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.
If I were to create a laundry list of what I look for in a JRPG, the simple reality is that the Ys series doesn’t tend to check many of those boxes. They’re not known for in-depth narratives, iconic characters (aside from the series protagonist, Adol, who has a very “blank template” look to him), or particularly thoughtful, nuanced combat.…
To get this out of the way up-front: We need to be wary about art (games, films, books, whatever else) that depict apocalyptic scenarios where some form of invader from without swarms the world and you’re in control of the last nation standing, holding back the horde. It’s an incredibly…
Hello everyone, and Happy Holidays! What a year it has been, too.…
It’s that time of year again! We’re counting down the days to…
“Dune: Awakening, the survival MMO from Conan: Exiles developer Funcom, will “sidestep” religion as a main theme in its “alternate history” world set just before the events of the books.” This headline on Eurogamer, coming one day after I slammed King Arthur: Knights Tale for being developed by a team…
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King Arthur: Knight’s Tale is simultaneously a very fun game to play, and also one of the most irritating things I have ever had to review. Game developers really need to learn that source texts – be that history, literature, or legend, should not be seen as content to use…
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Kashido is one of the more interesting, downright fascinating board games I’ve played in recent years. It comes to us from Japan, and is an abstraction of a significant and cultural part of Japanese food culture. It is a physical board game in Japan, but as far as I can…
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The “roguelike” has become a term applied to so many different games that it’s functionally lost all meaning. Indies, in particular, have embraced it with the same vigour that big AAA developers have embraced unsustainably expensive open worlds. In that context, it’s actually refreshing to play a traditional, classical roguelike…
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After what has felt like delay after delay, the remake of Alone in the Dark is now imminent, and it’s really shaping up to be something special. Featuring major Hollywood talent and top quality presentation, the last remaining question is whether the game does justice to one of the most…
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Tiebreak Tennis is Big Ant Studios’ latest title (the same studio behind the two AO Tennis titles as well as Tennis World Tour 2). About a month ago, it was released on Steam as an Early Access title. There’s still a lot to come (and we all know Big Ant…
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Welcome to the March episode of the Digitally Uploaded podcast – your go-to destination for everything video gaming. It’s a big month. It’s a Final Fantasy month! We start by chatting about the big games coming out this month, including Fitness Boxing featuring Hatsune Miku, the retro Top Racer Collection…
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Game Freak and the Pokemon Company have announced the next two new Pokemon games. Which is great because I could use the boost in traffic from liking a Pokemon game too much (I still get comments that are not fit for public consumption on my review of Pokemon Violet and…
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It has always surprised me that there have been relatively few spinoffs from the Story of Seasons (formerly Harvest Moon) property. This is a beloved series that stretches right back to the SNES, and it has a lot going for it – charming characters, cute animals, and a wholesome joy…
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If the promise of JRPG-style hijinks across a painstakingly-recreated Shibuya sounds good to you, then you’ll want to pay close attention to Reynatis, the latest FuRyu special that NISA will publish out west. FuRyu continues to be the Japanese studio for creative ideas. If The Caligula Effect and Monark struck…
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