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
Hoyoverse has just announced details for some of the content coming with Honkai Star Rail’s Version 1.5. The central content for the patch is a continuation of the Main Story, with the quest being titled “A Foxian Tale of the Haunted.” The short description from Hoyoverse is as follows: “With the Creation Furnace having burst
Hoyoverse recently announced the new limited five-star character that is getting released alongside Version 1.5 – Huohuo! Huohuo is a five-star wind abundance character, with a playstyle focused around buffing and cleansing debuffs from her allies while healing them. Her character trailer showcases her clumsy and forever-spooked personality. In terms of gameplay, here’s a condensed,
A couple months have gone by since I had the opportunity to preview Jusant, the latest release from developer Don’t Nod. The demo wasn’t a complete homerun, particularly when it came to the more straightforward elements of its storytelling, but I left the experience heavily enticed by the game’s beat-by-beat climbing gameplay and unique atmosphere.
Jusant was a game that immediately and intensely caught my eye upon its announcement at the Xbox Games Showcase this year. The title’s visual style was undeniably a huge part of that initial eye catch, but its premise was what intrigued me most: traversing a towering monolith of stone and unearthing the stories of the
In 2019, Remnant: From The Ashes showed up on the scene with an interesting fusion of third-person cooperative shooting gameplay and the challenging, more exploratory emphasis of Soulslike games. While a novel blend in its own right, the first game’s rougher edges prevented it from really sinking its claws in me as much as I’d
I can hardly remember a time that an upcoming game has had simultaneously as much hype and hesitancy amongst its fanbase than Final Fantasy XVI. On one hand, we have the first mainline release in the series in over five years, being helmed by the oft lauded producers and designers behind Final Fantasy XIV. A
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
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
Warring nations. Broken families. People that can turn into literal gods. A massive shift in tone, but still a familiarity that feels like returning home. A few weeks ago, we had the opportunity to visit Square Enix HQ in Los Angeles, California, to finally experience a greatly anticipated upcoming title years in the making: Final
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
Today, management at Guerrilla announced that their Studio Director of 20 years, Angie Smets, is moving onto a Head of Development Strategy role at PlayStation Studios. This statement, which was released alongside their announcement for management restructuring, could have some big implications: “We have full confidence in our new leadership as they steer Guerrilla towards
Like many ordinary people, my relationship with the sport of golf is a bit complicated. I have played it in real life and like it. However, I don’t really spectate it because it just isn’t that exciting as an observer. Golf has a relaxed pace and has a lot of subtle nuances that make recognizing
It’s always a compelling prospect when a development team, hot off the considerable challenge of releasing a video game, makes an attempt to switch things up with a forthcoming sequel. It can also be equally off-putting; would an alteration of core elements mean a loss of what made the experience click in the first place?
We were invited out to Los Angeles last week by developer Respawn Entertainment and publisher Electronic Arts to preview Star Wars Jedi: Survivor ahead of its April 28 release. After a three hour preview… we were yearning to play more.
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
The year was 1976. The first VHS cassettes and their accompanying VCRs were newly available for purchase, everyone was dancing the night away to their favorite disco tracks, and programmer William Crowther had finished developing Adventure (later Colossal Cave Adventure): one of the earliest text adventure games ever made. Crowther, an amateur cave explorer, based
At least as far as pre-release reception is concerned, Forspoken has something of a hill to climb with its release. Despite flashes of an expansive open world and impressive-looking magical combat, the marketing focus highlighting protagonist Frey’s reactions to the world around her occupied a majority of discourse surrounding the game. Now, after being the
Taking a creative work of one medium and adapting it into another is something we’ve all seen time and time again. The process of turning novels into films, for example, is an undertaking that’s consistently taken place for as long as both media formats have existed.
Back in June, I had the chance to preview Soulstice, a character action game that stood out from its contemporaries for its dark aesthetic and hectic action, pitting its two protagonists against hordes of enemies as they traverse the ruins of a gothic city thoroughly inspired by anime and manga.
