For a genre that has given rise to the creation of so many great games, it can often be difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to the puzzle platformer. This is doubly true when games under its umbrella are heavily evocative of one another in certain visual or mechanical elements,
In October of 2017, German developer Piranha Bytes asked a question: “What would an open-world RPG that mixed worldbuilding elements of both fantasy and science fiction look like?” The provided answer to this question was ELEX, an acronym representing the words Eclectic, Lavish, Exhilarating, and Xenial.
The Cotton games are a series of shoot ’em ups (or cute ’em ups, if you prefer) that haven’t seen much popularity outside of their native Japan. Up until this year, Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams, the franchise’s first entry, was the only one to receive a North American release on the TurboGrafx-CD in 1993, and
It’s that time of year again. The autumnal season is in full swing, and our current proximity to Halloween could very well move you to seek out TV shows, movies, music, and video games to commemorate the month of harrowing haunts and spectral spirits. There’s no shortage of spooky titles asking for your time, but
The moment it launched its Kickstarter campaign in October of 2019, Book of Travels built itself up to be a different kind of online game. Developer Might and Delight labeled it not as an MMORPG, but a TMORPG (that’s Tiny Multiplayer Online RPG) which places players in a large world with no immediate objective apart
There’s nothing quite like a good beat ’em up. Tricks of the trade guarantee things like fast-paced action, in-depth combat, and side-scrolling mayhem, with aesthetic flourish typically being the cherry on top. When a developer can successfully integrate all four of these elements into a cohesive whole, it’s easy to find yourself with a pretty
Today saw THQ Nordic’s first digital presentation in celebration of the company’s 10th anniversary. As you’d expect from a showcase ringing in a decade of publishing games, it was suitably filled with reveals of projects currently in development and new looks at a couple of previously announced titles.
When the original Bravely Default landed on the 3DS back in 2014, it stood as direct confirmation that there was still a market for high quality, turn-based JRPGs. It sported a job-based combat system and a party reminiscent of 2010’s Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light, a game that itself took heavy inspiration from
I’m always somewhat skeptical when it comes to plot-based decision making in games. Typically, you’ll be offered one of three choices in every situation: something a nice person would do, something a mean person would do, and something that falls somewhere in between the two.
Cyberpunk is one of the most interesting subgenres of science fiction. It’s a demonstrably solid framework for writing flawed and morally gray characters, beaten down by a world brought to the edge of collapse by the whims of puppeteering corporations and capitalism run amok. Often, it explores the question mark of human consciousness, individuality, and
There are a lot of unique challenges that narrative-focused games have to overcome. By necessity, they have to share an interesting story with engaging characters. They also have to keep things fresh throughout their entire duration to keep from getting stale, and perhaps most importantly, they have justify to the player that an interactive medium
There’s no denying that Cris Tales is one of those games that immediately catches your eye. Regardless of how you first come across it, something about the art style adorning the videos and images promoting the game (like the one directly above what you’re reading now) draws you in to find out more.
When I first booted up Samurai Warriors 5, I wasn’t sure what to expect. On the one hand, I’d played Warriors games before, and was well aware of their penchant for delivering a unique action game experience while also not switching things up too much. On the other hand, it was clear that this particular
