Review by Trent P. My favourite thing is a good opening prologue that kicks off on a positive note only to end up establishing the conflict and context to the action right away. That juxtaposition between the world before the start of the game or movie and the resulting conflict…
Read MoreReview by Nick H. There is an undeniable charm that accompanies Candle: The Power of the Flame with its whimsical music and delightful visuals. This charm is key, because it does help to offset some of the shortcomings that present themselves in this enjoyable if sometimes frustrating game that squanders…
Read MorePreview by Matt S. As I mentioned in my write-up of SMASH! 2018, one of the real highlights of the event for my mind was the gaming section. Every year this section has gone from strength to strength, and this year there was a huge range of really delightful indie…
Read MoreNews by Matt S. Sometimes a game comes out of nowhere that you would never have expected to see, but it immediately wins you over. Ganbare! Super Strikers is one such example of the game. The work of a Aussie indie developer (I suspect a one-man band), Ganbare! Super Strikers…
Read MoreReview by Harvard L. It’s difficult to think of Anima: Gate of Shadows as a game which came out only nine months before Nier Automata. It’s so convincingly similar to a janky, late-PS2-early-PS3 era game which nobody remembers but has just enough redeeming value to be interesting; and that sentiment…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. It seems like I can’t go a week without playing a new rhythm game on my Switch. Musynx, Lumines, and now Lanota. Like many of the others (including two that Lanota’s publisher previously brought to Switch – Deemo and Voez), Lanota is originally a mobile game. And,…
Read MoreReview by Ginny W. Horror games are a dime a dozen on Steam, and the ecosystem is positively flooded by studios that think jump-scares and unsettling music are the pinnacle of the genre. I’ve played my share of them over the years, and I’ve always preferred titles that instill fear…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. One of the most common thematic features in the horror genre, in literature and film, is sex. There are several reasons for this. Horror generally taps into the dominant socio-cultural features of society at the time on either a literal or metaphoric level, and certainly the…
Read MoreBy Matt C. Despite a dedicated fanbase, the Touhou Project series has always had a very small presence in the West. Bullet hells are niche to begin with, but Touhou is driven by a doujin community with limited reach beyond Japan. Fortunately, publishers like Sony, XSEED, and NISA have been…
Read MorePreview by Matt S. Puzzle platformers are dime a dozen, and that’s putting it mildly. Because these games are relatively easy to construct from a technical point of view, while allowing developers to be creative in the areas that count (art direction, narrative, level design), they’re the ideal choice for…
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