Mike Fahey

A Big Adventure In A Literal Sandbox

Supraland is a massive game. Cast in the role of the hero of a race of red humanoids in conflict with their blue counterparts, players travel sprawling fantasy landscapes battling enemies, climbing immense towers, and solving incredibly clever puzzles. It’s easy to forget the whole thing takes place in a young boy’s sandbox. To be…

Mobile fighting game Transformers: Forged to Fight is two years old today, and I still don’t have Waspinator, dammit. Developer Kabam celebrates the milestone with an update featuring revamped mission maps, new challenge maps, updates to many fighters and never giving me the robots I want.

Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission Is A Very Japanese Card Game

Super Dragon Ball Heroes is an incredibly popular Japanese arcade trading card game. Players buy physical cards featuring Dragon Ball heroes and villains, form a team of seven and deploy them in battles via a specialized arcade cabinet. Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission for Nintendo Switch and Steam is the same thing without the…

New Windows Game Bar Does Spotify, Friends And Memes

The Game Bar is what pops up when someone presses the Windows key plus G while playing a game on a Windows PC, giving quick access to screenshot, capture, and streaming tools. Now it does a bit more: Friends lists, messaging, Spotify access and the ability to drop funny text on screenshots. Or just regular…

We loved Runic Games’ Hobwhen it came out for PC and PS4 in 2017. Now Hob: The Definitive Edition is out for the Switch, and it’s just as lovable. Panic Button’s Switch port of the open-world adventure runs very well, and includes Switch exclusive features like HD rumble and touch screen support.

Ubisoft’s Starlink Won’t Get Any New Toys

Ubisoft’s 2018 game Starlink: Battle for Atlas gives players a choice between purchasing physical toy spaceships, pilots and weapons to use in-game or paying substantially less for purely digital versions. It looks like the digital version won, as Ubisoft announced today there will be no more physical toys created for the game. While there are…

The Original EverQuest Has Not Aged Well

Ten years ago I wrote a story about EverQuest, the online role-playing game I was so obsessed with it cost me my job and a relationship. Now I’m revisiting the game, playing on the new progression server opened to celebrate its 20th anniversary, and I can safely say I am in no danger of falling…

Black Desert On Xbox One Inches Closer To The PC Version

Pearl Abyss’ pretty online role-playing game Black Desert launched on the Xbox One last month, lacking much of the contentthat had been added to the PC version since its 2016 debut. It’s catching up quick though, with a free update today adding four new classes and large-scale player-versus-player events. The PC version of Black Desert…

Operencia Is A Treat For Fans Of Old-School Dungeon Crawlers

It’s as true today as it was in the early ‘80s—there’s nothing quite like the exquisite tension of exploring a creepy, creature- and trap-filled dungeon, square-by-square, in first-person. Operencia: The Stolen Sun, Zen Studios’ modern take on the classic dungeon crawler, is sleek, challenging, and incredibly charming. Players have been advancing through fantasy dungeons one…

The Best (And Worst) April Fools’ Day Jokes For 2019

It’s April 1 again, the day when everyone and every brand’s got jokes. Some of them are good. Most of them are bad. Many of the game-related ones will show up here. It’s a whole thing. Square Kirby Hal Laboratory transformed one of the world’s most famous spheres into a cube. Square Kirby’sgot his own…

The New Power Rangers Fighting Game Could Use A Lot More Power Rangers 

The colorful, spandex-clad martial artists of Power Rangers are the perfect subject for a basic but enjoyable three-on-three fighting game like Battle for the Grid. But with 26 seasons of television featuring more than 140 different heroes, the starting roster should at least be in the double digits, and not nine. I was super excited…

A Perfectly Precious Puzzle Game Propelled By Magical Teen Angst

In The World Next Door, a group of plucky high school students harness the power of magic to help a visitor from another world get home. The use of magic plays out through action-packed match puzzles, and also, the students are monsters. The game as a whole is a heck of a lot of fun.…

It’s Jarring To Play Earth Defense Force With A Hero I Made

Sandlot’s Earth Defense Force series is about generic soldiers fighting hordes of poorly animated insects. Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain is about a player-customized character fighting hordes of poorly animated insects. Giving my EDF trooper a recognizable face changes things. Since I’m a longtime fan of the series, in-depth character creation was the last thing…

Final Fantasy XV’s Episode Ardyn DLC Made Me A Fan Of The Villain

Final Fantasy XV’s final installment of downloadable content and its animated prologue have changed the way I feel about the game’s roguish antagonist. Not only is Ardyn Izunia a much more sympathetic figure now, he’s also a complete warp-striking, demon-converting bad-ass. Don’t expect Final Fantasy XV: Episode Ardyn, available today for $10 on PlayStation 4,…

The Dreams Of A Man Asleep For Three Weeks

On March 22, 2018, I was rushed to the hospital for life-saving surgery. Due to complications with the procedure, I didn’t regain full, coherent consciousness until the second week in April. For three weeks I was stuck inside my own mind, subject to a seemingly unending series of dreams. Dreams covering on a variety of…

Five Nights At Freddy’s VR: Help Wanted comes to PlayStation VR this April, as well as Oculus, Steam, and HTC Vive. Players will play through levels from the original games as well as some new encounters, trying not to pee themselves as animatronic creatures jumpscare them in virtual reality. Oh, there will be pee.

Apple Announces Apple Arcade, A Subscription Service For Premium Games

During a special event in Cupertino today, Apple announced Apple Arcade, a premium subscription game service for Apple devices, with a lineup including games from developers like Sega, Konami and Mistwalker, the studio founded by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi. Coming this fall to iPhone, iPad, Apple computers and Apple TV, Apple Arcade is service…

Final Fantasy XIV’s Newest Races Are Gender-Locked, And Players Are Not Happy

When a new rabbit-eared race called Viera was revealed for Final Fantasy XIV’s upcoming Shadowbringers expansion during last month’s Paris Fanfest, only female versions were shown, but players were hopeful that the male version of the Viera would be announced at the Tokyo Fanfest this past weekend. Instead, Square Enix added a whole new race,…

SNK’s reboot of weapons-based fighting series Samurai Shodown, AKA Samurai Spirits, arrives on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 in June, with a Switch version coming later this year and a PC port at a later date. The game will be playable at PAX East this weekend. Embrace death, everybody!

Fate/Extella Link Is Delicious Hack And Slash Popcorn For My Soul

I don’t know a lot about Fate/Stay Night, a 2004 adult visual novel about stylized historical figures battling over the Holy Grail that spawned an anime, manga and video game empire. But I like over-the-top anime nonsense, and Marvelous’ Fate/Extella Link has that in spades. In proper anime style, the story of Fate/Extella Link takes…