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.
Why, FromSoftware. Why? The Duskbloods is so damn intriguing, and having played it during the network test, I’m even more intrigued. Richly, evocatively urban gothic, like a Dracula or Jekyll and Hyde gone even darker, Duskbloods has all the potential in the world to be something I connect with even more than Elden Ring. The too-short time I had to…
I have wanted to get back into Final Fantasy XIV for quite some time. I am a massive fan of everything it offers, from the art direction to the scope of the world and adventures that are held within it. I love the way that it handles narrative within the…
Was Defender of the Crown the first “4X” strategy game to come…
There was a time when visual novels were a rare thing in…
Before I fully launch into my review of Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake, a remake of my favourite horror game ever, bar none and by a considerable margin, I do have to register annoyance about something. Koei Tecmo: It’s only “Fatal Frame” in America, and that’s a far sillier…
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The Nintendo Switch doesn’t excel at car racing, though it’s not necessarily the fault of the developers. The lack of analogue triggers means that you can’t quite replicate the feeling of pressing the foot down on a pedal, and the relatively modest hardware prevents the graphics team from truly embracing…
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Hamster’s Arcade Archives is doing important work in preserving classic arcade games that most other publishers wouldn’t bother with. Even when the licensing is straightforward. Take Bandai Namco, for example. Pac-Man is a game that the company finds worthwhile to preserve, because it’s iconic, continues to sell robust numbers of…
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Back in 2023 (dear lord, time flies fast), Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo was a surprising release by Square Enix. By that company’s standard, it was a humble and straightforward visual novel, but clearly the execs had seen the success of Danganronpa, AI: The Somnium Files, Famicom Detective Club…
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Mario Tennis Fever is one of Nintendo’s weakest titles in years, and certainly its weakest tennis title. This is tragic because I loved Mario Tennis back on the N64, Game Boy, and Game Cube. Let’s start with the story mode. On the one hand, I do congratulate the developers for…
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Snow Bros. Classic Collection is a misnomer, as the classic Snow Bros. isn’t on it. That’s also possibly why the game has fewer than four reviews on Steam nearly a month after it was released. Snow Bros. is a classic. Fellow DDNet contributor, Alex, and I might have the occasional…
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Jen Williams has seen the future, and like many of us, she’s worried about it. The studio lead at Cherrymochi, the Japan-based indie outfit behind the cult hit Tokyo Dark, spent the early 2000s working with Hewlett-Packard on GPS-triggered gaming experiments in Bristol. Back then, everyone was certain they were…
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Goichi Suda and his team at Grasshopper Manufacture have carved out a very specific niche. Starting with the likes of Killer7, No More Heroes and Lollipop Chainsaw, the developer has mastered the grindhouse aesthetic and where most of the time “kitsch” is a pejorative term, with Goichi Suda, it’s a…
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Just a few weeks ago I was saying how impressive it was that Square Enix managed to squeeze Final Fantasy VII Remake onto the Switch 2, at such a quality fidelity. Now it’s Koei Tecmo’s turn: I didn’t think Dynasty Warriors: Origins could work on the Switch 2. But it…
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Dragon Quest VII did need a reimagining. I don’t say this as a criticism, as it is my favourite Dragon Quest of all time. But it is undeniable that it is a massive, weighty, lengthy thing, to the point of being inaccessible. Making some small concessions and compromises to that…
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