Highlight Archives | Page 15 of 42

The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II

Posted by Audra Bowling on February 14, 2025

Those who forget the lessons of the past are doomed to repeat them. The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II takes this notion and runs with it, offering several chances for players to experience “do-overs” of significant plot events that can open up markedly different outcomes. Ultimat… Read More »

Afterlove EP

Posted by Paul Skevington on February 13, 2025

Afterlove EP comes to us as the final project of Mohammad Fahmi, creator of the much-loved visual novel Coffee Talk, who passed away in March of 2022. In a recent interview with Nintendo Life, Ivor Dwitomo of game studio Pikselnesia (set up by Fahmi specifically for this project) explained how the t… Read More »

Retro Encounter 453 – Hironobu Sakaguchi Encounter

Posted by Zach Wilkerson on February 13, 2025

This is his story. This week on Retro Encounter, we take a deep dive into the themes, obsessions, and gameplay quirks of the “father” of Final Fantasy: Hironobu Sakaguchi. How much did he really matter to the series? Does his work after leaving Final Fantasy hold up? Who can’t stop talking about the… Read More »

Final Fantasy XVI

Posted by Audra Bowling on February 12, 2025

I tried playing Final Fantasy XVI two times, but, as the saying goes, the third time’s the charm. Time constraints largely hindered my first two attempted playthroughs, though I admit that beyond the jaw-dropping war intro that Clive navigates, the game’s early stages didn’t enthrall me. But that in… Read More »

Shujinkou

Posted by Zek Lu on February 11, 2025

In an interview with Game*Spark News, Shujinkou director Julian Rice expressed his desire to create a first-person dungeon crawler (DRPG) in the vein of Etrian Odyssey. With so few games like this in the current landscape, I was eager to try it before release. From the outset, Shujinkou wears its Et… Read More »

YIIK: Electric Soul Archives Celebrates YIIK with Fittingly Eclectic New Album (Exclusive Video)

Posted by Mike Salbato on February 10, 2025

While YIIK: A Postmodern RPG launched over six years ago, developers Ackk Studios have been offering updates since then, though none as substantial as December’s YIIK I.V update, which brought a brand new battle mode to the game alongside a new playable character, new areas, and “So many surprises t… Read More »

Rhythm Encounter 154 – Music of the Year 2024: Part I

Posted by Mike Salbato on February 10, 2025

It’s time for Music of the Year! 2024 was absolutely stacked with game releases. Some even felt it was one of the all-time best years in gaming. And the side effect of a year filled with excellent games means a year of excellent soundtracks. For this annual special, we let each panelist bring on thr… Read More »

RPGs Coming This Week, 2/9/25 [UPDATED]

Posted by Mike Salbato on February 9, 2025

UPDATE February 12th: Slime Heroes, originally scheduled for release this week, has been delayed until March 6th. Details below. It’s a new week and RPGs are happening! This week, Gio is taking a well-deserved break, so I’m here to introduce some cool RPGs coming this week, from the massive adventur… Read More »

RPGFan Games of the Year 2024: Overall Awards

Posted by Zach Wilkerson on February 8, 2025

And we’re back with our “Overall” picks for Game of the Year! We’ve been on a streak of excellent years for RPGs, and 2024 is no exception. Whether you’re looking at AAA titles or games made on a shoestring budget, there’s been something for everyone. Sure, there are a few games that will dominate o… Read More »

RPGFan Games of the Year 2024 ~ Editors’ Awards

Posted by Zach Wilkerson on February 7, 2025

Welcome to RPGFan’s Games of the Year 2024! We realize this is coming a bit after the end of the year, but with many excellent releases in November and December, we wanted to give our staff the time to play and consider all games that came out last year. Today we present the first part of our Game o… Read More »

Entrepreneurial Spirit: The Top 10 RPG Merchants

Posted by Jimmy Turner on February 6, 2025

In roleplaying games, the most popular roles are the usual suspects: warriors, rogues, wizards, or clerics. Most playable characters are a variant of the typical RPG trinity of tank, DPS, and healers. Unfortunately, adventuring isn’t free. For a character or party to advance, they need not just expe… Read More »

Retro Encounter Final Thoughts – Final Fantasy IX

Posted by Zach Wilkerson on February 6, 2025

Rob White Final Fantasy IX is definitely up there as one of the entries of the series I’ve played the most. Everything about this game says comfort, nostalgia and adventure to me, and I can’t see myself ever tiring of it. Gaia (and Terra) is a land unlike any other in Final Fantasy, an aesthetic I d… Read More »

Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket

Posted by Tim Rattray on February 4, 2025

Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket has rekindled my love for this card slinger without entirely preying on childhood nostalgia, and that’s the strongest compliment I can give it. The early days of the Pokémon Trading Card Game hold a special place in my heart. I fondly recall playing the base set… Read More »

Tokyo Xanadu eX+

Posted by Ben Love on February 3, 2025

Storied developer Falcom is best known for its two longest-running RPG series: The real-time action RPG Ys series and the turn-based Legend of Heroes series. However, within the company’s vast catalog of games, there is another lesser-known series with just as much longevity: Xanadu. While Ys and Le… Read More »

Random Encounter 315 – Sleepless in Ephinea

Posted by Jonathan Logan on February 3, 2025

On this episode of Random Encounter, it’s a double dose of sci-fi and fantasy! First, Aleks joins us to talk about Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector, a sci-fi RPG with a strong tabletop influence. As a sequel to 2022’s Citizen Sleeper, Starward Vector expands its universe with multiple settings and… Read More »

Wild ARMs

Posted by Matt Wardell on February 2, 2025

Passing decades are not kind to games, and if developers and publishers do not continually maintain and update the classics, they become lost to all but those few players willing to do their video game homework. While playing Tokyo-based developer Media.Vision’s JRPG classic Wild ARMs sometimes felt… Read More »

RPGs Coming This Week, 2/2/25

Posted by Gio Castillo on February 2, 2025

In this edition of RPGs Coming This Week, we tackle the sequel to a much talked about CRPG, plus a small selection of indie game goodness. Trust me, folks, February’s going to get a lot busier very soon. You’d better strap in. Kick things off? Let’s. Kingdom Come: Deliverance II – February 4th (PS5,… Read More »

Genso Manège

Posted by Audra Bowling on January 31, 2025

Love can be a magical thing, a conceit that the otome visual novel Genso Manège leans into right at the start, with its bright yet soft pastel-colored visuals hiding a darker story about overcoming hardship and trauma. Even more than its enchanting visuals, the narrative contrast of darker aspects b… Read More »

Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector

Posted by Aleks Franiczek on January 30, 2025

What if Mass Effect’s gameplay focused on surviving and inciting change in an interplanetary, corporately wrought dystopia instead of shooting things in the face? I imagine Jump Over the Age’s solo developer, Gareth Damian Martin, asked a question along these lines when planning the development of C… Read More »

Retro Encounter 452 – Final Fantasy IX Part II

Posted by Zach Wilkerson on January 30, 2025

Bring my beloved Retro Encounter to me. This week we dive into the second half of Final Fantasy IX, chatting about the emotional story beats, rooster men, and terrible card games that some of us somehow enjoy. Does it still hold up all these years later? Listen in to find out! Featuring: Zach Wilker… Read More »

Coridden

Posted by Jerry Williams on January 29, 2025

Coridden is the archetypical indie game. While many AAA titles play it safe with too much money on the line, indies are usually free of this pressure and can explore their wonderful ideas without reservation. At the same time, lack of experience or limited team sizes rear their heads and a misshapen… Read More »

Eternal Strands

Posted by Tom Naylor on January 27, 2025

From Canadian studio Yellow Brick Games, founded by former Dragon Age series lead designer/creative director Mike Laidlaw, comes their debut title Eternal Strands, an “open-zone” action-adventure that sells itself on its blend of dynamic magic and physics systems to create a truly unique gameplay ex… Read More »

Rhythm Encounter 153 – Build Your Own RPG Soundtrack: Hard Mode

Posted by Mike Salbato on January 27, 2025

Almost exactly a year ago, four panelists came together to build a soundtrack to an imaginary RPG out of 8 fragments of other RPGs. Today, we’re doing it again, except our “Hard Mode” rules dictate that we must choose songs from our source games with different use cases. So our Town Theme could be a… Read More »

RPGs Coming This Week, 1/26/25

Posted by Audra Bowling on January 26, 2025

In this edition of RPGs Coming This Week, we close out January with a first-rate slate of long-awaited sequels and strong new titles. It feels like I say this every time, but we are so utterly spoiled for choice, and I love it. Nothing lasts forever, of course, but I hope our RPG renaissance endures… Read More »

Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero

Posted by Sean Cabot on January 23, 2025

I’ve been a fan of Nippon Ichi’s output for most of my life, especially their Disgaea series. Its particular flavor of zany anime humor and action was incredibly formative for me, and I remain fond of it to this day. But Disgaea was only one of the several RPGs they produced, many of which only saw… Read More »

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