Digitally Downloaded – Page 469 – Your specialist source of news and reviews for games, anime, manga, film and literature

TGS 2019 interview: Gust on tackling its first licensed IP: Fairy Tail

September 27, 2019

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Interview by Matt S. Gust, as Koei Tecmo’s JRPG house, has produced some cracking titles over the years. Everyone with a fondness for the genre knows about Atelier, of course, but whether it’s Blue Reflection, Ar Nosurge, Nights of Azure, or something else, Koei Tecmo has made a habit of…

A book about Japan that you must read: John Hersey’s Hiroshima

September 27, 2019

book/Book Review/Hiroshima/history/Japan/Japanese History/John Hersey/narrative journalism/New Journalism/non-fiction/nuclear bomb

Book review by Matt S. “The hurt ones were quiet; no one wept, much less screamed in pain; no one complained; none of the many who died did so noisily; not even the children cried; very few people even spoke. And when Father Kleinsorge gave water to some whose faces…

Review: Dragon Quest XI S: Definitive Edition (Nintendo Switch)

September 27, 2019

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Review by Harvard L. I wish this game had the subtitle, “a Dragon Quest for fans and first timers”, because that’s precisely what Square Enix was going for in this iteration of the long-running JRPG franchise. The base game released on the PS4 two years ago, along with a Japan…

Review: Sayonara Wild Hearts (Nintendo Switch)

September 26, 2019

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Review by Harvard L. Simogo’s Sayonara Wild Hearts is a game which I can’t stop thinking about. On the surface it’s simple enough to enjoy – a music-based arcade game with pared-back mechanics suited well to short bursts, a dazzling graphic style of pinks and purples and a swathe of…

Review: GreedFall (Sony PlayStation 4)

September 26, 2019

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Review by Trent P. GreedFall comes from developer Spiders, the team behind The Technomancer, Mars: War Logs, Of Orcs and Men and Bound By Flame. Just like each of those, GreedFall also offers a unique perspective to the genre. It may seem like yet another 17th century-based fantasy at first…

The catch-up coffee: Thursday, September 26, 2019

September 25, 2019

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News by Lindsay M., News Editor Welcome to Digitally Downloaded’s regular catch-up news feature. With each issue we will bring you the best news that you may have missed. Grab the biggest mug you’ve got, fill it with your favourite brew, and catch up with us (and our favourite news…

Review: Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns (Nintendo Switch)

September 25, 2019

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Review by Matt S. On the one hand, I’m very glad to see Puzzle Quest is back. On the other hand, as much as I enjoy Puzzle Question, I’m getting sick of playing the same game over and over as the only truly great example of the series. First released…

TGS 2019 interview: On Utawarerumono’s transition from R18+ action to breathtaking fantasy epic

September 25, 2019

Interview/Interviews/NISA/TGS/TGS 2019/Tokyo Game Show/Tokyo Game Show 2019/Utawarerumono/Utawarerumono Zan/Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen

Interview by Matt S. In addition to being a series that is fascinatingly inspired by Ainu culture (read about that in my previous interview), the other thing that I’ve always found interesting about Utawarerumono is its progress as a property. It’s still very niche, of course, but it’s one of…

Traditional Japanese games you must play that will teach you about the culture

September 24, 2019

board game/cultural analysis/culture/culture studies/Hanafuda/Hanetsuki/Hyakunin Isshu/Japan/Kendama/Shogi/Sugoruku/traditional game

Article by Matt S. You can learn a lot about a culture from the games that it plays. I’m not just talking about video games here (though, obviously, I’m a big advocate for Japanese video games as well), but rather the traditional board and card games that predate video games.…

video-on-dead-or-alive-and-gravure

September 24, 2019

Dead or Alive/Dead or Alive Xtreme/Dead or Alive Xtreme 3/gravure/Video/Video review

Video by Matt S. Dead or Alive (especially DoA Xtreme) has a certain reputation in the west. Enough so that Koei Tecmo opted to localise the most recent Dead or Alive Xtreme into English, but only release it in Asia, rather than risk the western response. The reason for that…

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