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The big update comes with a handful of new content. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not only one of this year's biggest surprises, but also one of this year's best titles . That quality has borne itself out in sales, as well, with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 having now sold over 5 million copies across all platforms. Sandfall Interactive, the developers behind the title, have been quiet over the last few months, but such a resounding success deserves a bit of noise, doesn't it? Well, according to Sandfall Interactive's own press release , Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is set to receive a big update as a "thank you" to its players for their continued support. The new content will include: A new, playable environment, taking the characters of Expedition 33 to a brand-new location with new enemy encounters and surprises to discover. Challenging, new boss battles for late-game players to overcome. New costumes for each member of the Expedition, giving even more customization options for players throughout their adventure. New text and UI game localizations into Czech, Ukrainian, Latin American Spanish, Turkish, Vietnamese, Thai, and Indonesian, bringing the total number of supported languages to 19. And more to come… We'll have to wait a bit to see what the "more to come" part of that message entails, but the additions listed here are great for those of us who would love to spend more time in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 's beautifully crafted world. No release date has been given, but Sandfall Interactive did express some words of gratitude, saying the following: "We spent years working on our dream project, and to know it has resonated with fans around the world in such a powerful way is both wonderful and overwhelming. Now we’re really looking forward to bringing you more of what we're working on! For those who come after. Thank you." About Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 In our review called Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 a breathtakingly beautiful examination of death, grief, loss, and love. Citing its obvious deep respect and reverence for the cultures, people, and video games that came before it. Clair Obscur  strikes the balance between pastiche and derivative work.

The latest content will be out for free on October 23, 2025. Frosthaven , the follow-up to 2021's strategy RPG Gloomhaven, will see the release of its first major content update later this month. This latest update, titled Awakening Protocol , comes with a huge amount of new features and content, including new playable characters. Awakening Protocol 's new content: The Unfettered Storyline: Confront the machine uprising, driven by a mysterious and formidable leader. 3 New Playable Heroes: Unlock 3 powerful new heroes and reshape the battlefield with bold new strategies. 5 New Bosses: Battle mechanical and unknown horrors, equipped with challenging abilities. 18+ More Quests: Explore new areas and confront dangerous threats. 1 New Building: Expand your settlement’s capabilities with the Town Hall. 8 Building Upgrades:  Enhance and build up Frosthaven even further. 40+ New Items: Discover many new tools, weapons, and gear. Challenges: Tackle unique objectives that offer additional risk and reward. Job Postings: Complete new side quests from the Town Hall and increase your party’s capabilities. This all new storyline sees the player explore the great facility of an ancient civilization that fell into ruin millennia ago. The Unfettered, forged for service and abandoned to rust, now rise with vengeance, driven by an enigmatic leader and a relentless plan. We've had a ton of fun with Frosthaven early access thus far here at JetsonPlaysGames, so additional content and storylines to work though sounds like a great addition to an already great time. One of my largest personal complaints was the lack of playable characters, which can force some awkward decisions for full groups of players. Three additional characters to choose from alleviates that quite a bit, offering more party composition variety so players don't feel as forced into one role or another. What is Frosthaven ? Frosthaven is a dark fantasy strategy RPG, and is the story of a small outpost far to the north of the capital city of White Oak. Set in the same world as the 2021 title Gloomhaven, the people of Frosthaven must contend with harsh weather and ferocious foes in order to survive. Developed by Snapshot Games Inc., Frosthaven  (digital version) attempts to convert the complex mechanics and deep world of the tabletop version into a video game format. In our preview for Frosthaven 's early access, Taylor Rioux said " I came away quite impressed with the depth and breadth of what is available to the player within Frosthaven . For an early access title, there are a large number of scenarios and events to engage in, as well as deep, complex mechanics to contend with. It’s too early to speak much on the overarching narrative, but early impressions are strong here, too, as the game is deftly written in the cutscenes and events throughout. If you have played the tabletop version, you’re getting more of the same, but this is a strong recommendation for anyone who enjoys tactical RPGs or tabletop RPGs at home." Image Credits: Snapshot Games Inc .

The world of Vampire: The Masquerade is a deeply interesting one. Set within a sort of mixed contemporary and gothic universe, it’s full of political intrigue, world-building, interpersonal relationships, and intrapersonal exploration. The world and its systems force players to contend with not only their humanity (or lack thereof), but also with the pressures of maintaining appearances, as maintaining The Masquerade is of utmost importance to your own safety and that of vampire society at large. And yet, after having played  Bloodlines , trying my hand at the tabletop game, and even starting this title twice before, it has never quite managed to grab me. I’ve never really been able to grasp or remember the differences between clans like the Toreador or Tremere. I’ve never fully understood or engaged with the political system of its society, and I’ve certainly never found myself to be able to contend with all of the names and history of its individuals. However, after starting Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York for the third time, I’ve found myself enraptured by its presence — able to honestly and earnestly engage with the world and its trappings in ways I had never been able to previously. Publisher: Dear Villagers Developer:   Draw Distance Platform:  Played on PC (Steam) Availability:  Released on December 11, 2019 for Windows PC (Steam), January 23, 2020 for Linux, macOS, March 24, 2020 for Nintendo Switch, March 25, 2020 for PlayStation 4, and April 15, 2020 for Xbox One. Part of that likely lies with my own evolving preferences and tolerances over the years. Visual novels are not technically a new genre for me, but I haven’t ever really been able to enjoy them in a broad sense until the last few years. There’s also the absolutely stunning artwork, filled with enticing character portraits and gorgeous, shifting backgrounds. In service of that visual novel format, the characterization for the entities you encounter throughout the story are enthralling. As Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York is a visual novel, and I am not being tasked with engaging with difficult to interpret mechanical systems. I don’t need to know the ins and outs of the world to craft a meaningful or precise background. While having some familiarity with the world may make the experience a little more smooth, it’s definitely not necessary. This is thanks to the player character starting out as a fledgling themselves, unfamiliar with the vampire society they have been unwittingly thrust into, and assisted by the game’s solid in-game encyclopedia. There’s also the absolutely stunning artwork, filled with enticing character portraits and gorgeous, shifting backgrounds. In service of that visual novel format, the characterization for the entities you encounter throughout the story are enthralling For new players, there are bound to be any number of unfamiliar terms thrown out in a given conversation. Those terms are, thankfully, not exposited upon within the dialogue themselves as Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York  opts for a more natural writing style, rather than an expository one. When new terminology appears it is bolded in the text, and it shows up in the encyclopedia where the player can read about it in more detail, if they so choose. At first I found myself stopping to look up the terms every single instance they popped up, which kills the conversational flow a little bit. As I played a bit more, however, I got more comfortable with finishing up a scene or conversation before then going into the terminology section to read a bit more. If you forget how and where the terms were used, there is also a conversation log you can use to refresh yourself on prior events. This can be useful for guiding your decision-making throughout the game. Your newly assigned vampiric guardian, Sophie, often does a great job of keying you into how people act, or what proper vampire etiquette may be, so having those logs is a great reminder to keep you on the right track for forming relationships and navigating the visual novel’s dialogue trees. Names, clan dispositions, and everything in-between is kept within the log — it's a powerful tool when used appropriately. But what does it mean to use something well in a game like this? Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York is breathtaking in its presentation. For most visual novels, making the “correct” choices leads to alternative story paths or different endings and romances, but that’s not strictly the case in Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York.  That isn’t to say the choices don’t “matter”. Your main choices stem from choosing what quests you undertake and with whom you spent the nights, but within each of these events exists at minimum several explicit player decisions that shape how those characters view the player character, and sometimes alter the outcomes of those self-contained events. What they don’t  do is alter the overarching story events or ending in any meaningful way. In some ways, the freedom of choice in the “side” content can feel a bit misleading when you’re railroaded into events you have no say in, but I actually think it perfectly gels with the events of the game and world at-large. At its core, Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York  is a story of powerlessness. The opening moments of the game showcase that very well, but if you pay attention, you’ll see that the main character is way out of their depth all the way through. Every single vampire you meet is more powerful than you and most are also more cunning. Each has more connections and soft power, able to leverage their understanding of the masquerade and the coteries in ways a fledgling like you just fundamentally cannot. Most of the people you encounter are using you and the only way to advance is to let them use you in a way that is also beneficial to your goals. So when that ending does come around and your agency is stripped away, it feels natural. It’s the only way this could have ever played out. You never had a full hand of cards, and you’re at the table with sharks. Your only option was to go all-in, but it should be no surprise to any of us that the chips don’t fall your way. Verdict Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York  is an absolutely gorgeous title, with mesmerizing, painterly artwork that showcases the viciousness and beauty held within the World of Darkness. Smart characterization and moody atmosphere color the experience in positive ways, as well. Some may not love the way the ending comes so abruptly, but this is a violent and uncaring world. I’m just here for the ride. Image Credits: Dear Villagers and Draw Distance

Onto the Next One. Next of Kin: Fidelity  is the second of three Next of Kin titles by Spelkväll Games — the follow-up to 2024’s Next of Kin.  Marketed as an emotional journey of a man haunted by his past, it’s the type of game that I love to cover most — a short indie experience with a heavy narrative focus. Loss, trauma, and grief are not uncommon subjects for games to touch upon, and while exploration of these subject matters is certainly welcome in games, I always find it a bit more interesting to look for what’s revealed between the margins. What does a game say about the other stuff it touches upon, even accidentally? What can we find beyond the grief, beyond the trauma, and beyond the text? How does the way we play, and what we can (or cannot) do affect the experience? There’s always something a little nerve-wracking about taking a game like Next of Kin: Fidelity  at face value. People pour their hearts into the work — what if I just don’t understand it? What if I just don’t like it? Unfortunately, at least one of those is true. Publisher: Spelkväll Games Developer:   Spelkväll Games Platform:  Played on PC (Steam) Availability:  Released on September 18, 2025 for Windows PC (Steam, Epic Games, GOG), PS4/5, Xbox One, Xbox X/S, and Nintendo Switch. But maybe I’ve gotten ahead of myself there. Let’s talk about the game as it is, not as it is intended to be. Next of Kin: Fidelity  is an pixel-art adventure game set across two distinct eras, following the lead character Bjorn throughout both. We get to explore both how he lives now and how he got there, reliving his childhood memories and exploring his dreams all while Bjorn the adult tries to go on dates and navigate daily life.  Starting off in an intense space sequence, we quickly learn this is a dream — one that Bjorn has had before. As Bjorn wakes up to his blaring alarm, he realizes he’s late for a date and rushes to meet a woman he doesn’t even know. From here, the game darts back and forth between a series of dream sequences, memories, and contemporary scenes in order to give you a clearer picture into Bjorn’s mentality. However, I find it odd that we’ve landed on making this into an adventure video game in the first place.  I understand that seems harsh — there are millions of visual novels and story-driven games out there — but Next of Kin: Fidelity  doesn’t use the medium in any way that couldn’t also be served as a novella, short story, or kinetic novel. There are a large number of very basic grievances I have with playing this title in any capacity, especially when we eliminate the story from consideration. I think much of it boils down to the fact that not only do you not really do anything engaging, but also that the imagery on-screen does not convey anything interesting. I understand that seems harsh — there are millions of visual novels and story-driven games out there — but Next of Kin: Fidelity doesn’t use the medium in any way that couldn’t also be served as a novella, short story, or kinetic novel. The first hour or so is especially rough, in this regard. There are no immediate narrative hooks, and it is further distracted by multiple asides in the forms of dream or memories. The dialogue and overarching text is quite bland, as well. You can interact with many objects and NPCs throughout the game, but much of what we get is just the main character, Bjorn, telling you that he doesn’t care about the thing you’re looking at, or doesn’t have pressing action to take. The interactability is wasted. The text for these situations is also repeated — no unique identifiers or wording regarding that examination per object. Additionally, the art is disjointed, with objects and figures seeming to have distractingly variable levels of quality. At one point there is a toy ship model on the screen that just looks like it was ripped out of an entirely different game. Objects have varying levels of “pixelation” to them, with some objects appearing low poly and others smoothed out. Asset reuse is rampant, with trees and boulders haphazardly and frequently copy-pasted next to one another. The buildings are all plain, and much of the scenery is repetitive. Assets frequently clip through one another as well, such as when a character is walking through a small passage or between objects. If that weren't enough, the environs and area layouts themselves are quite dull. There’s no real sense that anything here was placed deliberately, with those cloned objects seeming to fill space rather than tell a story. Embarrassingly, there was a cave early on that actually put me to sleep, as every inch looks exactly the same, with a single set of rock tiles replicated over and over. The cave is not even that long — it’s just a stretch of time where nothing is happening visually with no music. The lack of sound effects is also quite glaring, save Bjorn’s footsteps.  Most of the game is structured this way — uninspired areas with no sense of purpose or identity. Next of Kin: Fidelity  is marred by technical inadequacies, as well. I’ve been met with overlapping text and clipping multiple times. Navigating menus is a huge pain because there is a significant delay, and you can't cycle through options quickly as the game simply will not register your inputs if you put them in too fast.  Of course, Next of Kin: Fidelity  is built around its story, so how much can any of these matter? Quite a lot, actually. Especially when you combine all of it together. As a single entity, maybe the lack of cohesion in art style would be more forgivable, but if every part of the game is lacking except for the story, I inevitably circle back to my initial question: why is this an adventure game ? The rampant asset reuse combined with frequent visual glitches makes for a bad experience. Frankly, the story is effective. It offers an exploration of Bjorn’s grief that is interesting enough to keep you going, taking a look at what that grief does to a person, how we live with it, and so on. It also takes a smaller look at subjects like abuse and sexism, and how those things might affect the lives of people around us. However, the scenery and gameplay take away from what is being presented. There’s a real lack of humanity and cohesiveness to the presentation element of the game. I understand that it has been developed with combined sets of free assets, and that it is building on a prior title, but everything in this world that isn’t the text feels like an afterthought. If this story was one that was vital for the author to get out, I fear it may have been better served as a written work in whole. On the page, there’s an opportunity to offload some of that visual work to the reader, to let the mind take the reader to places the art team cannot. Video games are such a unique medium for many reasons. Interactivity may be the single most important, but it is a mistake to dismiss the value of other elements when creating a game world. The way your trees look or even how they are placed can shape a player’s perception of the setting, the music you play at integral scenes can set or enhance the mood of any given moment, and even the color palette or lighting used can dramatically alter meaning. There’s no limit to the stories you can shape with the tools at your disposal, so for a game to be so bereft of it all is disheartening. Games excel at telling stories in-between the lines, but for Next of Kin: Fidelity , the margins are blank. Verdict Next of Kin: Fidelity  has a story to tell, but holds no mechanism of delivering it in an interesting way. It’s a shame that the environments and assets used are not up to the task of creating something that serves the game better, as the story can hold up as something worthwhile on its own. Image Credits: Spelkväll Games Disclosure: We received a free review copy of this product.

CONTENT WARNING : Consume Me is a semi-autobiographical game that depicts dieting, disordered eating, and fatphobia. As such, this review will touch on those topics. I've been there, you know? Looking into the mirror at my own reflection, seeing the man staring back at me and being unhappy. So sure that what I looked like, and who I was would never be enough. Sometimes, those thoughts would start out small, a slight imperfection reflected on the glass that could be easy to fix. But that’s never the end of it. I would think, “oh, if I just lost a few pounds I’d be happy with myself”, but when I would get there I couldn’t help but feel like I should be doing more. Just cut a few more calories, work out a little longer, stay up a bit later to get everything done. It’s never enough. So, when Jenny’s mother chastises Jenny for her weight in the opening moments of Consume Me , I felt my own shame returning — a feeling that was cemented when Jenny finds herself in front of her own mirror and berates herself in turn. Publisher: Hexecutable Developer:   Hexecutable Platform:  Played on PC (Steam) Availability:  Releasing on September 25, 2025 for Windows PC (Steam). Consume Me is a semi-autobiographical life-sim RPG that explores one girl’s struggles with disordered eating, love, societal pressures, and shame. Jenny — the lead in this little tale — comes from a Chinese-American household, often butting heads with her strict (perhaps overbearing) mother, and must learn to navigate her day-to-day by balancing academics, relationships, dieting, and household chores. Despite these difficult and serious topics, Consume Me  frames all of it within the game as silly, simple, and charming mini-games.  Every aspect of these daily tasks has been gamified, and often in exceedingly clever ways. Meals involve placing Tetris-like pieces on a plate, with special target areas for placement that keep Jenny full. Of course, managing your “bites” count is its own concern, with some foods costing more to use than others. Reading involves trying to keep Jenny’s eyes focused on the material by rapidly clicking as her head swings wildly from point to point. Aerobics involves dragging Jenny’s body into awkward positions within a tight time limit, stretching and contorting her entire being to fit into place. It’s all intensely fun and impossibly charming — an insidious reflection of the very real problems that the material represents. That block puzzle lunch is just counting calories, and combined with working out to put yourself in a calorie deficit, it is reminiscent of disordered eating and exercise habits. Additionally, the inability to focus on the reading material calls back to the attention disorders that many people struggle with. By formulating these difficult areas of conversation as fun and engaging activities, Consume me makes it all too easy to fall into those unhealthy lifestyle habits. Staying up late each night through coffee or force of will is easy enough, and it’s the only way you’ll ever manage to mark off all your tasks. Jenny’s relief after each activity masking the underlying self-esteem issues that plague her. Her smile is a lie she tells herself to make the suffering worth it. Consume me is so charming and expressive, it feels impossible not to fall in love. I was smiling too. The resource management was engaging enough that I found myself min-maxing every activity, burning the candle at both ends just long enough to find myself in a nice bath at 3 A.M. so I could recharge for the next day. With each completed task, Jenny’s absurd expressions uplifted my spirits, driving me deeper into the obsession of getting everything “just right.” Every week within the game brings on its own challenges, but I made sure I met them all. Every task and side task done, maxing out my skills as best as I could, making sure I had enough money for the next week — I was a whirlwind of productivity and efficiency. I was myself consumed by the idea of checking every box. I could spend my energy and happiness to extend my daily free time, then I would use my guts (hunger) to recharge that energy again, which I could then use to help recharge happiness and guts, and so on. Every daily activity was a balancing act in service of achieving a higher purpose. I could read the books I needed, write those essays, call the boyfriend, or do it all in one night if I managed my time appropriately. As the game progressed, however, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for Jenny. Or perhaps it would be more appropriate to say I was ashamed of what I was putting her through. Much like it was with me, nothing Jenny ever did was enough. Dietary restrictions get tighter, the workload gets heavier, and relationships begin to strain under the weight of Jenny’s compulsive adherence to perfection. My adherence to it. In a moment of my own weakness I considered doing less. How could I give Jenny the better life I so desired for myself at this age? There’s more to life than slavishly praying at the altar of efficiency. There has to be, right? Could I do what was necessary to progress and simply let the rest slide by? Would that help her? I may never know the answer to that question. I  couldn’t do it.  I was nearing the end, so why should I change now? I’m close to having everything I want. How could I give Jenny the better life I so desired for myself at this age? There’s more to life than slavishly praying at the altar of efficiency. There has to be, right? You’re never close, actually. Close is relative. For every goal you approach, another rises in its wake. The shadow it casts is itself a demon of desire, inching ever forward in pursuit, never giving you enough time to just breathe . So I just held my breath, instead. I should have known better, of course. Life isn’t a game you can win. I’m not sure Consume Me  is, either. Its description says it has “over 13 possible endings: most of them bad!” What each of those endings entails might be beside the point. Endings aren’t the story — they’re merely the punctuation. The story of Jenny was the one I built in-between the margins. The one where I sacrificed her happiness over and over to win against a rival, or make the desired weight. The one where I crammed coffee, energy drinks, and protein bars to keep the nights rolling. I’m still writing my own story, and as each chapter of my life ends and new pages are turned, nothing feels more certain than a “bad ending”. But why would I care about that, really? It's too late now to worry about the bridges I burned when I was a kid, or the paths not taken. I can’t really bring myself to be concerned about where those choices put me, eventually . I simply find it much more pressing to ask myself if I’m living well now . Not strictly in a health or wealth sense, but in more of a “am I happy” sense. Have I told enough people that I love them? Have I done that often enough? Am I a good husband, son, or father? What can I do right now to turn the answers to those questions into a “yes”? The aches that pain me are not those of regret, but rather inaction. Am I doing enough? Am I enough? For my own part, I made Jenny feel those aches, too. Verdict Consume Me  is endlessly creative, touching, and gorgeous — certainly worthy of the pre-release praise it has garnered. It’s a true jewel in the crown of video games that manages to perfectly marry the gameplay with the narrative. Every inch of this work of art feels personal in a way that has left me feeling simultaneously certain in its meaning and perplexed by my own understanding or interpretation of it. Image Credits: Hexecutable Disclosure: We received a free review copy of this product.

Casting Shadows When Elden Ring first released in 2022, it cast such a large shadow that it basically became an inescapable part of online discourse – whether you played it or not. That shadow didn’t just cover every game that came out around the same time (sorry, Horizon), but it also extended to FromSoftware’s games themselves – past and future. In many ways a departure from their previous games, Elden Ring might raise questions about the direction FromSoftware games might take, and to some, they might wonder if anything else could live up to Elden Ring. With the release of Shadow of the Erdtree , I’d say we end up with more long-term questions than answers (both in-game and in reference to FromSoftware' s direction itself), but it stands as a monumental experience. A massive, winding world, with great fights, music, exploration, and mystique, Shadow of the Erdtree follows what I would consider a general FromSoftware thread - the DLC is high quality content, it is harder than the base game experience, and it does not answer most of the mysteries of the base game. Instead, Shadow of the Erdtree focuses on one major aspect, and creates many new questions in its wake. Publisher: Bandai Namco Developer:  FromSoftware Platform:  Played on PS5 Availability:  Released June 20, 2024 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S/X Kindly Miquella atop a familiar steed. Where Shadow of the Erdtree differs from other FromSoftware DLC is in mainly in two specific ways – Extremely long and vast by their DLC standards, and the character progression being not as directly tied to the main game. For the first point, it took me somewhere between 30-40 hours. Unfortunately, I did not take down specific times, as I did not initially plan to write a review on the experience. There was talk about the DLC map being about the size of Limgrave (the starting point in base Elden Ring), but this is clearly larger, more intricate, and frankly, more interesting. So much of the new map feels more intentionally built than the base game. The side areas feel less samey and repetitive, and the bosses are more unique in form and function. Gone are the days of cat statue repeats, or Godrick clones. We don’t have to walk down the same copy-pasted mineshafts any longer. Individual areas and dungeons have so many paths into and out of them, it can be easy to miss an area here or there if you aren’t keeping track. The Shadow Keep was especially exciting to me. I came in through a back door and found no less than 4 exits to this legacy dungeon before I spun back around to take down the boss. It seemed as if every time I ran through the area, I found a new item I missed, or room I didn’t see. The excellence of The Shadow Keep, then, makes some of the other aspects of the DLC exploration so disappointing. Too many of the winding paths, or caves, or dungeons end up providing nothing of substance. So many of the cool hideaways give you a low-end smithing stone (which you can just buy) or a weak spirit ash (which you will likely never use). It can feel a bit like entitlement to complain – Shadow of the Erdtree gives many weapons (including new types), spells (also new types), and ashes of war – but having so much space dedicated to literal junk is just plain disappointing. The dark and eerie Land of Shadow offers much to see and experience. The second major departure, character progression, adds a bit of an interesting twist on how you power up in the DLC. While your levels are still very important for things like, health, FP, stamina, and equipment/spell requirements, additional levels are noticeably less impactful than the Scadutree Fragments and Revered Spirit Ashes on your Damage, Damage reduction, and spirit ash strength. These new collectibles directly scale your damage and damage reduction the more you find – no leveling necessary. For many, these will be integral in beating some of the harder bosses. If you start to struggle, this is a great place to start for a quick boost. It also ties in nicely with he exploration loop. As these items are scattered throughout the Shadow Lands, venturing out and exploring becomes integral to the experience. These upgrades do not transfer to the main game, so there’s a bit of a disconnect there, but you’ll still get a decent number of runes to spend on levels or items. Shadow of the Erdtree excels in every way that Elden Ring proper does; the DLC has great boss fights (especially remembrance bosses), extraordinary freedom in build and weapon variety, and great music. For my money, I’d say the DLC is just flat out a better product than the main game in key areas as well. My previous complaints of ER notwithstanding, Shadow of the Erdtree feels more deliberate in its construction from top to bottom. They used what worked well in the base game to craft something that plays to the game’s strengths and either discards or minimizes its weaknesses. The NPCs, for instance, are more important or interesting that what you’d generally find in the base game, and have branching questlines. A plethora of unique spells, Ashes of War, and weapons await for you to try. Regrettably, some of the faults of ER do still fester. Weapon and spell balance is way out of whack in both PvE and PvP, with many options just being flat out better than other tools in their class by a significant margin. Some of the spells are so weak (or so powerful in a few cases), you must wonder if they’re all just bugged in some way. Major bosses with great lore relevance get no introductory scene or dialogue. And the DLC continues the FromSoftware tradition of barely including a story, and what is there creates more questions than answers. I know that the way FromSoftware presents their stories is already fairly polarizing – I myself am somewhere on the fence with it, in general. For those that don’t know, these games do  have a story, but not really a narrative. At least, not in a traditional sense. You get an opening scene that vaguely states what you are supposed to do, and in some games, they might explicitly tell you why you should be doing these things. Then, for the rest of the game, 98% of relevant world or plot information is tucked away in item descriptions. While a vast majority of the text lends itself to worldbuilding (flavorful descriptions that describe events that happened in the past or the way specific factions or people felt about an event), some of these descriptions are vital to understand the events you are currently going through. For many, the hunt for information is the best part of the ‘Souls” games. People spend weeks, months, and years hunting down every item and secret in the game. Gathering the texts and rearranging them on their corkboard like a detective uncovering a deep-state secret is not only fun, but it is the point  of the experience. Often the conclusions people reach are not explicitly stated in game– requiring leaps in logic or guesswork to make the pieces fit. For me, while I do enjoy that part of it quite a bit, I would absolutely appreciate a little more clarity as the game progresses. I should not need to reach and endgame area to learn why Steve, the second boss, is here trying to kill me (he’s recently been divorced by Tim, Final Bossman, and now they’re having a property rights squabble – you just happen to be walking down the wrong side of the street). You'll face foes both fearsome and strange here in the Land of Shadow Shadow of the Erdtree not only follows this, but I feel there is less clarity on why you need to be here at all until you’re reaching the end of the DLC, where, surprisingly, things are neatly laid out for you. And while the why does eventually get some semblance of clarity, the how  is only briefly referenced, and the DLC creates 10 mysteries for every answer it provided for the main game. If you came in here looking for anything other than what one guy, specifically, might have been up to from Elden Ring, you’re kind of out of luck. If that all sounds a bit daunting, the community has a number of youtubers or redditors who can cleanly lay out what everyone has found thus far. For what it's worth, I played through the DLC with a level 200+ character, and used multiple different weapons and styles as part of the experience. Once I finished the DLC, I brought these new toys with me to the base game on NG+2. Some of the new goodies absolutely trivialize the main game, and going back the enemies might seem almost docile. I fully recommend you play through the DLC for the first time as an endcap to your adventure. Verdict Shadow of the Erdtree serves as a monumental achievement in FromSoftware’s library. I firmly believe that the combination of exploration, music, boss fights, art direction, freedom of exploration, weapon and armor variety and any number of other successes have coalesced to create FromSoftware’s best DLC to date. A tight, fun, and ultimately moving experience that I would put in the upper echelon of their work, period. While the game might hold on to some controversial aspects of Elden Ring’s initial design, the DLC elevates, improves, or contextualizes so much of what has come before, it’s hard to say this is anything else than a masterwork. For every fault or flaw I might come up with, a million bright spots wash over them like a blinding light. At times serene, and at other moments haunting, Shadow of the Erdtree is here to sweep you off your feet - dead or alive. Marginally harder than the base game, you might run into some hard walls if you are not prepared. However, if you finished the main game and all of the side content there, you shouldn't find yourself struggling too much. Image Credits: Bandai Namco and FromSoftware

“The Goblins do not appear interested in talking with you. They send another Giant Spider to attack you.” - Mission Text Editor's Note : JetsonPlaysGames' editorial staff is aware that this title is a remastered and updated version of the 2007 release Puzzle Quest . Disclosure: The reviewer has no prior history with the franchise either as a gamer or reviewer.  When “Nid”, an old college friend, asked me to help out at JetsonPlaysGames, I figured this was going to be just small articles here and there; no extra effort, just more of the usual like my old blog or Youtube channel. However, the first thing dropped in front of me was a match-3 game. I haven’t played one in over a decade and one with RPG trappings is unusual to me. Surely it can’t be much different from puzzles or strategy games. How an RPG works with classes, attributes, skills, and items in a match-3 game seemed like a crazy idea to me.  Publisher: 505 Games Developer:   Infinity Plus 2 Platform:  Played on PS5 Availability:  Released on September 18, 2025 for Windows PC (Steam, Epic Games, GOG), PS4/5, Xbox One, Xbox X/S, and Nintendo Switch. Then I saw the trailer and everything looked and sounded like it was made a decade ago. If I said think of old Fantasy book covers that are forgettable you probably couldn’t remember one. That type of generic. The type that if I didn’t have a note from yesterday saying that it looked about a decade old I wouldn’t have remembered. The type I couldn’t even write about how bland it was even with my editor telling me three times I have to, and yet, still knowing it’s just downstairs, I can’t remember a single detail about the art or music. I did hope it would get better, but it did not. Not in the first five minutes, and not past the 12th hour mark. Everything is reused, what you buy is what you get for the music, art, or story. But the game? The game was great out of the box, fortunately. The rules are simple, the kind of simplicity that hides depth: Eight kinds of pieces — Earth, Fire, Air, Water, XP, Gold, and Skulls. Line up three and you gain the resource, or attack in the Skulls case. Line up four or more and the board rewards you with a multiplier and another turn. Gold and XP funnel back into your character, items, or towns. While the “Elements” are used for the classes abilities or skills. I have only played two of the classes of seven available, and played a bit over 12 hours of this game on the PS5, nearly completing act 1. Maybe you unlock more classes if you play through the game, but I don’t think so. The first class I played was the Knight, who (fortunately) could keep going back to a challenge unpunished ‘til I succeed. For the knight, skulls are the most important match, followed by leveling your battle to buff skull damage and HP. I found it relatively dull. Yes, you need to think about what abilities your enemies have and try to deny them, but one lucky drop from the top of the field and all of a sudden they can be maxed in a resource I had been trying to deny them for the last 12 turns. Now I am going to die and nothing can stop it. I found that more often than not, he was decided by what items or skills you selected before fighting.  Here's an eight-minute look at the gameplay. By contrast, The Elementalist feels like Queen’s Rocket Man is on in the background: no breaks, only a countdown till blast off. Do I care that the enemy is attacking me? Yes, it’s a race between who fills up more elements and how much HP is left in play. However, if I can get even one good 4x match this missile is going to start chunking their HP every turn. Oh, they are going to try and do damage? I am going to route it into elements then cycle back for more power.  Playing the Elementalist really made the process click, the game is technically a cat and mouse game of asset denial looking at how the board is reshaped with every match. If no matches are available, a mana storm happens and all the resources in play are split 50/50. Skulls are ignored. As the Knight I dreaded it, but as the Elementalist I tried to force them early on. This is where the game really shines. Not in any visual or auditory fashion, but in strategy. A match-3 with a skill floor so low any drunk can stumble in and a skill ceiling high enough to tempt mastery. That rare balance where the simple act of sliding tiles can feel like a duel of wits, and a test of foresight or luck. If you want to see a good example, I recommend the eight-minute video embedded above. It’s a perfect showcase of the combat’s flow. Something about the game's aesthetic feels off. Verdict Puzzle Quest: Immortal Edition  is not a masterpiece, but there is a solid gameplay loop. For the right person, you can lose yourself in it till 6 AM, only to realize you have work in two hours. Not bad for a retail price of $14.99 USD.  Image credits and video credits: 505 Games and William “MrNoSouls” Edmiston Disclosure: We received a free review copy of this product.

Bullet hell games are quite honestly the most intimidating genre of all, for me. There’s something about all of the moving parts and fast-paced action that feels so daunting at first glance. This is never really quite true of games that simply incorporate bullet hell elements, such as Nier: Automata or roguelike titles Binding of Isaac and Returnal , where those frantic and deadly waves of attacks only occasionally fill the screen. Maybe it’s the perceived variety of games that use it as a feature instead of the core mechanics, or maybe I’m just not built to handle the reactions and attentiveness required to navigate a true bullet hell — hard to say when I rarely give them a real shot. Thankfully, I put aside my usual trepidation and dove into ZOE Begone! in spite of my usual misgivings.  Publisher: PM Studios, Inc. Developer:   Retchy Games Platform:  Played on PC (Steam) Availability:  Released on September 17, 2025 for Windows PC (Steam). Rechy Games’ bullet hell arcade title is visually striking right from the outset. With hand drawn visuals, the scene is often framed by film reels and littered with basic shapes. Even the title character ‘ZOE’ is just a triangle with sticks for arms and legs. All of the colors are vibrant, with the black frames of the film reel and white background working in tandem to really make those brushstrokes pop. That basic visual style is accentuated by the simple rhythms of the tunes that ring out when you play, which has the feel and sound of something like the “Peanuts” cartoon theme song. The music lies firmly in that “cartoon” style, with a more lighthearted or whimsical sound and upbeat tempo to keep things moving. Something more orchestral would feel out of place when combined with the current visual style, so opting for or more zany sound works as the perfect pairing for the on-screen events.  A touch I really appreciate for the music and visuals is the introduction of static and artefacts. For the music, the inclusion of static gives that old-timey feel from watching an old movie or show. And with the visuals, objects off-center in the frame are slightly blurred, and enemies turn into little ink splotches on the background when destroyed. I think it really adds a nice touch, rounding out the aesthetic that the game is going for into a more cohesive unit.  The colorful world of ZOE Begone! is full of dangers and tools alike. When playing, the simple visuals help with clarity. There aren’t as many moving pieces and particle effects as one would usually expect from a bullet hell game (at least on Easy and Normal difficulties), so it feels much more approachable from a beginner standpoint. That isn’t to say it is necessarily a cakewalk, as higher difficulty levels are extremely punishing and appropriately hectic.  That hectic play does run into some issues when butting heads with the controls, however. When in the air, you can only shoot horizontally, but you have the ability to aim in five directions when on the ground. That makes being on the ground a bit better in some situations, but leaves you more vulnerable to attacks as you lose two-dimensional mobility. The issue comes with returning to the air — holding the button is slow and a bit counter-intuitive. Most often, getting hit was a product of ground to air navigation. ZOE Begone! does include some great tutorials and helpful tips right on the main menu, allowing new players to experiment and learn in a more stress-free environment. You can practice the mechanics of movement and shooting to your heart’s content — a huge boon for anyone who struggles with the stress and pressures of live play. The tutorial mode also allows for experimenting with weapons and abilities, so you can get a better sense of how to combine them all for maximum effect.  ZOE Begone! does include some great tutorials and helpful tips right on the main menu, allowing new players to experiment and learn in a more stress-free environment. Perhaps my biggest regrets when playing this game are the lack of experience with the genre and legacy skills associated with it. Despite the appealing artstyle and inviting music, I remain ass at these types of games. I could not beat ZOE Begone! , and as someone who does not regularly play titles like this, I find it difficult to assess how it works with or plays around with genre expectations or standards. I do feel like I’ll keep plugging away at it, however, as I am motivated this time around by early successes on both the easy and normal modes. While a review from a seasoned shmup or bullet hell veteran might be more useful for more seasoned gamers, I remain a novice. Instead of as an expert, I come to you as someone on the outside, looking in. Tapping on the window to remind you that even if something is out of your wheelhouse, it can still be worth a shot. When a game looks interesting, you just have to make the leap and challenge yourself. Give the art an opportunity to wash over you without expectation coloring your perception; even if it isn’t strictly ‘for you’, doing so is  growth. Image Credits: PM Studios, Inc. and Retchy Games Disclosure: We received a free review copy of this product.

Keep your cats indoors. The juxtaposition of atmospheres in Easy Delivery Co. is a unique combination. Driving feels relaxed, almost cozy, with fun physics, and only minor setbacks when things go wrong. However, one must be well equipped when venturing outside the safety of the truck or risk quickly freezing to death in a small forgotten mountain town. Explore the world, deliver packages, and hear gossip from the shop clerks while making minimum wage in this relaxing indie gem. Pros Driving physics are fast and fun. Atmosphere is well communicated. Cons Short, less than 10 hours to fully complete. Verdict Publisher: Oro Interactive Developer:   Sam C Platform:  Played on PC (Steam) Availability: Released on September 18th, 2025 for PC (Steam) Disclosure: We received a free review copy of this product.

Bracer yourselves. The Trails series is one I’ve long meant to get around to. It is exactly the type of series I’ve been craving, as I’ve been searching for an RPG that captures that PS2-era feel after a recent slew of roguelikes and visual novels. But I was extremely reluctant to jump into the long-running series knowing that all of the entries are closely interconnected, and that some of the games are by now quite old, and many are very long. Thankfully, Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter  presents a unique opportunity for new players like myself to jump into the series from the beginning, presenting the first entry with a fresh coat of paint, as well as numerous mechanical adjustments. Publisher: GungHo Online Entertainment America, Inc. Developer:   Nihon Falcom Platform:  Played on PC (Steam) Availability:  Released on September 19, 2025 for Windows PC (Steam), PS4/5, and Nintendo Switch. Action RPG Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter is the tale of the adoptive siblings Estelle and Joshua, following them on their journey to become bracers (functionally mercenaries in the Trails series). While the game starts slow, with a heavy focus on world-building and tone-setting, the adventure really begins when Estelle and Joshua’s father goes missing. The series is perhaps most well-known for its varied and interesting characters, this remake takes a different approach early on, as it aims to wow you with its presentation. The first cutscene alone showcases how far the series has come from its earliest iterations, visually, with some truly stunning character models and excellent animation. The cutscenes are a bit overzealous with some presentational flair, leaning heavily into cuts between characters and at different angles to an almost absurd degree. The characters are intensely expressive in these scenes, not just in their animations, but also with hyper-stylized facial expressions and great vocal performances. They’ve captured the early 2000s anime aesthetic flawlessly in the presentation, including the presence of flashing backgrounds and silly asides. While the cutscenes themselves look great, there’s some room for improvement in the environments. Low fidelity foliage and low quality textures on field objects comes across as a bit jarring when the character models look as good as they do, especially in motion. The visuals for your actions and special abilities are gorgeous, with S-crafts and chain attacks having expertly animated cutaways that show off a lot of confidence in the game’s style. This confidence is well-earned. The world is well-crafted, with various regions visible in the world at all times off in the distance. When you walk through a town, you can see the mountains, giving you both a great sense of scale and terrain. You can also see the people in each town going about their day, living in and moving about the world alongside you. The ambient dialogue and conversations with the world’s NPCs evolve as the game goes on, making the world feel more lived-in and the NPCs less disposable. Each region you explore comes with new surprises for not just you, but those NPCs as well, and they’ll always react to the world around them. They grow and change, they love, they explore — each existing within the world as their own person with their own story. Those NPC storylines and dialogues update after nearly every cutscene, making speaking with everyone at any given opportunity a daunting task. Ambient dialogue and evolving conversations with the world’s NPCs as the game goes on is a nice touch, making the world feel more lived-in, and the NPCs less disposable. My one issue with this is that NPCs very often repeat dialogue (or partially repeat it) when spoken to consecutively, but the indicators will only disappear after you have fully exhausted that conversation, repeats included. I am not sure what kind of consequences there are for fully exploring dialogue with everyone, but as someone with a near obsession with clearing maps, the repeated dialogue was a major detriment to my exploration of the world, increasing my time spent talking to NPCs by nearly two times as much as would be needed under normal circumstances. Thankfully, the mini map indicates which NPCs you need to interact with. Additionally, it shows you quest markers, environment maps, interactable items and objects, and treasure chests all at a glance. If the mini map isn’t sufficient, you can pull up the full map with the press of a button. I’m a bit torn on this design as the map and mini-map are so  useful that there is a temptation to stare at them for most of the adventure, but if you do that you miss out on all of the great work put into making the world as vibrant and varied as it is. The world itself has a lot to love, from great locales, interesting lore, to fun NPCs, everything is a delight — the characters most of all. The cast of the main party is an eclectic group ranging from mercenaries (bracers in this world) to vagabond bards, each with their own distinct personalities, stories, and abilities. Estelle has a bubbly and determined personality, while Joshua is a more calculated (sometimes brooding) and cunning figure. Tita is earnest and cheerful, Olivier is eccentric and carefree, and so on. These personality traits make the cast well-rounded, each offering unique perspectives or voices to the world in which they live. Those unique traits are expressed somewhat through their abilities in combat, as well. Estelle shows off some of that personality during her chain attacks and craft animations, but mostly serves as the all-rounder one would expect of her personality, Joshua is fast and powerful, with some passive protection skills, Scherazard has great support skills, etc. During the action combat on the field, characters have their own movesets, providing unique pros and cons to using them specifically. This action combat is pretty fun in spurts, but you’re unable to use any arts or crafts in the field — those are reserved for the turn-based mode only — so your options are limited. Still, when it is available to you, it is a powerful tool as the dodging mechanic makes the player character functionally invincible when in the right hands.  The turn-based mode is much more involved and is the primary way you engage with the big threats of the game such as bosses. Each character has several of their own abilities in the form of crafts and can have any number of Arts based upon what quartz are equipped to their orbment. Most characters have specific types of quartz that they need to have slotted into their primary slot (excepting Estelle), but they are otherwise fully open to customization. During the command mode (turn-based), any time a character knocks an enemy off balance or scores a critical hit, another character can jump in to do additional damage in the form of chain attacks and follow-up. When you have a full party, using a burst attack with a full gauge allows everyone to join in for even more damage. All of these systems combined with each character's passive skills and abilities makes combat feel increasingly involved as you move your characters around a battlefield for optimal positioning. There’s just a great flow or rhythm to the fights that keep encounters fresh even late into the journey.  The exceptional art direction makes the world feel vibrant and alive. Perhaps that is the most surprising part of the game to me: the freshness. For a game that is a remake of a title released over 20 years ago, it’s a wonder how new and exciting the whole package feels. The vibrant visuals, excellent soundtrack, memorable characters, and stellar combat all combine to create a title that has me excited to see where things move going forward. Even with the slower pace of the opening acts, I have been engaged with it from the start — something that feels harder to come by as titles get longer and more bloated with stuff to do. This is a bit at odds with my more general stance towards remakes. I typically do not like them and would much prefer a remaster or re-release, leaving the original experience untouched. So many remakes come at the expense of their source material, being pushed as the only available version, or otherwise indicated as the definitive edition of a game. So what purpose does a good remake serve? What should a remake do for a game aside from making money? How can I justify my love for this title in the face of that longstanding assertion? I think it boils down to why the remake was done and what it entails. If a game is made in an earnest attempt to bring something to life that more closely aligns with their current vision, and it does not come at the cost of the original game’s availability, I’m on board. That means it doesn't necessarily have to be seen as a ‘fix’, but rather a new iteration or translation of the existing material. Similar to the way many other mediums have translated or updated stories over time, a well-done game remake is simply a new interpretation, rather than a replacement. Still, it does feel a bit hypocritical to say “remakes for me and not for thee”, and I’m not sure that is a feeling that will ever be reconciled on my end. So many remakes come at the expense of their source material, being pushed as the only available version, or otherwise indicated as the definitive edition of a game. So what purpose does a good remake serve? As a newcomer to the series, it’s impossible for me to accurately state whether this game is extremely faithful to the original Trails in the Sky . I know for many that particular aspect is an important part of the decision on if they’ll buy it, so hopefully what I’ve laid out here can give those players an idea of how closely that matches their prior experience. What I can say, though, is that this feels like an RPG from the 2000s in all of the best ways. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say it feels like an idealized version of those titles, as if the thoughts and memories of a young child who was dreaming of the perfect PS2 RPG have been made manifest.  Verdict Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter  is a phenomenal blend of Sci-Fi, fantasy, and anime aesthetics that manages to balance the expressive and silly nature of the visuals with the oft serious and somber subject matter of the story. With a thriving world to explore, nuanced and interesting characters, and exciting, deep combat, Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter  is sure to find its way on many end of year lists. Image Credits: Nihon Falcom Corporation Disclosure: We received a free review copy of this product.

Something to cheer for. Vtubing is a massive phenomenon in the streaming and content creation space, and has grown exponentially over the last few years, capturing the hearts and attention of people all over the world. With distinct personalities and elaborate outfits, Vtubers have entertained millions through song, dance, chats, and collaboration, with Hololive members perhaps being the most popular personas of all. As with all things that become immensely popular, there is of course an associated card game. Thanks to COVER Corp., I was able to test out the hololive OFFICIAL CARD GAME  through the Tokino Sora and AZKi starter deck, as well as tinker a bit with these baseline decks using cards obtained in several booster packs I was provided. Product:   hololive Official Card Game Developer:  COVER Corp. Price: $60 for a booster box (12 packs), $15 for Starter Deck. How does it play? Rather than give a hyper-detailed explanation of the rules, I’d like to do a brief overview of the structure and flow of the game. If you would like a more detailed breakdown of the rules, here’s the official “ Quick Manual ”. To start, your playing cards consist of three separate components: One Oshi holomem  card, Cheer Deck , and Deck .  The Oshi holomem  is a sort of Vtuber leader card your deck is built around, with its life total serving as the player’s life count, and special abilities that can only be activated through a unique resource (holo power). Your Cheer Deck (20 cards) is your energy resource (think mana in Magic: The Gathering  or energy in Pokemon ) that you use to activate the abilities of your holomems — Vtuber cards that function as your battle units. Finally, your Deck  consists of 50 total holomem and support cards (one time use cards that provide an immediate effect). Each of these elements occupies a specific space on the board or playmat (stage) — you don’t mix them all into one single pile. The packaging is nice, and the art used is great. The game starts with each player drawing 7 cards to their hand, placing their Oshi holomem and a debut holomem card face-down onto the board, revealing them when both players have finished placing their cards. After this, players can place additional “Spot” or “Debut” cards face down in the “back” position of the stage. Each player then takes a number of cheer cards equal to their Oshi holomem’s “life” and places them face down in the top left corner of their stage. From here, the first player begins their first turn.  Generally speaking the flow of a turn will look something like untapping all of your cards (if tapped), drawing a card, playing a new holomem or support card, ‘blooming’ your holomem (stacking a more powerful holomem card onto your existing holomem card to power it up, like an evolution), and using skills to damage your opponents holomems. When a holomem receives damage equal to or greater than their HP total, they are placed into the archive and the owner of that holomem loses a life. First Player to lose all of their life, lose all holomem from their stage, or enter their draw phase with no cards remaining in their deck loses the game. Review From a broad-strokes perspective, hololive OFFICIAL CARD GAME  is a well-designed game. There are a number of distinct deck archetypes and card effects to keep things interesting, and the pace and flow of any individual match is excellent. That said, the lack of variety in distinct Vtuber holomems was a bit disappointing, especially when compared to contemporary TCGs. Let’s get the most obvious comparison out of the way — this game plays very similarly to the Pokémon Trading Card Game . From the way cheers are placed directly onto your holomems to the ‘blooming’ mechanic, much of the basic flow for the game is reminiscent of the behemoth that is the Pokémon Trading Card Game . Despite this, I do feel hololive OFFICIAL CARD GAME  differentiates itself in several key ways, many of which I view as improvements. From a broad-strokes perspective, hololive OFFICIAL CARD GAME is a well-designed game. There are a number of distinct deck archetypes and card effects to keep things interesting, and the pace and flow of any individual match is excellent. First, having your energy source (cheer) as a separate deck changes the consistency and feel on its own enormously. Decks are much more consistent, as you always have some resource available to you, and you’re never drawing unwanted energy from the deck.  Second, losing your holomem is not nearly as punishing as losing a lead pokémon . When a holomem is sent to the archive and you lose a life, that “life” cheer card can be placed directly onto one of your back row holomem. Additionally, the opposing player does not gain further advantage by card draw or any other mechanism. This helps address the runaway lead issue prevalent in many TCGs. Third, every holomem having three stages built in (debut stage, 1st stage, and 2nd stage) avoids the problem that Pokémon has with its powerful basics being the more used option. There isn’t as much of a consistency issue with getting your holomems through their progression, and the power disparity between debut cards and 2nd stage cards is so overwhelming it’s not really possible to rely on debut cards to sweep the board for you.  I really think it's worth noting how gorgeous these cards are. And finally, the Oshi holomem is a nice touch to the game, adding a central figure or idea to build your deck around that can be used strategically throughout the game. This particular aspect reminds me a bit of something like a commander in Magic  or selecting a hero in Hearthstone . I am by no means a high-level player, so the exact use case strategy of each ability or Oshi remains a bit out of my reach, but they did have a noticeable impact on the matches I played. There is a distinct lack of personalities to choose from when building a deck. As of the current set, there are only about 25 distinct members to choose from. Of course, there are multiple stages and variants of these Vtubers to choose from, so there’s variety mechanically, but it also means that your deck could realistically be comprised entirely of one person, i.e. you could have a deck entirely built from Pekora cards and support cards.  While this feature does not appeal to me personally, it would be remiss of me to ignore the fact that having the opportunity to build a deck like a shrine to your favorite internet personality might be the preferred method of engaging in the game for some. As hololive and Vtubing in general is a bit out of my normal purview, I connected with someone more familiar with these characters/Vtubers to give me their thoughts on some thematic and presentation elements of the card game.  When you take a look at the cards, the art is definitely gorgeous, but without a direct connection to any of the characters it can be hard to gauge how representative they are of the personalities they aim to represent. One of my favorite cards is a Pekora card that sees her drawn in a style similar to the characters from Granblue Fantasy . It’s absolutely stunning, with a lush background and great detail on the card. Thanks to my consultant, I learned that this was intentional because Pekora loves Granblue Fantasy  in real life. This is such an excellent touch that is just lost on someone like me. Other details, like outfit changes and ability names, are also appropriately referential. This is the sort of attention to detail that fans of these personalities would surely love. Even if you don’t play the card game proper, it would be really cool to see your favorites represented in this way, making it an excellent collector’s item. I know I’ve done similarly for Magic: The Gathering  having purchased Final Fantasy and Lord of the Rings themed cards just to have them. This Pekora card is absolutely stunning. This intense attention to detail on these elements does make the actual game design a bit more jarring thematically. The basic premise of the card game relies on these holomems attacking and damaging opposing holomem to achieve victory, but I’ve never really gotten the sense these particular characters act that way amongst each other. As far as I can tell, hololive is a more collaborative operation, with the Vtubers frequently playing together or making joint appearances. They’re all about uplifting one another and their communities. The collaboration aspect does manifest in the “collab” mechanic in-game, but it’s a rather minor element compared to the more combative, adversarial nature of the other elements of the game. It seems to me a game that revolves around these people should be more based on building people up, rather than tearing them down.  Verdict Overall, this card game was an enjoyable experience. Matches are fun to play, the cards are gorgeous and made of good stock, and the rules are quite intuitive. For fans of hololive or any of their specific members, it makes a great collector’s item, and there are even special signed chase cards you can pull in boosters. The variety of the current holomems available leaves a lot to be desired, though whether or not that is due to an actual lack of variety within the company’s roster is something I’m not familiar with. I think it’s definitely worth a try for both fans of hololive and general TCG players alike.

In a sea of competitive board games and trading card games, sometimes it’s nice to just play a game amongst family and friends where you work together to get something done. Dodo is one such cooperative tabletop game, where your goal is to lead a massive egg down to your boat by building platforms along the way to carry the egg safely into your clutches. Given its age range (6+) it makes an egg- cellent game for children to be involved with, as well. Product:  Dodo Developer: Frank Bebenroth, Marco Teubner Publisher:  Thames & Kosmos Price: $ 34.95 Age: 6+ The first and only true test of patience in Dodo comes from its initial setup. Building the tower and removing all of the small cardboard tokens takes a bit of time on the first go, but as with most games, every other setup is relatively painless. Thankfully, all of your building work is immediately rewarded with an imposing tower that sits on your table. Beyond the tower and its supports, all other pieces are made of cardboard, save the dodo “egg” that rolls down the tower during play. While there are many tactile elements to Dodo , it is fundamentally a timed memory game. Supporting 2-4 players, the objective of the game is to take turns rolling a dice that tells you what building materials you need to complete your next platform. Once the die is cast, you flip over one of the building tokens; if the token matches, it goes onto the designated area on the platform until all materials required are present. If the token does not  match, you simply flip over the token and move onto the next player, who gets another crack at it. While all of this is going on, the dodo egg rolls down the tower slowly, creating a bit of a more frantic atmosphere with the inclusion of a timed element to play. Once the egg falls off the edge, you lose. If instead you are able to build every required platform before the egg crashes to its demise, it will simply roll onto your boat, safe and sound. Despite the egg’s slow crawl ever downward, the time allotted to achieve victory is quite long. Even playing on the “harder” difficulty, there is very little threat of failure with a team of adults. That calculus no doubt changes with young children in the mix, but I still feel the time allotted is lenient enough to play without panic. If nothing else, including children into play actually increases the fun level, as their excitement is both infectious and debilitating in some respects. This is an extremely simple game, with little in the way of decision-making, but unforced errors can add up and lead to failure. Dodo has great board presence and a great aesthetic. One major negative to the game is its all-cardboard pieces. While this no doubt drives down production costs, it also drives down durability of the pieces. Some of our pieces already have noticeable wear after only a few sessions. Given how vital interconnectivity of the pieces is to the game, this is a major issue for long-term play. Verdict Overall, I loved playing this game the few times I’ve set it up, but its simplicity does make it a bit harder to rate. The game is made to be playable by young children and adults alike, and while it succeeds on the lower spectrum here, it's not much of a game for adults. The aesthetic of the art and board presence are really great, but actually playing the game wears out its welcome quick, as there will never be any twists or complications along the way — you simply roll to victory. Image Credits: Thames & KOSMOS Disclosure: We received a free review copy of this product from the publisher.