The Sorrowvirus: A Faceless Short Story is a frustrating game. Part of that is the sort of deliberate, atmosphere-building user-unfriendliness that you often find in horror games; part of that is puzzles that are more tedious than brain-bending. But most of all, Sorrowvirus is frustrating because it’s an intriguing, original …
You know the drill: squeeze through tiny gaps in screen-filling bullet patterns, unleash some bullet hell of your own with a powerful, wide-reaching cannon, hold the shot button to focus fire for an immensely powerful laser and slower, more careful movement. In a lot of ways, Z-Warp is a more …
“What if witches gave up magic in favour of big effin guns?” I’m not sure if that’s exactly the elevator pitch Rainbite used to sell publisher eastasiasoft on Trigger Witch, but it can’t be too far off. And you know what? It works: a twin-stick shooter with a light action-adventure …
As the debut effort from a relatively small indie studio, The Letter is more than a little impressive: a lengthy visual novel that unfolds through the perspectives of seven different characters, their stories all interwoven through a branching structure that gets increasingly more complex the deeper you go. Even if …
Nintendo Switch continues to be the unlikely home for lewd, fanservice-filled games, with eastasiasoft and Idea Factory teaming up for a Western release of sexy pirate-themed comedy RPG Seven Pirates H in northern spring / southern autumn 2022. Seven Pirates H is an enhanced port of Genkai Tokki: Seven Pirates, …
I appreciate where Memories of East Coast is coming from. I’ll always admire the DIY spirit it takes to just get stuck in as a solo developer, and I welcome, on principle, any effort to earnestly explore questions of guilt and grief. But actually delivering is another challenge entirely, and …
As a throwback to the shmups of the early 90s, there’s a certain appeal in Crisis Wing. Its colourful yet moody pixel art and looming, detailed enemy ships call to mind Toaplan classics like Truxton, and it’s got the challenge to match. But it’s also a game that feels a …
You could be forgiven for never having heard of Xuan Yuan Sword, given that, until now, it’s had almost no international presence—a couple of poorly-translated multilingual Steam releases and Asia-region versions with English language support being the full extent. But this is a series with a long and storied history …
Four years on from its initial release, Yangyang Mobile‘sThe Letter: A Horror Visual Novel is finally coming to console, with plans for a release on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S this December. Originally released in 2017 for PC and mobile, The Letter draws …
Trigger Witch, a twin-stick shooter from the makers of Reverie that “puts an ultra-violent spin on cute and colorful pixel art”, is coming to all of the major consoles this northern summer / southern winter, thanks to a publishing partnership with eastasiasoft. Taking place in a world “where magic is outdated …
