DeVuego

It is always difficult to evaluate the merits of a game that is hampered by technical issues. On one hand, there is the experience lying beneath all those problems, and there is a lot of good there; recognizing this means acknowledging the developers' competence in creating a solid, creative foundation for the game. On the other hand, when viewing games as products—given that there is a price to pay to acquire them—receiving a title marred by technical flaws does not seem like a good deal.

While it doesn't reinvent the wheel, this title invests heavily in immersive aspects, to the point of surpassing the usual quality of the Stardew Valley experience.

Denshattack! is a highly interesting experience. Although somewhat derivative in its premise and overly obvious in its influences, the game manages to deliver something truly its own in terms of mechanics, at times even rivaling the quality of the works that inspired it.

Acknowledging the title's limitations, I believe the experience is satisfying for those seeking short play sessions, especially in handheld mode. I must admit, however, that the scale of the pixel art gave me a bit of a headache, as I had to strain my eyes to distinguish between enemy and friendly ships, shots, power-ups, and even the arrows identifying the different types of sockets.

Wax Heads offers a short experience, which can be completed in around 5 hours of gameplay, but it ends up feeling a bit longer than that. A slow narrative that never really gets going, combined with gameplay that revolves around a great idea but is executed in such a simplistic way, is what makes it difficult to recommend this game to anyone.

Oppidum isn't a title I disliked. But it's true that I wasn't particularly enthusiastic about its premise. The simplistic narrative didn't motivate me to continue exploring the world, and the extremely linear progression coupled with the world's hostility quickly demotivated me.

You know that cozy game you can play on the weekend and finish in one fell swoop? While this description perfectly fits many 3D platformers, I'd classify ILA: A Frosty Glide as having a cozier, more relaxing feel than usual.

Candy Rangers is a competent time killer, with a very attractive art style, riding the low-poly trend that seems to have become a favorite among indie developers instead of pixel art. It's a game that, I believe, only makes sense in handheld mode, given the short length of the levels and the amount of information available at once. At the same time, I miss motion controls or the inclusion of mouse controls for Switch 2 and Switch users.

NINJA GAIDEN: Ragebound is a fantastic 2D title that honors the franchise's legacy. The game could easily be considered the fourth installment in the classic saga, blending the fast-paced, challenging gameplay of the originals with the frenetic, master-friendly action of the 3D titles. Combining the best of both worlds, the title is excellent and highly recommended for those seeking a high-quality ninja experience.

Everdeep Aurora takes a bit of everything, which makes it a good metroidvania, but reduces it significantly to fit the scope of the game. In other words, it doesn't have a huge variety of settings, music, level design, skills, stories, etc., but it still manages to make what little it does have interesting — the game chose its battles, and won most of them overwhelmingly. In the end, what makes Everdeep Aurora special is how the game uses its “free” level design to its advantage, considering that this approach could easily backfire.

If you want to get away from the Final Fantasy and Pokémon standard, Everhood 2 is a good experience, very out of the box, with interesting mechanics and very smooth to play. I would definitely give it a chance.

The Stone of Madness is an ambitious game that gets many things right, but falls short in others. Its rich setting and strategic mechanics provide an engaging experience for fans of stealth and resource management, and the ability to take different approaches to solving missions adds significant replay value.

Despite its excellent aesthetics and sense of humor, and its competent level design full of surprises and challenges, which are generally well-designed, Moons of Darsalon's technical limitations limit it. Perhaps, with enough patches, we'll be able to experience the game as it was intended, but for now, bugs get in the way and hinder progress at various points.

Sword of the Necromancer: Resurrection had the challenge of adapting an originally 2D adventure to an 3D one, and have done it amazingly well. With it's retro aesthetics and so many inspirations, it flashes charismatically, which is no different for it's monsters, being, in fact, a great thing. It's anime-based art direction was the right choice considering what the original game wanted to tell to the player.

DESOLATIUM is not a very competent package. Even with the ambition of four protagonists, they all lack charisma, and I can barely say that they have any personality, with a not very good-looking experience in general, terrible sound mixing and all the discomfort in its gameplay, even with small moments where the story seems to be going somewhere, the reward is not big enough to deal with the frustration of actually playing the game.

Blasphemous 2 enhances all the qualities of its predecessor with more exploration, new weapons and a deeper, more technical and choreographed combat. Although the balance is positive, the Penitent's journey, even with its unmistakable dark atmosphere, seemed more familiar to me than I would have liked, inheriting much from what we had already seen in 2019, when the original game was released.

I do think that Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara is worth it for a casual player, since it won't suit any pro player who wants a super challenge, but if you just want to relax, or even if it's for kids, it will be very comfortable and welcoming.

One of the best things about this version is that it allows us to play anywhere, thanks to the portability of the Nintendo Switch. As I mentioned briefly above, Aeterna Noctis runs very well in portable mode. I believe that the issues presented here will be fixed later on.

Metroid Dread honors the legacy of the franchise, but it doesn't deliver everything the series is capable of offering. Despite being an excellent Nintendo Switch game, with an incredible combat system and memorable battles against relentless bosses, the stealth sessions with the EMMI become repetitive over time and the uninspired setting of the planet ZDR make Samus Aran's new adventure leave a taste of wasted potential at times.

Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX é uma excelente recriação do jogo em que se baseou, com mudanças que o tornam belo e acessível para um público muito maior, e é sem dúvidas a aventura definitiva de nosso rapaz orelhudo favorito. Contudo, ainda assim poderia ter abandonado um pouco mais de sua fidelidade com o título original tido mais um trabalho para se tornar ainda mais rejogável e novo para os jogadores de longa data. De qualquer forma foi um excelente trabalho da desenvolvedora, e ficamos na torcida de que possamos ver Alex numa nova aventura de volta aos holofotes como no passado.

Por eu gostar muito desses universos pós-apocalípticos, fiquei um pouco mais interessado do que a maioria deve ficar. O tom narrativo e o peso dos eventos pode ser um tanto desconfortável para alguns. A arte é bem minimalista, o que mitiga um pouco esse problema, mas os diálogos te mantém… desesperado. Ou melhor, passam a sensação de urgência, de medo, de falta de esperança, mas com um sonho que vale a pena.

Em suma, Super Magbot é uma experiência simples, que sabe das suas limitações, e com isso, não tenta reinventar a roda, ou nesse caso, revolucionar a indústria indie. Suas mecânicas de magnetismo são supreedentemente divertidas e bem polidas, assim como seu level design, que poderia aderir um pouco mais das ideias presentes nas boss-fights do jogo.

Godstrike é um jogo com boas ideias, porém talvez não para seu gênero, a mecânica de tempo apresentada não traz nada além de frustração, já que independente de você não ter sido acertado ou não quando o cronômetro for zerado você morrerá com qualquer dano. Talvez em outros gêneros ela se encaixe melhor, mas definitivamente não neste. Seus visuais apresentam um estilo com cores únicas, sem texturas sobre os objetos, o que ajuda a destacar os padrões de tiros dos inimigos, sua trilha sonora não é exatamente marcante ou especial, porém é funcional, assim como seus controles.

Everhood, por fim, é um jogo que entrega um ótimo resultado em forma de um jogo divertido, com roteiro bacana que te prende e te desafia. O tom cômico, mas ao mesmo tempo obscuro, junto do estilo visual e sonoro ambientam muito bem na atmosfera do jogo. Definitivamente acho que vale a pena ser jogado.