Last year’s Winged Sakura: Mindy’s Arc blended visual novel exposition and tower defense mechanics, forming an appealing blend of genres. With the release of Winged Sakura: Demon Civil War, the eponymous studio has created a ...
Read More »Superdimension Neptune VS Sega Hard Girls review
You’d be hard-pressed to find a Japanese role-playing franchise as prolific as the Neptunia series. Beyond a quartet of core entries, a trio of remakes, developers Idea Factory and Compile Heart have also sanctioned a ...
Read More »Exist Archive: The Other Side of the Sky review
2000’s Valkyrie Profile is considered to be one of the PlayStation One’s best role-playing games. Exploration adopted light platforming mechanics, as players navigated two-dimension environments, using an ice shot to solve puzzles and shun any ...
Read More »Criminal Girls 2: Party Favors review
If you’re an ardent role-playing aficionado, you’ve probably liberated dozens of lands and exterminated dozens of humanity-threatening enemies. Tales of epic heroism are ubiquitous in interactive entertainment. Developer Nippon Ichi Software understands this, and with ...
Read More »The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II review
Media sequels can fall victim to their own version of middle child syndrome. Whereas inaugural efforts revel in world-building as well as character backstory, and concluding episodes are elevated by contributing a sense of closure, ...
Read More »Attack with a Staff: The Metronomicon Previewed
Undoubtedly, the team at Puumba Games appreciates a good amalgam. 2014’s Concursion intermingled the platforming, shooter, and beat-‘em-up genres into a quirky indie title. The following year, The Weaponographist blended dual-stick based shooting with Rogue-like ...
Read More »Fairy Fencer F: Advent Dark Force review
With remakes, remasters, and ports comprise a significant portion of the game industry’s output, it’s natural to be a bit skeptical of the whole practice. Although a number of these reiterations are born from genuine ...
Read More »Megadimension Neptunia VII (PC) review
Not long ago, message boards were proclaiming that the death of the Japanese role-playing game was imminent. Stagnancy seemed to be the genre’s unassailable final boss, and developers had run out of creativity-restoring potions. But ...
Read More »Grand Kingdom review
Japanese role-playing games are often criticized for not offering enough innovation. According to detractors, most new efforts do little more than recycle well-established plots and play mechanics. But spend a few hours with either the ...
Read More »Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book
Gust’s Atelier franchise has always been remarkably restrained. While the series’ jurisdictions have certainly faced their fair share of impending catastrophe, preventing tragedy required more than just conventional role-playing character buffing. Instead, the temperate trek ...
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