Claire Ferrin

“UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH II Sys:Celes has quite the learning curve, but is fun to play with friends and the addition of rollback netcode actually makes the game playable online too.”

“UsoNatsu is a short, yet sweet girls love drama that might just be the best-looking visual novel I have played in years. The art is gorgeous, the story is engaging, and the characters are likable too.”

“Last Train Home may have its issues, but the gameplay is fun, the RTS train management side of things is super cool, and it’s all tied together by an engaging narrative.”

“Basically a rehash of the same great roguelike from years ago, complete with enough new content worthy of being a separate game, but also the same issues that the first had.”

“A beautiful point and click game that is sadly not receiving the attention it deserves. Gorgeous art, animation, and some creative gameplay too, but it is brought down by its short length.”

“Valfaris: Mecha Therion is a fun follow-up to the original Valfaris that takes what made that one good and slaps it into an entirely new genre.”

“The Gray Man is a powerful and honestly horrific visual experience that had me questioning the mental state of its creator. An easy recommendation for horror fans.”

“KarmaZoo is a fun little co-op puzzler that’s great to play with friends, but not really one I can see maintaining an active playerbase for those tackling it with randoms.”

“Alien Hominid Invasion is a fun evolution on the original formula and comes with vastly improved gameplay, but does suffer from its lack of mission variety and occasionally overly chaotic combat.”

“Boti: Byteland Overclocked is far too buggy to be worth a play. Numerous soft locks, broken co-op, and even crashes prevent the otherwise competent gameplay from being anything more than that.”

“From Madness with Love may be no DDLC, but it does have its own similar sort of appeal. Engaging story, interesting characters, fun art... I had a good time in the 5-6 hours it took to finish.”

“aiden IV x MIKADO Remix is fast and fun, has some good graphics/music, and all the game modes and bonus features are nice too. Worth a look for those that haven’t already played the OverKill version.”

“ALPHA-NIGHTHAWK may have some solid artwork, but the rest of the experience is an absolute slog to get through and a disappointment given the interesting setting it starts off with.”

“McPixel 3 has some superb level design, fun and creative puzzles, and a goofy overall aesthetic to carry the experience through its short runtime. An easy recommendation.”

“The Jackbox Party Pack 9 is an improvement over the previous pack, including some solid highlights – Quixort and Junktopia – and other fun additions too.”

“Café Stella and the Reaper’s Butterflies is a massive step down from Yuzusoft’s previous releases. While the production remains solid, the story and writing are anything but.”

“Dōkyūsei is a bit of a mixed bag by modern standards. What it lacks in quality writing it makes up for with its solid dating sim mechanics and nostalgic art, but overall – it is just okay.”

“Atelier Sophie DX, while not as strong as other Atelier games, is still a good bit of fun. Solid crafting, decent combat, nice setting – it has all the basics on lock even if the approach is different.”

“Koikari – Love For Hire is a bit of a tossup. The common route is some good stuff with solid comedy and character interactions, but the character routes are more of a disappointment.”