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Review: Battle Suit Aces Has Gundam Vibes I love how well-rounded Gundam can be, as we end up with fantastic character development, social and political commentary, and incredibly cool mechs, and I’m delighted to report that playing Battle Suit Aces leaves me with the same sort of feeling as watching one of those anime series. The execution of its story in episodic chunks, lore surrounding the suits, dynamics between members of the team, and way in which we’re playing out these mech battles with customized card decks feels like a love letter to types of storytelling and designs we’d see from Sunrise. Heathcliff and his friend Felix were generally living in peace, with the former even about to adopt some kids and start a family. That dream dies when mysterious aliens known as the Frenzied attack the planet. However, it’s because of that instance that the duo find what might be a means of fighting back. An ancient, extinct race known as the Pholians, which were wiped out by these Frenzied hunting down their energy, left behind relics and Relic Suit mechs. Heathcliff and Felix find one known as the Blue Crest. After bringing their find to the attention of the authorities, Heathcliff finds himself leading a new initiative known as Patchworks, with a growing crew on the USS Zephyr dedicated into investigating the Relic Suits, learning more about the Pholians, and fighting the Frenzied across the galaxy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-ikbStW5Gc While Battle Suit Aces is a card game that involves recruiting pilot cards and collecting Drone and Command Captain ones to fight in battles against aliens and other opponents, the execution of the story embraces concepts from anime. Missions and portions of the plot follow an episodic style structure, complete with one of the voice actors for the crew members reading the titles for that segment out ahead of each one. While there are supplemental side quests for extra materials and faction points during each and opportunities to craft or speak with people on the ship during each part, meaning they might not always feel short, it helps with maintaining a flow and allowing opportunities for natural breaks. Since some of these segments can be more lighthearted, such as sparring with members of a faction who might help you learn more about the Relic Suits and improve them or attending a starball, as well as more serious, it lends itself to idea of feeling like full seasons or cours rather than one straightforward campaign. The nature of the Battle Suit Aces characters and their relationships, as well as how they handle piloting suits, gave me Gundam vibes as well. There are serious undertones running through things, what with Heathcliff’s peaceful hopes dashed as the series begins, Felix being an enthusiastic pilot with an unexpected and immediate connection to the Blue Crest, and the wide range of personalities and experiences with these individuals. The dynamics between individuals are interesting and aren’t surface-level, as we start to actually investigate folks’ paths and see how some do (or don’t) always get along with one another. Once we get to recruitment, the situations usually involve multiple individuals and not being able to be get everyone we want, so you really need to pick and then see what they bring between battles. Images via Trinket Studios That sort of relationship almost seems mirrored in the actual battles themselves. The pilots and their suits feel like the main priority, due to the amount of health they have, damage they can deal, ways they attack, and special skills they unleash. For example, Yan is in the U-TECH2 and, when she attacks, deals damage to the card directly opposing her and the enemy life bar. Considering your goal is to lay out your five cards in the five spots ahead of you, moving when needed, to block enemy shots and vice versa, that’s handy for wiping out a minion and working on decreasing your main opponent’s HP so you can win. Daciana and Jaeger both do AOE attacks against groups of enemies with the U-TANK20 and U-JET8. Meanwhile, Felix is a heavy hitter with the Blue Crest and also comes with rather high HP. And if you get Mirabell from the Tvashtr Suitsmiths Faction, then when she attacks she’ll grant armor to allies nearby to help with survivability. Depending on who you deploy, their skills and natures can help support each other and determine your strategies. Drones, meanwhile, are less powerful placeholders who can keep attacks from getting through an empty spot and deal some damage, while played Captain Command cards can immediately attack. The fights in Battle Suit Aces will feel familiar if you’ve played similar sorts of strategic card games in the past. Every match starts with the player and their opponent each having 30 health and five slots for cards in front of them. Cards are played in these positions. You gain energy each turn, and each card’s attack will need some to be used. So not everyone deployed will take action that turn, but simply by existing in a space might be blocking an enemy attack and protecting your overall health. After an opponent’s turn, however, the strength icon for their cards that will attack on their next turn will be highlighted so you will know where to block. Your goal is to survive each round and whittle down your enemy’s health until they are defeated. Images via Trinket Studios What surprised me about Battle Suit Aces, in a good way mind you,is that it doesn’t hold back! While the first two battles are tutorial ones that go rather easy on you, the one against the Frong Queen is genuinely tricky! It’s designed to help you learn how pilots can work well together, with Daciana and Belmot facing off against hostile native creatures, and it helps set the tone that yes, this is a game that requires you to be smart. It’s not uneven in any way. I feel like it’s a good challenge though that rewards you for playing pilots and drones that complement each other. I also didn’t expect as much customization as there is in Battle Suit Aces . As you go through fights both in mainline missions and optional assignments, you get materials you can use in the Workshop. These can be used in suit mod slots, which can be opened up immediately or by completing specific ambitions for allies with certain actions in fights, to offer bonuses or even passives. This allows you to really play into strategies you enjoy most by improving the pilots you feel work best with your approaches. And things like the optional battles and Sim Chamber let you test that. Likewise, if you do put extra time in on bonus missions, you see your Faction points grow and more recruit options open up to bolster your deck. I appreciate the execution in Battle Suit Aces and how it prioritizes characters and stories, resulting in a game that reminds me of Gundam series in the best ways. The card-based combat system encourages investment in factions and incentivizes additional missions so you can build up your characters. It also sends you into battles that can make you think, even early on, so it feels genuinely satisfying when you discover card combinations that work for you. I really appreciate the story it tells and how Trinket Studios told it. Battle Suit Aces will come to the Switch, PS5, and PC on October 7, 2025 . The post Review: Battle Suit Aces Has Gundam Vibes appeared first on Siliconera .

SiliconeraOct 7

Review: Sonic Racing CrossWorlds Is as Enjoyable as All-Stars Racing Transformed For a series known for speed, it’s amazing that we aren’t always guaranteed that the Sonic the Hedgehog racing games are great. (I mean, consider what happened with entries like Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity !) Sega’s been doing better in recent years, with Sonic & All-Stars Racing kart racing line being very solid and even Team Sonic Racing having its moments. With Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds , we get another solid kart racer that feels like it prioritizes offering a wide range of characters and carts. As a kart racer, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds features the sorts of single and multiplayer modes folks might expect from this type of game. The Grand Prix is best compared to the same one found in Mario Kart entries, with each of the seven Cups consisting of four races, and people able to play alone or in local co-op. Also like Mario Kart, selecting the speed is setting the difficulty. A Rival will appear during these, tasking you with “besting” them. Time Trials are also available, to set records on specific runs. You can also head to the Race Park to complete specific Double Team and Triple Team challenges that help with unlocking stuff. As for multiplayer traditional races, there is the ranked World Match and a more casual online Friend Match. Cross-platform racing is present here, which is appreciated. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V4aYlM1U4M Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds starts with a strong impression. While the first run walls you off from selections, Sega made the decision to ensure everything is just there for you right away. Considering a major focus is being able to choose the character, customize the cart, and choose a loadout of boosts, it’s very welcome. Seeing 23 folks right away is handy. Also, while the Season Pass does mean there are about 20 more characters and additional carts, emotes, and tracks, and extras, I appreciate that many of those are crossover ones. So if you don’t care about Mega Man, Minecraft, Spongebob, or Pac-Man and are here for the Sonic and Sega/Atlus series characters, it’s no big loss. Once you select who you want to be, selecting what you want to drive comes up. While characters fall into categories like Acceleration, Boost, Handling, Power, and Speed, the vehicle you select also influences your performance. While these also fall into categories, you can also adjust front parts, rear parts, and tires to further influence things. Paint, decals, different horns, and aura can also be added. (Some of these do need to be acquired via tickets, which you can earn.) So this is both about altering what it is like when you race and visual preferences. There’s also the Gadget Plate. You can use this to apply certain buffs or bonuses as you race, with additional slots unlocking as you play. You can equip panels that do things like help with charging, keeps you from dropping items, lets you hold more items, get boost support, and other perks. It can help you compensate for things you feel you do better or worse as you race, or let you lean into your strengths, in a way that doesn’t feel like you’re making things too easy for yourself. However, the downside is that the playing field doesn’t feel as level if someone has six Gadget Plate slots open and someone locally comes up and needs to make do with two. It’s a fun concept, but I worry it can make things a little more uneven when you aren’t against AI. Images via Sega Once you’re in a race, there are certain elements that set Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds apart from other kart racers. At its core, it involves traditional car-like vehicles going around courses and using drift mechanics and collected items to hamper enemies and help yourself. This is changed up a bit by Travel Ring portals appearing on courses that briefly take you to other locations from the Sonic the Hedgehog series. (Or, if you get DLC, other games.) It changes things up in a way that’s typically fun and visually impressive! However, the current leader decides whether you go to a predetermined place or random one, and I wish there was more of an opportunity for others to weigh in or more variety there. Another downside is that I sort of feel like the opportunities that take us into the sky or through the water don’t feel as consistently fun as ones on solid land. These excursions aren’t like the airborne segments in Mario Kart that happen for a few seconds. You can be going for a few minutes and it involves a whole different type of skillset and sense of nuance to do well on water or in the air. If they were shorter, I’d think they add to the idea of exploring other levels. But it would really throw me off, even after hours of playing, to suddenly need to adapt to flying through the air or on top of waves. The Rivals system is the other unique feature in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, and I find someone’s mileage may vary when experiencing it. This is a situation in which rubber-banding can hit you hard and you can be exceptionally skilled, but still lose due to that virtual opponent getting “lucky.” At least if you can manage to beat the rival, you’re also pretty much guaranteed to get first place. The nature of it meant that even if I didn’t, I was still far ahead of the other NPC racers in Grand Prix. Images via Sega Finally, I will say that, while I enjoyed Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds , those playing on handheld gaming PCs might need to fiddle with the settings to get it looking and running well. I played on a Lenovo Legion Go and, while it definitely runs fine, the nature of the system and game meant it didn’t look as good as it would on a more powerful desktop or laptop. But like Sega said, it is Steam Deck verified and does work well! It just might need a bit of finessing to look as good as possible on your system. Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is a solid kart racer that I feel I enjoyed as much as recent Sonic & All-Stars Racing games. There’s a great selection of characters and tons of vehicle customization options, which are great. The nature of the Rivals and Travel Rings systems also makes it feel different than similar titles such as Mario Kart World. I do worry the Gadget Plate unlocking element might make it a little unfair when playing co-op locally, and some of the water and air racing might not feel as fantastic as the standard racing. It’s still quite impressive and leaves a great impression. Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is available on the Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC, and it will also eventually appear on the Switch 2. The post Review: Sonic Racing CrossWorlds Is as Enjoyable as All-Stars Racing Transformed appeared first on Siliconera .

SiliconeraOct 6

Review: Digimon Story: Time Stranger Is a Solid Entry in the Series The Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth JRPG and follow-up game Hacker’s Memory ended up being two of the best titles based on the series in recent years and, fortunately, Bandai Namco is continuing that trend with Digimon Story: Time Stranger . It’s really compelling and does some fun things by allowing us to explore both the human and Digimon worlds, solve a mystery that sends us back in time, and tap into a “collect ‘em all” element by giving us tons of characters to collect. I feel like it’s a strong follow-up to its predecessors. Digimon Story: Time Stranger kicks off in the present, with our ADAMAS member avatar (either Dan or Kanan) investigating a major anomaly in Shinjuku. Part of the city has been walled off for years, and strange lifeforms have been cited as the cause of anomalies throughout the city. Our job is to investigate and protect civilians, which is difficult since there’s for some reason an anime also based on people who wear outfits like ours? Upon heading in to provide aid to someone who somehow was authorized to contact our Digivice, we find a young woman who claims to know us. She insists we need to get to the top of the government building to aid someone else. When we get there, a massive explosion kicks off and we find ourselves eight years in the past. Our contact in the present (the person we didn’t select as our character) said the whole world is heading toward destruction as the result of that event. Coincidentally, we officially “meet” that strange girl in the past after rescuing her! We end up staying with Inori and her father, meeting Aegiomon, and getting involved with a conflict between worlds to protect everyone and everything. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFEu9XOLmg0 If you played Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth and its sequel, then Digimon Story: Time Stranger should feel relatively familiar as the game follows a similar sort of pattern. We begin by exploring Tokyo in the human world, encountering hostile Digimon in certain set areas or encounters, then eventually also gain access to the Digital World. There are quite a few areas to explore and, when you hit certain exit points, there are fast travel options to certain spots. (I preferred running and exploring, as there are a lot of incidental items you can pick up along the way for the DigiFarm or battles.) I will say that I think Iliad is the more visually interesting of the two. Human NPCs are rather nondescript and uninteresting and the human world, though generally accurate, felt a bit bland compared to the more vibrant and unusual Digital World. Though, that could also be because it was fun to see Digimon around and the effort put into ensuring those areas feel different, and the DigiRide mount system is fun. Combat involves turn-based battles, and there’s also a means of gaining initiative that feels really satisfying. When exploring, you can “investigate” to search for breakable walls, materials, or chests or send out a Digimon to attack. (There are even times when you’ll need ones with certain elemental capabilities to trigger a situation.) The “attack” option can also be used on a Digimon seen in the field in a “dungeon” style situation. If the opponent is weak enough, you automatically get the experience for your characters and Convert data that builds toward acquiring it yourself. If it isn’t enough to defeat it, you’ll enter the turn-based fight, but will find the enemies’ HP affected or fewer there because of your initial assault. It’s great! (Also, said experience earned applies to the three characters in the front of your party, the three in reserve, and ones that happen to be in your general on-hand storage.) Images via Bandai Namco During fights, UI is clear, the pacing is pretty good, and there are a lot of attacking options. Each character has innate Special Skills they just know. You can equip Attachment Skills, regardless of their innate type, to bolster a build. It’s also possible to assign two pieces of equipment to each character. You can have them attack, use a skill, or guard, and it is also possible to have your agent change to a different reserve Digimon of the three on hand or use an item for that round. After using a Digimon for a while, it’s also possible for an attack to multi-hit. You select actions on each character’s turn. It’s also possible to use a Cross Art to support your allies or attack if you spent Anomaly Points on Agent Skills, with even the initial Cross Art: Field ability that boosts stats for two turns being pretty great. I will say I appreciated being able to speed up animations once I hit around the ten hour mark, as battles started featuring full parties and lots of attack animations. The Convert and Digivolution systems also really make Digimon Story: Time Strange feel compelling and encourage battling without making the grind feel too all-consuming. Requirements to reach new evolutions are quite clear, and they’re typically reasonable given we can reach many by leveling up, others by saving and using items to bolster stats, and use the DigiFarm to influence builds. There’s a handy history on a character’s profile page, so you can see evolutions and devolutions. I will say the wait to reach Agent Rank 3 to finally Digivolve my starter felt like it took forever considering how many others I got to level up before that point, but the requirements feel like they make sense, are reasonable, and keep you from ending up being OP too early. (Unless you use the early unlock Special Agumon and Gabumon.) I do wish the requirements for Digivolving would be visible in DigiFarm, since I used that for filling gaps in my collection, and I think that could get tedious for completionists. Images via Bandai Namco The funny thing is that I feel like the odd quirks in Digimon Story: Time Stranger are the things that get to be the biggest issues. There’s a notification system that can alert you to sidequests or opportunities to automatically renew training at the DigiFarm. That’s handy! Except I found those notifications go by far too quickly for me to catch and press the shortcut to immediately respond without going into the menu. And even if I did go into the menu, the UI isn’t great about letting you know which ones are new and need addressing. The game also isn’t great at letting you know when the three active Digimon in your party around you are able to talk so you can influence their personality! Sometimes, if I moved too suddenly in a dungeon style space where they would appear, I’d see a conversation icon pop up, but if I turned to face them, the prompt wouldn’t show. I’d really need to find a clear, open, safe space and sometimes inch around folks to trigger the option. The story pacing can feel a bit off at times, especially during the first five hours, so it takes a bit of time to “pick up” even though everything going on can be pretty interesting! Speaking of pacing, it’s also a bit annoying when for “story reasons” our avatar is prevented from running at their typical gait and forced to walk. (Though this doesn’t happen all that often.) It also bothered me that our character is a silent protagonist. Dan and Kanan both have voice actors when you don’t choose one of them and they act as a supporting cast member. But once you select your avatar, you’ll see their mouth move after selecting dialogue options. They’re clearly saying the line you chose. However, Bandai Namco didn’t choose to actually have them be voiced. So there will be these awkward gaps in conversations where we’ll “watch” them respond and everyone else will talk, but they never speak. I get not voicing everything, but some critical story moment audio clips would have been nice. Also annoying is that the Jogmon card game in Digimon Story: Time Stranger isn’t fun! I was so excited when a kid wanted me to pass along a deck to Aegiomon. Digimon Card Game is great, if you’ve never had a chance to try it, and I hoped that maybe this meant a “lite” version of it would be included. Nope! What’s here is really bland and involves fake Digivices and cards representing characters with different power levels and types assigned to them. You drop one on your device on your turn and hope it’s stronger than the other. It lasts five rounds, with one card played each round and “winning” or “losing,” and the side with the most wins… wins. The aesthetics for the devices and character sprites are great, but it’s so disappointing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICCFACvxF84 Though those elements are annoying, playing Digimon Story: Time Stranger on a handheld gaming PC isn’t! I played on a Lenovo Legion Go, and it felt absolutely perfect. The framerate seemed pretty consistent throughout, which was my main concern, and it felt like it stayed around 60fps. It looked great too. The textures are on-point and all of the Digimon especially “popped.” Some minor hiccups aside, Digimon Story: Time Stranger is both a solid game in the series and the kind of JRPG that incentivizes experimentation due to the range of characters available. I loved playing around with Digivolution and the DigiFarm to create some exceptional allies. It was a shame that there are some minor pacing issues and notifications might not do as good of a job actually notifying me about things. There’s a strong foundation here with a lot of potential to build well-rounded armies of Digimon to help you face all of the game’s challenges. Digimon Story: Time Stranger will come to the PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC on October 3, 2025. The post Review: Digimon Story: Time Stranger Is a Solid Entry in the Series appeared first on Siliconera .

SiliconeraOct 1

Review: Baby Steps Is an Approachable Bennett Foddy Game A lot of Bennett Foddy games can seem deceptively simple, but quickly put some people off due to how difficult they can be to truly succeed. Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy is a great example, but the difficulty of VVVVVV and execution in entries like QWOP and CLOP could make them difficult to play for most people for long periods of time. Baby Steps sees him reuniting with Gabe Cuzzillo and Maxi Boch for a game along the lines of QWOP that feels approachable, delightful, and even meaningful. It'll still absolutely smack you down, especially if you feel like you "mastered" certain skills and terrain types. But I found it easier to bounce back here than in past games. Nate is not doing great. He lives with his parents. He spends most of his time watching TV or playing games. His social skills aren’t good, and it seems like he isn’t the best at taking initiative. One day, while he’s doing his thing, he finds himself teleported to another place, dropped in a pool in a cave. From there, we help him find his way walking through the wilderness, doing things like finding hats and toilets along the way. Of course, there are also the campfires, which feel like poignant messages and insights into his psyche and development. But the incidental activities and surprising “quests” you can happen upon can feel just as fulfilling. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t11z-8K_9ik Baby Steps is another Bennett Foddy style physics game with deceptively simple controls. The triggers will make Nate lift his left or right legs, and you move the left analog stick to control how far forward, backward, left, and right he moves with each step. Depending on the angle and presses, Nate could walk leisurely along flat surfaces or even sort of gradually scale more steeper structures or landscapes. Different types of terrain work differently, such as standard grass or pavement, wet ground, sand, or actual ponds and streams. This means it is very easy for the environment to influence our control over Nate, as well as Nate and his momentum to affect certain items around him. Which, as you can guess, is what makes Baby Steps feel so satisfying and entertaining. Our initial task is pretty easy. Walk out of a cave. Things gradually get more difficult. Find a way around a locked gate keeping us from a different area. Reach a toilet that Nate can actually use to relieve himself. I think the game feels like a mixture of QWOP and Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy most of the time, since we’ll need to complete a certain objective, have the tools and perhaps even the skills to do it, but the timing, layout of the world around us, and sometimes even a little luck regarding positioning and precision will determine if we manage to push forward. Screenshots by Siliconera Now, I never beat Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy, as that game absolutely beat me instead. It infuriated me sometimes. With Baby Steps there are times that it will get me down, but it feels more fleeting. The combination of the controls and approachability that allows us to explore other options for certain situations made it feel less daunting. Like if I didn’t have luck with one approach, maybe I try something else? Things like mud, sand, and ice absolutely suck, of course, as does the final area. But I really feel like if you spend enough time controlling Nate, you pick up skills that make things feel more manageable. Also, due to the way things are broken up and spaced out, I didn't feel like I lost as much progress here as I did at times in Getting Over It . I don’t know if it also is due to the fantastic soundtrack, where the sounds of nature around Nate begin to pipe up into a symphony once you find a rhythm, get going, and make substantial progress, but I found it easier to find a good groove. The control scheme meant if I found a relatively flat or slightly angled trail for a spell, I could even almost get him up to a solid sprint. And even if a portion of the mountain or an area looks too intimidating to climb, I suspect it could be possible. There were times I somehow managed to work my way up some unwelcoming spots by moving carefully, taking my time, and really playing around with footholds. Baby Steps also features some unexpectedly fun incidental changes in Nate as we play. For example, we can find a hat! I did it! It ended up ruining my life for a bit, since I was determined to keep it and it would very likely fall off when he’d fall. At one point it fell off when I got across a river with waterfall. I stepped wrong after getting across, and it fell off. I pressed A to retrieve it, and the way Nate bent meant he went too close to the water when he got it. Nate and the hat went cascading down with the flow, and I never saw that hat again. Cursed. Also, he’ll get dirty if you fall a bunch and you’ll see sweat stains form if you manage to maintain a good stride for a long period. Head to a cold area, and that will be reflected too. Images via Devolver Digital It is also blatantly and intentionally hilarious. Some of it is toilet humor. (Literally and figuratively.) It's the funniest game I've played this year. Putting up with all the frustration is worth it when you make it to certain NPCs, animals, or items. I’ve been primarily playing Baby Steps on a handheld gaming PC (Lenovo Legion Go), and it works perfectly on it. It looks fantastic. There’s no lag when walking. The controller support is wonderful. Support for Steam Deck style devices is great, and it felt just as solid here as it did on an actual PC. Baby Steps is yet another example of a Bennett Foddy game that can test you, frustrate you, and make you laugh at the silliest situations.. The controls are fantastic, so it feels like they never fail you. The types of terrain and situations can be goofy and challenging. At the same time, there’s a message about growth and development that comes through that made me feel like I wasn’t just having an absolute ball flailing my way through strange spaces, but learning more about Nate and rooting for him in the process. Baby Steps is available for the PS5 and PC . The post Review: Baby Steps Is an Approachable Bennett Foddy Game appeared first on Siliconera .

SiliconeraSep 23

Review: Little Problems: A Cozy Detective Game Is Quite Simple Little Problems: A Cozy Detective Game is quite possibly the most self-explanatory title ever. It’s a detective game with a laid-back, low-stakes cases involving ordinary problems everyone faces. Help a young woman assist people through ten cases. Maybe if you can, space it out so you can spend a full two weeks taking on one assignment each day. It’s never too difficult or taxing, and taking your time with it means you’d also be able to overlook issues with it being potentially repetitive or quite brief. Mary and her friend Sara got into Starford University! She wants to make the most of her first year, and she plans to keep a diary throughout it. Clearly, the goal is to become a responsible student and productive adult. Which means throughout the adventure, you need to help her solve ordinary, everyday issues to ensure everyone around her is happy and her life as a college student goes well. Aside from that, there’s not a really strong story to things. You basically see scenes in her life and work out what’s going on by observing people around Mary or going through messages she receives. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9MOHldj8HI Now, when I say these are ordinary issues, I mean it. For the sake of avoiding spoilers, I’ll go over only the first case. That situation involves a missing USB drive with a group report with a presentation Mary is doing with Sara and Andre. This means clicking to find the USB in Mary’s room, clicking on her phone, and clicking on the underlined “Sara,” “Andre,” and “USB” words when checking the messages there. This then allows you to press the Solve button on the screen to see the problem and come up with the solution. Statements will be there with missing words that can be filled in with clues you found. So, because the situation involves that presentation on the drive, the one that reads, “My _______ stick broke! I don’t have a backup of the group presentation, so I had to redo the whole thing…” would have the USB clue plugged into the spot. By filling in all the blanks, you get a Completion Rate score, an explanation of what happened, and an option to either stay to explore more or “finish the case.” All of the situations involve stakes like that which are usually simple, but might take a few steps and logical puzzles to figure out dates, times, identities, orders, and such. So there’s a missing USB stick and dealing with how to get the new presentation redone. Finding out who broke a mug. Knowing what to add to a grocery list. Finding out when orders at a restaurant will go out. Determining who got the highest and lowest group project grades. Working out why someone is crying. Images via Posh Cat Studios For those who aren’t as familiar with detective games like this, there are also optional elements to assist with getting through the adventure. The big one being a “show/hide clue markers” option. This will cause a question mark to show on items you should pay attention to when trying to solve a mystery. But also, when going through story segments, you’ll see little notes like “clues X/Y” so you can know if a clue is present and be able to click on highlighted words to add them to things you need to know for investigations. It’s all very visible. There’s also an option to take in-game notes on post-its. Though if you’re on Steam Deck, it’ll be difficult to take those down without an actual keyboard. I will say that if someone isn’t familiar with detective and deduction games like Duck Detective: The Secret Salami or The Case of the Golden Idol , the tutorial isn’t the best at explaining what to do. Each scene really relies on you clicking around to explore the environment, investigate what might be hidden in bags, and clicking on people or things that stand out in the environment to get the word “clues” you need to plug in to the Mad Libs style statements under the Solve section. However, the first case involving the missing USB is so simple and swift that it does act as an solid introduction, so I’m sure people will get the hang of it after that. I feel like Little Problems: A Cozy Detective Game is a game you open up and play when you’re looking for a slight challenge to wind down. It isn’t excessively challenging. Going through it all in one or two sittings can call attention to its more tedious elements. Just spend a week or two helping Mary with some assignments at a relaxed pace, and you’ll probably have a pleasant time. But if you do want to go through it all at once, know it will take less than four hours to help Mary resolve all these situations. Little Problems: A Cozy Detective Game is available for PCs . The post Review: Little Problems: A Cozy Detective Game Is Quite Simple appeared first on Siliconera .

SiliconeraSep 21

Review: Firefly Village Is a Condensed Farming Life Sim Firefly Village is a farming life sim along the lines of Stardew Valley and Story of Seasons , but with the goal of making things much simpler. As in everything is shorter, streamlined, and less involved than others in the genre. While it’s a novel experiment to see how much you can cut back and still leave a satisfying sim behind, it also results in things feeling unbalanced and quality of life features being abandoned in the process. In Firefly Village , we’re a newcomer who moves into town to take up residence in an empty shack with some farmland. Only a handful of folks live in the area and there are only a few screens worth of spaces to explore. Each season lasts only seven days, with a day being four minutes, so it eventually comes down to just handling our 54 plots for crops, handful of animals, and basically five folks living in the area. Upgrades? They’re minimal and involve things like a kitchen and deck. Animals? You probably only end up with six chickens. Your goal is to enjoy effective days that pass quickly and don’t feature a lot of busywork. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk1HCNx1blw It’s interesting. Firefly Village is absolutely every element of a farming life sim distilled down to the most critical parts, so technically a lot of what we’d expect from Story of Seasons or Stardew Valley is here. We can become best friends with the five villagers. There are eventually supplemental activities like cooking, fishing, and mining. We can collect items like scarecrows. There are festivals to celebrate occasions like Halloween. The things we expect are here, and Josh Koenig Games does show we can accomplish the full farming experience in truncated days days and seasons, still accomplishing things. However, a big part of playing Firefly Village makes me realize how much I miss some of the things that naturally come from larger farming life sim games like Stardew Valley or Story of Seasons . There’s the absence of quality of life features. Want to harvest things or do some gathering? You can hold 12 items, and they don’t stack. Want a cow? That will be 5,000g, and it honestly can take quite a bit of time to earn that money. Tools? Aside from your initial farming equipment, you need to wait until they randomly appear in the store and you can stock them. Need to water or gather? Sometimes your character won’t face the right direction you need to perform an action and you need to fiddle around with things. Images via Josh Koenig Games Also, while farming life sims like Story of Seasons and Stardew Valley can have days that sometimes feel long or like we’re “grinding” through a schedule, playing Firefly Village made me realize that time wasn’t wasted. Going through those routines could be calming. I liked waiting around while fishing. Or the deeper connections that came from its socialization that weren’t present with the three-heart-level friendships here. The fact that some things did happen so quickly here made it feel less satisfying when I’d harvest crops, care for animals, or reach a relationship milestone. Yes, there’s no bloat here. But there were times I wish there were to make things feel a bit more fulfilling. I do appreciate that the simplicity in Firefly Village also extends to the appearance. The design is minimalistic, but still incredibly effective. It calls to mind the older Story of Seasons games on, say, the Game Boy or SNES. There’s a charm to it, and I also really appreciated the artistic direction for character portraits that make them feel rustic. I appreciate Firefly Village as an experiment into how much you can cut from a Stardew Valley or Story of Seasons style farming game while presenting a cohesive experience. It is interesting. Succinct too! It looks great as well, with some adept spritework. But at the same time, things go so quickly that I didn’t feel a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment from taking my time and watching my virtual farm and life blossom over time. It’s a charming way to pass the time, but you might not get as much out of it as one of the more robust, larger games. Firefly Village is available on PCs . The post Review: Firefly Village Is a Condensed Farming Life Sim appeared first on Siliconera .

SiliconeraSep 13

Review: Dice Gambit Sends Families Against Foes Dice Gambit is one of those games where how much you get out of it comes down to how you feel about different gameplay elements. Are you okay with luck perhaps not being on your side and giving you the dice rolls you need for quick battles? Do you like quickly cycling through characters to develop the best builds for a party? Are you okay with a little repetition? If the answer to even one of those is yes, then at the very least it is worth trying out the demo of Chromatic Ink’s stylish game. As Dice Gambit begins, we first use the character creator to develop our initial avatar and Inquisitor. The character design and artistic direction is incredibly unique and stylized, with options to go serious or silly. Upon picking their identity, we are summoned home to the city of Neo-Talis. The city is plagued by individuals who transform into enemies called Chromatics. While our family is a well respected one made up of Inquisitors who face these opponents, they also must curry favor with the members of the Adicia, Medos, and Nova to maintain power and respect. Working with Stecchi Grefiore, studying at the academy, going on expeditions to fight battles, getting married to expand the family with new kids, and repeating that to end the Chromatic scourge quickly becomes our primary focus. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXrpX2CIYwY Dice Gambit , though it has some roguelike elements when it comes to getting additional Inquisitors in your family, is a strategy game in which dice roles determine your actions. When a turn starts, you roll the dice in your hand. The Haste icons that come up will allow you to move around the grid on a map or perform actions. A shield is a Defense icon for defending and abilities. The Signature is your family’s signature abilities, and so on. Also helpful, but hazardous, are Chroma symbols that make the Chromatic enemies stronger, but act as a wild card to help you get enough symbols for certain actions and movements. So to move up to three spaces, you need to burn one Haste die. If I wanted my Berserker to use the Flurry attack that would let it both move and attack, while also healing if I defeat an enemy, I’d need either two Attack icons, an Attack and a Chroma, or two Chroma. The problem is, while it is possible to reroll, this does mean a lot of things are left up to range. We go through battles, but must rest and take into account stamina loss to ensure we don’t send our units into a fight at low health or with debuffs due to exhaustion. Stamina management is one of the light life-sim elements in there. We will send our characters to an Academy to develop their abilities, movesets, and classes. This is also tied to marriage, since who you are tied to determines abilities. Not to mention classes open up as our reputation increases and we unlock them and build up our family. By the second act of the game, we’re able to bring in Inquisitors who can fill certain roles in a party to really help you grow your force. These folks can act as attackers (Berserker, Knife Juggler, and Sniper), ones that are designed to debuff enemies (Alchemist, Scorcher, and Shutterbug), and supporters who help units move around (Director, Gunblade, and Translocationist). Like with a game like Disgaea , getting new children following marriage means a new unit at level 1 with higher starting stats. Images via Chromatic Ink It’s when you get into the second act that Dice Gambit opens up and simultaneously starts to feel a little limiting. This is because we still see the same sorts of maps and situations, but difficulty feels like it ends up being based more on how many enemies appear each time at once. There are more enemies, who summon more allies, and that sometimes feels like the whole “challenge.” But we can’t even experiment as much with builds, since we are limited in how many class and unique skills each of our units can have, and there are certain ones that feel most important. As a result, the game begins to push a player into builds that emphasize pairing up a Berserker with other passive skills or getting that class’ Spur of the Moment or Onslaught skills to help others. After a point, it became about ensuring my Berserkers, Snipers, and Directors worked well together to inflict as much pain on as many enemies as quickly as possible. However, Dice Gambit is one of the shorter games with roguelike elements out there. The time limits mean someone going through on a more casual basis might not notice the more repetitive elements. At the same time, that does mean you can’t spend forever customizing your family and characters. But as long as you realize you should be quickly building up new generations and investing gold into swiftly leveling the new ones, you’ll be fine. Especially since the whole marriage and relationship system doesn’t feel involved. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaCBUG_3nFQ While some of the Dice Gambit issues that might come up could come down to personal preferences determining how they affect you, I did experience a quirk that hampered the handheld gaming experience. The Steam product page notes it is “ playable ” on a Steam Deck and there should be a default controller configuration. On a Lenovo Legion Go, it would not kick in. I ended up having to play on a laptop instead. This isn’t a dealbreaker at all, but those who only play on handhelds of some sort should keep that in mind before picking it up and test The First Act demo to ensure it runs properly. Dice Gambit can be a creative strategy game, though it is one that relies heavily on luck and repetition. It looks unique and can encourage some unusual builds as you work out which active and passive skills help most when facing hordes of enemies. I just recommend testing out the demo first to ensure its gameplay loop is one you’d enjoy. Dice Gambit is available on PCs. The post Review: Dice Gambit Sends Families Against Foes appeared first on Siliconera .

SiliconeraSep 6

Review: Hololive Holo’s Hanafuda Is Casual and Fun We don’t get many Hanafuda games outside Japan. When one does appear, even if its made for a niche audience, it can be a big deal. That’s the case for Hololive Holo’s Hanafuda from Gemdrops, one of the latest holo indie titles, as it pairs up Vtubers from Cover with the card game. It’s such a solid showing, especially since it has an online multiplayer that supports cross-play with the console release and is quite well-populated, that anyone interested in the card game should consider at the very least trying out its demo. The Hololive Holo’s Hanafuda campaign (yes, there’s a story mode) follows Vtubers Nakiri Ayame, Ookami Mio, Sakura Miko, and Shirakami Fubuki as they prepare for a tournament, then get sucked into themed worlds based on the months and flower suits in the deck. It’s not an earth-shattering story, but it is quite cute and could be helpful when easing people unfamiliar with the card game into the experience. Especially since it also introduces the Holo Awase ruleset with power-ups tied to specific generations for claiming cards that show certain performers on them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Q_BRkjFwRQ It’s the actual card game that matters here, and Hololive Holo’s Hanafuda is great at providing that experience with a Vtuber coating. In addition to the campaign, you can play offline or online. The rulesets are traditional Koi-Koi, a variant of that with power-ups that include buffs and debuffs called Holo Awase, and Oicho-Kabu. (You don’t have to fire up one of the Yakuza games for rounds of that last one anymore!) Cards are very clearly presented on the table, information is laid out well, and it’s easy to check set lists or toggle help on and off. The online multiplayer impressed me too! I played on a handheld gaming PC, and I had no trouble finding matches. When I did get into one, it was responsive with no lag. It also didn’t take too long to find fellow players, though I did make sure I played around Japanese time zones to ensure I wouldn’t be alone. Cross-play seemed competent. The only qualm is that it is a bit of a rudimentary multiplayer mode, as there’s no ranked option. Given this is part of that indie line, I suppose I understand. And, in the time I was playing, Gemdrops did end up patching it to penalize people who would ditch matches if it looked like they were losing, so at least the developers seem like they’re keeping an eye out for feedback. Images via Gemdrops Hololive Holo’s Hanafuda also looks so great. The cards all feature Hololive Vtubers, but at the same time nail the classic Hanafuda card aesthetic. It looks lovely. I’d buy physical cards with those types of prints. (You know, if Trump tariffs and the end of de minimis exemption weren’t making those kinds of those impulse purchases near impossible.) If you aren’t a Vtuber fan, you can also opt for more traditional looking cards, but I really recommend going with the themed approach since they’re so pretty. The downside to Hololive Holo’s Hanafuda is, while enjoyable, I didn’t feel like I someone who picked it up would end up learning to play the card game well by playing it. The tutorial is comprehensive, but it doesn’t really get into learning about why you should play certain cards where or when you should try for certain groupings. Instead, it will just remind you that you’ll see automatically if cards could be played and used to claim via outlines when that option is enabled. There can also be hints about special moves. So as long as you’re placing cards as suggested in a way that let you keep building up collections you claimed, you could be fine and have a great time. But if you do already know how to play, it’s a fantastic way of getting into the card game. Ironically, I feel like a trailer for it did a better job of explaining how to play the card game. Image via Gemdrops Hololive Holo’s Hanafuda is a pleasant, casual Hanafuda experience that is great for anyone interested in the card game, not just Vtuber fans. It covers a few different rulesets. Its original Holo Awase option with power-ups adds a little extra flash. It also seemed like there’s a pretty active online multiplayer scene tied to it. And since there are different card themes, you could swap to that, largely ignore the campaign, and enjoy more typical Hanafuda experiences instead. Hololive Holo’s Hanafuda is available for the PC, PS4, PS5, and Switch . The post Review: Hololive Holo’s Hanafuda Is Casual and Fun appeared first on Siliconera .

SiliconeraSep 5

This twice-bombed card battler somehow survived to rank 13th in Steam players today If you told me one of the most-played Steam games today is the ninth-worst-rated on the platform, I wouldn't believe you. There are two reasons why this free card game, Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond ( SVWB ), got to a 72% negative review score and why it temporarily bounced back. On Aug. 28, over 92,000 players were on Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond in the early morning, a number that dropped by half five hours later, according to Steamcharts . This player count is still significantly higher than the average 29,000 players the game saw in July, or the 17,700 average of the last 30 days. Today's numbers made SVWB the 13th most-played game on Steam on Aug. 28, though it has now dropped to 16th—and will probably continue dropping. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prCyDNLsiTI Ranking so high is a special feat for a game so poorly rated. SVWB not only has 72% overall negative reviews on Steam, but 86% negative in the last 30 days. While the graph for the game's reviews shows it never had a negative rating lower than 55%, these numbers were at their worst when a special event ended on Aug. 18 and when the game released on June 14. The latter is easy to explain. SVWB was bombed at launch because of its expensive and unfair monetization system. Players who came from the original Shadowverse were annoyed at how much harder it had become to collect cards as a free-to-play gamer and how much whales could get a quick edge at building decks just because their wallets were bigger. So, regular players gave SVWB negative reviews. The second review bombing explains the recent 86% negative rating. Developer Cygames ran an in-game event called Battle Fest between Aug. 15 and 17. It was, essentially, a popularity contest between three of the characters' factions. In the first stage of the event, players scored points for their chosen faction by playing matches and buying card packs. In the second stage, 100 random players from each faction scored bonus points by winning matches. Players from the winning faction, after the scores of the two stages were added up, would get free character cosmetics. The event ended with the faction with the fewest points in the first stage, Runecraft, winning the whole thing with a massive comeback in the second. What the faction lacked in popularity, it made up for in card strength, as it had the most overpowered deck. So, it got a bunch of wins and points in the second stage. Players were already mad that the most popular factions lost and the most overpowered won, and Cygames made it worse. The devs added the loser's Battle Fest cosmetics as an expensive premium bundle just a day after the event finished. People felt they were tricked into having to pay for cosmetics that would've been free if the two popular factions had won, which added to the "Cygames is greedy" discourse. How Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond survived all that is a mystery. Players probably still enjoy the game despite all that, and Steam's negative reviews might have come from a minority. Either way, as the aftermath of the review bombing fades, the game seems alive. A new battle pass is why SVWB peaked on Aug. 28, among all this chaos. Players were logging in to check out the rewards, which led to that spike. The average will likely stabilize again in the coming days. The post This twice-bombed card battler somehow survived to rank 13th in Steam players today appeared first on Destructoid .

Steam Archives – DestructoidAug 28

Review: MakeRoom Lets You Decorate Creative Spaces In the cozy game genre, a growing category of home and room decoration titles involving being creative and designing a room, started to grow in popularity. (I blame Unpacking .) The idea of getting to set things up, arrange them how you like, and make it look pretty, is very soothing and appealing in a chaotic world. MakeRoom, from Kenney and Wholesome Games Presents, is the latest sort of lo-fi approach to setting up rooms, backyards, and backs of vans to create welcoming, pretty, cute, intricate, and creative spaces with the decorations and tools you’re given. While it could use some QOL additions and is really best on a PC with a mouse, it’s definitely giving us plenty of options. MakeRoom is, at its heart, a sandbox creation tool. You are given a blank slate. You determine what sort of space you would like to decorate. You are placed in it. It is possible to go through menus consisting of various types of furniture and parts based on function. Colors can be customized for some parts. With some, elements like lights can even be toggled on to change the appearance. Essentially, you’re creating miniature dioramas with few restrictions. Over 1,000 items are present, and Steam Workshop allows you to adjust and create more furniture or sample what others put together. Layering is also possible, so you can adjust and combine to change appearances from different perspectives. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUZ5iYCYBH4 Unlike many entries in this genre, MakeRoom does also feature what you could consider a “campaign” of sorts, as you can also opt to visit MakeRoom Island. This is, as the name suggests, a small landmass with a number of specific rooms in need of sprucing up. Each one will have a theme, such as one for a vampire, a spy hideaway, a gamer room paradise, a home cinema, or so on. The little house mascot on the side of the screen will make requests. Some of them will limit you. For example, the first request in the vampire room is to remove windows. But when you get to ones like “add two lamps” and “I want a cat,” you get more options to do what you want. The downside is, these “challenges” only take a few minutes to fulfill and aren’t as intensive or detailed as I’d hope. I’m a big fan of all these divisions. In some ways, it does almost feel like three different types of experiences. In the furniture creation section, you’re actually in a “workshop” space with a number of different types of object parts and designs. You pick colors for things. You arrange it all. It’s very hands-on and tactile, with some really detailed possibilities. MakeRoom Island is honestly among my favorite parts of the experience, since you do have a sense of direction, but still the freedom to experiment. And of course the general sandbox is lovely as well, especially once you have played around in the other two modes and started to get an idea of possibilities. I just wish the MakeRoom Island part was as rich as the furniture creator and general sandbox. Images via Kenney I would have appreciated, though I get could be due to technical limitations or other factors, is more varied room options. We can choose from the back of a truck to make a camper, a room in a building, or an outdoor space. While we can adjust walls or flooring and the range of tools mean we could make residential or professional spaces, I did feel a bit limited. I wished I could have had more room or extra opportunities for deciding on the way the blank palette looked before we started setting up. Because since there are limitations on how small something can get, we can’t just make everything teenier for different types of forced perspectives. There are two major problems I encountered with MakeRoom. The first is while it is possible to layer items, select colors, duplicate items, and really make a number of adjustments to refine each scene, it isn’t always convenient or easy. I’d kill for an undo button or options that made it easier to arrange, flip, and fine-tune furniture and accessory placement. There’s no quick undo button. You need to rearrange or find the delete again to adjust. I’d have appreciated an option that would let me toggle between multiple items when clicking in a section with a lot going on, like a bookshelf, table, or bed fully decked out with sheets and accessories. I will note that the UI is easier to navigate on an actual PC, as opposed to a handheld gaming one, due to the title being designed with mouse controls in mind. Image via Kenney The other thing that gets in the way of my really relaxing with MakeRoom is its lack of precision. It’s an issue not only when playing on a handheld gaming PC like a Steam Deck or Lenovo Legion Go, but came up when I used a laptop and mouse. There are times when it is quite difficult to place things perfectly. Especially if you are trying to go through some cleaning up sections in the levels or engage in some layering. Getting into certain positions is a little limiting, and sometimes even the cleanup tools might not help with cobwebs if you aren’t clicking things just right. MakeRoom is one of the better room decoration diorama options out there, offering more and looking better than something like My Cozy Room. The bargain price paired with the diversity of items is quite nice. I also appreciated that, for those who might draw a mental block for their next creation or want to get a grasp on things, there are levels with certain goals and restrictions. I do wish it was a bit more precise or offered more UI features. But if someone plays on a PC, then they might be okay since the mouse controls will be on their side. MakeRoom is available for PCs via Steam . The post Review: MakeRoom Lets You Decorate Creative Spaces appeared first on Siliconera .

SiliconeraAug 10