Highlight Archives | Page 6 of 35

Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land

Posted by Des Miller on March 21, 2025

Over the past twenty-eight years, the Atelier franchise has reinvented itself with each new series. While the core themes and elements of the franchise remain intact, characters, combat, synthesis, and mechanics are often wildly different from one series to the next. Mechanically, the Arland series… Read More »

Retro Encounter Final Thoughts: Tales of Graces f

Posted by Zach Wilkerson on March 20, 2025

Michael Sollosi Tales titles are typically reliable RPG comfort food. You go on a journey for a few dozen hours, get to know a group of quirky anime teenagers, and save the world while navigating a world full of color and made-up nonsense words that explain the setting’s unification of technology an… Read More »

Urban Myth Dissolution Center

Posted by Paul Skevington on March 20, 2025

Have you heard the one about the couple in the car and the escaped murderer with a hook for a hand? You haven’t? It’s terrifying; a friend of a friend told me about it. Don’t worry, though. You won’t encounter this tale in Urban Myth Dissolution Center, but you will find a host of other examples fro… Read More »

In Defense of Linearity in RPGs

Posted by Matt Wardell on March 19, 2025

As a little kid growing up on the PlayStation 1 and my father’s NES, I was accustomed to replaying the same short experiences again and again. Not knowing how to work a memory card—and fearful of overwriting dad’s Metal Gear Solid save—I was content to start my handful of games fresh each day. If it… Read More »

Rhythm Encounter 157 – Visual Novel Soundscapes

Posted by Patrick Gann on March 18, 2025

It’s visual novel day at Rhythm Encounter! Following one of the quickest sign-up processes ever for our show, four visual novel fans have come together to share thoughts on the music of eight visual novels, but they discuss so many more in the process. We all quickly learned that this topic will hav… Read More »

Starlight Legacy

Posted by Neal Chandran on March 17, 2025

Starlight Legacy is a retro-inspired turn-based JRPG from indie Japanese developer Decafesoft and publisher Eastasiasoft. It features obvious nods to many classic 1990s Japanese RPGs and anime while sporting its own personality. Starlight Legacy may look and feel familiar, yet it gave me a few subtl… Read More »

Freedom Wars Remastered

Posted by Sean Cabot on March 16, 2025

I’d considered playing Freedom Wars years ago, back when it was locked to the PlayStation Vita. I didn’t have much reason to besides the fact that it was one of the few Vita-exclusive games with an anime aesthetic that I’d never heard of before. That it’s received a re-release after years trapped on… Read More »

RPGs Coming This Week, 3/16/25

Posted by Gio Castillo on March 16, 2025

Just past the Ides of March, we arrive at a very stacked week. Three sprawling open worlds invite you to sink dozens, potentially hundreds of hours into exploring every last nook and cranny. Plus, we’re getting a new action roguelike that just might scratch that Supergiant-shaped itch. RPGs Coming T… Read More »

Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter

Posted by Matt Wardell on March 15, 2025

Like many of you, I discovered 2021’s Tails of Iron when it was available as a PS Plus freebie in 2023. That oddly stark, gritty, medieval mouse game sat untouched in my library, glaring out at me when I occasionally scrolled by. I had low to nonexistent expectations for its… erm, squeakquel, Tails… Read More »

Scarlet Hollow – The Roads Untraveled (Episodes 1 – 4)

Posted by Jonathan Logan on March 15, 2025

Small towns are scary, and they’re trying to kill you. Those who didn’t grow up in a small town might think that’s ridiculous, but if you have, you know better. You know the horrors of walking through the night with no streetlights. Or suspecting that the forest behind the old elementary school is i… Read More »

Retro Encounter 455 – Tales of Graces f Part II

Posted by Zach Wilkerson on March 13, 2025

I’ve traveled back in time from next week. Please listen to this episode. This week on Retro Encounter, the panel gets back together to discuss the second half of Tales of Graces f. Our discussion ranges from the increasingly excellent combat, the less than excellent dungeon design, and the good, th… Read More »

Tokyo Indie Games Summit 2025 RPG & Adventure Game Roundup

Posted by Mike Salbato on March 12, 2025

Hello and welcome to our roundup of this past weekend’s Tokyo Indie Games Summit 2025! This two-day event featured talks, presentations, and a ton of indie games on display. The 2024 event drew over 9,000 visitors, and the show seems to only be growing each year, with 2025 being its third year. Whil… Read More »

Expelled! An Overboard! Game

Posted by Jonathan Logan on March 12, 2025

When inkle releases a new game, I sit up and pay attention. This UK-based studio has developed some of the most innovative and engaging visual novel/adventure games of the last decade, including Sorcery!, 80 Days, and Heaven’s Vault. However, it was their 2021 release of Overboard!, a time loop game… Read More »

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II

Posted by Abraham Kobylanski on March 11, 2025

I wasn’t sure how to feel about a sequel to Kingdom Come: Deliverance. The first game delivered on the “novelty” of a massive, open Elder Scrolls-esque game about realistic medieval times: no magic, no dragons, and characters based on real people who lived in the 1300s. But though it was an impressi… Read More »

Wanderstop

Posted by Tom Naylor on March 10, 2025

After being somewhat absent from the limelight for several years since making waves in the early- to mid-2010s, the indie dream team of Davey Wreden (The Stanley Parable, The Beginner’s Guide), Karla Zimonja (Gone Home, Tacoma), and C418 (Minecraft) have joined forces under the banner of Ivy Road to… Read More »

Random Encounter 318 – Monster Hunting the Most Elusive Game: A New Suikoden

Posted by Jonathan Logan on March 10, 2025

On this episode of Random Encounter, it’s time to chat about a remaster and a new game in two long-running series! First up, Zach’s prayers have been answered: Suikoden I&II HD Remaster: Gate Rune & Dunan Unification Wars is finally out! This remaster of the first two Suikoden games has been… Read More »

RPGs Coming This Week, 3/9/25

Posted by Audra Bowling on March 9, 2025

In this edition of RPGs Coming This Week, triple-A takes a backseat. We got our Monster Hunters and Suikodens out of the way. Now is the time for smaller studios to take the spotlight, and it’s our pleasure to get the word out! So, please sit back and enjoy this week’s exceptionally strong indie lin… Read More »

ENDER MAGNOLIA: Bloom in the Mist

Posted by Des Miller on March 8, 2025

Metroidvania fans have been eating well for the past couple of years thanks to fantastic entries such as Hollow Knight, Dead Cells, Blasphemous, and Metroid Dread to name a few. The long-beloved genre has delved deeper into the RPG world while mixing in Soulslike elements to keep things evolving. Wh… Read More »

Blades of Fire Hands-On Preview: Strike While the Iron is Hot!

Posted by Paul Skevington on March 7, 2025

You might not have heard much about Blades of Fire yet, and if so, that’s not entirely surprising. Blades of Fire is one of those rare treats: a game announced only a few months prior to its anticipated release date. What’s more, publisher 505 Games and Developer MercurySteam invited me to come and… Read More »

Rhythm Encounter 156 – (Xenoblade) X Gon’ Give It To Ya

Posted by Mike Salbato on March 6, 2025

Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition is almost here, so what better time to dive into this musically fascinating “side” tale from 2015? Many fans were surprised that the first Xenoblade Chronicles was not followed by a “2” (though that happened later), but by Xenoblade Chronicles X. The name a… Read More »

Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars

Posted by Zach Wilkerson on March 5, 2025

(Reviewer’s Note: Konami recently announced multiple adjustments that were not available to us at the time of the review. This review is true to the version available to us at the time of review.) The morning after I rolled credits on Suikoden II in the Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: Gate Rune and… Read More »

Ever 17: The Out of Infinity Remaster

Posted by Sean Cabot on March 4, 2025

Kotaro Uchikoshi is one of a few select creatives who has permanently imprinted my brain structure. While I brought this up in my review of his early attempts at genre mashup in Never 7, I didn’t have much space to explain his exact appeal in great detail because it was so different from what I’d co… Read More »

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Hands-on Preview – The Brushstrokes of a Dream

Posted by Zek Lu on March 3, 2025

What if I told you there’s an upcoming game that’s a cross between Final Fantasy XIII and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door? Would that excite you, or worry you? Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 certainly sounds like someone’s fever dream, but I couldn’t stop playing it. In fact, I played through the p… Read More »

RPGs Coming This Week, 3/2/25

Posted by Claton Stevenson on March 2, 2025

In this edition of RPGs Coming This Week: more games than you can shake a stick at! From old classics you may have missed to potential new ones you won’t want to miss, there’s really no shortage of RPGs you can throw your money at. In this economy, we’d hate for you to waste that hard-earned income,… Read More »

The Crimson Diamond

Posted by Jonathan Logan on March 1, 2025

And now for the words that every potential reader loves to see at the beginning of a review: It’s time for a history lesson! Before graphical point-and-click adventure games, we had narrative text adventures. In these games, players read descriptions and input instructions via a text parser, using t… Read More »

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