Edie W-K

“Despite what is clearly an earnest effort, Lost Soul Aside fails to do justice to whatever director Yang Bing’s vision was. It never stops feeling hamstrung by its lofty aspirations, but is derivative in its execution and doesn’t do any one thing particularly well.”

“Marvelous Inc.'s recent streak of Story of Seasons remakes has so far resulted in serviceable but not amazing experiences, but Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar manages to be a step in the right direction. It takes an already solid farming game with surprisingly complex layers and elevates it with more content and quality-of-life improvements. With its focus on stockpiling produce to sell directly to customers, it's something different in an era where we are otherwise up to our ears in would-be Stardew Valleys. That said, a restrictive production method and a messy storage system still hold it back.”

“The Great Villainess: Strategy of Lily is a hilarious take on a strategy campaign, pairing an unserious yet compelling story with genuinely tough gameplay to create an experience that is easy to recommend to any genre fan. The characters are rendered in a striking anime style, making it easy to fall in love with Scarlet, Lily, and their growing band of rebels. The fact that it's light on side content means that the pacing remains fast and efficient, so you never have a chance to get bored.”

“Despite not completely lacking in fun, MADO MONOGATARI: Fia and the Wondrous Academy stops short of doing anything interesting with its academy life sim elements or its dungeon crawling. Try-hard 'funny' dialogue waffles for too long, academy activities is largely messing around in menus, and dungeons are one-note and house the same enemies and traps that don't offer a true challenge. If this is your very first dungeon crawler and you're under the age of twelve, you might find enough fun to get you to the end, but for everyone else, this one will likely lie unfinished on the shelf after the first five hours.”

“Super Mario Party Jamboree Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Jamboree TV introduces a collection of fun new rule sets, but is brought down a bit due to the camera and microphone games that, for a title released in 2025, should work better than they do. That said, slapping your live reactions into your Mario Party games adds an undeniable layer of goofy entertainment that the series is known for.”

“Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream is a fun, narrative-led stealth game that doesn't demand too much of you. Stealth game veterans are unlikely to find a challenge in these common mechanics, but the beautiful details built into the world of Rosmark make up for it. The character-driven story is supported by great vocal performances and cutscenes that would fit in alongside any modern triple-A.”

“In its 10-15 hour runtime, Deliver At All Costs delivers (haha) a short and sweet package of iconic video game driving nonsense. The driving mechanics handle well enough to feel satisfying to play, while also being unwieldy enough to turn you into the worst road menace of the 1950s. Focused on feeding you laughs every chapter through its gameplay and juxtaposed seriously dramatic storyline, reckless endangerment has never been so much fun.”

“With a touching tale of yearning and personal growth on a backdrop of a near sci-fi future, Old Skies meets the standard of quality I've come to expect from Wadjet Eye Games. It explores the moral quandaries of time travel in a way I have not seen before, asking not what effect it might have on the future, but what effect it might have on the travellers. Its story is told well, all the while offering mostly quality puzzles that have plenty of potential for fleshing out in a future instalment.”

“Stories From Sol: the Gun-Dog would fit right into any collection of the best PC-98 titles, emulating the detailed art and bit-crushed music flawlessly while also integrating modern game design to marry the best of both worlds. It creates an exciting and dramatic sci-fi universe just like your favourite mecha anime from the 80s, while avoiding the bad tropes that are best left in the past. It's an excellent debut into the world of Sol, and I can't wait for whatever next instalment may come.”

“The Roottrees Are Dead is a triumph of investigative fiction, offering a compelling yet grounded family mystery within countless articles, websites, and archives waiting for you to uncover. The game has been much improved over its original iteration on itch.io, and the extra content "Roottreemania" adds a cool follow-up mystery to the main one. Any fan of investigation games will have a great time with The Roottrees are Dead.”

“Loco Motive is a comfy ride the whole way through. It's good lookin', it's got a pleasant soundtrack, and the writing and voice acting are good for several chuckles. The way the stories of the three protagonists intermingle is a great concept that's executed well enough, even if I wish it was a little more fleshed out. Still, fans of point-and-click adventure games have no reason not to add Loco Motive to their library.”

“The Rise of the Golden Idol is a brain-breaking collection of mysteries all wrapped up in one absurd narrative and is a must-have for lovers of investigation games. While it doesn't quite replace the original game in my heart, the puzzles are bigger and better, the plot progression is more fluid, and it's all-around beefier. Golden Idol's unique take on investigation and logical progression is as engrossing as it is difficult, and keeping up with its complex mysteries makes you feel like a master detective when you finally hit that "aha!" moment. I'm waiting with bated breath for those DLCs!”

“Extra Coin is a heartfelt little tale set over a gorgeously colourful video gamey backdrop, and offers an addicting duelling game system that you can play continuously without getting bored. The art direction is beautifully detailed and the potential of the virtual reality of the Arcade is immense, but it seems to have held back on exploring its concept past the surface level. Its small scope doesn't quite do justice to what the story and world could have been, but it's still an easy recommendation.”

“Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club improves on the old-school mystery visual novel mechanics that the 2021 remakes refined, eliminating some of the trial-and-error frustration while keeping things focused on interviews with witnesses. While the mystery of Emio isn't my favourite of the series, it's still a mostly well-crafted story with gorgeously animated characters.”

“Thalassa: Edge of the Abyss is one of those games that's best played blind. It's a grounded yet enthralling mystery that uses its light clue-combining mechanics to convey an emotional journey of closure and grief. Its puzzles get you thinking without ever being too hard, allowing the story to naturally play out in the lonely ruins of this sunken ship.”

“Princess Maker 2 remains an incredible and addicting game, but Regeneration is a disappointing remaster, offering barely any gameplay changes and an inconsistent art style. It misses obvious quality-of-life improvements that Princess Marker 2 sorely needed, leaving us at a loss as to why they bothered to remaster the game at all. Play Princess Maker 2 as it's a fantastic piece of gaming history, but there's no need to pay for this particular version.”

“It's great to see a game about a culture that often doesn't see a lot of focus. A Highland Song has a lot of great concepts, but they just don't all come together cohesively. Even so, it has a story worth telling and some pretty fantastic music to boot.”

“Slay the Princess is an entertainingly dark and subversive visual novel with hidden depths that makes for a great few hours. For developer Black Tabby Games' second title, it's a very encouraging success indeed, and proves that its horror-telling chops in Scarlet Hollow wasn't just a fluke. I will be keenly looking forward to its next title.”

“Coral Island takes cues from the best games in the business to create a mix of farming and lifestyle gameplay, and so it gets most things right. It's lacking in a bit of unique flavour and the first few seasons play a bit like a Stardew Valley clone, but it comes into its own soon enough. I wish the more interesting ocean gameplay hadn't been relegated to the 2024 roadmap, but what's here is just as addicting as any great farming sim. It's only going to get better, and it's an easy recommendation for genre fans.”

“As a bachelor project, [I] Doesn't Exist certainly demonstrates the technical competency of its developers, but as a game in its own right, it doesn't particularly offer anything unique or worthwhile. Using parser controls to tell an unconventional narrative is an interesting concept, but the actual conversations to be had are vague, unhelpful, and don't tell a decipherable narrative. Check it out if you're jonesing for a hit of retro parser gameplay, but there's otherwise not much here that makes it stand out.”