Knowing that I would be spending part of PAX West with some close friends, I was in search of a multi-player focused demo for the four of us to check out. When Devolver Digital reached out about a specific coverage opportunity that checked that very box, I couldn't rightly refuse to check out an upcoming game from one of my favorite publishers. The title in question was STARSEEKER: Astroneer Expeditions, and even though I am not overly familiar with its predecessor with whom it shares a universe, my pals and I happily bopped around the co-op focused world before completing our task and being whisked away off planet.
The demo situated us right in the middle of the action, with an objective marker to head towards as we gradually figured out the controls and our capabilities as space station crew members. Filled with vibrant and pastel-shaded colors, we worked to achieve our first task of reaching the relay station. Much of the fun came not from getting to the station but from bouncing around the world and playing with the different equipment we started the demo with. My tool could be used to deform the ground to create pits or tunnels or in its alternate mode could shoot a blast of air or energy to propel enemies (or maybe friends) forward; another friend could shoot water from his kit to clean off goop disrupting our progress or coating important objects. I was left with no choice after we had finished all of the demo’s main tasks but to use my gear to launch my teammates off the mountain we had scaled. It’s this type of freeform, emergent gameplay that Starseeker appears to revel in.
After exploring the relay station, our next goal became the retrieval of a missing sensor array, which fortunately wasn’t too far away. Of course, the mission wasn’t going to be over that easily, and so our true test came from scaling a nearby mountain while one of us brought the array all the way to the top. Our squad had to work together to ward off enemies, create a tunnel that had to spiral gradually upwards toward the summit, and carry the array along this path. The temptation for mischief was ever present, but we managed to resist long enough to get the equipment up the mountain and activated, which signaled the conclusion of our work. All that was left was to traverse another short distance to our nearby shuttles. Equipped with gliders reminiscent of Buzz Lightyear, we took a leap of faith and slowly made our way down to the final objective marker. Attempting to snatch away our victory at the 11th hour was a rocky creature, but our combined efforts were enough to push it away so that we could make our escape.
The simplicity and freedom of the PAX West demo was one of my major takeaways, and it felt like I had only scratched the surface of what could be a really fun but maybe less stressful co-op experience. I dare use the term “cozy” here, but loosely I think it fits: the cartoonish visuals, the abundance of color, the relative ease with which we could escape danger. I can see the potential in Starseeker for an online multiplayer experience that I return to in large or small bursts for the purpose of chilling with friends and losing ourselves for a while on strange planets in a connected universe. I’m excited by the prospect of a more lowkey, less pressure-filled adventure with friends, and in 2026 we’ll be able to see and learn more as Starseeker: Astroneer Expeditions prepares for launch on Switch 2.
Did they add unmove to the battle system? In all seriousness, that is the sole issue I care about regarding if I get it or not. If they added it, day one buy. If they didn't add it, I won't even touch it.
From what I remember of the demo, there was an option to undo your movement, but wait for our final review for confirmation of this. I'll make sure it's mentioned in our coverage.
I have to admit: I’m a sucker for these HD-2D remakes of the Dragon Quest games, and I’m more than ready for Square Enix to sell me everything up to Dragon Quest 11 at least one more time. Having reviewed the mobile port of Dragon Quest 3 when that came to Switch, playing through the HD remake version last year absolutely felt like a breath of fresh air, and it was good news following good when it was also announced that the first two DQ games would also be getting the HD-2D treatment. Spending about 25 minutes with each game during my final demo appointment at PAX West, my body is definitely ready for more of Yuji Horii’s classic turn-based fun.
In Dragon Quest 1, the Hero now has access to scrolls that bestow additional spells and abilities, and one result of this is that you have to be prepared for battles against multiple foes. One of my strongest impressions about the game was just how much more cinematic and lively it is compared to earlier versions of the game, as evidenced by the opening scene of the demo where a conversation was taking place between townsfolk and a swindler peddling the thief’s key. The added horsepower of the Switch 2 made the game look impressive and run incredibly well, and I even encountered an old friend from Dragon Quest 3 who thought he could get away with stealing the aforementioned swindler’s prized possession.
Dragon Quest 2’s inclusion of a new playable character, Princess of Cannock, was the most interesting aspect of my time with Dragon Quest 1 + 2 HD-2D Remake. The only downside to this portion of the appointment was just how punishingly tough the lighthouse dungeon was, which saw me running from more than half of the random encounters. The Princess appears to be similar to her brother in terms of being part fighter, part spellcaster, but she’s billed as more swift and seems to have a wider selection of offensive magic, rather than healing spells. Even with an additional party member, I was unable to fully complete the demo, eventually falling to the final boss. Had I my own thief’s key and a few more hours in the day, I would have stolen into a locked broom closet, grinded out another couple levels for my characters, and gave that lighthouse-guarding fiend the beating of a lifetime.
I was truly living the RPG life with headphones on and enjoying both early Dragon Quest games on the Switch 2. It’s funny to recall the experiences of playing Dragon Warrior and its sequel on NES, or the original dual-pack for the two games on Game Boy Color, and then compare them against Dragon Quest 1 + 2 HD-2D Remake. The attention to detail and elements like spell effects and the vibrant and colorful towns add so much depth and beauty to the game, without undermining the way beloved RPGs can enthrall with gameplay, systems, and story.
With Dragon Quest 3 being such a massive adventure, especially when put side-by-side with the first Dragon Quest, it wouldn’t be wrong to have some concern about the value proposition of Dragon Quest 1 + 2 HD-2D Remake. Does 1 + 2 actually equal 3 in this case? From what I’ve seen so far in terms of how DQ 1 and 2 have been elevated and rejuvenated, the answer is crystal clear. If you’ve ever enjoyed a turn-based RPG, the creation of HD remakes for some of the most important titles in the genre is something to celebrate, and this is going to be the best way to access them. Their release date, October 30th of this year, is one I already had circled on my calendar, and my hands-on time with both pretty much confirmed what I’ll be doing while sneaking pieces of my kids’ Halloween candy.
The second demo opportunity during my Square Enix PAX West appointment was for Octopath Traveler 0, and I went into this one with the strongest mix of trepidation and excitement. My original concern was that this was a mobile version, Champions of the Content, being brought to life on consoles, but in just under an hour, I can admit that such a concern was all but washed away. The new town-building mechanics combined with the familiar exploration and combat seem to make for a winning combination, with a few slight reservations.
Left to my own devices, I spent the first 10 minutes or so playing around with the town building, which involved a series of largely empty plots that I could erect houses, shops, decorations, and a variety of path materials. It wasn't until returning to the town later in my session that I could better understand the progression and purpose of reconstructing the town; a character freshly recruited could be installed as a shopkeeper, for instance. Going a bit deeper, that new citizen's shop would expand with additional equipment and items based on contracts I could find in the world, eventually expanding to carry in his shop products from many different stores found in the cities of Orsterra. The possibility of not only enlarging the town of Wishdale and its population but also the potency of their trade is an enticing prospect.
The second portion of the demo took me to the town of Sunshade, with which you might be familiar if you played the first Octopath Traveler game. Dancer Primrose’s starting location, Sunshade was a place where I could reacquaint myself with the series’ signature path actions, convincing, enticing, or persuading people in town to provide information or perhaps something more material. Here I also found the objective of my mission, a merchant named Ludo. I didn’t have all of the context for needing to find this individual, but conversing with him revealed our goal of bringing a merchant to Wishdale, so that we could boost trade in the town as part of our rebuilding efforts. Of course, Ludo had a request of his own: he asked us to clear out a group of lizardmen plaguing a nearby trade route. Doing so would prove us worthy of his services, so off I went.
Exploring the town and then the areas surrounding it felt very familiar as someone who finished Octopath 1 and 2. The dungeon didn’t take long to reach, nor did it take long to navigate, but a new element was particularly intriguing: elite enemies. Guarding a chest was a large sandworm that I could see on screen and choose to challenge or avoid. This particular foe put up more of a fight than the boss of the dungeon, but I was told that there are different tiers of elites, with some needing you to come back later to be better prepared to take them on. A war of attrition, the sandworm fight eventually saw me emerge victorious, and shortly after I found the lizardmen Ludo charged me with eliminating.
One of the major additions to Octopath Traveler 0 is in combat, where you bring a team of eight to the fight instead of the usual four. There are a score of interesting dynamics at play as a result. For one, you can freely swap between individual front row characters as soon as their turn comes up, which can be particularly helpful in trying to break enemy defenses by hitting their various weakpoints. For another, allies in the background recover some HP and SP at the end of each round of combat, allowing them to soothe their wounds for a spell. As was the case in the first two games, your team gain action points (AP) with every passing turn, and these AP can be cashed in to make up to four total actions in a single turn; your backrow teammates also gain AP at the same rate, so you can deploy them strategically, perhaps against a defenseless boss, to dole out major damage. It stands to reason that having eight characters in battle is a bit more demanding than four, but the strategic possibilities are all that more plentiful in turn.
Octopath Traveler 0 appears to be playing with the tried-and-true formula established in the series that built upon the foundations of Final Fantasy and Bravely Default. Playing on a Switch 2 in handheld mode felt incredible, with smooth performance and attractive HD-2D graphics looking great on the console’s larger screen. I was a bit skeptical early on in the appointment because of a rudimentary feeling to the base building, but when Ludo joined the town and I could see how his offerings would grow over time, I was definitely intrigued by the potential of rebuilding Wishdale. While I had hoped to gain a better sense of the overall story, I left having only checked out some of the party chat moments and the interactions between the protagonist you create, a comrade named Phenn, and Ludo, so I do want to learn more about what’s going on in this prequel and how it informs Octopath 1. For certain, though, my appetite has been whet, and I’m ready for more, of the soundtrack especially. Octopath Traveler 0 comes to Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 on December 4, 2025.
I never owned a PS1 myself, but a close friend down the street did have one, and that’s where I first played both Final Fantasy 7 and less than a year later, Final Fantasy Tactics. To say that I was smitten with both is an understatement, but it was the challenge, story and customizability of the latter that stuck with me for years. While I enjoyed them, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and A2 didn’t quite hit in the same way, and so I’ve eagerly awaited a new incarnation of the series. More than just another in the long line of Square Enix remakes and remasters, Final Fantasy Tactics - The Ivalice Chronicles feels like a worthwhile release for this classic turn-based RPG, which hopefully inspires a true sequel sometime down the road.
During PAX West 2025, I had the opportunity to demo a handful of upcoming Square Enix RPGs, the first of which was The Ivalice Chronicles. When the game was first revealed, my initial impression was one of slight disappointment; I had hoped for a more full makeover for the almost 30-year-old title. Having a chance to go hands-on with it forced me to change my tune pretty quickly. For one thing, the added voice acting imbues the gravitas of the main story and its individual character moments with an even greater depth and resonance. An early example of this was the scene involving Ramza’s father on his deathbed, where the voice actors truly accentuated the drama and grief of the moment. Another standout from the demo was the work of Paul Panting in the role of Gaffgarion. I’m excited to see this compelling narrative brought to life through the efforts of its capable voice cast.
The enhanced, modern version of Final Fantasy Tactics that is included in the package appears to offer a faithful but polished experience. While it doesn’t include the War of the Lions content, there is added flair and presentation elements that will be welcome to both newcomers and veterans. A small introduction scene plays whenever a guest character joins your party, and something similar happens when an ally turns traitor, which was fun to see. The menus, world map, and combat environments are all easier to navigate in terms of controls and appearance. A new fast-forward mechanic makes it easy to speed through character dialogue and more importantly the battles with perhaps foregone conclusions, like the random encounters that can pop up when traveling between map points. Given that I’ve played through the game multiple times, including on PS1 and via the PSP version on Vita, I’m pleasantly surprised that this 2025 release manages to feel fresh and contemporary within a much more crowded tactical-RPG genre.
I recall with frustration the lag and slowdown that plagued The War of the Lions release on PSP, and so it’s already a fairly big win to see how smoothly Final Fantasy Tactics runs on modern platforms. My demo included time with the PS5 version and the Switch 2 version in handheld mode, and the experience was absolutely comparable on both, particularly in terms of performance. I’m expecting that Switch 2 owners won’t have to make any major sacrifice if they want to take the game on the go.
I didn’t have time to check out the Classic Mode included with The Ivalice Chronicles, which uses the mechanics and graphics of the original 1997 release but with The War of the Lions script and an added auto-save feature. However, what I could play of the Enhanced Mode has absolutely pushed Final Fantasy Tactics - The Ivalice Chronicles higher up on my list of fall and winter games-to-play. It reminds me of taking your favorite blanket out of the dryer on a cold day; it’s comfortable, warm, and familiar, but it also manages to feel like new. Best of all, we don’t have long to wait before we can get our turn-based, job class swapping fix. The Ivalice Chronicles launches on September 30th on Nintendo Switch and Switch 2.
A surprise re-emergence, the follow up to 2019's Daemon X Machina, Titanic Scion, was shown off at the April Nintendo Direct earlier this year. Again developed by Marvelous, the open-world action sequel follows a pilot who crash lands onto a world referred to as the Ground and effectively becomes a mercenary for a resistance group. While the gameplay loop genuinely grew on me, the bland environments and uneven performance put some rust on this mecha.
Despite a decently compelling set of antagonists in the Neun, with whom the hero shares a complicated background, Gameplay remains the obvious focus of Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion. After an awkward, red-saturated start, the experience opens up a fair bit once you enter your main base and are introduced to all of the ways you can progress your character. Specifically, you are given a customizable Arsenal suit that can be adapted to suit your playstyle, with quicker melee weapons like a laser sword or heavier ones like a combo-less mace. Your suit's other hand can hold a second melee weapon or better yet a ranged piece like a machine gun or assault rifle. Add to that a shoulder mounted missile launcher and you've got a recipe for mechanized disaster.
By defeating enemy Arsenal or other foes, you can loot their remnants for new gear to upgrade your current holdings or sell for money. An interesting aspect of the looting mechanic is that you can only choose a single piece to take with you, even if there are multiple items available. This is true even at the conclusion of boss encounters. The result is that such decisions, coupled with a fairly dense introduction of gameplay systems, can be overwhelming or confusing. You could choose to read all of the tips and tutorials or just pick it up as you go, and either path should eventually lead to steady progress. Some of the major boss fights against evil military group the Neun require you to change up your accessories and strategies, and it is fun to figure out what works best against these tough opponents.
The Fort and its underground Base serve as your hub for acquiring and completing missions, talking to NPCs, and outfitting your Arsenal. You'll return here often with the currency you've earned, gear you've acquired, and minerals and materials you've harvested. Fast travel points make it easy to head out into the world to achieve your objectives, like escorting an NPC or destroying a specific target, and then quickly return to base before taking on the next mission. There isn't always major fanfare between main chapters in the story, so it can be difficult to discern exactly when one ends and the next begins, giving more credence to the notion that the narrative of Titanic Scion takes a backseat to the world and what the player chooses to do within it.
One of the most enjoyable aspects of the sequel is jetting around the world in your Arsenal. From almost any point on the map, you can engage your thrusters and float or blast through the air towards your next destination. Spending time opening up fast travel points and supply stations by flying from The Fort reminded me of Xenoblade Chronicles X and also BioWare's Anthem. The combat itself can be clunky at times, but the joy of movement largely makes up for it. The side missions are a bit repetitive, so I didn’t end up completing too many of those, but there is a colosseum where you can climb the ranks in 1 on 1 battles, which ended up being a good way to test out different builds and earn some spare parts.
There are other ways to improve your character based on specific materials you find in the world, especially after encounters with bosses and mini-bosses called Immortals. It feels like there are a number of options in terms of customizing your character and their Arsenal, but understanding the hows and whys does take some time. One specific system involves taking biological pieces back to a lab and altering your character’s genetic make up to bestow new weapon techniques and passive buffs, and as neat as this was, I either didn’t harvest enough of what I needed to get more moves or didn’t upgrade the lab enough for it to make meaningful changes.
With Titanic Scion coming to all major platforms, while also being a Switch 2 specific release, taking note of how it looks and runs was a key objective for my time with the game. In short, the Switch 2 performance definitely leaves something to be desired. Frame drops and hitching are common occurrences, especially during combat, and for an action game that is trying to be faster than its predecessor, such issues are hard to ignore. The performance did improve with a day one patch that was applied during the review period, but there’s still some work to be done in this area. Even though it’s far from unplayable, a smoother, more stable performance could really help Titanic Scion shine.
Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion has a neat premise and fun ways of customizing your character and your Arsenal to meet the different combat challenges found in its world. It’s unfortunate that the world itself feels lifeless at times, with repetitive enemy encounters and side missions. The best moments are when you come across a gigantic Immortal that you just know will require the combined might of co-op partners, be they real or NPC, but you make a solo attempt anyways, only to be smashed to pieces, which is a humbling experience. Those interested in online multiplayer will be glad to know that the whole campaign is playable cooperatively, but I did not have a chance to check out the cross-platform multiplayer for myself, and I am concerned that online play could further compromise how the game runs. If you’re not afraid of a bit of jank and some performance hiccups, Titanic Scion offers a good time in short bursts. That said, the cracks begin to show through a little more during longer play sessions, and ultimately the sequel appears to have taken only baby steps ahead of its predecessor.
During PAX West 2025, I was fortunate enough to get into the always busy Nintendo booth, which was showing off demos for five upcoming Switch 2 games. Among them was the much anticipated open-world RPG, Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition, finally coming to a Nintendo platform and available for portable and TV play. Both demo configurations started at the beginning of the adventure, with character creation. For each 15 minute session, I chose a different class and went in a slightly different direction as I tried to get my bearings after not having played since the base game launched. Of course, I lost to the tutorial boss immediately so that I could put the game through its paces on Switch 2, and not at all because I'm a filthy casual who rarely defeats these FromSoftware staples.
With the Switch 2 console in my grubby mitts, my first impression was that this had to be an improved version compared to what we saw coming out of Gamescom, and I did get confirmation that the PAX West demo was based on a new build of the game. While it's clear from comparing the handheld and docked that a sacrifice is still being made to go portable, the experience felt perfectly serviceable; I could totally see myself bringing Elden Ring to bed for a few more minutes of exploring its vast lands prior to sleep taking me. My demo involved fighting a handful of spear-toting soldiers before descending into a nearby mine to check out the visibility on the smaller screen. It was really dark and hard to find my way around, so it's worth considering how the more enclosed spaces could feel particularly tight when playing on the go.
On the TV, I activated a few Sites of Grace and ran straight to Melina to acquire Torrent and roam about on horseback. It was a smooth ride through and through. After messing around with some mounted combat, I headed towards Stormveil Castle to fight the boss, Margit, knowing quite well that this was a test of the Switch 2's capabilities and not my own. The performance and visuals reminded me of my original playthrough on PS5, with the Switch 2 version perhaps being a slight step down from that. Again, I didn't get the sense that I would be making a major sacrifice to play Elden Ring on Switch 2.
There were some hiccups during my session, more so when playing off TV. Frame drops were present but not to a burdensome extent, and were most noticeable on my way through Storm Hill, the windy, enemy-filled path up to Margit. Pop-in was almost non-existent, even with distant objects like trees, and sprinting and jumping with Torrent looked and felt good, at least until I was knocked off my mount by a ballista bolt. There's still time for work to be done on this version of Elden Ring, so I'm hopeful that Switch 2 owners will be playing a near definitive edition that also holds up to comparison with other platforms. Perhaps not entirely gone, my fears about the performance of FromSoft's open-world Soulsborne entry are mostly allayed, and genuinely I'm eager to get more time with the game closer to launch, which is still currently scheduled for sometime in 2025.
Thanks to Marvelous, we had an opportunity to interview series Producer Kenichiro Tsukuda as we quickly approach the launch of Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion. Below you'll find the questions curated by Jordan and the responses from Mr. Tsukuda.
Q: Compared to the first Daemon X Machina, Titanic Scion is launching on much more powerful hardware, including PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2. How have those platforms guided your design and development process?
A: These days, game development is done on PCs. Regardless of the available console hardware, we first develop the game on PC before bringing it to each platform. In this regard, there are now fewer challenges when moving from the relatively unrestricted PC environment to the more controlled console platforms.
Q: What was learned from player reception during the development of and after the release of Daemon X Machina, and how is that knowledge being applied to Titanic Scion?
A: We’re often able to find the solutions to challenges the team face through examining the actions of players. We learned of the importance of being able to choose between solo play and online play, and that there are more players who prefer co-op over PVP. We enhance what already works, and try to improve, rather than remove, elements that don’t work as well. You’ll see the results of some of these learnings later in our DLC rollout.
Q: How do you balance freedom and player customization with crafting compelling story beats and a satisfying narrative experience?
A: We strive to prioritize gameplay, even over story. Although each player may have their own unique preferences for what they want out of a game, the one thing I make sure of is that our game is fun, as players are spending their hard-earned money to play our game. An interesting story is great, but you can also get an interesting story from a movie, anime, or novel. Gameplay is what sets a game apart from other media.
In Titanic Scion, we maintained story depth found in the previous game, while simultaneously narrowing story scope. I also want to mention that we strive to prioritize characters over story as well. A story exists because characters exist, not the other way around. Therefore, I want to make the characters as appealing and satisfying as they can be. That said, sometimes as a player you need to defeat other characters in order to get new equipment and items. That’s part of the fun of games, after all.
Q: Are there any influences from outside of video games that are relevant to Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion? Put another way, would fans of a particular TV, anime, book, or other media property be particularly attracted to Titanic Scion?
A: I think people interested in the field of science in general, fans of novels by James P. Hogan and Isaac Asimov, and those who enjoy science fiction media will all find something they like. In terms of manga and other media, Titanic Scion is also influenced by Shotaro Ishinomori, who often depicted the sorrow and conflicts of non-human beings. Additionally, we built our game world based on various theories about the formation of the Earth and planets. In terms of anime, we were inspired by Gundam, among other properties. As for superheroes, we were inspired by Iron Man. With Titanic Scion, I set out to create something that appeals to all fans of mech and mech-adjacent media.
Q: We always like to end interviews with a fun question: What is your favorite video game of all time and why?
A: I usually don’t answer these types of questions because I feel it would be disrespectful to our development team if I answered with anything other than our own games. However, given the challenges I’ve faced in life recently, I’d like to make an exception this time. The video game I’ve enjoyed the most is Nintendo’s Brain Age. While I enjoyed playing it as a child, it was only as an adult that I had the opportunity to play it with my beloved parents. I truly enjoyed that. Unfortunately, I’ve lost that opportunity in recent years. I now aspire to create games that can bring people together in a similar way.
Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion launches on Nintendo Switch 2 on September 5, 2025.
As someone who discovered indie games a little later, having taken a bit of a hiatus from PC gaming, I was not familiar with OFF prior to a definitive version being announced for consoles. A quirky, minimalist, turn-based RPG, OFF will feel familiar to fans of Undertale and Earthbound (the Magicant portion in particular). I can appreciate how OFF inspired indie RPGs and other titles since its original release in 2008, but its value seems to derive more from its historical significance than its gameplay or narrative.
After naming your unseen player observer, you are introduced to the primary character you control, the Batter. On screen, outside and inside of combat, the Batter does the talking and of course the swinging. You can eventually acquire three other entities to join you in combat, and these take the form of circles referred to as Add-ons that each have their own abilities. They serve no other purpose than to aid you in battle, however. Fortunately, a kooky cast populates the different areas of the game, and the brisk, linear adventure doesn't wear out its welcome.
Your objective is to purify the handful of zones the world is divided into by ridding them of spirits, which range from funny-looking ghosts to more grotesque monstrosities. Along the way, you encounter puzzles that frequently take the form of inputting numbers into a telephone keypad-like setup. In many situations, what you see isn't always what you get, and so it's important to talk to everyone and be aware of small details and changes in your surroundings. An arrow here or an innocuous box there and you'll have the hints you need to progress. One neat example of this is one Lost Woods-type place where you can reorient a building's entrance by taking the path around it and to the left, which pops you back out to the right of the building, except its entrance now takes you to a different floor or wing.
The turn-based battle system is fairly standard, with meters beside your foes and under your characters that indicate when each member will be able to make their move. The Batter has a number of healing moves and bat swings, but the new abilities he unlocks are generally just more powerful versions of earlier ones. The Add-ons have slightly more interesting moves, like inflicting status effects, bestowing buffs, or hitting for a random amount of damage. Experience points allow your party members to level up, and currency earned from battles can be spent to acquire better gear. Intrepid explorers are rewarded with more potent equipment that helps with some of the tougher battles, but as someone who has played his fair share of RPGs the last 30 years, I never needed to grind or backtrack to achieve the first of OFF's multiple endings.
I'm not able to speak to how OFF compares to its 2008 release, but according to the press materials, it features “an all-new battle system, balancing improvements, as well as new areas and hidden bosses from the game’s creator, Mortis Ghost.” I was honestly expecting a more challenging experience overall, but the hurdles I encountered were much more from the puzzles and story than the combat, so fans of those elements will be better served here. I would imagine that anyone who played and enjoyed the original release would get a kick out of revisiting the 2025 edition to see the changes firsthand.
OFF is among the curios of independently developed video games that appears to have had a noticeable impact on the indie landscape. It's worth playing as a reminder of how far smaller, more unique RPGs have come in the last two decades, but its gameplay and story aren't captivating enough to warrant a full recommendation. While I respect how its niche-ness is part of its identity, you really need to value that aspect prior to diving in. My overall impression is that I'm happy to have experienced it and glad to have another piece of video game history on the Switch eShop. But once I've turned it OFF, I'm ready for something with more meat on the bone.
Shadowdropped as part of the most recent Indie World presentation, Tiny Bookshop is a quaint and simple take on the shop simulator genre. It doesn't take too long to figure out how to play, but it's difficult not to feel like the cover of the book might be more interesting than the contents.
The premise is that you operate a travelling bookshop in the form of a trailer attached to a small car. Each day you travel to a different location to hock your wares, but before that you need to stock your shelves with color-coded genres, like fantasy and travel, to entice the would-be patrons in that setting. Along the way you encounter specific characters who will make conversation with you, providing narrative tidbits about themselves and sometimes offering mini objectives to complete.
Depth comes in the form of items that you can use to adorn the bookshop or decorate the exterior, some of which need to be activated to have an effect. What's frustrating is that many of these items offer both an advantage, like increasing the likelihood of selling a particular genre, but also a downside, like raising your day-to-day operating cost or reducing interest in other book genres. The single-digit percentages associated with these items make their usage even more inscrutable. The simplicity of the gameplay is undermined by these item mechanics.
It's enjoyable for a little while to see the numbers go up and down as your profits soar and your inventory dwindles, but there's so little variety in the main loop that I didn’t feel compelled to discover all of the areas and associated characters. As a background game for the cozy-inclined, it offers a fairly passable experience, but Tiny Bookshop is far from a page-turner.
During the July Partner Showcase, Nintendo announced that one of the best RPGs on Nintendo Switch, Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven, would be getting a Switch 2 upgrade later today at a cost of $9.99 (USD). See the image to the right for the 1.1.0 release patch notes. There's a demo on the Switch eShop if you've yet to check it out, or you can check out our review of the game below.
We were also reminded about the fairly imminent launch of Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles, coming to Switch and Switch 2 on September 30. The upcoming remaster features added voice acting, new difficulty modes, and the ability to review story beats to keep up with its weighty narrative.
Live a mouse-y life in 3D adventure game Hela, coming to Nintendo Switch 2 in 2026. Against a realistic forest background, you guide a witch's familiar on a quest to collect ingredients for their mistress to brew, while using your froggy backpack to swing across gaps and pick up items. Playing solo or with up to four players in online co-op, Hela's charm factor was off the charts. Stay tuned for more coverage of the game next year.
Square Enix entered just in time to drop two HD-2D bombs at the end of today's Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase. First up was an action-RPG coming in 2026 to Nintendo Switch 2, The Adventures of Elliot: The Millenium Tales, which also has a demo dropping on the eShop today. There was also the promise of a follow-up survey for players to send in feedback about the demo. Protagonist Elliot, accompanied by his fairy partner Faie, can switch between multiple weapon types and solve puzzles by controlling both characters.
Not to be outdone, Octopath Traveler 0 was also revealed, a prequel set before the events of the first Octopath Traveler and launching on December 4 on both Switch and Switch 2. Unlike previous games in the series, you create your own character here and seemingly work to restore a village after it was destroyed in a blaze. The trailer ended on a shot showcasing many more than just the signature eight characters that would form your party in the first two games, so it will be exciting to learn more about how this next game diverges even further.
ISLANDERS: New Shores is a follow up to a 2019 release of the same name, minus the subtitle. It’s a cozy, chill puzzle game about building up an island with cities, lighthouses, shaman huts, woodmills, and other structures in order to earn as many points as possible so that you can move on to the next island. Because there’s no in-game timer, you can take as long as you like to position each structure and object to make it fit just so and rake in the most points. The pleasant tunes and charming, minimalist presentation make for an experience that’s both easy to lose yourself in and easy to recommend as lighter but enjoyable fare.
New Shores begins with a tutorial island that provides a straightforward demonstration of the mechanics but less of the nuance, which is left up to the player to discover. Essentially, you construct buildings on an island and typically next to related structures to earn more and more points. You begin new islands by choosing from a pack of two building set cards, such as Brickmaker Pack and Seaweed Farm Pack, and sometimes a unique building for the particular type of island you’re working with. From those initial structures, you start down a path of needing to continually earn enough points through building placement to level up and earn a new card pack. Along the way–an addition to the New Shores follow-up–you can also unlock special boons that have effects such as awarding more points to your next construction act or allowing you to copy one of your buildings at the cost of a temporary penalty. Once you’ve earned enough points on a single island, you can choose to move to the next one, or stay and go for the highest score and level possible before moving on.
After choosing to advance to the next island, your overall score for the previous one is tallied up and multipliers are awarded based on elements like how many boons you activated and how few undo’s you used. From there, the cycle repeats anew as you choose from a pair of islands with their own climate and special structure. What I’ve described so far is the High Score Mode of ISLANDERS: New Shores, but there’s also a Sandbox Mode for those who want to flex their creative muscles on an island space of their own design. In Sandbox Mode, you can customize the island size, climate, shape, and more before choosing from all of the structures the game has to offer.
Playing on Switch 2, I experienced a fairly smooth performance with only some light stuttering when trying to make subtle movements in positioning my buildings. There’s also an occasional stickiness when trying to move structures around before placing them, which is frustrating given how often you’ll be making subtle movements to see how many points are awarded before ultimately choosing where to drop your houses, fields, saunas, and breweries. It does feel like a game that would benefit from the Switch 2’s mouse mode, but at the time of review this was not an option–and to clarify, New Shores is considered a Switch 1 release.
The slightly more detailed and enticing menus and buildings of New Shores made me fall a little harder for it than I did the original ISLANDERS. You still retain your overall score from island to island to shoot for a position atop the online leaderboard, and that “one more run” feeling is as strong as ever given the simple gameplay and the constant dopamine drip of numbers going up and card packs unlocking. ISLANDERS: New Shores is almost certainly going to enjoy a lengthy stay on my Switch’s home screen as a way to settle into bedtime vibes at the end of the night. It’s a fun, approachable puzzle sim that should hook fans of the original back in while also bringing even more people to these chill island settings.
Tamagotchi Plaza was revealed during the March 27th Nintendo Direct earlier this year, announced for Switch and confirmed for Switch 2 as well. Now, I haven’t owned or used a Tamagotchi since the late ‘90s, but I can appreciate that the brand still has its fans and there’s even connectivity between the game and the modern Tamagotchi Uni toy. That said, the simplistic, repetitive gameplay on offer in Tamagotchi Plaza represents a far cry from the joy of raising a digital pet, and it’s a hard sell no matter how you feel about the brand.
The premise of Tamagotchi Plaza is that you are trying to get the king to award the Tamagotchi Fest to Tamahiko Town, which is where you find yourself. After providing your name and birthday, you select a Tamagotchi assistant to serve as your avatar as you walk around and visit the various shops to help them out and earn money and reputation for the town. At times, the prince will come by to offer encouragement and signal that you are making progress towards the town’s goal. By helping each shop to succeed and grow more prosperous, you increase the chances of Tamahiko Town winning the bid to host Tamagotchi Fest. Unfortunately, some frustrating choices make such an objective one that I can’t imagine many players will have the drive to complete.
For one, none of the mini-games that you play at the dozen shops offer any sort of tutorial. There may be some brief feedback given during each one or at the conclusion, but typically you’re left high and dry as you attempt to discern what the game is asking you to do. Some of the activities, like the sushi restaurant, the glasses store, and the manga studio, are particularly in need of an explanation or demo that would showcase how to succeed in their tasks. For another, you are neither punished or rewarded monetarily by how well you perform in the mini-games. A one-star rating yields as many coins as a three-star rating, and it’s hilarious to hear the light scolding from the shop owner or customer as you still charge them the same 30 to 60 coins for a job poorly done. If you earn enough three-star ratings from customers, you get an opportunity to spend your coins to upgrade that particular shop.
From your mayoral-looking home base, you can select a different avatar Tamagotchi, upgrade the four centralized park spaces of the town, or check on the town’s chances of scoring the Tamagotchi Fest, which increases at a snail’s pace. The progress is all the more glacial due to the repetitive nature of each mini-game, and really they’re all that Tamagotchi Plaza has to offer. You can “collect,” and I use the word loosely here, over 100 different Tamagotchi, and each new one appears in a journal with updated photos of them as you have further interactions. Only sometimes can you even elicit any type of dialogue or reaction from them, and so the enjoyment comes only from their appearance in town and any familiarity you might have with them from things like the Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop games on Nintendo DS.
For a high point, the Switch 2 performance of Tamagotchi Plaza is solid, with no noticeable issues during my playtime outside of a tiny bit of pop-in. There are a couple of mini-games that can be enjoyed with a second player in local co-op, and the sushi restaurant actually forces you to use the Joy-Con 2 in mouse mode, which is both fitting but also a fairly miserable affair. If activities like making and serving sushi don’t drive you mad, the cutesy but grating sound effects likely will.
Tamagotchi Plaza isn’t an experience I would recommend on Switch or Switch 2, and I struggle to find many redeeming qualities outside of its colorful world and quirky-looking citizens. The mini-games are much more often boring, repetitive, or inscrutable than fun, and the gameplay loop becomes recognizably thin within the first 30 minutes of the game. From what I’ve seen of the DS titles, there’s more charm and incentive to revisit or play through those than this modern reincarnation. While I’d think that younger players might be able to get into Tamagotchi Plaza, the lack of mini-game tutorials/directions is certain to push them away instead. No amount of Tamagotchi nostalgia would be enough to make this plaza a place you want to visit.
Ruffy and the Riverside is a 3D action-adventure with an open world to explore and solve puzzles in. There's dozens of items to collect and a delightful sense of play as you control the titular Ruffy, a bear who looks not unlike a Star Wars ewok and has the power to alter his surroundings. The charm and pace of Ruffy's journey work well, but there are some frustrations and jank can sometimes put a damper on the experience.
Ruffy's world of Riverside is threatened by an ominous cube that wants to destroy everything in sight. It's up to Ruffy to become the chosen hero and collect a series of letters to activate the world core and save his home. The world is divided into a major hub and smaller areas within it, not unlike Super Mario 64's castle and individual painting levels. Along the way, you'll encounter a host of colorful characters and all manner of unique and tricky challenges–one of which is the annoying ladders that usually have to be climbed right down the middle to successfully reach the top.
Much of the gameplay centers on Ruffy's ability to absorb one material, object, or color and then swap it with another. While some puzzles will have more obvious solutions that employ this mechanic, others involve some (or much) trial and error. It's a wonderful feeling when you solve a puzzle that had taken you 5 or 10 minutes to solve, but I encountered multiple situations where the solution was either less obvious or only appeared after I had exhausted all of my options and just kept hitting everything around me or retracing my steps. Like with many puzzle games, if the design clicks with you, you'll probably have a better time. This wasn't always the case for me, though, so your mileage may vary.
The controls can take some getting used to, with Ruffy having a lot of speed but less precision. There's enough platforming that this becomes an issue at times, and compounding failure is a checkpoint system that can sometimes send you back an annoying distance, which forces you to redo the same puzzles or surmount the same obstacles over and over. Coins you collect can be used to purchase heart containers to boost your life meter or costumes to change Ruffy's look, but I actually liked being able to spend them on the occasional puzzle solution so that I could more quickly progress through the game.
Just to give some context for the puzzles you encounter, some of the early ones require that you swap the water of a waterfall with climbable leaves from a nearby wall or change stone pillars in the ocean into wood so that they'll float horizontally and serve as more effective platforms. In the pursuit of the Riverside letters mentioned earlier, you often have to traverse multiple smaller spaces before you can find the letters, and some of the challenges thrown at you end up being simple repeats of ones you've already done. Being tasked with completing a symbol matching exercise once is fine, but having to do two or three in a row can feel like busywork.
The sound effects and music are light and funny, pairing well with the humorous design of Ruffy himself, in all his dancing glory. The hand-drawn visual design of the environment inspires a sense of both simplicity and vibrancy, with lots of bright colors juxtaposed with sharp edges and basic structures and objects. There's a good amount of comedy in the writing, but the introduction/tutorial is a little verbose and could be pared down.
Ruffy and the Riverside is a delightful adventure whose charm takes precedence over its jank and repetition. It performs well on Switch 2, which is where I reviewed the game, and has a lot of content for completionists to sink their teeth into. Some of the puzzles can be frustrating or obtuse, but the unique swapping mechanic makes for a fun departure compared to other 3D action-adventure experiences. It may be a bit Ruffy around the edges, but this Riverside is one that I was happy to dip my toes into.
Hungry Meem is part real-time strategy, part simulation and tasks you with feeding little monsters called “Meems” and slowly expanding their village and holding feast events to grow the World Tree at the center of their home. Through the use of an on-screen cursor, you select areas, activities, and Meems in order to gather materials, construct buildings, and feed these odd-looking creatures. The in-game tutorials aren’t quite as effective as they could be, and so it’s not a bad idea to lower the difficulty level early on before you fully get your bearings.
The World Tree functions like a dungeon that houses the materials you need to scavenge in order for the Meems to survive and thrive. By picking up and moving a storage bag, you can guide your Meems to forage for sticks, food, vines, and other items. Your first challenge is to use the giant cooking pot in the village to craft snacks so that your Meems don’t lose their nerve while scouring the World Tree. It turns out that cookies and other snacks you’ll eventually be able to produce are vital for your success; when a Meem’s mental health reaches zero, they bug out and will start dumping the goods you’ve acquired from your bag and generally ignore everything they’re supposed to be doing. Of the three parameters you need to monitor–hunger, physical health, and mental health–the latter seems to be the most vital, at least early on when you have fewer mechanisms to raise it up.
When you return from a successful dungeon crawl, your hard-earned gains are thrown in a general storage area for you to use on cooking, building production, or individual Meem requests. One of the main ways that you make progress in Hungry Meem is by completing the tasks assigned to you by an omniscient statue named Tohren. After you’ve gone through a dozen or so such quests, you’re invited to throw a feast for the village, and this increases the level of the World Tree, which in turn opens up new areas of the dungeon for you to explore. Along the way, you’ll have the opportunity to grow your village’s population by having two Meems mate with each other to produce an egg that you can incubate and even assign specific learned skills from the parents to the offspring.
The overworld map also grows as you collect specific construction materials from Tohren quests and inside the World Tree, so the exterior and interior both gradually expand over time. That said, the gameplay loop doesn’t seem to change a whole lot, and the challenge is more focused on acquiring the materials you need to throw the next feast and keeping your Meems hale, hearty, and sound of mind. In terms of visuals, the presentation and menus are fairly lackluster, which makes the grind a little less palatable. The sound effects range from bizarre to unpleasant, and so most of the aesthetic part of the experience lands on a sour note.
Hungry Meem reminds me a little bit of Pikmin except clumsier. The zoomed-in dungeon perspective makes it difficult to position the storage bag so that the Meems will act how you want, but even then they can struggle in a multitude of ways, like eating the foods you want to bring back because they’re hungry little Meems. Much like raising toddlers and kids who seemingly have bottomless stomachs and insatiable desire for snacks, so too do the Meems that you rely on to progress forward in the game. This means that you are constantly juggling enjoyable but fleeting moments and frustrating considerations, and the end result is one that’s hard to recommend. It’s a little fun once you figure out how to get what you want from it, but Hungry Meem takes a bit more than it gives, and ultimately it serves up a feast that filled me up after just a few courses.
A single glance at Survival Kids would not be nearly enough to make the connection back to the 1999 Game Boy title of the same name, and from the same publisher, Konami. The Game Boy release was a punishing, non-linear adventure that focused on real-life, stranded on a deserted island type gameplay. On Switch 2, however, we have a family-friendly co-op puzzle game that plays well, if not a little too safe. Different in a lot of ways, the two experiences do share an emphasis on crafting, and taking pages from Overcooked and Moving Out makes the 2025 game a bit more than meets the eye.
The premise sees a group of kids discover an old treasure map that sets them on a path towards adventure, but a storm leaves them stranded on a series of islands situated on the backs of giant turtles. After customizing your character, the first island functions as a tutorial for the primary mechanics like chopping wood, light crafting, cooking, and fairly simple puzzles. The difficulty ticks up slowly but really not to a point that I would consider daunting. Breezy platforming and dragging and throwing objects across pits or to ledges round out the gameplay loop. You have a stamina meter that drains quickly when you carry or climb anything, so you need to cook food to raise your energy level.
It's clear from the outset that Survival Kids is designed around two things: cooperative gameplay and younger or less experienced players. There is a lot of built in repetition of simple tasks and a lot of handholding from the in-game narrator, in addition to a constant waypoint nudging you in the right direction, which can fortunately be toggled off. Those looking for a more rugged, complex experience may be bored halfway through the game's four regions and stages that can take over 25 minutes to finish, but even playing mostly solo I developed an appreciation for how Survival Kids was introducing this popular genre to newcomers. The gradual adding of new crafting recipes and the repetition of specific mechanics like elevators and stamina requirements are sure to foreground incredibly common features in other video games, like Breath of the Wild. An interesting note about the co-op is that trees and rocks take longer to chop on your own compared to solo play, which encourages working together while simultaneously discouraging players from dividing and conquering.
What may entice more seasoned players or those who want to play with their younger kids are the stars awarded in each level for finishing under a certain time threshold and finding the carefully hidden treasure stones. It is worth noting that the timer display is toggled off by default, so check out the main menu options before diving in. Two-player co-op on a single Switch 2 splits the screen vertically, with two people also able to join up online with a lobby code. What should be a definite selling feature of Survival Kids is its ability to use GameShare, one person per console, to broadcast the game to two other Switch 2 or even original Switch consoles, for three-player co-op. I was able to try two-player splitscreen and GameShare to my Switch OLED, and both of those setups fared well.
Survival Kids has the potential to be a gateway for both of my kids, who are still early in their gaming journeys, to more advanced and challenging puzzle, action, and co-op video games. In-game achievements, various fruits, veggies, and fish, and more than two dozen hidden glyphs provide reason to revisit stages over and above earning more stars (which you'll need to unlock some of the end-game content). While veteran players will almost certainly derive more multiplayer enjoyment from Switch 2 launch titles like Split Fiction or Fast Fusion, Survival Kids provides fun for the whole family, and it plays that role to a T.
Bravely Default finally came to North American 3DS systems in early 2014, and it marked another in a long line of impeccable turn-based RPGs to grace Nintendo's last dedicated portable system. The launch of the Switch 2 has brought with it Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster, and it’s been a joy to revisit one of my favourite RPGs from the last decade or so. That said, the 3DS version was so tailored to that console and its features that the HD Remaster does feel like it lacks some of this charm, but that shouldn’t hold you back from playing through another solid Square Enix offering.
Bravely Default follows the journey of four heroes working to restore the faded crystals of their world: Luxendarc. The cast is largely likeable–the milquetoast Tiz aside–and grows together over the course of the adventure, and the villains they encounter have their own unique personalities and stories that make the side quests as worthwhile as the main story, both from a narrative and a gameplay point of view. The dungeons and overworld may lack character, but the city spaces are particularly attractive, although some of their pop-up book charm was lost in the transition to HD.
One of the standouts of Bravely Default is its turn-based battle system, which was adapted for the Octopath Traveler games. In Flying Fairy HD Remaster, you can Default (or defend) to store up charges to use in future turns. The Brave action allows you to cash in these charges to act up to four times in a row, making for a very engaging risk/reward mechanic. Many of the boss encounters turn into puzzles where you need to not only figure out when to Brave and Default, but which job classes and abilities to bring into battle. It’s not uncommon to have to adjust your party and strategy in major ways ahead of the more prominent boss encounters. Even the asterisk battles that allow you to earn new jobs can pose a noticeable challenge and can require a similar amount of customization before you can claim victory.
As you progress, your party of Tiz, Agnes, Edea, and Ringabel level up as characters but also earn job points to improve their prowess across more than 20 different job classes. You can even carry with you the primary ability of a second job class to pair alongside your current job, in addition to a handful of learned passive buffs from any of the classes you’ve dabbled in. It follows then that there is generally some required grinding as you level up your jobs to make them more powerful and effective, and the encounter meter is a helpful tool for this work. Initially, you can set it to one of four rates: 50, 100, 150, or 200%. It’s a bit annoying that in order to unlock further rates (such as 0% and 400%), you need an accessory that can be acquired by cashing in tokens earned from the two new mini-games added to the Switch 2 release, but these both require using the Joy-Con in mouse mode and aren’t terribly enjoyable.
One of the primary changes, as the title of the game implies, is that the graphics of Bravely Default have been made HD, and there’s a sharpness to the world and everything you see it in that I would characterize as clean. That said, the character models being in HD doesn’t do them any favors given their plain, empty faces; in that regard, the 3DS was better at doing them justice. Other additions include a Heal All function from the equipment menu, recommended character levels (displayed as a range) for each dungeon, and the ability to fast-forward event scenes. The city rebuilding mini-game from the original release is here, but the charming Streetpass functionality has been replaced with spirit NPCs who show up randomly in towns and can be added to the population of Norende (Tiz’s destroyed hometown) to assist with the construction efforts. The aforementioned Switch 2 specific mini-games are Luxencheer Rhythm Catch, which sees you moving both Joy-Con around to activate notes in rhythm game fashion, and the more involved Ringabel’s Panic Cruise. The latter sees you steering the airship through rings and engaging in ship battles as you manipulate various switches and mechanisms from the airships cockpit. Each mini-game feels like just an easy way to add in Switch 2 functionality and likely won’t demand much of your time unless they really hit for you or you want to collect more of the tokens to spend on extra items and equipment.
It’s imperative that I give a shout out to the soundtrack, because it’s incredible and filled with memorable tracks. The ones that play when you activate special moves in battle are among my favorites, but the whole set is worth listening to. Outside of the optional Party Chat segments, most of the dialogue is voiced and adds a nice depth to the at-times heavy story. There’s a nice balance between levity and humor, often surrounding Ringabel’s womanizing, and the dire plight of the world and its inhabitants.
Having finished Bravely Default multiple times on 3DS, it’s safe to say that the primary experience and story are intact with the Switch 2 release. If you’ve never played a Bravely Default game, this is a decent way to do so if you happen to have a Switch 2 and not a 3DS–although you can buy a secondhand 3DS and Bravely Default game for much less than the cost of Nintendo’s newest console. The visual upgrade is nice on the whole, but I personally prefer how the characters looked on 3DS, and how the cities and towns popped off the 3DS screen. The inability to set the encounter rate to 0 from the outset is a bit disappointing, and the added mouse-focused mini-games don’t offer much in the way of entertainment. Nonetheless, any turn-based RPG fan worth their salt needs to be able to say that they’ve played Bravely Default, and Flying Fairy HD Remaster represents a fantastic way to christen your Switch 2. If you’ve already played it through once or twice on 3DS, my recommendation is a little less resounding.
Announced as part of Summer Game Fest, Mina the Hollower has a fitting release date, October 31, 2025. The gothic theming of the title and bone-chilling difficulty seem a perfect match for the spooky season, and we can't wait to finally sink our teeth into Mina's mouse-y adventure this fall.
While you wait, check out our most recent PAX West impressions of Mina the Hollower here.
Nintendo has a history of knocking it out of the park with their console pack-in games: Super Mario Bros with the NES, Tetris with the Game Boy, Super Mario World with the Super Nintendo, and of course Wii Sports with the Wii. Riding the high of the Switch's success, Nintendo had the courage to release a standalone product called Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, which straddles the line between charming curio and glorified instruction manual.
One way to sell consumers on a new video game console, especially one that's backwards compatible with your previous one, is to advertise all of the new bells and whistles that it has, and this seems to be the primary aim of Welcome Tour. The goal is to collect stamps from multiple areas of a model version of the console that represent its various parts, like the controller buttons, the console fans, and the dock ports, and doing so allows you to explore the next part of the console or the next peripheral. On each section there are info tidbits to peruse, requisite quizzes that test that knowledge, and mini-games to play, which shine a spotlight on the Switch 2’s new features and improvements. One of these is a more pronounced and effective HD Rumble, but many of these games focus on the added mouse controls. I was pleased to learn that using the Joy-Con like a mouse is quite seamless, even if the armrest of my recliner didn’t serve as the best test surface for it.
It’s equal parts understandable and frustrating that Welcome Tour’s breadth means that you won’t be able to complete all of the mini-games present without owning a compatible USB camera or the new Pro Controller, as those two sections each contain an activity that requires said peripherals. That said, the mini-games that require more than the Switch 2 console provides out of the box are minimal, and I was able to see most of Welcome Tour had to offer in my time with it. Adding to the title’s longevity are medals that you can earn from the mini-games to open up activities throughout the different sections of the game. A number of these trials are timed and so you can shoot for improving your high scores when you want to take a break from working towards exploring every part of the console and controllers.
My primary impression of Welcome Tour is that it’s more robust than I had initially expected, and it provides a comprehensive, hands-on experience with all of the upgrades offered by the Nintendo Switch 2. I’m eager to return to the game in small bursts to finish off more advanced versions of the mini-games I’ve unlocked, while also being a good student and “studying” for the numerous quizzes that help you learn about the new console and features. Just as the name implies, this tour lingers and doesn’t overstay its welcome. However, it does feel like it may have served as a very effective pack-in title, perhaps just outside the pantheon of those I mentioned earlier. I get it, though: in a world where many don’t have the patience for or interest in multi-page manuals, Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour fills a role. Ultimately, I come away with a better sense of the capabilities of my new Nintendo console, and that at the very least helps ease the pain of my poor wallet.
Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma seems designed for those who enjoy farming games but don't like the built-in waiting and potential tedium that the genre has standardized. Instead, this side game to the main Rune Factory series throws a well placed curve ball that allows players to divine both their own water sources and the pace of their adventure. There's more to see and do in the world of Azuma than might be apparent initially and up to even halfway through the experience, and what ended up standing out the most was the freedom I had to live my Earth Dancer life as I saw fit.
After choosing your male or female protagonist (Subaru or Kaguya), birthdate, and difficulty level, Guardians of Azuma doesn't quite start at the beginning, as it relies on a bit of flashback to reveal more and more about the amnesiac player character's background. Rather, you're pushed right into tutorial mode, and the process is a smooth and effective one, guided largely by your sidekick Woolby, whose reactions made me laugh on multiple occasions. It takes only an hour or two before most of the major features of the game will be second nature, and what ends up being the case is that the larger story takes a bit longer to emerge while smaller matters and exploration buoy the first half of this action RPG, farming hybrid.
The gameplay division into three separate but related segments represents that player freedom I alluded to earlier. If you want to sink your teeth into farming and raising livestock, you'll be rewarded with the produce and funds to power up your character and your inventory of restorative dishes and beverages. The sacred instruments you acquire can really speed things up by helping crops grow faster or making watering or harvesting your fields a snap. Another element is the construction and organization of each of the four seasonal towns of which you will end up becoming chief, and this entails building houses, shops, production facilities, and decorations to boost the population and overall level of each town. Of course, the better and more thorough your construction efforts, the more raw goods you'll have to process and the more citizens you'll have to take care of your farms and work your businesses. Yes, you can literally set and forget your crops and fields and the townsfolk will take care of the rest. Your functioning commune life awaits!
Perhaps you're less interested in the agricultural and architectural aspects of this Rune Factory experience? Then there's a satisfying, balanced action combat system that takes you though caves, plains, dungeons, and even any underworld city. You can initially invite a trio of friends from the different towns to join you in exploring the slightly larger spaces outside of each town as you complete different main and side objectives to push the narrative and your relationships along. The fighting itself can be fairly button-mashy, but the ability to dash and score perfect dodges, in addition to elemental tools with their own individual skill trees, mean that there are a bevy ways to take down smaller enemies and bosses.
One downside to the action portions are the limited number of different enemy and boss types, with many being palette swaps and rematches. Fighting the same tree or horserider boss multiple times grows stale; a saving grace is that you and your team are constantly leveling up and picking up precious monster parts that can be turned into equipment or traded for building materials. The slow upward slope on which your opponents increase in difficulty pushes you towards upgrading your weapons and armor, in addition to preparing edibles and potables for the road ahead. Your inventory and storage are constantly being filled up, but it’s simple enough to move things between them.
Another enjoyable aspect of Guardians of Azuma is the interactions with your fellow townspeople, many of whom can join you in battle. As you increase your bonds with them, not only will they become more stout combatants, but they'll also allow you to spend time with them in different ways, such as cooking together, chatting about one of their hobbies, or if you’re lucky, huddling together under an umbrella. Once you reach a certain threshold with the marriage-able characters, you can enter into a relationship with them and eventually tie the knot and even have children. All of this does take a fair bit of time and a few specific items, but with consistent effort you can entice the boy or girl of your dreams to marry and start a family with you. The cutscenes and events that open up along the way do much to help you get to know these characters; for my chosen partner, Iroha, I became a pivotal part of her journey towards making her teahouse as successful as it could be. My Subaru, who now affectionately goes by Handsome, couldn’t be more proud of his darling Iro.
One of your primary tasks and methods by which you open up the explorable combat environments is by ridding them of blight, which takes the form of elemental infections of the land that often gate your progress. As you acquire sacred treasures from the gods and goddesses of each village, you are able to remove these blighted spots, which both opens up the world and also improves your standing with the associated town. There is even blight that can be blocking off a section of town, and by removing it you gain access to new plots of land to develop.
Other mini goals include activating frog statues to gain new cooking recipes and fulfilling requests made to the job board in town. As your recipe book expands, you'll gain more and more options for how to outfit yourself, your villages, and your team members. Everything you do seems to have a positive impact on the growth of the people and places of Azuma, except for when you choose to share a disliked activity with a friend or more-than-friend. When you're bored of the four towns, you can even take to the skies to find new islands to explore with their own treasures, and naturally, some good fishing spots, too.
With a dedicated Switch 2 version of Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma also on the way, it’s worth considering the performance on the original Switch hardware, which is what this review is based on. Because the game itself is quite snappy, with multiple loading screens, there were many opportunities to become frustrated with the amount of time I was staring at a black screen, but fortunately the loading is quite minimal. Action sequences against singular bosses or smaller groups of enemies yielded a fairly consistent frame rate, but larger groups and busier animation sequences did lead to noticeable slowdown and stuttering–noticeable but not a major detraction from my enjoyment. Object pop-in is a frequent occurrence, but worse than this would be the appearance of distant villagers and even enemies, whose pace would slow to a pixelated crawl until you walked closer to them. Fortunately, there were no crashes or bugs that I encountered in my 25-plus hours. All in all, I found the experience tolerable, but it did serve as another reminder of how sorely needed the Switch 2 is at this point in time. We’ll have Switch 2 focused performance impressions closer to the console launch.
Having previewed it earlier this year, I was delighted to see Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma deliver on its promise of being an approachable, varied adventure that expedites some of the slower, more mundane trappings of the farming game genre. It deftly blends multiple systems without overcomplicating them, and provides ample freedom for players to explore its world at their own pace. The farming and construction mechanics are designed for expedience and ease of use, exchanging realism for simplicity, a real bargain given the satisfying main story and likeable characters. Even the helper/partner Woolby ended up growing on me by the time I had rolled credits. Guardians of Azuma may do as much to spoil farming games as invite players to earlier Rune Factory entries, but it’s a worthwhile dance that marches to the beat of its own, confident drum, and I’m hopeful we’ll see more like it.
Throes of the Watchmaker DLC reviewed on Steam Deck
The adventure of Zale and Valere that makes up the base Sea of Stars game was one for the ages. I was compelled to award it the highest score our site could give when it launched in the summer of 2023 (check out the review here). Nearly two years hence and the folks at Sabotage Studio have delivered another gift: this one in the form of a free 8 to 10-hour DLC campaign entitled Throes of the Watchmaker. Accessed as part of the post-game for Sea of Stars, Throes of the Watchmaker dresses itself in a carnival theme, complete with two new classes for the protagonist pair and a new but familiar character to round out the trio. I’m not one who normally returns to many games after rolling credits, even for zero-cost extra content, but Sea of Stars was always going to be an exception, and I’m definitely pleased that I made time for it.
The premise of the DLC is that the party returns to the Clockwork Castle to assist the Watchmaker with a miniature world of her own creation, Horloge, in which an evil has taken hold and spun off into a cursed carnival, complete with dopplegangers of Valere, Zale. and the Watchmaker herself. After being granted the ability to shrink down to size, the party make their way into Horloge to solve its mysteries and set things to rights. Here, Zale exchanges his sword swinging for fire-based juggling, while Valere becomes a nimble acrobat. Friendly robot companion Arty, whom players will likely recognize, brings cannon and laser-based abilities to bear against the hostile denizens of Horloge.
After a brief introduction area, a sprawling city space offers shops, NPCs, and mini-game challenges to test your mettle. You also get to ride a train on the overworld map to take you from place to place, including more requisite RPG fishing holes. The familiar recipes and cooking mechanics return here, too, but progression is a little more limited in that levelling up features no choice in terms of stat boosts; instead, the three party members see all of their stats tick up after each of the seven or so maximum levels to gain. Some of these level-ups bestow a new ability, and a variety of gear can be found or purchased to keep your team fighting fit. Early on, the combat is pretty tough, especially for those who haven’t played Sea of Stars since release, but once you figure out the timing for the new attacks (yours and your foes’), the going gets easier.
One of the most noticeable aspects of Throes of the Watchmaker is its abundance of puzzles within the three major dungeons. Enemy encounters pop up periodically, but they feel much less prominent compared to the block pushing, order-of-operations type activities that require more brain power and less manual dexterity compared to the battles. If you enjoyed the smattering of puzzles from the base game, you’ll be well served by the DLC; if you were more fond of the story and combat, you may find those slightly lacking in comparison. That said, the quality of the puzzles and a new power transfer-type mechanic inspired by adding Arty to the team still make for a satisfying bookend to the Sea of Stars campaign.
None of the above sentences hammer home the relentless charm that continues to pour forth from the characters and situations you encounter, but references to classic Super Nintendo games in particular made this ‘80s and ‘90s kid grin from ear to ear. If this is the last we see of Valare and Zale, it’s a fitting send off for the pair, but I hope Throes of the Watchmaker isn’t the last adventure in the universe that started with incredible action-platformer The Messenger. Sabotage Studio, you’ve got my curiosity AND my attention.
Yasha: Legends of the Demon Blade is an action roguelite with three playable characters. Shigure wields a longer ninja sword; Sara attacks with a pair of shorter daggers; and Taketora alternates between a bow and his fists. There’s a unique storyline for each member of the trio with overlap among the characters and the world. Like with any run-based experience, the opening hours typically feel new and fresh before the potential monotony of starting over again and again sinks in. Fortunately, the three protagonists add welcome variety to the gameplay, but the lackluster story and slow progression can make it hard to keep pushing forward.
From the title screen, you start a new game and choose your character; this creates a dedicated save file for them. In other words, none of the progress you make in your Sara file will carry over to Taketora or Shigure. One reason why this is frustrating is because the buffs and stat increases you can unlock for the characters are the same–except for their weapons–and can be quite underwhelming at that. You’ll get to unlock new weapons after each run, or you can save up the same materials to power up weapons already added to your arsenal, but those improvements are equally miniscule. On the plus side, new weapons have some interesting traits to them, and you can enhance and alter those traits during each run.
The writing and presentation render the game’s narrative an afterthought, but this issue doesn’t negate the fact that the combat of Yasha: Legends of the Demon Blade is genuinely fun. It’s fast and gives good player feedback, with an easy-to-learn but hard-to-master parry system. Each character has a weak and strong attack that can be combo-ed together, in addition to a dash and a dash strike. Every third area involves a boss fight, after which you get to enter a village festival space where you can use accumulated gold to purchase items and upgrades. The loop can feel satisfying after you get to the more difficult stages, but the early segments of each run eventually feel like a waste of time.
As a pleasant distraction, Yasha: Legends of the Demon Blade fits the bill with challenging boss fights and three characters that feel different enough to play as. While the slow progression and plain dialogue mean that you really need to enjoy the combat to see this roguelite through to the end, fans of quick-paced, action-focused games where you’ll need to start over again and again may find a more satisfying experience here. There wasn’t quite enough nuance or uniqueness to keep me coming back for more Legends of the Demon Blade, but I had a good time with what I played.
ONE BTN BOSSES is a simple but challenging single-screen action game in the “avoid-’em-up” subgenre. You play as a tiny ship that fires automatically and controls with a single button press, as advertised. There's an addictive quality to the gameplay that shines through and pushes you to try, try again in the face of the game's well sloped difficulty curve.
Across 50 stages, your primary objective is to destroy a boss or mini boss in the middle of the screen. Your ship orbits around the enemy, firing automatically and at a faster rate the longer your movement is uninterrupted. You can take three hits before your ship is destroyed, and the primary way in which you avoid projectiles and other obstacles generated by each boss is to simply change direction along your orbit. The variety of things conjured and fired your way adds to ONE BTN BOSSES’ addictive gameplay.
The campaign mode has wrinkles that change up the gameplay and give the player some neat choices. In addition to new color palettes that gradually unlock, points you earn also open up new abilities and movement patterns. The first of these is a dash move, which replaces the basic ability to simply change direction from clockwise to counterclockwise. With the dash, your button press makes you speed up and become impervious to damage, but sees you rely on a rechargeable energy meter that powers the dash. When you reach a boss segment, you generally have a choice of multiple stages and only need to complete a portion of those to advance. Of course, you can take on all of the stages to earn extra points and unlock even more moves and palettes.
ONE BTN BOSSES is a charming game that executes on its straightforward premise. The music and sound effects contribute well to the experience, and the new obstacles that enter the fray make for a varied enough experience. I did encounter a softlock that forced me to reboot the game, but no other performance issues popped up. If you enjoyed Just Shapes and Beats or other titles like it, you will almost certainly have a great time with ONE BTN BOSSES.
Show Posts
