João Pedro Boaventura

“Although Pathologic 3 is much more accessible than its predecessor, it's still far from being a welcoming or even minimally simple experience, as it relies on hostility and discomfort as its main attributes—and its less-than-ideal optimization unintentionally contributes to this. Obviously, it's a design that will certainly alienate a large part of its audience, but it's also what makes it a unique experience capable of appealing to its niche through its peculiarity.”

“It's pointless to make a game that explores a particular theme without actually trying to understand what makes it so special and, consequently, embedding that into the core of its development. The Executive - Movie Industry Tycoon is a product that embodies this problem. It's a title that clings to a sterile logic of numbers, algorithms, and volume, like a bland production aimed directly at streaming.”

“After a year and a half of early access, Kill It With Fire 2 finally reached the state of a definitive release, it's a sequel that managed to understand all the flaws presented by its predecessor and twist them to deliver a much more robust, interesting, and fluid product in its own right. If the first Kill It With Fire felt like a demo, its sequel is a complete experience. And it's great to see such a clear evolution for a project like this.”

“Rue Valley ends up being a very interesting adventure due to its premise, and it does a good job of subverting and combining its various sources of reference. While the general outlines of the multiple plots are engaging and the possibilities offered by the protagonist's attribute structure contribute to the narrative's diversity, the title sometimes takes on a tiring and unstimulating tone. Even so, although derivative, it's a quite solid product and seems tailor-made for those who constantly think about their own mistakes and imagine having a new opportunity to correct them. It's like a small experiment on the perception of time and regret, whose inconsistent rhythm is responsible for both prolonging and shortening the overall perception of the journey.”

“Thrasher is undoubtedly a more classic arcade experience than it actually seems. The eel's control is impeccable (despite some bugs and other contextual influences, such as the backgrounds) but both the level and power-up design doesn't capitalize on this great triumph. It seems the title is so desperate to immerse the player in its sensorial pool of lights, colors, and sounds that it seems to have forgotten that one way to do this is through practical challenges designed in a more logical and less conceptual way.”

“This new release of Kizuna Encounter: Super Tag Battle is a welcome addition to SNK's remaster catalog, especially given the unconventional nature of the choice, as it's not one of the company's flagship titles. While it follows the example of its predecessors in being sparse on additional content, the core gameplay remains as fun as it is brutal, and that's what matters at the end of the day.”

“The supposedly open ending of Assassin's Creed Shadows' main campaign actually made some sense, as it was a way for Ubisoft to make it clear that the game has a long life ahead of it, both narratively and regarding the ongoing support updates. In Claws of Awaji, however, this vagueness felt a bit mocking. Even so, while the island of Awaji itself doesn't offer inviting elements, the DLC isn't entirely bad, as the inclusion of the staff, the straightforward mission progression, and the boss fights manage to add value to the overall experience.”

“Baki Hanma: Blood Arena lives up to what Baki really is. Inherently campy, a true fan will understand how the game manages to capture the essence of the IP as a huge parody. Cloning Punch-Out!! is a cool proposal, however, it relies too heavily on the player's good faith in valuing the concept over the borderline-acceptable execution. It definitely doesn't serve to introduce the series to a new audience, but at least they captured the spirit of Itagaki’s work.”

“The Great Villainess: Strategy of Lily may not have the historical weight or complexity of the genre's classics, but it has something few games manage to display so naturally: presence. Like its charismatic protagonist, the title doesn't hold back, arriving in high heels and with a sparkle in its eyes, standing out for its addictive gameplay and colorful presentation. It's a debut that, if it won't send the nobility to the guillotine, at least ensures no one gets distracted while it does a catwalk across the battlefield in a delightfully subversive manner.”

“Although Taiwan has established itself as a relevant creative hub in the Asian gaming industry, Yasha: Legends of the Demon Blade seems to be failing to keep up with this evolution. With its repetitive structures, lack of gameplay diversity and abscence of difficulty, the game seems to be a product that corroborates the mistaken view that the most prejudiced players have of this market rather than actually doing justice to its current state of development. It's a superficial attempt to jump on the Hades bandwagon, as if the audience were not capable of discerning the quality of this derivative production in relation to that of the source material.”

“Overall, The Darkest Files does a very interesting job of blending education and gameplay into a single product. After books, films, and even games that use World War II as a backdrop, it's refreshing to see a unique approach that treats the subject with the delicacy it deserves, which at times, even in the 21st century, tends to be almost trivialized. The thing is, although the game manages to implement its distinctive approach effectively, it doesn’t evolve it throughout the very short campaign, resulting in a positive experience for what little it offers, but with an overall inconclusive impression.”

“It takes a certain amount of creativity to make your management simulator stand out from the crowd in a genre that has been so badly misfired over the years. Blood Bar Tycoon even gets there in this conceptual aspect, but it proves that a cool idea alone is not enough. What was missing was a more solid execution of the proposal, which has difficulty developing amidst so many technical problems and creative decisions. It has potential and room for improvement, something that the developers are committed to putting into practice for now, but it's a little hard to consider it positively in its current state, since all of its good ideas ended up being poorly executed. How much we miss early access before the final release, huh?”

“More than the meme-game it seems to be, MiSide convinces you with its waifus, but enchants you with the masterful execution of a surreally well-optimized product signed by a team that clearly knows what it is doing without aiming and getting lost in pretentious delusions, but still managing to achieve them with a lot of work, competence and passion.”

“[...]The Cabin Factory ends up being a somewhat bureaucratic game. Almost everything in it has a decent execution, coming from people who know what they're doing, which is enough to attract the attention of a potential player. However, it doesn't captivate its public emotionally nor does it offer immersion, as players will see themselves in a position of more rationalization about the possibilities than really delivering a distress feeling.”

“With My Lovely Empress, GameChanger Studio even tries to subvert the formula of My Lovely Wife and My Lovely Daughter by bringing greater complexity to the product, but even the technical advances are not enough to remedy the lack of consistency in the execution of the proposals of the title delivered, which does have an interesting story, but the stress of depending too much on a tiring gameplay cycle and other random factors will only be valid for very specific niches of strategy game fans. The predecessors may be simpler and easier, but even as repetitive as this one, they certainly offer much more entertainment.”

“Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic has everything it takes to spark its own revolution in the city-building and management simulation genre. With the humility of a proletarian who has spent years perfecting their craft, the title achieves the feat of elevating the style to a new level of management complexity, capable of intimidating even the most seasoned players, which unfortunately makes it considerably inaccessible to a broader audience. After all, building a Soviet paradise has never been easy, but it is possible.”

“Vampire Therapist is very well-intentioned and the writing is engaging. You can see that the solo developer who makes up Little Bat Games had his idea (which works very well, it should be noted) and invested in it with care. This is quite evident in the positive finish of the character art, in the protagonist's diary, in the theoretical background presented by the story and even in the voice acting of the characters. Unfortunately, this is a product that fails to deliver solid performance, which was hampered by a bad business decision — not opting for early access. Still, it's worth keeping an eye on the progress of the updates until the visual novel reaches its maturity.”

“Just like the cartoon gargoyles were forgotten after being cursed to a thousand years of sleep, so should the game based on its IP.”

“In the end, Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons is a tough product to analyze. It's practically the same thing as taking a crosswords or sudoku magazine and discuss how the volume 95 is easier or harder to complete than volume 96. The ideal way to analyze a title like this — which is competent in what it offers — would be to write a purely informative review without giving it a score.”

“The Fabulous Fear Machine is a rather unique title. The idea of a machine capable of offering control over the world through propaganda, fear and conspiracy was very well executed and proves to be a solid example of speculative horror literature, although the plots of the main campaigns left a little to be desired. Additionally, the game system in its raw form is quite functional and manages to fulfill its purpose of using elements from a strategy game to tell its story. However, it remains very limited as a representative of the genre it tries to fit in. If the game had invested more in improving its systems, the superficiality and even the stereotyping of the stories could have gone unnoticed. Likewise, more elaborate and engaging stories could alleviate the linearity of the gameplay.”