Reflections from DigiCon 2025

A couple weeks ago Digimon celebrated their 25th anniversary with DigiCon 2025. Plenty of other blogs and websites reported on the announcements and updates as they were given, but I felt like I'd be a poor Digimon fan if I didn't at least share some thoughts (and I am the self-proclaimed Digimon King). So this is less a summary of the announcements and more my personal feelings about each announcement.

Digimon Adventure: Beyond

After the release of The Beginning there was no clear direction as to where the franchise was going next. Sure, Digimon keeps making games, but what about the anime? I wouldn't even care as much about the next installment in Digimon Adventure if they hadn't explicitly left a gap in the continuity between Last Evolution Kizuna and the Digimon Adventure 02 epilogue. So when the short/music video "Beyond" was released, I hoped for some answer to how Agumon and Gabumon returned. No such luck. Instead, we got a montage of adventures taking place between Digimon Adventure Tri and Kizuna. I definitely enjoyed the video, seeing some adventures as the Digi-Destined grew up. We got shots of Meiko, alternate armor digivolutions, and plenty of other Easter eggs alluding to storylines old and new. Even Lui appeared, so it begs a rewatch. Maybe someday I'll get my wish and we'll get more.

Digimon Beatbreak

Though no dub information is likely to come any time soon, a new anime was announced. Another branch in the Digimon multiverse. This new anime is about "emotion-devouring Digital Lifeforms". Because it's phrased that way, I expect a darker tone in this series compared to the ones I watched as a kid. I still need to watch Digimon Ghost Game, but I imagine the tone of this anime will be similar. Granted, a lot of that is based off the revealed poster. And that's like judging a book off its cover. Either way, it's set to broadcast in Japan this fall. I'm banking on it appearing on Crunchyroll.

Digimon Story: Time Stranger

I never had a game system to match with popular/successful Digimon games. Historically I said that Pokemon has a better track record with games and Digimon is better with anime. But now Pokemon has mixed up its anime and I haven't played a new video game since I bought Ultra Sun. I heard that Cyber Sleuth was a successful video games series in Digimon's corner, but I haven't saved the money to buy Switch (bought a house instead) and the time to play it. Since I'm inexperienced in this department, I sit here with curiosity to see how it plays out. A name like "Time Stranger" makes me wish it were about jumping around the Digimon multiverse, but I know better than to wish for that.

Digimon Alysion

This is the announcement I'm most excited about. After playing Pokemon TCG Pocket and Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Links, I'm excited to get my hand into the Digimon card game. I have a handful of physical cards from when I saw The Beginning in theaters, but I lack people to play the game with. Without close friends to play against, I decided to avoid spending money on booster packs (I had horrible luck with booster packs when I collected Yu-Gi-Oh cards anyway). With an app similar to Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh, maybe I'll get invested enough to buy physical cards. Plus it sounds like it'll have more of a story than Pokemon TCG Pocket. That could be fun. I miss having a Digimon mobile game--I never understood the mechanics of Digimon ReArise, but it had my buddy Dorumon.

Toys and More

DigiCon had plenty of other announcements, including anniversary toys and Digivices. Since I can't imagine myself taking a Digivice toy to work, I probably won't buy one--I remember how my old D3 would start beeping. That being said, I'm grateful that the franchise is growing even if I'm unlikely to buy the toys... though I am liable to base a cosplay around a Digivice toy... you shouldn't put it past me. I would love to get all the toys... But for now, I'm going to just keep rewatching Digimon anime on repeat.

Pokemon Go Unova Tour

(Guest post by Tyler)

This last weekend was the Unova Tour in Pokemon Go. As normal, there were multiple in person events leading up to it. For the event this last weekend, our raid group had planned to meet on campus when the event began. The night before, a few of us went to grab snacks for the event. While shopping, I got invited to a raid in South Korea and since I had a few remote passes, I joined. From my first raid of the event, I got a perfect IV Kyurem. A great start.

Because of a class I was teaching, I showed up an hour late but still had plenty of time for raids. We spent the day raiding and in between we did some trades. The event gave us 6 special trades (special trades include: legendary Pokemon, shiny Pokemon or a form that the other player had not caught before). From the trades, I got another perfect IV Kyurem. The reaction the group had was hilarious from the disbelief. Between the two days of the event, we did around 50 raids. 

Something new that they did during the event was a reward point system. Leading up to the event you would get points for each egg hatched, Pokemon caught and Legendary Pokemon caught. During the event itself, points were doubled and unrestricted. There were two sides to the system, a free one and a $15 premium. Rewards in the free version included: encounters with various Pokemon (ex:Snivy, Tepig, Oshawott, Pawniard, Sandile), candy for Legendary Pokemon, premium items (ex: lures, incense, star piece, lucky egg), regular items (ex: Pokeballs), stardust and fusion energy. The premium pass included more encounters of the Pokemon, increased regular items (5 vs 25 balls), and many more premium items, but most importantly it came with two unique rewards. The first was an encounter with Victini, a Mythical Pokemon that had been released once before in a special research. The other is a new item: the Lucky Trinket. The Lucky Trinket is a limited use item that automatically makes you and another trainer Lucky Friends.

Being Lucky Friends means that the next time you trade with that trainer, the traded Pokemon are guaranteed to be Lucky. This means that you are guaranteed 12 IVs in each stat and it takes half the stardust to power up. It’s pretty typical to use these guaranteed results to trade Legendary Pokemon and Shiny Pokemon. 

Overall the event went very well. There was a positive reception all around to the points and reward system with many of us hoping to see it return for larger events such as this again. 

My First Impressions of the New Pokémon TCG App

 

I’ve been diving into the new Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG) app, and it’s been a thrill playing the trading card game for the first time. But while there are some exciting highlights, I can't ignore a few areas where the app falls short of its potential. Let’s dive into what I think works well—and what could make the app even better for fans like me.

What Could Be Improved: Gameplay Depth and Balance

One of my main gripes with the app so far is that the gameplay feels a bit underwhelming. The matches are fun in their own right, but the game would really benefit from adding a battle story mode or a progression system with different challenges. Imagine playing through a journey with themed battles or different trainers—each with unique decks that force you to change your strategies! Right now, facing random decks or computer-controlled opponents with varied styles could add so much depth to the experience. Without this, the battles feel somewhat repetitive, as you’re often going up against similar decks and strategies over and over. I am in favor of this because I don't like playing with other people and waiting for them to take their turn unless it is a friend.

Then there’s the issue of the first turn disadvantage. I was surprised to find that going first doesn’t feel as beneficial as it should be. If you go first, you can’t attach an energy to your Pokémon or attack right away, which often leaves you a sitting duck for the player who goes second. On their turn, they can attach energy and attack, immediately putting pressure on you before you’ve even had a chance to get going. This setup can feel unbalanced, and I think it would be a huge improvement if the first player were allowed to attach an energy on their initial turn, even if they couldn’t attack right away. This would make starting first feel less like a disadvantage and more like an actual advantage, giving both players a fair shot right from the beginning.

What the App Gets Right: Free Packs and No Pay-to-Win

Now, let’s talk about the positive stuff—there’s definitely a lot to like! One of the things that has really stood out to me is the app’s daily rewards. You get two free packs every day, which keeps the game feeling generous and fun to log into regularly. Opening those packs is always a little thrill, and it’s a great way to build your collection without feeling pressured to spend money. It’s a big plus that the game feels accessible to all players, regardless of whether or not they’re spending real money.

Additionally, I have encountered any pay-to-win elements, but it is not terrible which is refreshing for a digital card game. You can purchase gold and buy more cards with it. In most apps, you end up feeling that those who spend money have a big advantage over free players. Here, everyone has an equal chance to build strong decks and compete on a fair playing field. It’s nice to see that they’re respecting the game’s competitive spirit by making sure all players can progress at the same pace.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the Pokémon TCG app is off to a good start, and it’s clear they’re putting thought into how to make it a fun and balanced experience. However, there’s definitely room for improvement. Adding a story mode or more randomized battles, along with balancing the advantage of going first, would make a big difference in the game’s replayability and fairness.

For now, though, I’m enjoying building my deck and taking on other players, and I appreciate that the developers are making the app accessible without pay-to-win mechanics. It’s exciting to think about how this app might evolve over time—and hopefully, the changes that make it even better for fans like us.

Gardenscapes/Homescapes - Are They Worth Clicking On?

Disclaimer: Once again this is not a sponsored article. This is just the opinions of an internet troll who has nothing better to do with his free time than review free-to-play games on his phone. 

Question: Have you seen this man popping up on your ads? Usually in some sort of peril?

This is Austin. He is the star and mascot of Gardenscapes and Homescapes, heretofore known as the Scapes games for sake of simplicity. The ads usually have Austin swimming away from sharks or in the middle of a home improvement disaster and is asking you to pick the correct tools to help him.

Spoiler alert: That's not what the game is about.

The Core Gameplay

The Scapes games at their core are a hybrid of Bejeweled and The Sims, where you do color matching games which in some way help Austin with whatever home improvement task he has for you, afterwards you get to choose ether the color or style of whatever piece of furniture he was working on. The idea is that as you play you get to build your own customized house, to a point, and say that it was your creation. All good in theory, but theory was once that hippopotamuses were amphibians and that if humans traveled more than 50 miles per hour their heads would explode. Theory is not a sure thing.

While the Sims comparison is relatively accurate, you only get three options per design choice, all of which are just variations on things you'd find in your standard RC Willy. The aspect of true customization is only an elaborate scoreboard and a flimsy context for why you're matching colors.

Where They Get You

As simplistic as everything sounds the color matching games are actually extremely difficult, starting at around a level 60 level in any other game and ramping up from there. The game graciously gifts you with some tools, like rockets that clear out entire rows and bombs that wipe out sections, again with no connection to home repair unless you use C-4 in reupholstering and I didn't know about it, in which case I am in the wrong profession, but I digress.

Of course you can earn these handy tools in the game through coins and lotteries the game has, but the number they give you is woefully inadequate considering the difficulty. They will however be happy to give you more explosives if you just give them some real life money, and there we see the catch. The goal is to get you frustrated enough that you buy a power up, then another, then you're hooked.

The Verdict

In case you didn't get it from my subtext, the Scapes games are not worth clicking on. Starting with the false advertising and following through with them trying to frustrate the user base into spending money, the game is just not very good. If you've been wondering about the ads, know for sure, here, that the Scapes games are not something you want to try.

Raid: Shadow Legends- Is It Worth Clicking On?

Full disclosure: This is NOT a sponsored video. Although if you know or are the people who want to make us a sponsor let us know.



Anyway....

So you've probably seen Raid: Shadow Legends advertised across the internet more than ads for singles in your area. Well this new little segment is meant to review the plethora of free to play mobile games fighting for your attention and help you answer the question-

Is it worth clicking on?

Yet Another Fantasy Game

Raid is based in the generic fantasy setting, meaning elves, dwarves and orcs all competing for the same world. The catch is that no one race is necessarily evil, just with their own views and goals. This is necessary since nearly every creature and character you meet can be recruited onto your team, to be leveled up and equipped and thrown up against more enemies to capture, like Pokemon but with better graphics.

A combination selling point and drawback is the graphics. While absolutely beautiful, more than a few of the female characters skew towards the chain mail bikini look. Probably not great for the prepubescent crowd, or those who prefer to maintain modesty.

The game touts an engaging story, but to be honest the story to me seemed pretty generic, with some great evil guy who's trying to cause a war of some kind bla bla bla we've heard it before. This is one game you probably won't be playing for the story, unless you become intrigued by mediocrity.

The Grind of Raid

Game play Raid is the basic combat from JRPG's but sped up for the attention deficient mobile players. You fight battles to gain experience, level up to fight bigger creatures, collect loot drops to make your guys even stronger, rinse and repeat. The game play is competent if unimaginative. All the challenges are just stronger monsters with unique drops, with your choice being who you bring to the fight.

Where they Try To Get You

As with all free to play games, free to play means consistently asking for money for in-game items. Raid is actually pretty light on this. There's few ads, none of which stop the game and everything you can buy in the shop you can easily earn in game. The temptation comes when you know you can either grind for some more strength or just pay a couple bucks for a few new characters to unlock. It's the most sinister of in-game spending, where it's not play to win, but play to make the game just a little easier... for now.

The Verdict

Overall Raid: Shadow Legends is a fun to play if grindy game for mobile. It's worth checking out if you like the fantasy genre but don't want to commit to something like Witcher 3 or Skyrim. Worth checking out for something to do, and to see what characters you can get if nothing else.