I almost forgot about Supermassive Games’ Dark Pictures Anthology. That’s not from a lack of quality – each title in the series to date has been very worthy – but it’s just that things move quickly in video games and the Dark Pictures titles don’t quite have the longevity behind them. I’ve never replayed one, and so, given the last…
There was a moment there where I thought that my issues with the big AAA-blockbuster space were with me. That I’d become jaded from having played far too many games, and seeing how the sausage gets made first-hand, and therefore I had lost perspective. Yet Pragmata then came and demonstrated…
If you were to ask me what genres I think developers should…
Resident Evil has always been a tale of placing corporate profit over…
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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When a series is known for being as surrealistic as the Yakuza series is, keeping it fresh over the long term is all the more challenging. After all, the oddball stops being oddball when it becomes mundane. Thankfully, to date the developers at Ryu Ga Gotoku have been able to…
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We see a lot of efforts to take history and build a video game out of it. This year alone we’ve already seen the newest chapter in the Dynasty Warriors series. Civilization VII is just around the corner. Ubisoft seems to be in all kinds of development hell with its…
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It’s kind of amazing to consider that the last several years have been the longest period between Dynasty Warriors releases since the series began back in 1997. Dynasty Warriors 9 was a full seven years ago. And, on top of that, there has only been one of the Dynasty Warriors…
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Xuan-Yuan Sword: The Gate of Firmament is actually an older title, being an Xbox One and PC release from around six years ago. It’s getting a second lease on life on the PlayStation now, and I’m glad it is because it has given me the excuse to play it after…
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I hate that I love so much about Infinity Nikki. There’s such a warming wholesomeness in abundance that the experience feels almost transformative and subversive. It’s like the developers saw all the combat loops that dominate all the other big-budget open world games and were determined to show that there…
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I want to get this out of the way upfront – it is genuinely silly that Farming Simulator has become an annualised franchise. It makes sense to have annual sports games because teams change from one year to the next, and having an authentic roster matters when you’re playing while…
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Planet Coaster 2 is good. But then Planet Coaster was good, and this is really just an iteration of that. Frontier Developments has found its niche and is now focused on driving that nail home over and over again. With Planet Coaster 2 you get lots of new toys to…
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