Highlight Archives | Page 2 of 43

Random Encounter 338 – RPGFan’s Most Anticipated Games of 2026

Posted by Jonathan Logan on December 29, 2025

In our final Random Encounter of 2025, it’s time to take a look ahead to the biggest games of 2026! With the holidays in the rear view mirror, RPGFan is now building our annual most anticipated for the coming year feature. And there is no better way to wrap up 2025 than having the Random panel give… Read More »

Fallout 76 (2025)

Posted by Noah Leiter on December 24, 2025

The Fallout TV series is currently working its way through its second season, and as a longtime Fallout fan and wintertime couch potato, the show has been a delightful escape for me lately. The trouble is, the show’s rich themes, worldbuilding, and aesthetic trigger a dark, uncontrollable urge in me… Read More »

Digimon Story: Time Stranger Alternate Dimension

Posted by Audra Bowling on December 23, 2025

It’s time to return to the world of monster-taming RPG Digimon Story: Time Stranger with the first of three planned DLC story episodes! Appropriately titled “Alternate Dimension,” this DLC foray blends multiple times and realities together in a fight for the fate of all dimensions, but is Alternate… Read More »

Rhythm Encounter 172 – Happy Jólabókaflóðið!

Posted by Hilary Andreff on December 22, 2025

We’re getting festive today on Rhythm Encounter, but maybe not in the way you’d expect. It’s the end of year holiday season, and we are taking inspiration from a holiday that celebrates another thing I like as much as video game music: books! Jólabókaflóðið — which roughly translates to “Christmas b… Read More »

Tales of Xillia Remastered

Posted by Niki Fakhoori on December 20, 2025

Tales of Xillia was first released on PlayStation 3 in 2011 in Japan and 2013 internationally as the series’s 15th anniversary title. Tales of Xillia Remastered adds quality-of-life features to make the experience as seamless as possible for both newcomers and veterans. While some remaining quirks e… Read More »

Retro Encounter 475 – 1995 Year in Review

Posted by Zach Wilkerson on December 18, 2025

I sure hope this episode isn’t BadBad. On this week’s episode of Retro Encounter, we cover the most interesting RPGs of the year, but this time, we flash it back to 1995. We discuss design decisions, varying localization quality, and those insane encounter rates. Does someone bring on a really bad R… Read More »

So you want to get into the Souls Series…

Posted by Noah Leiter on December 17, 2025

Since its humble beginnings in 2009, FromSoftware’s Souls series has flourished into one of the most beloved in gaming. Its success is plainly evident by the sheer number of games released since then that almost directly copy the formula, to varying degrees of success—Souls-likes, as they are called… Read More »

Dispatch

Posted by Tom Naylor on December 16, 2025

From the ashes of Telltale Games and their bevy of beloved narrative adventure classics such as The Wolf Among Us, The Walking Dead, and Tales from the Borderlands, comes Dispatch, a superhero workplace comedy from AdHoc Studio, built by many of the former Telltalers behind those same classics. Can… Read More »

RPGs Coming This Week, 12/14/25

Posted by Gio Castillo on December 14, 2025

In this edition of RPGs Coming This Week, it’s the end of an era — our 2025 era! Barring any last-minute surprises, the well of releases has officially frozen over for the year, so expect the column to return in 2026! With that said, we have two final items on the agenda before we bid you adieu. So… Read More »

Rue Valley

Posted by Jerry Williams on December 13, 2025

Disco Elysium took the gaming world by storm all the way back in 2019 with its unconventional storytelling, grim world, and unique gameplay that almost emphasizes failure over success to drive the narrative. Rue Valley has been endorsed by some of the team behind Disco Elysium, and has been frequent… Read More »

Detective Instinct: Farewell, My Beloved

Posted by Audra Bowling on December 11, 2025

Some trips are more memorable than others, especially if you’re soul searching while trying to solve several mysteries at the same time. This sentiment is certainly true in the visual novel adventure game Detective Instinct: Farewell, My Beloved, as two American college students at the tail end of a… Read More »

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint

Posted by Pete Leavitt on December 11, 2025

As a 17-year-old, abandonware website-obsessed kid, I played X-Com: UFO Defense while HBO’s Band of Brothers was on the TV in the same room. X-Com’s early game was all I made it through, since the base-building phase was impossible to wrap my head around, but as I leap-frogged and watched over my li… Read More »

Day of the Devs: RockBeasts Preview – The Soundtrack of Management

Posted by Zek Lu on December 10, 2025

RockBeasts is a style of RPG you don’t see very often. Instead of swords and magic, it’s setlists, battered amps, and artists who are falling apart. The game drops you into a gritty, fictional 1990s where the air smells like smoke and spilled beer and the amps probably haven’t been tuned since last… Read More »

Rhythm Encounter 171 – Une Vie À Musique

Posted by Mike Salbato on December 10, 2025

Well we finally did it: An episode all about one of this generation’s most stunning soundtracks, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. We talk about the beauty, the melancholy, the cellos, the feelings, and really, the feelings that Lorien Testard and Alice Duport-Percier evoke every time we play the game or… Read More »

The Séance of Blake Manor

Posted by Caitlin Argyros on December 9, 2025

I used to avoid horror games. This may seem like a strange thing to admit at the start of a review for a spooky mystery game, but it’s true; I wasn’t a fan of the genre. And honestly, I couldn’t tell you when or why exactly that changed. Maybe my tastes matured as I got older, or maybe I just found… Read More »

Random Encounter 337 – Merry Game Awards 2025!

Posted by Jonathan Logan on December 8, 2025

On this week’s Random Encounter, we’re chatting about gaming’s biggest night: The Game Awards 2025! But before we get to all the reveals (and actual awards, I guess), we want to talk to Zek about the new Octopath Traveler game that was just released, Octopath Traveler 0! This entry, adapted from the… Read More »

RPGs Coming This Week, 12/7/25

Posted by Adem Yilmaz on December 7, 2025

In this edition of RPGs Coming This Week, we tackle a sneaky good (if small) lineup featuring two very stylish titles and ports of some crowd favorites. I’m sure the timing isn’t ideal right now with the holidays looming and disposable income being as tight as it’s ever been for most folks, so here’… Read More »

Demonschool

Posted by Jerry Williams on December 6, 2025

Indie games can be difficult to review because they can ignite the imagination, get your head bobbin’, and make you fall in love with characters, but may also have a host of jarring problems. Do I love this game or do I hate it? Well, that depends on what part of the in-game week I’m in and how many… Read More »

Retro Encounter 474 – Dragon Quest Tier List

Posted by Zach Wilkerson on December 4, 2025

I hope there is something really amazing on top. If we don’t find Dragon Quest V, it is all your fault. This week on Retro Encounter, we undertake a difficult endeavor yet again: making a tier list of one of the most popular RPG franchises. This time, it’s Dragon Quest! Do things get heated? Who rea… Read More »

Octopath Traveler 0

Posted by Zek Lu on December 3, 2025

Revenge is a road that never loops back to where you began. Every step pulls you further from the person you once were and closer to the one you may become. In Octopath Traveler 0, that idea shapes the entire journey. Your hometown lies in ruins, your family is gone, and the only thing pushing you f… Read More »

Kingdom of Night

Posted by Mark Roddison on December 2, 2025

From Baldur’s Gate 3 to Critical Role to Stranger Things, the resurgence of fantasy-horror rooted in the 1980s Dungeons & Dragons zeitgeist continues to deliver a mix of standout hits and inevitable misfires. Drawing inspiration from the Duffer Brothers’ Netflix phenomenon, Kingdom of Night blen… Read More »

Random Encounter 336 – Farewell, My Beloved Superheroes

Posted by Jonathan Logan on December 1, 2025

On this week’s Random Encounter, we’re taking a look at two very different narrative adventures! Back in the 2010s, Telltale Games reinvented the point-and-click adventure game with The Walking Dead, introducing new multiple paths and lasting choices. Unfortunately, they spread themselves a little t… Read More »

RPGs Coming This Week, 11/30/25

Posted by Adem Yilmaz on November 30, 2025

In this edition of RPGs Coming This Week, we near the end… of the year! I will say, now is a good time to catch up on games you missed if you’re invested in the zeitgeist, especially with the Keighleys just around the corner. Of course, there are almost always new games coming out, and you can tru… Read More »

Shrine’s Legacy

Posted by Jerry Williams on November 29, 2025

Harken back to yesteryear with the Secret of Evermore-like Shrine’s Legacy. We’ve got 2.5D action RPG swords, staves, and spells slung about for 15 to 20 hours for your millennial enjoyment. Games’ve moved past the 16-bit era? Get off my lawn! Puzzles, exploration, collectibles, one spell in an arse… Read More »

Sacred Earth – Reverie

Posted by Audra Bowling on November 28, 2025

On paper, Sacred Earth – Reverie is the type of game I’d expect to enjoy. After all, it’s a VN/RPG hybrid with point-and-click exploration mechanics, fast turn-based combat, high replayability that builds on past actions, amazing battle music, and a rich story with colorful characters: all signs of… Read More »

Highlight(s) Archive