Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's makers were clearly fans of Final Fantasy's PS1 era: there was a certain narrative-aesthetic "feel" common to Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, and Final Fantasy IX (not to mention Final Fantasy X) which Clair Obscur studiously, thoroughly replicates.

Its world is wildly fantastical, made of numerous environments each full to bursting with imaginative designs and vivid color. The party shares moments of sorrow and celebration, intrigue and melancholy, as they journey through this wondrous world and explore its metaphysical mysteries ... on their mission to kill a god. There are even some all-but-explicit homages, like occasional fixed-camera exploration screens that evoke the pre-rendered backgrounds from Square's PS1 games.

Clair Obscur also replicates aspects of those older JRPGs that seem, well, old. As pretty as the environments are, they're often frustrating to navigate, and have no in-game map; the overworld teases plenty of optional content, but a majority of it isn't accessible until the game's final act, due to level gates and/or missing traversal abilities.

Character upgrades and customization are bewilderingly complicated. Between the five stats you can increment at level-up, skill trees with level-up unlocks, collectable equipment with varying stats and ability bonuses, equipment upgrades (swords have levels!), equippable accessories that consume upgradeable points (and the accessories also have levels!) ... most RPGs would choose two or three of these mechanics, but Clair Obscur implements all of them.

There are so many options and possible combinations, with intricate combat impacts - oh yeah, each character's combat tactics are completely unique!, reminiscent of Final Fantasy VI - and many upgrade choices turn out to be worthless, or even objectively harmful. The staggering complexity discourages experimentation; once you find a configuration that "works," screwing with it doesn't feel worth the effort.

And unfortunately, this leads to the combat itself becoming intensely repetitive, especially as battles get more frequent in the game's 2nd and 3rd acts. Both from overlong dungeons with the same enemies copied-and-pasted over and over again, and from gaps inbetween level expectations -- but like I mentioned earlier, "a majority of [optional content] isn't accessible until the game's final act", so keeping your levels up with the story more-or-less requires some grinding.

I really wish that Clair Obscur's parry and dodge and attack-timing interactions could make that combat more interesting, but these mechanics are confounding in their unpredictability. Enemy "tells" aren't very clear or consistent, enemy attacks include way too many hits, and the timing requirements are incredibly narrow. Much like I once wrote about Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story:

Learning an enemy's patterns can be a crapshoot. Some enemies have a large number of attack patterns, and what looks like Pattern 5 may end up being a surprise! Pattern 6, whose defense is totally different.

In many cases, the timing window for a successful defense (or attack) is astonishingly small. They're just really hard to do.

I'll confess that I played through the whole game in "Story" difficulty, because otherwise I wouldn't have survived occasionally missing a defensive reaction.

All this may sound like I'm down on Clair Obscur's gameplay, and, well... I am. As the first act's tight narrative pacing begins to loosen up, an increased focus on combat exposes the tedium of its over-complex character sheets and over-difficult timed inputs. By Act 3, I was really ready for the game to be over.

Clair Obscur succeeds as art, aesthetically, thanks to outstanding visuals and especially thanks to a moving and memorable soundtrack.

As an interactive experience, it's weighed down by archaic game designs that don't respect the modern player's time. But if you're as enamored by late-90s-early-00s Final Fantasy as this game's creators evidently were, maybe you'll enjoy the time-sinks of grinding levels and customizing your characters; maybe that's just what you've been looking for.

Better than: Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
Not as good as: South Park: The Stick of Truth
I didn't know where else to mention: the lip sync is wack. The voice performances are pretty great, though.

Animal Well is a game of secrets. And precision platforming.

On the surface, Animal Well is a rare entry in the - for lack of better term - puzzle-vania subgenre, like a Metroid or a 'vania whose interconnected world map is populated with puzzles instead of enemies. (Well, there are some enemies, too. I'll get to that.)

It uses a sense of intrigue, of abstract mystery, as its "hook" -- like Toki Tori 2+ (or Hollow Knight), the game opens with minimal guidance and no explicit instruction. The dark, dank art style and creepy ambient audio fill you with foreboding loneliness, while the map entices you with out-of-reach ledges and arcane mechanisms. Animal Well doesn't just ask you to figure out how to solve its platforming puzzles, it asks you to figure out what the puzzles are.

Personally I think it leans a little too hard into the obscurity angle; especially early on, when I was still finding its basic equipment - and discovering what that equipment could do - I flailed around in several puzzle rooms without realizing I didn't have the required item. Consulting online guides certainly dulled some of the game's appealing mystery, but felt necessary for me to get un-stuck.

I also struggled with Animal Well's intense, sometimes Super Meat Boy-ish demand for precision -- and extremely unforgiving checkpoints. Missing a jump, or mis-timing a button press, or failing to outrun a fucking ghost dog monster would far too often force me to re-tread and re-solve an annoying number of screens.

To be clear, I did really enjoy my time in Animal Well; exploring its world and experiencing its vibe was satisfying overall. But I know there are many more mysteries hiding in here yet, and I also know that I don't have the patience to see them.

Better than: Pocket Kingdom
Not as good as: Iconoclasts
I really don't think it would've hurt: to have more generous save points and quicker retries. Just look at VVVVVV!

Progress: beat the "manticore" (?), collected 27 eggs.

Squeakross's more-free-puzzles updates didn't just pull me back into that cozy little rodent house; they also drew my attention to a nonogram-hybrid that I otherwise would've ignored: Cinicross, a rogue-like dungeon delver with timed puzzle challenges.

The "rogue-like" part is why I would've ignored it -- 'cause I tend to very rapidly tire of die-and-retry-based games. And after playing Cinicross's demo ... I'm still not into it, but! I'm glad to have given it a shot.

(And glad that more nonogram hybrids are getting out there, in general.)

Losing health points when you take too long to solve a puzzle, that part works pretty well; and the "loot" you collect for power-ups, like randomly revealing squares or safeguarding against mis-clicks - as weird as those effects can feel - are interesting little twists on the typical nonogram routine.

But the severity of health loss that follows the timer, and the depressingly-low amount of persistent experience points I got after a "run," left me with a sense of dread about the repetitive grinding it could take to make meaningful progress in Cinicross.

At least it's trying something more creative and exciting than Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, or PictoQuest: The Cursed Grids.

"More free puzzles" is like a siren's song, for me.

Just six months ago, I heaped praise upon Squeakross for delivering 650 nonograms to me in an adorable package. Now they're up to ... 886!?

And the game's "solid user interface" has only got better, too.

As blasé as I still am about the virtual dollhouse and rodent customization, Squeakross is becoming more and more entrenched as one of my favorite puzzle collections.

Have you ever thought that Ace Attorney could use more magic? Not like, more spirit channeling and psyche-locks, I mean fireballs and transmutation and dragons and shit. If so -- have I got good news for you!

Tyrion Cuthbert: Attorney of the Arcane adapts finger-pointing, desk-pounding courtroom drama to a swords-and-sorcery setting. It unabashedly follows in Phoenix Wright's footsteps, from the "speedy trial" premise - immediate arrest, next-day opening statements - to your cross-examination Press and Present options. Tyrion even has a prestigious badge he can show off.

Just imagine Athena Cykes using mind-reading magic, rather than Mood Matrix technology, to discover when a suspect is hiding something; or Apollo Justice calling out a witness for alleging he cast "Conjure Light" to see the crime, but previous testimony put him outside the spell's short range! Attorney of the Arcane shows great admiration for the Ace Attorney games (which, hey, I greatly admire them too) and so the way this game works feels very familiar.

It's more than just a faithful homage to Capcom's franchise, though: Tyrion Cuthbert's world is his own, as is his story. This game's investigation and courtroom scenes use emotive art and dialog to portray deep, case-spanning themes of class strife and hierarchical conflict -- while also gradually revealing the mythical backstories of Wyverngarde and its cast of characters.

And those characters possess strong, memorable personalities of their own, despite recognizable inspirations. Tyrion has sympathetic moments of self-doubt and helplessness, like Apollo; but is driven by an unstoppable, Edgeworthian determination to make things right. Prosecutor Aria Steelwind's youthful need to prove herself screams "Franziska" at first; but it's not long before her softer side appears, a friendliness and helpfulness akin to Gumshoe or Ema Skye. Companion Celeste is full of Maya-like eager supportiveness, as well as Simon Blackquill-like physical intimidation (and sword-mastery).

Tyrion's crew can also behave a little less ... family friendly than Phoenix's gang, which is a lot of fun.

Like the tales of Japanifornia that inspired it, Cuthbert's cases weave multiple threads that ultimately come together in a really satisfying way. The copy editing isn't perfect (heck, neither was Capcom's), but I'm otherwise extremely impressed by this game's quality and volume of writing.

There are facets of Attorney of the Arcane that hold it back. Several evidence puzzles require counter-intuitive solutions (though again, not like Capcom hasn't stumbled here, too), and a whole lot of its Investigation screens are complete wastes of time; I'd rather they'd remove the button, when unneeded.

But what hurts this game the most, I'd say, is its user interface. From unclear or missing controls, to awkward mid-screen scrollbars, to wacky sub-panel detail buttons, ... to scene-investigation text that kicks you back out of the investigate screen ... and although Cuthbert can be played with a gamepad, just barely, I had some frustrating moments with its selection and focus handling that dragged down my overall experience.

In narrative terms, though - especially its charming, engaging cast of characters (including a dog! ... and a monkey!) - Tyrion Cuthbert: Attorney of the Arcane feels like it's earned a seat at Ace Attorney's table.

Better than: Regeria Hope Episode 1
Not as good as: Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor's Gambit
Oh and!: the soundtrack is also thrilling and catchy (and, uh, somewhat reminiscent of Ace Attorney's compositions).

Separate Ways was originally a menu option (in RE4's PS2 and Wii releases). But times have changed; now, DLC exists.

The Resident Evil 4 remake's downloadable Separate Ways pack is more than a simple update and cash-grab, though -- this version of Ada's story is expanded, with a meaningful amount of new content and variety.

It doesn't play all that differently from the main game, which is a good thing: Ada collects treasure, upgrades her weapons, and blows up infected cultists a lot like Leon did. (Though she starts with an SMG, which is pretty fun.) And in cases where she re-treads familiar ground - like the village, or the hedge maze - Ada's grappling hook (!) makes navigating old areas feel "new" again.

This mini-campaign's story scenes and cinematics don't exactly add depth to the events of RE4; at best, they just tee up Wesker's Resident Evil 5 plot.

But Separate Ways gave me a few more hours of the dumb, exciting adventure that I enjoyed in the main game.

Better than: Batman: Arkham Knight - A Matter of Family
Not as good as: Control: AWE
Also gotta love: a beautiful laser hallway homage to the 2002 film.

Twenty years ago, Resident Evil 4's blend of "tense zombie-survival thriller" and "loud zombie-killing adventure" was a pretty radical franchise shift -- and though this led to ... debatable narrative decisions in RE5 and RE6, RE4 remains a landmark, even historic gaming event.

It's very much to the 2023 remake's credit that, without checking (i.e. without reading some superfans' documentation) I couldn't always tell what changed from the original. Some differences stuck out to me - like the removal of cutscene quick-time events (yay) and the absence of Salazar's tricorne hat (boo) - and I frequently got a "sense" while playing that it'd changed a mechanic for accessibility, or spiced-up some previous level design. But the overall experience felt like an appropriate blend of old and new; faithful to 20-year-old ideas, while approachable by a modern player.

This makes for a great nostalgia opportunity, though not exactly a modern masterpiece: RE4's nonsensical story and its vapid characters still feel like relics of a bygone era. Like most games of the early- or mid-2000s, its writing is more functional than substantial, serving to move the action from one level to the next. Don't expect any Uncharted-caliber banter; do expect glib and absurd one-liners.

And, in line with my Wii Edition experience:

In general, I feel like the areas with a lot of not-zombies require several retries to perfect a battle plan...

... then continuing:

Starting up is a little rough - the first chapter is a real trial-by-fire, in some ways, e.g. ammo conservation, just as difficult as the late game.

The remake is still tactically challenging, despite totally overhauling the classic Tank Controls, through severe combat encounters and scarce supplies. A fan of the original game's difficulty should feel right at home here.

... or, you can downgrade to the "Assisted" mode for more ammo and lower merchant prices. So of course I did that -- to more easily enjoy the power trip of upgrading Leon's arsenal and blasting the shit out of Las Plagas.

This is just the experience I was hoping for: exploring the map to collect treasure, trading for power-ups, and barreling through the videogame equivalent of a dumb, fun action movie.

(I do wish that the remake would've let me re-visit old areas, to complete more side missions at my own pace; or that it was clearer about points of no return.)

Action-adventure games have come a long way since 2005, and so the now-classic campaign of Resident Evil 4 doesn't stand quite as tall as it once did. But this remake does an exceptional, commendable job of re-creating that journey in a way that plays like it's brand new.

Better than: NieR: Automata
Not as good as: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Remastered, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception Remastered
Although I appreciate the New Game Plus option to become even more overpowered: I'll probably just settle for the additional content in Separate Ways.

My first Civ 6 campaign turned sour when my friend Montezuma suddenly declared war on me, flooding my blissfully undefended cities with medieval-era pikemen; and when I finally built up an army large enough to stop him, its upkeep costs broke my whole economy.

Why did Montezuma turn on me without warning? Because one of his AI-controlled quirks is murderous, warmongering jealousy of a civ who possesses a luxury resource that he doesn't. (I think it was silk.)

Like Sid Meier's Civilization V before it - and like the newer Ara: History Untold - Civ 6 is hopelessly complicated, even before its expansions Rise and Fall and Gathering Storm have added yet more governing and environmental mechanics. The in-game user interface, to its credit, does about as good as it can making those mechanics manageable -- but "the problem" isn't the interface, it's the complexity underneath.

In my second campaign attempt, I played as Canadian PM Wilfrid Laurier (after finding internet advice that Canada can't be surprise-attacked); deactivated barbarians; and completely ignored entire features like military combat, religious expansion, cultural exports, and spycraft. My focus was science research, and racing to victory in space.

And I still had to work through a ton of meticulous city improvement and district management, civic development of government policies, city-state sponsorship competition, access to electricity-generating resources... on my way to science victory. All while my AI opponents were executing their own globe-spanning religious and cultural and military offensives. Good thing I couldn't be surprise-attacked, or any one of them could've crushed me immediately.

I feel like there's got to be some "ideal" amount of complexity that's more diverse and spicy than just science, or just war, but still less intimidatingly unapproachable than this mess of parallel systems. The amount of civilization progress that I can mess up - the opportunity space for setting myself up for failure - is just too great.

(Which, I think, kinda explains Civ 7's controversial reset-for-new-age mechanism: it can prevent mistakes from piling up too high, without actually removing complexity. Though I'd probably still prefer ... less complexity.)

Then again, Civ 6's over-complicated circus of simulation mechanics nevertheless kept me clicking Next - tapping into that classic "just one more turn" addictive behavior - through the wee hours of the night, until I'd finally launched Canada into the cosmos. So what do I know? In Civilization terms, it still works.

Duck Detective is back! The Ghost of Glamping sees our irresponsible down-on-his-luck hero thrown into a new mystery, along with his budding sidekick Freddy (the nerd from The Secret Salami).

This new case checks all the same boxes as last time:

• Enchanting dialog and personalities? Check.
• Adorable art style? Check.
• Good-enough investigation and "deducktion" gameplay? Check.
• Short (and sweet)? Check.
• Hilarious loading-screen tips? Big check.

Ghost of Glamping does present one slight improvement upon its predecessor: a map in the menu! ... not that it's all that helpful, the world is still small enough to easily remember its layout.

But it's not like Duck Detective really needed an upgrade; he just needs more cases. More scenes to investigate, more ridiculous characters to meet, more of McQuacklin's self-indulgent melodrama. And that's exactly what Ghost of Glamping delivers.

Better than: Duck Detective: The Secret Salami, if just barely.
Not as good as: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (NDS)
Fingers and wings crossed: that we'll see more of the Duck Detective in 2026.

Duck Detective: The Secret Salami is a cute, short, fun little detective story.

Its dialog - including voice acting! - is surprisingly well done; Detective Eugene McQuacklin is a pitch-perfect satire of hard-boiled noir, and the game's script is dense with amusing details. (Investigating suspects' computer screens is always good for a laugh, as you read through their browsing history and their silly text messages.)

And the art style is pretty dang adorable, with Paper Mario-esque cutout characters hopping delightfully around the crime scene.

The hint-collecting and mystery-solving gameplay is mostly good. Duck Detective does well at teasing its story as you gather clues and solve simple puzzles -- although some of the "deducktion" prompts simply require you to guess until it says you're right, and feel like jumping to conclusions rather than deducing them.

But hey, you're just a duck. Maybe I'm overthinking it.

The game is unambiguously brief: after a short tutorial, "The Secret Salami" is its one and only case, and you can solve it inside of 2 hours.

It moves swiftly, though, and is polished enough that those 2 hours are a real treat.

Better than: Detective Grimoire: Secret of the Swamp, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice: Phoenix Wright - Asinine Attorney
Not as good as: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (NDS)
May leave you wanting more: and there is! McQuacklin's story continues in Duck Detective: The Ghost of Glamping.