We attended Gamescom 2023 and got to play many upcoming titles across the gaming landscape – AAA, indie and everything inbetween. In this mini-series of articles, NantenJex will be sharing his thoughts on the games he played from his hands-on experience and providing important information on each of the titles. Trailers and links to each of the games Steam pages (or closest equivalent) will be included in this article (although many are coming to multiple platforms so if you want to get the title on a platform other than Steam then please check your systems digital store).
Persona 3 Reload
- Platforms: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, Windows
- Release Date: February 2nd 2024
- Steam link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2161700/Persona_3_Reload/
Dive into the Dark Hour and awaken the depths of your heart. Persona 3 Reload is a captivating reimagining of the genre-defining RPG, reborn for the modern era with cutting-edge graphics and gameplay.
One of the most anticipated RPGs of this year, I wish I had more to say about Persona 3 Reload than I do. The thing is, the game is just Persona, exactly what you would expect if you played Persona 5. It was only this year that I played Persona 3 for the first time (I played the Portable rerelease on Switch) and with the game so fresh in my mind it allowed me to be able to better asses the hcnages they had made. My grand takeaway from my time with Reload is that this game feels like Persona 5 but with a Persona 3 coat of paint. Everything from the gameplay to the menu UI to the cutscene direction feels like the latest game in the series but the content being shown is exactly what I remember from Persona 3, word for word.
This isn’t bad of course, in fact it is a stark improvement over the gameplay of Portable with every element of the game feeling better and more polished. Even Tartarus feels a little more interesting, even though you can tell that the same block layout is still here. If you enjoyed Persona 5 you’ll enjoy this and if you liked Persona 5 but struggled to enjoy Persona 3 becasue it felt dated to you then your in luck. But if you haven’t been able to enjoy the Persona series before then nothing here is going to change your mind.
Persona 5 Tactica
- Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, Windows
- Release Date: November 17th, 2023
- Steam link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2254740/Persona_5_Tactica/
Join the Phantom Thieves as they lead an uprising of the heart! Assemble an all-star team of heroes in a brand-new story in this thrilling combat adventure set in Persona’s iconic universe.
Despite its status as a spin-off, I think I enjoyed Persona 5 Tactica as it had a lot more to offer than Persona 3 Reload. While many of the Persona spin-offs tend to just put the Persona cast of that generation into a different genre and leave it at that, Tactica actually feels like it’s brought over all the mechanics of the Persona series and translated them for a strategy title (and to be fair, Strikers also did a good job of this). Persona 5 Tactica is a Persona 5 game and comes with everything you would expect to see, just instead of traditional turn-based combat, it is framed around a Mario + Rabbids style tactics system. You have three types of attacks (Persona’s, physical and gun), the all-out attack mechanic is here and gaining extra turns from downing opponents are all present in this title.
As the other major strategy title of its kind on the Nintendo Switch, I feel like I have to compare this to Mario + Rabbids. It’s a requirement of a Nintendo fan. The main difference between the two in my opinion is that while the Rabbids are more about movement and traversing the level, Tactica focuses more on weaknesses and battle options. It is definitely a lot simpler than what the former had to offer but it uses that to its benefit and I had a lot of fun with it. I did only have a demo to play, but the gameplay also felt a lot faster than in Mario + Rabbids as I made it through multiple stages before my time was up. While I was going to skip Tactica (there are just too many games coming out this Fall) playing this demo has changed my mind. It might be tough, but I’ll try and squeeze it into my schedule somewhere.
Star Ocean: The Second Story R
- Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Windows
- Release Date: November 2nd, 2023
- Steam link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2238900/STAR_OCEAN_THE_SECOND_STORY_R/
In this science fantasy RPG, choose between Claude or Rena, play through their perspectives, and unlock various endings. Recruit allies and defeat foes in fast paced real-time battles.
This is my first time playing a Star Ocean so I was pleasantly surprised to find it was actually an action battle game instead of a turn-based one. You can chose to pause the game to issue commands if you want, playing the game in menus as if it were a turn-based RPG, but the default combat is actually a lot more dynamic than I expected. You have a party of four and two assists that you can summon into battle to punch your foes with big robot hands or issue wide ranging dark magic attacks. It’s pretty neat.
I tried to swap my party members around as I played so I could try out both the close quarters characters and magic characters adn the former definitely seem like the more enjoyable to play as. I appreciate that the mages can just run up and punch their foes if they want to but magic is obviously the way to go and only two magic attacks can be quick summoned (at least from what I played) so this class was focused a lot on sifting through menus. The swordfighters dealt more damage when getting up close and personal, and I think my only complaint is that it got a little repetetive. This is something that could change if you get the ability to unlock more abilities later on (which I would imagine is the case) but if not I do worry about combat getting boring after awhile. Still, it was a surprise and very refreshing from other 2D-HD games Square-Enix has put out (even if this one isn’t technically a 2D-HD title).
Born of Bread
- Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS%, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, Windows
- Release Date: Fall 2023
- Steam link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1555140/Born_of_Bread/
Play as a flour golem who possesses a never-ending childlike wonder and a set of odd abilities. Team-up with a colorful cast of characters, explore the different regions of a wonderful world ripe with mysteries and engage in a fun and quirky turn-based combat system.
Do you like Paper Mario? And I mean classic Paper Mario, with all the partners and the turn-based combat? Then Born of Bread is for you! This is the latest Paper Mario-like and the first since Bug Fables that I think will genuinely make a lasting impression. The dialogue is witty and the graphics are superb. Loaf is a very endearing main character, being our newly baked hero. He’s a silent protagonist who is curious about the world and that makes him very fun to follow. Whenever the player does something a bit unruly, like topple over a valuable art piece that smashes a glass container, it makes more sense that Loaf, in his curiousity, would do this. It adds to the realism of the setting (as real as a fantasy kingdom with a talking bread boy can be anyway)
It’s not just Loaf who is great though, all of the characters I came across were enjoyable encounters with humourous dialogue and brilliant designs. There was Loaf’s baker dad whose having to figure out the unexpected fatherly lifestyle, the three researchers who are too keen on uncovering the mysterious of the world for their own good, a union of birds on strike and then your party members. The only one I met was Lint, a racoon who got seperated from his family and lost in the woods. Scared and alone, he’s begun writing stories to pass the time and now asks Loaf and his father to escort him out. In combat he’s got more ranged attacks than Loaf does, but its in the overworld where his talents lie. Just like the classic Paper Mario games, it’s not just combat where partners have an effect. They alos have unique abilities that help the player traverse the environemtn (Lint can dig through dirt to create pathways) and it seems from trailers that Loaf will get some environment abilities of his own. It’s not all combat focused.
Interestingly enough, while the combat looks like Paper Mario and the UI feels like Paper Mario I would actually say it feels like a different game: Tomato Adventure on the GBA. A rather obscure RPG (that I have been streaming, go an check it out here), Tomato Adventure’s combat involves gimmicks that are used to pull off attacks. What this means is that every attack has a different mini-game that needs to be pulled off to execute or get the best effects of the attack, and Born of Bread does something similar. The mini-games aren’t as out there as some of Tomato Adventure’s can be but it is more than simply hitting the A button just as an attack hits, which is how the Paper Mario series has done it. I like it as it helps to make Born of Bread stand out a bit more and that works very much in its favour. If Bug Fables was a successor to the original Paper Mario, then Born of Bread feels like a successor to The Thousand Year Door which is high praise. Hopefully we get a confirmed release date soon.
Terra Memoria
- Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PS5, Xbox Series S/X, Windows
- Release Date: TBC
- Steam link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1912750/Terra_Memoria/
A shortage of magic crystals and the sudden awakening of ancient robots leads six new friends on an incredible investigation across Terra – a cozy and fantastic world that combines 3D and pixel art.
Terra Memoria is an RPG very much utilising the 2D-HD style (although it has nothing to do with Square-Enix) and while a decent enough turn-based RPG, I don’t think it did a lot to stand-out. Now, that isn’t to say it is bad because it isn’t. The dialogue is fun, the characters and setting are well designed and there are some unique things to the combat that I’ll get into just below. Unfortunately, it didn’t do enough to leave a big enough impact on me compared to other contemporary titles in this genre and I think that is down to a somewhat slow and repetetive start. The opening is just a string of the same kind of battles over and over again and while I am sure it is like this to get you acclamated to the combat, the systems aren’t that deep at this point that it needed to be as long as it was.
But there is something unique about combat and that is the turn system and how it dictates everything in combat. Rather than going in a specific order, Terra Memoria utilises a turn-order system where the attack used previously dictates the order. Shifting turn-orders isn’t new but in this game, using a stronger attack will puish you further back down the turn-order and that’s the only consequence of it. There is no MP, you pay for all attacks with time. What’s more, doing enough damage by taking advantage of enemy weakpoints can push their turn-order further back, and also increasse the amount of elements they are weak to, promoting an aggressive play style.
This all said, the amount of attacks (at least in the demo) was super limited. Just two for each combat character in the party. Interestingly though, the party set-up has something unique going on as well. Players have access to three combat focused characters and three support focused charcters, and these units pair up with one another. Pairing a support unit with a combat unit can offer the ability to change attack elements and add additional effects, meaning that new party members are kind of like equipment. However, the downside to this is that it is random which support member is equipped to which combat member, and I’m not sure I get the logic behind why this is.l It wasn’t a big deal at the start of the game but I could see it becoming annoying later on.
There is one more mechanic that stands out in Terra Memoria and that is the crafting system. I don’t mean crafting weapons and equipment though, I mean crafting actual objects that appear in the environment and serve a purpose (like building a barrier to keep enemies out of your hometown). This only happened once in the demo so I’m not sure to the full extent this mechanic goes, but there’s clearly a whole system in place for it here so perhaps there will be more to it than meets the eye? We’ll just have to see.
Right now the game has no release date and I’m sure the devs have a lot more cooking. The game looks fantastic and it plays well, but for it to stand-out from the crowd I think it’s going to need a powerful story that draws people in, which I wasn’t able to fully gleam based on my time with demo. One to keep an eye on I suppose.
RUINSMAGUS: Complete
- Platforms: Windows, PSVR2
- Release Date: September 19th, 2023
- Steam link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1701560/RUINSMAGUS/
Dive in and experience the magical world of Grand Amnis! Armed with the gauntlet, explore the mysterious Ruins beneath the city with your companion Iris, a novice researcher, as you uncover the dark secrets and prevent a terrifying future in this narrative action adventure.
Disclaimer: PushDustIn, the founder of Source Gaming and a good friend, works on RUINSMAGUS. However, I have not let that influence my opinion on the game.
The only VR game I played of the show, RUINSMAGUS is a virtual reality RPG played in the first person. The best comparison I can make are the Elder Scrolls games but if magic was your primary form of attack. On one hand, players can perform a variety of spells, like charging up a fire blast, performing an AOE lightning attack or lobbing an incineary grenade. The thing is, players actually have to do the motion as if they are creating the magic themselves. The grenade has to be thrown like you might throw a stone and the fire blasts have to be aimed not with a stick or mouse but with your actual hand. It’s an incredibly immersive experience and with so many different magical options it seems like it will be fun to find one that works for your playstyle.
On your other hand is a shield, with a little tablet on the inside acting as an in-universe, contextual, game menu. All you need to do to block is put your arm in front of you like you would in real-life, and you can bash things with the shield or parry. The trick to this game is being able to use both your arm simultaneously for maximum defense and attack. You can also hold items, like potions, and if you want to use them you have to actually do a drinking motion. Like all good VR games, this one really strives to immerse the player in the game world and it does so superbly. You can also take photos with a camera, although figuring out how to do this took some getting use to. So many pictures of the floor.
So technically, RUINSMAGUS is already available on Steam right now but RUINMAGUS: Complete is soon to be launching for the first time on consoles thanks to the PSVR2. This version has all the content already released on PC (hence the Complete in the name) which includes all the DLC, the new English voice cast, remix dungeons and achievements. If you are a VR aficionado then I would highly recommend picking this one up.
Another Crab’s Treasure
- Platforms:Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, Windows
- Release Date: 2024 (TBD)
- Steam link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1887840/Another_Crabs_Treasure/
In a vibrant undersea kingdom on the verge of collapse, a hermit crab embarks on a treasure hunt to buy back his repossessed shell. The second game from AGGRO CRAB.
Calling something a Souls-like is so overdone nowadays, but that is exactly what Another Crab’s Treasure is. A cartoony, underwater, Dark Souls game with just a bit of emphasis on platforming. The game is hard and combat requires taking your time and dodging the big crabs wide swings and attacks, but the challenge can be fun. That said, I don’t know if it was just because of the demo but I had no clue where I was going or how to get out of the area I was in. I actually played this one on the show-floor and had no one to ask where to go so I ended up wondering the same bottomless cavern, jumping across jellyfish and fighting crabs.
It also turns out I’m pretty bad at this game. I died way more times than I care to admit and some of those deaths were just from poor platforming from my part. The combat is tough though. The player has a simple melee weapon as their primry attack but you can also use special techniques depending on the type of shell you have equipped. For example, the Soda Pop shell can release bubbles that pop and knock enemies away (and hopefully off of cliffs). Meanwhile the shot glass gives the player more speed (I think) but it shatters in a single hit. Finding the right shell is the key to success in this game it seems. But still, the game is hard and as much as I wanted to like it, there wasn’t a lot here in the demo I played to really sell me on the game. Hopefully as we get closer to release then that will change.
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“As the other major strategy title of its kind on the Nintendo Switch, I feel like I have to compare this to Mario + Rabbids. It’s a requirement of a Nintendo fan.”
I personally disagree but to each their own. Whether they are on Switch or not there are a fair amount of stratgey games that I find better comparing with P5 Tactica, and I’m writing this as someone who enjoyed M+R Kingdom Battle.