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…
This month on the Digitally Uploaded podcast, we discuss what the next 12 months look like for the major console publishers. Now that their mid-year streams and shows have ended, what do we think will happen in the next few months… Then we discuss this concept of the “blockbuster” JRPG.…
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I’m a big fan of itch.io for the freedom and open platform that it allows for developers to be creative, experimental, and directly canvas the audience for feedback for games that are not yet ready for primetime on Steam and its ilk. In addition, itch.io allows you to be transgressive,…
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We’re feeling generous this weekend – perhaps because it’s Independence Day weekend for our friends over in America. Regardless, we are giving all of our readers the chance to enjoy one of this year’s Dee Dee Zines if they haven’t yet, totally, 100%, no-catches free. All you need to do…
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Perfect Gold: The Alchemy Of Happiness highlights just how mundane love and romance can be. I don’t mean that in a negative sense, though. Far too often in the arts romance, as a subject, either deviates toward smutty eroticism or overly sentimental tear-jerking. There’s nothing inherently wrong with either of…
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Capcom’s previous retro fighting game compilation, 2018’s Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection, was an excellent and loving historical record of Capcom’s most valuable property. Four years later the company has done much the same thing with the Capcom Fighting Collection… but if anything I think this is the superior option…
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CFK is a publisher I enjoy a great deal. It’s the company that brought us the cute fanservice of Nekopara on Switch, and the Princess Maker games are a hoot as well. But this new one that the company has just announced is… Well, it’s sure something. From the press…
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Square Enix has announced the release date for the latest in the Star Ocean series. Star Ocean: The Divine Force will launch on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4, Xbox Series, Xbox One, PC (via Steam) on October 27 worldwide. Sadly, no Switch release, which is a big pity. The publisher…
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The PlayStation Plus Deluxe service launched with a lot of very big games. From Sony’s massive blockbuster catalogue, to some of the biggest games from Ubisoft, 2K Games, Rockstar and others, you’re more than covered if you’re a fan of the big games. However, people keep telling me that one…
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The biggest problem with Fobia – St. Dinfna Hotel is that it lacks an identity of its own. The developers are clearly fans and students of the horror genre, stretching all the way back to Resident Evil, and have done a passable job of building a warm homage to it.…
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Let’s be realistic here; there’s never going to be a kart racing party game that competes with Nintendo. There are a lot of things that Nintendo can be beaten at – RPGs, puzzlers, adventure games, action games, and even platformers. But nothing will ever unseat Mario Kart. That’s not to…
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