Vincent Mahoney

Welcome back to Save State, where we have our first departure. I’ve been a big fan of several games in the Star Ocean series, many of which are popping up on Steam these days, but I never actually played the first entry (called Star Ocean) in the franchise despite owning it on PSP (remade for PSP as Star Ocean First Departure) for many years. I never got to play it when it was released on the Super Nintendo because it was never translated before I got my grubby hands on a copy of Star Ocean: The Second Story and Till the End of Time. No time like the present to enjoy an adventure that spans both time and space, right?

D.A.G Tales of Berseria was widely considered a return to form for the Tales series after Zestiria, which while passable, suffered from some issues in storytelling and combat mechanics. Tales of Berseria Remastered keeps all of what made the original from 2017 a great experience and allows players on a Switch or Xbox console to play this tale of revenge for the first time. The thing is, though, while 2017 is almost 10 years ago already, the original Tales of Berseria is still playable on PC and even on PS5 systems- so is there really a need to buy a new version? Let’s find out.

Welcome back to Save State, where nostalgia is a powerful drug. I got a massive urge to replay Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis, but a lot of my hardware to play Game Boy Advance games was either missing in action or missing components (what good is a Gameboy Player for a GameCube if you can’t find any of the GameCube’s cables?). Ultimately using this as an excuse to tinker with some new device, I discovered that Epilogue’s GB Operator was in stock and snagged one to experiment with and replay one of my favorite games from childhood.

Realtime Strategy Steam (PC) Steam Intermediate Iceberg Interactive Luminous What if the world were a circle? I know, I know, play along with me: Everyone knows the earth is flat, after all. But what if your entire kingdom was just a single circle in the sky, floating along with helpful little village people, but not one of them wearing chaps? Circle Empires II is a real time strategy game with randomly generated maps that pits your tiny empire against the world, and there’s no room for diplomacy in this hypothetical circular world. It’s conquer or be conquered.

Welcome back to Save State, where we always been living that life. In the last two weeks, Pokemon Champions released on Nintendo’s Switch and Switch 2 systems, and I’ve been grinding my way to Master Ball tier when not playing other games like Crimson Desert. Pokemon Champions is a free-to-play competitive battling experience, and apparently The Pokemon Company is looking to decouple online Pokemon play from the video games we all know and love.

Turn-based Strategy Steam (PC) Steam Intermediate HeroCraft Battlecruiser Games Turn-based strategy games often ask players to survive impossible odds, manage chaos, and somehow come out ahead against overwhelming enemies. Guards II: Chaos in Hell does all of that while wrapping its tactical battles in a demonic fantasy setting that is more playful than grim. Beneath the pentagrams and infernal monsters is a game with remarkably simple mechanics, making it a strong pick for both newcomers and strategy fans looking for something quick to learn but still satisfying to master.

Save State’s Vincent Mahoney takes a look at Vampire Crawlers, a stylish first-person deckbuilder from the Vampire Survivors team.

Save State columnist Vincent Mahoney this week enjoys the open world action adventure Crimson Desert which is set on the continent of Pywel.

With its massive world full of distractions and more systems than most action RPGs would attempt, Crimson Desert offers a bold adventure.

Save State columnist Vincent Mahoney looks at TMNT: Splintered Fate and finds a fast, colorful roguelite that borrows smartly from Hades.