Well, been a long time since I participated in one of these (or in this forum in general). As good a time as any to hop back in.
Let's see, thus far this year I've beaten:
- Pokémon Violet [Switch]
- Unlock the King [Switch eShop]
- Sonic Frontiers [Switch]
- Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon [Switch]
- Bayonetta 3 [Switch] {Second time}
- Murder by Numbers [Switch eShop]
Now to catch up on descriptions:
Pokémon VioletBeen years since I've properly played a Pokémon game (Sun was the last one I bought when it was new and beat). Gotta admit, it was fun to play through a Pokémon journey again after so many years. It has technical issues, everyone can see that, but thankfully they weren't as bad as I was expecting (which doesn't excuse them, but still). Overall I enjoyed it fine. Let's be real: with Pokémon, I feel like most people already know whether they're interested or not.
Unlock the KingThis is a chess-based puzzle game. Chess pieces are scattered around stages, and the goal is to move them to clear a path for the king to the goal, with the pieces obviously only moving in the patterns they would in real chess. Been chipping away at this one on and off since last year, just playing a few levels here and there. It's a neat little puzzle game, and with the price only being like a dollar, yeah it's worth picking up.
Sonic FrontiersGotta admit, I liked this one a good bit, but that may just be that for whatever reason I seem to have a soft spot for Sonic (thanks Sonic 2 movie for making me realise that). It did get a bit monotenous nearing the end, and the combat is pretty basic when you get down to it, but I still enjoyed performing combos and taking down opponents. And the regular levels are solid fun. And yeah, you can totally see the blatant pop-in and other stuff on Switch, but it runs fine and is still fun to play, so eh, I can deal. No masterpiece, but worth playing if you ask me.
Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost DemonThe Bayonetta series is easily my favourite series of all time, so of course I had to pick this up. Obviously what stands out most is the art style, and it does not disappoint when you play it. This is one of the most gorgeous games I've played in a while. It's plot is both charmingly written and delivered too. Its gameplay is also good fun, with the two-character gimmick being pretty fun and satisfying once you get in the flow. Overall I really recommend this one.
Bayonetta 3 {Second playthrough}I could write a novel about my feelings towards this game, but I'll try to stay brief. Again: Bayonetta is my favourite franchise of all time, and this game largely does not disappoint. The combat is as satisfying and slick as ever, and the crazy moments are some of the craziest we've seen from the series (which if you know the games, you know says a lot). The second playthrough really helped me appreciate a lot of this more too, as in the first one I was kind of overwhelmed by everything that was happening and the bad beats in the plot. I still cannot recommend this game enough though (or Bayonetta 1 and 2 for that matter). If you haven't yet,
please support this series and pick this game up. It's a masterpiece.
Murder by NumbersThis game is charming as hell. Essentially: it's a cross between a murder mystery graphic novel (basically Ace Attorney) and picross. It sounds weird, but it just works. The picross puzzles are exactly that, so if you like Picross you'll like this. But the plot and characters surrounding that are
so charming. I love everyone in this cast to bits. Please do give this game a look. It's charming as hell, and deserves more attention.