In a year that has already turned out a number of amazing games, it’s incredible to think that there were still three huge releases waiting for us in June. Yet, here we are and while there are plenty of games dominating the conversation, there are many more that haven’t seen as much of that well-deserved attention.
We’ve been sampling all the delights that June (and earlier) has offered us this year, and have rounded them up for you to see if anything takes your fancy. Here’s just a quick look at some smaller games we’ve been playing this month.
Cassette Beasts – GY
Released at the end of last month on console, Cassette Beasts is so much more than Pokémon in the ‘80s. Everything takes place as double battles, and there are 120 beasts to remaster, record and collect. The collectible creatures are pretty much where the Pokémon comparisons end. A large part of the gameplay is based on exploration and environmental puzzles, to find new areas and unlock loot.
The story is also much darker than you will see in Pokémon with some genuinely creepy moments and boss fights. There are numerous storyline paths you can follow in the open world, and each of the bosses has a unique gimmick, meaning you need to strategize a lot in order to win. This is all backed up by an incredible soundtrack, which you might expect from a game based on cassettes.
While there is a lot of strategy there is also a lot of cheese that makes it slightly less enjoyable. Stalling strategies are incredibly powerful, but leaning on them means that fights are long and slow-paced. In particular, the Elemental Walls can block even the most powerful attacks, and the AI doesn’t play around them. Despite some balancing issues, and the hundred elemental reactions you have to memorize, Cassette Beasts is a game you will want to try out, even if you’re not a Nintendo fan.
The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog – GY
This was an April Fools “joke” released by Sega, which is available free on Steam. A short and sweet two to three-hour game where you play the part of assistant to Detective Tails to find Sonic’s murderer. There is a lot of tongue-in-cheek humor which makes it worth playing if only for that. You won’t really learn any more about each of Sonic’s friends, but you definitely will laugh.
Once you get over the ridiculousness of Sega making an official game about Sonic’s death, there isn’t much in terms of gameplay here. There are short isometric-style Game Gear autorunner sections, which are about as fun as they were on the Game Gear, mixed in with some low-stakes clue-finding and interrogation. The main issue with detective work is there is no punishment for a wrong answer, so you can keep trying options until you get it right.
The Murder of Sonic is a quirky addition to Sonic’s library if not anything particularly ground-breaking. It might not make up for Sega trying to sell us the main menu and cutscenes for Sonic Origins separately, but it’s a nice gesture.
Sunshine Shuffle – RW
I knew I had to play Sunshine Shuffle when the developer accidentally got it removed from the Nintendo e-shop for making jokes about how it teaches children to gamble, and I wasn’t disappointed.
You’ll sit down with a group of Animal Crossing-style animal friends to play a nice friendly game of Texas Hold ‘Em Poker. The gimmick is that, as you play, the group will slowly tell you their stories, coming together to tell the tale of how they pulled off a grand heist many years ago. Quickly you’ll realize this isn’t the wholesome game it pretends to be, and I was in stitches the first time the cute nonsense chattering noise of dialogue was abruptly cut off by a censoring bleep when a character swore.
The story is really what you’re here for, as the poker is designed to be background noise. It’s something to keep your hands and mind busy while you listen to the characters tell you what happened. Characters will occasionally comment about what’s happening in the game, but aside from that, there is no connection between poker and the story.
Don’t expect the most sophisticated poker AI either. Sometimes they’ll try to bluff you, but that often just leads to you forcing them all-in on rubbish cards and robbing them blind, conversely, it’s virtually impossible to bluff the AI of a pot, as if they have a decent hand they’ll follow you all the way to the end no matter what.
You have to come into Sunshine Shuffle with the right expectations. You’re here to listen to an enjoyable story while a basic game of poker happens in the background.
Harmony: The Fall of Reverie – GY
Harmony is a game that starts out on the quest for your missing mother and ends in a revolution to take down the giant megacorp. The catch is that you can travel back and forth between a land called Reverie where human emotions live, and the real world. The Aspirations of Reverie will allow you to see what outcome your decisions will have, allowing you to guide your city down the ‘right’ path.
However, some decisions lock you out of unseeable decisions much further on, which can make the path feel linear. Also, judging by the overview of the endings, it seems that everyone is the right choice. Any ending will lead to everything generally being okay. My particular ending was so rushed and lackluster that I couldn’t really tell what had changed.
The biggest sin is pacing. Scenes are 10 to 30 seconds long, and then you make a new decision. There is loading between each one that makes it monotonous and boring. The idea at the root of it seems good, but the execution is too poor to carry it out. Harmony makes the classic error of telling me how much I should care about the characters without giving me any reason to.
Jack Jeanne – GY
In my time I have played a lot of romance games, but Jack Jeanne weaves some kind of magic. It completely shakes up the standard formula, by allowing you to change your mind at any point depending on how the story flows. Jack Jeanne weaves a special kind of magic. Decisions you make slip naturally into all the scenes and interactions you have with others. They reference other things that happened. It doesn’t feel like it’s a story tree with set scenes, but Lego blocks fitting together. It feels really like everyone is reacting to you, something I have never experienced before.
Set in an all-boys theater school, there are different classes you can take, and performances throughout the year that you need to prepare for. Just as nerve-wracking as it is to stand on stage, Jack Jeanne has a number of rhythm sections with excellent music, giving you the same feeling of nervousness to succeed. It makes you bond with the protagonist giving you the same feeling of desperation to succeed.
Aside from all this romance games live and die on the cast, and there is an excellent cast of characters to choose from. No matter who you choose, you get to know everyone around you, and they bond together throughout the year independent of you. Each piece moves like a fully formed person adding to that perfect feeling that what is happening is real. Jack Jeanne is the pinnacle, and evolution of the genre beyond simple dialogue trees. It’s a turning point for romance games, and we are unlikely to see a change so drastic for a long time.
Pikmin 1 – DA
The original Pikmin game is a marvel. I liken it to Portal, in that nothing feels wasted. It’s sublime, as close to a “perfect” experience as you can get. Everything it aims to do, it does. You crash land on an alien planet, are quickly materialized to the concept of Pikmin – ant-like plant creatures that you can order around – and then you’re let off into the world.
Your spaceship has had parts break off and spread across the alien world, so you have to work with the Pikmin to get them all back. Most of the experience is filled with breeding new Pikmin and preparing your army for big expeditions, which may see you traverse the land while carrying a part for your ship, or doing battle with a tough boss monster.
Pikmin is great. Play it.
Pikmin 2 – DA
More Pikmin! The sequel! It’s still really good!
Pikmin 2 expands on the concept of the original game, and again, just like Portal 2, the sequel ends up diluting the perfect formula a bit. Still, what do you get when you dilute Good Game Juice? You still get a pretty good game.
Pikmin 2 introduces two new Pikmin types, White and Purple, as well as caves, which are multi-layered dungeons from which you can scavenge treasure and fight rare monsters. The concept is pretty much the same as before, but the addition of a second protagonist means that there’s much more to think about and micromanage in the world.
Pikmin 2 might not be a stone-cold essential like the first game, but it’s still brilliant and well worth playing in 2023.
We Love Katamari REROLL+ Royal Reverie – DA
You might not know this, but Katamari Damacy is actually brilliant. This is pure game design genius – we know all too well from games like Cookie Clicker how the human brain tracks progress and the satisfaction we can feel from Numbers Go Up, and Katamari Damacy perfected that years ago. Just, instead of Numbers Go Up, it’s Ball Gets Big.
We Love Katamari Reroll+ Royal Reverie is a remake of the previously PS2-exclusive We Love Katamari, and it’s just as great as the original, but with key improvements to make it the definitive version. Sharper graphics is great, but a revamped photo mode, music playlists, and a bunch of other minor features and additions make it worth playing, even if you went through the original already.
There’s also the Royal Reverie mode, a new addition where you play as the young King of All Cosmos, but with far tougher stages.
We Love Katamari was brilliant on the PS2, and it’s still brilliant now. If you’ve not played Katamari Damacy before, rectify that right now.
Fall of Porcupine – OB
Fall of Porcupine is a charming 2D side scroller that evokes games like Night in the Woods. It’s filled with charm, wonderful characters, and a gorgeous art style that most games wish they could have. You play as Finley, a pigeon man who’s also a healthcare worker. The story does a lot of the heavy lifting, as you go about your day trying to help as many people as you can, with mixed results. On that front, it’s quite wonderful, as the moment-to-moment storytelling is quite touching and well-executed.
The overall story leaves a lot to be desired, with a bunch of plot points not really making a whole lot of sense, being vaguely resolved in an unsatisfying way, or going unresolved altogether. The gameplay largely comes from minigames here and there, in between conversations and plot points, and while some of these are quite fun and could be games in their own right, some of the more puzzly ones were just outright frustrating.
I also experienced more than a few bugs throughout my 12 or so hours with the game. Some were small, like having to alt-tab in and out to interact with some elements, and others required a full reset of the game. Fall of Porcupine has the bones of a great game but is unfortunately saddled with the flesh of merely a good game. It’s worth playing, if only for the lovely art style, but it probably shouldn’t be at the top of your priority list.
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