WitchSpring3 [Re:Fine] - The Story of Eirudy is a charming JRPG that tells the story of its titular character, Eirudy, as she navigates the interactions with humans for the first time in her life. While Adrian, a boy she meets in the forest wants to be her friend, his ties to a mad man looking to destroy her will have her often choose between protecting herself, or going with her heart.

Twelve minutes is a time loop game that is focused on uncovering a mystery. You’ll discover its clues as you converse with a few characters and items around your tiny three-room apartment. With an all-star voice cast starring Willem Dafoe, James McAvoy, and Daisy Ridley, I expected some stellar performances, but the stilted dialogue format causes those well-acted moments to feel tonally broken and wastes the incredible talent of these performers.

Dragon Star Varnir is your typical visual novel JRPG with a combat system that feels largely undercooked when you really take a look at it. While the artwork and largely enjoyable story hold the game up, its lacking presentation, bland environments, and repetition just drag the game down.

Dodgeball Academia, a bite-sized 9-hour sports RPG is rather enjoyable, allowing you to jump, roll, and dodge out of the way of a variety of spicey dodgeballs as you work your way through an inner-school championship, keeping an eye out for your friends, and an even closer one on your rivals.

Much like its streets and alleyways, filled with trash and neon spectacle, The Ascent lives in both of these worlds. It can often be buggy and have a few hollow systems, and yet be incredibly engaging, fast-paced, and utterly beautiful. Had the game seen a delay to fix its launch issues and adjust its deeper systems to feel more worthwhile, I’d have a strong case for this to be a contender for my game of the year.

Skyward Sword is essentially the start of the series’ canon, telling the first adventure of Link and Zelda. While the original was held back by inconsistent motion controls, the largely better Joycons and new button controls make this journey a far more enjoyable adventure at every turn, flick, or swing of the sword.

Skydrift Infinity is a fun arcade-like flying game featuring power-ups, boost rings, and a ton of planes and skins to unlock as you play. If the game sounds familiar, it’s because it was originally released on the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC back in 2011. Its main campaign is enjoyable enough, but the lack of full lobbies makes its multiplayer unreliable at best.