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.
Stellar Blade very much wants to be a merger of NieR: Automata and the Soulslike formula. It’s a flashy science fiction romp through a decrepit, decaying world, and the ambience is certainly going to be familiar to NieR fans. It’s also undeniably well-made. However, for all the comparisons people have been making to the likes of NieR: Automata and Bayonetta…
The dungeon crawl has been one of the most enduring genres of all. The original Wizardry – the game that essentially launched and popularised the genre, turns 45 next year. It’ll be well and truly ready for a mid-life crisis. In the years since we have seen so many classics…
One of my favourite things about Broken Roads is that every second…
I do not understand Sker Ritual. At all. It seems that at…
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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As anyone that follows me on Twitter knows, it’s not just that I just have an interest in politics, but I’m also quite certain that politics in the world is fundamentally broken. In most countries around the world, the political sphere is dominated by two or three neoliberal parties that…
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A game where you control the platforms instead of the character? Oh, how the tables have turned! With the adorable Pompom: The Great Space Rescue, it’s only going to take one quick glance to feel a wave of retro-platformer gaming wash over you, but this game does have a creative…
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It’s difficult to write within the fantasy genre in 2022. On the one hand, it’s painfully easy to write something so self-serious and overwrought that it comes across as a desperate and doomed effort to channel Tolkien. Writing fantasy that people will take seriously is monumentally difficult because fantasy by…
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Rabbits are the best pets. They’re fluffy and funny and it’s only when you have them as pets that you realise they’ve got big personalities that fill the home with their energy. We don’t get anywhere near enough games that make rabbits the focus, and many of those that do…
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After a five-month break from streaming (how time flies!) I’ve finally got my act together and I’ve found some time in the week to stream. On Monday evenings (and possibly Saturday mornings), Australian time, I’ll be doing an hour or two stream again. You’ll be able to watch them live…
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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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Valkyrie Elysium isn’t for everyone. The game has a specific tone and structure that has ensured that it will only ever appeal to a small, niche demographic. And yet it shares structural, thematic and aesthetic similarities with, in one way or another, the likes of Chaos Legion, NieR (original, not…
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Valkyrie Elysium seems destined to be one of the rapidly forgotten Square Enix titles… and yet it doesn’t deserve to be. In playing it I was strongly reminded of games like Chaos Legion and NieR (before NieR: Automata convinced people to reassess the original); games that have a loftier aesthetic…
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I finally have the Ayn Odin Pro. According to the order records, I put the order down for it back in June, and it arrived yesterday. Putting aside some very questionable customer service (at one point in August I emailed to ask nicely for a rough ETA, and their response…
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