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Review – Parasite Eve
I should have saved this one for Christmas. Parasite Eve beats on every definition of Eve that it possibly could, so of course it starts on Christmas Eve. Not that I’m complaining; placing any kind of story around a holiday is a great way to establish its setting, and if there’s one thing that Parasite Eve excels in, it’s setting.…
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Review – Yakuza 0
My experience with Yakuza boils down to this one time that I watched a former roommate play a bit of the first game on Playstation 2. All I remember is the title character running around in what looked like a Japanese garden. I was unimpressed, but the series remained in my periphery. Why wouldn’t it? Its journey across the pond…
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Review – Shadowrun: Hong Kong
It seems like every summer I get into a Shadowrun kick where I read a few novels, browse through some sourcebooks, and dive back into the video games. With every passing year, I become more familiar with the subject matter and more involved with it. Give it a bit of time, I’m sure I’ll be GMing a group one of…
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Review – Dandy Dungeon: Legend of Brave Yamada
For his part in creating my beloved Chulip, Yoshiro Kimura has earned a lot of goodwill from me. As such, I’ve been happily lapping up the games produced by his new studio, Onion games. However, I missed my chance to play Dandy Dungeon: Legend of Brave Yamada on mobile, and I don’t remember why. The game is now defunct on…
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Review – Deltarune: Chapter 1
As much as I adore the game, I don’t want a sequel to Undertale. It’s not that I think that developer Toby Fox wouldn’t do a decent job of it, but it’s a self-contained story that wraps up in a satisfying way. Any attempts to extrapolate on it would feel cheap and lessen the impact. Luckily, for his follow-up game,…
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Review – Shadowrun: Dragonfall – Director’s Cut
I’m absolutely in love with Shadowrun. Admittedly, I’ve never played the tabletop RPG due to my social incompetencies, but I still love everything about it. It’s a ‘90s kitsch amalgamation of Tolkien-esque fantasy and Bladerunner-esque cyberpunk. Magic and megacorporations, dragons and robots: it’s a nerd’s dream setting. I’ve played the games, I own a collection of the pulp fiction novels,…
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Review – Baobabs Mausoleum Episode 2: 1313 Barnabas Dead End Drive
I was left feeling cold by the gameplay of Baobabs Mausoleum Episode 1: Ovnifagos Don’t Eat Flamingos, but still came away with nothing but affection for it. It was its aesthetic; a weird mix of creepy and groovy. It was its protagonist who I kept reading in the voice of Jack Nicholson. It was the lighthearted horror that wasn’t so…
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Review – Baobabs Mausoleum Episode 1: Ovnifagos Don’t Eat Flamingos
The indie games market isn’t what it used to be. What once felt like a thrift shop bin full of knickknacks and other oddities is now more similar to a dumpster. If you wade into it, you might find some hidden treasures, but you’ll more likely emerge with a bad smell and a strange disease. We now largely rely on…
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Review – Quadrilateral Cowboy
I’ve felt a lot of goodwill toward Brendan Chung ever since Citizen Abel: Gravity Bone blew my young mind with its expert melding of interactivity and narrative. Quadrilateral Cowboy sounded like a game he was making specifically for my own specific interests. Hacking, old computer hardware, his own personal twist on storytelling; it’s a recipe that gets my thighs grinding.…
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Review – Sin & Punishment Star Successor
Sin & Punishment: Star Successor is a bit of a weird situation, and I’m not just talking about the game itself, though we’ll get to that. It’s a sequel from Treasure, a legendary developer with a strong aversion to creating sequels. It’s published by Nintendo who, at the time, was more focused on creating family friendly content for their hyper-popular…
