Tag: Reviews

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.

First,I want to take a second to just say thank you to the people at Idea Factory for tossing me a copy of Fairy Fencer F: Refrain Chord to review. It’s always appreciated working with someone new.

Usually the Fairy Fencer games are turned based but this one the decision was made to take it into a slightly different direction. Refrain Chord is a turned based Tactical RPG, much like Final fantasy tactics or Tactics Ogre.

The battles take place in the usual grid based alternating people style. There is as usual a bar on top of the screen to show you the upcoming order of the troops.

The battles themselves are pretty standard, if you want a challenge tossing the game on hard will have its moments. Easy is the epitome of just wanting to be able to see the story with very little difficulty,which is truly how it should be.

Speaking of the story I have always felt any RPG that wasn’t based around a solid story was defeating the purpose of even existing. Fairy Fencer F: Refrain Chord revolves around Fang and his company from past games such as Fairy Fencer F :Advent Dark Force. You don’t need to play the other games to understand it,any back story is explained pretty well or isn’t even necessary to have.

The story for this game revolves around trying to collect Furys before an evil corporation. You want them so you can summon the Goddess for world peace. The corporation wants them to summon the Vile God for unlimited power. The details I will leave for you to discover because getting to know this almost goofy cast of characters through the various interactions at the Inn or during missions is probably the best part of the game itself.

From the very beginning with Fang being busted out of jail because of his dine and dash antics and being caught talking to cockroaches or him and Galdo being obsessed with nudie magazines while the female characters make fun of Fang for being childish there really isn’t a time the characters aren’t interesting to get to know.

The game of course isn’t perfect,for example you will spend a lot of time reading because the vocals are only in their native language. Most battles also come down to how much you leveled up,not if you are actually good with any sort of strategy. Most of the Furys you come across are also pointless to have outside of the side quest to stab the ground and discover treasure and hidden locations.

This is one of those games I enjoyed playing,and I actually think fans of strategy RPGs will also enjoy playing. It isn’t the best one on the market, but it is absolutely enjoyable. 7/10, loved my time with it. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Japanese developer Dangen Entertainment was nice enough to toss me a copy of Dungeon Drafters to check out,and I am both glad they did and appreciate it.

For those that are unfamiliar with this title you play the part of an adventurous hero that is about to explore one of several locations,one of the first being a sort of forest. The first boss will just absolutely destroy you.

This first area will introduce you to the card system. See in this world cards are magical, and they are essential to the world as a whole. You will make your way to this boss on a grid based system with your 3 action points per turn that you can either move or use cards with. Even in rooms without enemies you move across the grid.

At first the game will feel a bit out of place with it’s rogue-like system and it’s Hub town,but it doesn’t take long before you will feel right at home here talking to everyone, finding new cards gathering info and just all around getting to know the world.

The graphics are beautiful,and really one of the highlights of the game for me. The colorful world is just vibrant and full of life,I never felt like I was just staring at something for the sake of its existence.

Battles themselves are pretty intuitive and simple to figure out, even with the games very well done explanation. Simply use your AP to move around the grid and attack enemies using your cards. Each enemy reacts differently,many of which you can see what types of attacks they have. One early enemy has a single hit point and he explodes when he dies causing damage to everyone around him. Smart players however will simply push him away preferably closer to enemy units.

The game is full of small details like this that make the game amazing. Fans of these types of games will love it,and I can happily give it an 8/10. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.