Indivisible feels like it is a game made personally for me. Three of my favourite game genres are RPGs, fighting games, and Metroidvanias; Indivisible is a Metroidvania RPG with a combat system and character designs that draw a lot of inspiration from fighting games. (Coming from the developers behind Skullgirls, …
JRPG
Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age was one of the real highlights of last year. In a time when many JRPGs seem to be either trying to aggressively “modernise” or deliberately channeling nostalgia, here was a game that felt timeless right out of the gate. It stayed true …
I know I’m normally one to rail against games being too long, but The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel series are the rare sorts of games that earn every minute of their running time. I said as much in my review of the first game in this four-part …
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel is something special. It’s a classic JRPG that isn’t interested in reinventing the wheel; instead, it delivers the classic linchpins of the genre—a good story, interesting characters, and a deep battle system—to perfection. Such was true of the original release a few …
I was a bit suspicious of Nelke and the Legendary Alchemists: Ateliers of the New World ahead of its release. I love Atelier, but a lot of the pre-release marketing made it look more like one of those depressing mobile city-builder games—you know, the ones that are less about city …
“I’m going to show you how to kill a god.” Gods and heavenly bodies are almost as common in JRPGs as slimes, but it’s rather more rare to see a game actually engage with those ideas on any meaningful way. More often than not, a god-like being as the final …
One of my biggest complaints about the otherwise delightful Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland DX was its time limit system. With every action moving you closer to a strict deadline that’ll force the story forward—or send you to a game over, if you aren’t careful—there’s little room to just …
I’m a latecomer to the Atelier series. I played dabbled briefly with Atelier Iris 3 back in the day, but it wasn’t until a couple of years ago with Atelier Firis that I really got into Gust’s heartwarming JRPGs. From that perspective, going back to Atelier Rorona—which first came out …
At a glance, Pokemon: Let’s Go looks like a very different take on Pokemon. The removal of random encounters and a new catching system based on Pokemon GO have been a source of skepticism for many, to the point of widespread review bombing at online retailers. (That hasn’t dented the …
There’s been a lot made of the control scheme for The World Ends With You: Final Remix, with many suggesting that the use of touchscreen or mobile inputs (depending on whether you’re playing in handheld or docked mode) ruins an otherwise great experience. At worst, though, the controls are a …