What is the concept? Following The Fruit of Grisaia’s (Gurizaia no Kajitsu) 2011 release in Japan, Sekai Project mounted a successful Kickstarter campaign, raising nearly half a million dollars to fund an English localization for ...
Read More »Birthdays the Beginning review
Birthdays the Beginning might not be what you are expecting. While screenshots flaunt a menagerie of adorable, polygonal animals and the game’s pedigree reveals that it was designed by Harvest Moon creator Yasuhiro Wada, gameplay ...
Read More »de Blob (PC) 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 ...
Read More »The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky the 3rd review
Sequels are often precarious endeavors. Stick too close to predecessor, failing to provide enough innovation or narrative-based consequence, and you’ll likely get labeled as an uninspired cash-in. Yet, if follow-ups are too revolutionary, and neglect ...
Read More »Forts review
Forts is a game built around a myriad of fiddly parts- where the game’s eponymous strongholds sway in a state of persistent peril. While that might sound like light criticism, it’s anything but. In fact, ...
Read More »NEKO-NIN exHeart review
Purportedly influenced by nekomata, the feline-like yōkai present in Japanese mythology, cat-girls have a fairly extensive history. In the 1960s, manga like Hakaba no Kitarō (Kitarō of the Graveyard) began showcasing a young woman who ...
Read More »Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness review
Production I.G’s 2012 crime-thriller, Psycho-Pass, was built upon a number of thematic elements that might be familiar to western audiences. Recalling the ‘pre-cognition’ motif of Minority Report, the anime transported viewers to a dystopian, futuristic ...
Read More »Mr Shifty review
Gaming often progresses through diminutive steps. In 1978, Taito’s Space Invaders’ antagonists tenaciously marched across monochromatic screens. But a year later, the foes broke formation, attacking players with kamikaze-like vehemence in Namco’s Galaxian. Later, the ...
Read More »More Than a Phase: Prisma & the Masquerade Menace
I’ve always struggled with hand independence. While friends could effortlessly pat their head while simultaneously rubbing their stomachs, my mind seemed to resist multitasking. Instead, I prefer to focus on doing one thing at a ...
Read More »The Sexy Brutale review
While cherished by board game fans, Clue’s Tudor Mansion is only an iota as interesting as The Sexy Brutale. Owned by a mysterious aristocrat referred to as ‘The Marquis’, the game’s setting is a sprawling ...
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