Planet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf Review
Planet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf is a profoundly emotive game. It speaks to the player’s sense of humanity through everything but a discernible language. As people, we communicate through so many various means. Our hands wave excitedly when we tell a story passionately. Our eyebrows rise in surprise or awe. Our shoulders and posture droop when we are despondent. When we lie, sweat may...[Read More]
Death Howl Review
Were we to embrace death and return to this mortal coil gifted with the knowledge of our former life, what would be do? In these trying times, most of us would likely invest in stocks or buy bitcoin on the cheap years before values exploded. But thematically, sincerely, what would we really try? Would we beeline towards our future partner years earlier? Would we choose a different career path? Wou...[Read More]
God of War Sons of Sparta Review
As far as experiments go, God of War Sons of Sparta is a noble one. Would you have told me a few weeks ago that the next entry in the long-running series would be a humble spin-off Metroidvania, my interest would have been piqued. Tell me that it’s set in Kratos’ Greek origins? Sold. Sons of Sparta is an important game but not likely for the reasons you may think. Criticism has been fr...[Read More]
Absolum: Threads of Fate Review (PS5)
When playing Absolum it takes moments to understand why it is one of the most phenomenal beat ’em ups available. Made as a collaborative effort between Dotemu, Guard Crush, and Supamonks, those in the know should understand the weight behind two of those names. Dotemu has had its hands in the phenomenal Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge and the recent MARVEL: Cosmic Inva...[Read More]
LOVE ETERNAL Review
LOVE ETERNAL makes a handful of massive swings, an accomplishment for a platformer that lasts about 4 hours. Yet developer brlka’s game isn’t merely a platformer, one where challenging jumps and instant deaths feel at home in an ecosystem that is constantly finding ways to churn players through a grinder. LOVE ETERNAL also fashions itself as a horror game. Again, that’s quite a s...[Read More]
Transport Fever 3 Hands-On Preview
Micromanagement is not an easy concept for me to execute in video games. The most successful I’ve ever been at it is usually organizing my inventory of equipment to try and find the most optimal gear for my playstyle. Often, I understand what I want to actually do but have trouble making the time to fully explore what the full potential particular games can allow me. As an example, I think o...[Read More]
BlazBlue Entropy Effect X Review
My eye has been on Arc System Works since Persona 4 Arena. The deep love I had for the Persona series transcended my mediocrity at fighting games. Despite my lack of knowledge at the developer, their incredible art direction always shined through, often catching eyes on Guilty Gear characters and their smooth animation and unique looks. So what better way to ingratiate myself into the Arc System W...[Read More]
Romeo is a Dead Man Review
Being able to appreciate and enjoy the work of an auteur often falls on one’s ability to be enveloped by the unique way they process and express creativity. In 2015 I sat in a theater with my uncle and watched Robert Eggers’ The Witch. At the end of the film he apologized for not taking me to a different movie for my birthday. I was confused, surprised that he didn’t enjoy himsel...[Read More]
Dark Auction Review
Dark Auction would have been right at home on my PlayStation Vita in 2013, sandwiched between the releases of Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward and Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc. Virtue’s Last Reward was my first adventure game by way of visual novel. I saw the universal praise the game received and, having a minimal number of titles on my Vita, decided to pick the game up. I was ob...[Read More]
Nioh 3 Review
After my time with Nioh 3, I’m fully convinced Team Ninja has crafted the best translation of FromSoftware’s beloved formula. And in an onslaught of games vying for their own slice of the genre’s crown, that’s certainly saying something. Since the original Nioh‘s release in 2017, there’s always been a kind of special sauce that has kept it above the pack of less...[Read More]
BrokenLore: UNFOLLOW Review
One of my gold standards for first-person horror games is Frictional Games’ SOMA. Released a few years after the studio’s own Amnesia: The Dark Descent, SOMA sailed to the top in a world that had become obsessed with slow-burn horror games. Layers of Fear, Outlast, and even Alien: Isolation worked to torment near-helpless players using horror both psychological and physical. But over t...[Read More]
SLEEP AWAKE Review
How often do you embrace the irresistible lull of slumber? How frequently do you wish, bleary-eyed, that you could stay awake? Exhaustion. Tiredness. Sleep eventually comes for us all. But what if falling asleep meant you were suddenly blotted out of existence? SLEEP AWAKE posits a cataclysmic phenomenon where humans are able to sleep but if they do, a worse fate than merely not waking up befalls ...[Read More]