HIGH The story is more complex this time, and has shed some of the dumb boob jokes.

LOW I feel kinda bad for you, Final Boss, but the Final Fantasy multiphase fight thing really annoys me.

WTF That wasn’t even the final boss?!

I really don’t know how to review Aquaplus’s visual novel-slash-strategy role-playing game Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth. Not because it’s unusual, but because the story follows directly from Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception and any attempt to explain the plot would spoil the end of that game.

In a nutshell, the protagonist, Haku, is one of the few humans left in a world where everyone has animal ears and tails. After waking up in this place with no idea who he is, he’s found himself in the middle of a war. For more on this, I’d recommend playing Mask of Deception first.

While the previous entry focuses on the strange world Haku is in and his developing relationships with others, Mask of Truth focuses more on the war itself, making those relationships deeper and broadening their implications. It’s also not just about Haku’s friend group anymore. Now, there are alliances to be made and citizens to protect.

I can say that I liked Haku as much here as I did in the last game, which is a feat because he’s matured enough to be practically unrecognizable. In Mask of Deception, he was physically weak and lazy, but an excellent strategist. He’s still good at planning, but he’s now overcome his sloth and can’t express most of his goofiness. Do I miss the ‘old’ Haku? Sometimes. But I like the new-and-improved one equally, which is a testament to the writing.

Haku’s new maturity and position mean that his machinations don’t feel like he’s Tom Sawyer manipulating the other kids into whitewashing the fence anymore. He’s fighting a war now, so he spends a lot of time agonizing over the human costs of his choices, often going with the least terrible option. The conflict is hellish all around, and it’s praise to say that the villains had motives I understood, although I didn’t agree with their actions. Haku feels the same way about them—after defeating what I thought was the final boss, Haku hopes to have a drink with them if they ever meet up again.

Other characters have grown, too. The young Princess Anju was fairly egocentric in the last game, but she has a people to rule now, and I liked watching her learn to care for others. Related, there’s now a focus on people’s relationships outside their friend group. Seeing Rululeth’s siblings or Nosuri and Ougi’s interactions with their father puts Haku’s friends in a larger context than being just sidekicks in his story. This focus on larger connections also fits with Mask of Truth’s greater focus on war because these families are also important allies.

Not only are Mask of Truth’s characters and story more mature this time around, but the developers have made thoughtful tweaks to the gameplay.

While most of the game involves reading a linear story, sometimes Haku and company have to fight in strategy RPG-type battle sequences. Similar to Mask of Deception, these aren’t a big part of the game so it’s really useful that all characters gain experience points and stat-raising “bonus points” now, whether they were in battle or not. Also, players can take time out for friendly scrimmages where the party is split into two teams that fight each other. Even if the player’s team loses, everyone gets experience points. There are also a more standard series of “trials” that act as a tutorial. All of these options are nice for those who want more gameplay, and I liked how much easier it was to level up characters this time around.

It’s hard to say whether Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth is better than Mask of Deception since they’re essentially one story split into two halves, but I found the entire tale thought-provoking and its characters lovable and (mostly) funny. It’s a visual novel worth playing, and now that I’ve reached its end, I’m a little sad saying goodbye. Rating: 9 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed by Aquaplus and developed by Atlus. It is currently available on the PlayStation 4 and the PlayStation Vita. This copy was obtained via the publisher and reviewed on the PlayStation 4. Approximately 70 hours of play were devoted to the single-player game, which was completed 1 time. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated Mature and contains: blood, partial nudity, sexual themes, strong language and violence. Characters are (still) fond of the s-word, and though there are fewer sex slave and boob jokes this time around, “fewer” doesn’t mean “none.” To top it off, people are sometimes killed with squish-noises while the screen flashes red. I’d keep kids and young teens away.

Deaf and hard of hearing: You should have no problems. It’s a visual novel so 95 percent of it just involves reading text. During the strategy RPG battles, and there are visual cues for when to press the X button for critical hits. it’s fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available in the options.

High Killing the dragon for the first time.

Low Starting New Game Plus and forgetting to switch Cecilia’s spells.

WTF: The ending made me sad, and I don’t think it was a Bad Ending. It was just… the ending.

There’s a pair of YummyYummyTummy’s Fallen Legion games, and they’re two halves of the same story. In Flames of Rebellion for the Vita, the player tries to overthrow the corrupt royal family in the land of Fenumia. In the PlayStation 4’s Sins of an Empire, the player is a member of that royal family.

In the big-box version I’m reviewing here, Princess Cecille is trying to save her dying country — difficult enough, but she also has to contend with grief over her newly-dead father (he isn’t even buried when the story starts) a mysterious talking grimoire whose ‘help’ she may not want, and, of course, the rebel and his armies from the Vita version trying to kill her.

Plus, she has to work fast. Very fast.

See, Sins of an Empire takes “action role-playing game” to a whole new level. Using the PS4’s face buttons, the player mashes…ahem, controls Princess Cecille and her three Exemplars. Each button controls a different person, and they employ weapons like bows and arrows or hammers. They also have their own set of ability points that get used up as they attack. These points are replenished by perfectly-executed blocks or some special attacks. The shoulder buttons let them block or change positions.

Below the screen is a combo bar filled with nodes, and each attack fills up part of this bar. If it reaches a glowing blue node, an Exemplar can unleash a special attack called a Deathblow — Phantasm Pierce, a rain of arrows, was one of my favorite ones. Also, players can perform special “Link Attacks” if they change positions at just the right time. At least, this is what the game says — I was never able to pull a Link Attack off.

The combat is at its most intense and enjoyable during the boss fights. Part of the pleasure comes from Fallen Legion‘s hand-drawn 2D art. A dragon is gorgeous, even as he’s burning me to a crisp. During these encounters, it’s possible to stun the enemy and trigger a special mode where attacks don’t use up ability points for a short while, and Cecille and company can whack the bejesus out of it.

The game combines this speedy one-character-per-button action with political choices that Cecille must make, and these choices are just as frenetic as the combat. They appear suddenly during a stage, and since they’re timed we can’t really weigh the pros and cons of passing a land bill or supporting one faction over the other. A player’s choices also seem to affect the evolution of the Exemplars, determining whether, say, Longinus the spear becomes a Chaos Longinus or an Order Longinus.

On the one hand, being under time pressure takes some of the depth out of the story. (Who exactly are Gaston and Gracia? Why are they feuding?) On the other, these political Quick Time Events also gave me emotional clarity. Without time to overthink, I had to go with my gut feelings. Thus, my responses felt closer to how I’d actually react to, say, almost being assassinated. Maybe my choices say more about me than I want them to, but being able to confront myself and to know what I would do rather than just what I’d like to think I would do, was personally meaningful. Maybe it’s better to say that these spur-of-the-moment decisions shift the story’s meaning rather than diminish it.

However, there is a traditional story here. I liked Princess Cecille, even when I didn’t agree with her. Though she doesn’t want to be Emperor, she loves her dying country enough to do what’s right. She isn’t cruel or power-hungry (unless the player makes her that way) but she doesn’t kowtow to anyone, either. Cecile is steadfast in her decisions and her limits, which is why the conflict with her father’s talking grimoire is so odd.

Without spoiling anything, the grimoire wants Cecille to do things that disgust her deeply, and… she does them anyway. Perhaps the writers want us to feel like we’re forced to watch ourselves do horrible things, but I also don’t think they’ve raised the stakes enough (or made Cecille desperate enough) for this crossing of the princess’s moral Rubicon to work for me.

Fallen Legion‘s combat is fast without being overwhelming, and the timed choices added an emotional depth to the decisions I made. While I wanted control over the story in places where I didn’t have any and I wasn’t quite sold on some of the twists, that’s only because I was so fond of the character — it’s more a weakness of overambition than an actual failure. I enjoyed my time in Fenumia, and would enjoy some more. Rating: 8 out of 10

Disclosures: Fallen Legion: Sins of an Empire is developed and published by YummyYummyTummy and is available on the PlayStation 4. This copy was obtained via the publisher. Approximately 20 hours were spent in single-player mode and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated Teen and contains Violence and Mild Language. The violence isn’t gory and the language isn’t distractingly salty.

Deaf and Hard of Hearing: All important dialogue and mission information is conveyed in text. I spent many hours with the sound off and had no problems. It’s fully accessible.

Remappable controls: No, the controls are not recappable.

Colorblind modes: There are no colorblind modes.

HIGH The beautiful art style and story…

LOW …which is slow to develop and feels like a setup for the sequel.

WTF The girls who want to be sex slaves. And it’s a running gag.

By any logic, Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception shouldn’t be available in North America.

Originally released in 2002, the first Utawarerumono (literally, “the one being sung”) is an adult visual novel/tactical role-playing game from developer Leaf and made for Windows PCs in the Japanese market. Three years later, Sting and Aquaplus ported it to the Japanese PlayStation 2 (minus the most “adult” bits) and in 2009 they ported it again—this time, to the PlayStation Portable, still without the “adult” bits. Although an anime based on the visual novel did come to North America via Funimation, we never got a licensed version of the game.

Now we have Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception. Why has Atlus brought us the sequel to a 15-year-old eroge we haven’t read, and without any adult content, either? I’m not certain, but I know that the art is gorgeous, the characters and story are (mostly) enjoyable, and the plot even makes sense to those of us unfamiliar with the previous works.

Admittedly, Mask of Deception gets off to a rocky start. Our protagonist finds himself alone in the forest with no memory of who he is, how he got there, or even what his name is. After almost being eaten by a giant insect, he’s rescued by a mysterious woman named Kuon who has animal ears and a tail. In fact, everyone the protagonist meets has animal ears and a tail, which actually is important to the story. She names the amnesiac “Haku”, and they’re off.

The emphasis on story is heavy. Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception is what’s called a ‘kinetic’ visual novel, meaning that there are no decision points or choose-your-own-adventure bits—it’s meant to be read straight through for forty hours. There’s only one narrative, but even with its weaknesses that story stuck with me after it was over.

It helps that Haku, despite his lost memory, is a funny, likable fellow with actual skills. He’s physically weaker than Kuon and the others (whether this is a difference between humans and the animal-people or if it’s unique to Haku is unclear) but he’s an excellent strategist. He’s also lazy as hell. Think of Tom Sawyer manipulating all the kids into whitewashing the fence for him—this is how a lot of Haku’s plans work. While Haku is definitely “the chosen one,” he has genuine strengths to offer the team and weaknesses the narrative doesn’t gloss over.

I also just liked him. A huge chunk of the visual novel’s plot is slice-of-life vignettes where Haku interacts with the people around him. On the one hand, this means that the pacing was much slower than expected, and there are plenty of ‘everydude surrounded by a bunch of beautiful girls’ shenanigans, including a running gag where two of the girls are eager to be Haku’s sex slaves. (?!?!?!) However, the characters were interesting enough to make these sequences tolerable.

Between the bandit who robs people out of a love for justice, the shy princess who loves to cook and rides around on a giant bird, the fierce-but-naive princess who’s adventuring to get away from her father and the spoiled-but-lonely princess Anju, there are plenty of people for Haku to interact with. They cook together, go shopping and even… hang out at the baths? Sigh.

Haku develops nicely while learning about this strange new world, but sometimes the group has to affect this world’s political structure directly, and that’s where the strategy RPG part comes in.

On rare occasions, Haku and company face off against enemies. As characters level up, they learn longer and longer “action chains” which the player can trigger by either pressing a button at the right time or by holding a button down and letting it go. Some action chains can be between four and six actions long, culminating in a ‘Final Strike’ that does lots of damage and has an elaborate animation.

The combat is approachable. For one thing, there are only twelve stages. Massive grinding isn’t necessary to finish the main story, and when the player does lose, starting a fight over lets everyone keep the experience points from the battle they lost. There’s also an option to turn on ‘auto’ action chains in the settings, in case trying to press buttons at the right time gets annoying.

To be frank, these battles take up far less time than the story does. While slowly piecing together his past, Haku finds himself embroiled in the political machinations of his adoptive home, and the surrounding nations. The story raises questions about ethics in wartime, and it manages to say something about identity with its amnesiac hero rather simply using his memory loss to make him more mysterious. My only real criticism of Mask of Deception’s is that the plot feels like a setup for the next game in the series, Utawarerumono: The Mask of Truth. However, I definitely want to see what happens next, so the story has done its job.

While reading off of my TV for forty hours took some getting used to, I’m glad I read Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception. The characters are well-written, it’s beautiful to look at, and I can’t wait to see where it’s all going. Rating: 8 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed by Aquaplus and developed by Atlus. It is currently available on the PlayStation 4 and the PlayStation Vita. This copy was obtained via the publisher and reviewed on the PlayStation 4. Approximately 40 hours of play were devoted to the single-player game, and the story was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception is rated Mature and contains: blood, partial nudity, sexual themes, strong language and violence. Characters are fond of the s-word and the f-word, women and men get naked, there’s a running joke where characters want to be the protagonist’s sex slaves….I’d keep kids and young teens away.

Deaf and hard of hearing: You should have no problems. It’s a visual novel, so 95% of it is reading text. During the strategy RPG battles, there are visual cues for when to press the X button for critical hits.

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available in the options.

HIGH There’s so much to do!

LOW There’s so much to do!

WTF Putting my sheep and rabbit in the barn at night, then finding them outside the next morning. Repeatedly.

For the past 20 years, the objective of Bokujō Monogatari (literally, Farm Story) has been the same — turn a run-down ranch into a thriving business while befriending the townspeople and raising a family.

New games in the franchise tweak things by giving players new animals to raise, new recipes to make, and new people to meet, but we still run farms. It’s a proven formula. However, as new entries try to keep us interested with more options, the ability to play at one’s own pace can get lost in the sheer amount of things to do. While Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns is comfortably familiar to me as a fan of the Bokujō Monogatari series and makes much-appreciated improvements, I was overwhelmed with all the ways I could spend my time.

Much of Trio of Towns is familiar to anyone who’s played a game in this series before. Players start out with a small, neglected plot of land and a tiny house. With some tools from their friendly uncle Frank, they can clear a plot to grow some crops, catch fish in the ponds, or forage for herbs in the nearby forest. As they ship more items and save up money, they can buy animals like chickens and cows, which can earn even more money.

I’ve done all this before, and I’m so familiar with this routine that even minor improvements are a big deal — things like, oh, the ability to choose my farmer’s gender. And since XSeed took over publishing from Natsume, I’ve noticed much cleaner spelling and grammar — no more awkward sentences like “You fished a bass!”

But my favorite gameplay improvement? It’s also the tiniest. From the very beginning, players can hoe and water crops by simply standing in one spot and holding down a button. In earlier games, I had to walk from square to square, making sure to aim my equipment in just the right place — at least until I’d upgraded my tools. I appreciate not having to think so hard about where I’m standing now.

Apart from these sort of fixes, the main way that Trio of Towns tweaks the series formula is evident in the title itself — there are three separate towns for our farmer to visit, each with their own stores, restaurants, and people to meet.

Buying items from these towns, participating in their festivals and befriending their residents raises a place’s Town Link Rank with the farmer; a higher Town Link Rank unlocks more goods to buy or build. However, raising a Town Link Rank sometimes requires items that can only be found in certain seasons, which means that doing what one wants to do can take a really long time. For instance, I wanted to make a textile machine in order to turn my wool into cloth. To build it, I needed 20 pieces of black lumber, but they were hard to find in nature. If I raised a certain town’s Town Link Rank high enough, I could buy them in the shops—but to do that I needed sweet potatoes, which are only sold in the fall. Too bad I learned that during the winter, and that meant I’d have to wait another year.

With so many towns to visit and so many things to do, it felt like so many things took too much time, and I also felt like I ran out of time to do everything I wanted to. My sense of direction isn’t that great in real life or in videogames, and having to check three different places for items rather than just one meant I just never found certain things. After three in-game years, I still don’t know where to buy corn.

While these complaints might sound like I enjoyed the game less than I did, virtual farming never gets old for me, and Trio of Towns improves the experience in many ways — I’ve just played so many entries in this series that it’s far easier to talk about what’s different than describing the similarities. While Trio of Towns has more structure — and more “stuff” in general — than I’m used to, it’s still the same farming simulator I know and love. Rating: 7 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed by Marvelous Interactive and published by XSEED Games. It is currently available on the Nintendo 3DS. This copy of the game was obtained via the publisher and reviewed on the original 3DS.

Approximately 25 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was not completed. No time was spent in multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E10+ and contains: comic mischief, suggestive themes, and use of alcohol. Players can breed animals by buying a special item that makes the animal pregnant; they can also find a spouse and raise child. Some of the drinks in restaurants are alcoholic, and picking up animal droppings is part of farm work. These things are all handled tastefully.

Deaf and Hard of Hearing: All dialogue and other important information is presented in text. I played most of this game with the sound off and had no problems whatever.

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available in the options.

HIGH The gorgeous art and lovable characters.

LOW I wish it were longer.

WTF Don’t throw the cat out the window, dude!

The Little Acre, from Irish indie developer Pewter Games, is a point-and-click adventure that starts off simply enough.

Taking place in 1950s Ireland, the story follows Aidan, who lives with his inventor father and young daughter, Lily. At first, the player helps Aidan perform average fatherly tasks — getting dressed without waking Lily, or fetching things to make her breakfast. At this point Aidan hasn’t seen his own dad in a couple of days, but he’s not terribly worried about it.

At least, not at first.

I won’t spoil the story here, not least of all because The Little Acre takes only a couple of hours to finish. But, even in that short time I grew very attached to Aiden and his spunky, adventurous daughter.

A lot of these feelings are engendered by the gorgeous, hand-drawn art. The way Lily sleeps sprawled with her mouth wide open, or the way the family dog puts out a small fire in the background convey more about the characters than a visual novel’s worth of text descriptions would have.

I especially loved Aidan’s patience with Lily’s shenanigans. In an appeal to her imagination and adventurousness, he places a gnome on the edge of their property as a “guard” so that she doesn’t wander too far away. Following Aidan’s lead, the player approaches The Little Acre‘s puzzles with a sense of wonder rather than panicked urgency, even when things get really strange and the little girl is actually in danger.

How will I save Lily now? Oh, look! A cat!

The game itself is as accommodating as Aidan is. With the click of a couple of buttons, The Little Acre offers both hints and solutions for all the puzzles. It’s great to see this level of accessibility in such a short, independently-developed title. However, this brevity is the game’s one true weakness. There are no alternate endings or story paths to incentivize replay, but even this criticism is a testament to the developer’s care and craft — I loved these characters and their world, and wanted to spend more time with them.

The Little Acre is a small game, but an extremely well-made and well-loved one. I enjoyed getting to know Aidan and Lily, and look forward to getting to know Pewter Games better as well. Rating: 8 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed by Pewter Games and published by Curve Digital. It is currently available on PC, XBox One and Playstation 4. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PS4. Approximately 4 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed twice. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E10+ and contains fantasy violence. The story involves grief over dead loved ones, characters say “Oh, my God!” and there are monsters, but the strongest weapon is Lily’s wooden sword. There’s no gore or nudity.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing: None of the puzzles require sound, and all dialogue is subtitled. It’s fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available in the options.

HIGH This Easy Mode stacks!
LOW The combat is the worst it’s been since the original Hyperdimension Neptunia
WTF Why does Noire have a boyfriend?

I’m officially tired of this franchise.

Six years ago, Hyperdimension Neptunia began as a parody of real-life console wars, cheerfully imagining game companies and consoles as women duking it out for humanity’s love. There were game-related in-jokes galore, and developer Sega made fun of literally everyone—especially themselves. Not only was the writing funny, I loved the characters and was always excited to unlock visual novel-like “Events” because watching the ladies interact was great.

As much as I enjoyed it, I never expected Hyperdimension Neptunia to become a franchise. It was, after all, a videogame about videogames—how much more niche could it get? And while the writing was strong, the combat was awkward as hell and the production wasn’t great, technically. Yet, I was wrong. With two sequels on the PlayStation 3, one on the PlayStation 4, several ports and spinoffs on the Vita and now ports to Steam, there have been more than six Hyperdimension Neptunia games in six years. Some things have been improved over time, but many of the series’ problems have persisted. Plus, these games have been churned out so quickly that even the things I loved about them have lost their shine, and I’ve finally had my fill of Gamindustri.

Hyperdevotion Noire: Goddess Black Heart is a game originally for the PlayStation Vita that’s been ported to Steam. PlayStation 3 Lastation goddess Noire’s powers have been weakened because practically no one worships her anymore. The player’s goal is, of course, to make Noire beloved again by surrounding the socially awkward deity with an army of friends, generals, and a male love interest. (I’ve always liked the homoerotic undertones in these games, so I’m probably unduly bitter about this dude.)

While most games in the series are Action-RPGs, this one is a Strategy RPG. In keeping with this new emphasis on “strategy,” Hyperdevotion Noire‘s stages are laid out like grids, while also adding a Pokémon-style paper-rock-scissors system. Fire-based enemies are weak to ice spells, and so forth.

This switch to being an SRPG brings mixed results.

Some stages are filled with traps—things like conveyor-belts that dump players into electrified fences, or fragile ground they can fall in. Avoiding these traps was a little difficult for me, because a character’s walking path would sometimes go right into a trap when I thought I went around it. The game does let the player see a path of travel before executing a move, I have trouble with spatial judgement in general. While my spatial problems aren’t the game’s fault, I thought the puzzles were average at best, frustrating at worst. Players can also take advantage of terrain by climbing on higher platforms, or even by throwing boxes and using them as stepstools. However, jumping down from not-a-great-height causes damage and makes the character unable to move for the rest of the turn. This mechanic is annoying, especially in stages that must be cleared in a set number of turns.

On the other hand, I liked the combat system a little better, especially once I found the rhythm of it. Characters increase their affection by standing next to each other while attacking and healing, buffing or even kissing—at least, giving each other a peck on the cheek. Aside from the emotional bonding, these chaste trysts increase a meter that can activate a “Hard Drive Divinity” mode where a character is much stronger and can float. (This being a strategy RPG, this mode is only active for five turns.) With the meter full, a character can use her unique, uber-powerful move. The flow of battle usually involves positioning one’s units near each other, using special moves to charge up the meter (including elemental moves enemies are weak to), and then activating HDD or blasting a boss with their strongest move. However, battles can be slow; perhaps I shoul’dve played on Easy mode instead of Normal.

There are a couple of bright beacons in this sea of mediocrity, however. One is the addition of “generals”—members of Lastation’s growing army who represent game series. Functionally, they’re no different than any other non-goddess character, but it is enjoyable to guess who they’re they’re supposed to be. (In particular, figuring out what the stealthy Lid represents gave me the giggles.)

Hyperdevotion Noire’s one actual innovation, though, is its “Easier, Please!” option. Upon failing a mission, the player can quit, retry, or choose “Easier, Please!” which puts enemies at 80% of their strength. It also stacks. Whenever I got my ass handed to me in levels that took way too long, I could just make enemies weaker and weaker until I succeeded. In fact, I would shamelessly exploit this feature by retreating immediately after starting a battle and choosing “Easier, Please!” five or six times in a row. I’d like to see other games implement something similar, but to say that my favorite thing about this game is something that makes it less painful to slog through is faint praise, indeed.

Ultimately, I’ve fallen out of love. Hyperdevotion Noire: Goddess Black Heart is both too similar to and too different from its parent series to hold my interest. Trying to “fix” the lackluster battle system with more minutiae has only made it less tolerable, and worse, I just don’t care about these characters anymore. I’ve played worse games—far worse—but Hyperdevotion Noire has lost the soul of a franchise I once loved. Rating: 4.5 out of 10

Disclosures: This game was developed by Sting Entertainment and published by Compile Heart.  It is currently available on PlayStation Vita and PC. This review code was obtained via publisher and played on the PC. Approximately 33 hours were spent in the single player mode, and the game was not completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated T for Teen and contains fantasy violence, language, partial nudity and sexual themes. There are still-images of the girls nude with strategically-placed objects (like bubbles), as well as Blanc’s fondness for the s-word.

Deaf and Hard of Hearing: All dialogue is subtitled, and all mission information is presented in text. I spent many hours playing with the sound off and had no problems. It’s fully accessible.

Remappable controls: The game can be played with a keyboard and mouse or a controller, and controls are fully remappable.

Colorbind modes: Thee are no colorblind modes. Also, some special moves have colored symbols representing what element they are–lightning, ice, fire, wind–and some chests can only be opened by using a move with the same element as the chest.

HIGH The humor and likable characters

LOW I miss the sequels’ enhancements that make grinding easier

WTF I miss the sequels’ enhancements that make it easier

Disgaea PC is the definitive version of the first game of Nippon Ichi’s flagship series, originally released domestically in 2003. It’s a faithful port with most of the extras from Disgaea DS (the optional maps and unlockable characters) plus the full English and Japanese voice acting from the PSP port Afternoon of Darkness. As such, it’s a good choice for people who’ve always wanted to play Disgaea but never picked it up—especially if they haven’t played any other games in the series. However, for someone who’s spent time with several sequels, the demon-themed strategy RPG that started it all is showing its age.

For those who don’t know, Disgaea is the story of Laharl, Prince of the Netherworld. He’s trying to be a good Overlord after the death of his father, the King. Murder is an essential part of demon politics, so Laharl protects his title by slaughtering all the other demons who want his job. Those who respect his power join the party upon defeat, whether Laharl wants them to or not. He’s “helped” by his vassal Etna, who makes no secret of wanting to kill him, and an angel named Flonne who was sent to assassinate him.

Despite all the murder, Disgaea is really about love—I’ve always enjoyed Flonne’s indomitable kindness, and her belief that demons are able to love and deserve love in return, even if they express their feelings in ways she doesn’t understand. Is it true that demons are inherently evil and angels are inherently good? The game aims to answer this question.

Mechanically, Disgaea is a turn-based strategy RPG that encourages players to become as powerful as possible, and to survive the enemies on every map, players will need to take the terrain into account.

Attacking from behind or above an enemy gives an advantage, while different-colored “Geo Panels” on the ground might provide positive or negative effects. Standing on a Recovery panel grants a character health every turn, while a Silence panel won’t let them use magic. A lot of strategy involves making the Geo Panels work for players, including getting rid of them altogether, dominoes-style, which grants huge bonuses, can attack all enemies, and doing so looks pretty, to boot.

Speaking of power, the level cap for characters is 9999, and players can eventually reset them, which reduces them to level one but increases their stats. If that weren’t enough, players can also strengthen weapons and equipment by diving into “Item Worlds” which are randomly-generated dungeons separate from the main campaign.

New players scared off by the potential for grinding in these systems should know that it isn’t necessary for finishing the main story. However, Disgaea’s post-game has always been a game in itself; those who want to experience all the bonus dungeons and bonus bosses will spend a lot of time leveling everything up.

I have a pretty high tolerance for repetitive grinding, and I can enjoy it, but I found myself missing the enhancements from Disgaea‘s sequels that made grinding less time-consuming. I often wished I could stack characters in a tower and have them share experience points, or fiddle with how much experience my character gets for defeating them as some later installments allow.

Is it fair to hold the original Disgaea to standards set by more recent games in the series? Of course not, but the fact that these tweaks are absent exposes flaws which were corrected in the original’s gameplay, and makes this re-release a bit too faithful to the original. Since I’ve experienced “easier” grinding, I found going back to Disgaea frustrating the second time around.

However, the story of a half-human demon overlord, his murderous vassal and the angel assassin who taught him to love is as funny and heartwarming as it ever was. Sure, there’s no new content, but Disgaea PC is still the definitive version of this game. New players have access to all the important extras, and as for those of us who’ve played the DS and PSP ports, we can now show off to our friends with Steam Achievements. The grinding is more of a pain now than when it was first released, but I’d still spend several hundred hours with it all over again. Rating: 7 out of 10

Disclosures: This game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on a PC running Windows 10. Approximately 150 hours were spent in single-player mode (main story completed 1 time.) There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: The PC port of Disgaea has not been rated by the ESRB, but other versions of this game contain: mild blood, mild fantasy violence, mild language and suggestive themes. There’s talk of “sexy bodies” and jokes about breast size—teenagers should be fine.

Deaf and Hard of Hearing: All dialogue and mission information is presented in text; I played Disgaea PC with the sound off and had no problems. It’s fully accessible.

Remappable controls: The game cam be played with either a keyboard and mouse or a controller, and the controls are fully remappable.

Colorblind modes: There are no colorblind modes; the different-colored Geo Panels may cause difficulty for players with colorblindness, as they can have both positive effects (like granting an extra attack) or negative ones (like only damaging player characters.)

HIGH I have never seen the difficulty of doing basic things while depressed dramatized so well.

LOW The ten-minute play time doesn't leave room for much else.

WTF Wait—there was a story? Like, a real story?

Jesse Barkdsale's The Static Speaks My Name is the story of a young man's obsession with a painting—which I wouldn't have known if I hadn't read it on the game's website. As Mike Suskie points out in his review, the experience doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Its story is told in music, ambient sounds, and objects in the environment—things like handwritten notes, drawings, chatlogs, and dirty dishes. And because it can be completed in mere minutes, there's just enough here to raise questions.

The meat of the game is in the feelings it evokes, and, similarly to Mike, I was impressed with how well Static captures how hard it can be to do simple things like leave the house to buy food when one is depressed. However, my favorite way that this feeling is captured might not be something Barksdale intended.

I'm not used to first-person games or controlling characters with a keyboard. While struggling through the mundane missions—using the toilet, making breakfast-the huge amount of effort everything took really did feel like Trying to Do Things While Depressed. When feeling this way, did you know that making a bowl of oatmeal has an overwhelming amount of steps?

This kind of difficulty carrying out everyday tasks that you need or even want to do is one of the hardest things to understand about depression—even for me, who's experienced it. Video games are especially well-suited to show people what it's like, and Static captures this hard-to-explain aspect very well.

I liked Jesse Barksdale's work more than Mike did, but I agree it leaves a lot to be desired. Yes, I'm impressed that the game is able to convey depression's avolition in only ten minutes, but the actual story is weak and could go much further in illustrating the character who's suffering to players. That said, it's short and it's free, and ultimately, I'm glad I experienced it. Rating: 6 out of 10

Disclosures: This game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on a Mac running Mavericks. Approximately 52 minutes were spent in the single-player mode and the game was completed twice. There are no multiplayer modes.

Remappable Controls: Controls are not remappable. The only options are the W, A, S and D keys to move around while the mouse is used to look.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes.

HIGH Letting Blanc unleash hell with her huge hammer in goddess form.

LOW My copy crashing every 20-40 minutes.

WTF "Adults could get arrested just for looking at us."

I love the Hyperdimension Neptunia series for its flaws as much as I do for the things it does well: the flagrant asset reuse, the simple grind-encouraging formula, the animation that doesn't exactly stretch the PS3 to its limits, and so on—I'm genuinely okay with these things.

Developer Tamsoft now distills the franchise into its purest form with Hyperdimension Neptunia: Action Unleashed! Unfortunately, it's a move that makes the flaws even more obvious while it flattens the comedy and the character interactions, which were always my favorite things about the series.

So what is Hyperdimension Neptunia, exactly?

In the world of Gamindustri, video game companies are personified as women, and game consoles are goddesses. What began as a literal console war fought in Action-RPG style has branched off into various alternate universes, and Action Unleashed! (a Vita game that's now being re-released on Steam) is the weirdest yet. Instead of trying to save their older sister or getting stuck in the 1980s, the goddesses are doing quests so that game journalist personifications of Famitsu and Dengekiko magazines write articles about them. The more quests they complete, the better (and more popular) the articles will be.

…And that's the whole plot.

Since the masterminds behind the titillating Senran Kagura series developed this game, the path to popularity is paved with torn clothing. As the girls take damage, their clothing can rip. It sounds like pure T&A but it's actually a useful mechanic, gameplay-wise. Showing skin allows them to access Hard Drive Divinity (a super-powered mode) immediately, rather than having to charge it up. But one questionable thing here is that everyone's clothes can be torn, including the teenage (at most!) Little Sisters. How young do they seem? Character Nepgear points out that adults could be arrested for looking at them.

The combat is reminiscent of Dynasty Warriors or Tamsoft's own flagship series, Senran Kagura. The girls take quests in pairs, and killing monsters charges the special move gauge of the partner not being used. This mechanic allows for some strategy in the sea of monotony—I liked to put a speedy sword-wielder like Noire or Nepgear in the front and a "heavy" like Blanc or Uni in the back. When their meter is charged, I'd let the heavy go to town with a giant hammer or supersized gun in HDD mode. Even with this strategy in mind, the fighting comes down to mashing buttons to slaughter as many enemies as possible, which makes the already-boring quests feel even more dull.

Most tasks are just "kill X amount of monsters"—sometimes it's 500 enemies, and sometimes it's a boss. This monotony is broken by irregular quests which don't tell the player what the winning condition is. To learn that, the player has to abandon the quest so the girls can discuss their options and give hints. Basically, I was forced to start these quests and then exit out of them to watch a cut-scene. It's terrible design.

Making the experience even more exasperating is the fact that the PC port is so buggy—my game regularly crashed every 20-40 minutes. The quests are usually short enough that I could save after finishing each one, but the game crashed on the "All Done!" screen several times, requiring me to repeat those tasks. All the crashes also sucked all joy out of the banter in the scenes after the quests, too. I normally love the character interactions, but instead of savoring them I worried that they would go on so long that the game would crash before I could save my progress.

Putting the game's technical failures aside, it was narratively disappointing. There are few characters in this installment (only the goddesses and game journalists appear—none of the mascots like NISA or IF and Compa have shown up) and the story is just so paper-thin.

Action Unleashed! is a side-story, slice-of-life diversion from the meatier main games, and doing quests for popularity has always been a feature of Hyperdimension Neptunia. The difference for me is that when the story revolved around an evil goddess trying to get players to cheat their way through games or about Neptune trying to get out of the 1980s, it already felt like I was doing sidequests. Without any motive besides "get famous," the quest-event-repeat cycle is even emptier than usual this time around.

The console wars of the series are over; if the focus here is supposed to be on the goddess's daily lives, shouldn't the interactions and comedy be especially strong? The writing here is the absolute weakest of the series.

Don't get me wrong—I'm honestly a big fan of the Hyperdimension Neptunia games, but Hyperdimension Neptunia U: Action Unleashed! is the dullest and buggiest thus far. Ironically, it's made me curious to see Tamsoft on their home turf: is the writing better in Senran Kagura, with characters the writers are more familiar with? Does the Dynasty Warriors-esque combat fit better in that universe? I don't know the answer, but their treatment of Action Unleashed! has resulted in less interesting combat, fewer gaming jokes, worse writing in general, and a technically sub-par product that can only be played in 20 to 40 minute chunks. Rating: 1 out of 10 (5 out of 10 if it weren't for the crashes)

Disclosures: This game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on a Windows PC with 8GB of RAM running Windows 10. 30 hours were devoted to the single-player campaign, and the game was not completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB,, this game contains: fantasy violence, mild language, suggestive themes and partial nudity. There's no blood and minimal swearing, the girls getting their clothing torn is part of the gameplay—including underage girls who comment that adults could get arrested for seeing them.

Deaf and Hard of Hearing: Sound is not needed to play this game; I spent many hours with the sound off and had no problems.

Remappable Controls: The game can be played with a keyboard or a controller, and all the controls are remappable.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes in the options.

HIGH The cute androids. The catchy music. The frenzied, strategic battles.

LOW Wow, this game got harder since the preview version.

WTF No, really—why is it so difficult?

I don't know what to say about Assault Android Cactus. On the one hand, a lot of what I liked about the alpha version still holds true for the commercial release. On the other, the commercial release seems to have gotten much harder.

Assault Android Cactus is a twin-stick shooter from Witch Beam. A bunch of robots on Cactus's spaceship have gone bad, and it's up to the title character and her android friends to subdue them.

Each android has a main weapon and a powerful sub-weapon, with lots of creative options to fit different playstyles. Between Holly's homing missiles (ideal for beginners), Aubergine's ability to create miniature black holes that suck enemies towards them, and Peanut's magma gun, the game's nine playable heroines have something for everyone.

I love the frenetic shooting, the cute and likable androids, and the level of strategy involved. For example, instead of losing lives in the traditional way, the androids run on batteries: the battery drains over time, and gets recharged by finding new ones on the battlefield. There's no shortage of tension between wanting to snag a battery as fast as possible but not wanting to get knocked over by some enemy, thereby wasting more time. All of these things are as enjoyable as I remember them from the alpha.

There's also a sort-of "cheat" system. Players save up credits they earn while playing to unlock everything from uber-powered mega-weapons to the ability to take AI partners into battle. I liked playing with the AI-controlled robots: if there was a battery in play I could count on somebody to find it. The extra players also make things more frenetic and challenging, since the number of enemies scales in accordance with how many players are on the field.

Speaking of challenge…oh boy, did this game take a jump in difficulty when it left early access.

Honestly, I don't know what happened. In my view, the earlier version hit the sweet spot of requiring players to clear a level as quickly as possible while being thoughtful enough not to die. Sure, the game was challenging, but I was always motivated to keep playing and chase after the elusive S+ ranks.

This release undoes that careful balance, leaving me frustrated and wondering why the bosses are so much more difficult. It's hard to chase S+ ranks when I can't even finish the levels.

At first I thought the problem was the smaller laptop screen I was playing on, but going back to my larger desktop didn't help. Has the combat been rebalanced? Am I just that out of practice? At any rate, I was unable to complete the campaign even after spending another 28 hours with it.

Despite my difficulty with the campaign, I still enjoyed the Infinity Drive mode where the player's only goal is to clear as many floors as possible. This mode was a standout in the preview copy and is even more of a blast now that I can take up to three other AI players with me.

Although I was unable to finish Assault Android Cactus's campaign (and, consequently, never got to see some of the other modes) I still like the things that carried over from the preview version. I also like a lot of the new tweaks like the mega-weapons and the AI squad. That said, the inexplicable jump in difficulty mars the experience for me. Assault Android Cactus is good, but it used to be great. Rating: 6 out of 10

Disclosures: This game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on a 2.9 GHz Intel Core i5 iMac running Yosemite. Approximately 28 hours were spent in single-player modes, and the game was not completed. No time was spent in multiplayer modes.

Parents: This game hasn't been rated by the ESRB, but I'd give it an E or E10+. All the violence is shooting robots who come apart in a cartoony fashion, and there's no bad language, suggestive themes, or even impractical armor for the many female protagonists.

Deaf and Hard of Hearing: The androids do like to shout the names of power-ups they get and, more importantly, when there's a battery in the area. However, there are still visual cues for these things: even if a battery is offscreen, there's a visual marker. I spent some time with the sound off expecting to have problems, but had none whatsoever.