Valkyrie Elysium isn’t for everyone. The game has a specific tone and structure that has ensured that it will only ever appeal to a small, niche demographic. And yet it shares structural, thematic and aesthetic similarities with, in one way or another, the likes of Chaos Legion, NieR (original, not Automata), and Drakengard 3. These are all games that were,…
Here’s a free tip for developers and publishers: “Souls” means something in video gaming now. We may or may not like it, but people see that combination of letters and think something very specific. Soulstice is not actually one of these games (blessedly, given that this year has already been…
Sony is on to such a good thing with MLB The Show…
Ikai is so close to being something special. The premise of the…
Valkyrie Elysium isn’t for everyone. The game has a specific tone and structure that has ensured that it will only ever appeal to a small, niche demographic. And yet it shares structural, thematic and aesthetic similarities with, in one way or another, the likes of Chaos Legion, NieR (original, not…
Read More
Here’s a free tip for developers and publishers: “Souls” means something in video gaming now. We may or may not like it, but people see that combination of letters and think something very specific. Soulstice is not actually one of these games (blessedly, given that this year has already been…
Read More
Sony is on to such a good thing with MLB The Show that it would rather have its San Diego development studio work on a cross-platform release than risk losing the baseball license (I would bet significant dollars that the MLB told Sony that the previously PlayStation-exclusive series was going…
Read More
Ikai is so close to being something special. The premise of the game is strong, it has the occasional moment of inspired horror design, and you can tell that the developers entered into this with some genuine intent and vision. Unfortunately, at other times it comes across as amateur and…
Read More
Relayer is God Wars, but located in space. That comparison isn’t going to help you if you were one of the many people that unfortunately overlooked God Wars (and therefore missed one of the finest tactics JRPGs ever), but if you imagine a heavily narrative-driven fantasy adventure, backed by traditional…
Read More
Back in 2015 (seven years ago!), in my review of the original Submerged, I wrote: “Submerged is at its core a deeply frustrated warning against humanity ignoring the 97-odd per cent of climate scientists that insist we’re set for a bad time if we don’t hurry up and start dealing…
Read More
The Ascent looks gorgeous in the kind of grim and nihilistic way that the best in the cyberpunk genre can look gorgeous. That gets it off to a most excellent start. From wading through the gank of refuse waste and… much less wholesome byproducts from humanity’s essentially wasteful existence, right…
Read More
Final Fantasy is important to Square Enix. I know that’s stating the obvious, but sometimes Square Enix is almost shockingly willing to experiment with it. If Final Fantasy VII Remake wasn’t enough to convince you that the company is willing to greenlight some risky, near transgressive projects, Stranger of Paradise…
Read More