It's a pretty good, but not amazing, Soulslike that gets additional points for its unique-for-the-genre art style and plentiful accessibility options.

The early game is Another Crab's Treasure's weakest point, with The Shallows being particularly featureless and empty. It really isn't until you exit the world's hub city New Carcinia that things get interesting and "set apart" from other Soulslikes. "It gets good after X hours" is often a turnoff for people, but there is absolutely a good game here once you get past that point.

Using found objects around the world as shells for your defense is certainly a novel idea, and is an interesting twist on a Breath Of The Wild-like durability system. But where you get a huge variety of defensive options and the special attacks to go with them, there is no weapon variety, leaving you with an upgradable single weapon for the whole game. I found this nice as I could get better at using it as the game went on, but some people might find that boring.

The combat is fine. Nothing amazing, nothing egregious. Once you start getting your Umami special attacks, it gets more interesting. The story boss designs are pretty strong, though some mid-bosses and optional bosses are effectively just reskins of each other.

However, it falls into the trap of other Soulslikes in that you cannot ever accurately get a gauge of "where you need to be" when you go up against a boss. There's a good farming spot to help you out if you do get stuck though.

The game is full of personality - what is now becoming "signature Aggro Crab". The dialogue has that slightly sarcastic "ting" that is also present in their previous game Going Under. And there are some deep cuts to Going Under for those who have played it.

I think Another Crab's Treasure is definitely worth a playthough so long as you set expectations accordingly. This isn't going to be a Bloodborne or a Lies of P or anything. But it's definitely a fun and interesting change of pace for those who enjoy the general Soulslike genre.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Torna The Golden Country is in some ways superior, some ways inferior, to the Xenoblade Chronicles 2 base game.

Let's start with the ways that it's better.

First and foremost, tripping the game of its stupid gachas and replacing field skills with natural progression. There were very few times during TTGC's sidequests where I felt cheated or walled from progression due to a lacking field skill. Contrast this to the base game, where you can, mathematically, be walled from the main story because the gacha won't give you a blade with the skills you need.

This goes in conjunction with what I think is the single biggest improvement - giving each human character multiple blades that are theirs and theirs alone during the story's natural progression. Not only did this help from a gameplay perspective, but it was also justified from a story perspective as well, though one blade in particular was somewhat underused narratively.

The Xenoblade 2 base game had one of my favorite casts of characters in any video game I've played, and TTGC just adds to the roster. Lora and Jin are phenomenal both apart and together, as are Mythra and Addam. Hugo, well, he's cool, but it's obvious he and his blades are just along for the ride.

The combat for me compared to the base game was a bit of a wash, there were certain aspects I preferred in the base game, and others TTGC. But like the base game, when the combat clicks, it absolutely clicks and feels amazing.

TTGC, like the base game, absolutely chugs. It is remarkable that Nintendo and Monolith were able to pump this out on the Switch but there are times when, graphically, the game looks and feels like garbage.

However, what absolutely kills this game, like the base game's gacha, are the points in the story where you are forced to raise the Community (sidequest progression) level to proceed. That is one of the silliest game direction decisions I have ever experienced, and exists solely to pad the runtime of what would be a very short experience. I will say that the sidequests do help to minimize grinding through the main story... but I still find it unacceptable.

Torna The Golden Country is a worthwhile expansion to Xenoblade 2, but it shares some of its problems. It's worth the download, but unless you're a collector (like me), don't waste your money on the standalone physical edition.

Super Mario Bros Wonder is easily Nintendo's most creative wide-release game in over a decade.

Which is weird to say because, at its core, it's "another 2D Super Mario platformer". Move from left to right toward a flagpole goal, avoiding hazards and getting three collectibles along the way.

But where SMB Wonder really sticks out amongst its modern Mario platformer brethren is in its heart and style. It really feels like a modern interpretation of the pudgy Super Mario art style of the 80s and 90s and even what you see on the game's box art really does not do the art direction justice.

The level structure and progression are both great, and it was such a good idea to mix up linear and non-linear world maps. That kind of player agency is so appreciated.

But the game's party pieces are the Wonder effects, which were dose after dose of "surprise and delight". Anything that you can think would be considered for a Mario game and eventually cut for content is here in small, digestible chunks. And it's all so creative and interesting.

The minor flaws come from certain Wonder effects and their levels being more frustrating than entertaining. For me, that was both levels which involved sets of blocks that appear and disappear based on a rhythm with an increasing tempo. Very few - but some - levels feel like they were just not tested well enough before being put into the game.

Super Mario Bros Wonder truly makes the 2D Mario platformer feel fresh again. In a world where heavyweight indies like Celeste and Hollow Knight exist, Super Mario Bros Wonder proves that Nintendo's creative brain trust still has that zest in them to make something that you want to go back and play over and over again... just for fun.