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 now released Homura: The Crimson Warriors, and it remains a…
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…
Tales of Berseria was the moment that Bandai Namco’s long-running Tales series…
Nintendo’s decision to revive the Famicom Detective Club series seems to have…
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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I am a firm believer that as many video games, be they popular, good, bad, and loathed, should be preserved as possible. All these retro collections that have been released by publishers to cash in on their classic properties (and undermine the value of emulation and the second-hand market) have…
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Just when I think my love for the work of Hamster Corporation has peaked, the team goes and finds a whole new level. Arcade Archives is doing the good lord Hatsune Miku’s work in preserving a whole bunch of arcade games that the rights owners either can’t, or see little…
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Hamster’s Arcade Archives is doing important work in preserving classic arcade games that most other publishers wouldn’t bother with. Even when the licensing is straightforward. Take Bandai Namco, for example. Pac-Man is a game that the company finds worthwhile to preserve, because it’s iconic, continues to sell robust numbers of…
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Back in 2023 (dear lord, time flies fast), Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo was a surprising release by Square Enix. By that company’s standard, it was a humble and straightforward visual novel, but clearly the execs had seen the success of Danganronpa, AI: The Somnium Files, Famicom Detective Club…
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Snow Bros. Classic Collection is a misnomer, as the classic Snow Bros. isn’t on it. That’s also possibly why the game has fewer than four reviews on Steam nearly a month after it was released. Snow Bros. is a classic. Fellow DDNet contributor, Alex, and I might have the occasional…
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To start this review with something very personal: My father passed away last week. It’s been difficult, to put it mildly. The reason I bring it up is that Dad absolutely loved Ten-Pin Bowling. Had his own ball, ball bag (I had no idea they made bowling ball bags), shoes,…
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