Grand Quest just entered open beta, and as someone who's always searching for my next go-to gacha game, I had to give it a shot. So far, I'm definitely pretty impressed, though it has some work to go. Perhaps the biggest surprise in Grand Quest, especially when compared to other gacha games, is that the story is pretty entertaining and well-translated. Much of it is told through stylish comic book-panel cutscenes, and I was shocked to find myself actually enjoying getting to know these characters.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom came out way back in May, but from the first time I glued a sword to another sword, I knew it would be one of my favorite games of the year. It manages to be so many things at the same time, from a physics sandbox to a puzzle-lover’s playground to a shockingly detailed engineering simulation. Oh, and it also happens to be a phenomenal Zelda game. Most games are filled with boundaries and restrictions, but in Tears of the Kingdom, you can do just about anything you want to do if you can find a way to make it work. Sure, you can’t walk up to dogs and pet them, but

SHOULD I PLAY SOVEREIGN SYNDICATE? This is an RPG that’s all about character and setting, so skip this one if you’re mainly interested in combat and stats. While the characters in Sovereign Syndicate have various attributes that I was able to influence, there’s nary a battle to be found—instead, expect an experience closer to Disco Elysium—if Disco Elysium was set in an alternate version of Victorian London in which minotaurs, cyclopes, and werewolves shared the rough streets and opium dens of the East End with humans. That means this is a game where conversations and skill checks are how each characters’ mettle is tested.

VideoGameDunky is someone I can truly relate to; he began his career as a League of Legends content creator and streamer before transitioning to a satirical approach to video game reviews, to the point where half of the community around him felt serious and the other half felt like memes, making it difficult to differentiate from whether his reviews were genuine or just him being overly silly with jokes and humor.

It's not surprising. The game itself, while appearing to be more parodic than serious at times, had some of the most profoundly compelling ways of tearing me away from myself and forcing me to reflect on what my life had become over the years. If you enjoy well-written visual novels with plenty of personality and character, all for the purpose of love, you'll adore this game so please check it out on Steam!

I'm totally unfamiliar with the original Brown Dust, but Brown Dust 2 has almost immediately and completely won me over as my favorite gacha game I've played since last year's Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent. Like that game, Brown Dust 2 uses absolutely gorgeous hi-res pixel art and storytelling that feels like it comes from the Super Nintendo era of classic Japanese role-playing games.

SHOULD I PLAY DRAGONHEIR: SILENT GODS? There are two main determining factors on whether you should check this one out: if you love old-school fantasy and tabletop RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons, and if you don’t get immediately turned off by gacha and microtransactions. If you answered yes to both of those, then Dragonheir: Silent Gods is definitely worth playing. This cross-platform gacha RPG provides a much deeper and more unique experience than most gacha games, and it does so while paying tribute to the epic, imaginative fantasy of

Currently 2 and a half hours in, and the game is epic. Huge upgrade in graphics in just 2 years. Sound, voicelines and music are great, and the story gets even better than the previous CoD. Special Ops mode is pretty good too. You have lots of challenging missions to complete. Overall, an amazing timeless classic.

Fate/Samurai Remnant is Koei Tecmo's upcoming action RPG and one of the latest developments in Type-Moon's Fate series. Unlike previous installments, Fate/Samurai Remnant takes place further in the past during the Edo period in the mid-17th century, and features traditional Japanese themes and styles. As someone that's watched the anime series from time to time, I'm particularly interested in how this game will build on the Fate series and what combat could be like in the Edo period. I think the visuals are pretty cool too. The vibrant colors mixed with the anime-style look, makes the game appealing but not too far from any of the other Fate games or shows.

You have never experienced a story like this.    It is a solid old-school RPG in which you wake up in a morgue and with no memory and must uncover your past, the mystery of your immortality and who's trying to kill you, all set in the fantasy planes of AD&D.

PLAY IT OR SKIP IT? Play it, especially if you’re a fan of Danganronpa or the Ace Attorney games. Master Detective Archives: Rain Code is a near-perfect combination of old-school mystery solving and fantasy storytelling. You play as Yuma Kokohead, a detective who’s lost his memory after striking a deal with a mischievous spirit named Shinigami. Thanks to his spirit pact, Yuma can transform unsolved mysteries into labyrinths that will guide him towards the truth of any case. This unique approach to mystery-solving makes every investigation feel fresh and dynamic. Whether I was solving puzzles, talking to witnesses, or searching for clues, I felt invested in each case I tried to crack. A lot of games have tried to imitate

Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical is an interesting addition to the narrative storytelling genre - as it takes the choose-your-own-adventure format that a number of players may associate with Telltale-esque formats, and turns it into a Broadway-style musical. And the brilliant thing in all of this, is that it meshes seamlessly with the narrative. See, the protagonist, Grace, finds herself stuck in the midst of a murder mystery - one where she's the prime suspect, due to the victim dying rather literally on her doorstep. While already a problem, it's further compounded due to it being Calliope, The Last Muse, a member of the now dwindling Greek Pantheon. With only a week to prove her innocence, she must rely on her wits - and the vestiges of the muse. Namely, the ability to force those she encounters to sing from the heart. That said, that's hardly the extent of Stray gods' cleverness. As I mentioned earlier, this title belongs to the interactive fiction genre - with the typical trappings of making choices in order to progress forward through the narrative. That said, very early on in the game, you'll be given the option between a trio of Character Traits, being Charismatic, Clever, or Kickass - which provide access to dialogue options that would otherwise be barred to you. Here's the thing, though- these dialogue options -also- apply to the musical numbers, changing up the overall tone, and even imagery of those segments to a considerable degree. Admittedly, the song segments might be slightly stressful for some folks- since they are wholly comprised of timed dialogue elements- but, that decision ultimately feels like the correct one, given that it allows for a sense of musical flow. On the other side of things, you can actually disable the timed segments which crop up in the midst of normal dialogue. That said, while I mentioned that there's a certain brilliance to how it addresses the matter of player agency, this is also where the experience starts to fray. You won't necessarily notice it during your initial playthrough of the game, but once you loop around to the second, it becomes rather apparent that regardless of your choices, the outcomes turn out largely the same. While there are certainly elements that can go awry as you progress, these ultimately don't do anything to direct the course of the story one way or the other - having more of an influence on the final act and the ensuing epilogue, then anything else. That said, I do want to be clear here- this isn't an attempt to dissuade someone from trying it. On the whole- Stray Gods remains a fascinating and altogether solid first entry for Summerfall studios. That said, it would have highly benefited from a more efficient means of navigating the story and it's permutations, rather than locking players into playthroughs where it will take a notable amount of time to start making choices that feel impactful.  Especially given that you're unable to skip the song segments, which adds a significant amount of waiting time if youre truly intent on seeing everything.

SHOULD I PLAY GUNBRELLA? Play it. Instead of reinventing the wheel with flashy features or next-gen visuals, Gunbrella perfects the standard elements of a side-scrolling action-adventure game. The result is a wildly entertaining journey of platforming, exploration, and monster-slaying. TIME PLAYED I played Gunbrella for four hours, traversing four of the game’s five areas. I’ve already defeated two bosses in the game and completed nearly a dozen main quests. I’m currently trying to make my way to the last area in the game.

Highly recommended if you are a fellow VN enjoyer. The combat system is kinda meh, but the fantastic storytelling makes up for it. With that being said, if you're not interested in reading the story then this game is probably not for you.

PLAY IT OR SKIP IT? Play it. Exoprimal combines the fast-paced sci-fi shooting action of Titanfall 2 with the team-based gameplay of Overwatch and adds its own twist with dinosaurs and multidimensional time travel. Even with some issues—slow progression, unbalanced characters, and messy gameplay modes—this mix of great elements from other games with its own unique style provides an insanely entertaining time.

Everyone knows Link is the legendary Hero of Time, and everyone knows that a hero of his stature needs a badass weapon. Thus, the Master Sword. But what if our favorite hero didn’t have a Master Sword? In fact, what if he couldn’t really use weapons at all. The delightful and charming Dwerve answers that question, and it turns out the answer is a lot of challenging fun inspired by great tower defense games just as much as it is by classics like

SHOULD I PLAY FINAL FANTASY VII EVER CRISIS? If you’re a truly obsessive fan of the Final Fantasy franchise in general or Final Fantasy VII in particular, then you already know you’re going to be playing this. For more casual fans or total newcomers, though, Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis will be a pretty poor introduction. This new mobile version advertises itself as offering the totality of the Final Fantasy VII

SHOULD I PLAY GRANBLUE FANTASY: RELINK? Absolutely check out Granblue Fantasy: Relink if you even remotely enjoy Japanese-style RPGs or just games with great action RPG combat systems. As a spin-off of the Granblue Fantasy mobile game that’s been running for almost a decade now, getting thrown right into the middle of this story might feel a little confusing at first. But developer Cygames uses this history to its advantage, presenting a world that feels complex and interesting to explore. Plus it’s populated by massive, godlike monsters in need of being hacked and slashed to death. Bonus!

SHOULD I PLAY UGLY? Give Ugly a go if you’re into platformers, puzzlers, or dark fairy-tale worlds. Even though controlling two characters simultaneously in a mirrored world can be incredibly disorienting, Ugly’s puzzle mechanics are truly unique and blend perfectly with the game’s dark atmosphere. And though I wouldn't classify Ugly as horror, there were still plenty of twisted memories to unlock that genuinely gave me the creeps.

Punishing: Gray Raven The story is about a post-apocalyptic world where technology is advance enough to transfer human consciousness to an advance robot, and they use this advancements to fight a virus who's goal is to wipe humanity. The story telling is very detailed, in a way that makes you imagine a scene based on the words displayed. The characters are well developed as all of them have backgrounds, and all of it correlates to each other and to the whole lore. This game also makes stories for minor characters which the significance is lower than an npc to set the foundation and atmosphere of the lore, this way of storytelling really makes the story profound. Each of this minor stories aren't irrelevant as they further describe the universe this game takes place.