Developer: Spike-Chunsoft

Publisher: Nippon Ichi Software (PSV/PS4) Spike-Chunsoft (PC)

Platform: PSV/PS4/PC

ESRB Rating: M

Release Date: September 26nd, 2017

Thank you NISA for supplying a copy for the review

It’s time. A new Danganronpa has arrived. This isn’t like Ultra Despair Girls where it became a 3D puzzle shooter/action game hybrid. But instead, we’re going back to the traditional scenario of 16 high school kids with ultimate abilities trapped in an unfamiliar environment killing each other while you have to figure out who killed who. Don’t worry though, if you’re new to the series, this is a meant to be a new starting point so knowledge of the previous entries aren’t needed. Also, please know that is not to be confused with Danganronpa 3 which is the ending to the previous Danganronpa games.

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Developer: Compile Heart

Publisher: Idea Factory International

Platform: PS Vita

ESRB Rating: M

Release Date: September 19th, 2017

MRSP:$39.99

Thank you Idea Factory International for allowing us to review the Vita version of this game.

It’s been about a year since I’ve played a DRPG. It’s been a year since I’ve played MeiQ, the game that made me take this much time away from the genre. Yet here we are, with IF taking on the genre once more (albeit this one not being a Makai Ichiban Kan title) by the name of Mary Skelter: Nightmares. Thankfully, unlike the last one, going through Mary Skelter isn’t a living nightmare.

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Developer: Aquaplus and Sting

Publisher: Atlus

Platform: PlayStation 4, PS Vita

ESRB Rating: M

Release Date: September 5th, 2017

MRSP: $49.99 (PS4),  $39.99 (PSV)

Thank you Atlus for allowing us to review the Vita version of this game.

Utawarerumono is a pretty interesting franchise. It was once just a simple game back in 2002. Then it received a manga and anime adaptation a few years afterward. Out of nowhere in 2015, Aquaplus decides to go back to the franchise and gives us Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception. It didn’t end there though as the second half of this come back released in 2016 – while the rest of the world had to wait for both pieces in 2017. And now, the time has come as the end has arrived with the release of Mask of Truth.

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Developer: Falcom

Publisher: NISA America

Platform: PlayStation 4, PS Vita, PC

Release Date: September 12th

ESRB Rating: T

MRSP: $49.99/$59.99

It’s been 4 years since the last Ys game, Memories on Celceta. A fun time, with albeit some story problems here and there. YS VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana, doesn’t feel more of the same, but it does bring about some of the same issues I’ve had with Celceta.

Here in Lacrimosa of Dana, we play as Adol Christin yet again embarking on another adventure. If you’re a new comer to the franchise, don’t panic – each game is a separate tale for our adventurer here. This time he’s temporarily a sailor meant to guard some passengers as they make their way to the mainland. However, problems quickly strike when the boat gets too close to a mysterious island. The boat gets attacked by a giant monster leaving you and the passengers shipwrecked on the island. Initially, you start off alone, but quickly find others. Together you set up Castaway Village in this deserted island and explore it with the main goal in mind to find as many surviving passengers as possible and find a way to escape.

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Developer: Falcom

Publisher: Aksys

Platform: PS Vita

Release Date: June 30th

ESRB Rating: T

MSRP: $39.99

Thank You Aksys for Providing A Review Copy of this Game

It’s been a long time coming for the next entry for the Xanadu franchise. It’s been over 10 years since the release of “Xanadu Next” for the N-Gage. Although I will say that this game is nothing like the previous entry. For one, this game ditch’s the design of the previous entries entirely and now feels more that of Trails than anything else. If you take “Trails of Cold Steel,” take out the military background and make it modern day with Sci-fi elements, you’d get Tokyo Xanadu. That’s not a bad thing perse. But it’s not a great thing either. I loved Trails of Cold Steel faults and all but this one feels almost like a carbon copy.

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Developer: Kadokawa Games

Publisher: NISA

Platform: Playstation 4/Playstation Vita

ESRB Rating: T

Release Date: June 20th. 2017

Thank you NISA for providing a review copy for this game.

It’s been quite a while since Kadokawa’s last strategy game, Natural Doctrine. It wasn’t received well due to its relentless and unforgiving difficulty if you made even a single mistake. In 2014, Kadokawa Games announced that they would try again, and in 2015 they officially announced “God Wars: Future Past.” Instead of the more Tactical side of the genre, they’ve opted for the more pure Strategy side of it.

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Developer: Aquaplus

Publisher: Atlus USA

Platform: Playstation 4/Playstation Vita

ESRB Rating: M

Release Date: May 23rd 2017

Thank you Atlus USA for providing a review copy for this game.

Life is strange. Just a couple weeks ago, I was having a blast playing Disgaea 5 Switch, while at the same time, I was also having a blast playing “Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception” on my Vita. Despite both being SRPGs, and are fun to play, both provide extremely different experiences for completely different reasons.

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Developer: Nippon Ichi Software

Publisher: Nippon Ichi Software America

Platform: Nintendo Switch

ESRB Rating: M

Release Date: May 23rd 2017

Thank you NISA for providing a review copy for this game.

It’s been a long time since Disgaea has last appeared on a Nintendo platform, as the last entry was a port of the original game on the DS. Almost a decade later, the second Disgaea game to reach Nintendo fans is the latest entry in the franchise, “Disgaea 5” on the Nintendo Switch. This version of the game comes will all of the DLC which you can access from the get-go. This means the extra classes, recruits, and scenarios are yours to play around with. That said, normally, when Disgaea is ported to a different platform (typically it’s been Sony’s portable devices) they’d get extra content on top of the DLC content. Sadly, that’s not the case here. Here, it’s just the DLC.

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Platform: *PS4/Xbox 1

Developer: Square Enix

Publisher: Square Enix

Rated: T

Release Date: November 29th, 2016

Final Fantasy. Whether you like Japanese video games or not, and whether or not you even play video games, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of this franchise somewhere. Each numbered entry typically takes place in a new explorable world and always gives a new cast of characters. It’s been a long time coming since the previous single-player main entry Final Fantasy XIII, and it’s been ten years since this game itself was announced under the name of Final Fantasy VS XIII.

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Platform:Playstation Vita/PC

Developer: Nippon Ichi Software

Publisher: Nippon Ichisoftware America

ESRB Rating: T

Release Date: April 11th, 2017

Nippon Ichi Software has been on an interesting path where they decide to make “indie-like” titles. In 2014 (localized in 2015) there was the bizarrely gruesome 2D puzzle platformer, Firefly Diaries; in 2015 (localized in 2016) my new favorite adventure horror game, Yomawari; and in 2016 (localized in 2017) Rose in the Twilight follows Firefly Dairies as (despite the aesthetic,) it has no problem being gory while also being a 2D puzzle platformer.

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