(s) Archive
2024-06-25
We covered the reveal of Infinity Knights: Xross from Timesea Studio a couple weeks ago. This up-and-coming Australian studio is run by three brothers who grew up on video games and decided to harness that passion and knowledge to build their own action RPG. Infinity Knights: Xross aims to deliver something familiar to fans of… Read More »
2024-06-12
Michael Sollosi Before starting Omori, I knew it by reputation. This is an RPG about trauma and depression, and it handles those two topics earnestly in the form of a retro-styled RPG. But Omori is also considerably more. Sadness, joy, and anger are status effects-slash-status buffs that are employed both positively and negatively. The world… Read More »
2024-06-05
You now know that a Final Fantasy VII Remake board game exists. Now that you’ve accomplished that, should you buy it? While you may be a die-hard Final Fantasy VII fan, that doesn’t necessarily mean this game’s for you. Intellectual properties have been hitting cardboard and cardstock with increasing prevalence over the years, and some… Read More »
2024-05-29
I strongly believe that post-apocalyptic meal choices would make a cold Big Mac found between couch cushions seem like the pinnacle of both nutrition and taste, but this game might just prove me wrong.
2024-05-25
Square Enix recently published the long-awaited newest entry in the SaGa franchise, SaGa Emerald Beyond. Alongside our SaGa Emerald Beyond review, which noted the game’s strengths in combat design and unique flavor in story presentation, we had the opportunity to interact with two key staff for this game. One of them is SaGa series creator… Read More »
Quick question: What’s your tolerance for operatic melodrama? You know what? Better question: Can you play riichi mahjong? Not enough people know how… Actually, nevermind, we’ve got an even better question: Have you heard of the Yakuza (AKA, Like a Dragon) series? Known as Ryu Ga Gotoku (translated as “Like A Dragon”) in Japan, it’s… Read More »
2024-05-18
SPOILER WARNING: This feature discusses the ending of Rebirth specifically and contains details. It also mentions details from Remake’s ending. I’ll make it clear upfront: I love the ending of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. While playing through it for the first time, it evoked significant emotional duress given my hopes that we could save Aerith (even… Read More »
2024-05-08
Audra Bowling The first Arc the Lad game was a brief, enjoyable foray into an interesting video game world that could only do so much with its limitations. While playing it, I felt both enjoyment and underwhelmed in equal measure. But then I tried its sequel, and I fell in love with another SRPG series… Read More »
2024-05-04
I’ve always had a soft spot for the detailed isometric graphics of 90’s CRPGs, and it’s nice to see their influence still taking hold in our modern year of 2024. Introducing Swordhaven: Iron Conspiracy, the next exciting adventure by the developers of Atom RPG.
2024-04-27
As many of you know, it’s the Year of the Dragon on the Chinese calendar, so we thought it was time to put together a feature on our favorite dragons! After all, what’s a good RPG without at least one excellent dragon? While we had a tough time deciding on the final number, we decided… Read More »
Nidhogg (Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward) Writeup by Zach Wilkerson We had a hard time deciding on the best dragon from Final Fantasy XIV. There’s certainly no shortage of excellent dragons, but even amongst them, Nidhogg soars above the rest. In many ways, Nidhogg becomes the template for the best villains in XIV: someone with evil… Read More »
Flammie (Secret of Mana) Writeup by Patrick Gann Lifting the spin drum into the sky and giving it a sharp turn, the Mana Beast, Flammie, descends to sweep up you and your two companions. Goodness gracious, I always loved calling upon this lovable cutie as the ideal mode of transportation around the world map of… Read More »
2024-04-20
I love a sunburnt country,A land of sweeping plains,Of ragged mountain ranges,Of drought and flooding rains. An excerpt from Dorothea Mackellar’s famous poem “My Country” 1906 The excerpt above is to many within Australia (of which I am one) as perfect a verse as exists to encapsulate the beautiful and unforgiving nature of the Great… Read More »
2024-04-10
Nowadays, a lot of people are saying that video game adaptations are the new comic book movies. After decades of unfaithful garbage like Wing Commander, Hitman, and Super Mario Bros., we’re finally getting hyper-faithful shows and movies like The Last of Us, Sonic the Hedgehog, and The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Video games on film are hot right now,… Read More »
2024-04-08
Whitethorn Games self-describes as an indie game publisher specializing in games that anyone can pick up and play. They are committed to creating games that “might challenge you, they’ll respect your time, they’ll make sure you can play, and most importantly, they’ll never punish you.” As such, they have an in-house accessibility team and work… Read More »
2024-04-06
It’s getting close to a year since the release of Final Fantasy XVI, and I enjoyed my time with the game’s focused narrative presentation and tight, explosive combat. The level of polish on these two fronts strikes me as a direct response to criticisms thrown at predecessor Final Fantasy XV for its scatterbrained storytelling approach… Read More »
2024-04-03
Michael Sollosi Final Fantasy IV was my first RPG; I played at a sleepover with two other friends in 1993 or 1994. It was my gateway into all RPGs, and as a result feels like a genre staple. But Final Fantasy IV is so obviously influential to Square(soft)’s future output and to RPGs in general, that those feelings… Read More »
2024-03-28
This year, RPGFan has been lucky enough to spend a significant amount of time returning to the Mana series. It’s been 15 years since the last mainline game, so the anticipation to delve into this beloved world is intense. Fortunately, we were able to demo the game both at a media event and PAX East… Read More »
2024-03-20
I Hate You, Please Suffer by scitydreamer. The splash screen of Dari’s latest game features that title, the credit, and a hand flipping the bird. When I first noticed Dari’s work, I was a little put off. I think there’s a fine line between game development punk rock and just being an edgelord (as they’re… Read More »
2024-03-13
Campaign-based, cooperative board games like Gloomhaven have been around for several years, with famous series like Descent leading the genre. Once Gloomhaven hit the market in 2017, it dominated the #1 spot on BoardGameGeek.com’s list of highest-rated board games voted by users until last year, now sitting at a modest #3 spot at the time… Read More »
2024-03-03
Michael Sollosi When I played Dragon Quest XI in 2018 I was awestruck. Everything from the game’s expressive monster animations to the snappy turn-based combat to the fairy tale story was pure, distilled Dragon Quest, but in a modern presentation so gorgeous I could scarcely believe it. But would my favorite RPG of the 2010s… Read More »
2024-02-28
Undertale Yellow is a fan game for 2015’s subversive RPG sensation, Undertale. It was released in December 2023 after seven years of scrupulous development by a group calling themselves Team Undertale Yellow. Undertale’s creator, Toby Fox, was not involved in any aspect of development, but the team did receive his blessing when they first embarked… Read More »
2024-02-24
I have never dreamed about being chased by an animated skeleton. In fact, my dreams these days tend to involve mundane things like going to a buffet or finding a new cage for my hamster, and if I were to wake up in an alternate reality based on said dreams, I would simply enjoy the vast quantities of food available.
2024-02-21
One aspect of Final Fantasy VII Remake that was near-unanimously despised was its excessive use of crawl spaces to mask loading screens. You know the ones: crevices, plank bridges, and the like that you navigate by holding the analog stick in a single direction as Cloud and friends inch along. People figured these would disappear in Final Fantasy… Read More »
2024-02-13
It’s an inevitability: someone points out that a game you’re interested in has a distinctive look that reveals the engine the game was built in. If you’re lucky, the person is surprised this game was built in a specific engine because it doesn’t look like THOSE types of games. What may have started as a… Read More »
