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Despite the deluge of other shopkeep simulators and crafting games, the Atelier series has something like a comforting warm blanket. It’s a long-running RPG series that tends to focus more on the day-to-day life of being an alchemist and creating goods for the common folk. While the series has shied away from the mundane as the series has gone on, the spirit of creativity and crafting remains at its core. After a three-game run with Ryza Stout, Gust has finally introduced the latest entry in the series with Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land.
If there’s one thing series veterans of the Like a Dragon and Yakuza series have been begging for, it’s more Majima. This Chaotic Good ex-Tojo Lieutenant has been constantly at Kiryu’s heels and only really got his time in the limelight as the deuteragonist in Yakuza 0 and one of the four playable heroes in Yakuza: Dead Souls. For more than twenty years, the Mad Dog of Shimano has yet to take center stage in his own game and all of that is about to change in Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii.
Dynasty Warriors Origins provides a compact narrative from the Yellow Turban Rebellion up through the Battle of Chibi and the formation of the Three Kingdoms. While the amnesiac protagonist is about as interesting as a brick, his prowess to change the tide of battle is a true force to be reckoned with.
Another year, another Call of Duty, and that’s still not a bad thing. Activision has been generous enough to provide a sort of shared experience between games, permitting select DLC and weapons to carry over between titles, typically into the Warzone mode. As the first Black Ops title in four years, Activision and Treyarch have gone to show whether that wait has been worth it in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.
Few Japanese role-playing games have been as influential to the genre as a whole as the first four Dragon Quest titles originally released for the Famicom/NES. While it may seem strange to start a new trilogy with the third entry, Square-Enix has a very good reason for beginning the Erdrick Trilogy with what used to bear the Seeds of Salvation moniker. Whether this is your first time playing Dragon Quest III or your thirtieth, there’s enough here to make it feel like a fresh experience.
Once a pioneer of unique Sony IP from Forbidden Siren to Gravity Rush, Keiichiro Toyama is a bit of a notable figurehead when it comes to unique gaming experiences. The established genres he has dabbled in are given new life as he finds creative ways to subvert the player's expectations and turn a genre into something completely new. As one of Bokeh Game Studio's first titles, Slitterhead aims to bring the hidden-in-plain-sight horrors of the Forbidden Siren series while empowering players to take up arms and defend themselves while solving an elaborate mystery of aliens and those who aim to use humans as an unwilling food source.
For most casual players of recent years, invoking the name Atlus has typically been synonymous with the Persona series. One of Director Katsura Hashino’s breakout series, this offshoot of the Shin Megami Tensei franchise has grown to be one of the most stylish and compelling Japanese RPGs of recent years. Has the team at Atlus finally broken out of their mold, or is Metaphor: ReFantazio just the same game with a new mask?
Team Asobi has been out there making names for themselves as creators of perhaps Sony’s most iconic mascot in recent years. While Astro Bot himself has only been around across two PlayStation platforms, he’s rapidly become the face of Sony Interactive Entertainment for anything with than a Mature rating to which Kratos or Ellie might hold those honors for the age rating. Now the third title featuring Astro Bot is finally here in a 3D platformer of the same name and he’s brought a few hundred friends along with him.
Barring a successful remake of the third Mana title in the series, it’s been seventeen years since Square-Enix brought a new title to the console masses (the last entry was a mobile and PlayStation Vita exclusive in Japan). As Square-Enix continues to revive franchises from the vault, it’s refreshing to see them pay homage to a series that has persisted since the original Nintendo GameBoy. Visions of Mana is the first of the series to make its way onto PlayStation 5, but does it feel like a proper next-gen adventure?
Metroidvanias are one of the few genres that I strive to play above all others. The joy of discovering a new ability and trying it out everywhere across the map to discover hidden pathways never fails to bring a smile to my face. In Animal Well, a solo project by one Billy Basso and published by Bigmode, the combat is instead replaced with creative ways to use all of the tools in hand. This was a title I had gotten hands-on with at various media events over the past couple of years, and every time, I found myself drawn back into the simple appearance, hiding oh so many secrets.