Aggelos 2 (Multi) Review

A rare Saturday morning review to start your weekend on the correct foot--or perhaps, "the correct wing" would be more apropos to say! Our first review of September takes us to the angelic skies, to the demonic depths, and all lands in between with Aggelos 2.  

 An angelic Metroidvania with a little bit of a demonic side to it.

2018 saw the original Aggelos release, a Wonder Boy-inspired 8-bit style action-adventure game that I ended up enjoying. Now, almost a decade later we see the sequel arrive on all major platforms, upgraded with a 16-bit style, much more ambitious series of worlds to navigate, and the RPG systems eliminated. 

Aggelos 2 features the ability introduced early in the game to shift between Angel and Demon forms on the fly. Both have their own uses, as light attacks will deal more damage to dark-based foes, and conversely dark/demons attacks will deal more damage to light-based foes. Though it works the same against our hero as well, where if he takes damage from light attacks in Demon form, he'll lose more health. 

Our angel/demon hero has both melee and long-ranged offense available to him.

Regardless, both forms can launch magical beams from their sword for super helpful ranged combat, as well as get up, close, and personal with their sword for melee maneuvers. Both can also fly to the left and right for a temporary amount of time, and true Metroidvania fashion, this power of flight eventually allows both to fly around without being locked to the X-axis. 

Perhaps the greatest point of contention I have with the Angel and Demon forms in Aggelos 2 is how the right-most face button uses a magical vial. In Angel form, this magical vial heals for a set amount. However, in Demon form, this vial merely speeds up your character. Within particularly stressful and intense moments of action with Aggelos 2, chiefly boss battles, I found myself often wasting these potions in Demon form instead of healing myself. Needless to say, this resulted in many deaths when healing instead of speeding my character up would have sufficed and saved my attempt. When runbacks to bosses (i.e. the path and time it takes to head from the nearest save point to the boss you're aiming to take down) can be a bit lengthy a lot of the time, this can be mildly frustrating at best and utterly agonizing at worst. 

Demon form prefers to make his enemies get the "point".

The original Aggelos was a smaller endeavor, featuring a world that could be crossed and explored within minutes. So small, in fact, that a map wasn't even included for exploration. Aggelos 2, by comparison, is a much meatier game, for better or worse. Not only is there a massive light world to explore, but there is also a second map, a dark, demon world to navigate as well, entered through various portals scattered around the game world.

Fortunately, this time around, a map is included in Aggelos 2. However, that isn't without a series of issues. For one, it's difficult--if not flat out impossible--to tell where different environments and biomes are within the map. Everything on the map is the same color. Collectibles, of which there are many, in Aggelos 2 do not appear on the map when discovered or collected. Instead, the developer insists on putting beacons on the in-game map to note where important, notable discoveries and places to return to are located. This is its own ball of worms, as it's quite easy to forget what reason and why a beacon was placed, so you can return to where a beacon was placed only to remember, "Oh, wait. I still can't do this yet." Different icons for the beacons would alleviate this problem.

Use your energy to perform powerful sword and beam attacks. Just watch that energy meter!

It's not helped that there's not always the best signposting or generally logical leading or luring of the player towards where they should head to next in Aggelos 2. This is one aspect where Aggelos 2 utterly fails in its world and map design. Many times I found myself completely without a clue on what was required of me and where I should explore. I even did some unintentional sequence breaking by having enough hearts to brave entering lava-filled paths and coming out the other side with enough health to progress safely. Apparently, desperation breeds exploration, especially when you just want to make some semblance of progress and the aforementioned lack of helpful map markers don't assist in allowing you to do that.

The two-map world allows for fast travel within it, but you're limited to particular statues at the start of the game. It's not until about halfway through that you find a weighted button you can stand on, which opens up all statues--not just as certain type--to allow yourself to be teleported to on the fly.    

The aforementioned collectibles come in various forms in Aggelos 2. From heart and energy vessels that boost your maximum health and magic energy respectively, to wallet upgrades that boost the maximum amount of currency you can carry by 100 with each upgrade collected, Aggelos 2 is in no shortage of things to find and collect--which makes the previously mentioned map issues so vexing. 

In the early game, flight is limited, so you use a grappling hook to latch onto a scale walls.

The greatest collectible is that of golden eggs, of which there are 100 spread around the game's two maps. These offer different rewards upon returning to the shrine in the game's lone town, one reward for every ten eggs returned.  

No doubt the original Aggelos was a challenging game, all said and done. Aggelos 2 isn't necessarily an easier or harder game; it's just different in its difficulty. Aggelos 1 used an experience point and level system, where you could pretty much grind your way to be stronger. In Aggelos 2, this leveling system is gone. Instead, and in true Metroidvania fashion, through collecting upgrades as well as finding special statues and shrines that boost your attack and defense, you become stronger and more resilient. Aggelos 2 does have a mostly steady difficulty curve, but it does noticeably jump up the first time you enter into the demon world.  

Perhaps the largest challenge within Aggelos 2 other than overcoming confusion in navigating the world and knowing where to go next, is that of boss battles. These are all required in order to achieve the best ending in the game, and these require some serious skill to beat. Between the area of effect, occasional bullet hell patterns being launched at you (these can be negated by slicing your sword at the bullets with the correct matching Angel/light or Demon/dark form) and learning when to go on the offensive and when best to bob and weave to avoid the attacks, these battles usually aren't a "first try, GGs" affair. You'll be attempting them multiple times, and the previously discussed runbacks make for some added aggravation.

Bosses are large, in charge, and will generally take several attempts to overcome.

Aggelos 2 took me about 12 hours to achieve the good ending while finding all of the collectibles to be discovered across the game's two worlds. Needless to say, the latter part was no easy task. In this time, I did encounter several glitches, such as enemies clipping through walls and becoming stuck, my character being caught in a specific animation upon accidentally using my sword and beam special attacks at the same time, and other graphical issues. 

That said, Aggelos 2 is an impressive looking game all the same. The 16-bit visual style is full of color, detail in the environments and especially the beefy amount of monster types in the game, as well. Musically, the soundtrack offers catchy themes of a retro styling that one can't help bounce around in their heads, even after the game's been turned off. 

Aggelos 2 is all-in-all a solid Metroidvania that delivers lots of sweaty palm-inducing action, especially with its level of challenge and difficulty when it concerns its boss battles. Perhaps the greatest challenge, however, comes in a less than stellar way, with its confusing navigation due to a lackluster map system and quality of life features that are entirely absent. Aggelos 2 doesn't necessarily rise up to Heaven, but it also doesn't plummet into the depths of Hell, either.

[SPC Says: B-]

A code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review. 

This game was played via the Steam Deck and PC versions. Aggelos 2 is also available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series consoles, and Xbox One.

Final Fantasy Resonance (Multi) Demo Trailer

Let's continue with some more Final Fantasy, shall we? A demo for Final Fantasy Resonance, the first Final Fantasy game sporting HD-2D graphics, is available today on all platforms. Play through the opening chapter of the game, and when the full release launches October 22nd, you can carry over your progress, much like with most Square Enix game demos as of late. 

Final Fantasy VII Revelation (Multi) Release Date Trailer

Final Fantasy VII Revelation, the final chapter of the Final Fantasy VII remake trilogy, now has a release date, as of this morning's PlayStation State of Play. The game launches on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, PC, and Xbox Series consoles on April 8th, 2027. We got yet another extended look into the game, as well, during the presentation. 

Hot Wheels: Infinite Rush (Multi) Pre-Order Trailer

The rush of releases in September shows no sign of slowing down. Speaking of rushes, Milestone Team's Hot Wheels: Infinite Rush just recently saw a pre-order trailer rev and roar its way onto the scene. This open-world racer trailer focuses on the early benefits of pre-ordering, collecting more cars for your garage, and shows off some of the wild gameplay promised to players who dive into the game when it releases September 10th on all major current platforms.

Onimusha: Way of the Sword (Multi) "Creator's Voice"

Ahead of Onimusha: Way of the Sword's September 4th release, Nintendo and Capcom have joined forces to provide prospective players with a behind-the-scenes look and talk from the director, Satoru Nihei, with the next in line of Nintendo's Creator's Voice series of videos. While Nintendo's channel, of course, focuses on the Nintendo Switch 2 version, Onimusha: Way of the Sword arrives on all current generation platforms later this week.

Review Round-Up - June - August 2026

Summer at SPC meant enjoyably taking a look at a mysterious book and living our best fantasy lives.

We've had reviews here and there over the past few months at SuperPhillip Central, and what we have now is essentially a summer review recap for the blog with our June to August 2026 Review Round-Up! As one might expect with reviews across three months, we have a wide range of grades given out and an even greater amount of game variety to be found here. Let's get to it!

We started this chapter of reviews on SPC with none other than Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, offering one heck of an opener to this review period, receiving an A- grade. Creating a hefty contrast soon after was Mouse: P.I. For Hire, trading in Yoshi's colorful storybook worlds with a more monochrome, yet still cartoon-y look. It got a B-.

Perfect for the summer months, we then took an island vacation virtually with Kioku: Last Summer, which unfortunately proved to be plagued with bugs and softlocks, which only allowed me to give it a D+ in its current state. From calm summer fun to fast racing action, we revved our engines after with 4PGP, getting a C+ as it crossed the finish line. 

Speaking of finish lines, we weren't quite finished with racing, as we shred the surf on Sea-Doo jet skis courtesy of retro PlayStation 2 and Xbox game Splashdown, which rode and raced its way to a B- grade. After that we traded a Sea-Doo for a skateboard with a trio of Disney properties under the Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4 engine with Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure, another retro romp. This one got a B.

The months continued with a stretch of games in the B grade category, with our first Nintendo DS review in seemingly ages with Super Mario 64 DS (B), a fun cinematic platformer in the form of LIFTED (B-), and a charming and cute 3D platformer called Teeto (B-).

Rounding out this trio of summer months with some of our highest rated games this review period, we took some decidedly late looks at some truly terrific titles. One sated my thirst for Mega Man (at least until Dual Override arrives) via Gravity Circuit. Another took over 100 hours of my free time over the past year: Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time (also SPC's 1,100th review). Both of these titles received hearty recommendations and A- grades.

Phew! Are you all still with me through that lengthy journey looking back at SPC's reviews from June to August? If so, please be sure to check out the SPC Review Archive, as that has each and every one of the site's now 1,100 reviews! 

Let's look forward to autumn ahead, at least in this hemisphere. In the meantime, here are some snippets and links to these past months' past reviews. 

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book (NS2) - A-

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is very much a thumping good read--or rather, play. It presents so many unique ideas within each of its 50-60 creatures that it approaches Super Mario Galaxy-levels of "new stage, new concept". Such a feat is no small task, and it's certainly no small comparison either. Yoshi's latest absolutely floored me with its exponential amount of fresh ideas, stellar level design, myriad methods the game's systems interact with each other (in almost a "how does this game not break?!" kind of way), and how it constantly rewarded me for thinking outside of the box.

Mouse: P.I. For Hire (Multi) - B-

Mouse: P.I. For Hire is a ripper of a boomer shooter for sure. As a completionist, I hated having to use a guide to play through the game, as it really killed the pacing for me, but I can't argue against Jack Pepper's investigation being a thrilling and fun one. Case closed.

Kioku: Last Summer (PC) - D+ 

Kioku: Last Summer is a short experience, as stated, and unfortunately, it's one that I would have a hard time recommending in its current state. Perhaps once the bugs and glitches I experienced on a consistent basis are ironed out and some additional polish is included, this would be an easier recommendation for breezy and cozy summer game. As is, though, you'll suffer some frustrations that are ironically the complete antithesis of the cozy vibes the development team intended. That said, I still overall enjoyed my time on the island, but if I didn't have a review to write, I would have most certainly held off until next summer.

4PGP (PC, PS5, NS2, NSW) - C+

4PGP delivers racing thrills with a modest amount of frills. While so many racing games nowadays chase after realism and simulation in the feel to their controls, 3goo's 4PGP is unapologetic in how it harks back to the classic era of arcade racing games. The lack of online multiplayer and steep challenge may turn off some players, however. For everyone else, 4PGP speeds past the finish line in sublime style while adding some subtle substance here and there to make for a worthwhile racer.

Splashdown (PS2, XBX) - B-

Splashdown delivers fast and frenetic aquatic racing action, yes, but it also doesn't do much else. The amount of tracks and environments is immensely impressive, and the difficulty is tough but fair. Career mode essentially being the same for each racer means you'll race the same series of tracks against progressively more challenging opponents, which is about as repetitive as it sounds. Still, for a game you pick up on the used market for cheap nowadays, if you possess a PS2 or OG Xbox, Splashdown's small number of issues are a drop in the bucket compared the oceans of fun you can end up having with it.

Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure (PS2, GCN, XBX) - B

Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure is exactly what you'd expect from the cover--a super competent skateboarding game for the kid and tween market, and also those Disney adults who who can't get enough of Tony Hawk-style skateboarding gameplay. It's not anywhere near as complex as a THPS game--and that's to be expected for the audience it was trying to capture--but Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure manages to make for a marvelous skateboarding gaming experience that lands its tricks much more than it bails on them.

Super Mario 64 DS (DS) - B

Super Mario 64 DS doesn't long jump past the original Nintendo 64 game. It more takes some jumps to the side in improvements as well as complaints. Is Super Mario 64 DS the definitive version of Mario's first full foray and adventure into three-dimensions? That's a difficult question to determine the answer to, because it's totally conditional. From a content point of view, there's no question. From a control perspective, not so much. That's why I surmise that Super Mario 64 DS is more of a side-grade to the original Super Mario 64 than a total upgrade or downgrade. Either way, you'll be jumping for joy and the occasional--but not insurmountable--frustrations, too with this Nintendo DS launch title. 

LIFTED (PC) - B-

LIFTED is indeed a short adventure that some may balk at the $20 asking price, but I find there's plenty to like and even love about this charming cinematic journey that Ari and the Professor set on. Some checkpoint-ing quirks do annoy, and some camera angle issues do less than delight. However, in the end, the overall package is one that I am glad I had the opportunity to check out. I might even go back and complete the final six achievements that I'm missing, which is something I seldom have the motivation to do nowadays, so that certainly speaks to LIFTED's quality. 

Teeto (NS2, NS2, PS5, PC) - B-

Teeto shines in its simplicity, whether that's its platforming gameplay or its graphical style. Its transforming mechanic, used to solve environmental puzzles and perform platforming, lends itself naturally to the gameplay without feeling shoehorned in. Glitches and bugs aside that will no doubt be cleaned up as time and patches roll on, between the co-op, fun objectives, craftily hidden collectibles, and level of charm, Teeto was a game I enjoyed hitting 100% completion on. While it isn't a title that hits the same highs of Banjo-Kazooie, Spyro the Dragon, or any other 3D platforming titan Teeto might have inspiration from, it's a wonderful game all the same. 

Gravity Circuit (Multi) - A-

While Gravity Circuit isn't a perfect encapsulation of everything I love about Mega Man, the devs and designers clearly did their research, or at the very least grew up with Mega Man like I did and know what makes these classics so enduring and endearing. Gravity Circuit is a wonderfully paced, action-packed romp that doesn't outwear its welcome, delivers delightful run and jump gameplay, insanely smart level design, and plenty of platforming, boss battles, and other combat scenarios that will test every player's mettle.

Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time (Multi) - A-

Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is a game that after such a long development time and arguable development hell, it shouldn't work as well as it does, and perhaps it's a miracle for that reason. Between its complementing gameplay systems that hardly ever clash against one another, the "play as you want and as the mood strikes" level of freedom you eventually get, utterly massive post-game, and stupendous visual style and presentation, Fantasy Life i is an easy game to get lost in and lose hundreds of hours to. I admittedly did and have no regrets either. Not when the game is such so lovingly crafted and well done as a whimsical adventure.

Whether you wanted Mega Man-likes or Super Mario 64-likes, SPC had you covered this summer!

1,100th Review! Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time (Multi)

It's somewhat mind-blowing to me that SuperPhillip Central has reached this latest milestone: 1,100 reviews. I have no plans of stopping any time soon, at that! 

Our 1,100th review (not-so-coincidentally published at 11:00 a.m. Central time) is a game I've been meaning to cover, but it got lost in the shuffle, like so many games did when I was focused on other aspects of life. Speaking of Lives, this game has 12 of them, but after playing this game over 100 hours over the past year, I feel I have zero, ironically! 

That said, Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is a meaty game, and would have probably been runner-up for my Game of the Year for 2025 behind Donkey Kong Bananza. Does that spoil how much I enjoyed this particular game? Perhaps, but I hope you still enjoy this milestone review all the same. 

 A game that steals time, too. /complimentary

The original Fantasy Life released in 2012 on the Nintendo 3DS. As a game, it was a life sim that featured plenty of cozy elements, combat, and plenty of Lives to manage. The sequel had been in development for quite a while, even having to retool itself during development. When a game gets in "development hell", for lack of a better term, like Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time did, it's hard not to assume the absolute worst of the final product--or at least worry heavily about it.

Somehow, someway, the sequel released, and it's no wonder why the game took so long to come out of the oven. With three unique worlds, so many gameplay systems interacting with one another, and an overwhelming amount of things to do, it can feel like Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time would suffer from bloat or feature creep. Instead and again, somehow, someway, Fantasy Life i manages to mesh and gel all of these systems into one comprehensive and complete entity.

As the subtitle would suggest, Fantasy Life i's story is a time-traveling tale through the past and present. It's a humorous affair with plenty of chuckles and even laughs to be found, though it occasionally can get slightly serious as well. The latter moments are few and far in between, keeping the game's story light in tone overall.

Well, Ranoah, after playing this game for over 100 hours total with every achievement unlocked, 
I can confidently say that... no. No, I do not.

It's difficult to describe what Fantasy Life i's main draw is, because there is honestly so much to this particular sequel. There's, of course, the Life system, which essentially puts your character in the role of various jobs. These Lives come in the form of three categories: combat, gathering, and crafting. Each Life starts at level 1 and gain experience points to level up in various ways, and each time a Life levels up, they get points that can be spent on that Life's skill board. This grants them better proficiency and abilities to utilize their Life better. 

Obviously, combat-related Lives spend their time battling creatures and other enemies. Gathering-oriented Lives chop trees, reel in fish, and mine for ore, in the case of Woodcutter, Angler, and Miner Lives respectively. Finally, crafting Lives do all their magic at workbenches, using drops from the former two Life categories to create all kinds of goodies, whether that be equipment, furniture, food, etc. 

Find the sweet spot by circling around this ore, and strike to deal some serious damage!
Just be sure to mind your stamina meter "ore" you'll tucker out before you finish the job!

Each Life starts you off as but an apprentice, but as you complete specific tasks for each Life, you earn points that eventually grant you to higher ranks. These ranks give rewards to your Life, as well as introducing a higher tier of more challenging tasks to complete. For combat Lives, these require felling certain monsters. For gathering Lives, it's all about chopping down certain trees, catching certain fish, or mining specific ore and reaping the rewards from them. Crafting Lives require you to make specific recipes via time-based mini-games, and some need to meet a certain quality as well. 

Crafting takes the form of these mini-games, requiring taps and holds of buttons and 
occasional spins of the analog stick to make new equipment, furniture, food, and more.

In a way, all of the Lives are interconnected. You need combat and gathering Lives to get enough drops and materials to assist your crafting Lives to make the required recipes for new ranks, as well as to better equip your combat and gathering Lives. That's whether with new weapons and stronger tools, or armor in the case of combat Lives. 

That's why it's pretty ideal to essentially sign up for all Lives at the start of the game once the Life system opens up. To be fair, it's a pretty tedious process to start the process in 12 different Lives, and it can also be overwhelming to have SO many different tasks available at once. However, it also makes the world much more accessible and available to you, opening up a ton of places and activities to enjoy.

You always have something to do within Fantasy Life i, whether you follow along with the story or not!

That said, Lives are just one part of Fantasy Life i. Another piece of the game is that of an open-world land called Ginormosia, introduced relatively early in the game and not mentioned until close to the very end of the base game's story. Ginormosia is home to various regions, each with pop-up challenges to optionally complete, monsters to defeat, ore to mine, trees to chop down, fish to catch, and so forth. As you complete challenges and perform feats within the world, you gain points for that specific region. Once you reach certain point thresholds, you can speak to the talkative tower of that region to level it up, making the rewards and challenges of that particular region greater. 

Ginormosia is well, quite a bit ginormous with plenty of points of interests to find and visit.

Ginormosia also features inspirations from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, between its Korok-like Leafes hidden all around and with its shrines sprinkled and scattered all across the land. Inside these literal shrines are simple enough puzzles to solve and challenges to complete to unlock characters called Strangelings, which can be turned back into human form at your home base.

That includes these shrines that are scattered all about the land of Ginormosia.

This leads me to yet another part of Fantasy Life i: your home island. This can be outfitted with homes (including your own, which can be customized and fully furnished inside), farms, and other buildings for your Strangelings turned humans to live. The indoor and outdoor furniture and other knickknacks can be placed all around your island as well. This is another optional part of Fantasy Life i, but it is rather rewarding. It's essentially something out of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, so if you have any familiarity with that game, then you'll feel right at home (both figuratively and literally) with this part of Fantasy Life i. 

Also on your home island is that of Treasure Groves, which grant you access to Rogue-lite dungeons where your Lives are put to the ultimate test. Some floors require specific proficiency in a particular Lives to pass. Some floors are Harvesting ones, needing you to dig up all of the crops. Some are Fishing floors, requiring you to fish up all you can in search of a specific item. If you're not at a proper level with a given Life, you'll find these objectives next to impossible, especially as you go back in time further and further. Each Treasure Grove sapling you plant grows a completely different grove to explore, and seldom are two ever the same. However, both the challenges and the prizes for completing them make the Treasure Groves incredibly fun and rewarding to take on.

So much of Fantasy Life i can be immensely overwhelming when you lay everything out like I just did, especially as there is a TON of grinding is present--whether monsters, monster drops, leveling up Lives, etc. That won't be everyone's bag of Dosh. Fortunately, you're seldom ever really forced to do anything. Sure, you're encouraged to follow along with the story, which helps in advancing the plot and reaching new areas to access better materials and rewards, but truthfully, you're allowed to do what you want when you want. 

One of the combat Lives is that of a Magician, for magical ranged fighting!

Thus, if you want to dedicate time to customizing your house to your heart's desires, you can do that. Heck, you can even NOT customize your house to your heart's desires, and you can still enjoy the game fully. Whether it's leveling up your Lives, finding new materials help in crafting better gear, exploring and ranking up Ginormosia's dozen or so regions, tracking tasks to rank up your Lives, or engaging in one of the myriad other overall fun activities in Fantasy Life i, it's all up to you. There is certainly no shortage of things to do and accomplish in Fantasy Life i, and an aspect I really enjoyed is that while playing, while exploring each piece of the game, I was always making progress towards something. There's seldom downtime or the feeling that I was just spinning my wheels for no reason.

Perhaps the most impressive piece of Fantasy Life i is how you have multitudes of all of these contrasting systems, such massive gameplay systems that overlap, that you'd think a game this seemingly bloated just wouldn't work. The mind-blowing aspect of this to me is that it actually all does. Between the Lives, the open-world Ginormosia, the story, the exploration, the island and home customization, the various tasks, challenges, and quests to complete--it all works and it pretty much all complements each other well without feeling like the game is too big for its britches.

Speaking of being too big for its britches, this Napdragon is about due to take a dirt nap with our team fighting it!

It's not all well thought-out, as multiplayer somewhat seems like an afterthought in Fantasy Life i. You can have friends visit your islands, but there's not much interacting or activities to do together on said islands. While you can explore both the Past and all the unique places it entails, as well as enter Ginormosia with friends, you're limited in how long you can explore together. There's a strict time limit, and while you can remake a lobby and rejoin each other after time runs out, there's really no rhyme or reason to why this limitation is required. Treasure Groves, however, can be embarked with a full party of four friends or strangers, offering the full grove to be enjoyed.

Beyond the limited multiplayer options that aren't too impressive, what did impress me was the presentation of Fantasy Life i. The game is positively gorgeous, and moments where you stand at the top of a peak in Ginormosia, seeing the massive draw distance revealing pretty much the entirety of the continent for your viewing pleasure? Absolutely jaw-dropping. The character and creature models are delightful, as are the environments you embark in and explore. 

Bring along some CPU companions to aid or cheer you on in battle, as well as level up more quickly, too!

On the sound front, the voice acting is suitably charming, much like the rest of the game, though quips by CPU party members that can optionally join you while out and about can get extremely repetitive. After hearing a companion say, "I'm worried about you" for the tenth time in less than three minutes, I realized maybe this was less commentary on my character's well-being and more on the fact that I hadn't eaten in five hours because I was so enamored with the game. 

Musically, many of Nobuo Uematsu's magnificent compositions from the original Nintendo 3DS Fantasy Life make a return in the sequel, but there also brand-new themes and tracks to be heard as well.Either way, the soundtrack is comprised of a lot of lovely songs that seldom if ever get grating on the ears, unlike your companions' various quips.

Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is a game that after such a long development time and arguable development hell, it shouldn't work as well as it does, and perhaps it's a miracle for that reason. Between its complementing gameplay systems that hardly ever clash against one another, the "play as you want and as the mood strikes" level of freedom you eventually get, utterly massive post-game, and stupendous visual style and presentation, Fantasy Life i is an easy game to get lost in and lose hundreds of hours to. I admittedly did and have no regrets either. Not when the game is such so lovingly crafted and well done as a whimsical adventure.

[SPC Says: A-]

This game was played via the Steam Deck, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2 versions. Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is also available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.