Weekend Gaming Playlist

To some, Valentine’s Day is a romantic occasion, filled with roses and chocolates and kisses. But Valentine’s Day has a special place in my heart this year, as it is also the beginning of a whopping five-day recess at my job. Oh, the endless possibility! As I have a number of ongoing projects in the works here at Switch RPG, I’ll be sinking some time into those games, as well as a few of my personal favorites. If you’d like to know what’s on my weekend gaming playlist, read on:

Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore

Have you ever had a game that you gushed about upon completion, but slowly came to question whether or not your feelings were valid later on? This is a conundrum I’ve been hearing a great deal about as people look back on the last decade of gaming, which makes me a bit sad. If you enjoyed a game at a specific time in your life, it’s okay to accept that you might never feel the same way about it again- the nature of games is that some of them lose their appeal once you’ve experienced all they have to offer. However, the recent port of Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE proves that I was right when I said it deserved this encore last year, just as I was right to sing its praises upon completion years before. This enhanced port has all the bells and whistles of the original and more, featuring new songs, enhanced gameplay options, and yes, you can even opt to let Tsubasa Oribe wear glasses. TALK ABOUT QUALITY OF LIFE IMPROVEMENTS.

Evoland Legendary Edition

I nabbed this game for cheap in a recent sale as something to chew on in-between review projects, due to its relatively short cumulative playtime. While I think that I’m nearing the end of the first title, I’m hoping the second Evoland has more to bring to the table. I’m not entirely sure if I appreciate the nature of its “improvement-based gameplay,” as many of its added features are homages to innovations in gaming, but lack any sort of chronology or appreciation of the new mechanics and concepts it introduces. As a love letter to gaming innovations, I suppose it;s just fine, but it won’t be entering into the upper echelons of my Switch favorites.

Spaceland

I’ve been chipping away at this strategy title for a delayed SwitchRPG review, and I have to say, my thoughts have so far been pretty positive. The game uses very intuitive controls for movement and ability selection, keeping turn-based action relatively fast-paced and fun. Equally impressive are the variety of hazards and environmental gimmicks across levels, which come in greater variety than some larger strategy titles. Now, the dialogue does leave something to be desired, but it’s nothing extremely inoffensive, just bland and verbose. Look forward to a full review soon!

A Hat in Time

When I first heard about this game and its reception, I believed that it was a return to form to the collect-a-thon 3D platformer. However, after it and a few other revival titles released, Super Mario Odyssey came along and kind of reminded everyone why Super Mario 64 and Sunshine were better games than the other games in its genre. While I don’t think A Hat in Time is a bad 3D Platformer, I haven’t been blown away by its level design or mission structure in any way. Hat Kid just doesn’t have a certain weight to her, which is reflected in her ability to easily scramble towards ledges without a loss of momentum and her somewhat loose controls. Despite the heavy reliance on dialogue, I’m still chugging through this, and hoping that the difficulty curve remains constant as I progress further- as of right now, I feel as though I’m battling more with the camera than the obstacles in levels themselves.

That’s all I’ll be playing, how about yourself? As always, feel free to leave a comment below and share your own plans! You can always ask more about the games featured here in the comment section, or join us in discussion on our Discord channel!