Wrath: Aeon of Ruin is a nifty little throwback to some of the early, really good first-person shooters. For those who don’t need a Wayback machine, this game has more than just a little bit in common with Doom and Quake. If you have never had the pleasure of playing those, they’re basically “monsters in a maze” games. You are set loose in a building, a town, or wherever, and there are objects hidden all over the place, monsters around every corner, tools and weapons to find, and, typically, a world to save. You may need to meet an objective (kill an enemy or find a key) before a door will open, but you are free to wander around the level.

As you wander about, you may notice that the imagery is fitting for the nature of the story. The graphics look like a slice of 2007—not bad at a distance, but obviously pixelated and flat up close. That isn’t really a hindrance for this game, so we’ll move on to the soundscape. Here, the game does a very good job of providing background music that’s evocative and, mercifully, doesn’t sound like 20 seconds stuck in a loop. The sound effects are well done; the footfalls are a bit generic, but not bad. As a whole, the looks and sounds are pretty good.

One gripe I have regarding the visuals centers on the text. To keep from having to translate recorded dialogue into a dozen languages, the game relies on text. I’m fine with reading, but the text appears for a programmed duration, then disappears. This, for me, is a significant negative. Like most games which rely on text to communicate to the player, once you get past the dialogue of the moment, you can’t revisit the text. So, if you look away to see what new thing the cat has knocked off the shelf, you may miss something important. The text is also a bit on the small side, but it’s easy enough to read, even in handheld mode.

The Isle of the Dead is the first level and includes some tutorial information. The game will guide you to a place where you get your fist weapon; then it will send the hordes of undead things your way—good luck! If you use the more difficult settings, be prepared to die quickly if you are not well versed in this type of game. On the flip side, if you start with the “easy” setting, there is a lot of empty castle to walk through, so pick your poison. There are a couple of benefits to starting on easy: you can get the lay of the land before hacking undead creatures to bits in a non-stop flurry of blood and body parts, and you can get a bit more comfortable with the controls and the monsters to make surviving a little bit easier (that is, possible).

It takes little while, but the game will eventually give you what’s called a Soul Tether. You can use this to create save points which can be handy for where you die a lot or where you need to complete a tricky jump without having to run through half the level again. The game also provides the obligatory health kits (a.k.a. vial of lifeblood), weapon and armor upgrades, and artifacts you can use.

As a reminder, Wrath: Aeon of Ruin has a maze layout, so don’t forget to check every hallway, door, room, etc. If you can’t jump a particular gap normally, you can get a boost from your special attack (ZL button) that provides a power thrust with your blade. It also sends you lurching forward in such a way that you can effectively jump twice as far as using the regular jump button. Speaking of buttons, the controls are laid out well and easy to use. Every button has a function, but there are no overly complex combinations to frustrate the gameplay.

Any gripes I may have about Wrath: Aeon of Ruin are minimal and can be overlooked without too much effort. It provides us seasoned gamers a bit of nostalgia, but it’s a good choice for anyone seeking a first-person shooter challenge with some decent replay value (go ahead, start at Outlander level—I dare you).

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You play as a nameless skeleton-like character who’s a bouncer at a bar. NecroBouncer is a hack-and-slash fighting title where you need to clear room after room and defeat the boss at the end. There are four bosses total, each having unique patterns of attack. The premise of these fights is to dodge until the boss becomes vulnerable and then spam your attacks. The first two bosses become vulnerable on their own, but the final two bosses have a bit of a puzzle to them. It took me a long time on the third boss to figure out what I needed to do to get him to use a different attack that would tire him out. Overall, though, the bosses weren’t too difficult; not until you figured out how to play, that is.

Being a hack-and-slash style, NecroBouncer has fairly simple controls. You spam Y to attack with your weapon but you can also use special attacks with A and X. These specials use magic, but the game is generous at making sure you never run out. This was a good thing for me because I had far too much fun spawning zombie minions to attack enemies for me. You can press B to roll dodge, which allows you to be invincible for a moment. The controls were fluid and smooth throughout my gameplay experience, which was great since this title is fast-paced.

Yet, there’s still a lot of downtime. The way NecroBouncer works is that you go from one room to another, clearing enemies and solving puzzles. There are four floors total, each having their own unique map every time you begin a playthrough. So, no two playthroughs will ever be alike.

The rooms are laid out like a mind map beginning from the left and moving to the right. You can choose between one of four rooms to start in and then you follow that branch throughout. Sometimes, rooms will branch into two or three others and you can decide. Each room has its own gimmick, and you’ll know what it is ahead of time.

What do I mean by gimmick? Each room, in addition to a horde of enemies, often has a puzzle. For example, there’s a crystal room where you need to break all the crystals. Every few seconds, enemies will spawn from the crystals. Once they’re all broken and no more enemies can spawn, then the room is cleared. There’s another room called King of the Hill where you have to stand on a platform in the middle of the room for a certain amount of time. The thing is, enemies spawn whenever you’re on the platform. Some rooms, on the other hand, are “bouncer” rooms where it’s simply a rush of enemies you have to defeat.

So, I often mapped out the course I’d want to take before choosing the first area so I’d get the most out of it between preferred room styles and rooms that allowed the most rewards. Some rooms give you a treasure chest upon clearing them. The treasure chest contains relics (which are basically power-ups). You’ll have these relics for the rest of the run. The more you play, the more relics you’ll unlock so you can begin a run with some relics, too.

Some of these relics allow you to have more health, do more damage to enemies, spawn more zombie minions, and more. There are a lot of relics. Once you defeat a boss, you’ll have the chance to buy something at the bar. The bar will have relics available, including health. Depending on how much money you have, you can take whatever you want before moving onto the next set of rooms.

NecroBouncer is one of those games where you see how far you can go. With only four bosses, though, and the more powered-up you become, each playthrough gets easier and quicker. The first time I cleared all four bosses, I did so within an hour and a half.

The game also offers stats and extra missions to work toward. For example, defeating each boss without taking any damage. You don’t get anything for these, but it’s nice to have something else to do since the game, despite no two playthroughs being alike, can get repetitive.

I enjoyed my time with NecroBouncer and I’m sure I’ll go back and play it again. However, even though it ran smoothly most of the time, the game did glitch a few times. I once cleared a boss and the reward options froze. The chests were closed, but the outline of the rewards were there. So, I think the game thought the chests were open but I couldn’t select anything. I needed to close the game completely, losing all my progress for that run. I know the nature of the game is to see how far you get in one go, but a quick-save feature would have been nice for those glitch moments. Despite how short a run can be, I did need to abandon a run because I had somewhere to be and couldn’t complete it on time. A quick save would have been really nice at that moment.

Regardless, if you’re looking for a game that’s on the shorter side and a fun roguelite experience, NecroBouncer is a great choice. You may not play it for hours on end, but it’s good to go back to once in a while as a pick-up-and-go type of game.

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Kind of. Because the winner is going to be Cthulhu, or at least his minions. They’re never ending, after all, and Miyamoto Musashi is just one man. Musashi vs. Cthulhu isn’t about winning, it’s about chasing your high score…which sounds like it could be a lesson directly out of Musashi’s The Book of Five Rings. I haven’t read that, but I have read David Kirk’s Child of Vengeance, and he made no mention of battle against Lovecraftian monstrosities.

That’s what Musashi vs. Cthulhu is, after all. This action game pits you, as Musashi, against an onslaught of creepy looking monsters you can’t overcome; you just have to stay alive as long as possible. That’s part and parcel for arcade action games, so it’s fair, but whether the gameplay can hold your attention for that long will depend upon your mastery of the niten’ichi kenjutsu technique.

A brief tutorial explains the controls, which are minimal. Musashi stands in the center of the screen, and he’s attacked from both sides. You move…actually, you don’t move. You jump…no, Musashi has no need for jumping. You kick…please, have some dignity. The only thing you do in the game is swing your swords. Up, left, and down on the D-pad are your high, mid, and low attacks to the left. X, A, and B are the same to the right. You simply thurst your sword in the intended direction.

Small enemies, such as giant maggots, need low swings to connect, obviously. Mutated flying insects require high swings. But what about the monsters that stand tall like Musashi? They have obviously defined weak points that must be targeted. In other words, this game is entirely about aiming and timing. Attacking to the left can leave you vulnerable to attack from the right, so you don’t want to overextend or misjudge who will get to you first.

You also don’t want to miss. That breaks your combo chain and, more drastically, allows the enemies to attack you. That will drain your health, but you do automatically shove all enemies away, allowing you time to refocus for your next move. You can also taunt to raise your shields, but taunting also leaves you temporarily vulnerable, so it needs to be well-timed.

That’s entirely it for the game’s basics, but Miyamoto Musashi didn’t become Japan’s greatest swordsman by simply mastering the basics. Each thrust of your swords shuffles you in that direction, allowing you to pull away from attacks from the opposite side. Learning your enemy’s movement speed becomes key so you’re not attacking an enemy that will fall behind another. Certain enemies also require multiple hits, so you’ll need to grow comfortable with quick strikes in order to take them down efficiently.

Yes, it’s all pretty basic, but Musashi vs. Cthulhu is helped out by a couple important items. First, the gameplay is exceptionally snappy; attacks are responsive and fluid. Second, the graphics are effectively creepy (although some setting variety would’ve been nice). Third, the audio does a solid job of accenting the action.

All of this combines to create a somewhat addictive, visceral experience that manages to entertain longer than you may expect. Still, I can’t help but feel the Switch version is missing one key feature: motion control. Holding a Joy-Con in each hand and snapping your wrist to strike could’ve been really cool, albeit tiring. It may have also made the game too easy if executed well, but I feel like motion control was a lost opportunity.

Musashi vs. Cthulhu is not the deepest game you’re going to play this week, and it doesn’t provide a purpose for those not interested in chasing high scores or leaderboard rankings. But it is fun in short bursts, and it’s instantly accessible. I think it would make more sense as a mobile game, but at only $5.00, it’s priced to serve that time-killing purpose when you have your Switch on the go.

So, let’s have a good, clean fight, and may the best man (or cosmic entity) win.

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It’s taken a while, but we kind of have that retro feel again with Goliath Depot. I say “kind of” because, although Goliath Depot certainly has that retro arcade action, it comes with some modern features that wouldn’t have existed in 1982.

First, the gameplay. You start as a fellow or lady (your choice) expecting a normal day at the computer factory, until those computers start to run amok. How to save the day? Unplug them? No! You have to slam some doors, which is not only therapeutic, but productive in this case. The soundwaves of the slammed doors stun the computers, allowing you to kick them off the screen. Once all of the doors are shut, the level’s main doors will open, allowing you access to the next level.

That’s your entire premise, but that’s all video games needed back in the ’80s. The machines attracted you with bright colors, jangly sounds, and (if they were lucky) local DJ novelty songs. They hooked you by making you believe you were just one jump away from reaching the next level, and by making those levels visually and aurally captivating. Goliath Depot has certainly done that. You just need to look at the screen captures to know exactly how this game sounds and plays.

Regarding gameplay, the controls are simple enough to figure out, but the difficulty quickly ramps up as you progress; the doors become harder to access and the enemies more aggressive. With plenty of spiky floors, icy ledges, randomly placed lasers, and more, you just know this workplace does not enjoy the benefits of union membership.

You’ll need to start timing your door slams to make sure the enemies are in the right area first, but you can stand in the doorways without shutting them to remain safe until that moment presents itself. Like most great arcade games, you’ll start to work out patterns and strategies the more you play.

There are also bosses to face every 10 levels. This creates a nice break from the typical challenge, but also severs the cord that plugs the game into its ’80s arcade outlet. Donkey Kong, Popeye, and Burger Time had no boss battles, after all.

They also had no purchasable power-ups, which Goliath Depot does. The coins you collect throughout the game can be used not only to continue your progress once you’ve lost all your lives, but can also buy you new abilities with which to start the game. For example, you can buy the ability to jump down a level without having to rely on ladders or ledges. You won’t earn enough coins to rely on all these power-ups, but you’ll know a few runs in which will be the most helpful for your style of play. And, of course, certain power-ups will be more conducive against certain bosses.

Goliath Depot’s other modern features include in-game achievements and leaderboards, which I suppose replace the recording of your initials for the next players to see. It also comes with couch co-op, which is perfect for the game’s frantic pacing.

If you’re playing alone, you can take on a speedrun mode, accept the challenge at higher difficulty levels, or randomize the levels. In other words, Goliath Depot is able to keep you engaged even after you’ve completed its initial 40-level run, which you should be able to do within a couple of hours. If that seems short, consider its $7.00 price tag, which is more than fair.

So, it’s easy to recommend Goliath Depot to fans of classic arcade games. Its modern additions and replay incentives break its ties to the games that inspired it, but will surely keep today’s gamers engaged for a longer period. Our hero/heroine may not be as memorable as Mario, but slamming doors and kicking computers at the workplace is something I believe we all can identify with.

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The first thing you’ll notice when playing Please Fix the Road is the adorable aesthetics. There’s no story to speak of – literally none – so it’s up to the design and the puzzles to keep you invested. The developers have excelled in both areas, presenting bite-sized sections of the world ready for repair. 

In terms of design, the pastel colors create a soothing experience. The accompanying music adds to this vibe, too, with twinkly, upbeat tunes that help you settle in for a few rounds of brain teasers. This isn’t a stressful outing, with no timer or life meter anywhere in sight. It’s purely about taking your time to connect two sections of a path. 

Each puzzle consists of a chunk of land divided into segments. There’s a start and end point with a vehicle or creature sitting patiently at the beginning while you sort out the connection issues ahead. Yes, creature. Despite the polite way the title seeks your help, you’re not here only to fix roads; trains, boats, and animals are also stuck, meaning you’ll need to fix tracks, rivers, and dirt paths. This variety keeps things feeling fresh, even if the basic elements remain the same. There’s a simple pleasure in aiding your awol cow on its journey home. C’mon little guy, you can make it!

The puzzles themselves are interesting in their setup. Each broken path requires a number of ordered steps to fix it, presented to you in the bottom left of the screen. You’re given the tools and the sequence in which to use them, so what’s left to do? The tricky part is working out the logical placement. For example, you might be presented with a bomb to clear a square, a road to fill an empty square, and a copy ability to copy and paste part of the terrain. But which area do you cut, fill, copy, and replace?

This leads to plenty of trial and error. Thankfully, you can rewind your moves with a simple tap of the L button, allowing you to try alternate approaches. Some pieces of road are L-shaped, for example, so you’ll need to destroy the right spot for this piece to fit. It feels like coming in at the end to finish a jigsaw puzzle, albeit in a set order.

I have to mention the transitions between puzzles. Upon completion, the current puzzle is pulled apart into small cubes before rolling away and bringing in a new puzzle. It’s like a PowerPoint transition – only way cooler. This simple highlight just adds to the cute and cozy aesthetic of the entire game.

So, are there any shortcomings? Without scores or ratings, there’s no reason to replay levels. However, with 160 puzzles to get through (and potentially more to come), you’re unlikely to need to revisit them. Do you revisit sudokus or crosswords once complete? Perhaps a daily challenge could help extend the life of this title. At its current price of $9.99, though, it sits about right for me. 

One minor gripe comes in the form of the inability to rotate or zoom in on a puzzle. It’s not always needed, but some trickier puzzles could benefit from having the option to move around the 3D space to see it from another perspective. There’s some spatial awareness required to solve these puzzles, and while I appreciate the developers have kept it simple, this could add another dimension to the gameplay.

Overall, Please Fix the Road is a relaxing puzzle game full of brain-teasing roads and other paths to fix. The cute aesthetics are lovely, and the simple concept of connecting routes is terrific. While it’s a simple affair, this budget title offers plenty of puzzles to keep you coming back until you solve them all.

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I typically begin a review by explaining the story. However, given that Pine Hearts is narrative-based, most of what I could say would be spoilers. As the game description says, “It tells a story of the loss of a family member with tenderness and care.” It takes you on an emotional ride with quirky characters and cozy aesthetics. The main goal is to get up the mountain, but the park ranger won’t let you through until you’re well prepared. Thus, your adventure begins.

As you play through Pine Hearts, you’ll piece the story together yourself by rediscovering memories. Tyke has been here before, he just needs some help reminiscing. To unlock these memories, you’ll find tear drops across the open world map. You’ll need a total of 1,300 drops to unlock all five memories. Needless to say, it’s a short adventure. I got through the game within a handful of hours, but it was worth every moment.

But how do you get the tear drops? That’s where the gameplay comes in. First, tear drops are scattered about generously. All you need to do is explore the world and you’ll find them waiting for you. You’ll also earn drops by completing quests for NPCs. Some of these quests will get you exploring the world and simply give you 50-100 tears. Other quests will allow you to further explore the world by getting the tools you need.

For example, you’ll need a hammer and a shovel, just to name a couple. You’ll find the shovel as part of a quest and get to keep it, which will help you with other quests down the road. Despite its cozy vibes, Pine Hearts will keep the quests coming, so there’s never a dull moment. Sometimes, you’ll have multiple quests at once, especially if you talk to everyone you pass.

The world is open with a handful of major areas to explore, each with subareas. You’ll explore a couple of caves, beaches, and even a castle. There are no levels, game modes, timers, or the like; you can go through the game at your own pace. Some quests will involve a mini-game (such as lawn mowing) or a puzzle (such as connecting gears together to trigger a gate mechanism), but none of it is too difficult or head-scratching. 

The controls are simple, too. To break a rock or leap over a cliff, you simply press A. Sometimes, you’ll need to move the L-stick in a certain direction. The default option is to use timed button presses, but I turned that off. It was fine and worked well, but I preferred to play through the game as simply as possible.

Once you have enough tears, you’ll unlock a memory and get to watch it. You’ll have some control over Tyke during these short sequences, but there’s minimal gameplay. Again, I won’t go into detail because of spoilers. However, unlocking these memories will also remind Tyke of a skill he used to have, such as leaping over chasms or creating bridges by pushing a tree over. These skills will allow access to other parts of the map and create shortcuts.

By the time I had unlocked the final skill, I still needed about 75 more tears to get the final memory, thus gaining access to the mountain. I was able to backtrack through the map and go through the areas again without the pressure of quests. I could take in the scenery while keeping an eye out for places I missed or couldn’t access before.

When the final memory was unlocked, I had access to go up the mountain. I cried. A lot. I think Tyke kept it together better than I did. I won’t say much else; you’ll have to experience this game for yourself.

The only downside to Pine Hearts was that there were a few glitches. At one point, Tyke got stuck walking in place, and the only way for me to fix it was to exit to the Switch homepage. Also (and this is more of a personal preference), I would have liked to save the game whenever I wanted. It autosaved often enough, but I would have liked more control over when and where it saved, especially since the game would freeze or lag at each autosave. Otherwise, my entire experience was smooth and relaxing, with lullaby-like music playing in the background.

Overall, Pine Hearts is a short and (bitter)sweet title. If you’re looking for a new cozy adventure that tells an amazing story in a sensitive manner, then certainly give this one a go. You won’t be disappointed. (And yes, you can pet the dog!)

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Rainbow Cotton harkens back to the early ’90s-2000s era with great, fun anime-based cinematics and characters with silly stories to propel the player into the wacky world of fantasy and fun. You are Heroine Cotton, and to cut the narrative right out and give you facts, you’re out to defeat the bad guys for magical candy; yep, magical candy…very deep.

The game has reversed controls. Like flying a plane, up is down, and down is up. These controls can be a tad daunting to get accustomed to the mechanics, but after a short bit, I was flying with the not-so-best of them…okay, I was bad. But (in truth) it didn’t take long to get a feel for so short a learning curve. Once I had the hang of it, I was having a blast. 

The art direction in Rainbow Cotton is very late 90’s anime with big, colorful enemies that definitely will make you laugh. This entry is, I believe, the first Cotton game in 3D. My only personal gripe is that when Cotton is in the middle of the screen, she blocks the player’s view of the enemy, allowing some cheap shots. That doesn’t make it poor; it honestly just increases the challenge. When it comes to the soundtrack, though, I wasn’t very impressed. Nothing stood out as exceptional. It didn’t ruin the experience, but I also feel it really didn’t draw you in. 

Challenge-wise, it ramps up pretty quickly. The first level sets you up to get a feel for the gameplay; not very challenging. The second stage starts to warn that it’s about to go down. By the third, everything and everyone is trying to blast your broom-riding butt out of the air. I never made it past the fourth, mainly due to the shooting, aka button mashing, tired my paws out. Then I figured out I could just hold the button down. DOH!

Rainbow Cotton is a lot of fun. It’s one of those games you can grab quickly and not have to drop hours on. The cutscenes between levels will make the kids giggle at the antics of Cotton and her friend as they journey to get candy. There is nothing truly off with this game; it’s cute with easy-to-pick-up, tough-to-master, fun gameplay. Worth every penny.

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Ikki Unite, straight off, is not kusogē, although your mileage with it will depend whether you’re initiating the game’s uprising alone or with company. (Ikki were revolts against samurai rule in 15th and 16th century Japan.)

If you’re getting a Vampire Survivors vibe from the screen captures, then good; you’re paying attention. Ikki Unite is a top-down shooter in which you run through large environments, eliminating hordes of enemies. For the most part, running is all you do. Firing is automatic, you just need to aim, dodge, and collect. The central point is to level up enough to take down the game’s many bosses within the time limit. Beat a boss, you get more time. Fail to do so, and it’s game over.

Difficulty ramps up quickly, perhaps reflecting Ikki’s arcade roots. I had no problems at all defeating the first two bosses I faced, but didn’t stand a chance against the third. This surprised me, as I’d accumulated quite a few power ups and even a few other support characters before facing it. But those support characters weren’t the smartest I’ve seen, and my selected character—an explorer—wasn’t the man for the job.

Or maybe I rushed into it. I tend to do that when facing a countdown clock. There are myriad power-ups to uncover when exploring the environment, so it’s foolish to leave too many of them behind. But it can take quite a bit of time to damage the bosses when you’re trying to avoid not only their attacks but also the attacks of countless enemies descending upon you.

The point of all this, by the way, is you’re leading a revolt against your ruler. You may be able to take down a few lackeys with just yourself and some carefully selected power-ups, sure…

…but to completely overthrow the government, you’ll need help. Specifically, actual help from actual players.

So, Ikki Unite features an online option in which four teams of four can unite to ikki. The four teams are dropped into different locations on the map, and they must support one another to power up, defeat the local landlords, and eventually meet up with the other groups to take down the central ruler with coordinated and special attacks.

Players are each assigned a random character at the start, so you never know if you’ll be an attacker, healer, explorer, or enhancer. Considering this, I suppose the value of playing alone is getting experience with the various skills and abilities available to each class. You don’t want to be your team’s weak link, after all.

The gameplay is expectedly chaotic, but considering your only task is to move, it’s manageable. In fact, other than when selecting your power-ups, Ikki Unite is a game that never stops moving once it gets started. Uprisings require momentum, I suppose, especially when there’s no Daimajin to bail you out at the end. The simple graphics allow everything to fly around without issue, while also recalling the game’s 1985 origins. There’s a lot to take in, visually, but I suggest you take the time to do so. Some of the weapons, enemies, and visual effects are humorously bizarre. A bear throwing deadly fish bones is certainly one way to quell a rebellion.

Again, though, you’ve really got to play Ikki Unite online with other gamers to enjoy yourself. Unfortunately, it wasn’t always possible to find enough available players. It’s all or nothing, in other words. But, as I’ve always said, a solitary uprising is a crap uprising.

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Describing Rose and Camellia Collection as ‘five games in one’ is an enormous stretch. The entire Collection consists of four ‘Scenarios’ plus a bonus crossover with an even more obscure game which you have to enable in the settings to play. 

Each Scenario offers a brief scene-setting narrative, followed by a series of slap battles, culminating in a more challenging boss fight that ultimately doesn’t deviate from the established pattern. There is a local co-op mode, but it also offers very little variety. You can get through the entire game in less than two hours.

The key feature of Rose and Camellia Collection is the slapping mechanic. The turn-based combat sees two characters delivering open-hand slaps to the other’s face until their health is reduced to zero. You jerk your Joy-Con backwards to dodge and swing it to slap. You can feint to trick your opponent into dodging prematurely and ultimately deliver a stronger blow. If an opponent misses, you can counterattack on their turn. 

Occasionally, you can perform a special move to deliver multiple slaps at once, but there’s no clear indication of what triggers this. A couple of characters learn unique attacks, but this happens very late in their stories and you can win easily without ever utilising them. A score in the top corner ticks over as you fight. It has no impact on the game, but it is satisfying to see the number rise. 

Alternatively, you can carry out these moves by swiping on the touchscreen in handheld mode. However, this robs the game of what little novelty it has as there is very little else to the gameplay. Rose and Camellia Collection gets repetitive quickly, making its short run time something of a blessing in disguise.

The plot ostensibly centres on an aristocratic Japanese family. The first two Scenarios see noble women catfighting over the inheritance of their family home. The third sees a teenage maid travel the world battling globally inspired enemies in training to defend the household she will serve. The final canon story sees those women defend their home from hostile noble families from the fractured land.

The atmosphere is excellently generated through its art, with elegant characters over sinister backgrounds. The injuries you deal to your enemies during fights are graphic in a way that is gory yet satisfying. The voice acting in the cutscenes is genuinely fantastic, complemented by an incredible soundtrack that evokes the Victorian Gothic style perfectly.

There is plenty of interesting material here that could have resulted in an epic storyline of familial politics and betrayal. Unfortunately, you don’t spend enough time with any of the characters to connect to them. The cutscenes are short and follow very familiar story beats. Supernatural elements are introduced and offer some intrigue, but they’re never explained or explored.

Some of the writing is genuinely good. It is overall darkly funny. However, these moments are few and far between in an already short and under-developed tale. More often than not, the dialogue makes sweeping, uncomfortable generalisations about women that could have been easily left out.

Rather than a complete game, Rose and Camellia Collection feels like a demo of something much larger and better. There is so much potential for a sprawling exploration of the fractured story world with its class politics and sinister demonic entities. The option to choose the dialogue for your character would give you so much more agency as a player, making you feel more invested in the slaps you throw. A more expansive story would also give your poor arm a rest, as it is very easy to click quickly through every cutscene and just slap for an hour straight.

Rose and Camellia Collection is evidently a game that is not designed to be taken seriously. It is purposefully ridiculous, and at times darkly funny. However, the quality of its writing is inconsistent, and it leans far too much on one gimmick to justify its $20 price tag.

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I don’t believe I need to explain what Pac-Man is all about. In terms of gameplay, PAC-MAN Mega Tunnel Battle: Chomp Champs doesn’t do anything exciting to rejuvenate the mechanics of this classic arcade game. You still play as Pac-Man, munching your way through a maze avoiding (and sometimes eating) ghosts. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right?

However, now you’re competing against 63 other players. Yes, this game is taking notes from titles such as Tetris 99 and pits 64 Pac-Man players against one another. The last one standing wins. In theory, this is a great idea, but it didn’t execute well for me.

Upon turning on the game, you’ll play through two levels of Pac-Man to teach you the basics. It’s quick, so even if you’re well-versed in Pac-Man, you won’t roll your eyes too much. The second level explains that you’ll be able to get power-ups, such as a shield or ghost repellent. Other players will be able to go in and out of your maze, just as you’ll be able to explore their maze.

By going into other mazes, you’ll be able to eat their dots, power pellets, and fruits, steal their powers-ups, and also eat the ghosts and the other players (provided you have a power pellet). You have three lives, so if you get eaten by another player or get caught by a ghost, you’ll respawn back in the maze you died in.

Each round also has two missions. For example, one mission may be to eat 10 dots in someone else’s maze, eat two other players, go into three other mazes, etc. The missions are random for each game, so you won’t know what to work toward until you’re in the game. Even then, the missions don’t appear right away and they each have a certain amount of time to complete. It was hard to tell, but it seemed like the missions ranged from 30 seconds to a minute or so.

Completing a mission earns you more points. If you don’t complete a mission, you get zero points. There are no huge stakes or incentives to complete one or both missions within a game. In fact, I gave up on certain missions. If the game wanted me to eat 10 dots in someone else’s maze, sure. However, there was a mission to eat three ghosts in someone else’s maze. After completing that a few times and it not registering in-game, resulting in me “failing” the mission, I didn’t bother to work toward it whenever it popped up. The same thing happened a few times when I was supposed to eat two other players.

I think these missions were put in place to get players to explore more. There were many games where I stayed within my own maze and still managed to win first place because I’d let the other players duke it out amongst themselves or they’d get eaten by ghosts. I mostly lost games because I was clumsy and got eaten by my own ghosts.

Each game consists of four rounds or two minutes each. So, each game is short and sweet. It was often much less than that because players would drop like flies (either dropping out of the game or dying quickly). Then, it would take roughly a minute for the game to match me to a server. I was doing chores in between games because there was so much waiting. 

And there you have it: the two modes, elimination and ranking. I know I only explained one way of playing, but that’s because both modes are exactly the same. The only difference between the two is that the ranking mode will save your score and add it to a local and global leaderboard. That’s locked until you reach level 10. You’ll earn experience points for every game you play (depending on the missions you complete, how long you lasted, etc.). I had played about two hours of games in the elimination mode to reach level 10 just to unlock the exact same mode.

You’ll also earn coins when playing, which allows you to dress up your Pac-Man and buy different designs for your maze. It’s nothing too special, but I enjoy that type of aesthetic. My Pac-Man dressed as a bee was adorable.

Despite playing online with 63 other players, PAC-MAN Mega Tunnel Battle: Chomp Champs is lonely and slow. You can play with friends but only if they have a copy of the game. I understand why; split-screen for this type of gameplay would be rough to follow, but the asking price (at the time of writing this review) is $19.99. For five minutes of fun at a time, lots of waiting in between games, and only one mode disguised as two, I personally feel like that asking price is a bit much.

I had fun with PAC-MAN Mega Tunnel Battle: Chomp Champs when I first started playing. However, the longer I played, the more bored I got. It’s so slow-paced at times and the lack of content grew dull. Pac-Man itself is a fun game, so I may go back to this title from time to time, but it certainly won’t be a go-to of mine.

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