Violet Wisteria is two things – firstly, it’s a brute of a game that wears its old-school homage on its sleeve. It’s also heavily inspired by the classic Valis series of fanservicey magical girl platformers. Things start off really well with a story sequence pulled directly from the PC-98 era of design. Gorgeously rendered art pieces explain the situation that…
Gollum offends me. It’s not the bugs, and thankfully the launch version of the game is less buggy than the review build that vexed other critics (though it still has bugs). It’s also not because of the less-than-AAA presentation that some have been complaining about. It looks good for a…
Read MoreAt first glance, it’s difficult to understand Ghostpia’s appeal. You place static screenshots, out of context, next to the breathtaking art of Otomate’s visual novels, the vivid energy of something like Danganronpa, or even independent efforts like Sweetest Monster or Corpse Factory, and it’s really hard to see why PQube…
Read MoreIt’s going to take some work to top Steelrising, which was one of the big surprises of 2022 with the way it handled an alternative universe French Revolution-with-automatons, but Polish developer, Superstatic is going to give it a red-hot go with Liberté, which is leaving Early Access for full release…
Read MoreFun trivia fact about me: After Hatsune Miku figures, the most collectible plastic I have in my home is a collection of rubber ducks. I’ve always liked them as a kid (and have always liked ducks in general), and they come in such a wide variety these days that they’re…
Read MoreDid you know that you can’t produce your own alcohol in Japan? It’s illegal to brew your own beers and wines in Japan without a licence, even for personal consumption, so those little hobby breweries and home beer kits that are so popular in many parts of the world are…
Read MoreMonster Menu: The Scavenger’s Cookbook could have been something special. The premise is really quite clever, but unfortunately, it ends up relying too heavily on the roguelike foundations for that premise to really take flight. Survival is meant to be the core of the thing, and in theory, it reaches…
Read MoreThe high-end gaming handheld market is really heating up. The Steam Deck kicked the fad off, but it has since been joined by the likes of the Ayaneo series, the Anbernic W600 and, now, the Asus ROG Ally. Despite its ridiculous name, after getting hands-on time with the Ally, I…
Read MoreMishima Yukio is a fascinating figure in Japanese literature. As an author, he is one of the nation’s greats. He was very nearly Japan’s first Nobel Prize for Literature recipient, being nominated three times, and was ultimately only overlooked because his mentor, Kawabata Yasunari, won the prize instead. He also…
Read MoreVery, very rarely does a game get made about the Tokugawa Shogunate. There are thousands of games about the Sengoku wars that came immediately before, and there are plenty made about the end of the Shogunate as well. The 250 years in the middle, however, are largely blank (at least,…
Read MoreIt’s unclear to me what audience LEGO 2K Drive is intended for. It’s very capable at what it does, but it also seems to be an effort to shove a whole lot of best practice big game stuff into a package, and in doing so comes across as a little…
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