Category: Game reviews

The legend of Nayuta is another NIS america RPG they were kind enough to toss me,and was originally released on the PSP.

The story itself is pretty much the greatest hits from days of RPG past,and is the definition of basic. You have your main character with dead parents, your best friend and also rival. And a mysterious girl with no memory who also happens to be your love interest. The game doesn’t break any new ground here,even when it was released on the PSP.

The gameplay itself is what we all came here to find out about anyway since stories are completely subjective. The game is a nice mix of platformer and RPG, with the RPG portion being just typical leveling and getting bigger and better weapons. You will do the typical hack and slash with some magic and dodging. Again no new ground is broken but it is fun.

Graphically,the game is solid. It’s a nice update from those PSP says and it runs smooth. I wasn’t a fan of the smaller maps and the mission format of kill X amount of enemies or the platforms that sometimes felt unnecessary, but others will enjoy them just fine.

At the end of the day tho,the game is good. Not great,but it’s worth playing. Many will be disappointed to discover it doesn’t seem to be connected to the rest of the series but there is some fan service in there anyway. It is a solid 7/10,and fans will want to pick it up. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

As always I like to start these off with a big thank you to NIS America for tossing me a copy of this one. It’s always great to be working with them. Now onto the show.

Mobius is a turn based RPG with an interesting battle mechanic to me. It’s turn based as normal, but there are multiple rings you can be on at any given time. These rings get smaller as you move towards the center and they determine turn order.

Everyone starts on the outermost and biggest ring, as you battle there are various things you and the enemy can do to move further in or push each other out of these rings and make your turn come faster.

This makes the battles a bit more tactical than normal because many times the difference between winning and losing is simply using your abilities in just the right way to get more turns than a stronger opponent.

The story itself isn’t bad either and involves a young man who lost is father discovering he may have a sister, or at least someone that claims to be. She shows up with a Raven bracelet asking for help to find their father that he knows to be dead long ago.

From here the usual set of adventures will come and go as you gather party members, go on quest and even get a mentor that loves drinking probably a little more than he should.

The games graphics are what you would expect, solid but far from outstanding,but anime fans will be happy. There aren’t any English voices unfortunately but there are busty anime women so that will make many anime fans happy. Most of the men can’t seem to keep clothes on at some point either.

The game itself was fun and turn based fans and NIS America fans will enjoy it,but I don’t think it will be changing the minds of other people either. It is a solid 7/10 tho. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Marble it Up Ultra is a game tossed to me by the fine people at, well Marble it Up. The concept for this is really simple. Get the marble from the start of the level,to the end.

Like many games with a simple concept,mastering it is no easy task. Of the 6 worlds of levels the first is basically a tutorial. These will set you up with the basics of the game and how the physics of it all works and the different power ups work etc. They work very well I might add, for the most part of the probably billion times I went flying off the side it was usually my own stupidity that caused it,the rest were me genuinely screwing around.

After the first set of levels the game really starts to ramp up and introduces new and interesting ways of playing with the game. From collecting gems and having to roll around 3D environments that gravity seems to have forgotten about to simply moving as fast as possible from one side to the other without hitting a bump that sends you flying off the map.

The game has a plethora of unlockables,all in the game. You earn special points by completing challenges which or levels faster and getting gold,silver and bronze finishes for the first time. This is also how you unlock new marbles or funny hats. (they are purely cosmetic)

The game is a lot of fun with plenty of replay value, but it isn’t for everyone. While I enjoyed it my daughter found it endlessly frustrating and had no interest in continuing after about an hour. She wasn’t bad at the game,but if you don’t enjoy puzzles this probably won’t change that perspective at all. Outside of the 6 worlds there are bonus worlds with their own sets of levels that are even more challenging.

I thought the game had plenty to offer and looked nice, but it definitely is a niche game. For me it was a 7/10. I definitely wouldn’t play it daily,but if I have 15 or 20 minutes to kill and you like puzzle games, this one is absolutely worth picking up. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Sea Horizon is the latest game from developer Eastasiasoft Limited and published by SOFTSTAR the first from Hong Kong and the second from Taiwan, and they were nice enough to toss me a copy to review. So as always, big thanks for that one.

The game has three ways to play, the story mode is where to start. You start as the Adventurer (they do have real names), work your way down, and unlock new characters. This is also the best way to learn how the game mechanics and characters work.

The game itself is turn-based, mostly one side goes than the other but there are skills that mess with this as you would expect. Much like other games in the roguelike area of things you can see what the enemy is about to do and you can react accordingly. Sometimes it is better to just build up a wall of block that thankfully will stay until the enemy gets rid of it. Whatever your decisions are, a dice roll to see what resources you have this turn can make or break you. These resources are determined by your equipment, however, so if you don’t need nature resources simply do not equip any. This will prevent them from being a possibility.

The game itself has you walking around a map, or sailing on a ship on the water to travel. This for me is where the game became a bit rough around the edges. For example, you do have a food meter to watch, but in a couple of games I started out next to a camp to get food when my food meter was still full, and never came across one again. This had me run out of food prior to the last boss, and the penalty for this is to take a small amount of damage each time you move from one hex to another. In a game that rewards exploration, and combat is a huge focal point that is a brutal, and harsh way to have things end.

Now I could bore you with the technical aspects, but suffice it to say the game runs smooth, looks good and sounds great. I probably sank a good 30 hours into this one already and will probably sink 30 or 40 more into it with ease. Each run feels different, leveling characters to unlock new moves, abilities, and skins (all within the game just by playing, a novel and appreciated approach) No game is perfect, and the randomness of when things simply aren’t given is annoying at times, but for $15 US dollars this one is a must by for fans of the genre. 9/10 Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

As I always like to do with these things, a huge thank you to NIS America for tossing me a review copy of Trails of Reverie. It is always a pleasure to play these games before anyone else and share my experience with you guys.

Before I go any further, if you haven’t played The Cold Steel series for example, or the other Trail of Heroes this game is not the place to start. It contains well over 50 characters from past games to play as you continue to discover events from Crossbell and beyond with the new Trails to Walk system. You can more or less freely jump back and forth between different parties to see the game unfold from different standpoints and perspectives. It is very well done and a pleasure for fans to see, but if you are new to the series you will be lost.

The combat as you would is turn-based, and again if you are familiar with the series you know what to expect. It is beautiful and usually well balanced. There is plenty of new gear, costumes ect to find and use, but you will never be shocked or disappointed by the things you loved from the past games suddenly being changed beyond belief.

The sound is also, as the kids say, on point. I’m kidding I don’t know if they still say that, but the voice acting and music always sets the tone the way it needs to be. Lets move on to the bad however.

Remember back a bit when I said the combat was “usually well balanced”? There are a few bosses that seem to just suddenly ramp up the bullshit meter. This isn’t a matter of being bad at the game or anything like that, you will be trouncing away at everything in your path and suddenly a boss will be so much faster than you they will get what seems like 7 and 8 attacks in a row for you to contend with. A fellow reviewer claims to have been hit 17 times in a row, but I belive that may have been hyperbole because he was pissed off but I wanted to mention it just in case.

The game however even prerelase functioned pretty much perfectly and in today’s world I feel like that is worth mentioning. In a time when game breaking bugs and glitches are the new norm, being able to play a game without any day one patches and complete it without issue is a nice treat. If you are a fan of Trails series, this game is a must buy. Dont even wait for a sale, just pick this game up. It is a rare 9/10 from me. That does come with a small exception. If you haven’t played this series, do not start here. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to play a management simulator and help your uncle that also happened to be your grandfather run a business making illegal booze? Thanks to Klabater and Moonshine Inc I can say I do, and I am grateful to them for sending me a copy of this one.

The game starts out with your character setting off for the big city and getting a job at a local failing business that he can’t figure out how it even stays open. He soon discovers and starts learning how to make booze. After it gets raided he heads home to the mountains to help his sister and grumple make some hooch all his own.

You will start out learning to make some good old rotgut, which is basically just booze made in a bucket. It won’t taste good, but it will get people hammered. This will teach you the basics of the mixing ingredients and fermenting process.

After you bottle your illicit it is time to ship it to various places on the map, which is as simple as simple packing it into a truck and driving there. Oh and hoping the cops don’t catch you. There are many different things that can happen on the drive such as police, finding abandoned booze from other runners, and plenty of other things. The odds of this change based on your employee’s driving ability the distance you are going and of course how often you go there.

Speaking of employees, each one is going to cost you money every week so you need to make enough products at a high enough quality to pay them, yourself and keep supplies in stock. All this while keeping a low profile and improving your equipment.

The game is a ton of fun but does have its issues, but nothing a patch won’t fix I think. A few times on the map the game locked up on me so I couldn’t return to my base, but a save and a load solved that no problem. The controls at times were also a bit rough because of how stiff they could be, but nothing that took away from the fun I was having, it is just worth mentioning.

The good far outweighs the bad however, the game itself is unlike anything else on consoles in terms of personality. Unlocking new recipes was simple but perfecting them took plenty of trial and error but not so much that it was a hassle or unenjoyable.

The game is a solid choice for any fans of management sims, and at $20 ($25 for the supporters pack that comes with the soundtrack and artbook) the game is absolutely a steal. The price point and the amount of game you get makes this an 8/10 without a doubt. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Some of you may remember when NIS America tossed me a review copy of the PS4 version of The Caligula Effect: Overdose back in 2019 when it was first released. They were kind enough to let me revisit The Caligula Effect: Overdose on the PlayStation 5.

Truthfully the game hasn’t changed drastically, while it certainly does play better with the increased power of the new generation console, with quicker load times for example. ( They were never bad to begin with)The game also didn’t suffer from any sort of frame rate issues, or poor graphical or sound quality. In fact, I will quote my original review.

The graphics and sound are great with the music being even more outstanding when the musicians are on a map. They all have their own distinct style that matches their characters.

Me 2019

I still enjoy that most of the characters are in fact not good people, the reason why will be explained throughout the story as you progress. This isn’t limited to the antagonist either, some of the party members themselves in the real world probably wouldn’t be invited into your home.

The flaws in the characters are actually what makes them interesting, I am not even sure you are supposed to like half of these people and the game is better because of it. As you explore the world I found myself not knowing if I wanted the Go-Home club to win or the Musicians and this works out well since in Overdose you actually can join the Musicians. This and the ability to play as a male or female is new to the Overdose version of the game as opposed to the original Japan release.

The only real advice I have is with the combat, play on the harder difficulties and work your way backward until you find one you like. The battle system allows you to get a good idea of what each person will do and time your attacks accordingly. You can interrupt or defend at the last instant for example and on easy this allowed me to rush through the game with no issue or challenge and just enjoy the story. This really took away from the game for me however as the combat was very interesting at higher levels.

The game itself is a 7/10, and is still the perfect way to update a game. However, unless you are a die-hard fan there really isn’t a reason to update from the PS4 version to the PS5 version in my opinion. If you are still waiting to pick this game up, the PS5 version is the definitive version. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Replikator is the newest title from R_Games that they were kind enough to toss me a review copy of. This game is a small indy top-down roguelike shooter that is quite simple to get into. Just pop it on, run around the station, and shoot the enemies with one of your two weapons. You can choose from multiple characters, my favorite was the one that fires rockets.

Each character has pros and cons, one might be faster than the others or be immune to acid while another simply takes no damage from certain traps. None of them offer a huge advantage over the others to the point I felt that one was better than the others, but they were different enough that I had a preferred character for how I liked to play.

While Replikator is a fun game to mess around with, and at the price they are asking none of my complaints are major I do have a few. For example, the character movements all felt painfully slow to me. It felt like a chore at times to go anywhere if there weren’t enemies to be shooting. The four playable characters also feel quite generic.

The pros however do outweigh these complaints. The amount of different weapons and powerups is insane for an $8 game. I didn’t bother counting them but they are all laid out in a room to see and I still haven’t unlocked them all but there is at least a couple dozen. The game offers a challenge that can be overcome if you learn how to use these, but we aren’t talking about some insane amount of dedicating your life to learning the game either.

All in all, the price point of this game means if you like roguelikes or top-down shooters, Replicator is a great buy. it is a nice 7/10. I enjoyed spending about 20 hours with it so far and I will probably spend a few more with it. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

As always with these things, I would love to thank NIS America For tossing me a copy of Monster Menu. It is always a pleasure to work with these guys.

Like many games, this one sets out to accomplish not only to be an RPG but also a roguelike. You will be fighting monsters, starvation, dehydration, and of course, the inevitable death that restarts you at level one. Each end however will leave you better equipped to get further faster next run.

Unlike most roguelikes however, Monster Menu doesn’t completely toss away your progress, for example, defeating bosses does give you a sort of checkpoint you can jump to, so there is no concern that you will constantly be restarting an entire RPG over again. This however doesn’t mean much since the story is basically non-existent.

There is a pretty good crafting system involved however, you can create different food for both your characters to use in battle and food, which can be fed to your characters for buffs or to enemies for debuffs. In a tactics RPG this can be invaluable, and it is no exception here. The only issue is you pretty much have to find recipes randomly to make anything.

Admittedly my biggest issue with this game is simply how repetitive it is. The battles, each layer all feel the same eventually and the gaming loop eventually feels like you aren’t improving so much as you just treading water at times. The game definitely has its place however and many of you will find hours of enjoyment. If you do not like RPGs and roguelikes this game won’t change your mind. It is a solid 7/10 tho, Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.