Resident Evil has always been a tale of placing corporate profit over human rights. From Resident Evil 1’s human experimentation, to Resident Evil 2’s company town, all the way to Resident Evil Village’s superpowered feudal lords, Resident Evil has always worn its ideology on its sleeve. Greedy, corrupt politicians wielding government military power to further corporate interests and increase the…
Goichi Suda and his team at Grasshopper Manufacture have carved out a very specific niche. Starting with the likes of Killer7, No More Heroes and Lollipop Chainsaw, the developer has mastered the grindhouse aesthetic and where most of the time “kitsch” is a pejorative term, with Goichi Suda, it’s a…
Having not played the original Code Vein, I have no idea whether…
Sacred 2 Remaster is such a hot mess of a hot mess…
One of my first observations about Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, was that it was very, very French. Having no idea about the developer prior to playing it, I immediately said to myself, “This is a French game.” Then I saw all the jokes about it being a “J’RPG” and realised…
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The original release of The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion is still very playable on a lot of devices. It is (or, at least, it was) readily available on Game Pass. I haven’t checked that since the release of Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Remastered, but I assume it’s been replaced now. Either way,…
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I had no idea that Amerzone existed until about ten minutes before I was playing it. Apparently, this is a remake of a 1999 title, based on an even earlier comic by the legendary Benoît Sokal (known to many non-comic aficionados as the guy whose name is attached to the…
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I do think that Indiana Jones shouldn’t have persisted as the property that it has. The two films that have come since The Last Crusade have been so drenched in a desperate kind of nostalgia, all but begging people to love them because they brought back a beloved ’80s classic.…
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I remain very impressed with any developer that takes a swing at a Soulslike. In fact, post-Elden Ring, I’m possibly even more impressed by the gonads it takes to try and develop one. This is a genre that is so overwhelmingly dominated by one company’s creative vision, and any other…
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My personal experience with prolific (VERY prolific) Japanese developer, Tamsoft, is mostly with its work with the action-based Hyperdimension brawlers, Senran Kagura, and the highly fanservicey stuff like Onechanbara and School Girl/Zombie Hunter. For the most part, these have been like pared-down Dynasty Warriors/Musou games. I wish Bleach Rebirth of…
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There was a time when the 3D platformer was one of the most creative genres out there. Driven by the delight that people had for Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie, and others, developers fell over themselves to try to carve out their own niche with quirky, different ideas. Most of those…
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The best way to learn a new language is to actually practice that language in real-world context. If you travel around Japan you will, at some point, almost certainly be accosted at least once by a group of school kids who are clutching a workbook and told to practice their…
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Two rugby games have been released within a span of a week of one another. For such a niche sport (in the world of video games), I’m not sure that was in anyone’s greatest interest, but nonetheless rugby fans get a choice: Jonah Lomu Rugby Challenge 4 is a sequel…
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We’re being spoiled for Musou right now! A month after Koei Tecmo released the exceptional Dynasty Warriors Origins, the company went and stealth-dropped Warriors: Abyss as part of a Sony State of Play show. This is an action roguelike heavily inspired by Vampire Survivors and similar “horde” games, and while…
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