Matt S. is the Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of DDNet. He's been writing about games for over 20 years, including a book, but is perhaps best-known for being the high priest of the Church of Hatsune Miku.
Omen of Sorrow is something that 18-year-old me would have found so totally cool. Drenched in gothic grim darkness, it’s an effort to bring together vampires, werewolves, dark angels, succubi, mummies and… well, Elizabeth Bathory, into a game that looks and feels like an emo kid’s “black-as-their-soul” poetry. While I’d like to think that my sense of aesthetics is a…
Transport Fever 2 is a celebration of the value that transport networks bring populations. It is a “builder” simulator, but similar to the likes of the classic Transport Tycoon and A-Train, you don’t build the building directly. You build the road, train, ship and air transport networks that the cities…
I haven’t played an Anno game since Anno: Create A New World…
I worry that the wonderful folk at the developer, Gust, have lost…
It took a little over 15 years to get Kamiwaza localised in the west, and while this is an incredible niche title, it’s well worth trying. To this day it comes across as overly ambitious to what developer, Acquire, perhaps had the resources to deliver, but this game and its…
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I felt so terrible about making Fragment’s Note Plus the weekly stream (it really is that bad) that I decided to do a second stream this week, of a game that I knew was good. The Battle of Polytopia has been around on mobile (and then PC) since 2016, but…
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Wayward Strand is such an odd little game, but that is by no means a criticism. Despite its utterly fantastic concept, and ironically given that it takes place in a floating airship, this game is sweet, meditative, and very grounded. It’s also incredibly Australian, but not in the over-the-top, Crocodile…
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One of the joys of streaming things that you’re playing for the first time is that the audience can see, in real time, you come to the realisation that what you are playing is just terrible. Fragment’s Note Plus is just terrible. In the hour or so of this stream…
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This is a bit outside of video games, I must admit. It’s even a bit outside of Japanese art and culture, as we cover in the magazine. However, an absolutely amazing subscription service has just launched here in Australia. As DDNet readers know, I usually rage about subscription services, but…
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Sometimes I wish that Stuff For Gamers (TM) had better aesthetics. The Corsair M65 RGB Ultra Wireless mouse is an ugly thing. But it is comfortable. And very, very good for games that require precision and speed. That is, ultimately, what everyone (not just The Gamers (TM)) needs. This is…
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I’m a big fan of itch.io for the freedom and open platform that it allows for developers to be creative, experimental, and directly canvas the audience for feedback for games that are not yet ready for primetime on Steam and its ilk. In addition, itch.io allows you to be transgressive,…
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As a leading art form, video games can be – and should be – used to convey more than entertainment. Just as film and television have documentaries and writing has non-fiction, video games offer an opportunity to share real and important stories. Indeed, the interactive nature of games, and the…
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Nintendo, Platinum and SEGA have joined forces once again to give us the biggest of big action, and we’ve had a chance to get hands-on with it. Here’s the thing – you probably already know this, but you should be *really* looking forward to this game. Here are our initial,…
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If you enjoyed the very famous Steins;Gate, or the much loved Robotics;Notes, then chances are you’ll like Chaos;Head Noah. It’s certainly a more extreme experience than those two, but this was the very first entry in the “Science Adventure” series, and it offers excellent, intense storytelling similar to its later…
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