News by Matt S. Publisher, Dangen Entertainment, has partnered with Steogosoft Games (Ara Fell) to publish Rise of the Third Power, a “love letter to the glory day of the console-style RPG,” and… yeah. This one’s a brave project. Just see if you can spot the historical allegory in this…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. Unfortunately, WitchSpring3 [Re:Fine] is simply not a good game. There’s the germ of a good idea in there, and as someone that loves Atelier and JRPGs that respect your time, I loved that this one was a brief experience of a few dozen hours (at most),…
Read MoreVideo by Matt S. Tales of Arise is going to be something special. From just the first hour with the demo, I can already see that this game has it all; gorgeous aesthetics, amazing characters, and a combat system that JRPG fans are going to love. I remain terrible as…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. Dragon Star Varnir is one of Idea Factory’s deeper and more intelligent titles. Belonging to the same experimental series (unrelated to one another, but conceptually similar) as Fairy Fencer F and Death end re:Quest, Varnir is certainly dark and brooding, and subversively feminist in a way…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. Like most people, I wasn’t sure how a sequel to The World Ends With You would work. Like most, I wanted one, but the original game was so noteworthy because of the integral way that it used two screens on the Nintendo DS. That is something…
Read MoreNews by Matt S. Idea Factory International held a little virtual event to highlight what it has coming and it looks like there’s some really nice stuff on the way. One really nice surprise, too! Trailers and details below: Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars announced for the west We…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. To save Akihabara – nay, the whole world! – from a growing vampire threat, you’ve got to suit up, hit the streets, and rip the skirts off school girls. Okay, you’ve got to rip the pants off businessmen and the shirts off tourists too, but we…
Read MoreVideo by Matt S. Cris Tales is the first Columbian JRPG I’ve ever played… perhaps the first one ever? Anyhow, the good news is that it is exceptional. It’s aesthetically beautiful, has some innovative gameplay mechanics, and it weaves a wonderful story. In this video, I discuss what makes the…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. It’s rare that we get a JRPG that can be considered to be genuinely innovative. Cris Tales might have been inspired by the genre’s classics, but it’s a far more modern and bold game than I think even the developers realised they were making. It all…
Read MoreNews by Matt S. We’re three months into the Dee Dee Zine now, and it is going from strength to strength. I honestly think that this is the best issue yet, and if you’re into games, art, and culture from Japan, you’re going to get a real kick from this…
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