9 Years of Shadows strongest point is the instantly alluring style. Beautiful pixel art and during gameplay and cutscenes bring a unique world to life. Playing it is also really great with fluid motion and movement chains that combine your power seamlessly, it is a bit on the linear side though.

Metroidvanias have this sweet spot when you feel just lost enough to give you the sense of discovery and exploration, but not too lost that it is frustrating. I think this game doesn't quite reach the level of feeling lost that I would say is satisfying to explore, you'll mostly find roadblocks in a sector that you'll overcome with the power found in that sector, and move on to the next area.

Considering that, the game is still extremely compelling and the ideas here are just fresh enough to give you a great journey with a few surprises and amazing visuals.

Note: At release on PC the game crashed constantly, it is now at a mostly stable state. The dev team is still working on it and your experience may vary, but I could play and 100% it with mostly no problems at the moment.

My first Katamari game was Beautiful Katamari on the Xbox 360, and I had never played the originals until the remasters, and while the idea between them basically stays the same, I can't help but feel like the jump in hardware let them realize the vision of what the game was meant to be.

The idea behind Katamari is fun regardless, and the interactions between the King and the fans are hilarious, so the game is still loads of fun. There is just this feeling that even though the remasters were touched up, the realization of rolling up from the small room up to the galaxy seamlessly in later iterations does make the old ones stick out as old, even after being remastered.

I'm more of an old school Zelda fan, Breath of the Wild didn't win me over much, and I'm not sure I prefer this over classic, but Tears of the Kingdom has been an incredible experience, even if shrines and durability are still really not my thing.

I think with just a few tweaks, Tears managed to open so many possibilities on its sandbox that shrines don't carry the burden of being one of the few interesting things to pursue in the world. Caves and the sky islands provide other diversions with their own unique rewards, it feels like I have more to experiment and distract myself.

When it comes to items, fusing increases your stockpile of good weapons and make durability less of an issue. The same is true to arrows which are now more plentiful and can be charged with multiple functions through fusing simple items. Building with ultrahand provides a lot of interesting uses for puzzles, and allow for an even higher degree of player experimentation.

Without being too spoilery, I enjoy the main setpieces in this game better than the Divine Beasts, I still think they are far from rivaling good classic dungeons, but multiple factors certain elevate them in my perspective. As for the shrines they are really my main disappointment in this game, it feels like they never leave the "tutorial" territory. Exploration is by far the most interesting aspect in this new era of Zelda, these puzzles in shrines feel like a relic of a past that doesn't have a place here, not at this quantity and quality at least.

Tears of the Kingdom feels like an upgrade to Breath of the Wild ideas in most every front, from progression to gameplay systems. It is the new style of game Zelda is now, with a more robust understanding of what makes it interesting. It is an outstanding technical achievement not only for making this run on Switch, but for having so many complex systems interact with each other. I think for all these elements coming together, it certainly deserves to be called a masterpiece.

These are first impressions from a game meant to last for a while, after finishing all the story content available at the moment and feeling how progression flows, my perception will surely change a lot as new updates arrive, but this is how I feel at this moment.

First and foremost, this is a gacha RPG, if you don't like the main idea of pulling characters and getting a lot of bars to put a lot of resources in to progress, this won't change your mind.

Having said that, this is an incredibly polished experience, with a nice and intriguing story so far. The battle system might not be superficially deep, with characters having just two skills and an ultimate, but I think theory crafting with team compositions is a lot of fun. At the same time considering you have to pull to get new options to build teams, it can be somewhat boring after you figured your team out and won't have any new possibilities for a while.

The greatest detail for me when it comes to Star Rail is just how little time it requires to complete the "daily grind". You can have your long sessions going through the missions or checking out Simulated Universe, but when you are just burning your stamina it is done really quickly and with very few limitations.

So far I'm very invested in the story, and curious about the future, the time commitment is somewhat low so I don't feel like it is wasting my time, and I'm having a lot of fun building my characters.

The best description I can give to Trials of Mana is: it's alright. It plays alright, it looks alright, nothing really stands out, for better or for worse.

I think most importantly, this is still an SNES game, just with a new 3D shell. I think playing it with this in mind you can enjoy it more, but even still, I think the systems here are not as great as other older RPGs.

There is also some confusing things like when you save a mana spirit and the game says you unlock their power, but in reality you'll only have mana powers way later when you can change classes for the first time.

Progression for classes, items and skills also don't feel exciting. I can't say for sure because I haven't played the original, but it feels like sticking too much to the source material might have prevented this remake from reaching its full potential.

I feel like this game started a new era for Kirby games, but I never had the chance to play it on the Wii, and while I think it doesn't reach the same highs as the 3DS games, it is still a really polished and fun adventure.

Merry Magoland is actually the biggest surprise for me, completing the little challenges for each mini-game is surprisingly addictive. The epilogue with Magolor is also a lot of fun, it almost feels like a character action game with the scores and combo meter, the final boss is incredibly hype too.

I wish the main mode had something more, it is hard to not look at the advancements in the series and especially Forgotten Land and not feel like there is something missing to spice the stages a bit, like the small secret missions. It feels like collecting Gears and the use of the mega powers are a bit simplistic, but it is still a really solid Kirby game.

This is not only a Xenoblade Chronicles 3 DLC but also for the first game and sequel. The story adds perspectives and details that involve all three games and their casts, and feels like a great finisher for the trilogy.

From a gameplay perspective it does feel like a mini XC3, there are less options to build your characters as each has their own specific style, but there are new elements to progression that keep it very interesting.

The best part is going back to the main game, and see how all of it was right there.

Despite what may look like as simple screenshots, Drop is a deeply engaging and fast action hacking game that really makes you feel the tension of getting in and out of the system.

The mechanics are introduced in a very good pace that let's you get used to the systems and start mastering your movement through the networks and at the same time increasing the intensity and adding tools to make your job more efficient. And despite adding a lot to keep track of, the sound design is so good that just by hearing things you'll start to notice dangers that need your attention, or if process has already ended. The UI is also incredibly intuitive, when everything clicks, it really does make you feel like you are a master at your job.

The real genius comes from each mission time limit, you'll always have 5 minutes to complete a drop, and this not only increases the tension but also makes you consider how much further you can push to get more credits, it also adds a certain addictiveness of "just one more drop".

There is also a story, but as it is told through text messages from a bunch of different NPCs and organizations, you do have to be paying some attention to remember what each organization does and who is working for what, it did get a bit confusing at some points for me, but the overall plot is simple enough.

In the end the beauty here is the simplicity, everything seems incredibly thought out so you can glance and know what situation you are in and have the reflexes to solve it. Drop is fast, thrilling and super satisfying to play.

Team Asano has been carrying the torch of turn based RPGs at Square Enix for some time, and with Octopath Traveler II they continue their excellence with a unique combat system that evolves what the original done and spins it in even more curious directions.

Each character has, beyond their classes, unique traits and skills that not only you can exploit in battle but are actually woven in their storylines and sometimes to great effect in their boss battles. There are some truly magical moments where gameplay and storytelling merge to deliver some unforgettable setpieces.

I still struggle with juggling all characters and classes, I wish there was an easier way to keep the party caught up on levels. The equipment already helps with stats, but you still need job points for skills and in general the "secondary" members you chose always seem to be lagging behind in some way.

Octopath Traveler II is a sequel that improves the original in every way, and while superficially it might seem similar, it manages to be unique and bring surprising ideas to change your strategies and deliver a great story.

I love how not only Theatrhythm uses the excellent soundtrack from the Final Fantasy series, it also incorporates a bunch of the RPG stuff, making it a full celebration of the series with excellent rhythm gameplay.

I was apprehensive about the jump from touch to button controls, but even if it takes a few songs of practice it didn't end up being a problem for me, I love it just as much as Curtain Call.

Series Quest has some interesting challenges that make building a party and interacting with the RPG elements a lot of fun, and Endless World provides some extra challenge for the truly dedicated.

There are a few minor gripes, as the game builds mostly on All-Star Carnival it feels like there is a certain lack of new characters (please give me Jack from Stranger of Paradise and the Crystal Exarch from XIV), and as a huge FFXIV fan the Shadowbringers tracklist could certainly be better. But these are mostly "I want more" complaints, and I hope there is some they could remedy with DLC and updates.