I’ve been making my way through the surprise-dropped Tomb Raider Definitive Edition that landed on the Switch a few weeks ago, and with two new Tomb Raider games just announced (albeit with a new publisher), that turns out to have been good timing to remind myself of the direction that Crystal Dynamics has been taking the character and her adventures.…
Octopath Traveler 0 isn’t really Octopath Traveler. It’s good. It’s even excellent, frequently and for long stretches of time. But it’s not Octopath Traveler for this very simple reason: Both the original Octopath Traveler and its sequel told the stories of eight (“Octo”) different people, who would eventually come together…
Bubble Bobble is one of the greatest games ever made, and it’s…
I first heard of Demonschool about three and a half years ago,…
I love Democracy 4. My first re-election campaign was a bit dicey, but some quality speeches on the campaign trail got me there. Despite the Australian Commies (AC) party running at an approval rate of only around 35% for much of the term, I was able to get it to…
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Yeo, the one-man-band indie developer from Russia, is going to be remembered as a far better artist than the relatively muted popularity of his games deserves. Fading Afternoon is his new one, and while it’s a retread of a lot of what makes his first, The Friends Of Ringo Ishikawa,…
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I am genuinely surprised by the launch of the two Quintessential Quintuplets games in this “double pack” (Memories of a Quintessential Summer and Five Memories Spent With You). They’ve been published by MAGES, one of the legends of visual novel development. They’ve also been published by Spike Chunsoft, one of…
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Here’s a note for all developers out there: If you’re going to locate your game in a period of history or legend, and especially if it’s one where there isn’t an abundance of choices, then make sure that you actually do something about that period of history or legend. Earlier…
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I have a particularly strong attachment to the original Cupid Parasite… indeed I think that it is that game, above and beyond any of the others that I’ve played, that convinced me that “hey, I have to make my own one of these visual novel things.” The result may not…
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You know that feeling where a game leaves you feeling totally satisfied? That you enjoyed every single second of it, and it left you wanting more, not because it was incomplete but simply because it was just that good? And that there was not a second where you felt like…
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My very first Warriors game was Samurai Warriors 3. I know, I came to the series late. The critics kept calling them “button mashers” in reviews and that made them sound very unappealing to me. Stupid, naïve me. I only played Samurai Warriors 3 because Nintendo decided to publish it…
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Sometimes, games don’t need to be remade. When the creative vision was already fully realised the first time around, simply making the thing available again is all that’s needed. That’s what Nintendo has done with Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, and it’s as good now as it was ever. Related…
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My impatience for, well, anything is well-documented at this point. Waiting five years for a game seemed completely unfeasible but I have done it! I have waited half a decade for Read Only Memories: Neurodiver (ROM: Neurodiver), the sequel to 2015’s 2064: Read Only Memories. When I was offered a…
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One of the things I’ve learned in making my own visual novel is that scope can very easily blow out. Every new scene, character, idea, and story beat that you add in means more backgrounds, CGs, character costumes and music. Then it all becomes very expensive. And so, in most…
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