DeVuego

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.