At Local Heroes we’d worked on the localisation of Tactics Ogre: Reborn (PS5) quite some time ago, to the point that we thought the game had been cancelled. But nope, it finally appeared alive and kicking this year but with… ehr… what looked like an emulator’s Super Eagle filter applied to its graphics. Yikes.

Everything else that was shown in the announcement trailer looked excellent though. From the improved UI, to all the additional tweaks, to the updated score. I immediately wanted to play this. But those sprites…

Well, the good news is that it’s okay in the flesh. I still have some doubts at the claims that all the graphics have been redone manually, because when you take a close look at it, it really does look like a Super Eagle-like filter, including diminished contrast and everything. The thing is, blown up on a large 4K screen it kind of fades away. In the end it more works like an overzealous CRT-filter, rather than smudging the art to smithereens. Still, I would have preferred a toggle to just flip it to the original pixel-art on a larger canvas.

With that out of the way, the game itself really shines. If you’re not familiar with tactical RPGs, this is best described as “chess with extra steps” or “a Dungeons & Dragons combat simulator”. Movement, targeting, areas of effect, and item management are key.

The genre is also known for having brutal difficulty spikes. Stable-mate Final Fantasy Tactics is notorious for having a scenario where the wrong preparation for one battle can soft lock you into an unwinnable situation. Reborn has a lot of tweaks to make this not possible. For instances, there’s a soft-cap for levelling, keeping the game’s challenge within limits. In terms of accessibility there’s also the possibility of using a mouse and keyboard on the PlayStation. Probably a side-effect of this getting a PC launch as well, but welcome nonetheless.

It’s all additional fluff, as the game’s core mechanics are still really solid: deploy a group of characters on one side of the map, and make them defeat and/or survive whatever the map’s setup is. It’s slow, but that’s exactly what makes it great. Like chess, it’s good to think ahead and seize opportunities as the battlefield evolves. It requires a certain dedication as a player (especially when compared to most open world offerings these days) and I don’t think I can simply recommend it without a legion of footnotes.

If you are excited by turn-based battles with a slower pace and more bite to them though, you could do worse than to give Tactics Ogre: Reborn a look.

Garbage Pail Kids: Mad Mike and the Quest for Stale Gum (PS4) came out of nowhere. It’s also a strange premise. This is a retro 8-bit game, designed as if to run on actual NES hardware, based on a gum-and-trading-card IP of gross and creepy children, themselves a parody of the Cabbage Patch Kids doll toys out of the ‘80s. Got that?

Here in the Netherlands, I remember the cards briefly being a fad and apparently there was even a movie made out of it, which RedLetterMedia looked at recently due to the release of this particular game.

And it’s not good.

Which is a bit of a bummer. The concept itself is good: you get four Garbage Pail Kids to play as, each with their own attack and you can switch between them at all times. You navigate through multiple levels to gather ingredients for stale gum (a nice nod to the awful gum that was packaged in with the cards) and you can trade GPK cards, some of which act as power-ups.

Sadly, the controls are a bit sloppy. The graphics are much more crude mid-NES than late-NES era, and the level design is just plain bad at times. Levels are excruciatingly long, turning each one into a slog to get through and often repeat sections, boring you to tears.

Yeah, it’s fun as a nostalgic reminder that Garbage Pail Kids existed at all, but it’s a real shame that this game sticks a bit too much to the quick cash-in licensed platformer releases that plagued the 8-bit generation. With a bit more love this could have been a solid game.

More than 10 years ago, a colleague of mine notified me of a metroidvania being in development. It was a solo project and people were getting pretty excited about it, even though details were scarce. That was Ghost Song (PS5). Again, over 10 years ago.

It goes without saying that a lot has happened in the meantime. Originally, the colleague tried to point out the genre would be fine, even without Nintendo (back then Other M was still an open flesh wound). We know better these days. Little did we know the genre would actually explode into a mature genre of its own. Not merely dangling above a pit at the mercy of both Nintendo and Konami.

Axiom Verge. Hollow Knight. Bloodstained. TimeSpinner. Chasm. AM2R. Metroid: Samus Returns.

All of these titles were released in the ‘10s. Some became hits. Some got sequels. Some were… not good.

What I want to say is this: Ghost Song has been in development during the entire metroidvania boom and it shows.

This is the one metroidvania that has it all. The variety in weaponry from Axiom Verge. The levelling from Demon's Souls. The pins from Hollow Knight. The considerate story line from TimeSpinner. The aim and movement from Samus Returns. Its solo developer apparently loved a lot of these games or got heavily influenced by them, because you cannot play Ghost Song and not go “oh, I remember that” at just about every corner.

And that’s good! The game somehow makes this eclectic mix of styles work. Although it has one hell of a start. For some reason, it managed to crib the difficulty balance from that one metroidvania avant la lettre: Kid Icarus. The first few hours of this game are brutal and it will take a while to get your bearings and understand the combat well enough to grind a few levels and not be so… squishy. It doesn’t help that this game does not drop health pickups. You are on your own here.

It’s only when you discover you are not, that the game opens up a bit. The Dark Souls-like cadence of the game finds its riverbed and only then can you start to enjoy mixing up ranged, melee, and dash to dance through battle. Even though it doen’t look as smooth as it might feel.

And that’s the issue really. Metroid Dread was a smooth experience bereft of wonder. This is almost the polar opposite: bumpy, lumpy, yet wonderful. Warts and all. Would I recommend it? No, not blindly. But if you are a metroidvania veteran, this really needs to be on your playlist.

This game is a bit of a mess. Too many elements from everywhere. A greatest hits without the IP to back it up. But somehow, it is an enjoyable hot mess. I’ve poured enough hours into it to continue and see it through to the end, but those first two hours were really, really shaky. Hopefully it won’t be too alien to throw of other players.

I thought I played DOOM II (PS4) to completion way back in the ‘90s. I thought wrong. Turned out I only played the first third on the Spaceship and never got to see the City and Hell. This grievous mistake has now been corrected.

While the Spaceship levels feel like a continuation of the wild and wacky expansions of the first instalment, it’s only during the City levels that I was truly amazed. Large open spaces, verticality, puzzles both simplistic and complex, everything was there. Sure, you were missing control over the Y-axis, but apart from that this pretty much felt like a modern shooter.

More so when the Hell levels rolled in. While in terms of graphical design here the levels can be a bit too blocky for the atmosphere its trying to evoke (shout-out to the block volume with four doors only showing pixelated stacks of corpses), in terms of design they take the City levels and add multiple mini-gauntlets all over the place.

It’s also not too scared to use power-ups and the game’s physics to its fullest extent. Calling very faint visions of future successors like Portal to mind. It’s more restrained than in the original's expansions, but the way the game pushes its own boundaries is mesmerising. It all culminates in a final boss battle that just lets you run wild and feels suitably over the top.

Sure, some of the secrets and triggers can be a bit obscure, but I’m still really glad I played through it all. It truly earns it title of classic.

It suffered a break of a few months, but I completed my playthrough of Citizen Sleeper (SD) over the weekend. This is still one amazing game and looking back on it, it actually feels like a short game. There's more there though; a new interaction popped up clearly mentioning the new DLC.

But that's for another time. This game is still incredibly well built in that it manages to generate a feeling, a longing for belonging, and plays its cards exceptionally well to let you build towards that goal. The static character art is evocative. The writing is succinct and moving. The die placement mechanic is actually a great simulation of experiencing good and bad days.

When the game finally does end, it does so on a bittersweet tone. Not going to spoil it, but it does make me want to replay it, see what else could happen. And it's not hyperbole to say that this game for me is one fo the best experiences of 2022. Just utterly captivating.

Here's a game I know of, but never actually played: PowerSlave Exhumed (PS4). I've seen the PlayStation and Saturn cases many times back in the day, but I foolishly assumed this was just another DOOM clone. It wasn't. Something I'm discovering now by playing through this remake that bares both the names of the EU and US releases.

It's been described as a Metroid FPS and yup, that definitely checks out. For it is a DOOM clone in that you just run through mazes and shoot stuff, but you also scour the various nooks and crannies trying to discover permanent upgrades. These give you exploratory abilities allowing you to backtrack through previous levels and discover new areas. That alone would be enough to get me on board, but... wow... it's hard to put into words why, but this game just handles so smoothly and deliberately. There's a certain cadence to the movement, a weighty head-bob to your camera movement, and a great handling of your weapons that mixes together and makes this, far better than I ever anticipated it to be.

It's actually mind-boggling how this can be some kind of proto-Metroid Prime just two years after Super Metroid's release. Excellent game.

To celebrate the multiplatform release of No More Heroes III, I booted up the original No More Heroes (NSW) remaster. This one hits differently these days. Whereas originally it felt like Suda51 was complaining about the glut of GTA-clones by injecting its skeletal design with some "Japanese zaniness", now it becomes much more clear there was something else going on.

No More Heroes' title alone is actually indicative of this. It literally is a world with no more heroes. A world where the ideal of the Grand Theft Auto genre - a place where crime and chaos pays - is extrapolated to the entirety of society. School girls are part-time assassins, killing a local crime kingpin is just a classified ad away, being an otaku with a bloodthirsty drive can be a professional career.

The zaniness is not so much crazy as it is a uniquely bleak view of what the genre can lead to. Like how The Silver Case et al, poked around in a society influenced and distracted by dangers of mixing the real and the virtual world, No More Heroes asks what would happen if violence was as commonplace as getting a part-time job at McDonald's. The idea that in this world you need to pay your "employer" in order to even be allowed to rise through the ranks by demolishing however is above you, is also cynical enough that it has become pretty much how the reactionary social media/influencer world works these days. "It's kill or be killed."

Through that lens, the game is fascinating beyond its "GTA for Wii-owners" origins. The GTA-skeleton is just that; almost insultingly bare-bones and while you can find multiple jobs, it's telling that killing earns you more money, easier.

Let's see if this view sticks around as I approach the top rank.

Like a scab you're slowly picking at, I've been rummaging through Mystic Quest (Collection of Mana) (NSW) a bit more. There are even more seeds of the Secret of Mana experience in here than I anticipated.

The Gemma Knights in this game would be reduced to one knight called Jema in the sequel. Likewise, the combat charge - a sort of halfway house between Square's ATB and Zelda's direct combat - displays its multiple special moves the more you charge it. For instance, a fully charged bar will cause a sword attack to be a zip around the screen. You have different weapons each with different properties allowing you get rid of obstacles in the scenery or function as a traversal mechanic. All the various enemies can be found here with their signature attacks, albeit chibi-fied due to the Game Boy's screen resolution. You have occasional companions to join you. Even Watts is here!

This doesn't necessarily make the game better, but it does show that the team was kind of held back by the Game Boy's limitations. There are good ideas in there, but these seeds only fully bloomed in Secret of Mana. I always wondered why Secret's sequel Seiken Densetsu 3 (now better known as Trials of Mana) never clicked with me, and I now kind of understand it. Secret refined the ideas of Mystic Quest, whereas Seiken Densetsu 3 was more of a complete reimagining. Which explains the rest of the series. Seiken Densetsu (akin to the SaGa series) has been reimagining itself with every instalment. Coming up with new mechanics and approaches.

Legend of Mana (number 4 in the series) is spectacularly hostile to Secret of Mana fans, introducing mechanics no player of that old title would anticipate and players of Seiken Densetsu 3 could only hint at. Newer titles have scaled back the open canvas aspect of Legend, but Square Enix have been very loathe to return to the core of Mystic Quest and Secret of Mana. And when they do return via remakes, the developers seem to simply not get what made them great.

For clarity: the reasons Secret of Mana hit so hard for me and a lot of friends, can be summed up as:

• JRPGs were nigh non-existent in PAL regions (insanely important to realise),
• statistics became important for the game, implying complexity (numbers everywhere, even when you hit!),
• mashing buttons doesn't work (wait and bide your time due to the charge bar),
• enemies require tactics, instead of a discrete amount of hits at specific weak spots,
• a giant world with multiple regions to travel to,
• co-op play! (With three players total!)

Especially compared to A Link to the Past, Secret of Mana felt much grander and cemented the idea of traversing through a complete world. Zelda didn't do that; it was more inwardly focused with tightly designed dungeons and one village. Not that it was better or worse, but the scope of that game paled in comparison to Secret of Mana. We loved Zelda's Dark World, but Secret of Mana's game world was an actual giant space with nations, cities, cultures! You could have an actual adventure, together with your friends.

In contrast: these were all old design aspects for the audiences in NTSC territories. By that time, the JRPG genre was almost a decade old and Secret of Mana was a quaint little action-RPG in comparison. So remaking it would obviously focus not on the magic of a first-time JRPG experience in the guise of an action-RPG, but instead on improving everything else that wasn't utterly bog standard by that time. Leading developers to introduce 360 degree movement in the Secret of Mana remaster, that still worked via a combat system limited by four directions. No wonder it fell apart.

I've played the remake of Mystic Quest - Sword of Mana - but I cannot for the life of me remember how that game and its original tied together. They feel like completely different games. Whereas it's easy to see how Secret of Mana flowed from its Game Boy originator, it's clear that Sword of Mana held no nostalgia for its previous incarnation; it wanted to be a good game instead. I can't really fault it for that, but at the same time it highlights how Square Enix must view these games: as IP that has bad games attached, instead of a nostalgic brand that for many in Europe was their first foray into the realm of RPGs.

As mentioned last week, I don't think this game is particularly good or anything, but the video game archaeology it enables me to experience keeps me coming back. That's reason enough to keep playing.

Brando made a little video about Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner - MARS (PS4) and that was basically the parting shot to dive into the game myself. Having last touched it during its launch, I remember it being insanely difficult. It still is, but that's only the case if you are playing to defensively. Give it your all and go in guns blazing, and the game drops its difficulty a bit. Good times.

In terms of graphics this game is The Wind Waker of PS2 titles. Its pure style is simply unmatched and gels incredibly well with the angular mecha sci-fi aesthetics. The soundtrack I already enjoyed more times than I can count, so everything's just dandy in that department. If there's one glaring problem: it is that the animated cut scenes are of a very low resolution. It's also clear developer Cygames didn't have access to any of the cutting edge 4K AI upscalers, because the current look of the scenes are akin to switching back to a CRT TV.

Also, while the combat is nice, it does have the same issue as Final Fantasy VII Remake, in that it's doing its best to not let you experience normal combat sequences. There's always some wrinkle in the proceedings coming your way and the result that you can only truly enjoy a longer period of plain combat - allowing you to actually get to grips with the systems - only half way through the game. Slightly infuriating, but it does highlight its focus on replay sessions. Once in fights proper, aggressiveness and sub weapons is key. And fun. This is fast, furious, and has all the energy of a Trigger anime.

You know, Mystic Quest (Collection of Mana) (NSW) is old. Really old. Old enough to be suffering of reverse difficulty syndrome: this is immensely difficult to start with, but it then becomes almost too easy as you progress and level up.

The story in this game really takes a pounding due to the limited space available on a Game Boy cartridge. You might as well ignore the presences of a story altogether. A lot of details definitely got lost in translation. As such, it’s pretty hard to see how this was the start of the Secret of Mana series. But sure enough, it still is just that.

It’s fun in a mindless way, but very hard to recommend apart from getting some historical context for a much better game.

Completed Hohokum (PS4). Hard to add anything to what I mentioned last time; it's just a very good time to have. Lots of exploration, lots of little delights, lots of fun. Give it a whirl.

“Sunsoft is back, baby!” The announcement trailer was rather enthusiastic, but to be honest, I am pretty giddy about it. Not only is the new Sunsoft bringing back Ufouria: The Saga/Hebereke - one of my favourite NES-era metroidvanias - they are also re-releasing the “one that got away”: Gimmick! Special Edition (PC) courtesy of Bitwave Games.

Previously this particular Sunsoft game for the NES was only released on Famicom in Japan and outside of it, exclusively in the Nordic countries for… reasons? Considering Sunsoft’s track record it is kind of strange only the North was able to play Gimmick! in Europe, but Ufouria already showed that limited releases weren't that strange a tactic for the company so here we are.

Being able to walk about the Tokyo Game Show, it would be rude not to give Gimmick! a try. And luckily playing the game is a joy. To start with, it’s a tricky NES platformer, but now includes rewind options to keep it accessible enough. In the game you play a green Kirby-esque character that can charge his attack to prepare a throw-able star. Release the button and you throw it as a projectile. Combine with some platforming challenges, and levels that lock you into a certain cycle until you find an exit-branch, and you’ve got a solid 90’s platformer.

It’s very simplistic but because of the tight platform physics the platform sequences are the actual star of the show. The rewind option is definitely a boon though. I kept getting trounced by the first boss and even finding the correct time to rewind back to proved to be a challenge!

All in all a very welcome re-release and definitely part of my wish-list together with Ufouria.

Another game that’s high on my wish-list is Animal Well (PC). Yes, it’s another metroidvania - sue me. This one is a bit more compartmentalized in that the various screens/areas all contain bespoke environmental puzzles you need to solve and pass, sometimes granting you access to a new skill that promptly becomes another part of the puzzling.

It looks gorgeous with a dark neon aesthetic and your own character being a bit of an adorable blob contrasted against ever more complex creatures.

Playing this at TGS gobbled up time like it was nothing and had I been there without any further commitments, I probably would have ran it through in its entirety.

Alas, those commitments pulled me away from the stand, but at least it cemented in my mind that I positively need this game on Steam Deck (or any other console for that matter).

Back home, some demos were dropped onto the PlayStation Store. Among them Valkyrie Elysium Demo Version (PS5). Right from the announcement some months ago, it was very clear this was going to drop turn-based RPG battles in favour of an action-RPG approach. My mind instantly saw this as Square Enix trying once more to pull “an Automata” on a dormant franchise.

After playing the demo, I can confirm this is exactly Valkyrie Elysium seems to be aiming for. It’s a bit more streamlined, but the way it managed to translate the Einherjar system into an action-RPG move set is pretty neat. It feels a bit like a summon system (from say, Final Fantasy) which allows you to fool around with elemental attacks. Of course, it’s a modern Square Enix title, so this also means elements and damage can be exploited to stagger (or in this case, breach) the hell out of enemies and bosses.

I’m still not completely convinced by Square Enix' reliance on the "Stagger Time Battle" system as they've added it to just about every one of their games, but at least it gets the job done. Having multiple Einherjar allows for some creative combining and there's far less of a focus (so far) on having to stagger an enemy through them; if you do so, it feels like a bonus rather than a requirement. Having the Einherjar also function as traversal skills is a bit less solid though, coming across in the demo as a forced idea rather than something native to the game’s flow. Maybe that’ll become better as the game opens up.

Still, it’s a positive for me and in that respect Square Enix did successfully pull “an Automata”. On the wishlist it goes.

The summer vibes are strong in Shin chan: Me and the Professor on Summer Vacation -The Endless Seven-Day Journey- (NSW). Just the opening itself and the loading screens evoke a sense of calm not unlike a Ghibli-feature. Only for Shin-chan to crash into it with a healthy amount of butt puns. It just wouldn’t be Shin-chan without it.

Which is also a bit strange. This is the first western release of Boku no Natsuyasumi, itself a summer vacation simulator developed for and released a tad earlier on PlayStation than seminal slife-of-lifer Animal Crossing for the Nintendo 64. Whereas Boku has become a bit of a PlayStation mainstay in Japan, it never ventured beyond its borders. While Animal Crossing slowly garnered an audience in the west and veritably exploded as its latest launch coincided with the start of the 2020 pandemic.

The two series have a lot in common. In both you are locked into a small town, whittling your time away with everyday tasks, activities, and generally hanging out. Though like Moon, Shin chan is “stamina-based”. You faint from hunger if you travel too much (counted in screen transitions) and lose a chunk of time for that day. You can refill stamina by snacking, which is a bit of a weird message for kids I guess. And while the game starts with you staying in the town of Asso (yes, I know) for a week, the Shin chan component quickly removes that limit (as the title implies).

What follows is a kind of puzzle-ish visual novel, with the space between the major beats filled up with light exploration, fishing, catching bugs, and communication with the townsfolk of Asso. And oh my god, does it capture the Japanese summer vibe. From ever-present cricket noises, to nostalgic sunsets, to the cosy presence of other people, this is entirely wholesome.

Speaking of Japanese, there are a lot of Japanese based puns in this. The most obvious one involved the mailbox, which had a sign for “beef” on it, alluding to the Japanese post office sign looking similar to the kanji for cow. Sometimes the joke translates, other times it just awkwardly hangs about, and yet other times it’s a complete wash. It made me appreciate the momentous task of translating Animal Crossing even more, as it's nigh impossible to pick up the cultural origins of the Japanese language in that game.

The Shin chan shenanigans are often at odds with the more serene Boku-atmosphere of the village. As such, I do wonder if this would have been better without the license. Only to realise that has always been the case before, and we are slightly unlucky that the first western game in the series just happens to be the fresh new crossover one. You will simply have to enjoy the contrast.

With Cult of the Lamb exploding on the interwebs, I ventured back to Massive Monster's previous game: The Adventure Pals (NSW). This on its surface is a by-the-numbers platformer, but dig a bit deeper and it's a really good mechanical platformer. The following might not be logical to younger readers, but it's like a new McDonaldland, general Ocean platformer, or Sunsoft title. It's greatly polished, has a couple of genre tweaks, and - as a bonus - is also really funny.

The absurd sense of humour is pretty out there, but manages to pull everything together. You'll be freeing people from hotdog-monsters in no-time, while force-feeding cupcakes to cats. That said, if wacky humour isn't your thing, this'll instantly grate.

The game has a nice pace and cuts the various levels into bite size pieces. Most importantly though, the feel is effortless and convincing. Again, the closest I can get to describing it is uncovering an old NES-classic. After completing it, I did feel a need to go back and uncover all its secrets. Highly recommended and often dirt cheap when on sale.

As great as The Adventure Pals was to experience, so excruciating it was to experience Whipseey and the Lost Atlas (NSW). Look, obviously its creators have a love for Kirby. It's hard not look at this and see it for the clone it is. But whereas Sakurai had very distinct ideas about how and why Kirby is as it is, Whipseey is more of a proof-of-concept.

Every level is more or less centred around one type of challenge, it then repeats this challenge ad nauseam and... that's it. On to the next level. This in itself would be fine, but at one point it presents you with one pixel perfect jump challenge that it then repeats multiple times in succession. It doesn't have any leeway, it doesn't allow for ways to circumvent it, it's just the same jump and attack a dozen times. Screw up and you lose a life. It's maddening, frustrating, and at times feels like a kusoge. Which is entirely at odds with what the game so clearly wants to be. I did not enjoy completing this.

Chalk up another game I started and forgot to complete on Switch: Untitled Goose Game (NSW). It's also a nice palate cleanser after Whipseey, if only because frustration acts as both the mechanic and the reward of this game.

Frustrating the villagers get you further into the game, but figuring out how to do so is often frustrating. It might not always be clear how you can proceed. Which is exactly why I left the game at the spot I did: I was stuck at the pub trying to figure out how to manipulate the bucket.

Luckily that turned out to be quite simple, and after that it's just a victory lap with the ending being a truly delightful capstone. Enjoyed it, even though stealth gameplay is usually not my thing. I guess it helps that the stealth here is very light.

Oh boy, I completed Cyberpunk 2077 (PS5) and that ending did not satisfy.

First of all, even though I thought I was maybe halfway through one of several story arcs, it turned out I was basically one mission removed from completing the game. Basically, I could have completed this a good 20 hours ago, hadn't I focused on grind quests. This genuinely shocked me, as the main story turns out to be so... minimal, that you can't help but wonder why CD Projekt RED created an absolutely humongous stage if the play it's been made for is so tiny.

It's also at the very end that the game dares to venture into the philosophical realm of Blade Runner and Ghost in the Shell. Sadly, it doesn't do anything interesting with it. It's only presented as is and has little to no bearing on your journey, let alone a climax. No seriously, the finale is an annoying repetitive half-an-hour sequence that you really just want to end. Final choices be damned.

The addition of Johnny Silverhand also feels exactly like that. A last minute stunt-cast role for marketing purposes. Looking back on it, Silverhand shouldn't have been in the game; his space instead being filled by Jackie. Which not only would have been more impactful, it would also have made much more sense in the end. The Relic was obviously a prototype, but why on earth did it already contain Silverhand? Not even the game cares, and it just tosses Silverhand out of the story at one point. Had this been Jackie in the aftermath of the events transpiring early in the game, everything would have been much more meaningful, and - dare I say - emotional.

Apparently there's a hidden ending that involves Silverhand more, but with him being presented as the main drive of the game, it feels like an afterthought. Sadly, I think I'm pretty much done with this game and don't have any intention of finding out.