“Princess Maker-likes,” like Lair Land Story, are a niche within a niche, but it’s a genre that can be oddly compelling. They’re spreadsheet simulators, in which 90 per cent of the game involves carefully managing a girl’s development by carefully selecting her daily activities. But while that might sound dull,…
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It’s an immersive storytelling atmosphere brought together with a calligraphic art style. This is how I’d describe Labyrinth of Zangestu, an up-and-coming turn-based dungeon RPG currently in development by KaeruPanda. Sounds good, right? We’re keen too. This is a significant departure for the team, which was previously best known for…
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Super Bullet Break is a happy, colourful thing. I know it’s going to rankle some to suggest that as overtly fanservicey as it could be “wholesome” or “innocent,” but that’s what Super Bullet Break is; a happy, high-energy, bubbly and wholesome thing. The game is a combination of two things.…
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When Matt S. reviewed White Day: A Labyrinth Named School for PlayStation 4, he described it as “a masterpiece in building tension and in the way that it plays within the classical approach to horror, without relying on jump scares and endless bloodshed.” PQube is now bringing the game to…
Read MorePQube is a publisher with a knack for finding quirky and interesting projects. Its latest, Super Bullet Break, might just be one of its most interesting. This “deck-building roguelike,” features a lot of super-cute anime girls, and draws inspiration from everything from rhythm games and dating games right through to…
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I’ve already reviewed Gal*Gun: Double Peace twice – once on import when it was originally released, and then again when PQube localised it for the rest of the world. I don’t have too much to add to either of those reviews in terms of an analysis of how they play,…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. Maglam Lord is such a quaint little game. To its detriment, I think, especially with so many stand-out JRPGs on the way in such a short span of time. But also, it’s quaint in a fun and playful way that will appeal to genre veterans in…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. Making a game that is critical of what we take for granted in capitalism seems like a Sisyphean effort, given that, more than any other art form, the entire industry is slavishly and unquestioningly devoted to capitalism. This same week people are out there buying a…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. Nexomon’s console releases have come in an odd order. Last year, at around this time, PQube released Nexomon: Extinction on various platforms. I think it was a surprising success for the publisher (and it did rightfully deserve to be a success since it is excellent), and…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. On its surface, you would never suspect that Rune Factory world work. Taking the tranquility of Harvest Moon and mashing it together with the inherent violence of RPGs seems counter-intuitive, and yet the developers of Rune Factory and various associated homages and pastiches have somehow refined…
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