Lucas White
Game industry critic and reviewer
Writing For
ShackNews
TheGamer
Playstation Lifestyle
Nintendo WireLatest Reviews
Video games being self-referential is about as special as grocery store sushi, but Shadow Labyrinth is like how Kroger started dusting its spicy California rolls with Flamin’ Hot Cheetos crumbs. The team behind this monstrosity basically asked: “Pac-Man’s 45th birthday is here; what if instead of the usual stuff we...
When I first saw Date Everything, I was suspicious. There’s a trend in Western visual novels with a heavy lean toward parody or irony often flavored with a hubris or disrespect that borders on, at best, otherism. Games like Doki Doki Literature Club or the constant barrage of April Fools...
Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo makes an absurdly powerful first impression. As the game loads, a 3D-modeled, handheld gaming console descends from the heavens, artificial light reflecting from the smudged plastic coating on its screen. The console twirls as a cartridge falls into the slot, then spins back to face...
When I see “Compile Heart,” I usually know what to expect. This company is best known for modestly-produced RPGs that pick a lane and stomp on the gas, recklessly driving a chosen gimmick like a car in oncoming traffic. There’s the silly parodies (Hyperdimension Neptunia), the irredeemably horny (Record of...
MercurySteam and I don’t tend to get along. I found its Castlevania series interesting at first, but ultimately a whiff. And its take on Metroid is perhaps the most impressive effort in Missing The Point I've ever seen in a video game. But there’s no denying this studio has a...
A pumping soundtrack. The sounds of endless bullets. Naughty words that start with “eff” and rhyme with “pluck.” Yep, it’s time for a Devolver Digital-ass Devolver Digital review. Hopefully this one’s better than Anger Foot.
Before Skin Deep came across my desk, I had never even heard of it. That’s not to say there’s anything wrong, but that I went in completely blind. What is this game? Who knows, let’s just boot this bad boy up and see what happens. That’s probably for the best,...
When Danganronpa creator Kazutaka Kodaka and Zero Escape/AI: Somnium Files creator Kotaro Uchikoshi formed (with other industry legends like composer Masafumi Takada) Too Kyo Games, fans of both series wondered if these modern visual novel/adventure game legends would collaborate. It took a while, but that day has finally come. The...
Nitroplus’ Rusty Rabbit is an easy hook. The key visuals show us a bipedal rabbit, wearing a patched-up bomber jacket, chomping on a carrot like a cigar, with a village made of scrap junk on the side of a frozen mountain in the background. Learning the rabbit pilots a mech...
Readers, if you recognize my name, you probably know I love the heck out of classical, turn-based RPGs. I’m always happy in front of games like Dragon Quest, SaGa, Shin Megami Tensei, Final Fantasy, and other weird stuff that doesn’t have huge brand power. But if you asked me to...
It’s a great time to be into SaGa. Kawazu’s team has been able to build on the success of some risky remasters, all the way to making a brand-new game and a full remake that has helped solidify SaGa as one of Square Enix’s secret weapons. As such, SaGa Frontier...
Bleach being back in 2025 is wild. I was in high school back when the “Big Three” were exploding in popularity, consistently topping charts and pushing more manga and anime into mainstream spaces in the west. But while One Piece and Naruto are still a constant presence in media and...
