I’ve had a bit of a peculiar relationship with Square’s long-running Mana series (also known as Seiken Densetsu). It’s one of gaming’s most enduring action-RPG series, and its influence on the genre is quite palpable. I have my share of fond things to say about several Mana games, yet I’ve always wanted to see one […]
Everlasting Flowers – Where there is a will, there is a way is the first full-fledged new visual novel title from developer Sprite in over a decade (based on Japanese release date). As someone who became a pretty big fan of their previous work in Aokana, I’ve been excited to see what they’ve been cooking […]
Tales from Toyotoki: Arrival of the Witch (also known by its Japanese name Ihanashi no Majo) is a visual novel created by Fragaria. What initially drew me to it was its art style, which had a somewhat distinct look to it. A couple of years after its initial Japanese release, we can now experience the […]
Hana’s Campus Life (also stylized Hana’s Campus Life! Slice of Life With Little Deity!) is an indie visual novel made by Korean developer Limited Factory and published in English by Sekai Project. I’d not really heard of this title before offering to review it, but I liked some of the art, and I enjoy checking […]
The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak kicks off the fourth arc of Falcom’s long-running Trails series. After Reverie aimed to bring the previous arcs to a close, Daybreak at last begins the Calvard arc. Set in this major nation which has been mentioned a ton throughout the series, all in a new engine to […]
The future of the red plumber’s foray into the role-playing game genre felt uncertain for several years following the shift of the Paper Mario series towards an action-adventure focus, the fizzling of Mario & Luigi RPG developer AlphaDream, and any rumored Super Mario RPG sequel being in perpetual limbo. However, in 2023, Nintendo announced a […]
Aoi Tori (Blue Bird) is an erotic visual novel developed by Purple Software and published in English by NekoNyan. Though I’m not a veteran of Purple Soft’s prior works, the name caught my attention, and the premise seemed to suggest it had the potential to be intriguing. Let’s see if this bird can sing, and […]
Touhou Project occupies an unusual niche in indie gaming. Unlike most franchises, its creator (ZUN/Team Shanghai Alice) is comparatively looser with allowing/licensing games using its world and characters. As a result, the catalog of Touhou games is as massive as it is diverse. Although the original series is predominantly known for bullet hell games about […]
Berserk Boy is an indie 2D action-platformer influenced by many classic sidescrollers of the 16 and 32-bit eras. As a sucker for games with dynamic movement and sense of speed, the early trailers for this game caught my eye and piqued my interest. With the game out now on PC and Switch, I figured it’d […]
Continuing right where the previous game left off, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV aims to draw the ambitious, lengthy Trails of Cold Steel story to a close. While the Trails series found its niche in the JRPG landscape with its long and interconnected story arcs, Cold Steel is by far the biggest yet. […]