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Hiryu, is that you?  Although designer Kouichi Yotsui has stated that Strider underperformed commercially, the 1989 arcade title was indisputably influential. Not only did the game inspire a pair of sequels and a 2009 reboot, ...

Things aren’t quite as they initially seem in this visual novel with sleuthing elements.  Hao-Chen Jiang’s likely finds solace in the predictability of his daily routine. Every weekday, he attends class while his afternoons are ...

Managing an offshore oil rig is enjoyable at first, but then boredom and bugs impair the experience. One of the most fascinating attributes of a simulation is observing the role of each interconnected part within ...

Delightful art and an intriguing blend of genres just might cast a spell on you. Many early tower defense games had stretches of downtime. After strategically placing turrets, you’d often sit back and watch as ...

Sixteen years later, the magic is still there. Vanillaware’s games have remarkable longevity. Now and again, I’ll revisit 2009’s Muramasa: The Demon Blade, soaking up its mixture of ukiyo-e and 70’s anime-influenced visuals as well ...

The sixteen-bit mecha classic receives the premium M2 treatment.  1992’s Assault Suits Valken was one of the first games to truly capture the sensation of piloting a hulking mecha. Across a succession of seven stages, ...

The sword gets revenge on the pen and even the gun. Alice Gear Aegis’ mechanized maidens wield overpowered melee weapons undermining the virtues of battle and banter in CS Concerto of Simulatrix. Gacha game spin-offs ...

Released 16 years ago, there’s a significant amount of Record of Agarest War that feels creaky. But beneath it, there’s a sense of ambition and unprecedented scale, that merges turn-based combat and dating sim into ...

Tamagotchi-style care for the last member of humanity provides a stirring stimulus for Void Terrarium 2’s dungeon crawling. Released amidst a tempestuous pandemic, 2020’s void tRrLM(); //Void Terrarium envisioned a setting that embodied melancholic isolation. Catastrophically, ...

Prepare to be Tickled Pink Typically, thirtieth birthdays can be a bit somber. There’s the nagging worry that the prime of life is now in your rear-view mirror, replaced by the dour realities of adulthood. ...