Mekorama Review - BIGsh0t

This year has been wild, every month, week, and even day seems to throw something new at us to have to adapt to and handle. It is times like these that we seek comfort and coziness - for me that is found by solving puzzles, playing games, and perusing the eShop to see what is new. The eShop is bustling with releases, and each week we have a whole new wave of games to sort and sift through; unfortunately, having a shop bursting at the seams with releases means that a lot of quality games fall under the radar as they are left off of the eShop main page or buried lower in search results. Some of my favorite and coziest games on my Switch have been found after digging through the eShop and Mekorama is no exception.

Pokémon Sword/Shield "Experience" Spoiler-Free Review (No Score) - Sergioalb64

As Scorbuddy and I sit around a campfire on our quest to, once again, "Catch ‘em All," we can’t help but think back on what an experience this has been.

It all began in Postwick one very fine afternoon. We were introduced to a colorful cast of characters and to a region that was vibrant and felt alive (or so it seemed at first). We became inseparable right from the start. We didn’t bother to catch any other Pokémon throughout the journey because, frankly, we didn’t need them. This made our journey much more interesting. Most trainers went around with several Pokémon, up to 6, and most of them would use evolved versions of said creatures. But not us. We were different, and we were absolutely ok with that.

Thanks to my previous experience in this type of journey, I was able to raise Scorbuddy well. When the time came for Scorbuddy to evolve, we somehow knew that this was not the course to take. It’s hard to explain; let’s just say we had an understanding that Scorbuddy would remain as he was for the rest of the journey.

As the adventure began, we were blasting through the competition without much trouble. At least, that was the case initially… until we arrived at the Wild Area. Our past journeys did not have such a large environment filled with wild Pokémon of such varying strengths. We soon came to realize that we had to be picky with the battles we engaged in. We had a few losses along the way, but we persevered, learning from these experiences, becoming a stronger duo after each battle.

Return of the Obra Dinn Review - Dragonflame323

The year is 1807. Four years prior, in 1803, the good ship Obra Dinn had gone missing and been deemed lost at sea after a failed sailing excursion around the Cape of Good Hope, along with all 60 of the ship’s crew and passengers. Their fates presently remain unknown.  You play as the role of an insurance agent investigator for the London office branch of the East India Company. The company has sent word to you that the Obra Dinn has miraculously found its way back to port and given you the task of traveling to Falmouth Port where the ship currently resides in order to assess all the necessary damages of the ship. Most importantly, you are to examine any clues or remaining evidence for what might’ve happened to the people responsible for maintaining this ship.  

Almost immediately to aid you in this endeavor, a mysterious case containing a pocket watch and a book with the title page “Return of the Obra Dinn:  A Catalogue of Adventure and Tragedy” is sent to you. It comes with a preface note signed by the author Henry Evans, expressly written to request the investigator of the ship to use the Memento Mortem pocket watch in tandem with the book to discover the identity and fate of everyone aboard. Though many of the book’s chapters remain blank, determining the fates of everyone on the ship will slowly reveal the contents of each chapter. Thus, the completion of the book is left by a mysterious and somehow knowing stranger in your timely hands.

Such is the intriguing impetus for the narrative in Return of the Obra Dinn, from which the rest of the game follows in neat and concentrated gameplay segments. In these segments, after exploring the ship’s decks or confines and discovering the remains of a person’s corpse, you will then use the aforementioned pocket watch to travel back in time to the very moment of that person’s death.After watching the scene play out, you are then treated as a moving body in a still image of a metaphorical time capsule for that scene, allowing you to move through its environment and analyze each person that was present to piece together the context that might’ve lead to the unfortunate events for that soul’s demise. Once you feel confident that you’ve been able to determine the fate of a person on the ship — universally inscribed within the book as: “Who died?”, “in what manner?” and, if applicable,”by whose hand?” — you can then fill in those blanks, and once three correctly described fates are written, they will be magically typeset into the book as factual events. This narrows down the list of the 60 possible crew or passengers who have perished and moves you closer to unraveling the truth behind these events.  

Little Town Hero Review - BIGsh0t

Introduction

What do I think of when I see an RPG? The usual hallmarks of the genre: grinding levels by spamming attacks, a complex story, expansive overworlds, random encounters, and about 60 hours of gameplay to complete the story. Little Town Hero (LTH) takes these traditional elements of an RPG and turns them on their head. This game does not feature a traditional leveling system or party of characters, its story is straightforward and takes place inside of a small town, enemy encounters are meaningful and diverse, and it can be completed in 15-20 hours.

What Is It About? 

This departure from the traditional RPG formula is what captivated me about this game back when it was announced simply as “Town.” The idea of a role-playing game taking place in a single town seemed revolutionary, and I immediately wondered how a story worthy of this genre could play out in such a small setting. LTH follows a boy, Axe, and his friends as they wonder what lies beyond the gates of their town. You see, Axe has not been able to leave his town because of the monsters that dwell outside of it. He is not anxious to leave his town, but is simply curious what else he can experience. While working in the mines one day, he comes across a mysterious and powerful stone that is able to defeat monsters. Following this chance encounter, Axe attempts to prove his ability to go beyond the gates of his hometown by protecting it from invaders. The storyline is not overly complex, but the character designs are fun, and their personalities keep the game and story progressing smoothly. 

How Does It Play?

While the story may not be gripping, what makes LTH worthwhile is its immersive and innovative battles. Several different systems are incorporated into fighting: power levels that increase as the fight progresses and allow you to use more powerful attacks, support characters with helpful buffs, and movement across a board after each turn. These concepts are layered in nicely as the game progresses and do not overwhelm you from the start. Each of the first few encounters serves as a teaching moment to introduce new battle mechanics. These encounters clearly spell out the benefit of each mechanic, but allow the player to uncover how to utilize it to secure a quick victory. 

Donut County Review - ScheiGuy

This is an indie game where you're a raccoon who uses an app to remotely control sinkholes that grow in diameter as they consume objects. The writing utilizes cheeky humor that is as silly as the premise. The characters are an eclectic bunch of oddballs. The gameplay is unexpectedly relaxing. However, the levels are short and present virtually no challenge. The game is also very short. I didn’t do any research before playing. I reached a level I thought would be a bridge to the game really opening up; however, it was the final level. The game feels like a “Chapter 1” of an episodic series. The sinkhole mechanics have so much potential for clever level design and challenging puzzles that was left unrealized. The art style and music are both memorable, but neither is stellar. I’d recommend this game if you find it on sale. At full price, the content is too thin for me to wholly recommend. ScheiGuy Score: 6/10 (mostly due to brevity and lack of challenge) ScheiGuy Score if the Game was $8-9 Instead of $13: 7.5/10 Time to Complete: Two hours

Undertale Review - ScheiGuy

Undertale is a rightfully beloved indie RPG.  The game drops you in the middle of a world that seems light-hearted, silly, dark, enigmatic, and melancholy all at the same time.  The characters are charming, and the dialogue is clever with plenty of tongue-in-cheek humor.  As the game unfolds, you're introduced to a very complex and emotional lore.  The decisions you make alter the story and world around you, sometimes permanently.  It's the only game I've played where you can win fights without taking any aggressive action.  As the story gripped me, I found myself projecting my own morality into my character's choices without wanting to play any other way.  The game beings slowly, but by the end I found myself engrossed and 100% emotionally invested.  My jaw dropped more than once as I learned new details about the story.  I can't speak for all possible play throughs, but the way I chose to play the game resulted in an overall positive message that I believe strongly in my own personal life.

The battle system is unique and the gameplay is fun, but this game is truly driven by the characters and story.  The soundtrack is very effective and inspires heavy-hitting emotion at just the right times.  The graphics are "retro" but genuinely add to the charm of the game.

My main complaint is that there's virtually no way to play casually through the game without making undesirable lasting consequences.  I had to spend some time on forums reading... which you can cautiously do without spoiling what's next... because I didn't have the time to play through the game several times to learn through trial and error (like many die-hard fans do). 

Overall, I recommend this game.  It's a unique experience that highlights the joy of gaming being a vastly diverse entertainment medium.  

Schei Score: 9/10
Time to Beat: Nine hours
Time to Truly Complete and Learn without Reading Forums: 50ish hours (best guess)

Dark Souls Review - Dragonflame323

An exceedingly difficult, albeit mostly fair game.  Dark Souls is a 3D action adventure (with light RPG elements) game where you play as a "Chosen Undead" knight, able to wield a variety of weapons and sorceries as you explore segmented areas that open up in a myriad of ways and link up to each other, reminiscent of a 3D Metroidvania in that sense.  Excels at world building, implicit lore that is not outwardly expressed to the player except for a grand cutscene at the beginning that sets the stage.  Tons of epic boss fights with some notable spikes in difficulty around midgame then ends fairly.  Easy to get lost, so exploration and thoughtful observation/interpretation of item descriptions as a means to distill guidance is generally advised.  Some trial and error in world traversal may be required but never noticeably dampens the experience except for one specific area.  The worst part about this game are a few tedious sequences of losing out to boss fights and then respawning at a bonfire that is far enough away that makes the commute a pain, but you can generally avoid enemy mobs pretty easily in this game.

Dragon Score: 9.5/10 (I loved this game)
Time to Beat: Including all optional areas and DLC, it took me about 90 hours.  Expect around 60-80 for the main game

Rocket League Review - ScheiGuy

Indoor soccer with rocket-powered cars.  It's a game that's easy to pick up, but it has an immensely high skill ceiling.  The game really shines when played with friends either locally or online.  However, it's plenty of fun online with random players, too.  There are a lot of game modes to keep things fresh, and the game has nearly infinite replay value.  The soundtrack is tight.  There's an optional loot box system, but all items are cosmetic only.  Online server issues, matchmaking problems, and rage quitters sometimes lower the fun.  Overall, the fun-to-price ratio is nearly unbeatable.  The chance to always get better keeps me coming back for more.  

Schei Score: 9/10
Time to Get Comfortable with the Mechanics: 20 hours
Time to Play with Confidence and Be Competing in Top Third of Ranks: 200 hours

Octopath Traveler Review - Darrel

Old-school inspired RPG with a deep battle system, unique visuals, and an excellent soundtrack.  There's less character interaction between the party members than you might have expected, and a slightly repetitive gameplay loop, but the game delivers a more personal experience with generally strong characters and small stories for the eight protagonists.  The deep job/battle system, presentation, and simple emotionally-driven stories kept the game interesting to me from start to finish.

DW Score: 9/10
Time to Beat: Up to 80-90 hours to finish everything

Starlink: Battle for Atlas Review - Darrel

Had a lot of fun with it.  It has it faults but it's generally a good time.  Story is a bit of a snoozer, the characters aren't great, and the repetition complaints are real, but the Star Fox integration is fantastic, and the game looks great, plays well, and is just a fun time. Definitely recommend the standard digital pack over the other purchase options.

DW Score: 7.5/10
Time to Beat: ~ 20 hours of gameplay