Matt S. is the Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of DDNet. He's been writing about games for over 20 years, including a book, but is perhaps best-known for being the high priest of the Church of Hatsune Miku.
It’s such a tough gig to be an indie VN developer. It’s a niche genre at the best of times, and the resources that you have to dedicate to it are going to be limited. It’s a question of what you throw money into to try to make your project stand out. In the case of The Devil’s Whisper, the…
Planet Coaster 2 is good. But then Planet Coaster was good, and this is really just an iteration of that. Frontier Developments has found its niche and is now focused on driving that nail home over and over again. With Planet Coaster 2 you get lots of new toys to…
I’ve not seen the controversial Goblin Slayer anime or read the light…
SINce Memories: Off the Starry Sky is a spin-off of an incredibly…
There is massive money on the table for the first localisation outfit that can produce high-quality translations of Chinese-developed games for their Western release. Unfortunately, we don’t have that localisation infrastructure yet. It has only been in the last decade or so that games from Taiwan and/or China have started…
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You can’t talk about ink in video games without someone bringing up Splatoon. But Realm of Ink is a very different beast. It’s coming to Early Access on PC on May 17, courtesy of dual developers, Leap Studio and Maple Leaf Studio. The publisher is 663 games. Realm of Ink…
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Of all the ways to use the mighty Demon Slayer license I honestly did not expect a Mario Party clone to be one of the first. And yet, that’s what has happened. Following hot on the heels of the perfectly reasonable slash-em-up from from a few years ago comes Sweep…
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Square Enix recently announced that it was cancelling some $150 million worth of games that had previously been greenlit as it shifts to more proven quantities and a strategy of being more selective in what it develops and publishes. What that means is that you should all enjoy SaGa Emerald…
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Endless Ocean Luminous is a rare treat. We live in a world where the games industry is steadfastly committed to speed. Often it’s done through violence and combat, but not always. Even puzzle game developers are on the hunt for ways to make their ideas flow as snappily as possible.…
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This month we delve into everything from the controversial Stella Blade to the untapped potential in Australian game stories such as Broken Roads, and everything in-between. We kick off the podcast talking about all the games we’re looking forward to that are coming out in May. There are some surprising…
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Epyx is one of those old publishers that commands a fearsome reputation today among a very cultish group of retro fans. You may well have heard of some of the company’s classics, but in comparison to the likes of Super Mario, Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Myst, Zork or Wizardry, the chances…
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Sand Land became an unfortunate curiosity on account of Akira Toriyama being attached to it, and it being one of the first releases featuring his work following his recent passing. As far as Toriyama’s work is concerned, Sand Land delivers all the whimsical energy that you expect from his distinctive…
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Stellar Blade very much wants to be a merger of NieR: Automata and the Soulslike formula. It’s a flashy science fiction romp through a decrepit, decaying world, and the ambience is certainly going to be familiar to NieR fans. It’s also undeniably well-made. However, for all the comparisons people have…
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The dungeon crawl has been one of the most enduring genres of all. The original Wizardry – the game that essentially launched and popularised the genre, turns 45 next year. It’ll be well and truly ready for a mid-life crisis. In the years since we have seen so many classics…
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