This game was taught to me years ago, using a regular deck of cards.
Setup:
Play:
Can I include the card Brokers Hideout in a commander deck, where the commander does not have a white color identity? For example Zimone, Mystery Unraveler
I know that I cannot include Plains cards in the deck, but as Plains have color identity white, does that word appearing the card text prevent me from including Brokers Hideout in my deck?
HoYoverse finally announced the Honkai Star Rail x Fate collaboration release date during the second HSR concert, including details about which characters will join the space game’s roster. HSR x Fate kicks off on July 11, 2025, in an event called Sweet Dreams and the Holy Grail, and it adds two new 5-star characters from the Fate series to HSR’s list of playable characters.
One of them is Saber, a 5-star Destruction character with wind as her element. Saber, aka Artoria Pendragon, is one of Fate’s main characters and first debuted in 2004’s Fate/Stay Night. Saber will run for the usual length of time in a limited event banner. The second Fate character in HSR is Archer, another long-time favorite. Archer is a 5-star Hunt character with quantum as his element, and anyone who logs into Honkai Star Rail during Sweet Dreams and the Holy Grail will get him for free.
HoYoverse said the free Archer giveaway will last through the end of Honkai Star Rail 3.6. Based on the game’s current update calendar, that’d be sometime in November 2025. Assuming the free Archer event is like the time HoYoverse gave Dr Ratio away, you’ll probably only need to be at the story’s beginning, at the point where you unlock the warp function.
Saber will have “exciting” interactions with the Trailblaze crew during the event’s associated story missions. Fate writer Kinoko Nasu penned the crossover event’s story, and artist Takashi Takeuchi created the Honkai Star Rail versions of Archer and Saber.
HoYoverse also teased a new Honkai game during the concert, though had no further information to share at the time.
If you’re just tuning in for Honkai Star Rail’s second anniversary, make sure to grab your free Ruan Mei or Luocha while the event lasts. Check out our HSR codes page for some freebies, too.
I am playing Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s Tag Force in PPSSPP "PSP emulator for Android".
In this game I want to build a deck where I can special summon "Tyranno Infinity" from the graveyard during the battle phase.
For now, I am planning to use "Call of the Haunted" for revive him during the battle phase, but, I wonder if "Limit Reverse" can be used as well – since I want to use low-ATK monsters and "Limit Reverse" is unlimited = 3 copies.
My main question is as follows:
This is due to – by checking the rulings of "Limit Reverse" in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Spanish Wikia said (translated):
You cannot select a monster with
?ATK in the Graveyard for activate "Limit Reverse".
But, this ruling is not stated nor in the English version, ygoresources.com or any other online resource for that matter.
I’ve even posted on ygoprodeck.com about this subject.
In the hypothetical case where "Limit Reverse" cannot be used for special summon Tyranno Infinity from the graveyard:
Greetings, dear reader! Today is World Book Day, and to celebrate, we have an agony aunt question to help those who like storytelling in their games, but who prefer the role of reader to writer…
Dear Aunty Chella,
I love the idea of games with a narrative, but the thought of role playing gives me performance anxiety! I like the idea of coming away from a games night with a story to tell, but I’m just not up for writing a character as I play – I feel way too self conscious… but it’s hard to do one without the other… right?
I want to know if there’s something else out there for me in the world of games. I enjoy lots of other kinds of board games and card games, from party games to the more serious kind. I’m good at quickfire word games, and escape rooms, and I enjoy games that have a frame story. I even find myself adding a bit of a story to games that don’t have one, imagining I’m a super-duper-spy-guy trying to get a real code word to my super-duper-spy-teammates before we’re all super-duper-killed by the assassin during an perfectly ordinary round of Codenames, for example.
I’m keen and willing to try other suggestions, but something about playing a role in general, and actually about D&D in particular, is too daunting – designing a character, committing to a campaign, counting up numbers on dice, talking in a ‘ye olde’ voice and pretending to be casting spells… it all feels very not me. But making up stories round a table, particularly in a competitive way – that is definitely my idea of fun! Can you please help?
Narrating in Nether Edge
There are a few strategy games with a large published literature expounding the “theory” or advanced strategies of the game. Go, chess (and related games such as Chinese chess and shogi), bridge, poker, and blackjack come to mind. I know of a couple of other games with a smaller literature, such as checkers, backgammon, and Scrabble, and a few more games about which just one or two notable “theory” books seem to have been written, such as Othello, Hex, Connect 4, Dots and Boxes, and Nine Men’s Morris.
Are there other games with a small but substantive amount of published theory? To set some parameters, I’m interested only in games for which there exists at least one full-length book devoted entirely (or almost entirely) to advanced strategies for the game. So for example, for Monopoly, I’m only aware of The Monopoly Book by Maxine Brady, which doesn’t quite meet the threshold I’m looking for, because it devotes a lot of space to history and basic explanation of the rules, and does not delve that deeply into advanced strategy (but if there are other, more advanced books on Monopoly, then I’d love to hear about them).
The combination of Amalia and an indestructible Wildgrowth Walker always draws the game with an infinite loop once a creature explores, no matter what card is on top of the library.
For reference, Amalia has the text
Whenever you gain life, Amalia Benavides Aguirre explores. Then destroy all other creatures if its power is exactly 20.
and Wildgrowth Walker has the text
Whenever a creature you control explores, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature and you gain 3 life.
The keyword action “explore” and the event “explores” are defined in rules 701.40a-b:
701.40a. Certain abilities instruct a permanent to explore. To do so, that permanent’s controller reveals the top card of their library. If a land card is revealed this way, that player puts that card into their hand. Otherwise, that player puts a +1/+1 counter on the exploring permanent and may put the revealed card into their graveyard.
701.40b. A permanent “explores” after the process described in rule 701.40a is complete, even if some or all of those actions were impossible.
So, if a player controls Amalia and a Wildgrowth Walker, and a creature explores, then Wildgrowth Walker’s ability triggers, which causes the player to gain life, so Amalia’s ability triggers, and she explores, which triggers Wildgrowth Walker’s ability again, in a loop. The only choice any player makes during that process is what to do with the card on top of the library, if it is not a land.
However, because of the last part of rule 701.40b, the exploration happens no matter what card is on top of the library, and even if there is no card on top of the library at all. This means that the loop always continues, no matter what choice the player makes while exploring. Therefore, the loop is mandatory, so the game is a draw.
Introduction by Congress of Vienna Assistant Designer/Editor, Fred Schachter – For those unaware, to familiarize this InsideGMT audience of what designer Frank Esparrago created with his fun and exciting Congress of Vienna game, available via GMT Games; InsideGMT has presented articles including a “Strategies for” series… (think of the old Avalon Hill General magazine’s “Perfect Plan” articles for that legendary company’s “classics”), “Game as History”: An Historical Introduction to the Congress of Vienna Period” as well as a four-part series entitled: “Meet the Statesmen of Congress of Vienna” and a host of other material such as game “After Action Reports”.
Use this link to access these articles: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-850-congress-of-vienna.aspx. This site includes a copy of the game’s full Rulebook as well as its shorter Quick Start Rules Summary. As to the Congress of Vienna Vassal Module, it can be found using this link: Category:GMT Games – Vassal. Isn’t it wonderful how many GMT games can be computer played using Vassal?
For Vassal is a wonderful way to game since it electronically duplicates all a game’s physical components, which in the case of Congress of Vienna, includes gameboard, dice, cards, various counters, pieces, rules and player aids to enable a four-player contest: one for each of the game’s Major Powers: France, Britain, Russia and Austria.
Without Vassal, the CoV Team’s efforts could not have been as comprehensive as they were. Those aforementioned InsideGMT articles could not have been as impactful. For that, an eternal debt of gratitude is owed to the very talented Joel Toppen, who back in 2020 created the initial foundational Congress of Vienna Vassal Module. Designer Frank Esparrago, in turn, built and modified it through numerous iterations to ultimately reflect the game’s final Terry Leeds’ published graphics. Through Vassal, CoV Play Testers could enjoy and contribute to the game from across the United States, Spain, United Kingdom, France, Luxembourg, the Czech Republic and Asia (Manila, Philippines and Shenzhen, China). Fun stuff!
We now present a “walk through “of how Congress of Vienna was converted into its latest electronic form, specifically VASSAL for the physically published game to enable four players, without geographic constraint, to have a grand time experiencing all this wonderful game has to offer.
Furthermore, readers may note that due to the wonderful support of those ordering and hopefully now enjoying Congress of Vienna, the game is currently “OUT OF STOCK” (thank you! thank you! thank you!). GMT will reintroduce CoV as a P500 Reprint offering within the next few months. You folks know how that system works, eh? For now, the game IS available to learn and play via Vassal. Have fun!
Here is Congress of Vienna Goes Electric 2025 Edition: starting with its “Game Set-Up” of course… so take it away Frank!
Note: If you would like to view any of the following screen illustrations (Figures) in a larger size, you can click on the image.
The first screen of CoV’s Vassal Module allows the choice of whether the game is to be conducted with players connected on-line or for an off-line contest by a single player or group using Vassal in lieu of the physical Congress of Vienna game. During CoV’s on-line play testing, one of the team would unlock the game and the other players would connect with it using the team’s established Skype guidelines!
The next two screens, Figures 1 and 2 shown below, are mandatory to get a game underway (that is, they always appear and must be properly responded to before commencing play). The first screen allows you to choose the desired CoV Scenario. The first option is the Full Campaign Game 1813-1814 (for a maximum of 10 turns). The other menu-offered scenarios are shorter, with less turns and different historical set-ups, etc. (see Figure 1).
Once this prompt is responded to, the following screen allows choosing sides (see Figure 2). It also facilitates selecting the option of a two or three player game. The final option is for playing Congress of Vienna solitaire (“Solo”), in which you manage all four Major Powers (per Playbook Sections 19-23). To fully experience the game’s solitaire offerings, you’ll need the large two-side printed Allied and French Bots which are included in the physical game.
When Vassal remains open after a scenario and player(s) by their respective Major Powers are selected; the Module’s Main Window of the entire gameboard appears (see Figure 3)!
At this screen’s top are different buttons identifying CoV game components: two red and green buttons are located to its top left (surrounded with a dark blue rectangle). Both allow you to select an additional national card each turn to the player winning the Initial Environment Table’s turn start result (This is an achievement of creativity and Vassal programming virtuosity by the talented Joel Toppen! Bravo and thanks Joel!).
Thereafter, this button allows you to draw the Initial Event Card through which each turn begins and to its right is the Character & Event Card Deck (both surrounded by a red rectangle in Figure 3). This last button directs you to the main driver of this Vassal game. Immediately to the right of this button are four buttons that open the hand of cards for each Major Power Player (Austria, Britain, France, and Russia). Once a game is underway, these buttons can only be activated by the player who owns that Major Power. This requires privacy (except for a two/ three player contest or a Solo game). We put these four buttons inside an orange rectangle in Figure 3 above.
The Chart Folder button contains different player aids such as Congress of Vienna’s Detailed Sequence of Play, Battle DRM, Campaign Game VP Chart, Rules, etc…. Further to the right are the two electronic dice (surrounded by a dark red rectangle) which keep the game “alive” and for which we never used for other Vassal games.
This is a true technological marvel it seems to us (although a player frustrated by bad luck can’t throw these dice out an open window or smash one with a hammer to teach the other[s] a lesson… yes, such reactions are within the actual experience of some CoV Team members: readers may have other bad die rolling stories to share)!
To their right are other less important buttons allowing receipt of optional Handicap Cards or to remove Characters who may die during a game (this surrounded by a light green rectangle). In between these are the buttons and charts that facilitate electronic play for 2-players (see the following Figure 4 below).
On the left side of the screen top is the Clean Button. This activates the Vassal screen’s clearing of game components at the end of each turn. It returns all markers and cards to their respective locations ready for use next turn. This is a clear, valuable, and appreciated advantage over physical face-to-face games as it eliminates potentially disastrous gameboard upset risk from pets and/or small children on the loose!
Finally, there’s the Help option located in the screen’s upper left corner (surrounded by a light green rectangle). This option opens a PDF file player aid (CoV Vassal Notes) which explains in detail the buttons and options of this Vassal Module for players through text and explanatory screen images. A new player is strongly encouraged to check out this PDF document once the Module is loaded, for it contains “How to” details beyond what this article encompasses.
The main window of the Congress of Vienna Vassal Module has components which do not fit on a screen without overly reducing their scale and legibility. Perhaps the most important feature is the Diplomacy Display (surrounded. by a red rectangle). This is where the game’s 30 Issue Markers (diplomatic, military, economic and political), intrinsic to the game’s Diplomacy and Government Phases; are located at the beginning of each turn if available for player selection by not being initially placed on a Major Power’s Track or the Negotiating Table.
At the bottom of Figure 3, flush left, there is a light brown Track (starting at 0 and ending at 80) to tabulate each Major Power’s VPs (indicated by a text box and light blue arrow). The Military Map (highlighted by a yellow rectangle) is where, during the War Phase, each army’s movement takes place and upon which battles are fought on the map’s different Fronts (A-G, including America’s War of 1812, depicted by a box rather than a Front of multiple spaces). The following Figure 7 features this map and explains some of its attributes. Congress of Vienna is certainly a game of diplomacy; but it is also a wargame!
On the bottom right of the Vassal screen is a vertical/horizontal scroll feature to block out the screen’s Diplomatic Section. This enables viewing, without distraction, solely the entire Military Map. This comes in handy when resolving the Congress of Vienna War Phase. Additionally, two adjacent horizontal Tracks (orange for the Allies and light blue for France) allow Major Powers to record Military unit losses (cubes) during a battle via the DRM Battle Tracks.
The screen’s right side is the Diplomacy Area (surrounded by a light blue rectangle). This is where the Diplomacy and Government Phases take place. There you’ll find the Negotiation Table, each Major Power’s National Track radiating from it, Diplomacy Round Tracker with the Turn Record and other game features. Also, each gameboard corner includes one of the four National Force Pools and other markers. Finally, the rightmost section of the Vassal screen contains the Card Trading Area where 2 players place cards to be traded between them during a Diplomacy Phase Round (this Card Trading Area does not exist on the physical board as players directly trade their cards without placing them on the board!).
We present in Figures 5 and 6, two key windows within the main window. Figure 5 below shows the Initial Event Card Window (this opens by clicking the appropriate button). In that window you can see the front and back of these cards. On the upper left screen side, the magnifying glass icons allow you to enlarge or reduce the magnification of these cards per viewing preference. The Figure 5 screen’s label, outline, and arrow are red in color.
In Figure 6, we show the Character & Event Game Cards Window. This window opens in the same manner as the previous one. Presented, as an example, are two cards: “Fouché” (#11) which is a CHARACTER CARD and a “Debating card” (#60) which is an Event card. Both are drawn from the same common deck for all players.
Returning to Figure 5, if you click an Initial Event Card’s “Execute” option (which opens through a right mouse button click), all the card’s instructions are automatically completed… as if accomplished by a player MANUALLY! Designated cards go into the players’ hands, Issues placed upon the appropriate National Tracks/ Negotiation Table, additional units and Resources placed in each Military Map capital space or in the correct National Resource Stacks. Neat, eh?
When you move the vertical and horizontal scroll and use the magnifying glass to expand the screen, you gain a complete single-screen view of the Military Map (see Figure 7). On this map are located the different Army Blocks that occupy their spaces. These spaces constitute Battle Fronts, also known as Tracks. These are identified by a capital letter from A to G. In the below image, Track C’s British Army of Portugal is portrayed by a red block (a red arrow whose tip is in the lower left corner of the screen). This British Army begins turn 1 of a Congress of Vienna Campaign Game in the space of Portugal.
Figure 7’s Military Map Features’ Examples: Military units (which are wooden cubes in the physical game are also simply referred to as “units”), belonging to the British Army of Portugal are indicated within the Army of Portugal Box through a red double arrow and rectangles at the screen’s lower left corner. This Box indicates this Army’s Campaign Game Turn 1 strength as four British (red), two Portuguese (dark red) and two Spanish (yellow) units: this is a respectable force of eight cubes representing approximately 160,000 soldiers! The number in the upper center of the Army Box is its maximum allowed size of ten units. Its adversary, Track C’s French Army of Spain, located in the Leon space, contains six.
The British Force Pool portrays available British, Portuguese and Spanish units, as well as cylindrical British Fleets. It is located at the lower right corner of the Figure 7 screen (indicated by a light violet arrow, rectangle and text). Additionally, the British player’s markers, which include Military Support, Resources, and Character Bonus Reminders, are displayed near this Force Pool Box. Furthermore, this Force Pool example contains an empty space where unbuilt Portuguese units are placed (as of turn 1, both are included in the Army of Portugal Box).
In Figure 8, we show an enlarged Window of the gameboard’s Diplomacy Area. At its center is the Negotiation Table (a square with rounded edges and yellow color border highlighting). This is where most Issues begin in CoV game and from which the negotiations and ensuing debates of a turn move them. This is the part of the board where, as a player, you will spend most of your time during the Diplomacy Phase’s negotiations and debates. It is also where, during the Government Phase, you’ll allocate your Resources on those Issues most vital to implementing your grand strategy for Congress of Vienna victory!
At the upper mid-left of this Vassal screen image is the Turn Record Track (surrounded by an orange rectangle). This is where the Turn Marker is located. It is a black and orange marker with an hourglass symbol placed for a CoV Campaign Game’s first turn on its March-April 1813 space.
The Austrian National Track has been highlighted with a white rectangle in Figure 8. The nearby yellow pawn, which is a much larger gold pawn in the physical game, is used to designate the Major Power winner of an Initial Phase’s “Wager”. This pawn is subsequently shifted during a turn to designate its Diplomacy Phase winner. The winner goes last each Phase, so in this example, with the pawn by the Austrian Track, France would go first in clockwise order. The British Track is located beneath the Austrian Track.
Surrounded by colored rectangles are four important Record Tracks, each with a pawn to indicate its latest game status. On the right-side center of the Figure 8 is shown the Future Government of France Track, within has a dark blue pawn. This pawn is moved by its diplomatic Issue being won and financed with a Resource.
On the upper center of the image are the double Tracks (green and light red) of the Absolutism / Liberalism Record Tracks with their green and red pawns. A successful pawn movement, in addition to a Resource expenditure, requires a successful die roll result of 4 or more to trigger its Track space’s indicated VP effect(s). See Rulebook Section 12.4.5 for related details such as potential die roll result modifiers.
The Pax Britannica Track, with its red purple pawn at the bottom of screen, does not require a related Issue to be won for its pawn’s advancement, thereby winning Britain the entered space’s victory points. Instead, the pawn advances if the British player fulfills the next Track space’s prerequisite(s) and rolls a die result of 4 or more. That die roll may be modified per the Pax Britannica Track’s rule 12.4.11.
Finally, with Figure 9, we show a sample of the Allied side’s window used for Congress of Vienna’s Solitaire Game. Playbook Sections 19 through 23 describe the game’s solitaire play options. The Solitaire French side’s window is similar!
Hopefully, the preceding encourages you to give Congress of Vienna’s Vassal Module a try with two, three, or a full roster of four players around a fun and friendly gaming table and/or versus its solitaire system.
Concluding Remarks by Congress of Vienna Assistant Designer/Editor, Fred Schachter – The preceding provides an overview, a “lay of the land” if you would, of how Congress of Vienna is electronically depicted using VASSAL. To reiterate, CoV’s Vassal Module may be downloaded via: Category:GMT Games – Vassal.
For a “How to Play CoV Solo” video, with its associated InsideGMT article, kindly reference: Background for the How to Play Congress of Vienna Solitaire Video | Inside GMT blog. Do note that Congress of Vienna’s two-side printed French and Allied Bots are provided with the physical game.
Others are here invited to provide CoV videos of their own regarding the game so we may all continue our Congress of Vienna journeys either directly or vicariously. Hopefully, CoV’s Vassal Module, as well as the physical game, facilitates such creativity.
Please feel free to pose questions and/or feedback via the space InsideGMT provides for this purpose at this article’s conclusion. Thanks for your interest!
Guest characters are increasingly common in gaming, but we wouldn’t in a million years have guessed the nature of Diablo 4’s upcoming crossover. Blizzard has announced its dungeon crawler is teaming up with Berserk, the long-running fantasy manga that inspired the Dark Souls series.
As unlikely as this crossover might seem, it could be just what Diablo 4 needs. Blizzard has already confirmed that this action RPG’s next expansion won’t arrive until 2026, so we welcome anything that helps things fresh.
Blizzard’s Diablo 4 2025 roadmap did tease a tie-in with a well-known IP, but our money was on Doom: The Dark Ages, not least because Microsoft owns both properties. But the more we think about this crossover, the more it makes sense.
Like Diablo 4, Berserk doesn’t shy away from blood and guts. Its central character is, in fact, called Guts, which gives you an idea of what to expect. Known for its gore, this dark fantasy manga follows the violent exploits of a mercenary who battles humans, monsters and demons. And while Guts’ initial instinct is to simply survive, he wouldn’t think twice about ramming Diablo’s Soulstone into his forehead. The manga is currently ongoing and it’s been adapted into an anime several times.
Blizzard has released an animated teaser, which you can watch above, but it has yet to reveal the exact nature of this crossover. That’s not Guts in the teaser, so it’s unlikely he’ll figure heavily into things. But we’d expect there to be cosmetics, the odd event or two and maybe some ridiculously oversized swords.
In the meantime, if you’re battling your way through Diablo 4 and need a little help, we’ve got you covered. To give you a head start, we’ve rounded up the best Diablo 4 builds and the best Diablo 4 classes.
You can follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides. We’ve also got a vibrant community Discord server, where you can chat about this story with members of the team and fellow readers.
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The Nintendo Switch 2’s dedicated Direct has come and gone. Games were revealed, a release date was set, and there was no pricing information (though this hit the internet, and everything is quite expensive). But how do the games PLAY? Thankfully, yours truly was part of a select few who got to play the Switch 2 at a special New York event. I tried out a good mix of first-party titles and came away impressed by most of what I experienced.
Of the titles I played, Mario Kart World was the one I spent the most time with. For the first section, I played two two-player exhibition races on the television screen and two single-player matches on the handheld, meaning I got a feel for the Switch 2 Pro Controller and the Joy-Con 2. Playing on the television racing against an attendee next to me and the various CPUs was thrilling. Every track was new to the series. There were various character options, including the amazing Moo Moo cow. Many outfits were selectable, too.
The Switch 2 Pro Controller was a joy to hold and control. It and the Joy-Con 2 felt more comfortable for people with big hands, which was great for me. Races start a little differently now: instead of waiting at the starting line, you drift into the race with everyone else, though Lakitu still shows up to count you down and you can still boost if you hold the gas at the right time. Lunch bags are a new pickup you can grab; doing so will cause your character to eat a snack and change their outfit during a race. I noticed some new powerups: a Gold Shell that launches forward and drops many Gold Coins (these boost your speed) and a wand-like item that calls in the sorcerer Kamek to do some damage.
The best part of Mario Kart World was Knockout Tour. 24 racers, back-to-back courses flowing together seamlessly, and if you don’t place high enough by the time you reach each of the five checkpoints, you’re eliminated. It’s the most frantic I’ve ever seen Mario Kart; people were downright bloodthirsty. The race allowed you to go anywhere, meaning falling off a track or going off the beaten path wouldn’t necessarily spell your doom. Getting to each checkpoint felt exhilarating. I placed fifth overall!
We haven’t had a new 3D Donkey Kong title since Donkey Kong 64 so Donkey Kong Bananza is a pleasant surprise. It’s reminiscent of Super Mario Odyssey, except you’re collecting and eating Gold Bananas instead of nabbing Power Moons. Donkey Kong is a simian with one philosophy: punch everything in his path. He can punch forward, punch downward, and even slam the ground from the air. The amount of destruction he can wreak is unparalleled; you’ll be leaving craters in the ground and smashing through terrain. Donkey Kong can even grab a rock slab and ride it like a surfboard. He can also pick up explosive purple crystals and lob them at enemies or rock formations. Donkey felt great to control, especially while climbing the scenery (no Stamina Wheel, thank goodness). My only gripe was that the A button was jump and the B button was ground pound. It was hard to get to grips with but you can remap the buttons.
As a big fan of the Metroid series, I had to make a beeline to the Metroid Prime 4: Beyond play area. The game did not disappoint. It’s gorgeous, running at a full 60 FPS in 4K Quality Mode and an astounding 120 FPS in 1080p Performance Mode. If you’re a Metroid Prime expert, everything will click into place: you have a dedicated button for Morph Ball mode, a button to switch to the Scan Visor, a jump button, a missile button, and a button for shooting and charging your beam. Prime 4 looks to follow Prime 3 in the way it presents its plot: there are other characters you can interact with and a bevy of cutscenes. It’s a different feel from the original Metroid Prime, which evoked a feeling of isolation, so whether you like this approach or not depends on your preference. The best part of the gameplay was realizing you can switch from standard controls to gyro aiming by just flicking your wrist and aiming at the screen, no menu changes required. It certainly helped with the demo’s boss fight, which required shooting different points on its body.
Nintendo wanted to show off its mouse functionality with the Switch 2, so it’s no shock to see a game run hog wild with that gimmick. Drag x Drive is that game. There was an extensive tutorial for this title, and for good reason. It takes time to get acclimated to the controls, especially turning left and right, since you use the opposite Joy-Con 2 to turn in that direction. You can’t expect to go fast in short bursts, either, as you need to do long strides with the controller to build up speed. Once you get used to the layout, it’s fairly intuitive. The 3 v 3 match I was thrown into after the tutorial seemed to last for less than five minutes, but it was fun to pass the ball and use the Joy-Con 2 to angle shots at the basket. It was entertaining, but I had a huge flat surface to glide my Joy-Con 2 across. I wonder if the game will feel as good in tighter spaces or on different surfaces.
This is the only enhanced Switch 2 Edition game I played, but it’s great. The demo throws you right into the Star-Crossed World expansion, and the game runs at a smooth 60 FPS now, improving the gameplay, especially with setting up your dodge rolls. The new spring powerup feels great, bringing to mind Rattly the Rattlesnake from Donkey Kong Country 2 (though using the timing from that title will cause you to miss your jumps and plummet to your death). For all you completionists out there, this add-on has you covered, with many hidden paths and collectibles to uncover. No word yet on how long this expansion will be, but hopefully it’s hefty.
Gameplay-wise, I was impressed with the Nintendo Switch 2. All the peripherals felt solid, and many of Nintendo’s first-party games are stellar. However, the price of the console, accessories, and games is frankly unaffordable, so I believe the Switch 2 will not reach the heights of its predecessor. Hopefully, prices will go down in the future.
Published: Apr 3, 2025 09:04 am