Josh McGrath

“I came into Stories from Sol: The Gun-Dog solely for two reasons: the initial art and the promise of a “PC-98 style adventure.” What I got was an enthralling story straight out of late-80s mecha anime, with some honestly surprising turns, all accompanied by stunning pixel artwork evoking the era.”

“Once again, like its predecessor, this is a much shorter review than is typical here at Gamer Escape, since there’s not really much to review here. Even less, really, since our What the Dub?! review mostly applies to RiffTrax: The Game as well. It’s a simple but well-put-together party game that’s easy to set up and play, whether with friends at home, online on Discord, or streaming to a Twitch audience.”

“At its budget price ($6.99 at the time of writing), this game is an absolute no-brainer for shmup fans. I would argue that it’s a great option for genre newcomers as well, with its relatively easy opening levels before the difficulty really ramps up. As I continue my exploration of retro shmups, I’m glad this one fell into my hands.”

“What the Dub?! knows what it wants to be, and it does it well, straight-forward and with very little frills. If you have a friend group that already enjoys the Jackbox series and other quick and easy party games, there’s little reason not to add this one to your rotation.”

“The writing here, though, leaves a lot to be desired. I’m used to visual novels having slow opening routes, but completely foregoing any real character development for hours made this game incredibly difficult to get into. Once over the hump of the initial route, though, Altdeus managed to provide an entertaining story, one that I didn’t mind strapping my Vive headset on for. It’s not mind-blowing by any means, but it’s still a worthwhile read.”

“Overall, Clea goes for an unsettling style of horror and, at least for me, completely fails. The atmosphere never really “lands,” enemies are more frustrating than frightening, and I really just struggled to find the desire to even play this game.”

“Overall, Milky Way Prince feels like an art piece. An outlet for Redaelli to tell his story, and craft it such a way to communicate his feelings and experiences to the player. In its visual design, this work succeeds in spades. As a video game and visual novel, though, the full experience is weak. I was unable to connect to the story of Nuki and Sune, and the writing didn’t seem to want me to.”

“Don’t let its somewhat drab exterior fool you, Rolling Gunner is worth a look for genre professionals and up-and-comers alike. Its the kind of game that, despite only being six stages long, I can see myself returning to for a long time coming.”

“Overall, Infinite: Beyond the Mind is a fairly straight-forward action platformer that could have been more enjoyable, despite its wonky difficulty curve, if key parts of the platforming engine actually worked reliably. When I wasn’t struggling with jumping walls or climbing ladders, I was having a decent time playing through.”

“The story falls absolutely flat, as it can’t be carried by core characters that receive little development and secondaries that I couldn’t bring myself to care about. The gameplay is exceedingly dull, somehow finding itself in a horrifying fusion of too vague and too specific. The visuals, despite the entire game taking place in a singular environment, are underbaked and unattractive.”

“Overall, Half Past Fate is a bit of a mixed bag that hits more than it misses. Whilst the individual stories here are of varying levels of quality, the overall plot and writing was still enjoyable enough to carry me through to the end.”

“At $14.99 it’s priced about right (although it’s a bit short at three hours to complete), and the game isn’t offensive, it’s just that there’s so much better available now in virtual reality, and things in Eclipse that would have been impressive at the time are fairly standard now.”

“Orangeblood is a game of half measures. It feels like it’s afraid of taking its bold style all the way, and the game suffers for it. While it did catch my attention at PAX West last year, actually sitting down with the full release was a disappointing experience.”

“Despite those issues, though, Virgo Vs The Zodiac is still a solid experience, and a great JRPG that just popped up out of nowhere at the end of the year. If you’re looking for something to play through during the holidays, this is a title definitely worth considering.”

“Overall, I can see why this game continues to receive updates and ports even eight years after its original release. Jamestown+ is an incredibly well-polished and engaging experience, offering up both a great entry point to the bullet hell genre and a satisfying challenge to veterans.”

“Overall, Tokyo Dark was an interesting title that was worth the experience. It definitely has some faults that are hard to overlook, from the scattershot presentation to the lull in the story, but pushing through these reveals a relatively well-told horror mystery tale.”

“The game is budget priced at $14.99 at the time of writing, which may still be a bit steep for such a short game. Despite that complaint, Gunvolt Chronicles is just simply a fun game to play, and is very much worth your time. I would recommend playing the baseline Azure Striker Gunvolt games first if you care at all about the world and lore that’s expanded on here, though.”

“If you’re in for the grind or just enjoy repetitive actions, Niffelheim might be something for you (although I honestly don’t understand why). For someone like me, though, this isn’t a game that I would recommend.”

“Look, I know many gamers like fanservice titles. I enjoy my fair share as well. However, if you’re not going to give me a well-written story or solid gameplay to go with it, then I might as well go watch some ecchi anime or just straight-up porn. Gun Gun Pixies offers little aside from its admittedly attractive (and very over the top) fanservice, and as a game, it really just isn’t worth anyone’s time.”

“If you’re really into artistic platformers and have run out of games to play, Gravity Ghost just might be worth a look. Otherwise, there’s plenty of more recent titles that do this blend of platforming and emotions much better.”