(s) Archive
2025-02-07
Three Favorite 2024 RPGs Unicorn Overlord This incredible SRPG would’ve flown under my radar if not for the praise fellow RPGFan staff members kept heaping on it. I’m glad I listened, as Unicorn Overlord is a graphically stunning, entertainingly meaty adventure that the strategy RPG lover in me readily enjoyed. Dragon Age: The Veilguard There’s… Read More »
Let’s be honest: 2024 was one of the fullest, most complete years for RPGs in history. Whether you were looking at the AAA space (ahem, me), more independent offerings, or really anything between, there was a lot for everyone. That also means that I played several more games released this year than usual. While I… Read More »
So! About that 2024, huh? A year of difficult (yet fulfilling!) personal change for me was punctuated by one of the all-time best years in RPG history. As I made my way through treacherous personal waters, I found myself further away from the games I love so much until later into the year, when I… Read More »
Year-on-year, I seem to be getting busier and busier with my non-gaming pursuits. In 2024 I started a new job, alongside rehearsing for my 4th theatre show in a 12-month period, so you’d think I’d pick shorter games to play. Perhaps this is where I learn something about myself. Perhaps I am a masochist who… Read More »
It’s been a great year for RPGs, and I’m always trying to keep up with the great titles of this year, last year, the previous year, and so on. Last year, I hadn’t beaten Baldur’s Gate 3, and here I am, a year later, and I still haven’t beaten it! Anyway, that was last year.… Read More »
It’s been a monumental year for RPGs, if not one of the best ever. I say this to make clear that it’s no small feat there was a single frontrunner for me despite the steepest of competition. The RPG (of the Year) That Delivered on My Dreams It’s Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Like, oh my… Read More »
Game of the Year That Rewarded Team-Building Like No Other Unicorn Overlord is a masterpiece, a triumph, and a fantastic experience. Though not without flaws (the main plot is honestly kinda goofy), the flow of its battles, the unique traversing of the overworld, and the addictive gameplay loop of planning, strategizing, and organizing your units… Read More »
Bat Dad Is Best Dad Award! Metaphor: ReFantazio was easily the best RPG this year. No doubt in my mind. It had a fresh new setting, took the long and sometimes stale Persona gameplay loop and streamlined it, and combined a job system with the Press Turn system to make for amazing top-tier turn-based combat.… Read More »
Top 3 RPGs That Held My Attention This Year SKALD: Against the Black Priory If you’d told me a year ago that my favorite gaming experience of the year would have been an Amiga-inspired retro RPG, I’d have likely shot a pessimistic glance. But SKALD was so draped in dark atmospherics, both in its detailed… Read More »
2025-02-06
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 experience, but better gear. That gear costs money… Read More »
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… Read More »
2025-01-18
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 the PS Vita’s screen explaining this fact, with a space in… Read More »
2025-01-15
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 design concepts and aesthetic inspirations that informed… Read More »
2025-01-08
Did you know that hotels used to provide a newspaper at your door every morning? The practice started in the first half of the 19th century and technically still exists, though you won’t find a newspaper at your door anymore. Instead, you most likely have to ask for a newspaper at the front desk. In… Read More »
2024-12-31
It’s a well-known fact that colorful alien worlds are one of my weak points; bring me all the games with glowing plants, crystal deserts, and Roger Dean-inspired rock formations! Thankfully, this month, I’ve found a neat little indie title that fulfills this particular checklist—introducing The Dawn’s Circle, a new pixel graphic RPG with LGBTQ+ themes and visual stylings that bring to mind Cosmic Star Heroine and Paladin’s Quest, with just a dash of Hazbin Hotel.
2024-12-29
Aleks Franiczek The original NES/Famicom version of Dragon Quest III is such a legendary game that I decided it’s the version I would spin for this podcast. To ground myself in historical context, I also dabbled in the original versions of its two predecessors beforehand. This turned out to be a good move for appreciating… Read More »
2024-12-22
RPGs are winning big at game award shows in 2024. Let’s first take a second to bask in this. The first major showing was the Golden Joystick Awards, hosted by the ever-charismatic Ben Starr (you know him as Clive Rosfield from Final Fantasy XVI). These fan-voted winners included multiple nods for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, including storytelling,… Read More »
Jono Logan Do you remember the experience that solidified your love of video games? For me, it was The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past on the Super Nintendo. When released in the early days of the SNES, it exemplified everything this new generation of 16-bit gaming could be. Building on everything found… Read More »
2024-12-17
Here we have some remasters that this author might be chomping at the bit to play, new entries in some long-running franchises, and some indie releases we’re chomping at the bit to play. We also have a couple of late bonus entries that we just had to include! Monster Hunter Wilds (February 28th) Writeup by… Read More »
I think I might say this every year, but 2024 sure has been a great year for RPGs, hasn’t it? Sure, a few games have dominated the conversation, but there is just so much quality, depth and breadth throughout the genre that I truly do think it might be one of the best years from… Read More »
We’re on to part 2! There are plenty of excellent remasters here, an early game that might have been in Games of the Year if the full one wasn’t releasing next year, and at least one game in a long running franchise that is so unbelievable that it’s downright perfect. Fable Writeup by Aleks Franiczek… Read More »
2024-12-15
“If we lived forever, maybe we’d have time to understand things. But as it is, I think the best we can do is try to open our eyes and appreciate how strange and brief all of this is.” – Edith Finch Warning: This article spoils the heck out of this game. Want some spoiler-free coverage?… Read More »
2024-11-06
Slay the Spire needs no introduction. The first deckbuilder super success, Mega Crit took the indie scene—and mainstream audiences—on a stat- and card-infused journey through odd, twisting caverns, and even stranger enemies. Of course, cards weren’t invented on computers. So, rather than taking something traditionally held in people’s hands and implementing it into software, Mega… Read More »
2024-11-02
Campaign Ends: November 7thPlatform: Windows, macOS, and Linux. Stretch goals may add a Switch port, per Nintendo’s approval. Nightmare scenario: you enroll in a prestigious new school, ready for a fresh start with exciting academic subjects that you know absolutely nothing about when a hideous mix-up forces you into the role of the school principal.… Read More »
2024-10-29
Michael Sollosi This is awkward. I’ve been a vocal disdainer of Kingdom Hearts video games for over 20 years, and my feelings on the series didn’t change much when I finally finished the first one in early 2019. But now I’ve played a second Kingdom Hearts game, and it’s good. I approached Kingdom Hearts II… Read More »
