I had no idea that Amerzone existed until about ten minutes before I was playing it. Apparently, this is a remake of a 1999 title, based on an even earlier comic by the legendary Benoît Sokal (known to many non-comic aficionados as the guy whose name is attached to the Syberia series). It is exceptional, though you’re going to need…
The basic concept of Tokyo Xanadu is “Nihon Falcom make an action version of Persona. Oh, and it looks like the Trials of Cold Steel games.” None of this is a bad idea by any means, and Tokyo Xanadu has been around for quite some time now. We published our…
Read MoreI’ve been puttering around with Big Ant’s Rugby 25 for a little over a week now, after it was released to Early Access earlier in the month. It has been a very long time since there has been a Rugby game that has really held my attention for more than…
Read MoreVoyeurism, exploitation, and a dash of bubblegum: An interview with the developer of The Crush House
“It’s time to start taking reality TV more seriously,” a headline in Columbia University’s magazine proclaimed. It’s true, too. As the article goes on to note: “Studies reveal that more people in the US are watching reality TV than not, and nearly half of all TV series are unscripted. Media…
Read MoreEvery time Starship Troopers pops up as a topic, we get to “enjoy” the most surreal arguments on the Internet as a bunch of people argue that the film is not a satire of fascism, and that the book is not an argument for fascism. These are some of the…
Read MoreIt feels like it’s been a while since I’ve had the excuse to write about the supreme Goddess, Hatsune Miku. SEGA’s gone quiet on video games, and I’ve just not been able to line up a trip to Japan at the same time as the annual concerts over there. Related…
Read MoreShinto is one of those things that most people who know anything about Japan have some vague concept of, but don’t really know anything about. From experience, they’re also rarely interested and that’s depressing. Tourists in Japan do cheerfully visit Shinto shrines, before mistaking them for Buddhist temples (and vice…
Read MoreI’m about to really age myself, but when I was young, the idea of (legitimately) free video games was very different to what it is today. There were no microtransactions, and no Fortnites, Genshin Impacts, or MMOs. If you were playing free, you were either playing shareware demos or very…
Read MoreEvery time I see “Wuthering Waves” I think to myself “wow, they’ve gone and made a game of Wuthering Heights, my favourite novel of all time.” That is unfortunately not the case, but Wuthering Waves does still look decent, as a free-to-play open-world RPG that has clearly been inspired by…
Read MoreAn hour isn’t anywhere near enough to get a feel for what any kind of RPG will offer, let alone a Soulslike. Imagine trying to predict what Elden Ring is if you’re only able to reach the limits of that first, lush forest before the demo taps out? You can’t.…
Read MoreThe best thing about Flintlock is the setting. It’s a hodgepodge of historical influences – the opening sequence focuses on trench warfare and sappers that could be straight out of a World War 1 drama, before the game settles back to a more colonial era affair, set against a horde…
Read More