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UncategorizedA Wishlist For The Legend of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild Sequel
How do you improve the seeming perfection of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild? Breath of the Wild took everything that was great about the Zelda series and made it grander and more epic. Like the clever puzzles that make up their dungeons? How about 120 shrines that distill them into their purest…
By Peter Tieryas Published June 22, 2019 -
UncategorizedThe Difficult Dilemma Of Dragon Quest XI’s Post Credit Sequence
Dragon Quest XI is a very long game full of tragic twists and turns, so when my journey finally came to an end, it felt like a real accomplishment. The credits rolled. I’d defeated the main villain and brought peace to the land. I actually felt sad that my time with my companions was coming…
By Peter Tieryas Published June 22, 2019 -
UncategorizedDeath Mark Reminds Us That We Can Never Vanquish Our Ghosts
There was a time I was obsessed with American urban legends, especially the horror-themed ones. Learning more about their roots and origins, and how a story evolves over time to fit the social mores of its time was fascinating, if terrifying. Death Mark is kind of like a mix track of creepy Japanese urban legends…
By Peter Tieryas Published June 22, 2019 -
UncategorizedIn Defense of Castlevania 2: Simon’s Quest
The original Castlevania was one of the first NES games I played. So when the sequel came out for the NES in December 1988, I knew I had to play it. Simon’s Quest mixed up the first game’s action-platforming formula and gave players a Metroidvania-style game with RPG mechanics, revolving around a curse that Dracula…
By Peter Tieryas Published June 22, 2019 -
UncategorizedHotel Dusk: Room 215 Is A Compelling Story About Loss And Guilt
I still have a classic Nintendo DS that even plays the old GBA games, but I only take it out when I go on airplanes. Recently having finished Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations, I turned to Hotel Dusk: Room 215, knowing nothing about the game. I quickly became addicted to the mystery interactive novel developed…
By Peter Tieryas Published June 22, 2019 -
UncategorizedThe Classic JRPG About Two Scientists Saving The World
A mix of The Legend of Zelda and the works of Hayao Miyazaki, Crystalis was an incredible action RPG for the NES whose surprisingly complex story helped elevate it above many of its peers. It’s also one of the games I most fondly recall from my childhood, so re-playing it on the SNK 40th Anniversary…
By Peter Tieryas Published June 22, 2019 -
UncategorizedThe Latest Sims 4 Expansion Is Fascinating, But Not Because Of Mermaids
There are a lot of things I like about Island Living, today’s new Sims 4 expansion. Almost none of them are the new mechanics that come with the pack. Mermaids, the new “occult” type of Sim that comes with Island Living, are ho-hum. Mermaids have their hygiene need replaced with “hydration,” but there’s not a…
By Gita Jackson Published June 21, 2019 -
UncategorizedBloodstained: Ritual Of The Night, As Told By Steam Reviews
What is a Kickstarter-funded spiritual successor to Castlevania? Either a miserable or non-miserable pile of secrets (and gameplay mechanics), depending on which Steam reviewer you talk to. Whether they love it or feel lukewarm about it, like Kotaku’s Joshua Rivera, nobody’s pretending Bloodstained: Ritual Of The Night is something that it’s not. This, pretty much…
By Nathan Grayson Published June 21, 2019 -
CultureE3John Wick Hex Is A Portal Into John Wick’s Mind
At a Keanu Reeves-filled E3 last week, I played a demo of John Wick Hex, a forthcoming action game directed and written by Mike Bithell, the creator of acclaimed indie games Thomas Was Alone and Volume. Playing John Wick Hex was like being transported inside of the titular assassin’s mind via a mashup of the…
By Gita Jackson Published June 21, 2019 - Uncategorized
We’ve updated our June 8 story about publisher Xseed’s game-crediting policy with a lengthy statement from company VP Ken Berry. He notes that the small but growing company’s policy has been for credits to provide a “snapshot” of who is at Xseed at the moment, but acknowledges room to revise the policy as the company…
By Stephen Totilo Published June 21, 2019 -
OpinionImpressionsSuper Neptunia RPG Is Cute But Shallow, Which Is Exactly What I Wanted
While Idea Factory’s Hyperdimension Neptunia began in 2010 as a 3D turn-based role-playing game, spin-off titles have reimagined the series as a turn-based tactics game, a co-op beat-em up, a faux MMORPG and even a retro side-scrolling shooter. The latest spin-off, Super Neptunia RPG, traps the series’ CPU goddesses in a 2D platforming realm, where…
By Mike Fahey Published June 21, 2019 -
CultureValve’s New Auto Chess Game Is Already Way More Popular Than Artifact Ever Was
The failure of Dota-themed trading card game Artifact might have left Valve with egg on its face, but the company has now scraped off that egg and made an omelette with Dota Underlords. Valve’s take on the obscenely popular Auto Chess genre hit a peak of nearly 180,000 concurrent players today, almost tripling Artifact’s all-time…
By Nathan Grayson Published June 21, 2019 -
CultureE3Xbox Boss On Microsoft’s Struggles With Game Quality And Efforts To Improve It
Whatever the strengths of the Xbox platform, it’s long lagged behind Nintendo and Sony in terms of homegrown, exclusive video games. There have been highlights in its history and even some stellar games of late, such as last year’s Forza Horizon 4, but the Xbox One era has been rough. There have been prominent cancellations,…
By Stephen Totilo Published June 21, 2019 -
UncategorizedCapcom has updated its official Street Fighter V tournament rules to address controllers capable of simultaneous opposite cardinal direction inputs, or SOCDs. This sets a new standard for box style peripherals: the original Hit Box is legal, while the custom “Gafro box” that Daigo helped gain notoriety is not.
By Ian Walker Published June 21, 2019 -
UncategorizedNeon-Soaked Shooter Amid Evil Really Hits The Spot
Sometimes, you just wanna play a damn shooter. You want some gnarly weapons, some mazes to wander in, and no particular justification for blowing up whatever demons cross your path. Amid Evil, a throwback shooter now released out of early access, channels the spirit of Heretic and Hexen for a frantic, first-person burst of blood…
By Heather Alexandra Published June 21, 2019 -
CultureWhat Are You Playing This Weekend?
The weekend is for going rock climbing! I’m taking a class to learn to belay people so I can say “no, no, I’ll hold the rope” and cover up my ridiculous fear of heights. The weekend is also for playing video games. I’m really enjoying Lovely Planet 2, which looks relaxing but is actually twitchy…
By Riley MacLeod Published June 21, 2019 -
UncategorizedI played all the way through Judgment in Japanese earlier this year. Now it’s time to play its Western release on our Twitch channel, and judge the quality of the English dub. Something tells me it’s going to be good. Uh-oh: did I just pre-judge it? Shout your loudest objections in the chat!
By Tim Rogers Published June 21, 2019 -
UncategorizedSexting With A Robot Is Just About As Weird As You’d Expect
Does anyone remember Cleverbot, the sort-of-not-really AI that you could sort-of-not-really have a conversation with? It was really popular around the time I was sitting my Italian exam at university, circa 2011. I know this because I asked it if it could help me learn Italian, and it replied: “pizza, pizza, spaghetti cappuccino.” Thanks, Cleverbot.…
By Kate Gray Published June 21, 2019 -
UncategorizedThe Netflix Release Of Neon Genesis Evangelion Is Missing Its Iconic Ending Theme
All 26 episodes of legendary anime Neon Genesis Evangelion are now available for streaming on U.S. Netflix, but there’s something missing. The end credits theme, Claire Littley’s beautiful version of “Fly Me to the Moon”, has been replaced. That’s disappointing. This week’s Netflix release of Neon Genesis Evangelion marks the first time fans in the…
By Mike Fahey Published June 21, 2019 -
UncategorizedYouTuber Etika Reported Missing Following Mental Health Struggles
Gaming YouTuber Desmond “Etika” Amofah has been missing for over 36 hours, the New York Police Department reports. His disappearance comes at the end of a long and public battle with mental health that, on Wednesday night, culminated in an eight-minute video in which Amofah discusses his struggles with suicidal ideation. Walking down the street,…
By Cecilia D'Anastasio Published June 21, 2019