![]() It wraps up most of what it has to, and it’s not egregiously bad about that. It’s mechanically sound, and there are lots of great bits of fan service for those who have stuck with the series for a long time. It’s not that I disliked Trails of Cold Steel IV. That said, I prefer to digest this series on handheld consoles, so it’s an easy choice for me. This Switch version is in line with the port of Trails of Cold Steel III, so it runs a bit worse than its PlayStation 4 predecessor and has a few bugs of its own. The cast size got way out of hand, the number of things to resolve were too numerous, and Cold Steel in particular has had a real problem committing to its stakes. Here we are at the ostensible end of this era of The Legend of Heroes, and it feels like it’s going out with a little pop rather than a proper bang. This is a series that I felt started out quite strong, and while each installment added a lot of things I found cool, I could see thin cracks becoming bigger over time. And I’m going to be honest with you all: I had my doubts about this one, just based on how the last couple of games in the Trails of Cold Steel series have gone. When you’ve put hundreds of hours into a story, one of the things you tend to hope for most is that the writers manage to stick the landing. SwitchArcade Score: 4/5 The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV ($59.99) I’d easily recommend this to those looking for a well-told, emotional story with an interesting presentation, but if you want something that pushes back with its mechanics, it may not be the right game for you. I would say it flew by, but I had to take a couple of breaks just to sort my head out because of how close some of it hit to things I’ve dealt with in the last year or so. It took about four hours to make my way through Lost Words. It’s a really touching story, and while I found Izzy’s side of it more interesting than the guardian’s, they play off each other very well. I found myself wishing it had pushed its gameplay ideas further, but this game’s mechanics serve its story more than anything. It’s pretty neat, and the game looks quite gorgeous thanks to the strong art design. Sometimes you’ll use the word ‘break’ to… well, break things. Sometimes you need to use the word ‘rise’ to lift yourself up. In these sections, you’re traversing various areas and dealing with obstacles by using words from your magic book. Her struggles mirror those of Izzy, naturally. A new guardian sets out on a journey to rescue her village’s guardian fireflies from a dragon. ![]() That story is where the other half of the game is. The story on this side of the game involves her working through her feelings, which she partly accomplishes by writing a story. Without spoiling anything, Izzy is facing a turning point in her young life. You hop on words and do some light interaction to keep the pages turning. In one, you’re jumping around in the main character Izzy’s journal. There are two components to it, though they are strongly tied together. This is a clever game with some neat mechanics and a really heartfelt story. Mini-Views Lost Words: Beyond the Page ($14.99) No word on the price yet, but it shouldn’t be too wild given the reasonable price Risky’s Revenge goes for. Also cool? This means you’ll be able to buy and play the entire Shantae series to date on one console for the first time. This version notably includes the ability to choose between the Game Boy Color original mode or the enhanced Game Boy Advance mode, which adds a new animal form and alters the color palette to better fit the original GBA’s, er, less-than-luminescent display. Well, there will be one more way to get at the game as of next week as Shantae is coming to the Switch eShop. It’s on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console, and Limited Run Games is also doing a new print of the actual cartridge itself. ![]() Fortunately, new avenues have opened up over the years. Time was that if you wanted to play the original Game Boy Color Shantae game via official means, you’d have to sell your first-born child.
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