Review by Matt S. The Taishō era was one of the most politically and socially dynamic periods in Japan’s very long history. It’s also one of the shortest, having lasted between just 1912 and 1926. Immediately following the chaotic Meiji period, where Japan was forcibly opened up to the world…
Read MoreNews by Matt S. Death Mark is a game that released in June 2017 for PlayStation Vita, and then in January on PlayStation 4. It’s now due for a release on Nintendo Switch soon (June 28, to be precise), and, as far as unlocalised games go, this one is right…
Read MoreNews by Matt S. Clannad is one of the most respected visual novels of all, and it’s coming to PlayStation 4. Even better, you won’t need to wait for a localiser to pick it up. The game’s Japanese release will have a full English translation available. As per the game’s…
Read MoreNews by Matt S. Well, someone has to support the PlayStation Vita, which somehow continues to kick on as the premiere destination for visual novels. And Aksys is without a doubt the biggest supporter of visual novels. Miku bless Aksys. There are three mystery-focused VNs coming from Aksys to the…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. Just to get this out of the way first; if you haven’t played the first Hakuoki (Kyoto Winds – my review here) first, don’t think about jumping in with Edo Blossoms. This sequel does give you the briefest of introductions and background as a refresher, so…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. As a passionate fan of the genre, I can say that there just aren’t enough games, films, books and so on written in the noir genre. The glory days, back when Raymond Chandler was captivating audiences with his writing and Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall were…
Read MoreReview by Matt C. Where the Water Tastes Like Wine is a game about stories and storytelling. Set amid the Great Depression, it looks at how stories grow and evolve over time: how a sweet but relatively mundane tale of long-lost siblings reuniting can morph into a myth about spirits…
Read MoreNews by Matt S. Kadokawa games, the developer and publisher of Root Letter, has announced that the game has now sold 400,000 units worldwide. Related reading: An interview on the making of Love Plus That’s both digital downloaded and via physical copies, and sales across all platforms, which includes PlayStation…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. Japan’s political and social relationship with sex and sexuality has traditionally been far different to how it has developed in the west. Largely free of the three religions “of the book” that are terrified of and vilify sexuality (Christianity, Judaism and Islam), Japan has developed differently,…
Read MoreNews by Matt S. It’s only a month away until the release of Hakuoki: Edo Blossoms on the PlayStation Vita, so Idea Factory has released some new screenshots, and we couldn’t resist throwing them up. Hakuoki is, for the uninitiated, a visual novel series set in Japan during the events…
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