When it comes to the Atelier series, combat and synthesis are core gameplay elements. Upcoming Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land (first announced during August 2024’s Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase) is no different, but both elements have been revamped to give the JRPG a new, fresh feel. Today, Gust and Koei Tecmo shared updated gameplay details…
It’s easy to wonder why Square Enix would go to such great effort to remake one of the oldest Dragon Quest titles. After all, the HD-2D engine they’ve applied to Dragon Quest III would have made the SNES trilogy positively sparkle, and those titles are far more renowned for their…
For the first time the now-iconic Yakuza series is on a Nintendo…
Starting a game in the middle of a story arc often means…
Is it shaping up to be the year of the Bandai Namco-published manga adaptation? Sand Land is set to launch tomorrow and that makes today a good time to announce another manga adaptation, no? That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, often referred to as TenSura, began its public…
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The dungeon crawl has been one of the most enduring genres of all. The original Wizardry – the game that essentially launched and popularised the genre, turns 45 next year. It’ll be well and truly ready for a mid-life crisis. In the years since we have seen so many classics…
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Legend of Legacy is one of the many 3DS titles that deserved to be preserved for hardware that wasn’t dated to a single console. Thankfully, now it has been. This was always a lovely-looking and well-designed, classically-styled JRPG. Now it has not only been preserved across multiple platforms, but it…
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Given the almost fearsome reputation that Dragon’s Dogma has as a cult favourite (that actually sold better than most people realise), it’s easy to forget that the game wasn’t all that well received at first, and that its Metacritic rating is “only” 78/100. It was a fair analysis however, for…
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The first time Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes hit my radar was thanks to September’s Nintendo Direct, despite the fact the game was announced nearly four years ago. The strategy RPG from a studio comprised of key creators of the Suikoden series was originally set to launch in Q4 2022 and……
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It feels like I’ve been asking for a new Ogre Battle title for decades (probably because I have been). No, not Tactics Ogre, though those are also very fine. I do mean Ogre Battle, the JRPG/Real Time Strategy series of just two titles that I was obsessed with back on…
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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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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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There is a moment in the original Final Fantasy VII where, after hours of scrapping around an ugly, horrible city, the party breaks out into the wider world, and it’s one of the defining moments of the game. Suddenly, an adventure that seemed narrow in scope became huge and expansive:…
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They don’t really make that many games like Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs The Thrilling Steamy Maze Kiwami any more. Anime fan service games complete with bath scenes, destructible clothing and school uniform costumes are few and far between (in part because of the spectre of consoles and/or Steam…
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