of models currently but I think they are all pretty good. Each feels distinct and their high-contrast bodies show a nice amount of detail.

Overall, the fighting animations are pretty good. It felt like 11’s moves have weight to them and enemies react somewhat realistically to getting hit. They even have different animations for getting hit in different places which is really appreciated. However, enemies also ragdoll upon death and their jittering corpses are distracting if you pay attention to them before they despawn.



Music was pretty good. It was definitely reminiscent of fight scenes in movies. The game goes for a techno/synth soundtrack which I think is nice. There is a great energy to the tracks that make fighting feel good, but it is mostly there in the background to supplement action rather than get you hype to fight. Sound effects were pretty good. Fight FX sounded meaty and weighty which made combat feel great. More generic sound effects serve their purpose and weren’t distracting.



I had no issue in getting the game to run. Graphical options are pretty basic with only resolution, window, v-sync and anti-aliasing being options. One suggestion I have would be to make it more obvious when changes are saved as the “Apply” button becomes colored when you change something, but you get no indication on whether or not they are applied.



Despite only being a demo as of writing, I had fun playing through Fights in Tight Spaces. I find the idea of turn-based fist fights to be a really interesting idea and the game delivers a pretty solid basis for the idea. Aside form some balancing issues, strategizing during fights and clearing rooms was really fun; I am curious how the devs intend to spice up the formula in later levels to keep things fresh.

As a free demo, I can definitely recommend a few runs to see how you like the game so far. Definitely worth a look, especially if you like deck-building roguelikes and movie fights.

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Littlewood is a relaxing city builder. The game is fun but a bit light on content and has a few issues. However, it is still a good time that anyone can get into. There’s something magical about building your town from the ground up and seeing it grow. The rather colorful cast of characters and craftables is also quite fun. If you’re in the market for a chill time, come on down to Littlewood.



You are the hero that saved the land of Solemn from the Dark Wizard. You are knocked unconscious after the battle and are found in a forest by your fellow adventurer, Willow. You awaken as an amnesiac and are left in charge of rebuilding a town (named Littlewood by default) in the postbellum. What follows is your daily life building Littlewood and interacting with the various villagers and characters of the world. There are some hints towards how the world was like before the Wizard, but your life is constrained to Solemn, one of many floating and disparate continents in the world.
https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2361553987
Much of the fun of the game is in the various characters you can meet. For the most part, everyone is pretty flat in terms of character; they typically have one or two traits attributed to them. However, the writing can be clever in places and I laughed at some bad or unexpected jokes. You have the option of romancing any of your villagers. The one you choose to marry gets some new dialogue, but nothing outside of various “I love you” lines. Raising your friendship with a certain combination of villagers causes various scenes to play out in Town Square. These are mostly for comedic purposes, but some are quite nice and heartwarming. There are 15 villagers to get, all with varying unlock conditions.

Overall, I liked the worldbuilding and characters. However, things are rather light compared to other games in similar genres (e.g. Stardew Valley).



Littleroot has a unique mechanic in that time does NOT advance unless you do a major action. Thus, you are free to run around and plan your day before committing to an action. You do all the basic things you’d expect in a city builder/ farming game, namely getting crafting materials and building stuff. The game is grid-based to make organization easier and you can expand your town’s borders. Buildings range from houses, a general store, a town hall and more to discover. Upgrading buildings is very slow. There are 10 upgrade levels; every upgrade has 3 tiers and you can only advance 1 tier per day.
https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2352917307
You can also furnish your villager’s houses. Everyone has specific requests that you can view by crafting and placing a Desk in their homes. By fulfilling all requests on a page, you receive a gift from them containing a town decoration or the more coveted tool upgrades and blueprints. That being said, obtaining the blueprints for their requested items is a huge pain. These can only be acquired by buying them from a store and it what is for sale is RNG. The Deluca furniture merchant is especially bad as they might not have a full selection when they restock, causing you to have to wait another week. Nonetheless, there is a lot of satisfaction in fully furnishing a villager’s house and seeing their distinct style.

You begin with a standard set of tools- an axe, pickaxe, work gloves, etc. There are 3 tiers of upgrades for each. As you use your tools and do specific actions, you will also be leveling your Hobbies (skills). It takes a while to get to lv99 proficiency and the journey there is rather boring. You will likely have to intentionally grind out the more annoying ones like fishing and bug catching as XP gain is tied to a limited number of daily spawns. However, maxing a Hobby allows you to open up the related Hobby chest to receive a powerful blueprint. For example, the Gilded Fishing Statue randomizes all fish caught so obtaining rare/ conditional fish is much easier.

You have a pretty high degree of control over your town when it comes to customizing it. You can move anything to anywhere within your town boundaries. However, one vastly annoying thing is that the cursor for editing moves very slowly and stiffly. Since you might be moving something across the town, it becomes very annoying quickly. Likewise, you cannot select multiple objects and move them together; you must do them individually.

The game has 4 levels of terrain elevation. You change the elevation by going into Build Mode and selecting either Elevate or Lower. Elevating also uses the slow cursor so terraforming a large area takes a while. My bigger gripe is with the commands attached to them: Move and Destroy respectively. I have accidentally raised/ lowered terrain when intending to Move or Destroy an object on many occasions. I wish there were separate options for these. Otherwise, building your town is really fun and you can get really creative.

There is also a simple yet fun card game to play as well. Currently, the only requirement to “finish” the game is to get married which is fairly easy to do. After your marriage, everything continues as normal except your spouse lives with you now. Once you hit late game, the game runs out of new things to do. I wish there were more to do in the game, but the journey to the end was quite fun.



https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2361575048
Littlewood has a very minimalist pixel art style that I find charming. Character sprites are rather limited, but their text busts are nicely detailed. Everyone has a distinct look and is easily identifiable from the others. Your town has a lovely amount of variety after you put your own personal touch on it. It’s a real treat seeing what other players have created in their games as well as just casually strolling through your town after a busy day. Outside locations are nice as well. Everything in your inventory is also easily identifiable and it’s a lot of fun just looking through what you’ve collected so far and have on display at the town Museum.



The game has a very soothing soundtrack. It always felt nice and cozy whenever I played which is great for the type of atmosphere the game is going for. Since this is essentially your retirement, I definitely feel that I can rest easy now that the world is safe. Sound effects are okay; nothing is really bad but nothing really stands out either. Everyone has the same text chatter noise which is a bit disappointing given how diverse the cast is.



Overall, the game ran well but the amount of options is rather low. You can only select the music and SFX volume, your resolution and toggle fullscreen on/off. Nonetheless, this game will likely run on any device. Controls cannot be rebound which is a shame although they work perfectly well. Controllers are supported. There are a few minor graphical issues like doors not closing and NPCs sliding instead of walking, but these are pretty minor despite being somewhat common.


Despite my griping with some gameplay decisions, I had a lot of fun during my time in Littlewood. The world is interesting and I liked the majority of the characters. The simple joy of building a town up from nothing is a guilty pleasure of mine and I had a blast making my town into what it is. That being said, there were definitely times when I got bored or tired of farming materials for a slow upgrade path. Finding the right blueprints was also annoying due to RNG even if the rewards were worth it.

Overall, I’d recommend this game as I enjoyed it, but please temper your expectations when going in.

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Roboquest is self-described as “a fast FPS Roguelite.” The game is in Early Access and rather light on content as of writing so please take my criticisms with a grain of salt. However, I had a blast during my playtime and eagerly await new content drops/ patches. Gunplay is quite smooth and the quick pace is really addicting.



You are a robot found by Max, a mechanic, in a desert while she is wandering the world for some nebulous reason. She repairs and reboots you; her tablet reveals you are a “Guardian” whose purpose is to “Save humanity.” You and Max decide to explore the world to learn more about what happened to it and your past; humans are nowhere to be seen and instead, deadly robots prowl the world. The story from here is quite sparse. You clear an area by killing the boss and Max accesses its memories from the wreckage.

Only the first three chapters are available as of writing. After chapter 2’s boss, you learn that an AI was created to protect humanity as it advanced to a super sci-fi future but became corrupt and instead began to “CHASE THEM OUT!” Clearing chapter 3 ends the game abruptly. Overall, I am interested in the dev’s take on Man v. Machine. However, the gameplay caught much more of my interest. As it stands, the story is mostly an excuse to travel to a new area and keep playing. Each area has a first zone then 3 splitting paths near the end that diverge into unique second zone. 2 paths are locked and need keys from the other paths to open up. You get a smidgeon of lore/ speculation from Max at the beginning of each second zone about what the zone is for and how the robots are using it.



https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2354717229
Gameplay is very high-speed and frantic. As a roguelite, you always begin with a starting pistol but your first “real” weapon is randomized and obtained from a chest at the beginning of a run. Enemy robots all have crit spots, usually their glowing red eye in the center of their body. This is the most efficient way of dealing with them as you will regularly have to face at least a handful at once in a given room. All enemies have set patterns and bullet behavior so avoiding damage SHOULD be easy on paper. However, actually having everyone in a room shooting at you at different times creates a hectic bullet hell feeling that is both incredibly fun and frustrating at times. Levels all feature some sort of verticality to function as both strategic firing spots and safe havens to catch your breath (assuming you don’t get sniped or bombarded as soon as you get there). Thus, combat really feels 3-dimensional and fun. Gunplay is overall good and responsive; having infinite ammo makes things way more fun.

There are 5 major skill types with gun archetypes falling in each except “Skill”. For example, Assault contains pistols, assault rifles and shotguns. There are some fun outliers and weapons that are “Adaptable”- covering 2 skill types but using the bigger stat to determine damage. Each skill also has a stat it increases. Skills are increased by finding Cores in chests; you are given a random one at the start of each run. The mix of guns and skills makes the game fresh as you may find an unexpected gem of a gun or new build based on your RNG. Nonetheless, you’ll see practically everything after your third run or so assuming you reach the end each time. As a roguelike, you can also die very early if RNG is unkind.
https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2355126068
The gun selection is okay. There are a variety of types and each type has 3 tiers of weapons to collect. However, there needs to be some sort of rebalancing as shotguns and heavy weapons like rocket/ grenade launchers don’t feel particularly strong unless you invest heavily into the required Stat. I usually ended up using rapid-firing weapons as they dealt consistent DPS from a safe range. Defeating enemies causes them to drop Cells which serve as your XP. The catch here is that Cells disappear after a while (although snipers auto-collect with Critical kills). Thus, you constantly have to make the choice of whether you will rush in and risk damage to get stronger or play it safe but stay weaker; I have mixed feelings about this decision but grew to accept it. Perks are mostly boring “do X action Y% better” although there are some fun ones like having a chance to turn non-elemental bullets into elemental shots.

This game features persistent upgrades in the form of your Basecamp. Upgrades cost wrenches which are found in challenge room chests (which are platforming or combat focused) and as rewards for beating a level with enough Cells and quickly enough. It takes a few runs to max everything out, but it is worth it. You can get:

• Artifacts including a revive, jetpack and Cell magnet
  
• More starting weapon and Core choices
  
• Better loot rarity
  
• More perk options per level

Upgrades are Basecamp only unfortunately. This means that your Guardian stays the same throughout every run which is rather boring. You do have 4 loadouts to choose from (3 are unlockable), but you retain the same default yellow Guardian model in gameplay. Class abilities are varied but nothing you haven’t seen before. Overall, the game is okay in terms of difficulty on Normal and you can choose your difficulty. Most of the challenge is dealing with all the enemies at once in a room. Bosses are okay but mostly depend on your gear. The last zone and boss are pretty unfair however. There is multiplayer, but it is only 2-player friends list co-op currently. This review was made based on the solo experience.



https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2355124805
The game incorporates both cel-shading and a comic book aesthetic in the form of cutscenes and written sound FX. The result is a rather distinct game with really clean yet pretty landscapes and combat punctuated by written sound FX whenever you shoot or reload. Overall, I like the art direction. Environments look great although maps are largely static and I got bored of running down the same corridors run after run. The cutscenes look really great for the first chapter at least; chapter 2 and 3’s are clearly incomplete and have a rough storyboard look to them. Some level loading art is also a bit rough. Max’s character model is very jarring and doesn’t look much like her cutscene form. Enemy design is good but a bit too cartoony for me; bosses don’t really feel threatening as a result. Guns look good.



Overall, things were okay. Music is mostly dubstep-esque loops that initially sound good but get annoying due to their short length. There isn’t any voice acting currently. Gunshots sound okay. Other sound effects are fine as well; nothing terribly bad nor anything really memorable either.



For an Early Access game, the game ran very smoothly. Aside from some pop-in and disappearing items/ textures at certain angles, the game ran flawlessly. Graphical options are excellent and really let you customize things to your liking.



I definitely had a lot of fun with Roboquest. The groundwork laid is very solid and provides fast and fun action. Gunplay is pretty satisfying and all the different weapons makes each run feel different despite some balancing being needed. At the end, I honestly wanted to keep playing but there simply isn’t enough to do currently. Thus, it is a hard sell for me to make as it is.

Nonetheless, I want to wish the devs luck in their endeavors in updating and building the game up further. If you like robots, FPS’s and roguelites, this is definitely a game to keep your eyes on.

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ZONE OF THE ENDERS THE 2nd RUNNER is a fast third-person mecha action game produced by Hideo Kojima. This is a cult title that I have only recently been able to check out. Although a brief game, ZOE2 provides frantic and challenging gameplay despite having a few issues.



https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2351078675
You are Dingo Egret. On Callisto, the Martian moon, he finds a mysterious signal and investigates. It turns out to be an Orbital Frame- a mecha that uses the power of Metatron (the series’ substance of power). AHRAM, a military power, begins attacking and Dingo has to pilot the mech. The mecha’s AI, ADA, gives you a brief introduction to Jehuty, your mech, and you fend off AHRAM. Eventually you come face-to-face with the game’s antagonist: your former commanding officer, Nohman, and his mech, Anubis. You are no match and Nohman asks Dingo to rejoin BAHRAM. He declines and Nohman shoots him, leaving him at death’s door and instructs Ken, his subordinate, to dispose of the body. Instead, she decides to secretly revive Dingo by replacing his destroyed organs and hooking him up to Jehuty as life-support to do her bidding. What follows is his journey back to Mars and to save it from BAHRAM.

Although this game is a sequel, it holds up as a stand-alone title. Nonetheless, there are many references to characters and events in the first game. The overall game only lasts around 4-6 hours and the pacing of the story is rather quick as a result; this is probably my only real issue here. When there is downtime, it also dumps a lot of backstory/ exposition which is a lot to take in at once before thrusting you into battle once again. The story is rather predictable but a fun ride.




https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2351073860
Gameplay is quite simple but gratifying. After obtaining Jehuty, you will have the exact same moveset for the rest of the game, barring subweapons. Like most mecha games, you can move, boost and ascend/descend. Your main arsenal consists of 2 attack buttons:

• Your primary weapons are a laser gun and beam sword. You automatically use one based on your distance to an enemy. You can boost to easily change the distance. There are also special dashing attacks for both ranges- a flanking sword strike and a multi-homing laser attack.
  
  
• Your second weapon is your equipped subweapon, ranging from offensive weapons to stun traps and healing. Subweapons cost energy to use which can only be replenished by hitting enemies or finding a (rare) Metatron drop in the map. These all spice up combat and offer new ways to victory. You also collect them at a steady rate to boot.

Jehuty also has a block but getting hit drains energy from the same gauge as subweapons. There are only a handful of grunt enemies in the game, but even they pose a great threat as they will all gang up on you. If you are wailing on one in melee, the others will shoot at you from off-screen or rush in behind you with melee. Melee enemies also possess a shield on-par with yours, meaning they can block your entire sword combo and come out unscathed. In these cases, you can use one of two charge moves to break their guard. Charge moves are done by holding the dash button while still and attacking; your attack will also be based on range.

Overall, gameplay is quite smooth and responsive, best described as a high-speed hack ‘n slasher. Fodder enemies aren’t terribly difficult, but their numbers are the real threat. Boss fights usually involve a gimmick and some are tedious. Some boss fights are also against the same boss but the variation in the context keeps things fresh. The only thing I truly dislike in the game is the lock-on system. This feels balanced for fights against a handful of enemies at most. However, you will frequently be fighting multiple at once that also move around which makes targeting frustrating. Likewise, there are a few missions that involve having friendly units on the field. Trying to intentionally lock onto once specific unit is nightmarish.

When you stop, the camera will auto-center behind Jehuty. You can use the right stick to manually turn the camera, but it is incredibly sluggish and there are no options to tune it. There is a level-up mechanic that extends your HP and energy gauges; you just need to defeat enemies to level up. The overall difficulty was surprisingly challenging despite playing on normal. Making a sloppy move is punished, especially in boss encounters. Thus, this is a very skill-oriented game. After the main story is done, you can redo it to try and get a better ranking. There are also extra missions with various challenges to beat. There is even a small 1v1 mode against the CPU or a second player.



https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2351076226
The game has two parts to it: anime cutscenes/ not-codec scenes and in-engine graphics. The anime cutscenes were honestly pretty good in terms of art quality and animation. My only issue is that some faces look really weird or bad. As a 4k upgrade, the game looks great in-engine. Textures are quite pleasant and crisp if you find the time to admire them. There are also some beautiful shots and vistas to find. The design of the BAHRAM mechs is nicely alien and dangerous. The Orbital Frames are very in-line with Metal Gear mech designs and are beautiful. To address the elephant in the room, yes, they all have literal cockpits which are pretty jarring (thanks Japan). The laser FXs are rather underwhelming, but the overall animation quality of everything else makes up for it.



The overall soundtrack is quite good. There is a nice amount of variety to suit the scene and get you in the mood. In a fast-action game, having a good soundtrack is key and ZOE2 definitely delivers on that front. The combination of classical instruments and techno beats is quite pleasant and there are a few stand-out songs (particularly the boss themes). Sound effects were great as well. Since you will regularly be hearing these sounds, it is nice to know that combat felt good with nice feedback. The Japenese dub seems to be region locked which is a shame. On that note, the English dub is okay. The voices fit the characters but the delivery of everything is super inconsistent. Most lines are fine, but some lines feel really flat or ill-suited for the context.


Others seem to be having significant issues with this game, but I personally encountered nothing game-breaking. The worst I had was some jittery in-engine cutscenes, but that was all. Konami seems to have abandoned the game in terms of updates which is a bad sign. This is also a terrible PC port because the game assumes you are using a gamepad. You NOT able to view or edit PC keybindings at all and they feel pretty bad. Controller support is rigid with only 2 profiles to choose from.

If anything, please try out the free demo for the game to see how it functions before making a purchase.



While a short game, ZOE2 delivered a nice meaty challenge in a pleasant package. I liked the action of the game despite some levels making me frustrated. Jehuty controls well and combat is nice and fluid. It takes some time to acclimate to the controls, but things are overall very nice (assuming you are using a controller unfortunately). The story is nice and Jehuty has definitely become a name I’ll remember in the world of mecha. While a short game, I definitely enjoyed my time with it. If you’re into the mecha genre and like skill-based gameplay, please give this game a shot.

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DAEMON X MACHINA is a third-person mecha action game. While I had fun during my playtime, I honestly have no real desire to go back to it. Overall, I found it to be an okay game with some good and some quite noticeably bad features.



This was a chore to sit through as I was equal parts bored and confused. The overall plot is middle-of-the-road but the way it is told is atrocious. The game's backstory is that part of a moon crashed into a planet’s surface, causing a natural disaster that released a lethal radiation across the planet that caused A.I. to become sentient and attack humanity. Some people have become immune to the radiation- known as femto- and can actually absorb it to become stronger. You are one such person and have become a mercenary operating within the contamination zone, known as the Oval Zone, for nebulous reasons.

The actual plot of the game then proceeds to follow your misadventures. You will meet a very vast yet shallow cast of other mercenaries. Everyone can literally be described in a few words as they are not very well written. These people serve as both your teammates and opposition on missions. As mercenaries. the person screaming at you for beating them can be your teammate in the next mission. This makes things feel very weird as your relationships with people seem to be constantly rewritten, making it even harder to connect with them. Likewise, they all have rather bland or melodramatic speeches in mission briefings or in the field that take a while to get to the point. No one really “grows” as a person in the story and even those who did had a very predicable and shallow arc.
https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2345296569
Similarly, some characters solely exist to spout cryptic exposition at you and hint at a bigger, more sinister scheme later down the line. Once the story gets to a plot twist, it proceeds to exposition dump while still not answering the important questions. For example, one faction is functionally immortal due to some sort of super-advanced tech. They all fight to protect their immortality and spout cryptic lines but none of it has any meaning due to the poor pacing of the story. Why are they immortal? What’s the backstory? All we are told is that the towers we were sent to destroy is the key to it all. The game then proceeds to usher us into the next mission and drops the sub-plot entirely.

It honestly feels like the game lacked the proper budget to tell the epic story it seems to want to tell.



Gameplay is quite smooth and beginner-friendly. You have your mech, called an Arsenal, and can customize practically all of it. You choose your body parts, its 2 primary weapons, 2 optional weapons, a shoulder weapon and an auxiliary device for support. The overall parts selection is okay. This game takes 3-dimensional combat very seriously so learning basic movements is tantamount for victory. I do wish that maintaining a consistent altitude were easier and tracking enemy elevation on radar were smoother. Boosting takes stamina; depleting your gauge causes you to stop all movement and drop to the floor. You cannot do any advanced movements until it FULLY replenishes. You can also harness femto to create a body double or use 1 of 3 buffs for your Arsenal.
https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2348459588
Actual gameplay consists of piloting your Arsenal and destroying the corrupted A.I.’s in your missions. They honestly don’t pose much of a threat and are only dangerous in swarms. There are mini-boss mechs called Strai that are a very minor challenge as they can use Arsenal weaponry. Defeating a Strai or an enemy Arsenal allows you to scavenge ONE part from its wreckage. You can equip weapons you take to your reserve pylons for immediate use; Arsenal parts are sent to your hanger back at base. Parts also randomly spawn in 1 of 3 varieties AND with 0-3 modification slots. Thus, there is a lot of variability in drops which makes scavenging fun, albeit VERY RNG heavy. Enemy Arsenals are regular occurrences and provide most of the challenge in missions. You will often have to fight a full team of 3 in a mission with your 2 AI partners. Arsenal fights are fun, but the AI for both allies and enemies really needs work. Sometimes they refused to move, got stuck, or just couldn’t hit their target.

Story missions aren’t terribly difficult once you get some decent gear. One annoyance I had was that some fights were unwinnable; you could whittle an enemy down to a certain percentage then they became invincible so the dialogue could play out. However, there is no indication they have become invincible and they will continue to fight you, making it seem as if the fight is continuing. In Post-game, you can:

• Clean up the Free Missions which are your bog-standard optional missions.
  
  
• Get better equipment from exploration and co-op missions (both can be done solo or online with 3 other players). Explorations are semi-randomized dungeon runs that task you with exploring, collecting gear, and beating a Strai (or more) at the end. These get rather boring with the repetitive assets and loop.
  
  
• Do Co-op missions. They are akin to MMO raid bosses; you will have to fight some very difficult enemies in order to receive randomized modifications, gear blueprints and more.
  
  
• Not play Online, which is dead for casual play. Joining the dedicated Discord is necessary for matches.

I dropped the game because post-game is only grinding for better parts and doing the same bosses/ dungeons over and over again.



https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2348489340
The game uses a cel-shaded art style that is rather pretty. Nonetheless, some textures look rather bland or blurry. Likewise, some lighting can look pretty weird, especially on faces. Nonetheless, I definitely feel that the art style helps set the game apart from other mecha titles and serves the game well. Animations were overall good, although everyone has exaggerated body movements when in their Arsenals. I absolutely love all the battle damage on the Arsenals whenever you get a close-up shot on them,



Overall, the soundtrack was nice. Music felt appropriate and there is a nice variety of genres used here, ranging from moody orchestral tracks to sick guitar riffs for faction themes. Voice acting was mostly well-executed in the English dub and made the characters more bearable. However, everyone also dramatically pauses after a text box/line which makes things rather stilted. The sound effects were typically good, but gunshots feel really flaccid. The default mixing is terrible- sound effects drown out dialogue during missions.



The game ran well for me. Mysteriously, you can only access the full options menu from in-game. Controls can be fully rebound and your HUD is fully customizable. However, there is no “return to default” option if you mess up. There is an okay amount of graphical settings for PC although you’ll have to deal with a preset slider for overall quality and changes.



While I truly enjoyed my time with the game, the lack of a coherent story and grindy endgame made it hard for me to keep playing. Nonetheless, the actual gameplay is quite fun and can be picked up easily by a beginner to the mecha genre. Alternating between fighting chaff A.I. units and challenging Arsenal squads is a blast. Graphics overall look excellent due to cel-shading and the soundtrack makes certain moments pop even more.

All in all, if you like the mecha genre, this game is worth a look. Just be sure to temper your expectations going in.

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Hardcore Mecha is a 2D action platformer that encapsulates all the fun of watching a mecha anime but in a playable form. From a robust single-player experience to chaotic multiplayer sorties, get ready to pilot your war machine and save the day in this fun little indie game.



The single-player story follows Tarethur, a mercenary of the Hardcore Defense Corp., as he tries to fulfill his contract to rescue a key Intelligence officer from a Martian mine, now captured by terrorists. What follows is a very faithful and impressive sequence of events very reminiscent of mecha anime; I’d compare the story structure to the “Gundam” series the most. If you have seen a few mecha animes, you’ll know what to expect in terms of plot twists and themes.
https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2345156053
While the story isn’t terribly innovative and the characters rather predictable or 1-dimensional, the experience is top-notch thanks to the art direction and passion behind the work. The cutscenes, while rather sparse, really amazed me due how impressive and hype-inducing some were. There really isn’t much more to say- it is a 6-7 hour ride for the campaign and I enjoyed what was offered in its 18 missions/ 8 chapters. Nonetheless, I do wish more was done with the story to truly set it apart from the others even if this is all a loving homage to the genre.



The game captures the awe of piloting a mecha rather well. Gameplay is mostly about reaching the end of a stage and killing whatever comes at you in the process. Gameplay is rather simple and repetitive, but fun nonetheless. Your movement options consist of running as well as your boosters, allowing for quick dodges and aerial hovers to line up a shot. You have a pretty robust arsenal at your disposal:

• You always have your primary gun and can bring an Additional Weapon if you have found its blueprint and bought it. The third is a disposable weapon you from the level. Your primary gun has infinite ammo; the other two are finite. You reload if you either go 3 seconds without firing OR your magazine runs out. Reloading takes additional time to refill your guns, but you can cancel it by shooting your remaining bullets.
  
  
• Your Secondary Weapon is mostly a support tool- a machine gun for killing human-sized targets/ destroying enemy missiles or explosives for supporting fire.
  
  
• Melee attacks cause great strain on your mecha’s parts, so whenever you use a melee attack or finish a combo, that melee slot will go on cooldown. This is definitely annoying but there is a late-game upgrade to shorten the cooldown. Nonetheless, melee is very clunky up until that point.
  
  
• The ultimate skill charges by damaging or killing enemies or taking damage yourself. You only get 2 in the campaign: a super charge shot or dual arm blades. Using an Ult pauses time and gives you invincibility. One negative is that you MUST sit through the canned animation for your Ult EVERY time you use it. As the gauge charges relatively quickly, this got very old even if it is honoring tradition.
  
  
• Equipment ranges from repair kits, mines, auto turrets and others to help you in missions.
  
  
• Mods are fairly limited and improve a stat by X percent when equipped.

There is a surprising amount of mission types and locales to visit. Although you’re always killing, you get to infiltrate an underwater base, sneak into an enemy compound and even do a few shoot-‘em-up segments. None of these outlive their welcome and provide a nice break to the core gameplay. On that subject, gameplay is good overall. Controls are responsive, but both control schemes have issues. Playing on controller, aiming felt terrible as it is mapped to the left stick which also dictates movement. Aiming at certain angles was annoying and never felt precise. There is a “steady aim” mode where you plant your feet to aim without moving, but you will likely get hit due to your lost mobility. KBM is more accurate for shooting, but I found the other controls to be clunky.
https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2345146951
For the most part, the game is not difficult. The only real difficulty comes from fighting hoards of enemies and bosses. There is a nice variety of enemy mechas to fight, most with unique move sets and tactics required to take into consideration. Things can quickly get out of hand once 5 or more swarm the screen at once and start attacking you. Boss fights are much more involved but have obvious patterns to learn. A big annoyance is that they seem to be immune to the stagger from melee hits most of the time and can counter-melee you easily. This made me resort to just spamming my rifle and running away when it was reloading, making the fights boring and one-note.

There are additional game modes to play after the campaign is finished:

• Simulation which is a hoard/wave survival mode. You gather points to unlock and upgrade most of the mecha from the campaign, including enemy models. It is quite fun but VERY grindy since you need millions of points to get everything and gear/mods are all gained from single-item lootboxes gained by killing bosses. This mode gets quite boring after a while due to the sheer repetitiveness of the loop.
  
  
• Multiplayer offers online and split-screen fights with a dedicated unlock list tied to progression. Online offers custom rooms for playing with friends and Quick Game for Free-For-All matches. I had fun in Free-For-All, but people tend to gang up on one/ the most damaged player which got old really quick. Things seem fairly active for casual play.

https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2345241103
I honestly really like the graphics for this game. Characters and mechas are drawn in a semi-chibi/ SD (super deformed) style in gameplay and have more detailed full-body art in cutscenes. Both work well and have some impressive and memorable designs. Typically, backgrounds get less emphasis in these types of action games. However, there is a very impressive amount of love and detail poured into this game’s. This makes things feel much more immersive despite paying more attention to the action on screen. Overall, the animation works is excellent. Things feel fluid despite being a little stilted, likely due to budget. I truly commend the devs for the great art and cinematography direction.



I honestly loved some soundtracks, particularly the boss fight themes against your rival. While the music is typically orchestral and grand, there are moments where things get more intense and rock guitars start shredding. There is also some sparse layered music- combat encounters get new instruments then fade when danger is gone. Sound effects were good; combat felt great as a result. The game also features a Japanese and Chinese dub. I played with the Japanese and the cast sounded good.



Overall, no complaints. The game ran as intended. However, there are no graphical settings and the game’s max resolution is 1920x1080.



My had moderate hopes for this game when I purchased it and, for the most part, the game exceeded them. The story reminded me of when I first discovered the genre with its faithful retelling of the formula and the slick design of some mechas were the cherries on top. Gameplay is fairly simple, but still felt gratifying up until the final boss. Controls were a bit iffy, but I grew to accept them at the least. For a game with a small team that stated on Kickstarter, I can definitely say that this is a good purchase for anyone else who is a fan of the genre and looking for a short yet sweet experience.

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EndCycle VS is a grid-based-combat game inspired by the MegaMan Battle Network series and is currently in Early Access. Overall, my feelings are mixed but this comes with the caveat that the game is not finished and things will likely change in future updates. As such, please take my criticisms with a grain of salt.



The story is told in a rather disjointed manner. You fight through 5-6 stages as a particular character in order to complete their respective campaign, unlock the next one, and learn a bit about the world in the process. Here is what I gleamed from all of them:

• There are two rival factions- the Crimson Force and Azure Shield. Both seem to have fairly nebulous goals as you only get a few text boxes’ worth of info at the beginning and end of every stage.
  
• The world is full of Noises- dangerous creatures made from data that attack the people of this world.
  
• The Azure Shield are suspected of creating Noises and have successfully tamed some Noises for use in battle. However, they also seem to be able to "provide infinite food and water to everyone," or at least they claim to.
  
• The Crimson Force seem to be the ones actively protecting normal people from both the Shields and Noises.

Overall, this is all interesting. Nonetheless, the lack of coherent storytelling definitely hurts the impact of the story. To date, there are only 4 campaigns available with another in the works. You do get some sense of what each character is about while playing as them and there is some humorous banter present. However, no one really stood out to me as being super interesting. Likewise, there are some weird phrasings in some text boxes that made me have to reread things. As a dedicated "story" mode, I would've like things to be a bit more concrete.
https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2334179611

This game focuses on combat which is all grid-based. Your character can move freely in their colored area (blue by default) and walk across neutral tiles (grey). You get access to three sets of 4 VOCS which are your spells/ attacks (for a total of 12 available VOCS). Casting a VOC makes it go on cooldown and each VOC has an individual timer. You can freely cycle between each set of VOCS in battle. There are 4 types of VOCS and each serves a different purpose in battle.

• Strike- for damage and Crushing
  
• Protect- heals and shield/ protection
  
• Effect- status effects/ changes
  
• Control- affects the field and panels

Successfully connecting with an offensive VOC causes the enemies’ Crush gauge to fill. Upon filling, the character is stunned and the opponents’ VOCS’ cooldowns are immediately reset. Thus, keeping pressure is highly incentivized to disadvantage your opponent. Nonetheless, you are also able to get Crushed by your enemies. Your Crush gauge slowly depletes over time, so learning how to skillfully dodge attacks is tantamount to surviving after a bad move. There are more nuances to the Crush gauge, but this is the gist of things.

Additionally, there are 5 elemental types; each has its own strengths and weakness to the others. There are also various status effects that can be utilized to get the upper hand. That being said, only a handful are explicitly explained by the in-game tutorial. The rest are fairly nebulous in their effects (e.g. what does “meek” do?). Likewise, upgrade prefixes aren't explained anywhere; what do "cyber" and "tough" do? Each VOC has a level; you can only equip a VOC of a certain level in a certain slot. These upgrades usually add 0 or 1 to the VOCS' level so you may have 2 VOCS competing for the same slot.

Moving onto how actual gameplay feels, movement is rather stiff. This is likely intentional to avoid dodge spamming, but enemy projectiles and movements are rather quick and some VOCS anchor you in place as you cast and/or have a charge up animation. Although enemies have rather obvious patterns, getting into position and then actually hitting them is rather annoying. This is compounded by the fact that there is no way to check your VOCS’ effects in the field which made me very frustrated on several occasions due to not remembering what a VOC did. Likewise, once you fight 2 or even 3 enemies at once, things get very spammy.
https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2334171863

The second solo mode is Adventure mode which is a rogue-like survival mode where you keep exploring and fighting until you die. I enjoyed this mode a lot but there are some issues. First, you cannot skip boss intro cutscenes. It gets to be a bit annoying having to wait 5 seconds every time before a fight. Additionally, bosses feel a bit overtuned in terms of difficulty. Since your drops and the map are all randomized, I often went into a boss fight undergeared and lost since I didn't find anything I wanted from the rewards list or, more importantly, I didn't find anything to counter the boss' gimmick (e.g. Annoyed Bombarabara's lava field).

That being said, there are definitely things I really like in the game. For example, there is a pretty wide cast of playable characters. Each has their own stats, Adventure mode deck and unique look. I also really like the VOCS currently available. Although some are pretty basic, there are some really fun ones such as "Jumperjet" which spawns a controllable aircraft to charge into your enemies with. There's even mod support now! All in all, I honestly think it’s mostly the roughness of the game that is rubbing me the wrong way as I still feel compelled to keep playing.

There is a multiplayer Battle mode for both online and offline. However, I had no one to play with offline. Likewise, online was dead whenever I checked. It would appear that all matchmaking is handled on the dedicated Discord channel due to the small player base. Thus, even causal online matches need to be scheduled properly.



The game has pixel graphics and I feel that everything is well-done. The character sprites have a lot of character to them and reflect their full-art forms well. They all also have a nice amount of movement of them to compliment their character. Backgrounds are a bit basic, but there is an appreciable amount of detail included upon closer inspection. VOC art is nice and readable at a glance. Their in-battle effects are even better.
https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2334187488


Overall, I liked the soundtrack for the game. The synthetic notes work well for this type of game. Sound effects were great as well and combat felt more gratifying because of it. Granted, I spent most of my time focusing on the gameplay.



The game worked perfectly well for me. There are some graphical options, but the game is far from graphically intensive to necessitate more. However, there are some welcome accessibility options available such as disabling screen shake and flickering and colorblind mode for those who need it.



As it stands, EndCycle VS is a game I feel has great potential. However, I definitely felt a bit frustrated during my playtime despite wanting to continue. While I have my issues with it, make no mistake: this is a fun game. As an Early Access title, I definitely feel that this is good enough to warrant a purchase depending on your tastes.

If you enjoy tactical and highly customizable grid-based combat, give it a whirl. The devs also seem active in updating the game and listening to the community with is a very big plus as well. Consider supporting their endeavor with this game. I definitely eagerly await future updates as I continue to play this on my own time.

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Sunset Overdrive (SO) is an open-world third-person shooter with an emphasis on stylish maneuverability and in-your-face attitude. Playing the game is very much like playing through a comic book story, replete with sound effect bubbles, wacky characters and epic action moments.

Oh yeah. The world is also ending.

Grab your delicious cans of OverCharge Delirium XT and let’s overdrive into the sunset of the Awesomepocalypse!

You take control of the "Player" during Horror Night- the time when the citizens of Sunset City started transforming into the horrific mutants known as the “OverCharge Drinkers,” or “OD.” As the name implies, it was imbibing OverCharge that caused them to all mutate. Fizzco, the company in charge of the drink, rushed it through the safety phase to get it on shelves and maintain their standing.

What follows is a mutant apocalypse with the denizens of Sunset City trying to survive in the decaying city. Not to mention contending with the OD, the survivors-turned-raider Scabs, and Fizzco security trying to erase ALL evidence of their foul-ups.

The Player was merely working cleanup detail on Horror Night. Now it is up to them to become the hero Sunset City needs and to save its inhabitants.

Overall, the story is pretty predictable. Nonetheless, there were certainly cool and humorous moments that got me. In particular, all the 4th-wall jokes/ breaks (which are rather frequent) got me to smile at the least. The entire package is reminiscent of a Saturday morning superhero cartoon and is filled with action, even if said action was doing menial fetch quests rather frequently.
https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2330644726
That being said, the writing can definitely get annoying at times. This is mostly due to the way the Player is written- a big, cool, tough person that gives lip but takes names. The humor in the writing is also very juvenile. The overall tone of the story can be likened to Saints Row 3 and 4 – a loud protagonist with a louder cast of supporting characters and zany misadventures. If you do not find said games humorous or entertaining story-wise, you will likely not enjoy the story presented here. Nonetheless, I had a great deal of fun getting through the game in my ~13 hours with sidequesting and collecting.



SO has a HUGE emphasis on movement and style. So much so that you build Style by constantly being on the move and gain power-ups based on how Stylish you are in combat.

The main mode of transportation in SO are the various pipers, power lines, cars and vents scattered around the city. Your character has the uncanny ability to grind and bounce around the city to navigate the congested rooftops and glide through the streets.

Chaining together movements like going from one wire/ pipe to another causes your combo to go up. The combo multiplier increases the amount of Style you gain per action.

Style is used to utilize your Amps- special abilities for your guns and character. They can range from creating tornadoes from your melee strikes to creating jets of fire as you grind to creating missiles when your weapon’s bullet makes contact.

There is a pretty healthy selection of Amps you can collect to customize your Player to your liking. Amps are created by collecting various items littered in Sunset city and giving them to your scientist friend, Floyd.

Each amp requires a certain amount of one to concoct. There are some story roadblocks that require you to collect a certain number of one or another, but you’ll always get a new amp as a reward afterwards. These roadblocks are usually accompanied by a short tower-defense night where you will have to defend your cooking vats from the OD.
https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2330646387
As expected of Insomniac games, the arsenal available is very much in the spirit of Ratchet & Clank series with humorous yet lethal weaponry. For example, you get a teddy bear grenade launcher, a vinyl-thrower and a RC copter turret. However, I felt that automatic weapons were pretty underwhelming compared to the semi-auto and deployment weapons. Nonetheless, essentially every gun niche is covered here.

Weapons have 5 levels and it takes quite a while to max them out, even with the XP Amp equipped. At level 1, most weapons are quite unbearable with low damage and ammo reserves. At level 2, you can equip weapon amps to make them more palatable. For example, you can give them elemental bullets, a higher ammo drop chance or increased damage when on the move.

You also get Overdrives- passive buffs you can mix and match. You craft an Overdrive by spending badges you accrue. You get badges for doing things such as grinding, bouncing, or killing with weapon type X. These usually provide rather boring stat boosts BUT are all valuable and help you build around your playstyle.

Conversely, the character creator is rather sparse with only a handful of faces and hairstyles to choose from. Clothing has more freedom, but I could never really create the character I wanted.

Overall, gameplay is fast, fun and rewarding for those who learn the systems. This is definitely a breath of fresh air compared to more static third-person shooters.

*This version also includes all the DLC from the Xbox version BUT lacks the MP component.



Although this game isn’t graphically groundbreaking, I love the art direction. The destruction of Sunset City feels believable. The bright color palate and cartoony FX make combat really fun. Your guns all look cool and distinct. The OD look delightfully disgusting and menacing. There is a lot of cool art direction that I noticed by taking it slow and just taking in the city. I feel that the punk/rock graffiti look is wonderfully executed here.
https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2330650227


Keeping with punk/ rock theme, there are plenty of songs that get you pumped to grind across the city or take on the OD/ Fizzco. There are also a handful of other genres to discover and even some licensed songs to boot. Music is tied to your style meter so if you aren’t doing anything stylish, prepare to move around in awkward silence. However, there were times when my Style was at level 2 or higher and the music still didn’t kick in.

Sound effects were pretty great. Everything has a nice weight behind it which makes gameplay more gratifying.

Voice acting is overall pretty good.



I encountered a few bugs during my playthroughs. First, there was a weird green flickering/ light over everything. Apparently, this is a bug with having depth of field enabled. This made everything ugly and hard to navigate through.

Next, the game loved to corrupt my saves despite waiting for the save process to finish. These saves were irrecoverable and crashed the game whenever I interreacted with them in ANY way. Fortunately, the autosave system worked, but I shudder to think what would’ve happened if they failed. This was coupled with 1 random CTD.



I am glad I decided to give this game a go a few years ago. Although it looks like a fairly generic TPS, the game has a surprising amount of depth to it in its gameplay. The story was overall really fun despite some shortcomings. Regardless, this is a very fun journey and definitely made SO a game to remember. It is rather addicting trying to get a good Style combo going and seeing if you can get from point A to B in a smooth and short route.

This game definitely drove off into the sunset with style.

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Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy is a compilation of the original 3 games. The games are all visual novels with minor adventure-game exploration segments and an emphasis on courtroom showdowns to reveal the culprit and cut through their lies.

Get your lawyer’s badge ready as we push papers and wag fingers in this wacky crime visual novel.



Being a trilogy pack, the story follows the titular character as he begins as a rookie defense lawyer up until he becomes a seasoned veteran. Overall, the stories are all very fun and unique. In this universe, all crimes must have a verdict within 3 days. In court, both the defense and prosecution will argue their stances to the judge who will hand down the final verdict to the defendant.

It is Phoenix’s job to get his client found not guilty. All the cases are homicides, so the game does lack variety in terms of case types. Nonetheless, each is filled with a very colorful cast of characters to entertain you on your journey.

That being said, there certainly are a few cases and characters that are poorly written or annoying. Due to the game being linear, it is sometimes a slog to get through a particular trial or cross examination/interview as the game requires you to have a firm understanding of the events of each case in order to progress.

When a case is well-written, it is a gripping drama. When it isn’t, it is a bit hard to want to continue. With 14 episodes to explore, there is quite a lot to see and do although I definitely dreaded having to revisit some.

For the most part, each case is episodic, following a new cast of characters in each case. However, a common theme is that the penultimate case is usually related to the final case of the game and makes Phoenix question himself. Although Phoenix wants to become a great defense attorney, all his cases will shape him in one way or another in the end.
https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2326779424


As a visual novel, the game is 90% reading with 9% being adventure game item hunting for case clues. The remaining 1% are simple mini-games scattered about. Each case begins with an opening cinematic to give a brief glimpse at its context. Afterwards, you interact with your case assistant and begin your case investigation for day 1.

You are offered a choice of locales to visit, however some require a certain trigger to be met before unlocking.

Once you are in a map, you can click the screen to have Phoenix investigate the space, usually to get a clue or receive a funny or quirky comment on it. Once you have gotten all important pieces of evidence and testimonies, you progress to court day 1.

In “Justice for All”, a new minigame is introduced called “psyche locks.” This is simply an out-of-court version of countering their lies with evidence in order to get an important clue or info.

In court, you will have to guide the case to the truth by questioning witnesses, evaluating the legitimacy of evidence and contending with the prosecution’s harassment and subterfuges.

First, the judge/ prosecutor gives a case overview and introduces the first witness. The witness gives their testimony to the court. Afterwards, you can “press” a witness for more info to amend a testimony to become more accurate, leading you closer to the truth.

Once you find an inconsistency in their testimony, you open your evidence list and “present” the relevant evidence. This typically leads the witness to realize their mistake (whether intentional or not) and the case progresses.
https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2326786232
Sometimes the prosecutor or judge will ask you to elaborate on the evidence and you are presented with a simple multiple-choice question to see if your line of though is correct. In this trilogy, if you are incorrect in either your presented evidence or the contended testimony or choice, you will lose health/ “confidence” from your bar.

You have 10 pips in total and penalties have varying amounts of damage. Wrong evidence usually costs 1 pip but there are dire moments where the wrong answer leads to an instant game over.

On that note, the variable writing quality comes up again as evidence and logic hinges entirely on the quality of the case. There are some questions or testimonies that are rather obtuse about what is wrong and trial-and-error spamming of evidence is not uncommon.

Similarly, some investigation scenes are annoying as the next progression step is unclear. This is usually resolved by showing someone every single thing in your inventory, but there are some scenes where you will have to pixel hunt for a separate interaction prompt in order to get a new clue.

Cases typically run into the final 3rd day with Phoenix having to re-interview witnesses or look around for new clues. Otherwise, the gameplay loop is the same: find a contradictory testimony, present refuting evidence, answer the prosecution, and reach a non-guilty verdict. This isn’t a terribly exciting or innovative gameplay loop; however, it is the writing and characters that carry the series.



This trilogy eschews the pixel graphics of the original GBA and DS versions for smoother and more hi-res character portraits/ busts. Overall, everyone looks great although I do miss the nostalgic feel of everything being pixilated. The same can be said about the backgrounds/ locales which received a facelift. Everything definitely feels clearer and smoother now.

The game also scales properly at 2k resolution which is very welcome.

The game retains all the interesting and wacky character designs from the originals. It is definitely a trip to see some of the more outlandish ones and have to interrogate them in a court of law.
https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2326777839


The trilogy retains the same music of the original as well with its GBA soundfont. It was definitely nostalgic to hear the “Objection” and “Pursuit” themes again in the first game. Sound effects are overall pretty good, each fitting the attached action well.



Overall, I had no issue whatsoever with the game. As expected of a visual novel, the overall level of system, graphical and other options is quite sparse. However, none of this affected my ability to enjoy the game.



The games use a new font which is much clearer and cleaner than the handheld's. 16:9 resolution also works as intended.

One option I wish was included was a chapter select menu. Sometimes I just wanted to replay a particular investigation day or trial day. However, you can only select the overall chapter once you clear it- you have to start over form the very beginning each time.

Likewise, you only get 10 save slots total. While way more than the handheld versions, I couldn't make a save point for every chapter for easy access for a later time.

However, I am overall very happy to have all 3 games in 1 convenient package and this is a great purchase for new and returning players.



Phoenix Wright was my first introduction to visual novels. Having replayed some of it, it definitely still stands up (barring the more annoying cases). This is a series about friendship, truth, determination and much more. He may have fallen to immeasurable depths of despair before, but he has risen anew like his namesake and fights to protect others. Gameplay is very simple, but engaging nonetheless.

At the end of the day, the game is really about trying your hardest despite all of life’s complications. That, or you shouldn’t become an anime lawyer.

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NOTE: This review will be on the game itself. There are plenty of other reviews and discussions that detail the controversy over the “Complete” moniker. I urge you to do your own research and come to your own conclusion on the matter.



Disgaea 5 (D5) is a Japanese SRPG. Much like its predecessors, be ready to grind your way to victory in this tale of love, loss and vengeance above all else. D5 has the most beginner-friendly systems in place and makes the grind much more tolerable and much quicker to boot. If you like SRPGS, deep character customization and wacky adventures, D5 might just be for you!



The story revolves around the demon protagonist Killia wanting to exact revenge against Void Dark for hurting the one he held dearest. Void Dark is a demon of supreme power, now seeking to conquer all the Netherworlds in existence. Thus, Killia will meet several other demons in their quest for revenge against Void Dark for ruining their lives and forge an alliance of vengeance against Void. Yet as they sally forth, they must also ultimately come to face with that which drove them to this path. Can they manage to survive these encounters?

Is vengeance truly the answer to everything? Will taking more from others result in happiness? Vengeance is ingrained into the game’s themes and will be a constant point of contention and conflict for the main cast. Yet as they grow closer and support one another, each receives and epiphany and they grow as individuals. Granted, some have stronger and more noble realizations than others (they ARE all demons after all).

Disgaea-n stories are noted for their comical absurdity mixed with softer and more heart-warming moments. Overall, it takes a backseat to gameplay in the series. Likewise, they are all quite “anime” and I cannot recommend the series to anyone who dislikes its common tropes as the series often turns them up to 11. Certain character's can get annoying if not unbearable at times as well.

Nonetheless, I found the overall story to be enjoyable albeit a bit predictable and not as strong as previous entries'.

This is a story of love, loss and the insatiable lust for reprisal and reparations. How will all of this change a man, let alone a demon?




When one says “Disgaea,” one also thinks “grinding.” For better or for worse, this is a series that loves big numbers above all else in an SRPG setting. Nonetheless, the amount of character customization is amazing as ever.

Gameplay is rather simple: you get to dispatch units from your base panel to complete a stage. The completion objective is usually to simply kill all enemy units on the field. Units can move a certain number of panels depending on various factors. Each of their attacks and skills has a specific attack range. There are also various spells and skills that can (de)buff, heal and more. Fallen units cannot be resurrected on the battlefield, so placement and strategy are key to victory.
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Disgaea then adds its proprietary craziness with stats, numbers, calculations and subsystems.

There are monster and humanoid units. Neither one can equip weapons meant for the other. Each unit has a particular type of weapon they “prefer” that gives them better stats, represented by a Weapon Mastery letter from E (slowest to level up) to S (fastest). There is also an “Armor Mastery” stat for armor.

Getting kills with a weapon raises its type Mastery, granting an even bigger stat boost; taking damage raises Armor Mastery. Weapon Mastery also unlocks new skills at certain levels.

Every unit has a resistance to each weapon type. Likewise, each has a resistance to the 4 elements: Fire, Ice, Wind, and Star.

Each unit has unique skills for varying purposes. These skills can be boosted to cost more SP BUT deal more damage or have and improved effect .

Generic characters can start as one class but reincarnate into another to learn new magic or transferable class abilities. You can further improve their stats by doing Chara World runs, a fun boardgame-type dungeon.

Likewise, there is an Item World dungeon that can be used to delve into items and make them stronger or better. You can even snag rarer weapons if you can manage to steal them from the final boss.

D5 includes some very welcomed speed-up options for animations and battle in general. Grinding is made much more tolerable when it takes only a fraction of time to do so. There are also other systems in place to help facilitate grinding.

There are MANY more systems to describe but not enough space to put them all. However, there is a bit of clunkiness to some of them that makes progress annoying at times.

Although this is a lot to take in, it is all quite simple when put into actual gameplay. The various systems will definitely keep you engaged as you try to create a super character (or more) for the game's challenges. This includes the super difficult post-game content as well. However, there isn’t much else left to do in post-game besides grind to beat even stronger enemies, much like in the previous titles.

In short, Disgaea adds its own modifications to the SRPG formula and the end result is a highly flexible character-building system but requires a lot of investment.
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Disgaea has always had a very cute art style and having HD sprites is definitely a treat. However, there is noticeable upscaling and jaggies playing at 2K resolution. The game also lacks meaningful PC graphical options.

Nonetheless, I definitely love the visual variety in characters. Likewise, each Netherworld you visit has a clear theme and stands out from its peers.

The series’ episode previews are also on-par with the previous. There’s plenty of random and wacky hijinks to experience.

Skill animations are also great, particularly the unique character ones and high-tier ones.
https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2312701525


Overall, I’m a fan of the series’ music and 5 delivers on that expectation. There are many tracks that perfectly fit the moment. Battle, a somber moment, a tender one, and much more feel more engrossing due to the great tracks. The variety of genres also helps keep things fresh.

Sound effects are overall great. Combat is satisfying with nice audio feedback and skill SFX.

I played with the English dub and overall, it was pretty great.


I had no issues with the game.



I had a lot of fun during my time with D5. This entry provided an interesting story and the most accessible grinding system to date. The focus on personal drama and tragedy kept me invested in the zany cast. Although some plot points are rather typical for this type of story, the overall way it is told is entertaining. Gameplay has been greatly refined in this title and I found grinding to be more of an inconvenience this time around. With several returning and new classes to use, I had a lot of fun making my perfect team to face the game’s challenges.

Overall, a very solid installment in the series.

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