Latest Reviews
With Elden Ring, we’re in masterpiece territory. FromSoftware is consistently great, of course, and I don’t mean to denigrate Sekiro or Dark Souls here, as they’re all exceptional, but Elden Ring has all the potential to have a similar level of impact as Demon’s Souls here. Spinning a richly evocative...
One of the things that has excited me most about Voice of Cards was the potential that it had to deliver a true “Dungeons & Dragons,” tabletop-like experience. Those who have been playing Dungeons & Dragons for long enough will know how the adventure modules work. You have the base...
Challenging, rewarding, gorgeous and culturally authentic, GetsuFumaDen is one of the most enjoyable roguelikes I’ve played. Mechanically it doesn’t do much to challenge or reinvent the formula, but it streamlines it beautifully. Meanwhile, it offers a vivid and detailed, classical take on Japanese art styles and the Hyakki Yagyō storytelling tradition....
Monark is a smart game. It knows it, and it wants you to know it too. Some may well find that it’s even pretentious. But it’s also in so many ways a boundary-pushing and innovative experience, and one that I imagine will be unique for a very long time to...
I’m not the world’s biggest fan of platformers, but I very much warmed to Grapple Dog. The thought and passion that went into every element of the experience is explicit, and it’s hard not to fall for its wiles and charms. I do think the developers lost sight a little...
I have deep and irresolvable issues with Horizon: Forbidden West, and it largely boils down to the game being an empty blockbuster that will chew up a lot of your time, but not do anything meaningful with it. However, that’s all Horizon ever wanted to be and criticising Horizon for...
Slightly more cerebral while also filled with the fast action that the series is known for, Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires sits neatly as a midway point between the action of the “proper” Dynasty Warriors and the strategy of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series. There probably isn’t all that...
The combat system is, at least, entertianing. It’s turn-based (using a similar ATB gauge as early-era Final Fantasy titles), but rather than characters being static and squaring off against other static enemies, the battle area is split up into hexagons, and on your character’s turn, rather than attacking they can...
I wonder if the writing enamoured me so much that it hampered my enjoyment of the rest of the game. The combat and dungeon crawling is fine, above-average even, but it often felt like an impediment to Rise of the Third Power’s excellent story. Nevertheless, I had a great time...
Historical fiction is a quick way to my heart, and while, if I were inclined to make a historical fiction game set in ancient Rome myself, I would probably go with some kind of retelling of Caligula’s story (note: I swear it’s so much more interesting than the popular stories...
Every time I think I’m losing interest in Pokémon, Game Freak does something to reinvigorate me. The Pokémon Pearl and Diamond remakes last year were fine, though I ended up spending more time just playing the original Pokémon Pearl again. I needed something like Arceus, I think, to get me...
If 2022 is going to be the year where I end up slamming dozens of games for being written like amateurish fan fiction, so be it. YA-style writing might sell well, but to be perfectly blunt about this it’s good writing in only the most exceedingly rare cases. For narrative-heavy...
