Review by Harvard L. LUNA The Shadow Dust bears more than a little similarity to one of my favourite games of all time, Gorogoa. The hand-drawn, colourful art styles and surreal, dreamlike narratives of both games are enchanting and memorable, which is why I thought I’d love LUNA just as…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. It would be a big stretch to suggest that Agatha Christie’s The ABC Murders is a classic of the point-and-click genre. It has its fans, but it’s niche enough to be one of the stranger ports that we’ve seen to Nintendo Switch. The original game is…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. Gangsters – be they yakuza, mafia, or otherwise, are aestheticised in Japanese culture in a way that lends itself very well to otome and a kind of violent, but ravishing romance story. Because of that, Piofiore: Fated Memories, which is a visual novel about three warring…
Read MoreNews by Matt S. I’ve never played Misshitsu no Sacrifice, a Japanese-only PSP “suspense adventure game,” but it looks great. Thankfully for me, D3 Publisher is about to make it much easier to experience, teaming up with developer Intense to announce a remake (western translation of its name and all),…
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What a wonderful thing 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is. Developer, Vanillaware, is known for its quality 2D action games, from Dragon’s Crown through to Odin Sphere, but in general, those games are about the stunning visual engines and tight action. The developer has never been known as a storyteller in…
Read MoreInterview by Matt S. Earlier today, retro-themed narrative game, Woodsalt, got a release date and a new trailer and… it’s looking really, really nice. Promising to do away with the grind that could turn otherwise great games into time-sinks, Woodsalt has a lot of potential, backed with a lovely art…
Read MoreNews by Matt S. “If you like Persona, Adventure Games, Anime, Sci-Fi and existential dread then this could be for you.” I’ve got to say, it’s pretty ballsy for an indie developer to go out and promise something comparable to that. As someone who is indeed a (massive) fan of…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. In the grand scheme of things, you’re not going to remember Giraffe and Annika. It doesn’t do anything particularly eye-opening with its design and gameplay, and it’s not a substantial contribution to any particular kind of discourse. What it is, however, is blissfully sweet and good-natured,…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. Dear game developers and publishers: if you’ve got a visual novel that needs localisation, you really need to consider the process of finding a quality localiser to be an essential step in the publishing process. Your game exists exclusively for that story, and if you can’t…
Read MoreReview by Harvard L. I’m all for cultural games and that means I’ll naturally have a positive slant towards titles like Road to Guangdong. This game, penned by writer Yen Ooi and published by Excalibur Games, sees the player taking the role of Sunny, a recent art graduate in mid-90’s…
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