One of the things about J. R. R. Tolkien’s vision of Middle-Earth that people often overlook is that he was seeking to create an entire history, right down to forgotten lore and evolving cultures, languages, storytelling traditions, and legends. We often forget that to instead fixate on the fantasy adventure and wars that were at the centre of his major…
A full disclaimer here: I’m not the world’s biggest fan of Sonic the Hedgehog. I respect the contribution that the series has made to the history and development of video games, but I do find the characters aggravating, and the aesthetics garish. More simply, I just prefer slower-paced platformers that…
Read MoreRain is a common motif in noir. Whether it be the grim, dank, and hostile urban decay of Se7en, or the neon-drenched dystopia of Blade Runner, water is so common to noir that there is, to quote Paul Schrader in his book Notes on Film Noir “an almost Freudian attachment…
Read MoreLoop8: Summer Of Gods is too easy to overlook. I know, I put it to a side myself while I was playing much larger and high-profile games (such as Final Fantasy XVI). I do feel like I did this game a disservice, however, as it is different and has the…
Read MoreOnce, many years ago, I read an argument that the enduring popularity of Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons in its homeland in Japan has to do with a very real desire for a “sea change” or “tree change” among Japanese urban populations. If this is true (and I believe there is…
Read MoreBleak Sword DX is the latest Apple Arcade game to make its way over to consoles. This Devolver Digital-published title was always an admirable and interesting effort to take the core tension and taut action of the Souls “genre” and make it work on mobile devices. It did work and…
Read MoreJust yesterday I reviewed Demon Sword Incubus. This is a truly terrible “erotic” game that needed to remove the one “quality” it had going for it so it could have a console release. The Nintendo Switch port of Sakura Dungeon has also been released this past week, and while it…
Read MoreIf the developers of Demon Sword: Incubus put half as much effort into the actual gameplay as they did with their array of costumes designed to show off more than cover, it might almost have been worth playing. Mind you, with a scintillating narrative that includes lines like this, I…
Read MoreI love Hatsune Miku. I’m pretty sure I’ve said that on this site before. However, I’ll keep saying it as long as the character and the games she appears in are as adorable as Hatsune Miku: The Planet of Wonder and Fragments of Wishes get published. Crypton – the IP…
Read MoreHave you ever played a game that feels like it was designed specifically for you? Jack Jeanne is just that to me. In fact, I’m working on a visual novel project myself, and I’m shocked at just how thematically and structurally similar it will be to Jack Jeanne (at least,…
Read MoreNightmare Reaper aims to be a blend of roguelike and nostalgic throwback to the “boomer shooter” era of Doom. In a sense, it succeeds. It is indeed a roguelike (with procedurally-generated levels and a need to start from scratch with each death), and it has the violence and manic action…
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