Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail was a challenging expansion to review. It featured some of the best gameplay the MMO has had in years, but after the narrative payoff of Endwalker, the new story arc had some growing pains. Since the first three patches after an expansion have traditionally wrapped up lingering plot threads, I was…
We all have origin stories about how we got into RPGs (several of us shared them almost six years ago in this feature!), so today our panel discusses music origins — what RPGs attuned us to the RPG music scene or otherwise elevated our senses and made us take notice. For some of us, this…
In this edition of RPGs Coming This Week, a major JRPG finally breaks out of its smartphone confines, plus we get a bunch of Steam Early Access comers and goers. December is usually a slow period for releases, but that is not so in 2024. So let’s get a move on, shall we? Caves of…
Among the plethora of top-tier RPGs in the last five years or so, Disco Elysium stands as one of the more innovative and unexpected critical and commercial hits. It drew a huge range of industry and critical accolades, and the immersive graphics, exceptional narrative and voice-acting, and meaningful decision systems still resonate as strongly today…
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth was one of my most anticipated releases of 2024. The original and the two other PlayStation Final Fantasy entries, FFVIII and FFIX, are three of my favourite games. They each hold a special place in my heart, and I revisit them regularly. Playing them gives me a serotonin boost and makes…
For a true hero isn’t measured by the size of his strength, but by the strength of his heart. Retro Encounter concludes its 2024 Zelda Month with a second episode on A Link to the Past for the SNES, discussing the game’s excellent second half of Dark World exploration and dungeoneering. So which panelist loves…
Broken Sword – Shadow of The Templars: Reforged is a brand-new version of a game that I first encountered in its original form when it released way back in 1996. While the game debuted on the PC, my experience was with the hugely popular PlayStation version. At the time, I had no access to the…
Many games have a notable route to release, and VED, from the small development team at Karaclan, is one of the extreme examples. Beginning life as a 2D Souls-like platformer with gorgeous, hand-drawn sprites, the game slowly evolved over 12(!) years to its current RPG format, complete with a complex, branching narrative and turn-based combat. This…
