Inestimate's Reviews

  Console: PS2 Developer: Gust Release Date:  June 28th, 2005 Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana  is a turn-based RPG with a focus on item crafting.  Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana  is the first game in the  Atelier  series to be released outside of Japan, and is the sixth game in the franchise. Pretty notably, the  Atelier  games are, more or less, yearly releases, and have been since 1997's  Atelier Marie . As a result, these games are typically a bit lower in terms of quality and budget than other big JRPG series like  Final Fantasy.  Fittingly,  Atelier Iris  is the first game I played in the series back as a teenager through emulation, but I wasn't able to defeat the final boss despite loving the game. Now, I actually have the game and played it on my PS2. I've more or less completed 100% of the game: the bestiary is filled (though not all item drops are registered), the item list is complete, and there's nothing left for me...

Console: PS4, PS5 , Switch, PC, XB1, XSX Developer: Sonic Team Release Date:  November 8th, 2022 Sonic Frontiers  is an open world action platformer centered around exploration, collectibles and combat. As a bold new entry in the  Sonic the Hedgehog  series,  Frontiers  is the first time the series earnestly tries to be an open world game, and according to the director, is meant to be the model for future games, similar to how  Sonic Adventure  was when the series first transitioned to 3D. 

Console: PS5, Switch , PC Developer: Experience Release Date:  February 15th 2024 Spirit Hunter: Death Mark II  is a horror visual novel game with mystery and adventure mechanics that centers around exploration, puzzle-solving and its narrative. The third game in the  Spirit Hunter  franchise,  Death Mark II  is the most recent entry in the series and is actually a crowdfunded game. The game takes place four months after  Death Mark , and is thus technically a midquel due to taking place a few years before  NG . It is also a direct sequel to  Death Mark , featuring most of the characters from the game and putting the player in Kazuo Yashiki's shoes once again.

  Console: PSVita, PS4, Switch , PC Developer: Experience Release Date:  October 10th 2019 Spirit Hunter: NG  is a horror visual novel and adventure game with a focus on life and death choices, puzzle-solving, and ghost hunting. The second game in the  Spirit Hunter  series,  NG  is a standalone sequel to  Death Mark  that takes place around 5 years later, but it freely references it.  NG  came out about a year after  Death Mark , and unlike  Death Mark  it has no additional content of any kind, but is a little longer overall. Though it's a standalone game in essence, I'll be referencing  Death Mark  during the review, so if you want, you can  go back to my Death Mark review if you're curious . Naturally, I won't spoil anything important.

  Console: PSVita, PS4, Switch , PC, XB1 Developer: Experience Release Date:  October 31st 2018 Spirit Hunter: Death Mark  is a horror visual novel and adventure game with a focus on life and death choices, puzzle-solving, and ghost hunting. The first in the  Spirit Hunter  series,  Death Mark  is a game I've long been curious about and I'm glad to have played. I didn't even know the premise of the game outside of the fact it's a sort of ghost hunting detective game, and obviously since it's so narratively driven, I won't spoil anything important.  Death Mark  itself is a fairly interesting game in terms of its release, since the Switch version includes Chapter 6, which used to be DLC on other platforms, and also is the only version where the DLC Chapter 7 is available... which was released in April this year. It's a very strange thing to see, but I thankfully have the Switch version, so I had access to this DLC chapter.

  Console: Gamecube, Wii, PS3, PS4 , PC, Xbox 360, XB1, Switch Developer: Capcom Release Date:  April 30, 2002 (Gamecube), January 20, 2015 (PS4) Resident Evil (2002)  is a survival horror remake of the 1996 game of the same name. It's centered around inventory management, threat management and puzzle solving. To be quite honest, I've never been a survival horror person; I'm much more into horror adventure, action, or visual novel games and games that lean more into spooky than scary. However, I love watching people play games like  Resident Evil  and  Silent Hill , and as a way to step out of my comfort zone, I decided to tackle this game. 

Console: PC, Switch, XB1, PS4 Developer: Team Cherry Release Date:  February 24, 2017 (Voidheart Edition: September 25, 2018) Hollow Knight: Voidheart Edition  is a complete version of  Hollow Knight  including its DLC  The Grimm Troupe  and three free content packs  Lifeblood ,  Hidden Dreams , and  Godmaster .  Hollow Knight  is a 2D metroidvania with a strong emphasis on boss battles, gameplay customization, and exploration with a moody, dreary atmosphere. An indie darling from the first day its Kickstarter campaign went life (if not before),  Hollow Knight  is almost universally beloved and widely considered as one of the greatest indie games ever, if not greatest games ever full-stop. I had only tried it once years ago and bounced off of it, not being in the mood for it, and I came back to play it, as many did, since its extremely anticipated sequel,  Silksong , is finally coming out.

  Console: PC , Switch Developer: Giraffe Cat Release Date: October 26, 2023 The Sirena Expedition  is a short and sweet atmospheric horror-themed puzzle platformer that takes place fully underwater and can be finished in about an hour. Made almost completely by David Thatcher, with Amy Greir contributing to the soundtrack and voicing the main character,  The Sirena Expedition  was borne from a Game Jam and made over two years following it.

  Console: PC , Switch, PS4, PS5, XB1, XSX Developer: Not A Sailor Studios Release Date: February 18, 2021 Buddy Simulator 1984  is a narrative game whose genre evolves over time, based around the relationship between the player and the eponymous Buddy, a computer program who is designed to emulate the feeling of playing games with a "best friend". Not A Sailor Studios is a team of four, and made  Buddy Simulator 1984  with some additional help from about four more people. I'd consider the game to be split into four major parts, and I'll tackle them all without spoiling as much as I can. 

  Console: PC Developer: Tributary Games Release Date: July 10, 2025 Occlude  is an occult-themed Solitaire game where you must try to figure out the hidden rules by observing the behavior of four coins. It's a modified version of Solitaire, featuring two-sided Foundations (starting at Aces and Kings), a "Purgatory" slot where you can place a single card, and seven different "Rituals" which serve as the game's puzzles. The whole thing is tied around a cosmic-horror narrative, where the game of Occlude is played by desperate participants to change their realities. It's a fairly simple and straightforward little game that can be finished in one or two sittings, depending on your skill at Solitaire.

        Console: Switch 2 Developer: Nintendo EPD Release Date: July 17, 2025 Donkey Kong Bananza  is a 3D platformer with a focus on destructible environments, exploration, and combat. Made by the same team that made  Super Mario Odyssey , this is the first 3D  Donkey Kong  platformer since  Donkey Kong 64  and the first mainline  Donkey Kong  game to be made by a Japanese studio since  Donkey Kong Jungle Beat , the latter of which was developped by the same core team as  Bananza  as well. 

      Console: Switch, PS4 , PC Developer: CAVYHOUSE Release Date:  October 3, 2018 The Midnight Sanctuary  is a 3D visual novel with heavy religious and occult themes. Developed by CAVYHOUSE, a Japanese indie two-person studio, The Midnight Sanctuary  is a visual novel with no real gameplay; instead, the player merely chooses which area to go and then proceeds to watch a cutscene. There are no missable cutscenes, and the entire thing will last around 4-5 hours.

    Console: 3DS Developer: Intense Release Date:  March 3, 2016 Parascientific Escape: Cruise in the Distant Seas  is an escape room visual novel with simple puzzles. Developed by Intense, Cruise in the Distant Seas  is the first game in the Parascientific Escape  trilogy, a 3DS eShop exclusive series. I bought them before it closed down since they were cheap and I wanted a few visual novels on my 3DS, especially exclusive ones.

  Console: 3DS Developer: Atlus Release Date:  September 20, 2016 Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse  is turn-based monster-taming RPG with a focus on recruiting and fusing demons, heavy character customisation, strategic gameplay, and a story with alignment choices. Developed by Atlus, Apocalypse  is a follow-up to Shin Megami Tensei IV.   IV  is one of my favorite games ever after having a bit of a rocky relationship with it, so I was ecstatic to finally get to play its odd pseudo-sequel. The marketing for Apocalypse  was always confusing to me; is it a sequel? An expansion? An unrelated game with the same mechanics? I think that's why a lot of people didn't really look at it much alongside being 3DS exclusive, along with Shin Megami Tensei  not being a big household name compared to Persona . Nevertheless, just like IV , I wound up loving Apocalypse  to bits.

Console: PSVita, PS4, PC , Switch, XB1 Developer: Digital Reality/Grasshopper Manufacture Release Date:  August 8, 2017 ( November 9, 2012 for the original) Sine Mora EX is a bullet hell shoot 'em up with a dieselpunk aesthetic focused on a time travelling narrative. Developed mostly by Digital Reality, with Grasshopper Manufacture only handling art direction and sound design, Sine Mora EX  is an extended version of the original Sine Mora , with some added features like co-op, some quality of life changes, and a few new options. This is one of the first shmup games I've ever really clicked with, so I was pretty excited to play it again through this EX  version.

  Console: PSVita, PS4 , PC, Switch Developer: Arc System Works/APLUS Release Date:  March 24, 2015 ( May 31, 2017 for HD Edition) Damascus Gear: Operation Tokyo  is an isometric action RPG with a focus on combat and a mission-based structure. Developed by Arc System Works, most well-known for their fighting games, Damascus Gear  is one of the many non-fighting games the company has made, a couple of years before the final Blazblue  game or their first 3D Guilty Gear  game. At this point, people only really knew them for their fighting games and a few other projects, like the Contra spin-off  Hard Corps: Uprising  or   the Xblaze  visual novels. And I'm being generous. It's worth noting that this game is technically made by APLUS which, from what I can tell, is a subsidiary of Arcsys and has also developed Kill la Kill: if . 

Console: PC, PS4, PS5 , XSX Developer: ILCA Release Date: April 26, 2024 Sand Land  is an open-world action RPG with a large focus on vehicular customisation and combat. The game adaptation of Sand Land: The Series , which is an adaptation of the Sand Land  manga, the Sand Land  game serves as a retelling of the original manga by Akira Toriyama as well as the new sequel story created for Sand Land: The Series. As the manga was only 14 chapters and the anime 13 episodes (with the first 6 being the manga's story), making a 40-60 hour open-world RPG out of it was pretty surprising to me, even before I knew what Sand Land really was. Just how in the world do you even manage that?

Console: Switch Developer: HAL Laboratory Release Date: March 25, 2022 Kirby and the Forgotten Land  is a 3D platformer with a focus on finding collectibles, exploration, and fighting enemies. The 13th main game in the Kirby  franchise, Forgotten Land  is immediately a breath of fresh air for the series, shifting the main gameplay to 3D for the first time. I've essentially been a Kirby fan all my life, and I can't think of a main Kirby game I haven't enjoyed, so I was truly pumped to finally get to play this, especially after seeing rave reviews from both Kirby fans and non-Kirby fans. Naturally, since this is a Kirby game and I always do this, I fully completed the game before writing this review. 

       Console: PS4, PS5 , XB1, XSX, PC Developer:  Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio Release Date: November 10 2020 Yakuza: Like A Dragon  is a turn-based RPG with a focus on its narrative, character bonds, and variety of gameplay experiences. As the Like A Dragon  series' eighth main title, Yakuza: Like A Dragon  (which I'll refer to as Yakuza 7  to prevent confusion with both of the series' names) is a massive change from the rest of the games in the series by not only changing protagonists fully for the first time, but also switching genres, going from a beat 'em up action RPG to a turn-based RPG.