Matt
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Latest Reviews
Farming Simulator remains an excellent experience. It’s educational, in that you’ll walk away with it with an appreciation for what farmers go through so you can eat. At the same time, once you are familiar with its systems and loops, it becomes laid back and almost meditative for the way...
To be frank, here, I don’t think enough was done to make Planet Coaster 2 enough of a sequel. Adding water parks and slides, and more rides in general, were all perfectly rational ways to expand on the Planet Coaster experience, but we’re in an era now where DLC is...
Digital Eclipse is onto something special with its “interactive documentary” approach overall. Atari 50 has become the standard against which all retro compilations should be judged. Additionally, I appreciate the intent and effort that went into Tetris Forever a great deal. I just hate, so much, how licensing has let...
Dragon Quest III was a pioneer and was very far ahead of its time. The first Final Fantasy had only been released shortly before this game, yet in terms of storytelling, worldbuilding, and themes, Dragon Quest III was much more sophisticated than Square’s inaugural title. The HD-2D engine is just...
So, yeah, sure. Dragon Age: The Veilguard is an objectively well-made product that is perfectly playable and it’s both empowering and entertaining. But it’s also nothing more than a product, finely tuned for passive consumption, right off the content mill.
Ys and I will never be best friends. I love storytelling in my RPGs, and Ys is quite firmly committed to making me press buttons instead. More than ten games into the series and I still wish the developers did something, anything, to make Adol interesting enough to be a...
I don’t usually like marking a game down for bugs, because when the patches come in the review becomes dated. However, Wildermyth really is a bad example of bugs letting the experience down to the point that the game, as wonderful and moreish as it is, is difficult to recommend...
Square Enix picked an exceptional game to remake, and then did an exceptional job in remaking it. Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven is a true epic and a game that comes across as ambitious to this day. While the raw storytelling is a little limited, the concept is...
Nevertheless, Romance of the Three Kingdoms 8 has a lot going for it. Thanks to the “Tales” feature it’s possibly the most accessible RoTK game to date, easing players in by giving them a clear set of targets to prioritise. Once you’re comfortable with that the depth of strategy and...
Neva is what happens when you let actual artists make a game. That we rarely get works like this is depressing, but there’s no sense that anything in Neva was produced according to what a suit thought would be best for the share value. Yes, Neva lacks in subtlety, but...
Mario Party has been a multiplayer mainstay for me since right back with the original on N64. To this day the first three are on high rotation thanks to the N64 Online app. It’s really lovely to see Nintendo find creative form with Super Mario Party Jamboree by producing something...
I’m annoyed that I can’t talk about the narrative strengths of Metaphor: ReFantazio. It really does have an exceptional narrative that builds on everything that these developers have learned from their time on Persona, with enough depth of theme that the game should encourage people to analyse it for years...
