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Review: Firefly Village Is a Condensed Farming Life Sim Firefly Village is a farming life sim along the lines of Stardew Valley and Story of Seasons , but with the goal of making things much simpler. As in everything is shorter, streamlined, and less involved than others in the genre. While it’s a novel experiment to see how much you can cut back and still leave a satisfying sim behind, it also results in things feeling unbalanced and quality of life features being abandoned in the process. In Firefly Village , we’re a newcomer who moves into town to take up residence in an empty shack with some farmland. Only a handful of folks live in the area and there are only a few screens worth of spaces to explore. Each season lasts only seven days, with a day being four minutes, so it eventually comes down to just handling our 54 plots for crops, handful of animals, and basically five folks living in the area. Upgrades? They’re minimal and involve things like a kitchen and deck. Animals? You probably only end up with six chickens. Your goal is to enjoy effective days that pass quickly and don’t feature a lot of busywork. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk1HCNx1blw It’s interesting. Firefly Village is absolutely every element of a farming life sim distilled down to the most critical parts, so technically a lot of what we’d expect from Story of Seasons or Stardew Valley is here. We can become best friends with the five villagers. There are eventually supplemental activities like cooking, fishing, and mining. We can collect items like scarecrows. There are festivals to celebrate occasions like Halloween. The things we expect are here, and Josh Koenig Games does show we can accomplish the full farming experience in truncated days days and seasons, still accomplishing things. However, a big part of playing Firefly Village makes me realize how much I miss some of the things that naturally come from larger farming life sim games like Stardew Valley or Story of Seasons . There’s the absence of quality of life features. Want to harvest things or do some gathering? You can hold 12 items, and they don’t stack. Want a cow? That will be 5,000g, and it honestly can take quite a bit of time to earn that money. Tools? Aside from your initial farming equipment, you need to wait until they randomly appear in the store and you can stock them. Need to water or gather? Sometimes your character won’t face the right direction you need to perform an action and you need to fiddle around with things. Images via Josh Koenig Games Also, while farming life sims like Story of Seasons and Stardew Valley can have days that sometimes feel long or like we’re “grinding” through a schedule, playing Firefly Village made me realize that time wasn’t wasted. Going through those routines could be calming. I liked waiting around while fishing. Or the deeper connections that came from its socialization that weren’t present with the three-heart-level friendships here. The fact that some things did happen so quickly here made it feel less satisfying when I’d harvest crops, care for animals, or reach a relationship milestone. Yes, there’s no bloat here. But there were times I wish there were to make things feel a bit more fulfilling. I do appreciate that the simplicity in Firefly Village also extends to the appearance. The design is minimalistic, but still incredibly effective. It calls to mind the older Story of Seasons games on, say, the Game Boy or SNES. There’s a charm to it, and I also really appreciated the artistic direction for character portraits that make them feel rustic. I appreciate Firefly Village as an experiment into how much you can cut from a Stardew Valley or Story of Seasons style farming game while presenting a cohesive experience. It is interesting. Succinct too! It looks great as well, with some adept spritework. But at the same time, things go so quickly that I didn’t feel a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment from taking my time and watching my virtual farm and life blossom over time. It’s a charming way to pass the time, but you might not get as much out of it as one of the more robust, larger games. Firefly Village is available on PCs . The post Review: Firefly Village Is a Condensed Farming Life Sim appeared first on Siliconera .

SiliconeraSep 13

Review: Dice Gambit Sends Families Against Foes Dice Gambit is one of those games where how much you get out of it comes down to how you feel about different gameplay elements. Are you okay with luck perhaps not being on your side and giving you the dice rolls you need for quick battles? Do you like quickly cycling through characters to develop the best builds for a party? Are you okay with a little repetition? If the answer to even one of those is yes, then at the very least it is worth trying out the demo of Chromatic Ink’s stylish game. As Dice Gambit begins, we first use the character creator to develop our initial avatar and Inquisitor. The character design and artistic direction is incredibly unique and stylized, with options to go serious or silly. Upon picking their identity, we are summoned home to the city of Neo-Talis. The city is plagued by individuals who transform into enemies called Chromatics. While our family is a well respected one made up of Inquisitors who face these opponents, they also must curry favor with the members of the Adicia, Medos, and Nova to maintain power and respect. Working with Stecchi Grefiore, studying at the academy, going on expeditions to fight battles, getting married to expand the family with new kids, and repeating that to end the Chromatic scourge quickly becomes our primary focus. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXrpX2CIYwY Dice Gambit , though it has some roguelike elements when it comes to getting additional Inquisitors in your family, is a strategy game in which dice roles determine your actions. When a turn starts, you roll the dice in your hand. The Haste icons that come up will allow you to move around the grid on a map or perform actions. A shield is a Defense icon for defending and abilities. The Signature is your family’s signature abilities, and so on. Also helpful, but hazardous, are Chroma symbols that make the Chromatic enemies stronger, but act as a wild card to help you get enough symbols for certain actions and movements. So to move up to three spaces, you need to burn one Haste die. If I wanted my Berserker to use the Flurry attack that would let it both move and attack, while also healing if I defeat an enemy, I’d need either two Attack icons, an Attack and a Chroma, or two Chroma. The problem is, while it is possible to reroll, this does mean a lot of things are left up to range. We go through battles, but must rest and take into account stamina loss to ensure we don’t send our units into a fight at low health or with debuffs due to exhaustion. Stamina management is one of the light life-sim elements in there. We will send our characters to an Academy to develop their abilities, movesets, and classes. This is also tied to marriage, since who you are tied to determines abilities. Not to mention classes open up as our reputation increases and we unlock them and build up our family. By the second act of the game, we’re able to bring in Inquisitors who can fill certain roles in a party to really help you grow your force. These folks can act as attackers (Berserker, Knife Juggler, and Sniper), ones that are designed to debuff enemies (Alchemist, Scorcher, and Shutterbug), and supporters who help units move around (Director, Gunblade, and Translocationist). Like with a game like Disgaea , getting new children following marriage means a new unit at level 1 with higher starting stats. Images via Chromatic Ink It’s when you get into the second act that Dice Gambit opens up and simultaneously starts to feel a little limiting. This is because we still see the same sorts of maps and situations, but difficulty feels like it ends up being based more on how many enemies appear each time at once. There are more enemies, who summon more allies, and that sometimes feels like the whole “challenge.” But we can’t even experiment as much with builds, since we are limited in how many class and unique skills each of our units can have, and there are certain ones that feel most important. As a result, the game begins to push a player into builds that emphasize pairing up a Berserker with other passive skills or getting that class’ Spur of the Moment or Onslaught skills to help others. After a point, it became about ensuring my Berserkers, Snipers, and Directors worked well together to inflict as much pain on as many enemies as quickly as possible. However, Dice Gambit is one of the shorter games with roguelike elements out there. The time limits mean someone going through on a more casual basis might not notice the more repetitive elements. At the same time, that does mean you can’t spend forever customizing your family and characters. But as long as you realize you should be quickly building up new generations and investing gold into swiftly leveling the new ones, you’ll be fine. Especially since the whole marriage and relationship system doesn’t feel involved. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaCBUG_3nFQ While some of the Dice Gambit issues that might come up could come down to personal preferences determining how they affect you, I did experience a quirk that hampered the handheld gaming experience. The Steam product page notes it is “ playable ” on a Steam Deck and there should be a default controller configuration. On a Lenovo Legion Go, it would not kick in. I ended up having to play on a laptop instead. This isn’t a dealbreaker at all, but those who only play on handhelds of some sort should keep that in mind before picking it up and test The First Act demo to ensure it runs properly. Dice Gambit can be a creative strategy game, though it is one that relies heavily on luck and repetition. It looks unique and can encourage some unusual builds as you work out which active and passive skills help most when facing hordes of enemies. I just recommend testing out the demo first to ensure its gameplay loop is one you’d enjoy. Dice Gambit is available on PCs. The post Review: Dice Gambit Sends Families Against Foes appeared first on Siliconera .

SiliconeraSep 6

Review: Hololive Holo’s Hanafuda Is Casual and Fun We don’t get many Hanafuda games outside Japan. When one does appear, even if its made for a niche audience, it can be a big deal. That’s the case for Hololive Holo’s Hanafuda from Gemdrops, one of the latest holo indie titles, as it pairs up Vtubers from Cover with the card game. It’s such a solid showing, especially since it has an online multiplayer that supports cross-play with the console release and is quite well-populated, that anyone interested in the card game should consider at the very least trying out its demo. The Hololive Holo’s Hanafuda campaign (yes, there’s a story mode) follows Vtubers Nakiri Ayame, Ookami Mio, Sakura Miko, and Shirakami Fubuki as they prepare for a tournament, then get sucked into themed worlds based on the months and flower suits in the deck. It’s not an earth-shattering story, but it is quite cute and could be helpful when easing people unfamiliar with the card game into the experience. Especially since it also introduces the Holo Awase ruleset with power-ups tied to specific generations for claiming cards that show certain performers on them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Q_BRkjFwRQ It’s the actual card game that matters here, and Hololive Holo’s Hanafuda is great at providing that experience with a Vtuber coating. In addition to the campaign, you can play offline or online. The rulesets are traditional Koi-Koi, a variant of that with power-ups that include buffs and debuffs called Holo Awase, and Oicho-Kabu. (You don’t have to fire up one of the Yakuza games for rounds of that last one anymore!) Cards are very clearly presented on the table, information is laid out well, and it’s easy to check set lists or toggle help on and off. The online multiplayer impressed me too! I played on a handheld gaming PC, and I had no trouble finding matches. When I did get into one, it was responsive with no lag. It also didn’t take too long to find fellow players, though I did make sure I played around Japanese time zones to ensure I wouldn’t be alone. Cross-play seemed competent. The only qualm is that it is a bit of a rudimentary multiplayer mode, as there’s no ranked option. Given this is part of that indie line, I suppose I understand. And, in the time I was playing, Gemdrops did end up patching it to penalize people who would ditch matches if it looked like they were losing, so at least the developers seem like they’re keeping an eye out for feedback. Images via Gemdrops Hololive Holo’s Hanafuda also looks so great. The cards all feature Hololive Vtubers, but at the same time nail the classic Hanafuda card aesthetic. It looks lovely. I’d buy physical cards with those types of prints. (You know, if Trump tariffs and the end of de minimis exemption weren’t making those kinds of those impulse purchases near impossible.) If you aren’t a Vtuber fan, you can also opt for more traditional looking cards, but I really recommend going with the themed approach since they’re so pretty. The downside to Hololive Holo’s Hanafuda is, while enjoyable, I didn’t feel like I someone who picked it up would end up learning to play the card game well by playing it. The tutorial is comprehensive, but it doesn’t really get into learning about why you should play certain cards where or when you should try for certain groupings. Instead, it will just remind you that you’ll see automatically if cards could be played and used to claim via outlines when that option is enabled. There can also be hints about special moves. So as long as you’re placing cards as suggested in a way that let you keep building up collections you claimed, you could be fine and have a great time. But if you do already know how to play, it’s a fantastic way of getting into the card game. Ironically, I feel like a trailer for it did a better job of explaining how to play the card game. Image via Gemdrops Hololive Holo’s Hanafuda is a pleasant, casual Hanafuda experience that is great for anyone interested in the card game, not just Vtuber fans. It covers a few different rulesets. Its original Holo Awase option with power-ups adds a little extra flash. It also seemed like there’s a pretty active online multiplayer scene tied to it. And since there are different card themes, you could swap to that, largely ignore the campaign, and enjoy more typical Hanafuda experiences instead. Hololive Holo’s Hanafuda is available for the PC, PS4, PS5, and Switch . The post Review: Hololive Holo’s Hanafuda Is Casual and Fun appeared first on Siliconera .

SiliconeraSep 5

This twice-bombed card battler somehow survived to rank 13th in Steam players today If you told me one of the most-played Steam games today is the ninth-worst-rated on the platform, I wouldn't believe you. There are two reasons why this free card game, Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond ( SVWB ), got to a 72% negative review score and why it temporarily bounced back. On Aug. 28, over 92,000 players were on Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond in the early morning, a number that dropped by half five hours later, according to Steamcharts . This player count is still significantly higher than the average 29,000 players the game saw in July, or the 17,700 average of the last 30 days. Today's numbers made SVWB the 13th most-played game on Steam on Aug. 28, though it has now dropped to 16th—and will probably continue dropping. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prCyDNLsiTI Ranking so high is a special feat for a game so poorly rated. SVWB not only has 72% overall negative reviews on Steam, but 86% negative in the last 30 days. While the graph for the game's reviews shows it never had a negative rating lower than 55%, these numbers were at their worst when a special event ended on Aug. 18 and when the game released on June 14. The latter is easy to explain. SVWB was bombed at launch because of its expensive and unfair monetization system. Players who came from the original Shadowverse were annoyed at how much harder it had become to collect cards as a free-to-play gamer and how much whales could get a quick edge at building decks just because their wallets were bigger. So, regular players gave SVWB negative reviews. The second review bombing explains the recent 86% negative rating. Developer Cygames ran an in-game event called Battle Fest between Aug. 15 and 17. It was, essentially, a popularity contest between three of the characters' factions. In the first stage of the event, players scored points for their chosen faction by playing matches and buying card packs. In the second stage, 100 random players from each faction scored bonus points by winning matches. Players from the winning faction, after the scores of the two stages were added up, would get free character cosmetics. The event ended with the faction with the fewest points in the first stage, Runecraft, winning the whole thing with a massive comeback in the second. What the faction lacked in popularity, it made up for in card strength, as it had the most overpowered deck. So, it got a bunch of wins and points in the second stage. Players were already mad that the most popular factions lost and the most overpowered won, and Cygames made it worse. The devs added the loser's Battle Fest cosmetics as an expensive premium bundle just a day after the event finished. People felt they were tricked into having to pay for cosmetics that would've been free if the two popular factions had won, which added to the "Cygames is greedy" discourse. How Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond survived all that is a mystery. Players probably still enjoy the game despite all that, and Steam's negative reviews might have come from a minority. Either way, as the aftermath of the review bombing fades, the game seems alive. A new battle pass is why SVWB peaked on Aug. 28, among all this chaos. Players were logging in to check out the rewards, which led to that spike. The average will likely stabilize again in the coming days. The post This twice-bombed card battler somehow survived to rank 13th in Steam players today appeared first on Destructoid .

Steam Archives – DestructoidAug 28

Review: MakeRoom Lets You Decorate Creative Spaces In the cozy game genre, a growing category of home and room decoration titles involving being creative and designing a room, started to grow in popularity. (I blame Unpacking .) The idea of getting to set things up, arrange them how you like, and make it look pretty, is very soothing and appealing in a chaotic world. MakeRoom, from Kenney and Wholesome Games Presents, is the latest sort of lo-fi approach to setting up rooms, backyards, and backs of vans to create welcoming, pretty, cute, intricate, and creative spaces with the decorations and tools you’re given. While it could use some QOL additions and is really best on a PC with a mouse, it’s definitely giving us plenty of options. MakeRoom is, at its heart, a sandbox creation tool. You are given a blank slate. You determine what sort of space you would like to decorate. You are placed in it. It is possible to go through menus consisting of various types of furniture and parts based on function. Colors can be customized for some parts. With some, elements like lights can even be toggled on to change the appearance. Essentially, you’re creating miniature dioramas with few restrictions. Over 1,000 items are present, and Steam Workshop allows you to adjust and create more furniture or sample what others put together. Layering is also possible, so you can adjust and combine to change appearances from different perspectives. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUZ5iYCYBH4 Unlike many entries in this genre, MakeRoom does also feature what you could consider a “campaign” of sorts, as you can also opt to visit MakeRoom Island. This is, as the name suggests, a small landmass with a number of specific rooms in need of sprucing up. Each one will have a theme, such as one for a vampire, a spy hideaway, a gamer room paradise, a home cinema, or so on. The little house mascot on the side of the screen will make requests. Some of them will limit you. For example, the first request in the vampire room is to remove windows. But when you get to ones like “add two lamps” and “I want a cat,” you get more options to do what you want. The downside is, these “challenges” only take a few minutes to fulfill and aren’t as intensive or detailed as I’d hope. I’m a big fan of all these divisions. In some ways, it does almost feel like three different types of experiences. In the furniture creation section, you’re actually in a “workshop” space with a number of different types of object parts and designs. You pick colors for things. You arrange it all. It’s very hands-on and tactile, with some really detailed possibilities. MakeRoom Island is honestly among my favorite parts of the experience, since you do have a sense of direction, but still the freedom to experiment. And of course the general sandbox is lovely as well, especially once you have played around in the other two modes and started to get an idea of possibilities. I just wish the MakeRoom Island part was as rich as the furniture creator and general sandbox. Images via Kenney I would have appreciated, though I get could be due to technical limitations or other factors, is more varied room options. We can choose from the back of a truck to make a camper, a room in a building, or an outdoor space. While we can adjust walls or flooring and the range of tools mean we could make residential or professional spaces, I did feel a bit limited. I wished I could have had more room or extra opportunities for deciding on the way the blank palette looked before we started setting up. Because since there are limitations on how small something can get, we can’t just make everything teenier for different types of forced perspectives. There are two major problems I encountered with MakeRoom. The first is while it is possible to layer items, select colors, duplicate items, and really make a number of adjustments to refine each scene, it isn’t always convenient or easy. I’d kill for an undo button or options that made it easier to arrange, flip, and fine-tune furniture and accessory placement. There’s no quick undo button. You need to rearrange or find the delete again to adjust. I’d have appreciated an option that would let me toggle between multiple items when clicking in a section with a lot going on, like a bookshelf, table, or bed fully decked out with sheets and accessories. I will note that the UI is easier to navigate on an actual PC, as opposed to a handheld gaming one, due to the title being designed with mouse controls in mind. Image via Kenney The other thing that gets in the way of my really relaxing with MakeRoom is its lack of precision. It’s an issue not only when playing on a handheld gaming PC like a Steam Deck or Lenovo Legion Go, but came up when I used a laptop and mouse. There are times when it is quite difficult to place things perfectly. Especially if you are trying to go through some cleaning up sections in the levels or engage in some layering. Getting into certain positions is a little limiting, and sometimes even the cleanup tools might not help with cobwebs if you aren’t clicking things just right. MakeRoom is one of the better room decoration diorama options out there, offering more and looking better than something like My Cozy Room. The bargain price paired with the diversity of items is quite nice. I also appreciated that, for those who might draw a mental block for their next creation or want to get a grasp on things, there are levels with certain goals and restrictions. I do wish it was a bit more precise or offered more UI features. But if someone plays on a PC, then they might be okay since the mouse controls will be on their side. MakeRoom is available for PCs via Steam . The post Review: MakeRoom Lets You Decorate Creative Spaces appeared first on Siliconera .

SiliconeraAug 10

Preview: Discounty Starts Out Store Management Simply Discounty is Crinkle Cut Games and PQube’s latest store management sim, and it also happens to be the name of the tiny supermarket off the highway in a town that’s seen better days. However, the goal is of course for your efforts improving it to also help build up the community too. Given I’ve only played a handful of hours, I’m not exactly sure how good we’ll all be at accomplishing those larger goals. But when it comes to just getting started, it seems like it attempts to get everyone off on the right foot as a new store manager. Blomkest is a small town that… doesn’t leave a good impression. A lot of stores are closed and dilapidated. You can tell it was once a relatively major hub, due to being just off the highway and having a harbor nearby. But now, there’s just so little there. A small supermarket is nearby, but even it is barebones. Players’ aunts invited them to run it, calling in a favor, in the hopes of rejuvenating the area. It’s up to someone to start small, then build up what you can offer, how big your store is, and your customer base. Discounty does start out simply. You get a few shelves and stock essentials like soda, apples, milk, and toilet paper. Each shelf up front can hold five of each item, but the back storeroom can hold boxes of additional stock. Since you’re it when it begins, that means you do it all. Handle the checkout (complete with hand-entering and adding up totals), clean up messes, restock, reorganize, and address any issues. Things are fairly simple to accomplish, though at the start you’re naturally limited by how many items you can stock, what you can carry, and so on. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCAKNe0GINY I do appreciate that, while Discounty is a store management simulation, the game has you work in town and outside the supermarket to handle business and build up something of a life. You have your home in a trailer near your aunt’s house. Early on, you’re introduced to placing up advertisements in order to spread the word about your place. You’re encouraged to interact with the people who are in Blomkest, and assisting opens up more. The most obvious situation involves a man named Karl. If you find his missing sheep, then there’s the promise of opening up access to a new area past the park. The only thing I don’t like about Discounty after playing the demo is that it isn’t always optimized. Since this is an earlier build, maybe things could change or be improved in patches? Handling the checkout on a Lenovo Legion Go handheld gaming PC like a Steam Deck isn’t really comfortable. (I didn’t mind the math element, since it’s light and easy stuff.) It means it can take a while to enter everything and get it done correctly, which can be frustrating when multiple customers are waiting. When placing an order for the next day, you can also only do one. Forget to order an item? You can’t place a second order and also have it arrive. It’s little things that could add up the more people play. It would also be nice if the hotbar that holds all of our items was a bit easy to navigate. I didn’t expect to need to go back and forth with the shoulder buttons, rather than just have it cycle, but again that could eventually be changed. (Hopefully!) But in general, Discounty seems rather sound. It’s an easy to adjust to supermarket management simulation. You get a lot of control over how your store looks, what you stock, and running the place. There are a few comfort issues and I could see room for some quality adjustments along the way. Hopefully, we’ll see patches for those. But the early impression is a pleasant one. Discounty will come to the Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC on August 21, 2025 . The post Preview: Discounty Starts Out Store Management Simply appeared first on Siliconera .

SiliconeraAug 8

UFO 50 Switch Physical Deluxe Edition Includes a Guide While a digital copy of UFO 50 is now on the Switch eShop for $24.99 , Fangamer will be behind eventual physical standard and deluxe edition releases. Those won’t be out until February 20, 2026. However, the special edition will feature a full UFO Companion Guide going over the UFO 50 games. As a reminder, UFO 50 is a collection of 50 original games . However, there’s in-collection-lore that these are all titles for a certain console called the LXIII. The titles cover lots of different genres, including action, RPG, puzzle, roguelike, strategy, and deck-building. Multiple developers came together for its creation. In the case of the $35 standard edition, it gives you a physical copy of the game on a cartridge and some bonuses. One is a digital copy of the games’ soundtracks. You also get a sheet of stickers, a postcard with art of what a UFO Soft “disk” would look like, and there’s a 12” x 9” promotional poster for the “console.” Images of those bonuses aren’t available yet. The $59 UFO 50 Switch physical copy is the one of the two that comes with the UFO Companion Guide . That set starts with the base standard edition, which also has the digital soundtrack and promotional items. The collector’s option features two more prints and two more sticker sheets. The guide book is 116 pages. This will cover every game in the collection. Each one will feature details about the titles, art, hints for them, secrets to unlock items, and 100 more stickers. Here's the launch trailer for the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wukcZsZERE UFO 50 is available for the Switch and PC now. The Switch physical copies from Fangamer launch on February 20, 2026. The post UFO 50 Switch Physical Deluxe Edition Includes a Guide appeared first on Siliconera .

SiliconeraAug 7

Review: Wild Hearts S Fills a Switch 2 Monster Hunting Need We already know that, as a whole, Wild Hearts originally appeared as an Omega Force approach to the monster hunting game genre. It pulled in Japanese mythology, involved unusual takes on beasts, and incorporated building structures into the expedition and attacking process. We also thought it was really good ! Wild Hearts S is doing the same, only now it’s running on the Switch 2 for the first time. It’s still a neat game with fascinating lore, but it doesn’t run as well on this system. However, it does give us an above-average Monster Hunter -like to play while we wait for the console’s library to expand. Wild Hearts S follows the Monster Hunter sort of pattern, even though it is an original work by Omega Force and Koei Tecmo about hunting monstrous, otherworldly beings known as Kemono. Your character is a hunter who headed to Azuma in search of such challenges, and learns there is a remaining village of hunters like them there called Minato. After an encounter with a strange man named Mujina ahead of a fight they fail, they are saved and given the power of Karakuri to establish camps, prepare for hunts, reach new areas, and face Kemono. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-T6v626vs4 In terms of gameplay, Wild Hearts S does feel like other monster hunting games. There are multiple weapon types, with melee ones such as a Karakuri Katana, Nodachi, Bladed Wagasa, Clawblade, Maul, and Karakuri Staff, as well as a few ranged options like the Bow and Canon. I especially like the Bladed Wagasa, as it doesn’t feel like any weapon from these style of games due to being a bladed umbrella not unlike Setsuka’s weapon from Soulcalibur . These all feel rather unique. However, while moves feel more methodical in a game like Monster Hunter , I sort of feel like Omega Force borrows more from Musou titles to make attacks more combo-reliant and swift. Karakuri structures play a large part in these fights, further helping to set Wild Hearts apart. Hunts involve constructing towers to find the monster. Basic items, such as crates, springs, and stakes, can be used to block creatures, jump for an aerial attack, or grapple onto them. Creating things like Bulwarks and Shield Walls allow you to defend, you could create a Pounder or Repeater Crossbow for extra firing support, and it’s even possible to prepare healing for your hunting group with Healing Mist or Healing Vaporizer. I will say it is a bit frustrating sometimes to get construction done in a frantic fight if you aren’t working alongside other players. However, in ideal circumstances, especially with the Wild Hearts S Switch 2 version allowing parties of four instead of three, I found it isn’t as much of an issue. Images via Koei Tecmo In general, the additional number of players seems great! Especially when you’re early on in Wild Hearts S on the Switch 2. I was playing in the best circumstances, which was right at launch and tackling early quests initially. I’m still not having too much trouble finding at least one person to work with, especially if I play during peak after-work and evening hours. I don’t want to get into spoilers, but I will say I started seeing fewer people around when I got to when I unlocked the Harpoon Karakuri. So people might start seeing fewer folks later in the game as players fall off. Especially since there isn’t cross-play, so you’re only working with other Switch 2 owners who also picked up Wild Hearts S and not folks who own it on other consoles or PCs. On the plus side, we can just hop in and not need to worry about an EA account this time around. But the big compromise with Wild Hearts S is that it doesn’t look as good on the Switch as the original game did on the PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC. The framerate is the biggest issue. Which isn’t surprising, as I experienced FPS issues on the PS5 back when I went through the game on there. While our hunters, some NPCs we meet, and Kemono may look good, the environments everyone is running around in don’t always look great due to the sacrifices that needed to be made to even get the game running on the system. Images via Koei Tecmo Though, in a way, I suppose I’m even thankful that Wild Hearts S is even on the Switch 2 and playable considering everything. I wanted to play it on a handheld gaming PC at launch. The Steam Deck can’t run it. While I did notice more prevalent FPS drops in Handheld mode on the system, it was still playable and enjoyable! It’s quite a success in that regard. But again, you do need to know going in that it might hiccup a bit or not always run as well as it would when docked. In many ways, Wild Hearts S is currently filling an important gap on the Switch 2, as it is the go-to monster hunting multiplayer game on the system. The decision to up the player count for this version helps cement that role. Especially since it does act as a definitive edition with the Karakuri Edition extras and post-launch updates included. However, frame rate issues still exist here, only they feel more evident than on the PS5 and are especially notable when in a group of four, it doesn’t look as good as it does on other consoles, and some effects from attacks or weather conditions aren’t look great. I do think Wild Hearts S is worth playing and is a solid addition to the Switch 2 library, but recommend trying the demo first. Especially if you primarily play the system in handheld mode. Wild Hearts S is available on the Switch 2, and the original game is on the PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC. The post Review: Wild Hearts S Fills a Switch 2 Monster Hunting Need appeared first on Siliconera .

SiliconeraAug 7

Here's What May Power The Steam Deck's Successor, But Do We Need One?This past February the Steam Deck celebrated its third birthday. And based on the rocky performance of some fairly recent AAA games on Valve’s popular handheld, Avowed and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth being two examples, it’s currently going through a bit of a terrible threes kinda situation. Naturally, poor performance… Read more...

Steam - KotakuJul 23

Avowed Is The Latest Big Game To Stretch The Definition Of 'Verified' On Steam DeckObsidian’s gorgeous fantasy RPG Avowed just got a new patch, promising the usual list of bug fixes and some new features. The game is also now “Verified” for Steam Deck. What’s it like in a portable form factor? Well, it certainly boots up. It’s certainly playable, hitting a semi-decent 30 FPS that doesn’t necessarily… Read more...

Steam - KotakuJul 17