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Nier Automata: Narrative, Themes and Characterisation
Nier creator Taro Yoko is particularly fascinated with death: not only the concept itself, but also how different people respond to it. Yoko’s interest in the subject, as we’ve previously discussed,...
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From the Archives: Make Some Time for Magical Diary
You know how every so often you take a look at your Steam library and start to feel guilty about games you purchased because they sounded like just your sort of thing, but then you never got around to...
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From the Archives: Battle Systems I Have Loved
Given the amount of time you spend kicking the crap out of everything from small woodland creatures to skyscraper-sized giant robots in JRPGs, it’s fair to say that the battle system is one of the most...
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Wii U Essentials: Nintendo Land
It’s easy to write off a pack-in bundle of minigames as being somehow “lesser” than full-scale titles. But the Wii U’s Nintendo Land was special — and in a different way from its spiritual predecessor...
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Virtual Intimacy
The arrival of relatively affordable virtual reality solutions has the potential to allow us to explore narrative and characterisation in all-new ways — and I’m especially excited to see what Japan...
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Nier Automata: A Game Better With — And Because Of — Its Narrative
Writing for The Atlantic, academic and media commentator Ian Bogost put forth the rather bold claim that “video games are better without stories” and asked “film, television and literature all tell...
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From the Archives: Reading Deeper into Magical Diary
I realize I’m being terribly unorthodox here, but after playing the subject of last week’s column a little more, I feel the urge to talk about it for the second week in a row. And this time I’m going...
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MoeGamer: The Third Birthday
Somehow, I only remembered recently that I actually share a birthday with this little corner of the Internet. Sure enough, if you check the first ever post on here (complete with old-style Midori and...
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From the Archives: Shadow Hearts – A Classic Series from the PS2 Era
Back in the PS1 and PS2 eras we were very much enjoying a Golden Age across a variety of different game genres, but many people regard this as a very special time for the JRPG in particular. This...
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Puzzler Essentials: Puyo Puyo Tetris
Puyo Puyo Tetris is cause for great celebration, particularly for those of us who have been missing certain aspects of “the good old days” of gaming, whenever those might have been in your personal...
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MeiQ: Introduction and History
First-person, grid-based dungeon crawlers have, over the years, become the place to go for those who like hardcore, mechanics-driven, combat- and exploration-centric role-playing games. Often...
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Shmup Essentials: Gundemonium Recollection
Any self-respecting gamer knows that if you really want to impress someone with your dexterity and prowess, you don’t fire up a Souls game, you fire up a bullet hell shmup. Notorious for their...
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From the Archives: Embracing the “H”
Sex. Yes, that was entirely a cheap trick to get your attention, but it’s also the subject of today’s column. There are some interesting and varied thoughts about sex in games out there, but it’s a...
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Summer Lesson: First Impressions
Showcase PlayStation VR title Summer Lesson recently got a physical release in Asia with English subtitles, so I decided to grab a copy and investigate. As you may recall, the idea of using VR to...
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From the Archives: Shaking Up the Formula
One of the most common criticisms levelled at the JRPG genre — usually by those who don’t play them much — is that they are bland, formulaic and predictable. And while in some cases developers do fall...
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Puzzler Essentials: HuniePop
HuniePop from Ryan Koons’ studio HuniePot was partly developed as a sort of “protest” game: an attempt to fight back against the growing trend of political correctness that was starting to take root in...
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MeiQ: Girls and Guardians
By attempting to provide an accessible dungeon crawler experience, MeiQ has put itself in an interesting position. Too much mechanical depth and it will alienate the very people it’s hoping to attract....
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Shmup Essentials: Deathsmiles
Although it’s been rather quiet for a while, the Japanese company Cave has long been known as one of the best developers of modern shoot ’em ups out there. With most of their titles falling into the...
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From the Archives: Twinkle, Twinkle
Back when I first started reading it, it became clear that the visual novel Kira Kira was something special. It raised a bunch of interesting things to talk about, even before I’d seen the whole story....
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Kizuna Ai: A Perfect Parody
As someone who writes a lot of long-form pieces — and someone who is an old fart — I’ve never quite latched on to the appeal of “YouTubers”. Don’t get me wrong, I understand the value of having the...
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