• Music Review

Piano Cover Collection from Square Enix Music Channel

Random Encounter 314 – The Switch 2 is Real (and Other Stories)

RPGs Coming This Week, 1/19/25

  • Feature

Freedom Wars and the Not-So-Delicate Art of Player Disempowerment

New F2P Project Pantheon Aims to Extract Interest in Closed Alpha Testing

by on January 22, 2025
In the midst of what suddenly feels like a busy news cycle to start the New Year (looking at you, Nintendo), European based developer and publisher Wolcen Studio (Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem), announced a new project codenamed Project Pantheon. A free-to-play live service game, Project Pantheon, takes p… Read More »
  • Music Review

Metaphor: ReFantazio Original Soundtrack

by on January 22, 2025
When Metaphor: ReFantazio launched in late 2024, I was immediately smitten. However, I was less smitten with the woefully incomplete Special Soundtrack: pay 150 USD for the game’s limited edition, get a two-disc set of music when the full OST is actually five discs. Not exactly a winner in my book.… Read More »

Class of Heroes 3 Remaster Coming in 2025

by on January 22, 2025
At a time of year when many North American students are either coming off exam break, or looking ahead to the next one (both?), publisher PQube and developer Acquire want dungeon crawling JRPG fans to know: their heroes will be in session later this year. Class of Heroes 3 Remaster is scheduled to r… Read More »

ENDER MAGNOLIA: Bloom in the Mist Launch Trailer Showcases Beautiful Setting, Music

by on January 22, 2025
Today marks the release of ENDER MAGNOLIA: Bloom in the Mist, the highly anticipated sequel to 2021’s ENDER LILIES: Quietus of the Knights, a game where our own Des Miller remarked, “My time with ENDER LILIES was so overwhelmingly positive that I found myself struggling to pinpoint things I didn’t l… Read More »

Afterlove EP Shares the Love on February 14th

by on January 22, 2025
Afterlove EP, a game by late Coffee Talk creator Mohammad Fahmi, is a loving slice-of-life story. While the game is a mix of visual novel, adventure game, rhythm game, and dating sim, it’s so much more. The story is a touching tale of Rama, a young man struggling to get over the loss of his girlfrie… Read More »

Rebel Wolves Share Stunningly Gory Footage of Newly Titled The Blood of Dawnwalker

by on January 21, 2025
The first full moon of the year is known by many as the Wolf Moon, named in reference to the baying wolves who would circle human encampments in the dead of winter; waiting perhaps for a suitably vulnerable, hot-blooded meal to stave off the threat of the cold hand of winter’s death. Given their stu… Read More »
  • Music Review

Piano Cover Collection from Square Enix Music Channel

by on January 21, 2025
For the past few years, Square Enix Music has been producing some exclusive arrangement/performance content on their YouTube Channel. Then, for the 2024 Fall Tokyo Game Show, Square Enix compiled 15 piano solo performances from their channel and put them on one CD. That CD is, of course, Piano Cover… Read More »

Random Encounter 314 – The Switch 2 is Real (and Other Stories)

by , and on January 20, 2025
On this episode of Random Encounter, Jono is back to chat with the panel about two recent big January releases! First up, Wes has managed to fight through hundreds upon hundreds of foes to deliver their verdict on Dynasty Warriors: Origins! This latest entry in the long-running series dramatically c… Read More »

RPGs Coming This Week, 1/19/25

by on January 19, 2025
In this edition of RPGs Coming This Week, our slate is populated by all manner of rereleases. From the latest high-profile PC port to a remake of an under-the-radar indie title, the industry continues churning out the good stuff, even if most of it isn’t new new. So, join me as we inspect the latest… Read More »
  • Feature

Freedom Wars and the Not-So-Delicate Art of Player Disempowerment

by on January 18, 2025
Freedom Wars does nearly everything right thematically. From the first moments, you’re slapped with a million-year sentence for a mysterious crime you allegedly committed. You must now live out your sentence in a post-apocalyptic penitentiary known simply as The Panopticon. A notice explodes onto th… Read More »

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma Blossoms on May 30th [UPDATED]

by on January 16, 2025
The Rune Factory series has always served as an action-y alternative to the Story of Seasons farming series. This latest game, Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, takes the spin-off in a whole new direction with stunning new graphics, gameplay, and a beautiful Japanese aesthetic. Expect to farm, rebui… Read More »

The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II Preview (Part 2) + 2 Demos Coming

by and on January 16, 2025
Thanks again to the wonderful team at NIS America, we got a second exclusive sneak peek at The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II. As mentioned in our first preview, even though the first Trails through Daybreak only just arrived in July, its sequel is already on the horizon. As devoted Tr… Read More »

Retro Encounter 451 – Final Fantasy IX Part I

by , , and on January 16, 2025
Doesn’t it feel nice to listen to Retro Encounter under the stars? This week, the new host and a few huge fans dive into the first half of Final Fantasy IX. How does this classic hold up? Do we like the combat? Which monster doesn’t like Vivi very much? Listen in to find out! Featuring: Zach Wilkers… Read More »
  • Feature

Demonschool Q&A with Creative Director Brandon Sheffield

by on January 15, 2025
I had a great time with the Demonschool demo over the summer, so it was a pleasure to interview the school’s principal game’s creative director (and founder of Necrosoft Games) Brandon Sheffield. We conducted the Q&A over email, where Sheffield revealed some fun and intriguing insights into the… Read More »
  • Review

Tales of Graces f Remastered

by on January 15, 2025
Even before Tales of Graces f Remastered, approaching the Tales series in 2025 feels like a monumental task. Now in its thirtieth year, it spans multiple titles with some gated behind older, potentially less accessible hardware. Tale of Graces f Remastered forms part of Bandai Namco’s ongoing effort… Read More »

Achilles: Legends Untold Coming to Switch January 23rd

by on January 15, 2025
A timeless Greek epic is coming to the Nintendo Switch. Little more than a year after Achilles: Legends Untold debuted on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, Polish developer and publisher Dark Point Games is bringing their action RPG featuring the eponymous Greek hero to the Switch on January 2… Read More »
Music Review

Glory of Heracles III & IV -Kai Sou Roku-

by on January 14, 2025
Well folks, here’s something I didn’t have on my 2025 bingo card: a Glory of Heracles III: Silence of the Gods and Glory of Heracles IV: Gift from the Gods orchestral music concert, all live recordings from September 2024, across three discs! These Super Famicom titles have never had official Englis… Read More »

Lunar Remastered Collection Launches April 18th

by on January 14, 2025
Publisher GungHo has announced that Lunar Remastered Collection will be released on April 18th for PlayStation 4 (with PS5 compatibility), Xbox One (with X|S compatibility), Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam. In addition to the digital version, series illustrator Toshiyuki Kubooka’s new cover art fo… Read More »

Starlight Legacy Goes Live on February 6th

by on January 14, 2025
Retro JRPG Starlight Legacy is getting a February 6th release date on PC, macOS, and Linux via Steam. Developed by Decafesoft and published by Eastasiasoft, this homage to the 16-bit classics will support English, French, German, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, and Simp… Read More »

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii Gets Direct Treatment

by on January 14, 2025
The Patron Saint of Pain is ready to take on the high seas. It’s not every day we get a game-specific direct, but RGG Studio and SEGA hosted one recently to promote Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, releasing February 21st across PlayStation, Xbox, and PC via Steam. The roughly 13-minute RGG L… Read More »

AI LIMIT Opens Preorders; Demo Available on PS5 and Steam

by on January 13, 2025
Developer Sense Games and publisher CE-Asia have announced that AI LIMIT is now up for preorder on PlayStation 5 and PC via Steam, ahead of its March 27th launch. Those up for a challenge can now get a taste of what this anime Souls-like offers through its free demo. AI LIMIT will provide an in-game… Read More »

Rhythm Encounter 152 – New Year, New Music

by , and on January 13, 2025
Between our recent milestone of 150 episodes and the start of a new year, we will have some fun changes coming to Rhythm Encounter, starting with this episode. New games and music release all the time that don’t always fit with our episode themes. Starting today, we will release a “new music” episod… Read More »
  • Review

Dynasty Warriors: Origins

by on January 13, 2025
It’s a weird experience when one of your favorite series is the industry’s favorite punching bag. Dynasty Warriors endures all manner of accusations of laziness and thoughtlessness that boil down to a belief that the series was born stagnant. Some of that reputation has been earned. Still, fans will… Read More »

RPGs Coming This Week, 1/12/25

by and on January 12, 2025
In this action-packed edition of RPGs Coming This Week, we get the first in a promising series of Tales remasters, plus a new entry in the preeminent musou series. Also, two standout indie releases that are varying degrees of roguelike! Let’s go ahead and dive in, shall we? Final Knight (Entering Ea… Read More »
  • Review

Rise of the Ronin

by on January 11, 2025
At first glance, Rise of the Ronin may seem like Japan’s answer to 2020’s Ghost of Tsushima, and while there are definitely numerous comparisons to draw between the two, Team Ninja’s odyssey through mid-19th-century Japan stands firm as its own beast, overdelivering on its promise of the first open-… Read More »
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