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Mary Skelter: Nightmares (PC) review

Following the success of 2010’s Hyperdimension Neptunia, developer Compile Heart’s output drifted toward the formulaic. Beyond a structure split between visual novel-based storytelling and turn-based combat, the Toshima-ku based studio integrated a copious amount of ...

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20XX review

Compilations that bundle Mega Man’s previously-released titles are plentiful. But in the past decade, the Blue Bomber’s appearances have grown distressingly infrequent, with an eight-year gap between 2010’s Mega Man 10 and this October’s upcoming ...

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Mothergunship review

With revenue in the billions, battle royale-style showdowns might seem like the hottest trend around. But there’s a solid argument that the incorporation of rogue-like elements has had the largest impact on the industry. Every ...

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Tempest 4000 review

One of my earliest and most enduring gaming memories was produced by Dave Theurer’s 1981 classic coin-on, Tempest. As one of the first machines to employ Color-QuadraScan vector graphics, the game’s vibrant output looked like ...

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Touhou Genso Wanderer Reloaded review

In the West, most lucrative intellectual properties are protected with litigious fervor. But that’s not always the case across the rest of the world. Case in point: in Japan, former Taito programmer Jun’ya Ota spurred ...

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Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity PC review

While it might seem hard to believe, Steam was a relatively unfamiliar platform in Japan six years ago. But the PC port of Dark Souls changed that, and when sales of FromSoftware’s title greatly exceeded ...

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Bomber Crew (Switch) review

Given Bomber Crew’s bubble-headed, cutesy squad-mates, you might assume that the game is a light-hearted interpretation of aerial warfare. But in execution, the game plays like Memphis Belle reimagined with a cast of Fisher-Price Little ...

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de Blob (Switch) review

According to psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, ‘flow’ is the mental state a person reaches when they are fully immersed in a task. Commonly known as being ‘in the zone’, Csikszentmihalyi isolated nine elements that occur when ...

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Way of the Passive Fist review

At first glance, Way of the Passive Fist might resemble just another side-scrolling brawler.  But the game’s moniker signals how an offensive takes a backseat, as the game’s protagonist fights by wearing down his opponent ...

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Mushroom Wars 2 review

What is the concept: Following the devastation of earth, signs of life start to reemerge, as arid wastelands slowly turn green. From these embryonic lands, a multitude of mushrooms are sprouting. But distressingly, they seem ...

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