2 months ago
0

Preview: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

When it comes to upcoming games in February, one would be hard pressed to find a title with more eyes on it than Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Coming hot off the heels of July’s Final Fantasy XVI, the second installment of the Final Fantasy VII remake trilogy has been leaving onlookers with no shortage of
7 months ago
0

Review: Affogato

As a reviewer, I tend to pick out games that I want to review based on one of three criteria. The first are games where either I had been following early development or just saw the trailer and thought that the game looked like a lot of fun. The second are games that are somehow
9 months ago
0

Preview: Alterium Shift

So there’s an interesting thing that happens for me a lot as a game reviewer: I am handed a game that I do not personally like very much while I also recognize that it’s not doing anything wrong. A recurring theme in several of my reviews is that you have to evaluate games based on
1 year ago
0

Preview: Frontier Hunter: Erza’s Wheel of Fortune

I forget exactly when it was I stumbled across Tower Hunter: Erza’s Trial on Steam long ago, but it was at least at a point when the odds of getting new metroidvania titles seemed… not great. So it was a while ago, and it definitely predates my working here. The game launched into early access,
1 year ago
1

Review: Adventure Academia: The Fractured Continent

If you’ve caught the subtle mentions of it many times over the course of the years I’ve been reviewing here, you probably have a vague sense that I actually really like turn-based strategy games. Heck, I like strategy games in general, hence why I keep trying to play RTS games despite being demonstrably bad at
1 year ago
0

Review: Star Ocean: The Divine Force

The Star Ocean series is a storied one that has been going through somewhat of a rough patch recently. Typically releasing a game once per console generation, the series has gone from unknown (the previously Japanese only Star Ocean for Super Famicom) to cult favorite (Second Story and Til the End of Time) to generally
27 Sep 2022
0

Review: The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero

You know, I could kick off this review by talking about the history of the Trails series, or its developer Falcom, or how long fans of the series have been waiting for the opportunity to play the game we are discussing here today (previous fan translation notwithstanding). However, I’m pretty confident that if you’re here
27 Feb 2022
0

Review: Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream

You know, it’s really hard to call something niche when a series has been receiving regular entries for what’s now been decades. It may be hard to believe that the Atelier franchise as a whole has been a long standing presence reaching right back to the original PlayStation, but there’s something to be said about
10 Nov 2021
4

Review: Blue Reflection: Second Light

A little over four years ago, we took a look at Blue Reflection, a new IP from Gust (of Atelier fame) and Koei Tecmo. A JRPG set in the magical girl genre, it was something that seemed to have a lot of promise when I first booted it up. Unfortunately, I came away from it…less
27 Sep 2021
0

Review: Astria Ascending

This is a weird review for me to be writing. Not in the sense that it has to be a negative one or anything like that, but in the sense that this is the first time that I’ve reviewed a game I previously previewed. As soon as it was clear we would be getting a
23 Aug 2021
0

Preview: Astria Ascending

There’s a certain je ne sais quoi that accompanies a JRPG that a lot of games try and fail to emulate. It feels reductive to say that these games have to come from Japan, of course, but for every game that manages to feel authentic to its JRPG aspirations despite not originating in the country
4 Aug 2021
0

Review: Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters (Final Fantasy I-III)

So, the first of the Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters are out. And it is impossible to review the whole product just yet, because the whole product isn’t available right now. We haven’t yet played the Final Fantasy IV through Final Fantasy VI remasters. They’re simply not available to be experienced yet. At the same time,
9 Jul 2021
0

Review: Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin

I’m going to cut to the chase with this one, folks. I’ve got quite the backlog of games I haven’t finished or own but haven’t played yet. What tends to happen, especially for RPGs, even though I love them, is I invest quite a bit of time in them, get distracted by another new game,
26 Jan 2021
0

Review: Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy

When the original Atelier Ryza launched in the west a little over a year ago, it brought a few changes to the well-established series beloved by fans. With a more action-focused battle system, simplified alchemy systems, a stronger focus on plot, and a touch more fanservice than usual, Ryza went on to be one of
20 Oct 2020
0

Review: Tears of Avia

I’m not sure if it’s insulting or just accurate to say that Tears of Avia is a game with a backstory that immediately feels more interesting than any game that could actually be attached to it. But, well… here we are now, and this one has an interesting backstory. Tears of Avia is clearly a
20 Jul 2020
0

Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy Announced

The first direct sequel to an Atelier game in over fifteen years, Atelier Ryza 2 was announced during the Japanese Nintendo Direct Mini on Monday.
25 Jun 2020
0

Review: Brigandine: The Legend of Runersia

The release of the Sony PlayStation in North America in 1994 was an enormous and unprecedented event, one which drew a great deal of attention from both game journalists and video game players at the time. An affordable 32-bit console with excellent performance for 3D games was immediately notable as a novelty, with early titles
6 Apr 2020
0

Review: Final Fantasy VII Remake

Lengthy story-based games, like JRPGs and visual novels, are typically the kinds of games I’ll never replay. Between the fact that my time for games is limited and the shear amount of new titles out there I still need to play, I find little reason to go back and re-experience a story I’ve already played
13 Jan 2020
0

Review: Orangeblood

Anime and hip hop – not a blend that most would expect to work, but surprisingly happens more often than one would think. Numerous notable rappers have integrated anime references and imagery into their work. Kanye West has multiple tracks that include anime references, and Pharrell Williams’ video for his track It Girl themed itself
15 Dec 2019
0

Review: Virgo Vs The Zodiac

It seems that over the past decade or two, there’s been a trend toward making complicated technologies simpler and more accessible to the general public. Building a PC has gone from a complicated enthusiast-only venture in the 90s to a nearly plug-and-play project anyone can do. Services exist that allow anyone to create their own