Review by Matt S. It has been great to see Taiwan become a growing force in video games, in no small part because culturally and aesthetically there are synergies between it and Japan that has meant that many of the games that come out of Taiwan do great things with…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. I don’t know if any of you have seen the Chick Tract Dark Dungeons comic book. It’s pretty old now (published in 1984), but as I was growing up it did the rounds every so often at school because it is unhinged. Like genuinely, bona fide,…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. I knew that I would love Aluna from its opening moments. The game kicks off with a cutscene talking about Zeus and Hercules, before saying (and yes, I am paraphrasing here) “but you know what? Let’s talk about this South American goddess and her daughter instead”.…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. Ravensword: Shadowlands is a good lesson that I hope developers learn. Back in 2012, which it first launched on iPhone and iPad, it was hailed as something amazing, as an effort to do the Elder Scrolls aesthetic on mobile. Back then mobile gaming was still fairly…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. I know it’s a kitschy joke these days, but developers do continue to be inspired to create “the Dark Souls of XXXX.” So influential is that masterpiece that it has become a reference point across the entire industry. Black Legend is an effort to be the…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. I’m all for games being complex, challenging, and unforgiving. Just this week I reviewed a simulation title, in A-Train, that comes dangerously close to being a genuine degree in urban planning and an MBA, rolled into one. But, if you are going to go down the…
Read MoreVideo by Matt S. For as long as I can remember, I have loved the first-person dungeon crawler. Whether it was getting lost in the labyrinths of Wizardry, or inching my way around a SSI Dungeons & Dragons ‘crawler, much of my enduring love for RPGs can be traced back…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. The question of “what happens after the world has been saved from the end boss” is one that a few RPGs have explored over the years. It’s a difficult topic to tackle as a video game, though, because it naturally assumes that the world has returned…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. While the roguelike genre is well overplayed at this point, enjoyable examples of the genre do deserve to be noted as such. Curse of the Dead Gods is an enjoyable roguelike, but being too stylistically similar to last year’s breakout super-hit, Hades, won’t help its cause,…
Read MoreVideo by Matt S. Haven is the first “traditional” RPG to land on the PlayStation 5, and it’s an absolute delight. It’s a non-violent turn-based RPG about two lovers that left their entire world behind so that they could be together, in tranquil isolation. It’s a truly beautiful, heartfelt game,…
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