Jeremy Swinnen

2025-12-13T15:55:16Z

Completed the fourth temple with Riju at my side. Especially liked this one. The fight with the Queen Gibdo was a bit annoying due to the sand but, after I got the strategy down, it went pretty smooth.

The part where Riju gives your her powers was especially touching, with the music in the background.

2025-12-17T23:52:16Z

The quest to find Mineru continues. Exploring Thunderhead Isles is a blast and I like the new puzzle elements the game introduces you to.

I noticed the soundtrack changing from the generic Sky theme, to a more unique track. I haven’t heard it before so it must be specific to this area/quest/character.

Meeting Mineru

2025-12-21T23:18:16Z

Really enjoyed exploring the Construct Factory. Given Mineru’s theme, it felt really fitting that you are tasked with assembling her “body” by collection five pieces in mini puzzle rooms.

After a really fun boss battle with the Seized Construct, I finally was able to retrieve Mineru’s stone. Getting these stones is always accompanied by a cutscene with some of my favorites themes as the soundtrack. The developers made a slightly different variation for each sage, and Mineru was no different.

Link standing in front of Mineru's Construct

Mineru also grants Link with the ability to control his own “construct”. You can Ultrahand items to its arms and back, giving the gameplay yet another turn. It’s actually pretty fun, albeit a bit slow, to control this. Link sits on top and you still have the ability to use your bow to shoot arrows.

Game of the Day: Cast n Chill

2025-12-23T15:55:16Z

While browsing Nintendo's Winter Sale in the eShop the other day, I came across Cast n Chill. Made by Australian dev Wombat Brawler, it's a cozy fishing game with a simple premise: you pilot a small boat across lakes, rivers, and oceans, catching fish at your own pace.

But what caught my eye is the art style. I mean, look at it:

A few others, including Ged Maheux, seemed to agree:

Leave it to a beautiful, understated game like this to be the first one to actually tempt me to want to buy a #NintendoSwitch2. Just gorgeous.
https://youtu.be/M7aPS8pGYfQ

Ged Maheux - Dec 23, 2025

It also struck me how far games have come since I first started playing back in 1997 (Pokémon Blue on the Game Boy Color). Back then, if you weren’t Square Enix, Nintendo, or another big developer, you barely stood a chance of getting noticed. There was no real internet ecosystem for small teams, no social media, no storefronts surfacing niche gems.

Now, if you have a vision and the skills to build something that works, you can make something truly beautiful and actually get it in front of people. This game is proof of that.

Then there’s the price. It’s €15, currently on sale for €11. For a small, handcrafted game, that feels more than fair, especially when many big releases are pushing close to €80. Granted, those games are made by much larger teams with huge budgets. But still, these two people spent probably years building this game. Years of late nights and early mornings creating something they truly believe in.

That's something worth supporting, in my opinion. You can grab it on the Nintendo eShop or Steam.

Hades II

2026-01-03T21:09:01Z

Started Hades II a few days ago on my Switch 2. As always, Supergiant Games stuns with gorgeous art throughout the game. The changes to the gameplay require a bit of adjustment compared to the first Hades, but Melanoë plays very well so far. I like the addition of the Arcana Cards as well as the magic attacks and the story delivery so far is superb.

I was quite a fan of the first Hades because it was the first roguelike that combined stellar combat with a great story. When Hades II got announced, I was very excited for it. I haven’t played it in early access, but I’m glad to have it on Switch 2 with that gorgeous screen capable of 120fps.

Progressing through Oceanus

2026-01-04T23:09:21Z

Beat Scylla in my latest run. Once I knew how to avoid her attacks, she wasn’t too difficult to deal with.

Was lucky to meet Narcissus on my path who was kind enough to replenish my Death Defiance. That, together with a decently filled health bar, got me through the fight.

Oceanus in Hades II

Oceanus, apart from the Pinhead enemies, is very nice to look at though. I love all the little water effects and it’s a nice touch that the water flows into the portals that let you advance to the next room.

2026-01-07T18:54:00Z

Square Enix was nice enough to surprise the world with a demo of Dragon Quest VII: Reimagined. It’s available on all platforms, but I installed it on my Switch 2. I’ve been excited for this game ever since it was announced back in September 2025.

The rendered cutscenes are great

I played for around two hours, and I’m really digging it so far. The art style is lovely, the story is just as charming as it was back in 2000 when I played it on PlayStation 1, and the remastered soundtrack sounds great.

I’m really interested in how they’re gonna change the story this time around. The original version of the game is infamously long, and the updated 3DS version didn’t change things all that much in that regard. The developers mentioned significant changes to both the story and pacing for this version, so I’m definitely looking forward to seeing how that plays out.

I’m especially liking how the battle scenes look

2026-01-09T23:57:41Z

Very much enjoying Dragon Quest VII: Reimagined. Quite a cozy game to play at the end of the day. The design, and especially the names, of the enemies always give me a good chuckle.

May I present Tongue Fu Fighter?

Tongue Fu Fighter in DQ VII

Or what about Lips and Woebergine?

Lips in DQ VII

Woebergine in DQ VII

Gosh, I love this game.

2026-01-11T23:54:52Z

Nearing the end of the Dragon Quest VII: Reimagined demo. It’s not too long with a runtime of around 4 hours, but it gives a good idea of what to expect from the full game.

Really liking the art style and the performance is very stable on Switch 2.

Continuing the series of funnily named enemies: meet Cactiball and Meowgician:

Cactiball

Meowgician

February 7 can’t come soon enough.

LEGO x Pokémon

2026-01-12T17:06:00Z

Oh boy, these are some nice LEGO sets! This is basically combining two of my favorite things: games and LEGO. I think the models are quite well realized, although the Pikachu does look a bit weird. The star of the show is of course the big set combining the final evolutions of the three starters from the very first Pokémon games.

The Kanto starters in LEGO form

And then, there’s the price. For the big set, it’s €649… They’re definitely playing their hand with this pricing. I’m not buying it, but I can assure plenty of people will.

Well played, LEGO. Well played.