Back in 2001 (oof, that hurt to write), the Wario Land series made a bit of a formula shift in Wario Land 4. Without getting too deep in the weeds about it, it mixed up some core mechanics in an effort to distinguish itself from the first three games in the series. Because of the
Six years ago, I was introduced to Nomada Studio through their first game: Gris. A simple yet beautiful platformer, it immediately struck me when I first tried the demo at PAX West, and is still one I point to when asked what games I believe everyone must play. It’s a powerful tale told completely through
Say what you will about the towering monolith that is The Walt Disney Company and its interesting history in their early years (especially when you deep dive into EPCOT). But there’s a reason why their properties are so beloved, and studio after studio has tried to capture the same magic that’s captivated audiences for well
This is not the first time that I have done a full review for a game that I already previewed, but The Plucky Squire feels a bit different. It turns out that there was actually more momentum behind this title than I had previously thought, which is something I’m glad to see! This is a
Time is a funny thing, especially when you’re in the position of seeing those younger than you get the chance to be exposed to things that you enjoyed as a child. Sure, experiencing those games in the modern day is one thing. But being there to experience things like the absolute glut of mascot platformers
When we first saw Pepper Grinder trailers in our work chat, I immediately responded with a tongue-in-cheek nod to a classic movie joke: “This summer, Dig Dug is back, and this time it’s personal!” Which is easily the first mood you can get out of the promotional trailers. This is a game in which you
Out of all of the (probably too many at this point) games that I play, there are two genres that I always get excited for: rhythm games, and games that draw emotions out of my cold dead heart. One is a fun way to jam out to great music while testing my button pressings skills,
As I’ve spent the past several years as a reviewer, I’ve increasingly grown to think of games as broadly belonging to one of two categories. The first category are games that basically wear their hearts on their sleeves. Within the first half-hour you have seen most of the game’s core loop and ideas, and you
There is a recurring theme for me in taking reviews for games that are spinoffs of series I know nothing about. Yohane the Parhelion: BLAZE in the DEEPBLUE, aside from having the probably most overwritten title I will see all year in my review queue (it has very little time left in the year to
So, hey, that game Hades is pretty good, huh? Like, everyone liked it. Don’t pretend you don’t know that’s why we have a nice big rush of games that are cashing in on the whole roguelike thing. You know it, I know it, a variety of stray cats know it. And most of them are…
Christopher Hastings created the character of Dr. McNinja when he just chose that as a forum user name on the Something Awful forums, and then he did art of the character stating that he was available for anyone who needed the services of a doctor or a ninja. Later, he had to give the character
With any mammoth franchise, it’s standard practice to create tie-in media that seeks to fill in the gaps of a greater narrative canon. This is just as true for The Lord of the Rings as it is for other IPs, and when it comes to video games in particular, the series has seen a lot
Every so often, my love of games trying new spins on the metroidvania formula leads me to misread a game. When I watched the first trailers for Trinity Fusion, I was expecting something in that vein. This was perhaps not entirely inaccurate, but it was mostly inaccurate. Sure, there are definitely aspects of the game
It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who has read more than a few of my reviews to know that I like games in the general metroidvania sub-category. That having been said, they are also still a genre I tend to be critical of; just like any other sort of game, it’s possible to
Are ya ready, kids? Met with mixed reception though it was, the 2020 remake of SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom served as a much welcome return for fans of the cult classic platformer. It seems it was quite the lucrative one as well, given that we’re now staring down the barrel for the release
Let me start with an anecdote: Kandria, on both its official website and right as the first thing on its Steam page, proudly boasts that the game has zero ability gating and you can go anywhere you want right from the start of the game. The same blurb expresses glee that finally, you will be
I’d really like to be able to say that when we got the full review build for this particular title, my experience of playing through the demo for Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider had already slipped through my memory and faded into half-remembered ephemera. Because that’s exactly what this game feels like it’s emulating right down to
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,
How do you feel about classic action games from the 16-bit era? Because that’s going to inform a lot about how you feel when it comes to Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider. The 16-bit era of console gaming had a slightly disjointed start, with the Sega Genesis having launched a solid two years before the Super Nintendo
If there was any sort of competition for the most re-releases in popular media in comparison to the original Star Wars trilogy, the Genesis-era Sonic games are definitely up there. Hell, the fact that there have been multiple compilations since then signals to most gamers and even passing fans that SEGA knows how timeless the