DeVuego

Though seeming inconsequential on its surface, Nomada Studio's first DLC ranks as a commendable example of subtractive design adding to a greater whole.

Provocative and entertaining, American Arcadia's high-concept premise, inventive storytelling, and creative gameplay scenarios place it alongside its closest inspirations.

Nomada Studios' sophomore effort Neva-r ceases to impress – despite a couple of missteps.

Mika and the Witch's Mountain is a cozy, comforting little adventure. It benefits from an interesting premise, breezy mechanics, some fanciful tunes, and a rewarding gameplay loop that pushes you forward. Its biggest problem is that it feels unfinished; the story and character relationships don't have enough time to mature, and the mechanics don't have sufficient room to evolve.

It boggles the mind how a modest indie team designed what should now be the de facto lock-picking mechanic for a fantasy world.

No copycat should be satisfied in reproducing its inspiration without incorporating a visual, aural, story, and/or mechanical nuance alongside it. None of these four categories are met here, so what's left is a ditto platformer that's content with showing yet another hellish landscape after humans are nearly wiped out.

Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX is an accomplished remake built around a core that's admittedly creaking with age. It’s difficult to brainstorm anything extra that I wish the development team had added, beyond perhaps more new levels, although at that point the line between remake and sequel would surely begin to blur. Some of the quality-of-life changes will probably prove contentious, but the kid in me from 30 years ago just wishes they’d been there from the start. And that’s probably as good a sign as any that the developers handled this remake well.

Fitting for this studio’s name, Out of the Blue's puzzle-adventure debut resonates due to its mechanical challenge and atypical approach to Lovecraftian fiction.