DeVuego

Review key provided by the developer.

All in all, Across the Obelisk is a lot of fun, but only after understanding its core mechanics and making peace with the fact that you’ll need a LOT of runs to be able to build and upgrade a decent deck. If you’re ok with that, I can’t recommend Across the Obelisk enough.

Aeon Drive delivers a very focused experience for anyone who loves classic platformer action and wants to test their skills against other players on constantly updated leaderboards. There are a lot of cities to get through and plenty of paths to master using the teledagger. But the game would be much more engaging if it dropped the 30-second limit. It could have attracted hardcore players with achievements and collectibles while making itself more accessible for those with reduced reflexes.

AK-xolotl is a solid action rogue-lite mix that might struggle to stand out. Sure, its protagonist is an axolotl, and you get to save young members of the species but there should have been more weirdness to the world. The combat mechanics are good, with a focus on movement, but I wanted more weapon variety.

The experience works best as a way to cleanse the gaming palate. Get into a run, try a new approach, and see how well you’ve learned boss patterns. The developers of AK-xolotl understand the genre well and I really want to see what they try to create next.

Anyaroth: The Queen's Tyranny is part of a big wave of action-oriented experiences that seek to evoke the titles that define childhood or early adolescence for many now-mature gamers. It succeeds in doing that while introducing a few modern ideas and refining the core gameplay. The story is nothing special but there are some fun character moments.

Aragami: Shadow Edition is a welcome addition to any Switch owner's library thanks to the great gameplay opportunities it offers, as well as the DLC included in the package. You get to move around the environment undetected, or go all out and kill your enemies in so many ways it is almost impossible to keep count. However, if you want to experience the game in all of its visual majesty, you should greatly consider buying it on any of the other available platforms because, at least from a visual point of view, the Switch version seems like a shadow of its former self (pun intended).  

Aragami 2 tries to add a layer of co-op action on top of its core stealth gameplay. Funny enough the stealth and combat mechanics are anything but co-op friendly.  It feels like a half-baked release, with the developers having no clear direction how to continue the first game.

It has its moments in co-op, but even those are ruined by the glitches and bugs. After the first few hours it becomes a repetitive grind and there is no real motivation for anyone to finish it. Aragami 2 is a completely unworthy and unmemorable sequel.

Despite being a bit tedious, Blasphemous offers many satisfying moments like being able to find a shortcut or a shrine when you most need it. Some of the quests are really interesting and even if they're not mandatory to finish the game, I would strongly recommend trying to finish as many of them as possible.

The way the story is told (or rather discovered), the amazing artwork, and the fast-paced combat are aspects of the game that grabbed me throughout my playthrough. You'll indeed have to do a lot of backtracking if you want to complete as much as the game as possible, but the rewards are worth it.

Bleak Sword DX is dedicated to anyone who wants a Dark Souls-like experience in 2D, delivered in small chunks, with good mechanics, hard difficulty, and a grimdark setting and presentation. Fights are very quick, which means it’s easy to play a few in a session just to decompress, without the pressure to make progress or explore some complicated narrative thread.

Call of the Sea is a beautiful adventure, and the first thing that will draw you in is undeniably the gorgeous visuals. The gameplay may not be perfect and the story may be a one-time experience, but the game still is worth a playthrough. The atmosphere of the game is an engaging one, though it will make you feel as safe as a baby in a cradle.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 is a good game when it tries to deliver a hack and slash experience. Unfortunately, when it attempts to go for a stealth-oriented design, it fails miserably and provokes only frustration and confusion. The fleshed out combat system and the presentation make up for it to some degree, but it still ends up a lackluster game.

Curse of the Sea Rats has a familiar approach to gameplay, with platforming pushing exploration and combat that can be tricky but satisfying in victory. Players will die a lot but even boss fights are mostly fair as long as players are willing to observe and learn.

The narrative offers a decent if not impressive scaffolding for the action. Metroidvania has become a very popular genre. Curse of the Sea Rats understands that and executes on its ideas well but with limited innovation.

Do Not Feed the Monkeys 2099 is an excellent blend of ideas and watching the various cage narrative is thrilling. There’s enough of them and they are randomized at the start of a new run, to encourage replayability. The game makes mass surveillance immersive and engaging, which is icky on a conceptual level but makes playing the game very fun.

Endling - Extinction is Forever is a warning signal about humans that should pay more attention to their environment and avoid it being ruined by the pollution born out of greed. At the same time it is also a truly engaging and immersive game with well thought out mechanics. It manages to combine the social message with a fun experience.

Grotto is an interesting experience that might lose many of its players around halfway through the first play-through. The idea of telling a small number of characters what to do, from the small to the big questions, is an intriguing one. The universe that the developers create is intriguing. I like the way the game moves towards a deeper plot and begins to show the player something deeper than the first few interactions.

Hunt the Night has good core mechanics and an interesting universe to explore. But this is the kind of experience that will cause frustration and players need to be ready to deal with that. A big time and energy investment are needed to master combat scenarios, especially when bosses are involved.

Monster Prom 2: Monster Camp is a worthy successor to the impressive first title in the series. The setting might be less engaging but the characters and the interactions are on par if not better. The team has refined its writing and style in interesting ways. The game also makes it hard to wait and see what they can deliver with the rest of the titles in the series.

Moons Of Darsalon brings the escort and guidance mission concept back into fashion with a unique look, a solid set of player capabilities, and some devilishly designed levels. Gamers have all the tools to rescue and lead the lost miners but saving even the minimum number to get past a level feels like a small victory. I can’t imagine how efficient one has to be to get under the time limits.

Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is a love letter to the platform games of the 90s, and at the same time, it also feels fresh. I don’t know how they did it, but this game is a masterpiece of the genre, and it stays true to the Ninja Gaiden universe. The level design is spectacular, and they did an amazing job at maintaining a high level of detail throughout the entire experience.

Qvadriga is certainly a niche experience, targeting as it does those who love chariot races and turn-based experiences, but it is certainly a game worth playing for its well-developed mechanics and the way it forces gamers to balance risk and reward in order to win.

I have mixed feelings toward Randal's Monday, mainly due to the fact that it's not bad. It has a pretty interesting story to explore, but it's just bogged down in a ton of unneeded detail and contrived puzzle design.

Road To Devadatta is a relatively short and very story-focused game. Its narrative thread is pretty interesting at first but fails to maintain pace once fully supernatural elements are introduced. The levels are relatively small and the puzzles are pretty good, designed to challenge players without frustrating them. There are some interesting attempts to integrate aspects of Buddhism into the story.

It can hardly be called a game since it does not have a story or coherent gameplay elements, and the mysterious atmosphere crumbles without any anchor points. If at least it would have been so outlandish that it became interesting, but alas. As it stands Shines Over: The Damned is a 30-minute complete waste of your time.

Souldiers has interesting core mechanics and the sort of art style that will certainly attract fans of the Metroidvania genre or those looking to activate their nostalgia. But the story is mostly there as a reason for the action and combat can quickly become overwhelming in terms of difficulty. The game also has significant problems with the camera and there are plenty of reports of corrupted saves.

Sword of the Necromancer is a game that will scratch a very particular itch for fans of rogue-lite experiences that feature more narrative than the genre is known for. The gameplay mechanics deliver one cool idea, the monster resurrection, but fail to make full use of it, especially when players need to deal with bosses or the more capable enemies of later levels. I wanted the game to give me more reasons to use the monsters I revived, to understand them, to build strategies around the ones I chose to carry around.

The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood is a unique game. It starts with a Faustian bargain and constantly adds fun and surprising ideas. I liked all the many witches I encountered and their stories, as well as the larger ethical questions gamers have to engage with. Crafting cards is a surprisingly fun process with a lot of variety.

The pace of the game's final, more political section felt a little off. But the main narrative is very good, with complex choices and some tense divination moments. I liked how The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood created immersion, explored relationships, and forced me to make some tough decisions.

The Knight Witch is a good game with well-executed familiar mechanics. Combat, especially in the bigger and more open areas, is a joy, even when it’s against a tough boss with some dirty tricks up his mechanical sleeve.

The narrative is interesting enough, even if some of the fourth-wall-breaking might be hit or miss, and the game looks impressive. Play it in short sessions, with a clear goal in mind and a willingness to tweak approaches on failure (don’t forget about the cheat options). The Knight Witch offers a good mix of action and exploration, even for players who have little experience with the genre.

Investigating a 20-year-old murder wasn’t something I expected to do when playing this game, but I am impressed with the game’s intriguing premise and how it all unfolds. The fact that you get to be a detective during the 40s is a highlight too, along with some of the puzzles you encounter. It’s not meant to be a very long game, however I wish it was longer, because there are many points where the gameplay feels very satisfying and intriguing.

The Library of Babel has a solid setup and some nice narrative moments. It’s well presented and the central quest is good enough to keep players engaged. The title’s problem is that it struggles to make gameplay fun or varied.

Stealth is never very interesting while the platforming sections can become frustrating, despite the good placement of save points. This is the type of game that would really benefit from an option to simply skip a gameplay segment. The Library of Babel should tweak character movement and item interactions via patches if it wants to appeal to a wider audience.

It does have numerous tiny flaws, the biggest of which being its casual, loose design, but the fact that it's one of the only Star Trek tourist trap simulators out there more than makes up for any minor shortcomings.

Unfortunately, engaging with the game world and its mechanics is not fun enough. Most combat encounters feel interchangeable, companions do not have much personality, there’s a lot of walking around. Working the camera never feels good, especially in tight quarters during battles. The Waylanders also needs major tweaks to its difficulty if it wants to attract more than a very niche audience.

Strictly speaking about the game, I enjoyed the atmosphere quite a lot, and the unique blend of medieval, steampunk and modern elements made the game seem quite unique. The zombie waves and the gameplay in general are extremely engaging, and combat can keep you on the edge of your seat at times, especially when you underestimate enemy forces. All in all, They are Billions is a game that definitely deserves praise, but playing it with anything other than a mouse and keyboard can be literally gamer’s Hell.

Wax Heads is an impressive achievement. It delivers a great mix of varied music, great record graphical design, exquisite fictional critical texts, and narrative. The universe built around Repeater Records is a lovely one, filled with cool customers and interesting co-workers. Make sure to unlock and play all the songs that were specifically recorded for the game.

Worldless shines when players enter battle with a new opponent for the first time, discovering its moves and weaknesses. It’s fun to watch for patterns and create attack combos, with plenty of tension added when trying to perform the Absorption move. Platforming isn’t as complex as combat but adds variety.

The mostly abstract world and limited story will be the biggest stumbling block for most players. The game often comes close to pretentiousness without crossing that line. Worldless is not as poetic as it aims to be but offers a carefully crafted set of mechanics that work very well together.