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Great preview, i'm excited! Just finishing up Remake after finishing up the original PSX version. I took myself back in time and I can clearly see why the original took the gaming world by storm.
Here, have another amazing RPG on Switch 2, why don’t cha!
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/77454/dragon-quest-xi-s-echoes-of-an-elusive-age-definitive-edition-switch-2-review-and-tech-comparison
2027 will mark the 10-year anniversary of Dragon Quest XI’s Japanese release, as we wait with baited breath for another glimpse of its sequel, Dragon Quest XII Beyond Dreams, which restarted development and has no specified release timing. The Switch 2 release of Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Definitive Edition represents yet another port to Nintendo’s latest console, but given that the game already got an upgrade in moving from the PlayStation 4 and 3DS to Switch, we have to ask once again if it’s worth heading back to the world of Erdrea.
Dragon Quest XI follows the exploits of the Luminary, a legendary hero who ends up being raised in the village of Cobblestone and sets out after becoming of age. What follows is a massive adventure with a charming cast of characters, memorable locales, and all of the Dragon Quest trappings fans have come to expect. Given that this was essentially the follow-up to Dragon Quest IX on Nintendo DS, and there was a pretty sizeable gap between mainline releases there as well, this meant a lot was riding on the success of DQXI. Fortunately, the game delivers in spades and is among the most well regarded entries in the series. The hero would even go on to become a character in Smash Bros Ultimate, which is at least in part a testament to how good Echoes of an Elusive Age is. I even completed my first playthrough entirely in 2D mode, which is a delightful addition that calls back to the Japan-only 3DS version.
Because this is a Switch 2 port and because we’ve already reviewed the Switch version itself, we were eager to see what’s going on under the hood, particularly when it comes to the major new benefit for Switch 2 owners: a choice between Performance mode and Quality mode. With thanks for my colleague John Rairdin, we were able to confirm that Performance offers a steady 60fps and a resolution of 1080p. This was the first option I selected when beginning a new save file, and the intro sequence of the game did an admirable job of showcasing the smooth framerate. Switching over to Quality mode yielded a drop down to 30fps, but a boost in resolution to 1440p. Having already seen DQXI running at 60, it was difficult to give that up for better resolution. Fortunately, there don’t appear to be any major differences in terms of draw distance, lighting, foliage density, or shadows between the two modes. We also had the opportunity to revisit the Switch version of Dragon Quest XI running on Switch 2 via backwards compatibility, and from here we retained the 30fps of Quality mode but saw a decrease in resolution to 720p. While there is a noticeable boost in texture resolution, draw distance on certain objects, and shadow quality for the Switch 2 version, the game remains a decent option on Switch 1 for those who already have this version or those who can pick it up at a discount.
The question, then, is whether folks who already own Dragon Quest XI on Switch should double dip, especially since there’s no discounted upgrade path or save data carry over. If you’re a sucker for games running at 60fps or 1440p and really want to playthrough this amazing RPG again with either enhancement in mind, the game is good enough to warrant another purchase. I still don’t love that there isn’t a benefit to fans who supported the game on the original Switch, other than still being able to play it via back compat, but the new optimization modes are a nice extra to have. For those who haven’t played DQXI yet, there’s really no better time, especially with a longer wait for the 12th game since its retooling. Even though I recognize that this is an incredibly crowded fall season for RPGs, a full Switch 2 replay of Echoes of an Elusive Age is something I’ve firmly penciled in for the end of the year, because there’s few series that do cozy comfort as well as Dragon Quest.
What happens when an inseparable franchise duo spend time apart?
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/77356/trails-in-the-sky-2nd-chapter-switch-2-review
I finally got around to finishing Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, a remake of The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky FC, a few months ago. This really heightened my anticipation for its sequel, the aptly named Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter, and given how the second game picks up almost immediately where the first ends, it's helpful to have abundantly fresh memories of 1st Chapter. The proximity can also be a double-edged sword, as I've found that the similarities in structure, returning characters, and of course the absence of a key protagonist to mostly be detrimental to my experience with 2nd Chapter. Don't get me wrong: it's still an enjoyable and intriguing RPG, but it suffers under the weight of a near perfect predecessor.
After a flashback to the end of the first game where Estelle’s partner, Joshua, up and leaves her behind, 2nd Chapter begins proper with Estelle training at a mountain retreat to hone her skills as a newly minted senior bracer, partnering with fellow bracer Anelace. Upon completion of their training, the pair head to the city of Grancel where one of the game’s larger missions is assigned: tracking down and uncovering the whereabouts of the covert Ouroboros group. From there, you’re given one of 2nd Chapter’s more interesting choices, whether to pair with Agate or Scherazard, who players will be very familiar with from the first game. I went with Agate for his rippling muscles and Buster Sword lookalike, but going back and dabbling with choosing Schera, I was able to see that you’re treated to unique dialogue and conversations based on your decision. It’s a neat early-game conceit that adds some definite replay value to an already full experience.
One pairing that I would sorely miss for 80 percent of Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter is that of Estelle and Joshua. The supporting cast is really great, especially Olivier and his interactions with the rest of the party–Schera in particular–but you grow so close to Estelle and Joshua as partners in 1st Chapter that their separation blunts the narrative of 2nd Chapter to some degree. I completely understand that the sequel is meant to be a hero’s journey or Bildungsroman, (journey of development) for Estelle, but there’s something so special about the two of them together that I can’t help but find the first half of 2nd Chapter to be a bit boring and definitely lesser than the final third especially. It’s not a matter of “RPG good after 20 hours,” but if you’re freshly off finishing the first game, then the second feels a bit too much like a runback.
2nd Chapter sees you visiting each of the major Liberl cities one after the other, which is exactly what Joshua and Estelle do on their journey to become senior bracers in 1st Chapter. While the battles are still challenging and the combat system is still fun to play around with, the gathering of familiar party members and then completing tasks for the respective bracer guilds is far too similar a loop when comparing the two games. The inclusion of Ouroboros as a more compelling group of villains helps push the story along, but it’s hard to stay committed to the bit of wanting to raise your bracer ranking via sidequests when we already did this in 2025.
What certainly buoys the experience is excellent visuals and performance on Switch 2, including dedicated graphics and performance mode options. The frame rate is steady throughout the game’s 50-plus hour runtime, and I only encountered any kind of glitch near the end of the game, with a few cutscenes that didn’t load-in properly, forcing me to look at an empty sky as dialogue continued to play out. The vibrant colors and larger than life bosses are wonderful to behold in both docked and handheld mode, with few compromises being made for playing portably. Of course, you can also carry over your save data from 1st Chapter, which leads to some nice nods to your exploits from the first game with the folks you meet in the various towns.
Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter truly knocks it out of the park with bringing to life some major character moments, like those between bracer Agate and young engineer Tita. Touching scenes between the two that showcase the bond that develops tug on the heartstrings and make me want to spend more time with them. The sibling dynamic that grows between them adds to the charm of the whole experience, and its interactions like theirs that happen in quieter moments of the main story that make The Legend of Heroes games so memorable. There’s also the constant womanizing of Olivier and jokes made at his expense about Schera and others drinking him under the table that mix in some nice levity among the heavier story beats. I’d be remiss not to mention the sheer spectacle of the airships and creatures you encounter in 2nd Chapter’s latter half that make the viewing as enjoyable as the playing of the game.
I loved the music in both the original Trails in the Sky FC and the 1st Chapter remake, but the soundtrack for 2nd Chapter probably tops them both. There’s a song that plays early on in the game that stopped me in my tracks, surpassing even my fondness for “The Whereabouts of Light.” It’s often a hot topic among RPG fans about whether the original soundtrack is better than that of a remake, but I’m personally happy to hear new versions of songs I already fell in love with. The English voices are great, too, and help bring to life this lengthy RPG while making its most heartfelt moments all the more endearing.
Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter is a significantly bigger video game than its predecessor, so if you’re open to an RPG that can easily take 60-100 hours, you’ll find one here that’s worthy of your time. I did find the impact a bit muted compared to the tighter 1st Chapter and its focus on Joshua and Estelle as a pair, but Estelle herself does well to carry the sequel with the help of her familiar comrades. Even though 2nd Chapter doesn’t bring a lot of new innovations, it runs exquisitely on Switch 2 in both configurations. Certainly, you’d want to play the first game beforehand, but when you’re ready for more Trails in the Sky, 2nd Chapter is a great follow-up to the almost flawless 1st Chapter.
This RPG finale appears to be the fitting send-off we all were hoping for.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/preview/77256/final-fantasy-vii-revelation-hands-on-preview
It was a last-minute addition, but I wisely carved out some time to check out Final Fantasy VII Revelation at the beginning of my Square Enix PAX West appointment. On a PS5 Pro, I had just under an hour with the finale to the Remake trilogy, and that felt like one of the shortest gaming sessions I've ever had.
Knowing my time was limited, I prioritized three specific elements new to this third game: namely, Cid, Vincent, and the region of Wutai. For the demo, we were largely left to our own devices, and so I politely declined a tutorial about exploring the Highwind airship and jetted off to regions not yet explored in Final Fantasy Rebirth. Naturally, Yuffie was my guide (and party leader) for our stop in Wutai. The verticality of the city and the way you can scale buildings using Yuffie's grappling hook was an instant attraction for me, although it could be frustrating trying to find a way to come down after climbing. Still, the city itself was a marvel to behold.
There's a scene when you arrive where a couple of Wutai soldiers are burning a pile of books, and it does an amazing job of charging the space with tension and setting up one of the main conflicts to resolve in the region. Even the interior space of the Happy Turtle seemed both full of character but also potential intrigue and danger. Photo hunts for cute kitties and martial arts training are just a couple of the side activities to check out as you explore Wutai, and I can't wait to try all of it.
I only engaged in a handful of battles but did get a decent sense of how it feels to control Cid and Vincent. The cantankerous pilot wields his large spear to devastating effect, twirling it around and smashing into enemies. His abilities reflect his light class-typing as a Dragoon, giving him the power to leap into the air and crash down for significant damage or summon a dragon to fly around your opponents before soaring up from the ground for a final strike. I was genuinely impressed with how good it felt to play as Cid right from the start.
I had less time with Vincent but wanted to give him a fair shake as such a fan favorite character. He definitely takes the cool factor to 11 just hanging around as a party member, but his moves in combat are as deadly as they are stylish. He alternates between pistol shots both on the ground and in mid-air followed by stronger, more physical attacks that have a timing component to them. One of his regular abilities allows him to very temporarily transform into the Galian Beast, which was really fun to see in action. Vincent feels bouncy but deliberate and I won't be surprised to see him once again become a staple of people's Revelation parties.
I can't speak much to the FITS system because of my limited time with the demo, but I did try the Summoner class briefly. With Yuffie equipped with this job, she could activate an ability to bring a summon monster like Titan in for a series of smaller attacks rather than having them continuously fighting beside you as with the summon materia. FITS promises more customization, and the expanded cast only adds to that as well, which means players will truly get to take the fight to Sephiroth with whatever party they can dream of.
The overall experience was stellar, but I will bring up an issue I had that left a somewhat negative impression. As I walked around Wutai and completed story beats and cutscenes, I would frequently be interrupted by MAI, Chadley's AI companion, with new quests and objects. I can see how some would love these regular updates on what needs doing in the surrounding area, but I had more of a feeling of inadequacy or being overwhelmed, rather than excited by the prospects of countless threads to pull on. I do hope there will either be an option to toggle these to the background or some other way of making MAI's intrusions less damaging to the momentum and pacing.
We've seen Final Fantasy VII Remake and Rebirth shine as Switch 2 ports, and so I am hopeful that even under the weight of the more open world and spaces of Revelation, the experience will still be a worthwhile one for Nintendo players. The added wrinkles to combat and customization, not to mention the new party members, have me chomping at the bit to have more time with the finale to this long-awaited project. While we have to wait until April of next year to get our hands on it, I'll certainly be dreaming of taking down the high-powered Weapons and riding chocobos as I count down the days.
A new and potentially exciting entry point for the Dragon Quest Monsters series.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/preview/77099/dragon-quest-monsters-the-withered-world-hands-on-preview-pax-west-2026
While meeting with Square Enix at the start of PAX West this year, I had a chance to check out three separate demos. One of those was for the next entry in the now long-running spinoff series, Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World. Having finished my first Dragon Quest Monsters game earlier this summer, Joker 2, I came into the session with a decent knowledge of the mechanics and loop. Although my time with The Withered World was short, its visual glow-up combined with classic RPG battles and monster catching made for a definite impression on me.
Playing on a base model PS5, the first half of my session led me through the game’s beginning cutscene and introduction to the kingdom of Witherwood. The two protagonists are young versions of Nera and Bianca, who come from the fifth mainline Dragon Quest (my personal favorite), Hand of the Heavenly Bride. Deborah also shows up to inject some levity into the trio’s quest for the Leaves of Life, a plant that can restore their ailing father to health, but one Deborah is seeking out herself for its merits as a beauty product also. Upon meeting the pair of heroines, you can choose which one you want to control initially, with each one giving a buff to certain types of monsters, in addition to having their own unique abilities that can trigger in battle. I went with Nera for her affinity for slime monsters, which ended up being the first creature I was given after a brief personality-type quiz.
After some tutorials about catching and battling, I entered the castle and spoke to the king of Witherwood, who tasked me with restoring his kingdom to prominence from its currently arid and decayed state. To that end, he entrusts you with a watering can that has a few different uses. First, you can sprinkle water on certain dead-looking trees to bring them back to life, and then they become both fast-travel points and healing spots to restore your party’s HP and MP. Second, you can pour water on certain buds to have them flourish into a stat-boosting seed. Third, you can dowse enemies with water from behind and scare them into both running away and sometimes leaving behind a helpful item in their wake.
The second part of the demo allowed me to experiment with the synthesis system and the battle system, as it took me to a small tropical island where exploration was limited. Like other entries in the Dragon Quest Monsters series, you need to wait until a monster is at least level 10 before you can combine it with another to form either a completely new creature or one you’ve already encountered. I found the process here a little more newcomer and user-friendly overall, with a better sense of what was going to happen when I performed the synthesis and which combinations were going to be more rare or worthwhile. Like Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince, you can have four active party members and up to four in reserve, with fast-forward and auto-battle options speeding up the proceedings when necessary. I would have liked to see one more higher setting for the fast-forward, but it was great to have transparency about the chances of success when trying to scout/capture monsters for your team. This was an element I struggled against with Joker 2 and even the second Dragon Warrior Monsters game on Game Boy Color, but it felt more intuitive in The Withered World.
My affinity for Dragon Quest has only grown as I’ve gotten older, and the HD-2D remakes of Dragon Quest 1 through 3 provided hours and hours of RPG goodness. Sometimes, though, you just want to collect a stable of monsters and watch them duke it out for a while. Dragon Quest Monsters: The Withered World looks to be taking the series’ familiar mechanics and splashing on a modern aesthetic, while offering a somewhat lighter narrative than those aforementioned mainline titles. Constantly refreshing your party through synthesis and reaping the rewards of skills, stats, and abilities earned when creating a new monster is a thoroughly entertaining gameplay loop, and I’m eager to grab my watering can next year to start filling my monster stable and bringing life back to this world.
Old MacDonald had a farm. And on that farm he had a dead chicken?
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/preview/76869/village-in-the-shade-preview
I had the pleasure of being invited to a preview event for spooky farming sim Village in the Shade, developed by NIS, makers of the Yomawari survival horror games. The reference is a fitting one given the way Village in the Shade is leaning into the darker side of the life simulation genre with a distinct day and night cycle where you work on your farm and then explore the village and its mysteries at night. The demo we were shown took us through a single day of the spring season about two weeks into the game’s story. In addition to familiar farming mechanics like planting, watering, harvesting, and foraging, we were given a stark impression of the types of unsettling encounters to be found in the Shade.
My first impression was of the attractive hand-painted art style, which suits the eerie atmosphere and definitely calls to mind Yomawari. While the UI is a little barebones in terms of presentation, there is a level of detail to the environments that makes them feel more lifelike and eye-catching. The top-down, slanted perspective from which you view Village in the Shade is a nice trick for making the world appear disjointed and perhaps more fraught to navigate. That said, the NISA rep running the demo had no trouble moving the character around the farmstead and into a cavern to mine for rocks and minerals. While the singular night-time phase we were shown featured a scripted story beat, others apparently involve random ghostly encounters. For the demo, the character picked up a shoddy flashlight to follow the apparition of a chicken that had been found dead on the farm the night before. Not long after giving chase, a larger than life spirit began hounding us at a rapid pace as we ran through the village, and the tension was palpable as other ghosts appeared around almost every turn.
Boasting multiple endings, Village in the Shade also has a starting option that may appeal to the more faint-of-heart among us. Village in the Sunshine is a mode that can be turned on to alleviate some of the spookiness of the adventure, with some altered dialogue and less anxiety-producing night-time segments. We were also informed about a fox that shows up at night to lead you to shrines and missions that allow you to upgrade your character, such as by increasing the precious stamina meter. Of course, there’s a constant tension associated with going out at night given that such an act is breaking one of the cardinal rules of Kagatsu Village, of which you are reminded when you wake up at midnight and leave your home to explore.
Another noteworthy mechanic was that of the milestone system whereby you are rewarded for completing various achievements, like foraging a certain number of materials, with money and other rewards. I love learning about systems like that that help to make the sometimes monotonous work built into farming sims a little more palatable and fulfilling. It appears that almost every in-game day brings some time of event or message to your door, and I’m eager to see more of Village in the Shade when the game releases right around Halloween this year: October 27th.
You already took my damn money. Do you need to take it again?
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/reviewmini/77072/the-legend-of-heroes-trails-to-azure-switch-2-review-mini
The Crossbell Duology portion of the rapidly more popular Trails franchise of RPGs comprises Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure. We reviewed both games in 2022/23 when they first came to Switch, respectively, and four (and three) years later we are getting Switch 2 versions of the pair. You can find our Trails from Zero review here, and our Trails to Azure review here. If you’re looking for more of a focus on story and mechanics, you’ll find that in the aforementioned Switch reviews. Those elements are effectively unchanged in the Switch 2 release. What’s new are impressive performance and visuals that make Nintendo’s latest platform the best place to play these two charming, if smaller-scale, RPGs. What’s annoying, though, is how these two Crossbell games are being sold.
To get an important caveat out of the way upfront, it’s required reading that you play Trails from Zero before (ideally in close proximity to) Trails to Azure. The latter follows up directly on the former, and there’s definitely something lost if you have forgotten some of the story beats, characters, and interactions from the first game when you finally get to the second. Because it had been some time (and with many RPGs in particular in between), I did feel that my enjoyment of Trails to Azure was a bit tempered, and I wished that I had had less of a gap between the two games to improve the experience.
There are a few odd features of the Switch 2 release, and one particular frustrating choice that we’re seeing far too often. If you want to download them, Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure are being sold separately on the eShop; there’s no digital bundle with the two games. This is a major bummer given how much more enjoyable they are when played one after the other. Physically, there is only a bundle that contains the two games, but that’s on a game-key card, which regularly draws the ire of collectors and even casual fans. Worse than that, in my view, is the fact that we have another Switch 2 version without any upgrade path. Folks who purchased Trails to Azure on the original Switch when it came to the platform in 2023 have no recourse but to purchase the same game for (at the time of review) the same price. Ironically, you can actually import save data from the previous gen Trails from Zero to yield some new conversations and dialogue in Azure. It’s a shame, too, since the Switch 2 allows the game to reach 120 FPS or 4K resolution, both of which really took my breath away when I saw them in action. There’s also mouse mode controls if you’re so inclined.
Trails from Azure is a worthy bookend to the Crossbell saga, and there’s no doubt that being able to go on another adventure with hero Lloyd Bannings at the forefront makes for a delightful time. That being said, I can’t overlook the disservice that these types of Switch 2 releases are doing to fans who supported an at-the-time more niche RPG franchise. Yes, the Trails in the Sky FC remake has shone the spotlight on the modern Legend of Heroes titles, but let's throw a bone to the players who were there first. I’ll dig my heels in against an all-digital future without upgrade options as we move from one console to the next.
A vibrant collectathon with mascot platformer vibes to spare.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/77050/marsupilami-2-salsa-palombia-switch-review
It took about one and a half stages before I realized all of the inspirations behind 2D platformer Marsupilami 2: Salsa Palombia. The Donkey Kong, Crash Bandicoot, Rayman, and even Sonic vibes are readily apparent, but the sights and sounds of Marsupilami 2: Salsa Palombia help it feel fresh and frenetic in spite of some questionable design choices. Its lengthy levels are filled with secrets and charm, and while it didn’t compel me to return for 100 percent completion, I still enjoyed my romp through its varied environments.
It’s entirely possible that, like me, you’ve never heard of Marsupilami before, which started as a Belgian comic book character in the 1950s, before spawning TV shows and a movie. A follow up to 2021’s Marsupilami: Hoobadventure, Marsupilami 2: Salsa Palombia puts you in control of three different Marsupilami creatures, each with their own special abilities, who have to set out to save the world of Palombia from the Mummy Queen and the cursed melody she has inflicted upon Palombia. The yellow Marsupilami can dive forward through the air and turn his tail into a helicopter to float slowly down to safety; the orange one can do a spin jump to gain extra height; and the purple one can turn into a ball to bounce off enemies or spiked pits. Each stage gives you only two of the three Marsupilami, but you can switch between the pair on the fly, making for some satisfying mid-air swaps and tricks.
The first area is a lush tropical island containing jungle stages filled with vines to swing from and gorgeous vistas to behold. If you so choose, you can sprint through the fairly long levels to reach the end as fast as possible, but the problem with such a strategy is that you won’t acquire enough of the fruits and music notes needed to unlock new stages and the area boss, respectively. Hence, I would consider Marsupilami 2 a collectathon given that you need to be thorough to be able to finish the main story. That said, the area bosses only require that you find 40 music notes, which is about one-third of the total number available per area. Fruits are plentiful, too, with more than 500 to collect in every level, and even more when you revisit a completed level to play its Samba-mode variation that maximizes your fruit harvest with a speed-based multiplier.
Extra secrets include a dojo hiding in every level that offers a unique challenge like collecting or smashing a set number of objects under a strict time limit, and a separate dojo area on the overworld map that houses tougher challenges to earn even more music notes. Co-op play lets two people each control one of the Marsupilamis simultaneously, and the wide-open levels are well designed for playing with a companion, as are the generous checkpoints and unlimited extra lives.
The normal difficulty is fine for the levels themselves, but the boss fights are a genuine slog on this setting. The first one is manageable with the three hearts that normal affords you, but the second boss is just frustrating, prompting me to throttle down to the easy setting so that I could progress through to more of the actual levels, which are a lot more fun on any difficulty. Being able to adjust from easy to normal to hard at any time allowed me to customize the experience, which is always a welcome feature, especially when you’re just returning to old levels to raise your fruit or music note counts.
There’s a great sense of speed and momentum to Marsupilami 2 that reminds me of the best of the Sonic games. Each Marsupilami can continually roll forward to pick up speed, break open crates, and uncover fruits hidden under grass or snow. In basically every level you’ll encounter birds that launch you from one section to the next a la Donkey Kong barrels, and the constant ticking up of your fruit total as you careen across the sky was incredibly gratifying. While the enemy variety is a bit lacking, the major areas all present a novel backdrop and obstacles, like the cars that serve as trampolines and the electrified trains of the city biome.
In motion, the Switch version can leave something to be desired, even when playing on a Switch 2 console. Due to the lower resolution and frame rate, zoomed-out and busier sequences can make it difficult to distinguish between your character and everything else on screen. It can also be harder to spot breakable floors and other secrets due to the lack of detail and refinement. The minute-to-minute gameplay isn’t majorly impacted, but those who prefer a more polished and aesthetically pleasing experience may want to check out Marsupilami 2 on a different platform.
All in all, Marsupilami 2: Salsa Palombia is a whimsical, high energy platformer that has loads of charm and a delightful soundtrack to boot. The jump in difficulty for the area bosses is a bit of a bummer, as are the forced collectathon elements, but the co-op and solo gameplay experiences are pretty solid. After having been away from the platformer genre for a little while, Marsupilami 2 certainly rekindled that passion in me, and I’m eager to show more of the game to my kids and even pick up the first game if I see it on sale. The Marsupilamis may look like skinny Chester Cheetahs with longer tails, but I’m glad I had a chance to jump and swing along to their world’s salsa beats and be reminded of all the great mascot platformers that have come before and now inspire a new generation of game makers.
A compelling roguelite experience for adventurers and shopkeepers alike.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/76960/moonlighter-2-switch-2-review
Roguelikes and lites are hit and miss for me; some of the highest review scores I've given have gone to games in these genres, like Gone Under and Hades 2. Others, like the first Moonlighter, just didn't capture my attention. Specifically, I found the dungeon segments punishing and the shopkeeping required too much guesswork. That said, I recognize how beloved it is, and with that in mind I wanted to give the sequel a try to see if its changes could draw me in. To say that Moonlighter 2 merely drew me in would be a massive understatement. Instead, I found the gameplay loop incredibly rewarding and the experience nearly impossible to put down.
Moonlighter 2 takes place after the events of the first game, and sees the people of Rynoka, including protagonist Will, banished to an interdimensional town named Tresna, where Will has to set out on a familiar path as merchant and adventurer both. Villagers offer sidequests and services to help Will figure out where he is and how to power up so that he can progress and further explore his new surroundings. It isn’t long before you enter the familiar loop of beginning a dungeon run, acquiring relics and materials, and then returning home to sell your wares and purchase upgrades for yourself.
Where you’ll spend most of your time is in the dungeons, so it makes sense to focus on those first. Dungeon maps play out as a series of nodes on branching paths that you select from; each node is referred to as an encounter. Every encounter contains some kind of reward and typically some kind of skirmish with a handful of enemies. Elemental buff encounters yield a choice of three perks that alter your main attack, special attack, or your gun. Prior to entering the dungeon, you equip a main melee weapon–short sword, large sword, spear, or gauntlets–in addition to a gun and eventually a piece of armor. The second most common encounter rewards a chest of relics, usually uncommon or rare, that can be carried in your backpack and brought back to town for profit. Other encounters pose challenges that temporarily weaken you in exchange for a buff down the road, or allow you to upgrade one of your weapons for the rest of the dungeon.
Combat generally feels really good, with basic attacks comboing into finishing moves that deal extra damage and a handy dodge roll to escape danger. Regular and special attacks also restore your gun’s ammo reserves, leading to a fun interplay of up-close and at-range exchanges. Halfway through each dungeon you encounter a mini-boss that tests your skills and patience in preparation for the much more challenging final boss. Even on the normal difficulty, it’s incredibly tough to take out these stout foes until you’ve added more potions to Will’s stock or upgraded your weapons at the blacksmith’s shop in town. Of course, Moonlighter 2 wants you to make multiple jaunts to the dungeons to get you the stuff you’ll need back in town, which is where that roguelite element starts to shine through. Completing a dungeon typically allows you to resolve a quest and thus open up a new mission or an entirely new dungeon.
The shopkeeping gameplay has its own story mission involving a giant cube in the center of Tresna called the Endless Vault, which tasks Will with acquiring an ever-increasing amount of gold. Upon reaching each threshold, a new artifact is bestowed that can lead to new dungeon areas opening up or new ways of earning more gold or lasting longer on your runs. There’s also the individual responsible for giving you a store in Tresna in the first place, Ms. Scratch, who also lets you trade in materials for decorations and eventually lets you pay to make your shop even bigger.
There are some neat mechanics involved with the way you acquire relics on your dungeon runs. Each major dungeon area has its own types of relics that interact with one another when placed in certain configurations within your backpack. In Kalina, the first available area, relics can either burn or become armored, and their rarity score can be raised through using those two alterations at the right time and in the right backpack slot. For instance, a rare blue relic might double in rarity from 8 to 16 if placed adjacent to a relic that gets burned. By the end of a run, you can rack up some really high scores on your relics, which means greater profits when it comes time to sell, if you are able to store your goods strategically and with a little luck, of course.
Progress can feel slowgoing at the outset as you learn about the costs involved with upping your arsenal and getting Will better kitted out. There are many different crafting materials to acquire and special ones that you only earn after beating a dungeon’s final boss. Upgrading your melee weapons, your armor, and your gun all come at a hefty gold price as well, so you’ll want to be choosy about where to spend your hard earned money. It’s also annoying that when you fall in the dungeon, you’re offered the option to restart without any kind of incentive or carry-forward. In some of the more hectic encounters, the Switch 2 framerate can take a bit of a hit, although nothing you can’t push through. On a handful of occasions I did encounter game crashes, but the dev team is aware of these performance shortcomings and is working to get them smoothed out. A final detraction from Moonlighter 2 is the lack of a compelling musical score, with sound effects being more pronounced over the forgettable soundtrack.
Moonlighter 2 isn’t the first time a sequel has grabbed me much more than its predecessor, but it might be the first in this genre to do so. This feeling boils down to me connecting much more with the combat and the merchant segments than I did with the original. Once I hit my stride in terms of making money, completing quests, and bolstering my gear, I had a very tough time putting my controller down. There’s always something to do and some goal to work towards, which helps even a failed run feel like it was worth the effort. The pixelated look of Moonlighter has been replaced with an art style more befitting the sequel’s shift to 3D, which well suits its variety of environments and its blend of fantasy, real life, and sci-fi themes. Enjoyers of the first Moonlighter may bristle against the changes implemented for Moonlighter 2, but what’s new here has made a fan out of me. Simply put, I’m over the moon.
We're doing the contest thing!
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/feature/76606/win-a-four-day-pass-to-pax-west-2026
We've partnered with PAX to give away a total of five (5) four-day badges for PAX West 2026 in Seattle, WA. Follow the link to the contest page below:
Be sure to complete your entry soon because the contest closes on August 2, 2026 at 11:59pm PT. Good luck!
I'm seeing double here. Two Yunas!
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/76509/final-fantasy-x--x-2-hd-remaster-switch-2-review-and-tech-comparison
Originally released on PlayStation 3, the package of Final Fantasy X | X-2 HD Remaster is seemingly available everywhere under the sun, so it's no surprise to see it also receive a dedicated Switch 2 release. What is surprising, and disappointing, is that the Switch 2 version is almost indiscernible from the Switch 1 release. On my Switch 2 home screen, the virtual game cards use exactly the same image and title, and so the only way I knew which version was which was to boot one up and see if it had my 2019 save file from when I originally reviewed FFX HD Remaster. With both remastered packs still on the eShop, it begs the question why anyone would grab the Switch 2 version at all, considering potential discounts on other platforms. With that said, X and X-2 are still well worth experiencing for those who have never stepped foot in the world of Spira.
Final Fantasy X was one of the showcase pieces for the PlayStation 2 hardware back in 2001, a year after that console hit store shelves and after three mainline Final Fantasy games on Sony’s previous home console, the original PlayStation. While FFX is a largely linear turn-based RPG, it does open up near the end with multiple sidequests to complete ahead of the final battle with antagonist Sin. It tells the tale of summoner Yuna’s pilgrimage to protect the world from Sin’s destruction, but also the relationship that develops between Yuna and the game’s protagonist, Tidus. The story remains a standout among not only the Final Fantasy franchise but the RPG genre as a whole, and the unique sphere grid progression system holds up as one of the most memorable elements compared to classic level ups and stat raises. There are scores of touching and endearing moments between the other main characters–Lulu, Auron, Wakka, Kimari, and Rikku–and even if some of the dungeon segments can be frustrating, the world still feels alive and on edge.
Final Fantasy X-2 represents a fairly major departure from its predecessor in terms of both narrative, gameplay, and style. While still a turn-based RPG, it returns to the active-time battle first introduced in FFIV, and features a main cast of only three: Yuna, Rikku, and newcomer Paine. The three characters are sphere hunters who search out video spheres to discover more about Spira and also employ dresspheres as a way of changing classes, like the job system of FFV, and can even switch dresspheres mid-battle if and when the situation demands. The story also plays out in a much more non-linear fashion compared to FFX, with chapters and missions, rather than a single, straight-forward plot. From their airborne ship, they fly from location to location completing missions, fighting off random encounters, and acquiring spheres. It's a lot of fun to visit with characters from the previous game, like Wakka and Lulu, and even just to be recognized as a savior of the world, in Yuna’s case. Still, a bit more patience is required in figuring out exactly what each mission requires and where you need to go, especially with so much of what you can do being optional. For those who loved FFX and want to go back, FFX-2 is a fascinating return and also departure from the more standard RPG plot and structure that came before, and I can't help but admire it for that.
Speaking more technically about this Switch 2 version, there are some subtle distinctions once you get under the hood and spend some time with both titles. For one, the Switch 1 versions display at 1080p compared to 1440p on the Switch 2. While both versions run at 30 fps, there is improved texture filtering present in the Switch 2 games, as you can see right here. Unfortunately, that's basically the end of the story, and given the lack of meaningful updates, it's a shame that Switch 1 owners who already purchased the game can't just upgrade to the ever so slightly improved Switch 2 release.
Final Fantasy X | X-2 HD Remaster is an excellent package if you just consider the merits of the two games in a vacuum. However, we're seeing a glaring pattern emerge where Square Enix is bringing older titles, RPGs especially, to Switch 2 as full retail releases without any possibility of data carry over or any form of modest or reasonable upgrade path. In a time where anti-consumer practices are becoming more and more the norm, I would hope against hope to see more flexibility from publishers, large and small, to reward rather than punish early adopters and fans who have already supported them. If you're new to Final Fantasy and RPGs or a veteran who's never dabbled with FFX, this is a good place to start, but you can likely find the package on sale elsewhere and wouldn't be missing out on any vital Switch 2 boosts.
Fight boss. Become boss. Little room for error.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/76507/gurei-switch-review
There’s something so pure about the boss rush genre that I can’t help but be drawn to it, and when I saw that the debut release from Brazilian developer Lobo Sagaz Studio combined the aesthetic of Silksong with some impressively unique boss rush gameplay, I was definitely curious to give it a shot. Through its dominant black and white color scheme, one-on-one combat, and sword-wielding protagonist, it evokes Japanese samurai films. It also employs a novel progression system in its run-based structure that rewards experimentation and learning from your mistakes. More than just your powers of observation, Gurei also requires a deft hand and precise timing to make your way through its punishingly tough gauntlet of opponents.
You play as heroine Rei, who awakens under a sigil of colorful flames within a ruined castle. From the centre of the castle, you're given the freedom to choose your path, seeking out the 10 bosses whose likelinesses are made physical in a statue just above your starting location, a statue that's very much akin to the same in Super Metroid. Your first real task is to locate each of your opponents, none of which is too far away. Each presents a unique fight and bestows a special ability or power when you conquer them, but they also scale in difficulty the more bosses you eliminate.
And therein is Gurei's greatest trick: the more powerful and capable you become, the more adept your foes become. How this manifests is both in terms of Rei being unable to do as much damage with her basic strikes given more stout defense that she faces, but each boss also has more tricks up their proverbial sleeves. If you choose to take on the red Snake first, you’ll find that it has really only two attacks; if you wait until after you’ve taken down half a dozen other bosses first, the bout becomes much more challenging, with four or five different attacks you need to watch out for. Some of the ways that the boss fights change depending on when you initiate them are really interesting, like the yellow Peafowl at first giving you a choice of which weapon it brings into battle and later forcing you to engage it with all of its armament equipped. The more you play, the better sense you have of which boss orders are more favorable and which are an absolute nightmare. The encounter with the orange Catfish is child’s play at level 1, but leave it for one of your final four and its robust exterior and increased arsenal may be too much to overcome.
Another wrinkle that needs to be underscored is that Gurei is run-based and doesn’t let you carry over progress from one run to the next, outside of minor interactions with spirits and other denizens haunting the castle. Every successful boss encounter gives you an extra life to use in future fights, but once those run out, your run is over and you need to start over from scratch. The ominous “last chance” message that displays prior to starting your last life is a glaring reminder that it’s truly do or die, and so maybe you choose to take on a different opponent with the hope that the skill they pass on to you could be the one to push you a bit further along. Defeated bosses also make a running commentary during the rest of your run, potentially offering advice or sharing their feelings about an upcoming encounter. My prevailing sentiment was that I really enjoyed experimenting with different boss paths and learning about which skills worked best with my playstyle, but the built-in delay with Rei’s dodge did leave me feeling frustrated fairly often.
Gurei takes a growing modern genre and adds some novel wrinkles to it, creating an ultimately unique experience. One annoying issue with the game is the high number of crashes, which forced me back to the Switch home menu on nearly every run; the game’s autosave meant I never lost any progress, but I was constantly worrying that I would experience a crash during one of the boss fights, rather than before or after–which added unnecessary tension beyond what the game was already offering. I’m a major fan of how the bosses scale up as you take down their compatriots, leading to tough but meaningful choices as you plan out the route of each run. Those who enjoy the difficulty of titles like Hollow Knight, Blasphemous, and Nine Sols will relish how much Gurei pushes you, but it will need a patch to address the crashes before I wholeheartedly recommend it.
It's easier to remember when everything ends with “mon”.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/76421/digimon-story-time-stranger-switch-2-review
I had long been interested in the recent Digimon games after hearing positive buzz for them, with words like “underrated” bandied about. I only had slight exposure to the brand in my youth, but I ended up recognizing more of the creatures than I would have guessed after picking up Digimon Story Time Stranger for review. With the title newly arrived on Switch 2, it felt like the perfect opportunity to put the game through its paces. Does it approach the threshold of “Pokemon Killer/Competitor”? Decidedly not, but it's a decent turn-based RPG with some interesting story elements, particularly in the second half.
You're essentially dropped into the middle of the story after selecting your starting partner Digimon, with a cataclysmic event impacting the Shinjuku area of Tokyo. You play as a male or female agent of ADAMAS, a group who investigates strange phenomena, and one that effectively guides you through the story via a healthy drip feed of objectives. In a nutshell, you end up travelling to the digital world and working to stop evil Digimon called “Titans” from taking over and causing reverberations across time that can and have impacted the human world. The way that the narrative plays out is a bit odd, with certain main quests being as simple as moving across the map, while others are much, much more involved. Once the adventure gets going, you essentially travel to a new area or biome, explore a linear dungeon, and then fight a boss before heading back to base. The loop is familiar but can feel barebones at times. Fortunately, the latter half of the game shakes things up to an extent, but the early game can sometimes play out at a snail's pace.
Pokemon fans (and Digimon fans, too) will recognize the creature collecting, evolving, and battling that make up a major part of Digimon Story Time Stranger. Instead of catching individual Digimon, you can synthesize a copy of one after you've battled it enough; additionally, the more times you battle up to a 200% threshold, the stronger your Digimon can become, so it pays to let them cook as long as possible. Enemies are plentiful in the dungeon spaces, and speed up options make quick work of fights. You can also gain an advantage by Digi-attacking nearby Digimon, when you're not using the Digi-attack to destroy barriers or find hidden items. The dungeon spaces, both indoors and outdoors, end up being reused and revisited, as you might expect from a game involving time travel, but I wish they were a bit more lively or interesting.
The combat is genuinely enjoyable, with a special move called a Cross Art you can build up as you take actions in battle. While there are a number of these to unlock, you can only bring a single one into a fight, which is an annoying restriction. The turn-based fights are brisk, until you run into some of the damage-sponge bosses that are generally pretty tough, but a good measure of your team's preparedness. I skated through the first 10 hours with few problems, but the game's second half provides a much greater challenge and basically forces you to learn the ins and outs of Digimon typing and evolution, while also grinding out levels, collecting, and side quests. I didn’t notice at first that Digimon have a level cap, so you need to pay attention to small details like that.
Where Digimon Story Time Stranger suffers is in the lack of a clear villain figure. RPGs that introduce a central antagonist too late can fail to engage the player in their story and thus make it harder to compel them forward. I found the same with this game, such that I had hoped the major boss you encounter at the story's halfway mark was going to be followed by the credit roll. But as I discovered, you need to return to the digital world of the Digimon, after visiting in the past, to see how things have changed in the future. It's here where the game uses literal evolution of characters in some neat ways, tying their development as beings to mental or emotional growth and realization. I just wish we had gotten to more moments like that before the 12 to 15-hour mark.
I couldn't help but notice the DNA of titles like Persona and Shin Megami Tensei, even more specifically a hidden gem like Tokyo Mirage Sessions. There's a darkness and seriousness to some of the plot elements, and even a sophistication to Digimon progress and development that would make more sense to competitive Pokemon trainers than those who only “gotta catch'em all”. As a Pokemon fan, I can be counted among the many who have bemoaned the series' insistence of being geared towards children, and so Digimon Story Time Stranger does serve as a nice foil to Game Freak's creation in terms of being more mature. That said, even as a seasoned RPG player, I did find some of the ways Digimon were classified, categorized, or even how they could switch to different personalities a bit daunting, so fair warning if you want a more casual or straightforward experience.
Digimon Story Time Stranger is a fine turn-based RPG with creature collecting and some rough story and progression edges. A notable feather in its cap is how smooth it runs and how nice it looks on Switch 2, not to mention miniscule load times both portably and on TV. I'm glad to have finally checked out a modern Digimon game, even if my expectations weren't fully met, and I'm curious what form the next one ends up taking. Maybe start with clear bad guys that aren't just evil Digimon.
Infusing horror theming works wonders for this cozy life sim.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/76266/moonlight-peaks-switch-2-review
Vampires, werewolves, and witches all make an appearance in Moonlight Peaks, not so they can do the Monster Mash, but so they can find peace and tranquility in a small charming town. As the child of Dracula, you start the game leaving home and escaping the shadow of your imposing father, complete with a text conversation with mom about your sudden departure. It's a breath of coffin-fresh air to have Halloween season so pervasive in a farming game, and it ends up working well given how much Moonlight Peaks leans in. Magic spells go hand in hand with axes and shovels, and the result is almost a surefire recommendation for fans of cozy time.
Unsurprisingly, you inherit a homestead overcrowded with trees, tall grass, rocks, and an abundance of potential. Your first objective isn't the one you'll complete first, but it introduces you to one of the most important characters and teases his Achilles heel. For vampire Olrock, you're tasked with bringing him a bottle of red wine, and getting there involves prepping your farm space, growing the grapes, constructing a cask, and then producing the wine. Shortly after, you meet his kids who also live in Moonlight Peaks, but you also discover how much of a weakness this fellow has for imbibing. By that time, you'll have picked up enough of the basics, which is helpful for those less familiar with the genre. That said, Moonlight Peaks does very much feel like a game designed for diehard fans looking for something unique.
How then is Moonlight Peaks different from a Story of Seasons or Stardew Valley? One of the main distinctions is obvious at first glance, the purple tinge that infects nearly every aspect of the visuals. The claymation-esque, Animal Crossing-like characters have an endearing look to them, but I wish their character portraits didn't look so different; the side-by-side is a bit jarring. The perpetual nighttime in which you experience the game makes sense for your vampire avatar, but never seeing daytime did start to weigh on me as the days rolled by.
The other major difference is in terms of a mana meter and the spells that use it. Once you get your broken magic wand repaired, you have access to an ethereal watering can that can be summoned to water some of your plants. From Sabrina's shop in town, you can purchase additional spells, like summoning individual tools to break rocks, or conjuring a pair of hands to help you harvest crops. This latter spell has an annoying drawback in that you basically can't take any other actions while the hands are gathering your produce, so some spells are clearly less useful than others. The restrictive mana meter and cumbersome process for refilling it end up muting the effectiveness of the magic system to an extent, but it fits the theme well and adds to the novelty in what's become a wellworn gameplay loop.
What's particularly enjoyable is the random story events that pop up as you move to different sections of the village, like Luna's farm, the swamp, or the vampires' manor. Some of these introduce new quests to take on; many give you insight into the townsfolk and their own stories and quirks. When you put nose to the grindstone and focus on your farming, you can still get visits from your acquaintances and letters that keep you connected to them. It's fun to learn more about how each person feels about their neighbours, especially when they're siblings or parents and kids. Seeing the genuine concern for Orlock from his kids, or the struggle between mayor Brook and his brother Ridge always makes for a compelling scene. Exchanges of animosity and frustration balance out ones of amazement and comedy such that the narrative moments end up being the most memorable.
Should you be in a rush to get hitched, you may grow impatient when the apple of your eye takes a while to warm up to you. In spite of my daily visits and gifts, I waited many a night for barista-baker Mina to show interest. Therein lies the difficulty in playing a game like Moonlight Peaks for review, where the enjoyment derives more in stretching out the experience rather than pushing through as fast as possible. In shorter sessions, there's less repetition, but even on a more condensed schedule, I could gain a great sense of the possibilities for relationships, with effectively no restrictions. There doesn't appear to be an option to have kids, but you can date multiple characters at once, so go ahead and woo a vampire and a witch simultaneously, if your undead heart so desires.
In addition to the aforementioned magic spells, you can also gain transformations that make traversal much faster. One sees you turn into a Hellcat, much like the one you have at home as a pet, which lets you sprint across town at double speed. Another turns you into a bat, which improves your mobility by letting you fly over hedges and other barriers. Fortunately, these don't cost mana and serve as a worthwhile reward for playing through the story rather than just devoting yourself to the farmstead.
A truly staggering aspect of Moonlight Peaks is how many recipes and blueprints you acquire while digging, mining, and completing requests. Completionists and designers will love to keep building up their stable of possible dishes, furniture, and decorations, but the sheer number of these discoveries could somewhat cheapen them for someone who's more into the story and the relationships. There's a decent number of structures to build, tool upgrades, and even recipes to prepare from the outset, and through the process of completing quests you'll open up the devices and structures to create to your heart's content. In short, game's got a lotta stuff in it.
Moonlight Peaks is a life sim with a unique backdrop and a keen awareness of what makes these types of games appealing. The gothic vibes add freshness to a genre filled with replicas, and the transformations and spells, while not perfect, make for a pleasant complement. There's plenty to do on your monstrous homestead and a charming collection of neighbors into whose lives you can insert yourself, however much you choose. It's worth noting that stamina and mana meters can feel a bit restrictive, especially early on, and the purple tinged nights of the spring and summer seasons can grow tiresome. All in all, though, Moonlight Peaks is a delightful cozy experience that is built for fans of the genre and welcoming enough to newcomers as well.
Retro vibes, decent co-op options, but not much else.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/76094/dark-scrolls-switch-review
Dark Scrolls is an auto side-scrolling action game that shares DNA with a handful of 8-bit classics like Gauntlet, The Legend of Zelda, and Ghosts ‘N Goblins. Given that it’s a video game releasing in the year of our Lord 2026, you won’t be surprised to learn that it also incorporates rogue-like elements. With nine playable characters from a starting roster of three and both local and online co-op, there are some sound reasons to give this one a shot. However, the basic gameplay loop is fairly uninspired and rarely feels good given some awkward albeit novel conventions.
The game opens on an unskippable cutscene that yields background on what exactly your goal is: naturally, the titular dark scrolls, and the heroes who will be setting out to find them. To start with one of the annoying elements of Dark Scrolls, to ever secure one, you need to finish a run of the game and then start over with the object you acquire, essentially a key, so that you can then take a different path that will now be open to you. The map screen will be familiar to anyone who’s played Castlevania or Ghosts ‘N Goblins, but the procedurally generated stages lack the charm of those old school Konami and Capcom adventures. Having to replay the multiple stages in hopes of not dying once and ruining your run does not make for a very fun time.
I spent most of my time playing as the mage, who has exceptional range on their basic attack but deals less damage than the barbarian or thief. It wasn’t long before I unlocked a dog from a cage who became my fourth character, and added a nice bit of levity to the experience. The mage can perform a dash-type move to reach greater heights and damage enemies, but like the movement in general, it’s difficult to be precise; when you hit the top of the screen, you end up being pushed sharply to the side. Unlike developer Doinksoft’s earlier game, Gato Roboto, which was a smooth handling Metroidvania, Dark Scrolls feels clunky and unwieldy by comparison. I was intrigued by how different the unlockable characters are, but I wasn’t enjoying my time enough to want to acquire them.
Each character charges up a star meter by attacking enemies and bosses, with a full meter being able to activate a super move. The mage, for instance, gains a rotating shield of orbs that deflect projectiles and can deal continuous damage to nearby enemies; the thief can turn invisible to avoid detection for a short time. Coins dropped from defeated foes and treasure chests can be spent to purchase perks at the shop found within each stage, but the surprise comes from how the perks only activate as part of your star meter either being drained or filled, rather than at will. It’s an interesting system, but I found it hard to fully appreciate, especially how expensive the upgrades became in later stages.
While you only have a single life, certain mechanics do make it easier to make steady progress. For one, enemies sometimes drop hearts to refill your health, which you sorely need given how much damage you receive and how short your invincibility window after a hit. A third of the way into every level you encounter an enemy gauntlet where the stage stops autoscrolling and you need to clear the area of foes within a brief time limit. Surviving nets you precious coins, but wiping out all the enemies also opens up a cannon that lets you skip the middle third of that level, a fitting reward given the challenge inherent with a full clear.
However far your run goes, you also build up a score that gets translated into gems to spend in the sparsely populated hub town of Dark Scrolls. For a handful of gems, you can acquire new perks that get added to the in-stage shopkeeper’s pool, and let me tell you about just how crucial it is that you pick up game-changers like the heart fairy perk, which drops hearts periodically over a short period. You can save up 100 gems to purchase a new character, which is a tall task when a failed run might only net you three to five gems in total. A neat mechanic is that each character has their own achievements to work on, and finishing these tasks unlocks new optional upgrades just for them to use. I just wish these came with some kind of manual.
While there are multiple paths through the game, it does feel like an experience that's best enjoyed with a friend given that the minute-to-minute gameplay doesn't feel overly fresh or really pop aesthetically. It was never clear if what I had accomplished or spent coins on was going to carry over to the next run. A bit too much is left up to the player to figure out, and I would have welcomed a bit more transparency while I struggled through my first couple hours with the game. By the time I hit my stride, I was bored of fighting the same enemies and bosses over and over. Short bursts and co-op play feel like the best ways to enjoy Dark Scrolls. Even then, there's really not enough charm or polish to shine through an experience that references the classics without containing what gives them staying power.
Tales as old as time.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/76095/the-adventures-of-elliot-the-millennium-tales-switch-2-review
Square Enix's HD-2D art style has to this point been applied to the realm of turn-based RPGs, namely the Octopath games and Triangle Strategy. The Adventures of Elliot is not an RPG like those; it's a Zelda-like, adopting mechanics and conventions from a variety of classic Zelda titles. Fortunately, it also contributes its own unique flavor to a very familiar formula. Despite some repetitive moments and the Magicite system lacking depth, The Millennium Tales is an experience as enjoyable as many of those set in Hyrule.
Adventure is both the name of the game and the well-worn job title of its daring hero, Elliot. No task is too big for him, from rescuing stray cats, retrieving lost heirlooms, and sure, breaking a world-threatening curse. It's easy (and fun) to step away from the main quest involving Princess Heuria, who has the power to protect her kingdom from the surrounding, and encroaching, beast tribes. The relatively small map doesn't take long to cross, but when you discover that your journey takes you to the same world across four different ages, the possibilities and quests multiply. That said, it is a bit disappointing to see how similar the map is in each era, which often left me with a feeling of deja vu, particularly within dungeons and caves.
Different from a typical Zelda, it isn't always a new power or tool you acquire from the dungeons and ruins scattered about. Instead, it might just be an upgrade to your current repertoire of weapons or a heart piece to help bolster your health. On multiple occasions I would wander into a random dungeon and find that I didn't have what I needed to progress; at times, fairy companion Faie would even point out the futility of such excursions, which would push me to explore a new area or get back to the main story. In the first half of the game, I felt compelled to seek out designated temples that would give Faie new powers, reward Elliot with heart pieces, or even serve as a combat trial to increase your capacity for accessories. The designated temples are very reminiscent of Breath of the Wild's shrines and help to power up Elliot for the tougher challenge of the game's second half.
It's not before you acquire the base weapons in Elliot's kit, all of which have their own utility. Bombs, arrows, and a boomerang come as standard hero fare, but the spear, hammer, and chain sickle let players choose their own tool of destruction. Each weapon has a charged special attack that can put out extra damage and effect at the cost of leaving you a bit more vulnerable. The chain sickle and its constant whirling while charging was my preference, but I also loved charging the boomerang and watching it spin in place and whittle down enemy health bars. You can eventually find upgraded weapons, two-star and then three-star, in a variety of locations, and these are worth seeking out for a damage boost and some unique effects.
Another reward and currency relates to Magicite, not to be confused with Final Fantasy 6's crystals of the same name. In The Millenium Tales, Magicite functions as a way of further buffing each weapon and tailoring them to your playstyle, but most just raise your attack power, your crit chance, or your crit damage. The ones for the bomb weapon are a bit more interesting, like freezing enemies who come in contact with the bombs, but the game rarely challenges you to the point where the more novel Magicite are worth chasing or swapping for. You can spend money to raise the number of Magicite you can equip, but I rarely tinkered with my setup past the halfway point. While they do serve as a reward or incentive for exploration, I can’t say the experience would change much at all if Magicite were taken out.
Elliot's version of companion/guide Navi, the very chatty Faie, gains powers of her own, which mostly function as a way of solving different puzzles. Controlled with the right stick, she can catch fire to burn enemies and light torches, warp Elliot to her position, and allow Elliot to sprint by attaching herself to his back. Some of these abilities are more useful than others, and some are found so late into the adventure that I rarely used them. It's possible that completionists will find more utility in Faie's upgrades, but I might have been able to bypass some of these benefits by purchasing an accessory that allowed me to float. If a single accessory can skew the difficulty curve so much as to render your fairy companion obsolete, its inclusion may have been a mistake. It did help me roll credits in under 15 hours, though.
Don't be alarmed by my time to beat the game because multiple endings and hidden secrets compel you to look beyond simply defeating the final boss. Each town in the different eras is struggling with its own conflicts, in addition to their share of the main story. Whether it's a clan fracturing between magic users and non, or technology running amok, all of these issues fall to Elliot's capable shoulders. That's not to mention fully voiced sidequests that can be as heartwarming as heartwrenching, and even if the tangible rewards might not always seem meaningful, the narrative beats are well worth the effort. Who better than Elliot to help a musician improve their craft by visiting with a songwriter from a different time, or to pass the note of a soldier's final words to his family?
In under five minutes, Elliot can visit a forest, frozen tundra, desert, or swamp as each map hides more beneath than it does on the surface. Fast travel points are helpful, but almost feel a bit unnecessary, at least within the map of a single era. It wouldn't be a stretch to think of The Adventures of Elliot as evoking both Oracle of Seasons and Ages in a single breath. But whereas 2D Zelda games in particular can sometimes feel quite linear, The Millennium Tales feels incredibly open in terms of how you can spend your time. If you enjoy Zelda-style gameplay with lots of activities to complete albeit without a ton of distinct rewards and upgrades, the gorgeous aesthetic and soundtrack make for a memorable experience. The presentation and docked performance on Switch 2 are high points for the game, but I did encounter a softlock and noticed framedrops in handheld mode when taking on a larger number of foes. What doesn't work gameplay-wise is the repeated mini-boss fights, an issue made more painful because the unique major boss encounters are quite satisfying.
If The Adventures of Elliot become as numerous as the legends of Zelda, you'll find me a willing participant, despite the shortcomings of this maiden voyage. The inspirations are clear, but so too is the understanding of what makes for enjoyable minute-to-minute gameplay. The longer you play, the more the cracks begin to show, but the story manages to push you forward and the hidden plots beneath it make going out of your way an oft fulfilling detour. The red mage-looking Elliot has made a fan out of me, and if Link ever wants to take a break from stopping Ganon, Square Enix has a capable backup waiting in the wings.
Tomb Raider and SnowRunner, come on down!
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/75975/two-games-shadowdropping-on-the-eshop-today
As we've come to expect from a Nintendo Direct, two full games are shadowdropping on the eShop today: 2015's Rise of the Tomb Raider and 2020's SnowRunner.
SnowRunner had already been released on Switch in 2021, and now we have a dedicated Switch 2 version of the simulation game that also comes as a free upgrade for owners of the original.
Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration includes all of the previously released DLC and is the follow up to Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, which came to Switch 2 in 2025.
Two very different games, but is either one going to be joining your digital library in the near future?
One now and one this fall.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/75974/turn-based-rpg-fans-get-metaphor-and-more-deltarune
This morning's Direct presentation ensured that turn-based RPG fans were still eating good with Chapter 5 for Deltarune coming on June 24, which is just over a year since Chapters 1-4 hit Switch 2.
If Atlus' Persona and SMT series are more your style, Metaphor: ReFantazio was also announced for Switch 2, with a release date of November 12. A worthy follow up to those aforementioned games, Metaphor offers dozens of hours of dungeon crawling and challenging boss battles with some neat progression systems.
We'll have these two games and more to help tide us over while waiting for the eventual port of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
On the planet Bitter, it's hard to feel anything but.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/75485/starbites-switch-review
The RPG genre is rich with a variety of stories, systems, and styles. It's exciting when a new IP emerges that looks to make its mark in the space–let alone outer space. While no one can hear you scream out there, I'm confident that they would have heard my sighs and groans as I made my way through Starbites, an NIS America published, turn-based RPG that follows the exploits of a salvager named Lukida who yearns to leave her home, and mountain of debt, behind. Unfortunately, glaringly unattractive visuals and frustrating bugs make it tough to enjoy the solid combat and multi-faceted progression.
Protagonist Lukida is a plucky go-getter who aspires to secure her freedom after accruing an insurmountable debt on planet Bitter, with curmudgeon Fennec constantly reminding Lukida about her effective servitude. Fennec oversees the hub city of Delight, where the story begins, and a series of escapades see Lukida and her comrades Gwendoll (aptly named) and Badger (somewhat aptly named) explore the surrounding areas and encampments in pursuit of ever-changing goals. The motivations of the characters are puzzling, with the group at times cursing Fennec and her stranglehold of their society and at other moments feeling sorry for her. Later characterization helps with this to an extent, but the slow opening 10 hours are difficult to push through, for a multitude of reasons.
Compounding the narrative shortcomings are some of the worst visuals I've seen on Switch for an RPG of this size and backing. The words “muddy” and “faded” could be said to be effective choices for the desolation and dystopia that the people of Bitter live through, but it's the player that suffers as much, if not more, than the cast and their compatriots. From what I've seen in trailers and other footage and screens, other versions of Starbites are performing more admirably and looking sharper, but our Switch 1 review copy, in spite of being played on Switch 2 hardware, is genuinely tough to stomach. This is also coming from possibly the least sensitive staffer at NWR when it comes to things like resolution and performance.
For more than half of the game's 15 to 25-hour runtime, you'll be exploring a barren, lifeless desert, a space literally devoid of life save for a small encampment and a hidden hive of scum and villainy. Later biomes aren't much more intriguing. Even when you think you're done with the desert, it manages to pull you back in. The robot enemies you encounter are incredibly generic and far too difficult to tell apart. There's lots of treasure to find for the more intrepid, and helpful recharge pads every so often that refill your health and Talent Points (TP) and allow you to save, and you'll want to do this every time you see one given the crashes and softlocks that occur about once an hour, at least for me. A sore point, among many, in the second half of the game was when I spent all my money on weapon upgrades only to find basically every single one in a chest within the subsequent dungeon.
It's not all doom and gloom for Lukida and her pals; the combat system being reminiscent of Octopath Traveler's weaknesses and breaks is a welcome sight. Each character's basic attack is associated with a different element, in addition to all of their attacking special moves having their own affinities. By the end, everyone on the roster has the capacity to hit three or more different weaknesses, making every three-person party composition viable. Breaking an enemy also allows for a support character not in the active party to pop in for a few extra hits. Adding to the flexibility is the way levelling up earns you points to spend across three types of progression trees. You can focus on stats like attack power, HP, defense, or improving certain abilities, like making your healing moves cost less TP or be more potent. I'm always happy to see choice-based progression like this, allowing even more naturally offensive-inclined characters to be more stout or tankier characters more deadly. The mecha the characters control have some flashy moves, too, but performance can take a major hit during some of these abilities.
Another particularly neat element of the combat is the Driver High mechanic, which functions almost like S-Crafts from the Nihon Falcom Trails RPGs. As a character takes and deals out damage, their DH meter gradually fills, and when full, you can activate the Driver High to give that character a second turn, even jumping ahead of an enemy in the queue (if you're quick enough). In addition to a boost in strength, every character's special moves can gain new perks or elemental affinities. This adds another interesting layer of strategy in terms of timing when to use your Driver High to break a vulnerable foe or save a reeling teammate.
Where combat stumbles is in terms of the damage sponge bosses and the apparent punishment for being underleveled. Boss fights end up being fairly scarce overall, but I basically had to grind my way to victory after every first encounter with them. Even then, the game seems to force a reliance on items and attrition given how quickly you can run out of TP and need to recharge. In a few situations early on, I ran into routine fights with seemingly regular enemies where my normal and special attacks would miss more often than not, which led to some major frustration before I went back and leveled up some more. It's a very odd design to tie weapon accuracy, rather than raw damage, to a potential mismatch between your party level and that of the roaming foes, so be cautious about strolling into unfamiliar territory where your party members seemingly lose all hand-eye coordination.
There are plenty of fetch-questy side missions to take on if you need extra cash and items; some offer rare crafting materials and equipment, too. You're not always rewarded for your exploratory efforts, but occasionally you'll come across a game changing weapon that pushes you towards keeping a particular comrade in your party, as was the case for me with Gwendoll and her sniper rifle. Without a doubt, she put out the most damage of anyone on my roster, and so I used Lukida to keep the damage buffs flowing and Makobo to keep the enemies’ defenses in tatters.
It's not uncommon for an RPG to start slow and build to a satisfying climax and conclusion, and while the plot of Starbites does improve and diverge wildly in equal measure, the putrid aesthetic and repetition make for a slog of a time most of the way through. I did find Lukida to be an endearing hero, as she shares a number of close bonds that show how she has inserted herself into the lives of those around her. That said, inexcusable crashes and softlocks plagued my time with Starbites past the first 5 hours of the game, pushing me to the limit in terms of actually wanting to roll credits. When it wasn't the bugs and performance doing it, it was the repetitive, boring dungeons that nearly had me cast aside my controller. Sadly, Starbites neither aims high enough to get anywhere near the stars, nor does it have enough firepower to even breach the atmosphere. If you do somehow feel compelled to play it, leave the Switch version buried in the desert where it belongs.
Twin-stick shooting that transports you to a new plane of existence.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/75480/sektori-switch-2-review
If you combine the thrill of arcade-style high score chasing, the vibe of a pulsing dance club, and the visual spectacle of a fireworks warehouse explosion, you get Sektori, as addictive a video game as any I've ever played. At its core a twin-stick shooter, the elegant simplicity of its controls allows the full spectacle and impact of its aesthetic to take center stage. Sektori takes minutes and transforms them into hours, making it the closest thing to time travel that I've ever experienced, and what a trip it's been.
Across a variety of modes, you pilot a triangular ship called the Redeemer, which can be customized in terms of appearance as you unlock new palettes and propulsion effects. A couple other ships can also be unlocked. Once you've selected a suitable vehicle, jumping into the campaign mode gives you the first unforgettable taste of what Sektori is all about. Around you various enemy shapes materialize as your environment contorts and conforms into different sizes and designs, meaning you need to spend as much time shooting as you do moving to a new vantage point or safe space. Your only other move besides shooting is a short, straight dash that ends in a small explosion around your ship; this strike attack can save you from a tight spot or help you set off a chain reaction of strikes if you manage to explode or cut through a bomb token. Collecting enough pick ups from defeated foes allows you to upgrade your ship's capabilities, like speed and weapons, Gradius-style, and eventually you'll survive long enough to face a screen-filling boss.
Across three difficulty modes, the challenge ramps up significantly, but even the first setting offers a satisfyingly tough experience. Failure is often humbling, and I have no issue admitting that I’m not the best at twin-stick shooters, but the way in which each new attempt feels unique is a key incentive to make just one more run. The enemy patterns, progression, and music can and do switch up from run to run, and when you want a break from the campaign, additional game modes can hold your attention as much if not more than the campaign does.
Touching on each of the six extra modes briefly, we begin with Classic, which sees the playing field remain static while your score multiplier increases the longer you ignore the single token that upgrades your ship and recharges your shield. I love the relative simplicity of this mode and the stark risk-reward proposition of it.
Surge sees you flip flop between strong and weak forms as you try to last long enough to gather a new token and turn into a geometric super Saiyan for a few moments. Lots of enemies show up in short order, making for an intense race to score high and fast.
Gates is a mode that I shunned early on but that really grew on me over time. Your weapons and strike are disabled, and your objective is to fly through laser gates that gradually materialize on screen, causing a large explosion that gives you a little more breathing room. Tokens also appear to help you thin out the growing mass of enemies. I like the focus on maneuvering and escaping that feels unique compared to other parts of Sektori.
The aptly named Crash puts the focus squarely on your strike ability, namely a special triple strike that lets you dash and burn multiple times in succession. Essentially, you're striking around the map and chasing bomb tokens as they appear to ratchet up your score.
The wave-based Assault removes the randomness built into Sektori and presents you with the same enemy waves each time you play. That said, it may be the hardest of the extra modes given its 3-minute time limit and the quick ramp up in difficulty, wherein collecting the special green token advances you to the next wave.
Boss Rush is both an obvious choice of game mode to include in the bunch and also an obvious candidate for most challenging. It's great practice for the fights you face in the Campaign mode, and it lets you select harder variations of the bosses, often featuring an additional form to overcome, as you encounter them in the Campaign.
114 medals to achieve give added incentive to keep playing and to try out new builds and progressions, and online leaderboards for basically everything in the game make for a true arcade feel on a global scale. Even during the review period for this Switch 2 version of Sektori, I've pushed myself particularly in the modes I felt weakest at to practice and strive for higher scores. The variety of game modes give me the sense that players will also be able to find their niche and eventually carry over mastery in one gameplay style to others.
For some, seeing Sektori in action or hearing it be described might be enough, but I didn't “get it” until I had a controller in hand that eventually became sticky with sweat as I realized just how long I had been playing before taking a break. This is the logical evolution of classics like Geometry Wars, Resogun, and of course, Asteroids. And if you took any of those and added even more lights, colors, and a pulse-pounding soundtrack, you'd be within that heavenly realm that Sektori occupies. A true high-score chasing masterpiece in every sense of the word, Sektori is an unmissable addition to the Switch 2 library and an experience that I plan to stretch out for the rest of 2026 and beyond.
Love the nostalgia-fueled visuals, but I wish Jack wasn't such a mouse about town.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/75403/mouse-pi-for-hire-switch-2-review
We didn't all grow up with them, but black and white cartoons like Betty Boop and Mickey Mouse's Steamboat Willie never cease to tickle the nostalgia strings for a time long past. The runaway success of Cuphead can be partly, if not primarily, attributed to its retro cartoon aesthetic, and so games coming after with a similar art style were going to draw their fair share of comically large blinking eyes. Mouse: P.I. for Hire arrived with a bang, fired from its hardboiled protagonist's pistol, but it's all boomer shooter in terms of the minute-to-minute gameplay. While the visuals and voices continually captivate, the narrative loop of driving to a new area and then returning to the office turns to stale cheese after half a dozen hours.
As private detective Jack Pepper, you work towards solving a growing web of capers spreading across the city of Mouseburg. The plot sees Jack encountering a variety of friendly and seedy folks who offer banter, side missions, or information, and the voicework of Troy Baker as Jack and then the rest of the cast bring the world and its furry denizens to life. The writing is genuine and intriguing, helping to make you feel transported to its crime noir setting. Of course, the fact that nearly everyone you meet is a mouse, rat, or shrew gives the dialogue a contrasting irony that works well.
With a new lead in mind, Jack hops into his automobile and rolls around town to the next unlocked destination, which includes an opera, a subway, a laboratory and others. The stages are quite linear aside from a couple hidden secrets or areas, but I wish the incentive to explore were stronger. Of the hidden cash, ammo, and blueprints you find, only the lattermost feels meaningful since they allow you to upgrade your weapons. Completionists will have fun seeking out all the baseball cards, newspapers, and comic strips to collect, but these can also be purchased with the extra cash you pick up. The baseball minigame that uses the cards you acquire didn't do much to hold my attention, and so back to shooting bad guys I went
The shooting gameplay feels pretty good overall, with a decent variety of enemies and weapons. The boss fights are particularly engaging and pretty tough, and I found myself wishing there were more of them because of how they offered a more novel encounter than the repetitive loop of the stages and their “kill room” design. One involves dodging a robot's rotating laser beams and then ducking behind bulletproof glass to avoid an even more devastating blast. Along the way, Jack does acquire a handful of movement abilities, like a propeller tail to float across gaps and a grapple tail to swing on hooks, but these felt gimmicky rather than additive. One use of the mouse tail I did look forward to was the lock-picking minigame attached to some locked doors and loot boxes, some of which involved a time limit or a set number of moves. I also have to shout out the Devarnisher weapon for its ability to make quick work of enemies by coating and then disintegrating them, often with a single shot.
There's a sweet spot in terms of length for a game like this, and Mouse: P.I. extends a bit too far into golden time such that the returns are diminishing. Because of the overworld and individual stages, the narrative is tasked with giving the game cohesion, a task that is largely successful. The flip side of this equation is that the stages themselves are less memorable because of how they play out in such a similar way. The ones that end without a boss fight always felt like a letdown, a feeling of “That's it?” Fewer, more intricate stages, or possibly fewer trips back to the office with more story doled out each time would create a more consistent experience.
Mouse: P.I. for Hire contains an excellent 6 to 8-hour game that's trapped in the body of a good 10 to 15-hour game. Despite its memorable, eye-catching art style, the lack of color ends up being another factor that makes the length less sustainable. Fortunately, excellent performances from the voice cast and compelling writing give Mouseburg a charming character all its own. Solid first-person shooter gameplay and unique bosses make it easy to recommend for fans of the genre, especially those who don't mind the extended experience. Switch 2 players may particularly enjoy mouse mode, a fitting way to play, but there is some stuttering in Performance mode, which aims at 60 fps. If you love a good trenchcoat-clad, heat-packing hero with a wit as sharp as his cheese, go ahead and hire this mouse to take a sharp-toothed bite out of crime.
If you miss biting your NES controller in anger, have I got a game for you.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/75208/saint-slayer-spear-of-sacrilege-switch-review
Surely I'm not the only one whose childhood NES controllers took an absolute beating during sessions of Ninja Gaiden 2, Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link, and Ghosts ‘N Goblins. Should you find yourself in search of such classic challenges, look no further than Saint Slayer: Spear of Sacrilege, a game that looks and plays like it's straight outta the ‘80s. Choose any of the aforementioned titles and throw in a dash of Castlevania and you'll know exactly what to expect from this stage-based action-platformer, but some frustrating design choices make it as much sacrilege as saint.
As former soldier Rudiger, your gore-soaked mission is to save the Holy Roman Empire from Father Pacer, a man wholly consumed by corruption. Across 21 side-scrolling levels, you disembowel and dismember all manner of cursed creatures and spirits, with Rudiger gradually upgrading the titular spear and his physical abilities. The slow walking speed and stiff jump mechanics can make traversal and platforming harder than it needs to be, and this problem is compounded by the fact that the stages have no checkpoints and death sends you all the way back to the beginning of the level.
The largely melee-focused combat feels good, and after gaining the ability to throw your spear, you can pick up power-ups to change its effect as a projectile. What's less enjoyable is that you only get three tosses until you find a rare item to increase this limit, and so unlike in a Castlevania where you can rack up dozens of hearts to fuel your sub-weapon-centric dreams, you'll more often want to hang on to your spear toss charges for tougher enemies or bosses. That said, I did appreciate how plentiful the health pickups were, because boy did I need them.
Saint Slayer never gets too close to the notoriously punishing Silver Surfer for NES, but there were moments when I experienced comparable feelings of rage at some of the obstacles. The boss fights are a cake walk compared to the different environmental hazards, narrow jumps, and randomly appearing enemies. Because the bosses are their own stage, it's great to be able to quickly retry them when you lose a life, or via the in-game password menu, but only a couple were memorable, like a librarian that protected herself with books in a fight reminiscent of Mega Man's Yellow Devil. Some more novel moments included an entire level where you need to propel a gondola forward by striking its gear, all the while fending off airborne foes on both sides.
A baffling element of Saint Slayer is a merchant and her tent that appear in every non-boss stage, something normally seen as a very welcome sight. Instead, from very early on, you realize that the currency the shop requires is incredibly rare, such that spending it on purchases like health or even a continue would be wasteful compared to a hint for the game's collectible artifacts or an increase to your life or spear stamina meters. I ended up never using the shop once but can see how it would be more helpful on return playthroughs as you work towards unlocking the game's multiple endings.
A couple of aesthetic aspects hit hard in terms of blending nostalgia with more contemporary vibrancy. Nods to the aforementioned NES games and others show reverence but also play with those classic conventions. It's clear that Saint Slayer is having fun with our expectations of the genre. One specific example is in the rotten fish that can pop out of breakable torches, causing Rudiger to puke his guts out and lose a point of HP. Another is in the way your old corpse can appear right where you gave up the ghost, both taunting you and perhaps reminding you to tread more carefully. The map screen that pops up every few stages is a clear homage to Ghosts ‘N Goblins, and I'm a sucker for all of it.
Pushing through some of the more devious sections, I felt a sound sense of accomplishment in rolling credits on Saint Slayer: Spear of Sacrilege, in all its alliterative glory. In more ways than one, it's not for the faint of heart, but those seeking a retro-style challenge in 8-bit packaging will very likely enjoy the ride. While not all of its design choices land flush, the overall journey makes for a fun afternoon. A co-op mode made me wonder whom I might subject to this punishing experience, but once through was enough for me to hit my cursing quota for the year.
A music-themed RPG that definitely hits the notes, both high and low.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/75100/people-of-note-switch-2-review
From Publisher Annapurna Interactive comes turn-based RPG People of Note, which dials up the volume to 11 with its musical theme, wordplay, and score. As protagonist Cadence, who aspires to bring her pop music to the world, you have to travel the world of Note to bring a band together from different musical genres to help Cadence eventually take center stage. Across a variety of environments and cities, Cadence and her crew fight not only to realize her dreams but also to ensure that Note's peace and music survive. I just wish I had a better sense of who the bad guys are.
The story and voiced dialogue, including full music video-style performances, start slow but rise closer to a crescendo as the adventure progresses. I wasn't sold on the heavy purple and neon theming of the game's first chapter, but the color palette shifts with each new environment, which imbues the world with more life than the fairly flavorless NPCs manage to offer. As the cast grows, I had hoped to see more emotional beats among them, but only a handful ended up sticking with me. One pair I did enjoy was that of your first primary partner, Fret, and his old buddy-turned-nemesis Freq (or Quincy, get it?). The second major area of the game, a desert landscape, sees Cadence looking to recruit someone with a different flavor of music compared to her pop stylings, and after some convincing, rocker Fret joins the team. The first shared objective for the pair is to root out the trouble afflicting Fret’s home, which leads to a confrontation with Freq and a charged walk down memory lane for the pair of guitarists.
My impressions were more pronounced for the dungeons, combat, and progression. People of Note largely plays the same beat throughout its runtime when it comes to its plot line, with a city visit, key character encounter, and then a dungeon dive as the order of operations. Familiar button and switch puzzles offer some light brainteasing in conjunction with a handful of out-of-combat abilities. One of the more interesting mental tests is puzzle battles that require you to eliminate all enemies within a set number of turns; these essentially require perfection and thus a mastery of your party members moves and the combat system itself.
The turn-based battles involve a number of neat quirks that employ musical staff, including time signature, stanzas, and bars, which represent turns and can be manipulated by your party and the opposition. My relatively lapsed knowledge of musical composition put me at a bit of a deficit; People of Note throws a lot at you in short order, and I did find myself perusing the tutorials from the menu as a way of trying to figure out what was holding me back. Fortunately, if and when you do lose to one of the damage-sponge bosses, you can quickly grind a few levels for your party with the generous EXP awarded and the ability to summon a random encounter at the press of a button.
Unfortunately, even though there are timed button presses for attacks and special attacks and all of the musical presentation elements, the combat drags. Other than powerful mash-up moves that become available once a pair of characters have their meter filled up, it just takes too long to do the way too much damage needed to secure victory. Winning a fight feels more like it depends on your stats/level and having the best gear than it does effective strategy and decision making. The lack of timed defense is an odd omission, and the way that certain rounds benefit some party members over others feels like an unnecessary complication. There are some genuinely good ideas around the battle system, but the end result is more of a cacophony than a symphony.
Although it may strike a chord with those who really love its theme and aesthetic, People of Note plays it a bit more monotone than I had hoped. The few high notes aren't able to fully compensate for the safe storytelling and narrative design, and the combat waffles too much between tedious and novel. That said, I couldn't help but feel taken by the game's commitment to being a music-themed adventure; constant puns and shake-ups to the combat mechanics gave me a genuine sense of joy. There wasn't enough momentum, however, to sustain those positive vibes, and I was left wanting to just roll credits in double time rather than slowing down the beat and soaking it all in.
A heartfelt journey through gorgeous natural environments.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/74916/kena-bridge-of-spirits-switch-2-review
Kena: Bridge of Spirits is one of only a few former PlayStation exclusive titles to make their way to Nintendo, but this one waited specifically for Switch 2–and for good reason. Its lush forest environments, especially during rainy sequences, look amazing, and it's hard not to stare at the breathtaking art and scenery of the game as you make your way through. While the gameplay of Kena serves it well enough, the heart of its story and the beauty of its visuals are the real standouts.
Kena is on a journey to find a sacred mountain shrine and comes upon an abandoned village that has been overtaken by corruption. By collecting little (oddly named) Rot spirits, she can manipulate the environment and even turn the tide of battle in order to bring balance back to the world. Gameplay will be familiar to fans of other PlayStation 3rd-person action titles like God of War and Horizon Zero Dawn, with Bridge of Spirits being lighter fare but with some of the same challenge, both in terms of puzzles and combat. There's lots to collect in terms of the Rot themselves, hats for them to wear, and currency to upgrade Kena's abilities.
Across a medium-size map, Kena will encounter spirits and other humans who guide her towards eliminating the corruption that has blocked paths and disrupted life in the village. Armed at first with just a staff and the ability to use her Rot to ensnare enemies and open up paths, eventually she acquires a bow, expands her health meter, and adds powers like creating a healing flower. Five difficulty levels allow players to customize the experience, but even the default setting offers a good challenge across many of the boss encounters.
Careful observation of your surroundings is needed to complete puzzles and figure out how to move forward. While your trusty map does indicate points of interest, including warp stones, each new section of the world brings with it new obstacles to navigate. Sometimes you'll need to command your Rot followers to pick up a stone to create a pedestal from which you can activate spread out beacons to open a door forward. When the bow is eventually in hand, you can use it to shoot certain flowers to hookshot you up to higher ground. Activating pillars in a particular order or defeating waves of enemies before purifying the battleground are a few more of the sequences you'll encounter, all of which culminate in a familiar but enjoyable romp.
Where Kena stumbles just a bit is in terms of its controls, movement, and repetition. Another Rot mechanic sees the lot of them transform into a dragon-like entity that you guide with one stick while controlling Kena with the other, and these moments never felt responsive or satisfying. At other times, there are ledges, hills, and platforms that it feels like you should be able to traverse, but instead the game just pushes you away, forcing you to find another way around. Even though the aesthetic of Bridge of Spirits is quite attractive, the forest spaces do blend in with one another, making me wish for a bit more visual variety, in spite of how beautiful these places are.
There are some truly heartfelt moments that Kena witnesses in her journey to the sacred mountain shrine. One of these involves a pair of children who serve as guides to you early on as they search for their older brother. The conclusion of their story arc was one that genuinely choked me up, all the more so because the cutscenes are so evocative and gorgeously animated. Changes between day and night time throughout the game contribute equally to it being in moments ominous but also tranquil. The balance that Bridge of Spirits manages to achieve in terms of tone is an impressive one.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits had long been on my radar as I held out hope for a future Switch port. It took the power of the Switch 2 to make that a reality, but there's no doubt that the fidelity of the visual experience was worth the wait. Bridge of Spirits isn't overly unique in its gameplay, but it compensates for that with a charming story and beautiful environments. Even in handheld mode, the game holds up well and the charm remains intact. Kena: Bridge of Spirits doesn't outstay its welcome, and with luck it will continue the practice of what were once PlayStation exclusives finding a home on Nintendo platforms.
A brick breaker that breaks new ground.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/74917/chicos-rebound-switch-review
Chico's Rebound is a charming Brick Breaker-style game with adventure and puzzle elements. It starts off with simple stages that will be familiar to any Arkanoid player, but the difficulty and variety ramp up quickly, making for a satisfying challenge overall. While its retro presentation harkens back to the days of the NES, the tweaks to a familiar genre make Chico's journey feel unique.
In 2025, Ball X Pit took Brick Breaker gameplay and added roguelite progression to it; Chico's Rebound opts for a multi-floor tower with individual stages, boss fights, and puzzles you need to solve to progress. There's an initial approachability that makes it easy to get hooked in, but very quickly the bricks you need to break turn into patches of grass to be burned, seeds to be watered, and bombs to be detonated. By the third floor, I was already scratching my head and needing a few retries to finish every level.
The signature mechanics of Chico's Rebound distinguish it from other Brick Breaker clones, and these include the ability to gather Chico's ball (or walnut, in this case) and aim it wherever you choose, and the power to swing your tail to ricochet the ball so that you can keep the play going and potentially build up a score multiplier, which you'll need to do in order to keep exploring the tower.
There are four types of currencies to collect, two of which allow you to keep moving up and up the tower. Keys won by solving puzzles act as intended, but each level also allows you to earn up to two coins that open up new stages and boss doors, with one coin awarded for simple completion and the other for reaching the high score target. Nearly every target score requires that you take advantage of an aforementioned mechanic: namely, the fact that the longer you keep the ball from getting past you, the higher your score multiplier (to a max of 10x). In a tough spot, you can also perform a desperation leap to try and prevent the walnut from slipping behind you and costing you one of your three lives. Optional gems open up bonus stages that really test your abilities, in addition to your patience, and the plentiful sunflower seeds you gather can be spent on cosmetics to change the appearance of menus or even Chico's walnut.
The boss fights are genuinely novel and exciting, requiring all of the skill you've built up and mastery of the power-ups you encounter. One such fight takes place on a desert tile set against a skeletal octopus, and you need to alternate between water shots that grow plants and fire shots that ignite them and leave the boss vulnerable for a few seconds. Another tasks you with knocking a bomb-tossing villain off a ledge while contending with an ever growing wall of bricks that seek to shield him. It may actually help that you effectively need to have shown enough aptitude for the game to have earned two coins in most levels to unlock the boss doors because you're gonna need that practice. One of the later bosses had an annoying bug where a grinding sound would continue to play if you failed the fight and had to restart, but that was the only real issue I encountered during my time with the game.
One look at Chico's Rebound tickled the 8-bit nostalgia strings of this ‘80s kid, but I found a surprising amount of depth the more I played. There's a light story and some cute characters, but these are window dressing for a challenging and satisfying block-breaking adventure that doesn't overstay its welcome. Even if you're only lightly interested in the genre, Chico's Rebound is a standout that's well worth a look.
