Jishogi is great game, and one I would consider quite underappreciated compared to its quality. Thankfully it's gotten a bit of a spotlight since I put it in the backlog last year, but since as of writing this it has no reviews on the site I figure it deserves at least some level of write-up.

Jishogi tackles some very dark subjects and features 2 wonderfully fleshed out characters, the player character Mayu and the witch Fifield. Their interplay as well as the consequences of the choices you can make were definitely a highlight of the game as a whole to me. Whether it's diving into memories or deciding whats best for both characters, the story had me hooked pretty much from the start. There's quite a bit of freedom as to how things can play out, from places I'm surprised the dev was willing to go to much more positive resolutions. Worth experiencing and not spoiling here for sure.

The one larger criticism for this game, one it seems the dev is aware of, is that the puzzles can actually be a bit reductive to its goal sometimes. There are multiple between every story beat, meaning getting stuck on even one can very well kill the pacing of the game. Either placing a memory between every puzzle or reducing the number of them would have helped. Though the puzzles themselves are still clever and enjoyable for the most part, even reflecting the personalities of the 2 characters well.

All said a great work for a solo dev, and I hope they continue in the future with more projects on this level!

Quite a fun PvE card game with a decent eldritch themed VN alongside it, lots more content to dig into here than I expected going in.

A very sharp difficulty curve associated with the card game itself, which some may not enjoy as the game is largely focused on building to "counter" other decks rather than building a pile of good cards or your favorite deck type. Still, this formula works to the game's strength for most of it, always engaging and making you change up your play style.

The only real issue I find with the mechanics of Kamifuda is that later fights effectively all become both sides attempting to kill the other on the first turn due to an overabundance of 0 mana cost spells which either net advantage or refund energy, and as the AI has stronger cards than the player this basically requires you to make even more cheesey strategies like killing before first combat to compete. Thankfully this is only the last few duels, otherwise the mechanics of the game really do lend to both a challenging and fun experience.

Would highly recommend to anyone that enjoys card games, or maybe even just wants to read a pretty good story about a bunch of eldritch mages.

Absolutely stellar game, Neowiz knocked the ball out of the park immediately upon stepping into this genre with a near perfect package.

It is, in fact, Like Dark Souls. However Lies of P not only meets , but surpass' Fromsoft's own efforts in many ways. While never quite reaching the highest highs of something like Elden Ring or Dark Souls 1, LoP instead maintains its high quality throughout the entire surprisingly long experience with maybe only 1 bad boss in its long lineup.

The weapon handle/blade system is amazing, the boss weapons are all extremely fun, and the build variety leaves me wanting to sink multiple playthroughs despite the game being mostly linear. The mix of deflection and parry system with the extremely quality boss roster makes this by far the soulslike where it feels the best to truly master a boss, rivaled mainly by Sekiro in that department.

While the story itself is not mindblowing, what is there is perfectly fine and made downright impressive by how it and the art direction/world still feel natural despite trying to adapt Pinocchio of all stories. Things really should have fallen apart on that end and its a testament to the art design team that they didn't.

Very fun and satisfying gameplay held back by a baffling combo system whose timer is so short it punishes you for playing "too cool" and getting multikills with the same specials that combos feed, because a cleared screen means a reset combo if the next enemy takes too long to show up. Plus weapon specials take time to charge, which is time not killing, which kills your combos.

This along with multiple unlocks being tied in this system makes replaying again and again to go faster become less satisfying instead of more.

I feel like you could lock Shouzou Kaga in a room with sticks and rocks and he'd have started making a new SRPG within a few days.

Despite some limitations of the SRPGmaker engine, Vestaria manages to perfectly capture the spirit of past FE games Kaga has directed. A charming cast, a focus on narrative events happening on the maps themselves, and of course busted prf weapons everywhere as has become common in his games.

When Vestaria shines, it shines extremely bright with both challenging and interesting maps. But along with the unrestrained creativity that makes these moments so good, there are multiple maps where the event/secret hunting devolves into tedium instead. Especially some of the later chapters, whose length and size manages to dwarf Fire Emblem 4 maps that spanned entire countries, taking multiple hours to complete even before things like resets. The last chapter specifically is a monster of a challenge, whose roughly 6 hour clear time must make it the longest in the series.

This all comes together to make Vestaria a mix of both the best and the worst the Kaga Saga games have to offer, but overall it comes out to an unforgettable experience that continues the FE legacy even 25 years since Kaga has touched the series officially.

Troubleshooter is not a perfect game. There are problems I could list with the story as it stands, or small issues in gameplay that largely live in the later game of the DLCs.
But those nitpicks pale in comparison to the passion and ambition dripping from every inch of it. A small studio decides to spend the better part of a decade on a project, one which in essence is a prologue for a somehow even larger planned story despite being well over 100 hours long, and it works.
Getting to the credits and seeing that the game had TWO programmers was an extreme shock. Seeing that the devs have a 400 page thread on Steam to take ideas and feedback they've been maintaining for 6 years was too. The fact that such a small team created such a deep and intricate TRPG is downright inspirational.
Every character is unique and fun to use. Every character has a ridiculous amount of customization. Many maps provide a challenge even on the normal difficulty. It's a massive pile of ideas and systems built up over years that should collapse under its own weight, but never does.