Tales of Berseria was the moment that Bandai Namco’s long-running Tales series finally started to grow on me. It was the narrative. Berseria’s dark story of tragedy and revenge was a real page turner. Related reading: An interview we did with the developer of Tales of Berseria at the time that the game was released. Tales of Berseria Remastered is…
Nintendo’s decision to revive the Famicom Detective Club series seems to have kick-started a mild rush of new games that are, effectively, mystery visual novels, but have point-and-click elements and light puzzles to keep players interested and intrigued. That’s a good thing. This genre is excellent. And Aksys’ decision to…
I am a firm believer that as many video games, be they…
Nintendo’s timing with its no-pressure comfort food games has been fortuitous. Animal…
We, long-suffering SaGa fans, have been utterly inundated with the franchise over the past 12 months or so. First, there was SaGa: Emerald Beyond. Then there was the remake of Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven (and arguably the finest SaGa game of all). And now we have the…
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Games that touch on mental illness can be difficult to both develop and play; if not done correctly, these games could do more harm than good to their players. This is a risk that Borealis and Eastasiasoft take with Secrets in Green, a game that follows a mentally ill woman…
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In a world that is as toxic, complex, and fundamentally unpleasant as the one we now live, whimsical, wholesome little things like Tempopo are the escapism we need. It’s a simple puzzle game in many ways, but the sweet, buoyant presentation, and the brilliant way it integrates music into 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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Danganronpa-style aesthetics and humour combined with Texas Hold ‘Em poker? Why yes, I did jump into All in Abyss: Judge the Fake without a second thought. Short of adding in strip poker mechanics (oh the nostalgia for the days when PC gaming was inundated with those), this, right here, is…
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There is a very fine line between homage and something that is just outright theft of an idea. A good example of the former is Wargroove, which is clearly inspired by Intelligent Systems’ Advance Wars, but has its own identity through storytelling, unit design, features, presentation and so on. On…
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What if Harry Potter was an otome love game and not written by a horrible woman who seems obsessed with being a one-person “can you separate art from artists” talking point? Battlefield Waltz is a bit like that. It’s a story about a bunch of teens in a special, magical…
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COVID lockdowns broke us all a little bit (or, at least, those of us who endured actual lockdowns). Huddled in our little spaces while we waited for the government to assure us that the threat was passed and we could, again, go out and experience the world. At its core,…
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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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