There was a time when visual novels were a rare thing in the West, particularly on consoles. Steins;Gate, from 2009, was one of the pioneers in changing that. Brought to the West on PS3 and Vita, it turned heads by proving to a wide and mainstream audience that it was possible for a game to be compelling while being almost…
Heroes of Might and Magic is finally back, and I couldn’t be happier. This is one of my favourite franchises of all – I even have the entire, expanded board game adaptation of Heroes of Might and Magic 3 thanks to a very generous brother who bought the whole damn…
Tove Jansson’s Moomin characters long ago stepped outside the pure world of…
Did you know that, while mazes are designed to confuse and confound…
There was a time when visual novels were a rare thing in the West, particularly on consoles. Steins;Gate, from 2009, was one of the pioneers in changing that. Brought to the West on PS3 and Vita, it turned heads by proving to a wide and mainstream audience that it was…
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Heroes of Might and Magic is finally back, and I couldn’t be happier. This is one of my favourite franchises of all – I even have the entire, expanded board game adaptation of Heroes of Might and Magic 3 thanks to a very generous brother who bought the whole damn…
Read More
Tove Jansson’s Moomin characters long ago stepped outside the pure world of just their books; even when Jansson was alive she was experimenting with different forms such as comic strips and limited merchandise. That has extended into video games in the past with very mixed results, though I did rather…
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Did you know that, while mazes are designed to confuse and confound you by messing with your sense of direction and location, there’s actually a very simple way to escape from any of them? Put your hand on the left side wall and don’t take it off. Eventually, you’re going…
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After playing (and largely enjoying) the second Greedfall game in early access back when it launched, I left the game alone, waiting for its full release. Now it’s here, and Greedfall 2: The Dying World is a confident step ahead from the original. Given that the original was my favourite…
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The Run is the latest FMV game written and directed by Paul Raschid, whose other work includes The Complex, Five Dates, Ten Dates, The Gallery, and Hello Stranger. Originally released for mobile devices just in time for Halloween season last year, it has now arrived on PC and Mac through…
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The Amiga was home to a whole host of exceptional games in its time, but not all of them earned the right to be called true classics, even if they were innovative for their time. Advancements not only in visuals but also gameplay design have left some old school retro…
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Lached Up Games serves a very specific niche with its quirky and colourful visual novels. Is there much of an audience for fanservicey visual novels filled with Australian humour about genderswapping (and now, with Help! I’m Turning Into A Mermaid!, species swapping)? Probably not. But for the people who do…
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The movie tie-in game is something of a dying art, but in many ways you would have to rule it death by way of suicide. The very model for movie games ensured that they would die out. This was never terribly surprising; classically speaking, lots of money got spent getting…
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Bubble Bobble is one of the greatest games ever made, and it’s also my go-to game when I’ve been asked about my favourite game of all time. Taito’s certainly done some interesting things with the Bubble Bobble IP over the years, and while a lot of the spinoff games have…
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