Can’t teach an Old Pig new tricks

Tomba! or as best I know it as Tombi! is a classic platform adventure game originally released for the PlayStation and is a game I am excited to get back into as I had a blast playing this growing up. Now anyone confused by the name, the European version of Tomba! was known as Tombi! which still seems to be the case today as the version of the game I have on PlayStation 5 displays it as Tombi! Special Edition although the home screen background, game title and marketing of the game lists it as Tomba! so that’s what we will go with.

In Tomba! Special Edition you play as a feral pink haired wild child who has his grandfather’s bracelet stolen by evil pigs that now plague the land and now he sets off on a journey fully throwing pigs around himself while doing so. So what is Tomba! Well the game itself is a platforming game with RPG elements. From the offset it looks like your average platformer. You collect apples, throw enemies and swing across the dangerous terrain in order to progress but underneath all of this is an adventure that has more to it than meets the eye.

As already mentioned Tomba! is a platformer with some RPG elements so aside from platforming you have a world of NPC’s all eager for some help and just from the beginning of the game you will find yourself with a few tasks which pop up on the screen with an AP reward which when finished adds to your total AP which is shown in the top right corner. To begin with you will complete these tasks as you go such as getting the tornado and using it to clear the fog into the next area, This is a must as you cannot progress otherwise. The game also has an inventory system and you can pick up quest items which can be used from there also, there are useable items such as feathers which will will whisk you away to other areas. There’s also various weapons and pants which you can equip which can alter your attack and mobility and change how you interact with the environment.

After meeting the 100 year old wise man you gain the ability to open chests and you will be able to open ones that you previously went past as well as any future ones. Not all chests though as there’s many different types. Remembering where these are is important as you will need to backtrack once you get the ability to open them. You will also come across AP boxes which can spew out rewards and these will become available once you have amassed enough AP as shown on them.

Tomba! is a colourful game , not only is it vivid and full of colour but is also wacky and crazy in many ways. Once you get to the forest full of laughing and crying mushrooms you will understand why.

Tomba! is by no means a big game but there is so much crammed into its small world that some events are well hidden and won’t be found by your average player. You don’t need to do these to finish the game, but if you want to absolutely 100% everything then it’s certainly worth trying to mess around with the terrain no matter how insane that may seem. Those pink plants that excrete gas in the beginning of the game for example are not just for show. Tomba! is definitely one of those where do I go next kind of games as in that I definitely do remember getting stuck when I first played it and admittedly it is one of those games I did not finish however after a bit of perseverance I can say I have now finished it and enjoyed it just as much as I remember.

Now while I have talked about the game as a whole how does it differ from it’s 90s counterpart? Well Tomba! Special Edition does indeed come with some new features. Most notably is the rewind feature allowing you to rewind the game should you fall into difficulty, again Tomba! is not a difficult game but some areas are tricky to navigate like the pesky mushroom forest and this alleviates the annoying of waiting for the game to load again should you lost a life, you can get straight back in without much downtime now. You can also save anywhere now whereas you would previously have had to use the signs which can be found at the start of each area. The game does not feel it has improved in any capacity in terms of graphics but actually seems to have aged quite well. What you do get however is the ability to play with different display methods and also use different borders to display around the game screen, a nice retro touch and if you wish to play with the original audio you can also do that but if you want something a bit more modern then that is an option too as the whole soundtrack has had a remaster. The games sound and music is top notch although the mushroom forest is where I did turn it down just for the sheer annoyance of that zone, you will see for yourself if you don’t already know. The game also features a museum crammed with a load of original artwork, documents and creator interviews if that’s your sort of thing.

So is Tomba! Special Edition worth picking up? Most certainly, it is a charming game full of character and does feel like a retro cult of the 90s. It’s one of those hidden gem kind of games and one which at the time was certainly unique in every aspect. The game looks and plays as great as I remember and I look forward to uncovering all the hidden secrets I missed as a kid.

A PlayStation 5 review code was provided by Limited Run Games

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Rubber Arm Bandit Misfits

Following on from it’s PlayStation, Xbox and Windows release One Piece Odyssey has finally shipped it’s way to the Nintendo Switch in the form of a Deluxe Edition but is it a Pirates life for you or a sunken ship better left in the depths? Read on to find out.

One Piece is a well established manga and anime series well known in Japan that follows a band of misfit adventurers, the stories are usually built on wackiness, humour and its storytelling. One Piece Odyssey is a game that follows that formula but envelopes it into a JRPG, with quests, turn based battles and a story that fans will pretty much fall in love with.

The story follows D. Luffy and his fellow band of pirates as they lose all of their power and fall deserted to an island. The games premise is set up quite well although the beginning of the game has you navigating small areas whilst a lot of tutorials play out with small segments of gameplay thrown in. You will almost obliterate all enemies that stand in your way before you are soon stripped of your powers by a local mysterious girl for the sole reason of that she hates pirates. Your characters shrug it off like Okay we will just get them back and then the adventure really begins. This sets the tone of what is to come as the game is very eccentric in all aspects and does not stop.

In the first hour of the game you may ask why these characters all have rubber arms and why is everyone so mismatched in the way they dress? Well this follows the popular manga stories that has been versed for some time now so if you are playing this game for the first time like me without any prior knowledge to the books it all feels odd but once you get past the initial crux of it all there is some fun in the game to be had.

As you navigate the world you will use your characters abilities to navigate such as using Luffies stretchy arms to reach across deep chasms, there are areas of interest and Items lying around either on the ground or in pots and other smashable objects. Enemies themselves can be seen on the map and you will approach them to initiate combat.

Combat takes place in a separate field to navigating and requires you to tactfully take out the enemies who are if not just as strange as the characters of One Piece Odyssey. The combat can also be jarring at first even for veteran JRPG players. Battles can have each character in a different area of the battle fighting different foes to that of your comrades however this is not really explained. Characters have an advantage over certain monsters that essentially plays like rock-paper-scissors. The three attack types are technique which beats power, power which beats speed and speed which beats technique. It’s a little confusing at first but at least the game tells you if your current character is strong against the monster that you’re up against. Switching out characters can see you overcome this advantage but allowing the team to come together in the battle is the overall goal. I would say that the early battles are relatively easy anyway so it gives you enough time to get used to this system and if you can’t then you can still breeze through the story. Battles also use a TP system, TP is a power that can be accumulated by attacking normally and then used to carry out special attacks, it can also carry over into future battles allowing you to easily build it up for the more bigger fights.

Character abilities are equally just as weird as the rest of One Piece. Nico Robin has a move where she literally causes manhood inducing pain, ouch! it didn’t really occur to me what was going on until I saw the crotch view of the camera which became apparent after a few times using it. Usopp has move where he flicks a rubber band which lands poorly on the ground in front of him but dishes out huge damage on the enemy. It makes no sense but with what we have already seen of the game then I think we can let it slide.

If you’re into the super weird wacky world of One Piece then this game may be just the thing. There are new features in the game which will alleviate you from the main story such as side quests and crafting but these are by no means a requirement. The game remains relatively easy and grind free. The characters themselves while vividly different all have their own personality and clearly different traits but are all very likeable.

The games sound and music is really superb and some of the music later differs in that it grand and orchestral and sets the tone. The game has an English language but unfortunately lacks an English dub so a lot of the humour may be lost in translation however it is still a blast to play.

Performance on the Switch so far has been really good and there have been no noticeable frame drops during docked and undocked mode, while the game is not remarkable graphically it is good enough, the game whilst vibrant, graphics have definitely been toned down for it’s Switch version but if you want the full experience that can be played on the go this may just be the best way to play One Piece Odyssey.

A Nintendo Switch review code was provided by Bandai Namco

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Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is a journey over a mountain to restore nature to all it’s glory, but is it a path worth treading?

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is brought to us by Capcom and is billed as an action strategy game, which is technically accurate but as with many genres in gaming nowadays that doesn’t actually tell you all that much about what is going on. 

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is a tower defence game, however it’s forced me to add two new genres to our gaming lexicon, “Passive Tower Defence” and “Active Tower Defence”, and believe it, this distinction counts…Why you ask?

Well… I hate Tower Defence games, or henceforth what I shall call “Passive Tower Defence”, they are often an awful mix of dull and frustrating and not even beloved franchises to me have been able to engage me with the genre (heres looking at you Crystal Defenders”. I describe Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess as an “Active Tower Defence” and believe me does that activity make all the difference. 

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess runs on the RE Engine and looks absolutely stunning, for those of you seeing Kunitsu-Gami and having memories of Okami invoked, I’m right there with you. Like Okami, Japanese folk lore heavily inspired the game, the enemies derive from Japanese Yokai and the combat is inspired by Kagura, a form of ceremonial dance. 

The game beings with Yoshiro, Son and the villagers atop the mountain, while dwelling on the mountain humanity has abused nature and sin has accumulated over the years and now the mountain is defiled. This has summoned the Seethe, has corrupted the villagers and tainted the animals. It’s your task as Soh to guide Yorshiro and cleanse the mountain. 

Gameplay is split into the day and the night, during the day, you’ll clear the defilement, rescue animals (which earns you rations, health potions), clear the tainted blossom (which earns you crystals) and free villagers who will aid you in defending Yoshiro from the Seethe during the night. With the crystals you’ve earned you can assign the villagers different roles raging from melee, ranged and supports roles. Once darkness falls the Seethe emerge from Torii gates (In the Shinto religion a Torii gate marks passing into a sacred area, which is fitting given the corruption the Seethe represent) they wish to kill Yoshiro to stop her cleansing the area. 

There are two types of stages in Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess, the main stages with the literal path you must clear for Yoshiro, each of which is followed by a “Boss” stage offering an entirely different sort of challenge. Both forms of stage are designed to be played more than once, initially you just need to complete the stage, but doing so, provides you with the option of replaying the stage completing specific challenges. If complete these challenges provide you with rewards to upgrade Soh or Musubi which you can use to level up the different villager roles, these upgrades apply to the role in general and aren’t stage specific so I’d heavily recommend completion of the challenges. Spending Musubi is easy enough and will have a massive impact, especially when it comes to defeating certain bosses. You may have upgraded your Woodcutters (melee units) into axe wielding gods of nature only to come across a flying Seethe and have them rendered useless, however, fear not, you won’t need to sit and grind, you can “refund” your spent Musubi and reallocate them as need be. This is a brilliant move on Capcoms part as far as I’m concerned, it immediately removes any anxiety about how to level up, eliminates any potential frustration and respects the players time, something increasingly uncommon in the modern industry. 

The removal of frustration shouldn’t be misunderstood however, Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess isn’t a cake walk and one will have to pay attention during every moment of a stage or boss encounter. Some bosses have environmental factors that will impact how tough they are to vanquish, ignore your surroundings at you peril.  

Unlike “Passive Tower Defence” games the gameplay of Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess gameplay is incredibly dynamic, given that you actively control Soh and are right in the thick of the action vanquishing the foul Seethe. Not only that, while you can position your village allies strategically in the best spots to defend Yoshiro, they aren’t merely static towers of DPS, you can redeploy them as the battle rages and I actually found myself invested in their survival. 

I think investment might be a core reason I enjoyed Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess, maybe it’s the old hippy pagan in me but the world of Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is so beautiful designed, as is the foul corruption brought by the Seethes defilement that it was a joy to see the world cleansed. Everything about the game is stunning to look at, the character designs are fantastic, especially the Amaterasu costume you can use for Soh. Each villager role has a distinct look featuring a unique mask which becomes more embellished as you level up that roll. So stunning is the games design that I’m actually using a screenshot I captured in game as much as current MacBook desktop background. 

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“You were always my favourite. Never forget that…”

After nearly a decade in the making, the final chapter of the Light and Darkness saga is finally here, bringing with it the closing chapter of one of gaming’s most divisive franchises: Destiny. After arguably what was one of the worst years for Destiny 2 following the subpar Lightfall expansion, the decision to delay TFS until mid-2024 was ultimately a smart one, allowing Bungie the time to cook the expansion to perfection, following the excellent Into the Light update that bridged the gap following the news of the delay. Despite following the longest season on record and having a bit of a rough start over the first couple of days, The Final Shape has launched to near enough universal acclaim from the player base, leaving many reeling for more following the conclusion of the campaign and our final stand against the Witness, leaving many wondering what comes next for the franchise. After releasing on the 4^th June 2024 for all major platforms, I’m going to be covering the time I’ve spent with the PS5 version of the game; detailing the good and deconstructing the bad, whilst ultimately giving you my impressions as to whether the game is worth your time and money at the £41.99 asking price (UK PSN Store).

WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS HEAVY SPOILERS FOR THE FINAL SHAPE, CARRY ON AT YOUR OWN PERIL.

When the Destiny Beta dropped on PlayStation 4 in July 2014, I was instantly drawn into the world and its atmosphere from minute zero. There was nothing quite like the experience I had with the beta at the time, the game’s environment design and world building struck a chord like nothing before; here was our universe, albeit filled with mystery and secrets that were just begging to be uncovered. Whilst the narrative in the final game was somewhat sub-par, it was Bungie’s environmental storytelling of a much bigger narrative (as well as the controversial Grimoire cards) that solidified my interest in the franchise as a whole; mysteries and stories that would be uncovered over the course of Bungie’s ’10-year plan’ for the franchise. In addition to the narrative, the multiplayer aspect was a standout feature for the game as well; even though online multiplayer was well established by this point (all beef was settled in the map Rust on Modern Warfare 2 back a day) Destiny just hit different, feeling more MMO-like in scale, whilst retaining its looter-shooter identity at its core. My fondest memory of OG Destiny was the first time I ever completed the Vault of Glass raid, meeting people from around the world (LFG was a lot friendlier in those times) and working together through communication and challenges was an exhilarating experience, that solidified my already strong fondness for the franchise as whole, to the point that I’m still here nearly a decade later (through most of the franchises warts and moles to boot).

Destiny 2 was more of a mixed bag upon release, with many holding the state of D1 at it’s end in high regard and dismissing the core changes made to Destiny 2 at launch, leading Bungie down a path of reverting a number of changes (the removal of random rolls was just silly) that would not bring the game back into a favourable state until the release of Forsaken (Destiny 2’s equivalent of The Taken King). The expansions that followed (Shadowkeep and Beyond Light) were both fairly well received, with The Witch Queen being a particular high note for many players, and last year’s expansion: Lightfall falling short somewhat (you can check out my full review here) leading to one of the worst years for Destiny 2 player retention (although the Into The Light update was excellent). With tensions at an all time high between Bungie and the player base, there was a lot riding on The Final Shape to deliver a powerful ending to the saga that delivers on multiple fronts, tying off long-standing lore and story strands that have been brewing since those initial moments in OG Destiny, whilst also holding down content that will keep the player base engaged beyond the narrative conclusion. I’m happy to report that the extra time that Bungie spent cooking paid off, delivering an expansion that is arguably up there with the best of the franchise.

Don’t break my heart, my achy, pale heart:  The Final Shape takes our Guardian inside the heart of the Traveller to face down the Witness, after arguably one long year of staring at the prismatic triangle.

Straight out of the gate The Final Shape throws down its hands right into mixing up the nostalgia, giving those who haven’t played the game in a while (or those simply wanting a refresher) a recap of the major story beats that have taken place over the last 10 years, as well as the story’s culmination point; the being known as the Witness, who seeks to create the final shape of the universe, calcified into eternity in the name of so called “Salvation”.  Following Crow at the end of Season on the Wish, the campaign finds us diving head first into the opening created by the spirit of Riven, right into the pale heart of the traveller, to be greeted by a long-lost ally in the form of Cayde-6 (voiced one again by the excellent Nathan Fillion). The reunion between our Guardian and Cayde-6 is easily one of my favourite moments of the franchise; the fact that he’s also playing the theme to Forsaken (the expansion where Uldren Sov killed him) on a harmonica makes the scene all the more poignant. The narrative this time around is far more linear in scope, with the Pale Heart destination acting as a side-to-side destination that you fight your way across over the course of the campaign, learning more about the traveller, the Darkness as well as the Witness, ultimately discovering the means of defeating the entity, once and for all. The mission structure is more personal also, focusing on rebuilding the vanguard in the pale heart rendition of the old tower from D1, helping them through their own doubts and struggles as a result. One key moment that finally showcased Big Blue’s tragic backstory to a significant degree was the mission Exegesis, voiced now by Keith David following the passing of Lance Riddick in 2023. The loss of his wife Safia and son Hakim are the driving force behind Zavala as a character, which are even more poignant in The Final Shape, showcasing his ambivalence of being a Lightbearer, and his admission that they should look to the darkness for answers in response to The Witness’ salvation.

Following in the Witch Queen and Lightfall’s footsteps, The Final Shape once again offers both a legendary campaign that increases the difficulty for a greater challenge, and when considering the weight of the battles ahead, it feels only fitting to play the campaign the way it was meant to be played, rewarding you with a complete set of gear right in the middle of the power grind at 1960. The narrative is comprised of around 7 main missions (8 if you include the new Strike) and works at setting up the different areas of the Pale Heart for the guardian to later explore (the patrol zone is completely solo this time around). Upon reaching the campaigns final moments, it becomes clear that the narrative isn’t quite yet over, and whilst the means of destroying have been discovered (those creepy blanket statues discovered during Shadowkeep now show their true purpose) it will take a world’ s first completion of the new raid ‘Salvation’s Edge’ during the 48h contest mode where a fireteam can finally undo the Witness’ chokehold on the traveller for good, leaving them vulnerable to the finishing blow. With only one clear within the first 24 hours, Salvation’s Edge is being dubbed as the hardest raid that Bungie has ever released, to the point where me and my own clan are still yet to get a completion down; mechanically, this is Destiny raiding at it’s best. Following the completion of the world’s first, a new 12-man activity (recalling the Garden of Salvation raid glitch was brilliant here) was unlocked called Excision, and I have to say that this activity (complete with its cutscenes) was one of the best experiences I’ve had in gaming, period. Excision acts as Destiny’s equivalent to the Battle of Helm’s Deep; nearly every character we’ve had dealings with over the last 10 years makes an appearance for the final battle (from the Drifter to Savathûn) all lending aid in the form of various buffs over the course of the 40 minute long battle against the Witness’ forces (including the new enemy type called the Dread) ultimately leading to the 12 guardians channelling the light (think the Care Bear Stare) and ultimately destroying the Witness for good, but not without our Ghost taking a battering as a result. Ghost shows signs of wear and tear over the course of the campaign, but what transpires at the end of Excision is enough to bring the toughest SOB on the planet to tears, acting as a perfect conclusion to such a momentous battle.

Guardian Excision-hands: The final activity of the campaign: Excision, is the Destiny 2 equivalent of the Battle for Helm’s Deep, acting as the perfect conclusion to the Light and Darkness Saga.

So, we’ve established that the narrative for TFS is excellent, but what about the gameplay? Large and part Destiny 2 plays how it always has, its looter/shooter core has remained largely the same, with additions being made on top for more emergent gameplay. The biggest addition is the inclusion of the prismatic subclass, which takes the best fragments, aspects and supers from all of the 3.0 loadouts from recent years and combines them into a singular subclass, allowing you to synergise your favourite builds into one. As a Hunter main, the combination of Winter’s Shroud, Combination Blow, Stylish Executioner and the exotic Liar’s Handshake is downright one of the most broken, fun builds I’ve ever used, acting as a perfect synergy between top-tier arc and void subclasses. The primary new mechanic is the new transcendence skill which situates itself beneath the super meter; as you deal damage with light and dark abilities/weapons, this meter builds which is then activated with a press of L3 and R3, increasing damage resistance, weapon damage, as well as your grenade and melee abilities recharge much faster, but the cream of the crop is the new prismatic grenades that each class has access to during this state.

Other gameplay additions worth mentioning are the new UI which sees the buffs and debuffs remain on the left-hand side of the screen, weapon perks are now above the super bar, and mission critical information (like DPS windows for raids) are now at the top of the screen in a larger font. Small changes like this make the game that much more fluid and easier to track, showcasing Destiny 2’s stellar combat better than ever before. In addition is the new pathfinder system, which replaces weekly vendor bounties in the form of branching challenges that connect to one another, allowing you to choose a path to your powerful/pinnacle rewards through challenges based around the Pale Heart destination and playlist activities. All in all, it’s hard to fault anything that Bungie has managed to achieve with The Final Shape, the extra time in the oven has proved beyond a measure of a doubt that Bungie wanted to close off their flagship franchises’ main story arc with a bang. Whilst this isn’t the end of Destiny 2 with episodic content following for the year (the Dreadnought is returning, wooo) those that do decide to call it quits here cannot say that it didn’t have a superb ending, that made all of the years of weathering through the game’s high and lows worth every second.

A PlayStation 5 review code was provided by Premier Comms.

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Stand by me…in a turn based battle, Echo Generation Midnight Edition but is it worth staying up late for?

Echo Generation Midnight Edition hails from Canada from indie developer Cococucumber with support from Canada Media Fund and Ontario Creates. Echo Generation has made it’s way to the Nintendo Switch with it’s Midnight Edition. The Midnight Edition features upgraded graphics, fast travel as well as a host of quality of life upgrades.

Echo Generation Midnight Edition is a Turn based RPG set in a small town during the 1990’s and if that starts hitting you in the nostalgia feels then buckle up as you’ve got more to come. As soon as you load up Echo Generation Midnight Edition you’ll appreciate it’s art style, everything about the game is distinctly vintage but without looked dated, thats to say it looks old school but with the crispness you’d expect from a modern release. The first thing you’ll need to do is select and name your player character. I went with the character model I thought had the most 90’s vibe, then I had to name them, so with nostalgia in mind, I went for Ripley. The name of your character has 0 impact but I did get a fair bit if enjoyment out of the name choice once with more sci-fi elements of the games plot started to unfold. 

Once you’ve selected your avatar you’re in your bed room which looks perfectly 90s, posters on the walls, a tape cassette player, old school looking PC, toy chests and of course (Ice) Hockey equipment, we’re in Canada remember (Although no Canadian team has won Lord Stanley’s cup since 1993) but being a big hockey fan myself, it was a nice touch. You leave your bedroom all set to start shooting a Sci-Fi movie with your friends, when your mother forces you to take your little sister with you. Now, in most stories this will be a chore, but Lily is a fully capable member of your party, in fact you party will make out at 3 members, You, Lily and a ‘Pet’, one of five to choose from, although pick Meowsy the cat, easily the best support character.

As always I like to keep narrative spoilers to a minimum but Echo Generation Midnight Edition features a great cast of characters, including a psychotic headteacher, hipster bubble tea store proprietors, a distracted inventor who’s some what of a lack lustre father to a Racoon in a baseball cap. As far as the games writing is concerned it’s sensational, it hits the Saturday morning adventure vibe perfectly. I’m sure comparisons to Stranger Things are guaranteed but I’ll be honest, I kept thinking about Enid Blyton’s The Famous Five, which is entirely anachronistic and makes me feel old, but be it Stranger Things, Stand By Me or any other rites of passage coming of age story and you’re in the right spot. The plot is the perfect adventure, the characters and their dialogue reach Buffy levels of witty banter and it’s pacing is perfect, the game clocks in around 10 hours and at no point in time did it feel anything other than compelling. 

You’ll spend the 10 or so hours of the games length exploring a variety of locations, the suburbs (engaged in a turf war between kids and a Racoon street gang), the woods, a secret research lab and many more, and you’ll be running back and forth between these locations in an almost Metroidvania-esque fashion. The world features a myriad of NPCs, many of whom are memorable and add a huge amount of charm to the game. 

Battles in Echo Generation Midnight Edition are turn based and for the most part they are pretty much what you’d expect for the most part. Each character has a basic attack and a decent selection of special moves. You’ll unlock these special moves by finding comic books (who says funny books aren’t educational) and each book is themed to each character. The main characters moves are all (Ice) Hockey themed which I really enjoyed. Having blocked a few shots in my time a puck being sent into your face via a slapshot would certainly be an effective tactic in battle. Each special attack has a unique mini-game, pass and you’ll do critical damage, fail and you’ll have time to make do with the attacks base damage. This can be increased be levelling up. Each time you level up you’ll be rewarded with points to spend in one of three categories, health, attack and skill points. 

This brings me to the only really downside of Echo Generation Midnight Edition, aside from the first boss, grinding isn’t needed. Now, there are of course there are two schools of thought when it comes to grinding. To some, it’s a classic part of the TTRPG experience, to others its an outdated mechanic that needs to be left behind. I’m somewhere between the tow and if I’m honest the only game I think nailed it was Final Fantasy XIII. Echo Generation Midnight Edition doesn’t really have what you’d call a difficulty curve, it’s more of a small bump followed by a steep decline. Battles provide little challenge, even the final boss is a breeze and while the mystery of the narrative was rewarding enough but the ease of the combat did dull the feeling of accomplishment somewhat. 

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It’s no Vacation

Following one of the greatest MMORPG expansions is no easy feat and while Dawntrail lacks giant end of the world gods, despair and sadness that it did in Endwalker, it cleverly ushers in a new dawn that pushes FFXIV into new and inviting lands and gives new life to one of the biggest MMORPG’s on the market. Dawntrail is marketed or known as the vacation expansion where our heroes will take a break but that could not be further from the truth.

The latest FFXIV expansion “Dawntrail” follows the Hero of light venture into a new land known as Tural alongside Krile, Erenville, Allisae and Alphinaud in order to help Wuk Lamat become the new ruler of Tural known as the Dawnservant. This is something we knew would happen before the expansion and as soon as you arrive in the new lands you will meet other characters in the running also hoping to become the Dawnservant and the lengths as to how they will get there. The Warrior of Light alongside Krile, Allisae, Alphinaud and Erenville are tasked with helping Wuk Lamat become the new Dawnservant. Alongside this Wuk Lamats brother is also in the running alongside Thancred and Urianger who are now on the opposing team. Bakool Ja Ja is the new antagonist of the game who is a two headed Mamool Ja and a perfectly executed character in that he has a hot temper only exacerbated by the Chameleon twin part of his body. As a two headed Mamool Ja, Bakool Ja Ja believes it is his right to the throne and while the other participants for the throne strategically and fairly Bakool Ja Ja relies on pure power, cunningness and cheating to win the throne.

As we already have explored the edge of the universe, we now find ourself on a new continent which very little is known by the residents of Eorzea especially from the Aldenard region. On the surface Tural is an island full of culture and deep history which is learned as you progress through the Main Scenario. While it can take some time for the real crux of the story to take hold once it does it really is a great experience. The first Dungeon is cleverly weaved into the story as to allow characters to venture into the next zone.

Aside from the Graphical update which is one of the biggest overhauls of FFXIV Dawntrail there are plenty of new and updated features included in Dawntrail. Levelling is something which will naturally happen playing through the new expansion with the new cap hitting the 100 range across all the main jobs. The new race which is the female Hrothgar which Wuk Lamat shows off perfectly has been added and also two new Jobs; the Pictomancer and Viper have now been added and many features make a welcome return. Fates, Leves, Hunts all return which are great ways to level those alts and crafters. Boosts to the Gemstones earned have been increased during bonus fates, you can also play the game solo for the most part as new avatars become available to the main scenario dungeons. Also new in the fray is Krile Baldesion who now plays as the new Pictomancer Job.

Although Tural is a large island soaked in mountains, forests and snow-capped peaks there are other places such as Solution Nine which is a high tech mini city which is incorporated in a way that works thanks to it being Final Fantasy. Tural is different to Eorzea in many ways, the preferred way of travel is not on a Chocobos back but now by riding Alpacas which have also been incorporated into the story and in the most comical way as Wuk Lamat is not a fan of them as much as not being a fan of being on boats which also seems to happen a lot in the Story. Not only do we have a vast amount of new and some of the largest we have seen so far areas to explore, Soken has again outdone the soundtrack to Dawntrail as he has taken influence from Spanish/Latin esque music and cleverly merged it into these new areas, as soon as you arrive in Tuliyollal you are greeted by Big Band drums and if this does not give you a good impression of the music that is to come then nothing else will.

After having tried out both new jobs available in Dawntrail I can say that Pictomancer does come out on top in terms of fun and pure damage. It has become my favourite job. It is also the most visually pleasing to look at as you cast paint aether variants of elemental damage against your opponents. On top of this you can create images on a canvas such as mog poms and wings and by creating a full picture of a moogle you can incorporate that power into a full on moogle beam. You can also create a large hammer and rain down several critical smashes against your foes, and although this looks like a melee attack it is purely magical and can be cast as a magical attack from afar. While some of the attacks appear physical Pictomancer is a pure magic damage output Job that feels great to play.

Viper is also a new job which is fun to play if you are more into close range DPS but it felt kind of underwhelming in comparison especially as it feels all to similar to the Ninja job just with flashier effects. It is cool to have a job that feels and plays like Zidane from Final Fantasy IX, I mean who doesn’t love a twin bladed sword? the team did mention they would be looking to rework the job so it will be interesting to see how this will pan out.

Nearly all existing jobs have been altered somewhat with new abilities and some old ones have been removed. It is sad to see the legendary Dragoon Jump disappear completely, my main job White Mage seemed to not have changed that much if not at all.

Overall FFXIV Dawntrail brings new life to the Final Fantasy XIV world. With an increased level cap, plenty of new content and a strong Story Dawntrail is chock full of Final Fantasy references throughout, mostly from Final Fantasy IX. Dawntrail features two Expert dungeons end-game and a plethora of other high end level content such as the extreme trials. Dawntrail will continue to bring new promised content in the future such as the Arcadion raid series, and the Beastmaster limited Job as well as Cosmic Exploration. It goes without saying to play Dawntrail you will be required to finish all previous expansions up until the end of Endwalker, and although there are now new Story Skips added to the Store, it is highly recommended to play through the entirety of the game at least once. Dawntrail has had an overall smooth launch especially on PC although Xbox players did see some issues which the developers have looked at and compensated game time for those on that console and have since compensated all with some form of game time compensation due to hotfixes that have taken place.

A PC Review code was provided for the purpose of the Review

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The Day Bison Graced Street Fighter 6 Was The Most Important Day Of Your Life. To Him, It Was Tuesday!  

Well more accurately it was a Wednesday. Paraphrased Raul Julia quotes aside, on the 26th June year two of Street Fighter 6 kicked off. What a way to start the year too with the revival of one the series most iconic villains. 

For those in need of a recap on the quite frankly ludicrously deep lore and story in the Street Fighter series. The last time we saw M.Bison in Street Fighter 5 was under a pile of rubble after a climactic fight with Ryu, presumed dead of course! This is not M.Bison’s first rodeo in falling off the mortal coil though, so we shouldn’t be surprised on his return.

The M.Bison we received has seen quite the redesign. He is an amnesiac fuelled by psycho energy with a thirst for power, in search of his lost name and personality. His introduction into this world is naked in an alleyway being assaulted by thugs. Surprisingly the thugs meet a quick demise and M.Bison repurposes their possessions to reclaim his dignity. A tattered rag fashioned into a suitable menacing hooded shoal covering an almost zombified face warped by psycho. His bottoms are a stark reference to his former position of power, with a look most will recognise. The new style may not be for everyone but the evil drifter look really does it for me. To those who disagree the classic iconic costume is available to unlock, or purchase.

His fighting style is what we are familiar with from previous series entries. Heavy and brutal close up attacks with brilliant mid to long range capabilities with his signature Psycho Crusher. The aforementioned move can be pulled off with one button now thanks to modern controls. Making one of the series most famous moves accessible to all players.

World Tour players will be happy to know that M.Bison will become your master albeit after a fair few prerequisites. Any would be pupils are sure to rejoice when causing psycho based havoc on the denizens of Metro City after his teachings.

This explosive start to year two is exactly what players like me wanted. The future of Street Fighter 6 is looking extremely healthy with the crossover characters Terry and Mai from Fatal Fury, as well as the capoeira master Elena. Certainly a lot to look forward to in one of the premier fighter game franchises.

Oh did I mention M.Bison has a horse. You know, like Raul Julia did portraying him!     

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Dawn of a new Day

The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak is Nihon Falcom’s latest delve into the more than lengthy Trails series spanning many games. It is the first game to take place in the Calvard Republic, an area many veterans of the series will have heard mentioned many times in the games long running entry. It also marks the first game in the Trails through Daybreak story arc.

While Trails Through Daybreak marks a new saga the game itself comes with plenty of new and returning features, some are very familiar whilst some have a new spin on them or are completely new to the series.

The story follows Van who is known as a spriggan, a bounty hunter of sorts who does many odd jobs which border on illegal activities and while he tries to keep down on the low many fugitives and law enforcers are aware of who is is and keep him at arms length. A young girl known as Agnes Claudel approaches Van one day and asks him to help her find a rare sentimental orbment that was kept in her late family, not being the sort of work he would undertake he advises her to look elsewhere until it becomes apparent how rare and sacred the artifact is and that these fugitives are only too eager to take it for themselves.

The story and layout of the game functions similar to past Trails games in that you will start off playing through story segments of the game, fighting enemies and exploring dungeons, partake in some shopping, speaking to NPC’s and taking on side quests which push the story forward. A formula familiar to most but with a difference. There are no bonding events per say like past games, instead Van can connect with other party members and also hang around with some NPC’s, this may feel like a step back however there is a new alignment system implemented which allows Van to make choices during his adventure. The choices you make will cause three values of Law, Chaos and Gray to change. These can affect both stats and plot points later on in the game. The games characters are all charming in their own way. Like past games characters will over-react to minor situations and inconveniences and there will always be that one character who is way too excitable for no reason. One thing I noticed is how similar characters are to past counterparts. Van has a resemblance to Rean while Aaron has a resemblance to Randy. Elaine with her stoic pose and the looks of Alisa. Aaron is my favourite character because for one, I share the same name as him, he wields two swords and has fiery red hair. What’s not to love?

Trails Through Daybreaks combat takes a different approach to past Trails games but is highly unique as it is has two modes, a real-time action system similar to that of the Y’s series and has characters spamming attacks and supercharged attacks to take enemies down but can also be switched freely to a turn based combat approach. The game actively encourages both types of play. If you take the turn-based combat approach then the game will feel similar to past Trails games with combat taking place on the field with characters using Arts, Crafts and Item

While the games smaller enemies can be quickly dispatched it is worth noting that they can turn the tide of battle should you feel too cocky by knocking your controlled character off balance and starting off a battle with a disadvantage to the player.

Trails Through Daybreak comes with a plethora of new features that come with the Xipha, a phone like device introduced and developed in Calvard and is the standard battle orbment device, similar to the ARCUS but more advanced; for example Arts Drivers are equipped to the Xipha and provide a list of arts for that user, similar to how Master Quartz were used previously. Each Arts Diver has a number of unlockable slots that can hold plugins which allows customisation to the users arts loadout. Another feature are skill shards which allow players to stack elemental attributes by equipping different quartz on different lines. They function similar to the system in earlier Trails games where certain quartz generates a specific of value for that element. For example stacking Fire elements can unlock a new skill but stack it to the highest value can nullify Fire damage altogether.

There are plenty of returning features such as the speed boost which boosts dialogue and gameplay itself, cooking makes a return but feels more refined than before as Cooking actually gives you points for creating new items and recipes by further expending and providing better buffs for higher ranks.

After playing bother versions of the game on both PS5 and PS4, Trails Through Daybreaks performance on PS5 is no doubt superior when compared to the PS4 version, The performance as well as character models stand out far more, however if it was not for the PS4 version of the game I would not have been able to play through the game for more than an hour and this was due to a bug encountered early on in the game on the PS5 version of the game. After progressing an hour into the story I found a bug which caused the game to shut down after a certain cutscene. The first time I actually passed the cutscene into the next area where I had saved on turning the game off, on returning I was shut down with an error straight away which made me think there is a glitch causing this at that point in the game on the PS5 version, I did end up reinstalling the game which proved ineffective as this issue remained unresolves and the only was past it was to play through the same area on the PS4 version of the game until after that point and transfer the save data to PS5 which allows you to continue your progress. Hopefully this issue was just a one off and it is not an issue that carries on with the full release of the game.

Overall Trails Through Daybreak feels vast, there is lo loading times when entering buildings although there is a small but minor load times between areas in the game. The towns are more vibrant and there is more to explore with some nice touches such as Cars that drive past that your character can get in the way of, and blow their horns in anger as you accidentally run in front of them. Dungeons feel more like dungeons this time round which is an issue I had with certain past trails games, instead of feeling bloated with enemies and the same copy and past backgrounds, they feel more crafted with care, the first subway has trains going past as you explore and graffiti on the walls rather than just feeling like a blank corridor with enemies thrown in for the sake of it. You can still smash open boxes and zip through dungeons at lightning pace dispatching enemies as you go which is good for the grind but as you play through for the first time it always feels good to take it easy and take in the games fantastic music whilst you explore. Trails through Daybreak is easily the best looking Trails game to date and whether you are a returning fan or not you’d be doing yourself a massive disservice to pass up Trails through Daybreak.

A PlayStation 4/5 Review Code was provided by NIS America

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THE HOUSE ALWAYS WINS … BUT ITS FUN TRYING!

Balatro is a unique poker themed deck building roguelike created by solo anonymous developer Local Thunk. Released on all current home consoles and previous generation entries for both Sony and Microsoft users. A release is also in the works for smartphone users both on Android and iOS, however no date has currently been announced. For the sakes of this piece I found myself gravitating towards the PC Steam (specifically on the Steamdeck & Mac port) & Nintendo Switch releases.

Going back to the first line I’m aware I used a lot of word to describe the genre of the game. As gamers we are very used to hearing FPS or RPG and getting it. This beast is a little more difficult to put in a specific corner like a lot of other games. I guess if pushed I would call it a card game but that’s severely underselling what Local Thunk has offered us here. It feels almost Slay The Spire like without the action and gambling instead of dungeon crawling; even that feels like a slightly inaccurate description. Now we are all positively confused we will delve into the core game play loop as that’s what makes or breaks a roguelike. 

Upon starting a run you are faced with a screen giving you details of a small blind, big blind and boss blind. Each blind with all intent and purpose is a game of poker with the goal of how many chips you need to win to either progress or meet your inevitable end. Tasked with going from small blind to boss blind you are presented with the option, play or skip. You choose play and the casino classic begins your hand dealt and ready to place a scoring collection of cards from your hand. Skipping will give you a small bonus ranging from profoundly trivial to game saving. To those with no to passing knowledge of the light flashing, tinnitus inducing parlour game extraordinaire that is the house fear not, at all times you can hit run info to be told what a flush is and how good at making money it is or not. You will have a couple of hands to try and hit the blind chip goal, also some discards to try to curate your plays as best you can. Try that one in the Casino, I dare you. Then you go to play your first hand and its important to remember its you versus the dealer, so no need to practise your poker face with this one. Fingers crossed you drop down a royal flush typically the highest scoring hand and decimate the first, potentially last actual poker game of the run.

After a fleeting moment of Im James Bond in certain Royale film passes, a breakdown of how you played and cash earned will show with a invite to a shop. Offers of Jokers, Card Packs, Consumables & Vouchers will greet you will open arms. 

Jokers act as passive buffs to equip, the most basic of which is a simple addition of a 4 times multiplier. The rarer joker cards afford you increasingly crazier passive effects. An early favourite of mine the “Shortcut” joker, allows you to play non consecutive straights (For the uninitiated a straight is a consecutive hand 2/3/4/5/6 for example; this would allow 2/4/6/8/10 to count as a straight).

Vouchers are small passive bonuses the aren’t equipped like the jokers. So you don’t have to manage the number you are using at once unlike a joker. They will tend to set you back a bit more money than a joker as they offer upgrades to your run that are often unconditional. 

Card packs are similar to a pack of ‘Magic The Gathering’, could be gold could be trash. Different packs exist that could populate the shop. Celestial packs grant a planet card which increase the level of a poker hand making it a more valuable hand.  This can snowball to the point where a pair hand is a more fruitful play than a royal flush hand. The Arcana pack will grant you tarot cards which have altering effects that mostly modify the cards in your deck. The World card as a quick example changes up to three selected cards to the suit of spades, now your deck is more likely to get a spade flush. Spectral packs are very similar to Arcana packs but the cards modify to a much higher extent and often come with gambles or disadvantages. The Buffoon pack is a collection of joker cards which we touched on earlier. Standard packs give you the option to add a playing card to your deck. Want an extra king you got it, some more aces your in luck. See I told you Balatro was a deck builder and now you have decks that can play impossible hands such as five of a kind.

Adding to the deck building mechanic is variables that can effect any card. A foil card which will give you extra chips if played. A purple seal that can help generate you extra tarot cards if said card is discarded. With much more effects available. A personal favourite of mine is the polychromatic which gives you a multiplier of your multiplier in game, which if on a suitable joker can help send your chips into the stratosphere.  

There is a good chance you have come across a hard synergy and blinds are being blown away by you. Dropping a pair with a joker that multiplies your spade cards and would you look at that, the pair has a spade in it. Chips are piling in and it feels good, a little too good. The next hand you drop has literally set the score counter on fire it was so good, the grey matter in your head washed with dopamine.  That fun needs to come to an end with the boss blind.

Boss blinds play the same way as any other blind with an extra mechanic that can act as real roadblock. The extra mechanics range from debuffing certain suits to expecting a seriously high amount of chips from you, or giving you your cards face down to let luck fully decide the fate of this run. If the boss blind is overcome you will up your ante where we continue play with higher amounts of chips required and potentially more brutal boss mechanics.

Managing to get through eight antes will be a victory for the run. You will be feeling like a champion amongst the cards. Then Balatro offers something that normally turns me totally off in roguelikes, an endless mode. In my experience what tends be a monument to tedium, as your indestructible build melts anything that attempts to pose a threat. In the case of Balatro you have nothing to fight its just the draw of the cards and increasingly higher numbers of chips to chase to really test how good your deck actually was. Now at this point its important to say, you will lose. The house always wins in endless mode, its just how much of a fight your deck can put up. The inevitability of your upcoming failure is what to me makes this post game victory lap truly thrilling. It is a testament to Balatro and its quality that it made a fun yet maybe inaccurately named endless mode.

The more hands and runs that are played the more cards are unlocked to play with offering further chaos with potential synergies. Extra decks can also be unlocked that play different right from the start of the run.  Those who need a bit more spice will look forward to unlocking the challenge runs. These start with a set of cards or jokers with a designed mechanic either to battle for or against you during the run. Pre-designed mechanics not your cup of tea but want further challenge? After having a successful run you can increase the stake of your deck making the next run harder in some way. 

If you don’t want to fully commit to unlocking everything the game has to offer, an unlock everything option is available. I don’t know how much I would recommend this for new players as it could be a little too much at once. Alas for console hoppers like myself, its a great option for veterans of Balatro to jump into a fresh save on another platform with everything ready to go. If you also like playing online slots, you can download joker123 apk.

Balatro has a truly unique game feel that I have personally never experienced. With a fitting art style of a seedy video poker machine on a CRT it evokes that gambling feel. It’s endless amount of build possibilities will keep you coming back for more. With it’s easy to pick up hard to master gameplay, Balatro really captures that one more run feeling that any rougelike worth its salt needs. A game like Balatro doesn’t come round often so if you take anything from me go play it yourself. Your experience will be worth more than anything I can put into words, trust me.

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A Puzzling Port…

Seed of Life is a adventure/puzzle game developed by Madlight and originally released on PC. Working on the console ports was NXY Digital LTD, which is the release I’m currently having a look at on Nintendo Switch. Set in a dystopian world, in which our protagonist Cora must save the planet. Will ‘Seed Of Life’ germinate into something beautiful or should it be left as bird feed? Let’s find out!We launch into the world of Lumia, which is a dying planet. To make things worse a looming dying star dominates the atmosphere, think more giant blue-fiery spacehopper, less famous Zelda scenario. We meet our protagonist of the piece: Cora as she is monologuing about the poor condition of her home planet. Cora also refers to her rather unhelpful Grandpa who “doesn’t tell me things” (her words, not mine). Despite the lack of ‘things’ Cora has been told, she has seen ‘The Seed’ which she believes can bring back life and cure the quarrelsome inconvenience of her dying planet and sun.

With the ‘save the world’ plot laid out and the speech over, we take control of Cora and walk her outside her quaint looking medieval cottage into the wasting away Lumia. Thrust out into adventure we begin to explore our surroundings; exploration is very much the name of the game here. In the introductory area you a met by a number of interact-able objects marked with a helpful red ring; upon interacting, Cora will dive into soliloquy to add extra flavour to what seem rather bland surroundings. A nearby lantern that Cora began tapping on after a contextual button press, produced a pop up that felt suspiciously like a budget game achievement (Very much confirmed viewing Steam Achievements). Wandering shortly past the area directly outside Cora’s house you’re greeted by a bandstand like gazebo known as a pedestal. Pedestals act as the in game checkpoint system and will also refill Cora’s health and resources. The boundaries of the pedestal’s locale are blocked by a purple barrier. Disabling the barrier requires Cora to find what I can only describe as a terminal that gives Cora a ‘Petal’ and disables the barrier.

At this point approximately 4 minutes into the game I ran into a giant roadblock. I had no clue where to go and found myself aimlessly wandering for significantly longer than necessary. The game at the start at least does not hold your hand in the slightest, the only suggestion given to you is an objective to cross the river; no map, objective marker or magic breadcrumb trail. Usually I am a fan of games with no maps forcing you have to learn yourself picking up clues from the detailed environment or riddles by estranged NPC’s. The environments sadly do not provide the detail needed for any self driven adventure. Moving onto the graphics, If you are old like me, you think back to the good old days playing deathmatch on Gridlock in Gears Of War. The first couple of seconds may come to mind. To the uninitiated or frightfully young, the first moments of a match the textures are loading in. Thus making an otherwise great looking game momentarily look like play dough. I bring this up as the entirety of this port of ‘Seed Of Life’ looks like textureless plasticine. The mountains and hills are brown and orange lumps of nothingness. Foliage is reduced to extra low pixel count sprites, which could be passable if it wasn’t populating a 3D world. Cora herself has a model that would have been heavily criticised anytime post PS2 era, with no real detail to enunciate who she is as a character. The E-Shop blurb of this game claims “Triple-A Quality Graphics”. That quote must be a copy and paste job from the PC synopsis, as I failed to find the blockbuster visuals.

The poor graphics make traversal of this land a lot harder than it should be. Passages within the mountainous terrain just seem to blend into the bland scenery. During my playtime I missed many routes, unable to make out they even existed until I started wall hugging as a last resort. After tedious and poor first impressions of this game I crossed the river which I was initially tasked. Cora suddenly dives for cover as alien ships are seen flying over the skies above. Drones drop from the craft making Cora want to investigate.  The path further travelled reveals the drones, insta-kill guardians to the first power up the world has to offer. Surrounding the drones is a huge red circle of vision, goodnight Cora if she steps within. I don’t want to use the term stealth mechanic, as it was a ‘don’t go in the red circle’ and nothing more. Navigating past the circles of doom Cora picks up the Talisman. This shows in numerical form Cora’s health, Lumium (energy) and objective marker compass on her back. It screams of an earlier time in game development when UI elements were desperately trying to be hidden. Somewhat confusing considering the games interface already has two icons displaying health and Lumium in a stylised manner that looks infinitely better. The Talisman also gives Cora the ability to push away the killer drones, if she has the Lumium to do so.

Luckily more power ups are available to Cora to help traverse Lumia. They are acquired from larger pedestals that Cora can interact with; upon doing so, a small alignment puzzle presents itself. These puzzles felt quite basic considering the genre of game; after a quick circle spin, you can use your petals previously collected. When the power-up pedestal is satisfied with the amount of petals offered, the power up is yours for the taking. The first of which allows Cora to see invisible platforms in the world at a hefty cost of Lumium. A larger maximum pool of this resource can be extracted from Lumium plants dotted through out the land; more Lumium allows Cora to use her power ups for longer, unlock various doors and landmarks. However rather unexpectedly it introduces a souls-like mechanic, where if Cora fails to make it back to a pedestal alive she will lose her newly extracted maximum capacity of Lumium, forcing you to go hunt the plants once again; luckily they are stationary and visible with Cora’s vision ability. 

I suffered the most from my least favourite mechanic in the game, the corruption. Areas with corruption will slowly chip away at Cora’s health until she succumbs to the sweet release of death. The major issue with this is not all corrupted areas have a visual style suggesting they are dangerous, resulting in health decreasing seemingly at random. The corruption can be staved away using a regeneration power or standing by a Lumium plant. This should regenerate Cora’s health if it hasn’t recently been extracted. In my case the Lumium plants didn’t always offer the restorative qualities promised to me and Cora would pass away in what should have been a safe zone. The corruption just adds a ticking time bomb to you which in more open areas just adds stress rather than enjoyable exploration. It felt like a padding mechanic as I never had time to plan my route of traversal, making me use the tactic of running Cora in a random direction trying desperately to memorise anything of value. Open areas of ‘Seed Of Life’ are where the cracks of this port really start to show. Lets get this straight, none of what I played had a particularly great frame rate, but it was at least playable, however in the larger environments the frame rate can dip quite harshly. If an enemy, object or invisible platform is in one of these areas, the frame rate can plummet into single digits. If you have the displeasure of being in a platforming section when this happens, the game feels totally unresponsive and you will end up sending Cora to her gravity based demise. The combination of the time bomb styled corruption, formless graphics and technological shortcomings was enough for me; I had to stop playing this game.

‘Seed Of Life’ was released previously on PC so I opted to look at video footage to vicariously experience more. A lava biome with more involved platforming and puzzles looked like a promising slice of gameplay. Performance on PC was significantly better with more detailed visuals, at least from what I was seeing; which lead me to the question was the port poorly optimised, or is the Nintendo Switch showing it’s age?

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Paper Trail brought to us by Newfangled Games is a puzzle adventure game that’s been described as a premium mobile game, it’s made it on to console, does it stand up or will it crumple?

The moment I saw the trailer I had Paper Trail bookmarked, I’m a sucker for a few things when it comes to games. A unique premise, charming art style and narrative I can become invested in. Paper Trail seemed to promise all three so when Newfangled Games offered us a review code I almost folded myself in two to accept. 

Paper Trail begins by introducing us to Paige, she’s just been accepted into university and she’s excited to begin her journey, longing to leave her sleepy little village and become an astrophysicist. There’s just one problem, Paige’s parents don’t want her to go. Well, tough, Paige is all set to run away a begin her new life, but a storm hit’s and she’s stranded. Initially tasked by her folks to check on some of the locals an adventure unfolds that not even Paige could have journaled in her wildest dreams. 

I’m not going to spoil any of the story contained within Paper Trail, it’s a charming narrative of longing for change and coming of age full of whimsy and wholesome moments that I found heartwarming and kept me invested the entire time. 

Invested…I love puzzle games but up until Paper Trail they’ve all struggled to keep me invested, be it though a uninspired narrative or the fact that the actual mechanics of the puzzle become one note once you’d figured out the system. This often meant that for an hour or two a puzzle game would have my focus but I’d quickly loose interest, or on occasion they’d become so fiendishly difficult I’d sulk and never play them again. 

As I’ve already mentioned the story of Paper Trail won me over but what of the gameplay?

The world of Paper Trial begins with Southfold (adorable homely name and a pun, excellent work Newfangled) Paige’s hometown, but the world itself is essentially 2D but exists on two sides of a piece of paper, your job is to get Paige from A to Z, but doing this will mean folding the world in on itself. You can fold from any edge, horizontally, vertically or diagonally in from the corners. There are some limiting factors, you obviously can’t fold over Paige, and as your progress they will be certain aspects of the world that prevent you from folding over them as well.  The only minor issue I had while playing was the cursor speed, I’d often zip past the fold I want onto to wrong on, this has me wished for mouse, but it was easily fixed by lowering the sensitivity via the settings menu.

The short amount of time spent in Southfold acts as the games tutorial and the mechanic is refreshing and cool and seems fairly intuitive, but once your out in the big wide world things become a lot more complex and each new world adds a crumple into your folding plans. Examples of which might be boulders in the way, or needing to fold runes together to make sure doors open. Every new addition to the core puzzle mechanic is fantastic and adds a degree of challenge at a perfect pace. It’s also not easy, there were a good few times when I couldn’t figure out what I was suppose to do and started to get a folding headache, most notably the first time I realised I could move a wooden platform across multiple pages. Well, if in being honest, I didn’t work it out, I used the games hint system. 

Hint systems in puzzle games normally drive me crazy as the are normally poorly implemented and just flat out tell you the answer and leave you feeling stupid and judged by the game. Paper Trial is different, they game will show you the folding pattern you need to do in order, but it breaks it down, so you can view as much or as little of the solution as you’d like. What’s fantastic however is that it will show you the folding pattern but not anything to do with the interactive elements of the game, so the hint really is just that. It relieves  frustration but in a gentle way that doesn’t rob the player of a sense of accomplishment. 

Visually Paper Trail is beautiful, it’s a joy to look at and the character designs are simply adorable, special mention to the frogs, I don’t know if Newfangled would ever release prints of the game or an art book but I would be first on the list to order them. 

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