Monster Couch developed the digital adaptation of Wingspan, a game that I’ve spent more than 1000 hours playing at this point. So I was naturally interested in seeing what the team could do with Flamecraft, another digital board game adaptation and remarkably similar to Wingspan in that it’s a relatively light and breezy game, designed to be as open and…
You know how the saying goes: When it rains, it pours. Somehow, after decades of Culdcept barely being acknowledged outside of Japan, we’ve now had two releases in as many months. Culdcept Begins has become an instant favourite among my online board game group, displacing even the mighty Wingspan some…
Was Defender of the Crown the first “4X” strategy game to come…
The Touhou Project continues to be one of the most interesting experiments…
Monster Couch developed the digital adaptation of Wingspan, a game that I’ve spent more than 1000 hours playing at this point. So I was naturally interested in seeing what the team could do with Flamecraft, another digital board game adaptation and remarkably similar to Wingspan in that it’s a relatively…
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You know how the saying goes: When it rains, it pours. Somehow, after decades of Culdcept barely being acknowledged outside of Japan, we’ve now had two releases in as many months. Culdcept Begins has become an instant favourite among my online board game group, displacing even the mighty Wingspan some…
Read More
Was Defender of the Crown the first “4X” strategy game to come from Western developers? I know it’s not a proper 4X, as several of the “Xes” are severely undercooked or nonexistent, and Japan’s Nobunaga’s Ambition beat it to market by several years, but when you look at it, you…
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The Touhou Project continues to be one of the most interesting experiments in the video game industry. It’s been going since 1997, and that means it’s on the cusp of 30 years. In that time it’s had more than a game released every year… and that’s just the “main” titles,…
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The origins of the Rhythm Heaven series are noble. One of the legends of Japanese music, Tsunku, got involved with Nintendo and produced the first game in an effort to develop the player’s rhythm skills. You might assume that all rhythm games do that, but in reality, most rhythm games…
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Idea Factory and its otome factory, Otomate, is at its best when working with stories based in history. Hakuouki, for example. Or the first Birushana, which was set in the Heian period of Japanese history and let you hang out with Benkei and other famous boys (made pretty) while the…
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The first otome visual novel that I played – in fact, the first visual novel at all – was Hakuouki, back on the PlayStation 3, when visual novels on console were a rare treat indeed. These days, we’re inundated with the genre, but Idea Factory, the publisher behind Hakuouki, have…
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Unfortunately, a trip into the Nintendo Switch’s online store is a chore to wade through endless piles of trash to try and find the occasional good game. The store is so flooded with utter crap at $10 or less that most of us would surely be at the point where…
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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…
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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…
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