By Matt C. You wake up in the entrance hall of an elegant, old-fashioned manor, with no memory of how you got there or who you are. Your confusion and disorientation soon make way for fear when you find yourself attacked by a strange, minotaur-esque monster. As you flee, you…
Read MoreReview by Britta S. In The End of the Golden Weather, a classic stage play known to generations of New Zealand students, a young boy lives and struggles through a summer holiday in a small beachside township. Real life and imagination become intertwined for him as tensions rise and the…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. Just to get this out of the way first; if you haven’t played the first Hakuoki (Kyoto Winds – my review here) first, don’t think about jumping in with Edo Blossoms. This sequel does give you the briefest of introductions and background as a refresher, so…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. Tokyo Tattoo Girls is, tonally, one of the oddest games that you’ll ever play. From a quick glance you’d be forgiven for thinking that it’s a standard fanservice-heavy JRPG. This is particularly true since NISA, which counts JRPGs as its bread and butter, is the one…
Read MoreReview by Matt C. Rinka’s first day of high school started like any other, with a combination of excitement and apprehension. On her way to there, though, something happened and she blacked out. When she woke up, she found herself being welcomed to school by a strange, rabbit mask-wearing teacher…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. It’s no secret I love Danganronpa. These visual novels are not just entertaining, darkly humourous whodunnint murder mysteries. They’re also intelligent and insightful games that look at a host of interesting philosophies and themes, from game theory to moral relativism. Wrap that up in some light…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. Mary Skelter is the oddest game that Compile Heart has produced. It’s the least sexualised game from the studio that has made it its M.O to get girls down to their underwear at every opportunity, and yet it’s also often the most erotic in tone. It’s…
Read MoreReview by Harvard L. Tokyo Xanadu is being released in the West at a somewhat unfortunate time. It trails Persona 5 and The Caligula Effect, when its 2015 Japanese release date puts it more in the ballpark of Conception 2 or Mind:Zero. It’s developed by Falcom, arguably the inventor of…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. The idea – and philosophy – behind ‘reality’ is a subject that Japanese developers are clearly finding very interesting at the moment. Persona 5, Akiba’s Beat, and Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth from last year, all made the blurring between whatever objective reality there might be, and…
Read MoreReview by Britta S. Period: Cube is a visual novel for people who don’t have quite enough time or patience for a mammoth title with all the trimmings. It certainly feels a little shorter in total, and individual story arc, length than other Otomate titles, such as Amnesia: Memories or…
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