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I enjoy seeing what independent developers can achieve with smaller projects. There might be unusual takes on genres or experimentations with genres and ideas. Chronomon is one of these types of titles, as Stone Golem Studios is attempting to fuse popular genres such as Pokemon style creature capturing and Stardew Valley sorts of farming. It’s still early days, and of course there’s clunkiness in such small things, but the idea seems like a promising one. 

Chronomon begins with our avatars awaking in a bunker. Someone else living there, named Kyral, lets you know that some creatures ended up being successfully trapped last night. After choosing a “starter” and using a CIM card to get its data, the worst happens. of the Epoch Syndicate show up and force a retreat. Worse, since they might breach the underground base, Kyral helps you escape, as well as learn how to use a Chronomon to flip switches to escape. Fortunately, a farm has been prepared. It’s dilapidated and in need of repairs, but we have a chance to regroup, establish ourselves, make connections with villages, and perhaps start to rebuild and fight back. Granted, since this is early access, we don’t have all of that yet, but we can make a start. 

I really like the initial approach in Chronomon, and it does feel like a mix of Pokemon monster-raising JRPGsand Stardew Valley style life sims in a way that similar sorts of games like Moonstone Island doesn’t. There’s a very dark atmosphere that fits the dystopian tone, yet also a sense of hope since we are fighting back and connecting with other people and a village. The look is pretty strong at the moment, especially with farming, though I do think improved controls will help that in time. It also pulls from games like Marvelous’ Rune Factory in that every type of action you’re undertaking shapes your character and progress, so it feels like choosing to farm, fish, or battle with monsters each carries weight. Farming comes down to clearing land, tilling soil, planting crops, and waiting to harvest. Monster battling and catching entails heading out into the world and going through turn-based fights.  

As an early access title, I did notice some elements of Chronomon do feel like they need a bit of touching up. The thing that initially bothered me most, so much so that I ended up restarting, is during the first selection of your monster ally, the execution, controls, and menu meant that I selected a character I didn’t want when I was just attempting to check the stats. Said control issues are currently a problem throughout my sessions, as I went through it on a Legion Go and couldn’t try and go with a mix of switching to keyboard and mouse if I found things weren’t ideal. This is compounded by, at the moment, the UI being a bit cumbersome. Considering how heavy of a focus crafting and character management is, I wish it was a bit clearer and easier to parse. However, keep in mind this is a game isn’t even one month into early access as I write this and, on May 13, 2025, Stone Golem Studios created a Steam Discussions thread specifically looking to address the controls issue. 

Another early issue has to do with balance in Chronomon. Which, again, I think we will see addressed over the coming weeks and months. At the moment, I feel like the goal is to really make this feel like a post-apocalyptic adventure with odds stacked against you. It takes a while for your creatures to level up, even when they’re under level 5 or 10. Enemy creatures can be incredibly strong. If you die, you’re both losing items in your inventory and money. I found it quite daunting, especially in the first three hours I played. I’m not sure if the answer is implementing some difficulty options or eventual balancing patches or adding items that adjust earned experience and influence stats. But again, it’s early on and things could change. 

I do think the one thing I’d like most from Chronomon is something that we might not see happen over the course of development. The game and its concept possess a really strong identity, and you can see that from the outset. Stone Golem Studios seems like it has a really strong idea of what it wants to do, the story it is going to tell, and an approach to pairing farming and a life sim with monster catching and battling. However, I feel like sometimes it visually doesn’t always match that. I wish the character designs for the monsters, NPCs, and our avatars stood out a bit more. Especially since there will be a relationship element with friendship systems. I’d love to see the major NPCs look more unique and some of the Chronomon stand out more as development continues. I even feel like this ties into the UI issue I mentioned earlier. Some adjustments to define the game’s visual identity so it leaves the same sort of impression as the gameplay concepts would be great.

Chronomon could be an indie to keep an eye on. The concept behind pairing a Pokemon like with Stardew Valley is sound. The initial loop is encouraging, and it seems like Stone Golem Studios is trying to use the idea of a post-apocalyptic world to explain its gameplay and narrative in a cohesive way. There are some minor issues at the moment, and I would love to see more defined character and UI designs to help it stand out. However, you have to expect that from an Early Access title. It might be worth watching in the weeks and months to come. 

Chronomon is in early access on PCs via Steam. 

The post Preview: Chronomon Blends Pokemon and Farming Life Sims appeared first on Siliconera.

I don't know who I am. I don't know what happened to my family. I'm alone, on a road to a small town, and while nobody cares enough to offer me food or a place to stay, they show enough concern to warn me away from the witch living in the woods. Yet the moment they do, I know that is exactly where I am meant to be. This is Emberstorm Entertainment's Reka, a game about training under a witch, decorating a chicken-legged, moving house, and using my herbal and potentially magical skills to improve my life throughout this simulation. 

I take my time on my journey to the witch's house. She's not going anywhere. I'm not running away. But I do want to know what is around us, and what I can expect. I help a merchant with a fae entity of sorts trapped in a lantern repair a wagon. I find a baby goat before it falls to it's death in a well. People in this dwindling village spread many rumors about the woman I'll soon meet. She's a demonic presence. She's an eccentric old lady. She once had a companion, but who knows where they went. She eats children. She's an affront to The High Lord. 

Everyone has an opinion and, after hearing a sufficient amount, I know enough to suss out her exact location and use my com to head to my new home. All this serves as a means of showing how much worldbuilding can be done in such a short amount of time. You need to try and connect to learn more. Only by hearing rumors can you get on the right path. But by taking that time, you also learn what their lives are like. What the village is like. What they need. How you can help to gain useful or decorative rewards.

Upon first meeting Baba Jaga, she seems... ordinary. A plain, elderly woman. Someone a bit gruff. She's been waiting for me, just as I have for her, and she tasks me with gathering mushrooms and honey for our meal, then raspberries to barter with some Lutki in the woods who stole her talisman. Said charm will be mine if I retrieve it, allowing me immediate access to teleport back to her home at a whim. "So she is magic," I think as I head out for more practical gathering. Her crows follow and surround me. Whether they are there to report my deeds back to her or protect me, I can't tell. Mushrooms, honey, and raspberries are easy enough to spot. So are the mischievous woodland creatures that look like hopping wooden logs with faces. They're eager to trade me niceties like apples for my berries and give a gift if freed from errant logs, though I did need to chase down the thief who stole from my new master. 

I feel like that’s what I appreciate most about Reka, even in these early days. There’s a strong sense of magical realism. Yes, there really are beings like the Lutki and Leshy in the woods. Some remedies for people around you are as simple as putting in some effort to harvest, gather, or prepare food. However, there’s real magic here too. The fast traveling is a prime example, as is the chicken-footed, moving home itself. After a death in the family in the village, the home really does need to be cleansed, but that involves placing black salt instead of weaving some spell. But it’s amazing how often practicality and common sense wins. For example, when getting permission from Leshy for a trial that allows a larger home, none of the tasks involve magic or crafting. They involve actions that make the forest and its inhabitants happier. 

I also appreciate how this carries over to added content as well. For example, in May 2025 a Roots and Remedies update launched for Reka. This brings farming to the game. However, I feel like that garden is multifaceted. It looks nice, besides my quaint cottage. It adds something new to my routine. But it also enhances this witch game by making elixirs possible. Yes, we could poison people before, but now there are more opportunities, and it seems like a means of using both practical tonics to assist people and more magical potions such as one that lets us understand animals.

Reka feels full of potential and like a witch game that explores how “magic” could be an actual spell or a more practical solution someone didn’t consider. Even though the 1.0 release isn’t set to arrive until later in 2025, it feels like there’s so much to enjoy already. I love diving into the world created here and taking in the ambiance.

Reka is in early access on PC via Steam. 

The post Preview: Reka Already Feels Like an Immersive Witch Game appeared first on Siliconera.

The original Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs the Soulless Army came out worldwide right before Persona 3 launched and basically showed a larger audience how incredible Shin Megami Tensei games could be. As a result, it ended up not getting the response it probably deserved. Now it’s 2025 and SMT is practically mainstream thanks to the success of entries like Persona 4, Persona 5, and SMT V, and this spin-off series is getting a second chance with Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army. I’m so glad, because it seems like the remaster really emphasizes how entertaining it can be.

We’ve seen different types of devil summoners throughout the SMT mainline and spin-off series, and one of the interesting things about Raidou Remastered is it starts with someone who knows exactly what they’re getting into. Things begin with a person from the Kuzunoha Village going through tests to see if they are worthy of becoming the next person to take on the name of Raidou, allowing them to serve the village and country of Japan by protecting the capital from malicious demons and ill-intentioned individuals willing to use the supernatural in unscrupulous ways. It’s a tutorial to introduce each element of combat, while also get someone accustomed to the action-RPG where our avatar fights alongside two summoned demon allies. The combat system feels tight and responses, and even during my brief preview session I could find and buy Skill Books to add more spells to my initial demons’ movesets. 

It’s this combat system that feels quite different from installments like SMT V, Persona 5, and Devil Survivor. Turn-based is absent here. Directly controlling your demon allies? Nah, you’re mainly just suggesting or letting them do their thing. Raidou himself can use light and strong sword attacks, with even aerial and plunging ones being an option, pull out a gun for a succession of shots, and use elemental magic. Even capturing is more active than in other installments. You’ll need to run up during a fight to attempt to Confine a foe with a flurry of button mashing, with your level and expertise determining if it’s even possible or you have enough room for a foe. Loyalty ends up being a factor and mattering, with demon allies gaining it alongside experience as you fight together, allowing for bonuses once that relationship is maxed out by working alongside each other.

Demons also feel like partners in another way. As part of his new responsibilities as Raidou Kuzunoha XIV, he works at Narumi Detective Agency. His boss there, Shouhei Narumi, works with Yatagarasu, who manages agents like the Kuzunoha. As such, the cases taken tend to involve demonic involvement. This means that the story portion does involve investigating cases. Calling these demon allies to appear alongside you to perform actions, such as Ukobach to Ignite ion or fury in a person to get them to reveal details or Alp to read minds, or to switch control over to one of them for a Solo Investigation segment to access an area that Raidou can’t. Some especially relevant demons I encountered while going hands-on with the game, like characters we’ll encounter, feature voice acting. 

My time with Raidou Remastered ended up being something of a limited session that involved only initially seeing what it’s like to fight alongside demons, take part in a larger investigation, and explore the counterpart of the Capital in the Dark Realm. This is a space between the human and demonic realms, and it’s something of a counterpart filled predominantly with hostile demons. (Friendly ones are there too, as a more amicable Pyro Jack and Alp appeared in my first journey into the area.) It serves as the dungeon experience, mirroring the real world and offering challenges to overcome with the right demon types or boss fights. Save points appear often here, and the quicksave feature is present both here and in most other parts in the “real” world.

Raidou Remastered seems like it will be a promising remaster from Atlus, as well as an opportunity to introduce a larger audience to an interesting Shin Megami Tensei game. From my early hands-on experience with it, I noticed it swiftly gets people introduced to the character, demons, world, and combat system. From there, it starts to set up a mystery while showing exactly why the Raidou Kuzunohas who apparently appeared over the years matter. It’ll be interesting to see how people respond once it drops in June 2025.

Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army will come to the Switch, Switch 2, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC on June 19, 2025. 

The post Preview: Raidou Remastered Offers a More Active SMT Experience appeared first on Siliconera.

We’ve seen so many Vampire Survivors style games since it launched. Lots of people want to create that same roguelike, bullet-hell magic. Likewise, Pac-Man inspired quite a few copycats, with other developers sending players dashing through mazes in search of points and objectives as enemies close in behind them. Maze Mice, from Luck Be a Landlord developer TrampolineTales, borrows concepts from both Pac-Man and Vampire Survivors into a roguelike that feels unique in its own way. 

You’re a mouse. Sometimes, you’re a brightly colored one that also starts with an ability. But regardless, you’re a rodent running through a location. To start off, it’s an attic. Cat-like enemies abound, but there are ways to survive. They all only move when you do, and you gain abilities like fire, knitting needles, light, bombs, and hairballs to deal damage to any pursuing you. Your goal is to collect colored dots, which start out as blue but can eventually be green, red, or yellow, to earn experience, level up, gain more upgrades, and continue to evade and damage your pursuers. 

Playing Maze Mice is incredibly simple, and I highly recommend behaving as though you’re in the middle of a Pac-Man level. Now, you won’t have the fancy drift effects such as holding a directional button ahead of a corner to take the turn more swiftly, but the approach still helps. You want to snarf up any dots, prioritizing the large ones that make lines of new smaller ones and an additional larger one spawn, all while avoiding enemies. It’s best to not attempt to chase down or attack enemies, as larger chains of cats and groups of cat ghosts will eventually start to block paths as they trail behind you. When you get enough orbs to level up, you choose one weapon or utility upgrade that either actively deals damage over time or after a cooldown or type of ive that offers a buff or perhaps lets you revive. Picking the same upgrade repeatedly levels it up. From there, keep running and survive as long as you can.

It’s incredibly satisfying! As someone very adept at Pac-Man, I found myself being able to maintain at least 15 minute runs in Maze Mice, which proved fantastic for unlocking. I will say that, in early access at least, it’s almost a little too easy on earlier levels sometimes. I found it wasn’t until I hit about level 20 that things started to feel genuinely challenging.

There are really only three issues I experienced with Maze Mice so far, and I feel like both involve balancing. In one case, it involves the actual flow of the game itself. It is very easy to catch on to a strategy that works, then cling to it, especially since one of the absolute best weapons is unlocked at the outset. Since one of the most prevalent enemies in Maze Mice happens to be the cats that act like Pac-Man ghosts and automatically follow you after you run past and wake them up, the Flame Trail ability’s damage blows every other type out of the water. This lays a path of fire behind you that increases in strength and capabilities with upgrades. Since the ghost cats will also follow in a similar way, it means they’re equally susceptible. Prism is a close second, as it’s the more effective means of dealing with ghost cats, but there were runs during which I’d only prioritize those and still get to level 30 without any issue. This means Luna and Roscoe are the preferred mice to pick, since each one starts with one of those two upgrades immediately in their inventory in Maze Mice the way some characters do in Vampire Survivors.

Speaking of enemies and abilities, that’s another issue with Maze Mice that is also tied to balancing, since unlocks for those and stages are tied to experience earned each run instead of accomplishments like in Vampire Survivors. The problem here is that it takes so long for new enemies and stages to unlock. I’d unlocked four types of mice and multiple utility and weapon options, but still haven’t seen a new type of enemy or area. It’s always the Attic, which is a very Pac-Man like Maze Mice location, the sleeping cats in various colors signifying strength, and the ghost cats that keep spawning until an eventual larger, faster version spawns and increases in speed. I’d love to see more variety open up more swiftly. 

Of course, given Maze Mice just entered early access on May 2, 2025, I’m more than confident Trampoline Tales will bolster up the roster and add the additional promised characters, enemies, stages, and upgrades. After all, the page already confirmed that there will be double the number of mice and upgrades at launch. The developer is active in the Steam Discussions for the game, after all. All that said, what is here can be quite compelling! Maze Mice taps into what makes both Pac-Man and Vampire Survivors so appealing, and I absolutely think it will be a game I will pop into for 15-30 minute runs every once in a while as a palette cleanser both in early access and after the 1.0 launch.

Maze Mice is available in early access on Steam for PCs.

The post Preview: Maze Mice Combines Vampire Survivors and Pac-Man appeared first on Siliconera.

It's been over six years since the Onimusha: Warlords remaster released on modern platforms. Certainly long enough that I had given up hope of seeing sequels get a similar treatment. That was a little heartbreaking, as I always felt Capcom didn't truly start finding its feet until the second game. I suppose I just needed a little patience, as earlier in 2025, the company announced a remaster of Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny. I previewed the PC version of the game, and it appears to be just the tempering this particular blade needed.

The most obvious difference is one you can see with your own eyes. You can play Onimusha 2 in widescreen if you want, and every aspect of the visuals has been spiffed up to a shine. Just how good everything still looks is a testament to the original game with a bit of spit polish. The details in the backgrounds come alive with the new crispness, and the polygonal models wear their new higher resolution rendering with pride. Protagonist Jubei Yagyu, featuring the likeness of the late legendary actor Yusaku Matsuda, looks especially good.

With that said, the improvements in Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny go deeper than mere cosmetics. All of the control options seen in the remaster of the first game are here, so you can avoid tank controls if you like and switch weapons without fiddling around in menus. Unlike in the original PlayStation 2 release, you can choose when you want to use your Onimusha transformation. Once you collect the requisite five purple souls, you can trigger it at your leisure. This might seem like a small thing, but if you've played this game you know how annoying it is to have the timing of your powered-up form basically left to chance.

The biggest addition here for veterans of the original game is the new Hell Mode. Hard's too lenient for you? You mastered the Issen critical counter to the point that even Critical difficulty is a breeze? Hell Mode is for you. In it, all it takes is a single hit to kill you. Yes, toss all those recovery items into the trash. They've got no use here. You need nothing less than a perfect defense to survive this ultimate challenge. But hey, if you have the true soul of a samurai and never fail your Issen strikes, you shouldn't be taking any hits anyway, right? Hell Mode is an absolute thrill, and it's an excellent new way to play this game.

You may or may not the Gallery from the PlayStation 2 game. It's back with all of the included art enhanced for cleaner viewing. You get 100 new pieces to gawk at, and you can also listen to the soundtrack. This seems like the right place to mention the one step back this remaster takes from the original. Capcom removed Hotei's awesome "Russian Roulette" song, taking the music video and behind-the-scenes footage with it. I suppose a person could just go watch it on YouTube to pump themselves up, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss it.

There are some other small quality-of-life improvements that I appreciated. You can skip the cutscenes, even if it's your first time through the game. It's helpful if you don't have a whole lot of interest in the story. The Easy difficulty setting is available from the get-go, and that's handy if you just want to enjoy the experience and don't want to deal with too much opposition. However you might feel about the value of the story, you'll surely enjoy the new auto-save feature. It's nothing revolutionary, but the original game is more than good enough to not need much more than little tweaks.

Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny has always been a bigger, better sequel that built on the original in a lot of great ways, and my time with this remaster left me optimistic that it will carry that legacy forward. It's fascinating to go back to this game, as its parry-heavy mechanics make it feel more like a new release than a decades-old treasure. The improvements make the game better without fundamentally changing it, and the new Hell Mode serves as an enticing temptation for those who have played the wheels off the original. It's looking like a fine appetizer for the new installment.

Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny will be available for the Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC on May 23, 2025.

The post Preview: Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny Looks to Be a Perfectly-Honed Blade appeared first on Siliconera.

With how many otome isekai manga and anime there are, it’s a little surprising there are so few games about the topic. Transparent Games and Error 300 are attempting to assist with that with Saintess of the Golden Bow, which is fully funded on Kickstarter and still seeking . In this case, it’s inspired by Korean web novels and comics, and it really feels like it tries to follow the lead of similar stories that came before it.

Like many isekai shojo series, the Saintess of the Golden Bow otome begins with someone getting hit by a truck. Celine is a 21-year-old office woman and bit of a loner who enjoyed games, web novels, and web comics. She’s crossing the street in the rain after work, thinking about the fantasy stories she loves, when we have a “truck-kun” moment. She’s run over and wakes up in a forest as Celeste. 

There’s a bit of a twist, however. The Korean web novel Celine is reincarnated into is a boy’s love one. The character she is now, Celeste, was supposed to die in these opening moments to set up the tragic backstory for her knight Levi, who would become the Saint of the Golden Bow. However, Celine has some archery skills and so does Celeste. She uses that to kill the demon that would have killed her. This means when the trial comes to find the person picked by the gods to wield the bow and face the Demon Queen, Celeste/Celine is actually picked.

It makes for some interesting moments and takes on the genre. While Celine is familiar with Celeste’s fate and the course of the story from the one she read in her world, things aren’t going to go like that in this Saintess of the Golden Bow isekai. The one she read with as boys love story. Levi was initially madly in love with Celeste, but is bisexual and had potential love interests in Prince Noah and Elijah the priest after she died. Since Celeste didn’t die, Levi is still as infatuated with her as ever. It also means that as the saintess now, Noah and Elijah are having the interactions they initially had with Levi with her. 

While it’s a bit awkward, since the setup suggests that Levi and Noah were supposed to end up together, I did appreciate some ways in which this is approached early on. Since Celine also inherited Celeste’s emotions and memories, it means she’s aware of how she felt about Levi. The original Celeste was overwhelmed and uncomfortable since he was of a lower station and her knight, and she actually tried to fix him up with other men and women. There’s also the notion that Celine/Celeste isn’t really sure what pairings might happen, even as she starts to fall for and experience some romantic moments with Levi, Noah, and Elijah.  

One thing I didn’t expect, both from this build and the game, is the level of voice acting. In some scenes, there is voice acting for the leads. The casting seems really well done for an indie otome like this! The art direction is rather good too, though I will say that in the case of some of the CGs I’ve seen, it seems like there’s a big difference between the portraits you see during conversations and those scenes, and it’s a little awkward sometimes. The quality on the portraits and CGs are all good! Just sometimes not as similar as I’d expect.

Saintess of the Golden Bow seems like it could be interesting, and the otome game is definitely following the same sort of narrative path as the Korean web comic and novel isekai stories that inspired it. The voice acting is solid. There are occasionally insightful elements to the script. I do wish the character portraits looked a little more like the CG designs, but the quality is generally good! It looks like a promising dating sim.

Saintess of the Golden Bow is in development for PCs, a demo is available on Steam, and the Kickstarter ends on April 20, 2025.

The post Preview: Saintess of the Golden Bow Otome Channels Isekai Stories appeared first on Siliconera.

The original Capcom Fighting Collection felt like a more expected celebration of Capcom’s contributions to the genre. We got Darkstalkers games, Pocket Fighter and Puzzle Fighter, and Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition. With Capcom Fighting Collection 2, we’re getting some deeper cuts from Capcom in this sequel. After spending time with games like Power Stone 2 and Plasma Sword: Nightmare of Bilstein, I really feel like some of those more unexpected games make it feel more special. 

In the case of Power Stone 2, this is especially evident. Both it and the original game are beloved Capcom series, and we don’t honestly see them that often! Basically you needed a Dreamcast, access to a well-stocked arcade, or the PSP Power Stone Collection to really get a chance to appreciate it. So right off the bat, before I hopped into the preview proper, I was psyched about the element of accessibility this lends to a deserving title.

After playing, I must say I’m quite impressed with how Power Stone 2 handles in Capcom Fighting Collection 2 so far. There’s no input lag. It looked fantastic on my Lenovo Legion Go. It started with a CRT filter in effect that looked so good, I left it on initially and turned it back on after seeing how it appeared with no filters. Characters look crisp, it’s responsive, and online multiplayer also worked quite well. I was only testing that with a single extra player. Even still, it performed well and called back to memories I had playing it on a Dreamcast among friends. It’s just a very solid version of the game in the collection, and I appreciated how well it seems to hold up so far.

In the case of Plasma Sword: Nightmare of Bilstein, it’s entirely new to me. While I played Star Gladiator, I never got a chance to play the sequel. It’s fascinating from a historical sense, since we’re seeing an early Capcom 3D fighter and a lot of progress from one installment to another. It feels better than its predecessor, from what I recall, as a result of some updates to characters and the Plasma Gauge system for attacks. The combo system is especially fascinating, given how we can chain attacks together. And given the mobility offered by 3D fighters, being able to use a Plasma Field to temporarily restrict the space in which an opponent can act is quite a boon. 

Plus in general, Plasma Sword: Nightmare of Bilstein seems to be in a good place in Capcom Fighting Collection 2. The build here is quite responsive. The game also looks great, with fantastic character designs, though I feel like the CRT effect looked a bit better with Power Stone 2 than this when I tried it. I get the feeling after some initial tests with it that, even though it probably isn’t the reason someone would pick up this pack, it still has some mechanics and art.

After playing through Power Stone 2 and Plasma Sword: Nightmare of Bilstein for a bit, I get the general impression that Capcom Fighting Collection 2 will be valuable to players for a number of reasons. With the case of the former, it’s a beloved game in a cult classic series that still seems like it plays well offline or online. In the case of latter, it’s a more obscure game people might not know as well with unusual character designs that could prove fun and interesting historically. In general, it seems like this compilation has potential.

Capcom Fighting Collection 2 will come to the Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and PC on May 16, 2025. The full collection includes Capcom Fighting Evolution, Capcom vs SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 Pro, Capcom vs SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001, Plasma Sword: Nightmare of Bilstein, Power Stone, Power Stone 2, Project Justice, and Street Fighter Alpha 3 Upper.

The post Preview: Power Stone 2 and Plasma Sword Help Capcom Fighting Collection 2 Stand Out appeared first on Siliconera.

Early access is 100% an opportunity for developers to get funds and on games, in the hopes of a stronger final product that, you know, actually gets made. Call of Boba is one of the latest life sim/shop management/roguelikes out there. Well, it definitely feels like it’s a work in progress. There’s potential here, though! And those who stick with it through its patches and final stretch might find a fun and friendly game, especially since it can already be entertaining.

As with many such life sims, Call of Boba begins with burnout. A young penguin named Bobo returns home from the city after collapsing and being hospitalized from burnout at a toxic job. After a phone call from mom triggers another mental crisis, Bobo ends up being hit by a truck. That turns out to be a blessing, as the driver is a childhood friend named Stellar. Stellar is trying to revive a family boba tea shop. Bobo ends up becoming a part of that dream, getting a job and a place to live alongside Stellar.

Now, before I get into gameplay, one thing I noticed is that the script is slightly awkward. It isn’t bad, but there are some lines that seem like they might not have been well localized, as they don’t sound natural. 

The gameplay loop in Call of Boba tends to follow a particular pattern. During the day, you can farm for ingredients, fish, and interact with characters. (Many of the townspeople aren’t really worth talking to yet, and the love interests aren’t fully finished and fleshed out yet.) When you’re in the shop, you can open for business and fulfill orders. At the end of each day when Bobo sleeps, you go through a roguelike shooter facing enemies for more ingredients. Once the 1.0 version launches, there’ll be more enemies, festivals, more story segments, and options to actually find love for Bobo. 

At the moment, figuring out that loop is pretty hands-off. Stellar will walk you through making one type of boba tea and opening the shop for the day at the start! But the first time you head into the roguelike shooter dream world, fish, and actually go through time in town, it’s a bit more freeform. Having the missions and objectives helps, but you can tell that right now Tomatoast is building the foundation for Call of Boba. The general framework is there, and we could perhaps see more structure build up to ease us into it.

There are some frustrations with this early build. The main ones I experienced came up when managing the shop. For example, I had two customers waiting. I started making the first drink requested. However, the second person in line who wanted a different type of drink suddenly got angry and stormed off. The only thing I could think of is that the NPC mistakenly thought the current drink was for them, rather than the first customer, as I did experience single customers walking out and not giving me a chance to properly make a drink when I accidentally misclicked on an ingredient. You’re supposed to be able to restart by heading to the sink, but instead customers would just abandon ship if I messed up. 

I also found it a bit clunky to play on a Legion Go, so someone using a Steam Deck or similar sort of handheld gaming PC might encounter some growing pains with Call of Boba. Navigating the menus is a little difficult with the current controller scheme, and I found I wasn’t always able to select and navigate in some situations and needed to resort to the touch screen instead. But then, some of the menus and UI elements in general are clearly still at various phases of development and you can tell they’ll be adjusted.

Especially since other elements of Call of Boba seem pretty well executed so far. The concept of the gameplay loop seems like it’s pretty solid. The spritework is fantastic. The concept is great. 

It’s clear Call of Boba is a life and boba shop management sim with roguelike elements that is in progress. You can tell Tomatoast is working on things, and the Steam page is already filled with updates and commentary. It’s just one of those things that will take time. Hopefully, in a year or so, it’ll be fine-tuned and perfected for the 1.0 release.

Call of Boba is available in early access on Steam for PCs.

The post Preview: Call of Boba Feels Early in Development appeared first on Siliconera.

Have you heard about Splintered, a Dragon Quest-like game strongly influenced by early JRPGs that is also packed with randomizer options? No? I mean, it’s understandable. I only fought out about it offhand by going through a few rounds of my Steam Discovery queue, but geez, I’m wishing it didn’t take that kind of effort. After going through some of what is immediately available at its launch, I get the feeling dotMake Studios could be making something special, and I wish more people knew about it.

Splintered begins with a massive betrayal. After selecting your avatar’s appearance, you learn that your kingdom is betrayed, the king is dead, everyone is against you, your sister went off to a battlefront, and it is up to you to retrieve an artifact in the hopes of starting to fight back. What follows is a mostly traditional JRPG style experience strongly influenced by Dragon Quest. You head out from the castle. You fight turn-based battles against monsters from a first-person perspective. You explore dungeons (with torches for visibility) for key items and to complete objectives. There are NPCs to talk to in towns. You might even happen upon a little sidequest, such as playing “hide and seek.”

There are elements that set it apart, of course. First, the approach to equipment and abilities is fascinating. You choose two specialties when you first start the game, which influence stats. You pick up equipment, which influences your abilities based on experience you earn via using it to attack enemies. In addition to standard leveling up upon defeating foes, you also get additional bonus skills by defeating certain numbers of foes. Since you’re basically learning from them by hunting them down. (It’s very satisfying.) So your build is directly affected by your choices and gameplay style. It’s a level of depth I didn’t expect. 

DotMake Studios also completely integrates the idea of game randomizer elements into Splintered. So you aren’t just unlocking and experiencing randomized quests and making or using seeds, but that is also integral to the story. When you get through a chapter, the world is splintered. So all of the monsters are reshuffled and adjusted, the landscape looks different, you may be able to pursue different options for yourself, and it is completely acknowledged. It’s early in development, for sure, but I was so surprised at how invested you can get and how committed to the bit the developer is. 

I’m also pretty impressed by the general quality and foundation found in Splintered so far, considering it is an early access game. I didn’t experience any bugs after about seven hours of play, which is a pleasant surprise. It runs well. It looks good. The soundtrack is perhaps the only underwhelming part, but given this is an early build maybe we’ll see that change? (I would just mute the game and play other music.) For those who do have questions or experience issues, the developer is active on the Steam discussions board. I primarily played on a Lenovo Legion Go and it was fine, but I noticed Richard Murtland did create a whole thread for Steam Deck help.

I can’t get over how it seems like nobody is talking about Splintered, because it strikes me as a really special early access game. There’s a lot of potential here. I can clearly see how much dotMake Studios respects and loves older JRPGs like Dragon Quest, and that helped shape this. Not only that, but the skill acquisition elements and randomizer features do feel very novel and like they could offer a lot of potential both now and in the final release.

Splintered is in Steam Early Access for the PC now. 

The post Preview: Splintered Is a Special Early Access Game appeared first on Siliconera.

Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack GameCube games are arriving on June 5, 2025, the same day the Switch 2 debuts. However, at the start the selection is going to be a bit small. F-Zero GX, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker,and SoulCalibur 2 are the three appearing alongside the launch with Super Mario Strikers confirmed as showing up shortly after. I got to see how two of those four looked at a recent preview event, and they seemed as enjoyable as I ed. 

First, before even getting into experiences, the Nintendo Switch Online GameCube games playable on Switch 2 will feature some additional features. You can switch between the original ratio and a fullscreen possibility in the options once you load up the game. If you’re playing locally and not online, split screen multiplayer will show up for some titles. (Not SoulCalibur 2, obviously.) GameChat works with it, though I didn’t get to sample that during my preview session. Customizable controls will be possible, though, and there will be a CRT filter you can apply. 

I started with SoulCalibur 2. The attendant at the station noted that it already offered full screen in a past incarnation, so it wasn’t so much of an issue with the presentation here. However, this opportunity did mean that I not only got to see Link and Ivy fight again. It also meant trying the game with a GameCube controller. The first time I played this entry was on that system at a friend’s, so it was so easy for muscle memory to take over as I stepped up to fight again. The controller felt as comfortable as usual, and it looked fine on the Switch 2. Which is only to be expected, given the age of the game and the fact we’ve seen Bandai Namco bring back an HD Online version on the PS3 and Xbox 360. 

It was F-Zero GX that felt more different when I got to test it out. The attendant noted there are some visual upgrades, so it still looked sharp. But again, this was always an eye-catching and vibrant GameCube game, so of course F-Zero GX would look good on a Switch 2 with Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack. I will note that I honestly didn’t like the full-screen for it. While that was fine for SoulCalibur 2, here I felt like it just artificially stretched what was already there. It was sort of like the effect for Game Boy games on the GBA to fill the screen. It actually threw me off a bit in my first race, and I felt like I did better during the second after turning it off. Perhaps it was due to nostalgia and being more accustomed to one appearance! Maybe it’s totally fine and involves a little getting used to. I’m curious to see how it looks in other games to make a more informed decision.

I’m optimistic about Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack GameCube games on the Switch 2! I’d like to play Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance on the go or see enough people show interest in Chibi Robo to convince Nintendo to make a more traditional, new entry in that series. The two launch games F-Zero GX and SoulCalibur 2 worked fine when I tested them out. The GameCube controller felt great and comfortable with them both as well. I think it could be quite a boon to that tier of the subscription service, even if some of the new additions like the other aspect ratio option might not seem like it’d suit every game.

Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack for GameCube games will be present on the Switch 2 when the system launches on June 5, 2025. 

The post Preview: Nintendo Switch Online GameCube Games Get Nostalgic appeared first on Siliconera.

Recent console launches tended to include a piece of software that might feel a bit more like a tech demo than a game. With the Nintendo Switch, we got 1-2 Switch. The PS5 came with Astro’s Playroom as a free install. Nintendo decided Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour will be a paid app that launches alongside the console on June 5, 2025, and after playing it I really am surprised it will be n additional purchase.

Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is structured as something like a museum tour, with players’ avatar wandering around the console’s parts and learning about it as they do. You can talk with other visitors, with most of them hyping up the system by expressing their excitement or trying to encourage the person playing to take part in the “experiences” within the app. My trial session lasted 15 minutes, but that still meant I got to try some minigames, a tech demo, and a quiz.

The quiz is one of the most basic of experiences, and these can be taken to earn medals. So the one I went through involved the Joy-Con 2, asking things like how many cameras it had, details about buttons, and so on. Basically, you commit to a quiz, read a handful of signboards with insight about them, then go answer. If you miss a question, the signboard with the correct response will be highlighted so you can retake it and get the answer “right.”

In the case of the tech demo, I tested out one in the Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour preview. It involved shaking the Joy-Con 2 controllers like maracas. Since this wasn’t a traditional game, which would award medals based on performance, it instead listed some testing objectives. One involved rolling the beads in the “instruments.” Another involved changing its appearance. Yet another tasked me with switching the insides from “beads” to “balls.” It’s essentially a means of seeing how the HD rumble and haptic changes and mimics certain sensations. It’s fine and all, as well as an easy way to earn a medal, but I wasn’t excited to test it out.

As for the minigames, I got to play three. However, one felt like another tech demo disguised as a minigame, while another seemed like a quiz in disguise. One of these involved dodging spiked balls, with medals awarded for surviving 20 and 30 seconds. However, the mouse controls were used to move a UFO out of the way of the hazards. Clearing it unlocked a part two that added stars to collect to the mix, with points awards earning more medals. It was the most game-like of the three and fine? Again, I wasn’t excited and after earning medals, I doubt I would return to it. 

The quiz-like minigame was an FPS test. Various balls, like ones used for soccer, tennis, and basketball, would go past on the top and bottom of the screen. I had to determine what the framerate was. In the case of tennis, it was much trickier due to the speed. But this wasn’t exactly fun. Especially as the medals were only awarded if you got all the answers correct.

As for the other minigame that felt like a tech demo, that was a rumble test that also involved the mouse mode. When it started, I’d need to move the Joy-Con 2 on a surface and feel the rumble. When I found the point where it was strongest, I’d need to press a button. Between one and two medals are awarded based on how “close” your guess was. Well, I got two medals on the first try, so I was done.

So why do you earn medals? Because some of the Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour experiences are locked away behind them. 

I’m not impressed with Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour. It isn’t captivating in the way that Astro’s Playroom on the PS5 was, and that was a free experience. Yes, the Japanese eShop lists it as a 990 yen application at the moment. I just worry there isn’t enough there after spending 15 minutes with it and testing out a selection of its activities.

Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour will come to the Switch 2 on June 5, 2025. 

The post Preview: Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour Is Underwhelming appeared first on Siliconera.

Drah x Drive is one of the more unusual games in the Nintendo Switch 2 lineup, as the game is dedicated to highlighting the mouse controls. That’s ambitious, and I appreciate it! I also like the approach and design. However, I’m also worried it is the Metroid Prime: Blast Ball. 

As a refresher, Metroid Prime: Blast Ball was a demo for Metroid Prime: Federation Force and involved a sports game in which two teams of three robots tried to get the most points by getting a ball into a goal. It was designed to show off 3DS multiplayer and could be really fun… if you found enough players. This proved a problem at the Nintendo Switch 2 preview session for Drag x Drive as well. 

In Drag x Drive, players are divided into two teams of three. Each one is a robot in a wheelchair. Your goal is to get the ball and toss it into a basketball-style hoop. This can be done from a distance, or you can attempt a sort of dunk by racing toward the inclines near the hoop and shooting from there, getting an extra point in the process for the stylish “trick.”

The preview session began with an overview of the controls. Because while Metroid Prime: Blast Ball acted as a multiplayer example, Drag x Drive serves as a showcase of the Joy-Con 2 mouse controls. Each one is held with the mouse side against a surface. You’re directed to move them as though you’re gripping the wheel and pulling to propel yourself, right down to only doing so with one instead of both to turn. 

It works well! It’s a bit exhausting, and I found it took some time to really develop the right pacing and “strides” to get optimal speed and more natural turns. Also, due to the haptic of the Switch 2 controls, I imagine it feels exactly like pushing wheels in my hands. The vibration and tactile sensation seems realistic. 

However, it’s after that tutorial that I encountered two flaws. The first is that in this practice session while waiting for enough players for the match, I learned there’s really only one type of shot that feels worth it. That’s the one involving racing toward the incline next to the hoop where you’re trying to score, then flicking your wrist to toss the ball in. I found the accuracy seemed better at that moment. Plus, you’re guaranteed extra points in addition to the standard two, which helps a lot.

The other issue is that there were never enough people during this isolated session to actually play a game. There were plenty of demo stations set up. I actually showed up to it three times, waiting 15 minutes the first one, 10 the second, and five at the very end. It just never happened, and that concerned me. Because if I couldn’t encounter enough people to test the game in the ideal circumstances, would I get to once it launches?

I like the idea behind Drag x Drive, and I do think it is helpful to better understand how the Switch 2 mouse controls work. However, I’m concerned about being able to play it in ideal conditions. I never actually got to try a game during this early demo session. If there’s a way to mitigate that after launch, such as a campaign or single-player opportunities, I think it could be fine. If not, then I’d be a bit worried, as Drag x Drive feels like a game that might live or die depending on whether it finds a large community of Switch 2 players.

Drag x Drive will come to the Nintendo Switch in Summer 2025. 

The post Preview: Drag x Drive May Be the Switch 2’s Blast Ball appeared first on Siliconera.

When it comes to Donkey Kong games, we tend to get trickier, 2D or 2.5D platformers that often get really punishing! Nintendo is switching things up for the Switch 2 launch however, with the new Donkey Kong Bananza that feels more like an open world adventure along the lines of Super Mario Odyssey. It’s definitely feeling Iike it’ll fill the action-adventure game for all ages for the launch window and, after a brief encounter with it, I saw some rather promising parts.

Donkey Kong Bananza begins on Ingot Isle. It’s an island with shocking mines that include Golden Banana gems. It’s attracted all sorts of apes, and Donkey Kong is among them. (He’s rocking a more classic look as well!) He’s fixated on the gems, early on even snagging another monkey miner’s find due to the obsession. However, a group of more malicious simians known as Void Co show up to steal them. With a new ally named Odd Rock on his side, literally since the character is riding on his shoulder, Donkey Kong heads after them.

The initial Ingot Isle mines portion of Donkey Kong Bananza is dedicated to setting the stage. We see how Donkey Kong can punch his way through solid rocks to get the Golden Banana gems. (Which he then busts up and eats. Is that healthy? He seems fine!) Approaching NPC monkeys can help provide insights or allow us to talk with them to advance the adventure. Early on, you have an option to turn on tips that include exclamation points guiding you to your next objectives, which will show up over points of interest and help move you forward. 

It’s in these early spots that we get to see some of Donkey Kong’s new tricks. Though many are old ones being shown in a new type of adventure. His bashing things is one element. His punches can break through walls and help create paths to places in spots. You can do a ground pound on places to flip switches or slap the ground. It’s possible to scale walls and climb up them to reach new places. He’s a versatile ape!

After seeing Void Co’s theft, my Donkey Kong Bananza session took me to another new area called Lagoon Layer. After eavesdropping on some scavenger monkeys in this layer, we learn that we can rip explosive blocks from walls and toss them to defeat enemies or further destroy the environment, perhaps leading to secret areas hiding more items, Golden Banana gems, or fossils that you can trade in later. 

Most of my time in this area felt like it was trying to introduce this mechanic and offer opportunities to experiment with it. There are multiple walls with visible gold and items embedded in them, providing plenty of opportunity to yank a bomb off a wall and through to collect pieces. One devious enemy features a spiked top, spinning blades that help it fly, and a claw at the bottom that lets it pick up rubble and drop it on your to attack. How do you beat it? Grab a bomb and chuck it! I was also pleased to find a visibly weak wall that could be bombed to access a hidden area, with collectible items and a fossil inside. 

The main point of this area is to help the monkeys around out and reach a new area by stopping a Void Co block keeping water from draining. A key has to be found to unlock it. That means using bombs to destroy the stony, armored exterior of a large enemy near the lock to reveal the golden skeleton holding a key at the center. Once you break through, it’s easy to bust it up, steal the key, pop it in the lock, and hit it to spin it to advance to the next spot.

I was a bit uncertain about Donkey Kong Bananza at first glance, even though I love the new design for the lead. After trying it, it feels like the same sort of bright and colorful adventure as Super Mario Odyssey, with nooks to explore, additional objectives to perhaps undertake as we head to face Void Co, and lots of things to collect. Donkey Kong Bananza feels like it’s his Super Mario Odyssey, and the Switch 2 game is big on busting things up through colorful layers.

Donkey Kong Bananza will come to the Nintendo Switch 2 on July 17, 2025.

The post Preview: Digging Into Donkey Kong Bananza  appeared first on Siliconera.

Mario Kart World is going to be the flagship Nintendo Switch 2 designed to entice us into adopting the console and highlight what sets it apart from the original system. Now, I didn’t get to try every element of the game, like the free driving across the world to see courses, the ways in which multiplayer can work with a smaller group, or the full-fledged, four course Grand Prix experiences we’re used to. However, I did get to be a Cow riding on a Cute Scoot and almost made it into the top 12 of a Knockout Tour, and that’s pretty great.

My first experience with Mario Kart World involved going through one track in Grand Prix against another person before heading into a single race on my own. In the case of the former, it was a slice of the game that was essentially predetermined. I could pick from a wide roster of already unlocked characters. Rather than skins, each version of a character is a different variant, so you would see standard Daisy and Swimsuit Daisy, and so on. I went with the Cow from Moo Moo Meadows, because of course I did, and initially picked a standard kart. 

The good news is, all of your muscle memory from Mario Kart 8 and its Deluxe release will kick in again. The controls are all the same, and the general “feel” of racing is as well. So you’ll lean into turns, drift to boost, and need to time your item attacks to send things careening forward and back. 

The change is that now each course feels like it is actually a road taking you on a journey. You aren’t looping around in circles. In one situation, I was going through an area that eventually turned forested, with dinosaurs roaming around. With the right timing, I went right up one’s head and back. We’ll go along roads. We’ll travel. We’ll see things change. This also means the weather will shift since we’re actually journeying around the world as we drive. In particular, the rain storm really struck me, as it meant a different in lighting, the rain was pouring down, and I can’t be certain, but it also almost felt like the road conditions maybe changed a bit? 

The progression also means we’ll see a bit more types of roads, which also means different approaches to these elements. In the April 2025 Nintendo Switch 2 Direct, we saw characters grinding on rails. Well, that’s definitely present here! If you happen to get the new feather power-up, reminiscent of the Super Mario World item, you get a higher jump that makes it easier to get on top of these or reach different areas. However, I also ended up grinding after other situations that didn’t involve a standard jump. It offers a degree of safety, a little speed, and the ability to do the jump effect after for a quick boost.

The feather isn’t the only new type of power-up I found. Another vastly increased the size of my character and kart when I was playing as an especially dapper King Boo (complete with monocle) riding a Cute Scoot scooter in a single-player Grand Prix race. This allows you to just roll over everything, including enemies or NPC cars heading from the other direction. It’s so powerful. The other is that you can happen upon food trucks or stops that offer a regenerating bag of food. Snag one, and you get a power boost from the item that’s now trailing behind you.

But it was the Knockout Tour that most impressed me during my Switch 2 demo sessions. Part of this is because during that session, I got to sample free roaming. As you wait for everyone to show up, you can explore the course and area you’re in. This is fantastic for finding secrets you can exploit during the race, as well as just explore elements that you might never see during a race. I discovered one of those food truck options, a shortcut to another area, and realized that just dropping off the side of this area wouldn’t bring up a Lakitu to save me! Instead, I’d plummet to the bottom of the area and get to explore there too.

Once everyone showed up, we voted for the areas we wanted to race through. This works like multiplayer in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, in that everyone gets a vote, and randomly one person’s selection is chosen. From there, you ride! As you reach what would normally be the indicator of the next lap, you’ll see a number showing the cut-off for elimination. So initially it goes from 24 to 20. That number keeps dropping. I ended up being cut out of the top 12 in true Mario Kart fashion. That is, there were about five of us right there, it seemed like I was in ninth place, but someone had saved up some red shells and knocked me into 13th. Alas.

During my preview session, Mario Kart World felt like a reinvention of a game and series we love that only adds to the experience without detracting any of what we appreciate. The Grand Prix mode feels more traditional, even as the tracks instead send us traveling around the world. The Knockout Tour feels like a new way of helping us potentially be our best. We can be the Moo Moo from Moo Moo Meadow. What I saw left me wanting to see more, and I hope for the best for the final version of the game.

Mario Kart World will come to the Nintendo Switch 2 on June 5, 2025.

The post Preview: I Can’t Wait for Mario Kart World Multiplayer appeared first on Siliconera.

The Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Switch 2 edition begins with a flash of nostalgia. Samus descends top of her ship to a planet surface below. An artifact is in danger, and she’s one of the few that can help protect it. And, since this is the updated Switch 2 version of the game, she’s doing so at 120fps and 1080p, complete with optional mouse controls. After going hands on with part of it, it certainly feels comfortable. 

The Uto Research Station is under assault by space pirates as I arrive. My goal? Protect the mysterious artifact they are attempting to steal. As this demo contained a slice of gameplay from early on, it included every tutorial. Except in the case of Metroid Prime 4, it didn’t really feel like a tutorial. Instead, it was more like a reminder of how mechanics I was well acquainted with work. See enemies? Hold the left trigger to lock onto it, then fire. Hold down the fire button, and it charges up for a stronger attack. Press down on the left Joy-Con D-pad? It’s rocket time! Happen upon a door or thing that can be scanned? Bring up the visor to take a look. Though, in the case of this early sample, the only scanning of note involved checking two doors to find the four points I needed to shoot on them to unlock them.

One of the standout portions during this segment involved the introduction of Samus’ Morph Ball feature. As usual, with a press of a button she becomes a more compact ball that can move about the area and drop bombs with a push of a button. This allows not only access to new areas, but in the case of the demo’s boss fight also let me perform some evasive maneuvers to get around a certain type of attack. But when it’s first introduced, it involves dashing along a “track” in the vent and ceiling area above rooms space pirates are scouring and destroying. While there’s no immediate danger to her, the atmosphere in this portion is fantastic, lending a sense of urgency due to the fantastic story being told in the background as someone moves from point A to point B. 

It all felt reassuringly familiar, however the Metroid Prime 4 Switch 2 edition also made me wonder if the system’s mouse controls would be the ideal way to possibly play. When going through this slice of the game, I could place the right Joy-Con down at any time to immediately start playing with a control scheme that involved moving, locking on, and controlling ammo with the left controller, but using more precise aiming, shooting, and swapping to Morph Ball and back with the right “mouse.” In every situation, it worked. It felt completely natural.

The only downside is that when I was going to attempt to use a more standard control scheme… it seemed like maybe the effortless swap between Joy-Con and mouse control got in the way. This is because the way I held the right controller meant that my finger was actually getting in the way of the sensor because of the way I was gripping it. Now, I could easily see this eliminated by using the adapter, playing in handheld mode, grabbing a Pro Controller, or using the mouse control scheme that seemed like an excellent fit. But I do wonder if the full game will allow an option to turn mouse controls off for people who do want to go with a more traditional option, but don’t have the holder for the Joy-Cons or a Pro Controller.

My Metroid Prime 4 Switch 2 Edition preview session ended with a boss fight. Samus reaches the artifact! But the space pirates are also there, led by Aberax. Again, as it is an early fight, it feels like it is introducing us to what Samus can do. There are four clearly marked weak points on the foe’s chest, which you need to hit with weapons. However, as you do, Aberax might put up shields to guard some of them, shoot back at you, grab you if you get too close, or send out rays of energy you must jump over to evade. Once all four of those are hit, a fifth weak point appears. Samus can dash closer to strike it. However, that means also potentially being grabbed. Not to mention the AOE attack includes basically walls of energy that must be double-jumped over or ducked under by transforming into a ball. It’s all manageable, of course, and feels like a great test of the mouse-based control scheme for hitting those precise spots or getting used to Samus’ maneuvering and dodging options.

I am so excited about Metroid Prime 4: Beyond after playing it on a Switch 2. I knew I was interested. It seemed impressive in early trailers. However, it was just so fluid seeing how strong it looked at 120fps. The opening segment I experienced felt so natural and involved the strong mechanics I knew and loved. The mouse control scheme worked so well when I chose to use it. Metroid Prime 4 seems not only exciting, but like a great showcase of the Switch 2 capabilities.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond will come to the Switch and Switch 2 in 2025.

The post Preview: Metroid Prime 4 Impresses on Switch 2 appeared first on Siliconera.