7 months ago

Review: Kill Knight

Kill Knight is a title that immediately jumped out at me when it came across my virtual desk. For the absolutely radical name, yes, but also for far more than that: the isometric viewpoint, the chunky original PlayStation-esque aesthetic, the apparent emphasis on tight mechanical execution and strict resource management… Everything about it screamed the
7 months ago

Review: Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed

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
9 months ago

Review: Volgarr the Viking II

I have to admit to no small amount of surprise that I’m penning a review for Volgarr the Viking II, the source of which is twofold. Firstly, because its predecessor was a highly punishing, highly niche indie title that hooked its claws into me personally for its particular brand of arcade-style gameplay and required precision
1 year ago

Review: Foamstars

Following its initial announcement in 2023, I was positively jonesing to get my hands on Foamstars. Here was a game that was not only tackling its own interpretation of an established big player in the competitive multiplayer scene, but also doing so with flashy character designs and an aesthetic all its own. Fast-forward nine months
1 year ago

Review: The Last Faith

Nothing beats getting stuck into a great metroidvania. The non-linear exploration, the progression of new abilities, challenging boss fights—when prepared properly, all of these elements confect one of gaming’s most satisfying, addicting experiences. The appreciation I have for this genre is on my mind with every metroidvania I play, but it’s especially true for those
31 May 2023

Review: The Tartarus Key

It takes astonishingly little to endear me to an art style inspired by those found in titles released for the original PlayStation. Games for the console sported a very singular look, and to this day can provide a unique atmosphere in the gaming space that belies their age. Quite a few modern games have been
25 May 2023

Review: The Lord of the Rings: Gollum

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
24 Apr 2023

Review: Trinity Trigger

Throwback games are nearly always a risky business. There’s certainly much to be gained by taking notes from the classics that came before, but a lack of innovation on tried and true concepts can just as readily cause a game to feel like a drop in the bucket for a genre rather than a proper
2 Mar 2023

Review: Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty

Since the release of 2017’s Nioh, developer Team Ninja has been having something of an action RPG renaissance. While the impetus of Nioh’s continued development was the success of From Software’s Souls series, the game managed to not only carve out its own unique space in the genre, but carve it with beta tests and
30 Jan 2023

Review: SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake

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
21 Oct 2022

Review: Dragon Ball: The Breakers

Given its status as one of the most recognizable franchises on the planet, the Dragon Ball series has seen video game adaptations across a wide swath of genres. From fighting games to RPGs and action adventure titles, we’ve seen different takes on the events of the series from a variety of gaming perspectives.
19 Jul 2022

Review: Endling – Extinction is Forever

Both low concepts and high concepts abound in the wide world of video games. Some games have premises that could be the basis of full dissertations, and others can be immediately understood in a single, tantalizing sentence. Endling – Extinction is Forever, developed by Herobeat Studios and published by HandyGames, is thoroughly a part of
27 Jun 2022

Review: Fobia – St. Dinfna Hotel

Despite their tried and true persistence as a popular genre, horror video games can sometimes feel a bit polarizing: you either love them or you hate them. Moreover, they have the tendency to feel somewhat insular as well, with many horror releases iterating and expanding upon the staples established by the genre’s most popular titles.
29 Mar 2022

Sony’s New PlayStation Plus Service Comes in June with Three Variants

After months of speculation, Sony has now laid out the new PlayStation Plus service and will launch as soon as June in Japan, with North America and Europe to follow shortly after. Sony plans to have the new system up and running in most PlayStation Network regions by the end of July 2022. With the
10 Mar 2022

Review: Young Souls

At the tail end of last September, I had the opportunity to check out the demo for Young Souls, a previously Stadia-exclusive beat ‘em up developed by 1P2P and published by The Arcade Crew. By and large, the general takeaway from my several hours with it was an exceedingly positive one, and I found myself
2 Mar 2022

Free Upgrades Coming for Resident Evil Games

Today, Capcom announced that they’ll be releasing upgraded versions of Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3, and Resident Evil 7 biohazzard on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. The upgrades will add new features to these RE Engine games including ray tracing, high frame rate, and 3D audio. On the PlayStation 5, the upgrade
2 Mar 2022

Review: Destiny 2: The Witch Queen

I can remember being incredibly excited for the release of the original Destiny back in 2014. After all, it was the next big game from the company behind Halo, the game series that was responsible for many teenage back pains as I frequently hauled my Xbox and my large, heavy television to friend’s houses in
11 Feb 2022

Review: The King of Fighters XV

The King of Fighters is a series long-beloved by fighting game fans. It’s consistently sported a colorful cast of memorable characters, flashy specials as satisfying to watch as they are to input successfully, and a high level of overall speed that sets itself apart not just from other team fighters, but the fighting game genre
19 Jan 2022

Review: Blackwind

It can be a wonderful thing to stumble on a game that just lets you turn your brain off and have some fun. There’s a unique catharsis to it, even; sometimes you simply don’t want to worry about concerning yourself with the finer details of a brainteasing plot or mastering complex inputs with precise timing.
2 Nov 2021

Review: Panorama Cotton

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