The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and its counterpart, The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages, had a short but troubled development cycle. More than twenty years later, itโs fairly well known that the developers hoped to make a third game in the saga. But before that, they planned to remake the NEโฆ Read More »
During today’s RGG Summit stream, developer RGG Studio and publisher SEGA revealed Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC. This new title stars Goro Majima in an all-out brawl on Hawaiian ships and shores. The game releases on Februโฆ Read More »
The Case of the Golden Idolย is a master of other developersโ craft. I donโt mean this in any derogatory way, as this detective adventure takes the best elements of its inspirations and reshapes them into a package that outclasses the originals in many ways. Just make sure to play the original PC relโฆ Read More »
One more thing, there are a couple of loose ends I’d like to tie up. Nothing important, you understand. The Case of the Golden Idolย made a splash in 2022, with its compelling murder mysteries, political intrigue, and puzzle adventure gameplay. It also has a decidedly retro look to it, so naturally aโฆ Read More »
In about a month, Square Enix will publish Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven, a full 3D from the ground up remake of the 1993 original Romancing SaGa 2. As a long-time SaGa series fan, I was eager to get a taste of what this particular remake was about. And, thanks to a new demo that Square Eniโฆ Read More »
[Note: This feature is intentionally spoiler-heavy, and assumes cursory knowledge of the DrakenNieR universe. This article aims to give players who missed their chance to play NieR Re[in]carnation a synopsis of the game’s three story arcs.] In 2021, live service mobile game NieR Re[in]carnation launโฆ Read More »
Metroidvanias can be a tough sell for me. Part of that is because after playing Hollow Knight, the bar is almost impossibly high, but frankly many of them feel a little same-y to me. Walk down a corridor, explore a little, fight a boss, get a power up, explore the area you couldn’t explore before, fโฆ Read More »
I reviewed Cat Quest II back in 2019, and my impressions were: โThis is a good game.โ Easy, slappy, and aesthetically pleasing with tons of puns, I had little ill to speak of the furry escapade. With much to improve on, I was excited to try Cat Quest III, because all the developers had to do was enhโฆ Read More »
On this episode of Random Encounter, Jono and Hilary geek out over a fantastic book focusing on the localization of beloved indie RPG, Undertale. Video game localizations have come a long way since the days of spoony bards. When we usually think about game localization, we think Japanese to English.โฆ Read More »
In this edition of RPGs Coming This Week, the selection is so diverse that I truly struggle to come up with a common thread. Uh, all of the new games come from indie(-ish) developers, I guess? Cop-out, I know, but I just think this is one of the stronger weeks we’ve had in a long while, and you shouโฆ Read More »
Persona 3 FES was a formative gaming experience for me, and I absolutely loved the treatment Atlus gave it in the recent Persona 3 Reload. The remake did an exemplary job preserving the core experience of the original while refreshing it with a slick coat of paint that provided a new sheen for its oโฆ Read More »
Over the years, the monster-collecting RPG genre hasn’t interested me in the same way single-character RPGs or CRPGs have. Iโve dabbled in Pokรฉmon/Nexomon and briefly toyed with the newer Palworld, but none stuck. Although itโs been out for four years, Monster Sanctuary not only had me wanting to coโฆ Read More »
We didn’t start the fire Firewatch is the only release of indie game studio Campo Santo, but made quite an impact when it came out in 2016. Four Retro Encounter panelists played Firewatch recently, and today discuss everything from Firewatch’s quotidian gameplay, clever use of anticlimax, and fabuloโฆ Read More »
Arguably, Celestia: Chain of Fate is a lighthearted fantasy visual novel with some otome undertones. With twenty relatively sizable chapters telling its tale, the game takes time to find its footing, but a decent, character-driven tale exists here for those with patience. I became attached to the woโฆ Read More »
For a long while now, indie devs have tried to capture that nostalgia energy in a bottle. Few accomplish this, as nostalgia is less a visual or musical style and more a feelingโa feeling frequently attributed to a personโs situation, developmental age, and artistic needs at that time. Still, a gameโโฆ Read More »
With fall (or autumn, if you prefer) around the corner for many of us, it feels like a good time for relaxing music. While we did a pair of episodes focused on relaxing RPG music about four years ago (see Episode 54 and Episode 55), this time, RPGFan’s biggest lo-fi fans got together to listen and cโฆ Read More »
In this edition of RPGs Coming This Week, another mega-hit gets a much-ballyhooed expansion, plus a few solid indie titles debut. And also Dragon Quest! It’s a solid mix of games, so let’s get our metaphorical hands in this metaphorical grab bag, shall we? Persona 3 Reload: Episode Aigis โ Septemberโฆ Read More »
The Dark Souls of Retro Encounter fantasy drafts FromSoftware has produced an excellent run of fantasy RPGs since 2009’s Demon’s Souls, to which point its extended family of action RPGs comprises a genre all its own. And of course, if you can organize RPGs into a series, then Retro Encounter wโฆ Read More »
I’ve been fortunate enough to have played a few above-average free-to-play gacha RPGs and the long-running and extensive The Legend of Heroes: Trails series (the latest title of which, Trails through Daybreak, I enjoyed immensely). I was also pleasantly surprised by the anime series The Legend of Heโฆ Read More »
Audra Bowling I still have fond memories of my first Dragon Age: Inquisition playthrough, so I was thrilled when the opportunity to revisit the game right before the looming release date for Dragon Age: The Veilguard presented itself. Iโll always have a nostalgic soft spot for BioWare games, and I aโฆ Read More »
You may have heard of What Remains of Edith Finch, and if so, you likely have a good idea of the sort of experience it provides. Sometimes, games rely on complex mechanics to draw the player in. I, like many of us, enjoy getting to grips with shiny new systems, opening them up like magical puzzle boโฆ Read More »
To paraphrase the famous preamble of Law and Order, โIn the Japanifornia justice system, NPCs are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: the police and prosecutors, who investigate and prosecute the crime; and the defense attorneys, who defend the obviously innocent suspects.โโฆ Read More »
Date A Live is a light novel series that has since been adapted into an anime series, video games, and other multimedia. In fact, the anime just aired its fifth season earlier this year. The popular series, written by Kลshi Tachibana and illustrated by Tsunako (who illustrated many Idea Factory gameโฆ Read More »
I may likely qualify as a Final Fantasy fanboy. The first console games I played are from the series, and Iโd list a couple as my favourite games of all time. I must admit, somewhat controversially, that I havenโt ever completed (or in some cases played at all) Final Fantasy I through VI. I know itโโฆ Read More »
It’s hard to believe, but once upon a time, Rumiko Takahashiโs Ranma ยฝ was one of the most popular series to grace the emerging Western anime fandom of the ’90s. Ranma’s popularity is important to understand, because otherwise the rationale behind a fan translating the seriesโ main foray into the RPโฆ Read More »
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