Games you missed out on in April 2023

Smaller games that are still worth your time

The headlines may have been scooped up by Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and Honkai: Star Rail, but April was jam packed with other releases from all genres. This month we played a roguelike deck builder, a physics-based platformer, a story-based RPG, a 2D fighting game, and a stickman shooter. If any of that has piqued your interest, then we have an article for you.

Here are our thoughts on five smaller games we played this month.

Wildfrost – RW

A few years ago a wonderful game by the name of Slay the Spire showed everyone that roguelike deck-builders could be incredible. Since then many indie developers have tried their hand at the genre, and many have failed, but Wildfrost might just be the one to knock Slay the Spire off its throne.

In Wildfrost, your deck consists of items and characters. Items can do any number of things like dealing damage to enemies, applying buffs or debuffs, or healing allies. Meanwhile, you can play your character cards on the field to face off against the enemies.

It’s a complex system as it’s a combination of many different games. Like Hearthstone, cards have HP and attack values which they use to attack each other directly; like Slay the Spire, you can play cards from your hand to perform abilities directly; and like Inscryption, there is a lane system that determines where characters sit on the battlefield.

If I’m making it sound like a mess, it’s not. Great care has been taken to make all of these systems work together beautifully, pulling the best elements of each system into a game that is very challenging, yet satisfying to play. Gameplay has a nice sense of momentum that stops you from getting bogged down in drawn-out strategies, but there’s still plenty of room for careful planning and clever tactics.

Score: 8/10

Version tested: PC (Steam)

Teslagrad 2 - GY

The original Teslagrad was released in 2013, and the sequel has been a long time coming. A 2D Metroidvania, Teslagrad has the twist of using electricity and magnetism to zoom around the map. The sequel makes great use of both horizontal and vertical space, and when the movement lines up just right it really shines with a mix of slides, sticking to walls, and repelling yourself away.

However, these moments are too few and far between. It introduces new mechanics, and then quickly and often dismisses them in favor of the next one. There is no tutorial or hand-holding, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but here it doesn’t always appropriately show you the path forward.

For example, it sometimes changes the way a mechanic works. First, you might walk by something to gain its magnetic power, and the next time you might have to pick it up. This can lead to some confusing areas, especially if 2D platforming isn’t a genre you are strong at. Teslagrad’s other weak spot in the boss fights. These are all three cycles, where you do the same pattern waiting for the only time you can attack.

Despite this, the background art can be spectacular in places, and the music fits with the vibe. The story is told wordlessly giving it a powerful punch for those who take the time with it. It’s worth checking out if you are proficient at 2D games, but beginners to the genre will likely only be met with frustration.

Score: 6/10

Version tested: PC (Steam)

Live A Live - GY

This SNES JRPG was remade for Nintendo Switch this year, but it is now available for PlayStation and PC as well. Borrowing the 2D HD art style from Octopath Traveler and Triangle Strategy, the remake has launched this '90s game straight into the modern era. It’s no simple remaster. Everything from the art style, to the voice acting, and battle design is remade from the ground up.

In order for this to be successful, it would need a strong foundation, and Live A Live has that. There are eight different main chapters with different protagonists set in different points in time. They each have varying mixes of battles, puzzles, and story, so each will give you a varied slice of what Live A Live has to offer, all while putting you in unique time periods.

This gives it fantastic story structure. Each narrative is well written, and the voice acting brings it to life. The battle system is nothing too exciting, but it is solid enough to carry the storytelling along. There can be some pacing issues, some cutscenes drag on a little longer than needed, but load times have been significantly reduced on PS5 which helps with this.

Live A Live is a piece of JRPG history, and the remake is the best way to play it. While there are a few obtuse puzzle and pacing issues, these are more indicative of the time it was originally released than the remake. If you don’t have a stomach for heavy story, maybe leave this one, but it's one of the better narratives you can enjoy.

Score: 8/10

Version tested: PS5

DNF Duel – DA

Let’s make one thing clear: Arc System Works is up there with Capcom as the pinnacle of fighting game developers. ASW made waves with Guilty Gear Xrd, where they introduced their iconic hybrid of 2D fighting and 3D character models which animate in the same fashion as sprites, and then the popularity of Dragon Ball FighterZ put the team on everyone’s radar. But these games don’t just look good, they play great too.

And the same goes for DNF Duel. DNF Duel is based on the Dungeon & Fighter mobile series, which will probably be unfamiliar to most people in the West. But honestly, that doesn’t matter. You don’t need to be familiar with these characters to recognize how well they play. Each character has a combat style which is implied by their name – Striker, Ghostblade, Ranger, Berserker, and so on – and those playstyles feel unique among the cast.

But this is the Nintendo Switch version of the game, and unlike most fighters, DNF Duel feels uniquely at home on Nintendo Switch. The game heavily deemphasises motion inputs – though they are present in some cases – which makes this a natural fit for handheld play sessions where it might be difficult to execute complicated inputs on the Switch’s stick or split d-pad. You could always adapt a weird claw for that d-pad, but… we don’t recommend it.

DNF Duel is a great fighting game, and works uniquely well on Nintendo Switch, even if the characters do appear to be a tad low-res at times. Well worth your time if you want either a casual fight on the go, or a way to practice away from your setup.

Score: 8/10

Version tested: Nintendo Switch

Shadows Over Loathing - OB

Shadows Over Loathing is a follow-up to the excellent West of Loathing, a silly, slapstick RPG told entirely through the medium of crudely animated stick figures. It sounds like that shouldn’t work, but it absolutely does, and offers a level of minimalism that does a surprising amount of heavy lifting to make the humor land. There’s something utterly absurd about equipping “hand shoes” into your shoe slot and then seeing your silly little stick-figure man walking around on his hands.

Where West of Loathing was set in the wild west, Shadows Over Loathing takes us to 1920s America, in a sleepy little town that’s seen better days. It’s filled with eldritch horrors and weird goings on, but also silly little gangs made up of bakers who swing around rolling pins. It’s a pantomime of an RPG in every single way, from the combat classes (like the cheese wizard) to the enemy types and everything in between, and all of it is fantastic.

The unique art style also leads it to look incredible on OLED screens, as there’s only really black and white in any given scene. I’m not sure if “looking good on an OLED” was on the design document, but it’s a nice bonus at the very least.

The only thing that really holds Shadows Over Loathing back is its sound design, which is a little bit basic and boring. There could be a lot of potential here for a banging soundtrack and environmental sound design that really helps set the mood in lieu of fancy graphics, but what’s here feels a little bit like a placeholder.

Shadows Over Loathing is the best possible answer to the question “What if wizards could summon cheese?” It’s a fantastic RPG that is as funny as it is engaging, and it leaves you wanting more every time you play it.

Score: 9/10

Version tested: Nintendo Switch