I remain very impressed with any developer that takes a swing at a Soulslike. In fact, post-Elden Ring, I’m possibly even more impressed by the gonads it takes to try and develop one. This is a genre that is so overwhelmingly dominated by one company’s creative vision, and any other effort is going to be immediately compared to it. I…
I remain very impressed with any developer that takes a swing at a Soulslike. In fact, post-Elden Ring, I’m possibly even more impressed by the gonads it takes to try and develop one. This is a genre that is so overwhelmingly dominated by one company’s creative vision, and any other…
Read MoreMy personal experience with prolific (VERY prolific) Japanese developer, Tamsoft, is mostly with its work with the action-based Hyperdimension brawlers, Senran Kagura, and the highly fanservicey stuff like Onechanbara and School Girl/Zombie Hunter. For the most part, these have been like pared-down Dynasty Warriors/Musou games. I wish Bleach Rebirth of…
Read MoreThere was a time when the 3D platformer was one of the most creative genres out there. Driven by the delight that people had for Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie, and others, developers fell over themselves to try to carve out their own niche with quirky, different ideas. Most of those…
Read MoreThe best way to learn a new language is to actually practice that language in real-world context. If you travel around Japan you will, at some point, almost certainly be accosted at least once by a group of school kids who are clutching a workbook and told to practice their…
Read MoreTwo rugby games have been released within a span of a week of one another. For such a niche sport (in the world of video games), I’m not sure that was in anyone’s greatest interest, but nonetheless rugby fans get a choice: Jonah Lomu Rugby Challenge 4 is a sequel…
Read MoreWe’re being spoiled for Musou right now! A month after Koei Tecmo released the exceptional Dynasty Warriors Origins, the company went and stealth-dropped Warriors: Abyss as part of a Sony State of Play show. This is an action roguelike heavily inspired by Vampire Survivors and similar “horde” games, and while…
Read MoreWhen a series is known for being as surrealistic as the Yakuza series is, keeping it fresh over the long term is all the more challenging. After all, the oddball stops being oddball when it becomes mundane. Thankfully, to date the developers at Ryu Ga Gotoku have been able to…
Read MoreWe see a lot of efforts to take history and build a video game out of it. This year alone we’ve already seen the newest chapter in the Dynasty Warriors series. Civilization VII is just around the corner. Ubisoft seems to be in all kinds of development hell with its…
Read MoreIt’s kind of amazing to consider that the last several years have been the longest period between Dynasty Warriors releases since the series began back in 1997. Dynasty Warriors 9 was a full seven years ago. And, on top of that, there has only been one of the Dynasty Warriors…
Read MoreI hate that I love so much about Infinity Nikki. There’s such a warming wholesomeness in abundance that the experience feels almost transformative and subversive. It’s like the developers saw all the combat loops that dominate all the other big-budget open world games and were determined to show that there…
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