Matt Sainsbury
Like the very best horror, Tokyo Dark takes a look at real-world issues and tensions in a way that's memorably shocking. There's a strong subtext to Tokyo Dark's story, and its told in a nuanced way, with memorable characters and intense imagery. Cherrymochi is a unique developer that has created a unique thing here, and for that the team has certainly earned my attention for whatever it has coming next.
The series needed that soft reset, and now Game Freak has the same outstanding basis and core to build on anew. Just as it did back when Pokemon Blue & Red so effectively captured my imagination 21 years ago.
Civilization VI is essential. Not only is it a game that's educational, informative, and inspirational (see my video above for more thoughts around that), but it's also deeply pertinent to today's world and gives players a way of seeing - and grappling - with the topic on their own terms.
Shenmue 3's real strength is in the way that it suggests a different way of looking at the very storytelling of videogames.
This is a VR experience I can lose myself within for hours at a time, and will no doubt keep coming back to for many, many years to come. Keep it up, Degica!
Tokyo Mirage Sessions was one of the very few Wii U titles that I've been hanging out for a Switch re-release of since I first got my hands on the console, and it doesn't disappoint on any level. It's a brilliant concept, well told, and backed by Atlus' skill with turn-based combat at its peak.
If you're one of those that is new to Atelier (and thanks to Ryza I know that there are a lot of you out there), then here's your chance to catch up on three of the most distinctive and interesting JRPGs of the PlayStation 3 era.
Three superb games within an astounding collection that allows you to play the entire series from beginning to end
In the end, Mega 39 does one, very special thing: it takes the incredible Hatsune Miku Project Diva Future Tone, and makes it portable.
If you love your historical strategy for the history that they depict, then Romance of the Three Kingdoms delivers. Everything about it is a perfect reflection on what that book was on about.
The Switch has no shortage of this genre at this point, but SeaBed might just be the most meaningful of them all.
Taito has done a really good job of curating a package of games that show all the transitions that Space Invaders has made over the years.
It's not necessarily fun, in a traditional sense, but it's culturally insightful and intelligent, and that makes it valuable.
I don't necessarily see FFVII Remake as a replacement to the original game, as remakes generally are. It's a complement to it, where the developers have built on the world and characters in such a way that it's like two sides of a single coin - for me, at least, without one, the other doesn't exist.
You'll start to question everything as you play The Eternal Castle.
It makes me wonder why we’re even bothering with a “next generation” at all.
Persona 4 Golden is genuine, bona fide work of art, and one of those games that show the potential for the video game format to offer more than cheap thrills. It's one of those games that you get the feeling will be remembered as a masterpiece well into the future too. With most AAA blockbusters falling out of the public discourse just a few months after release because they offer nothing but passive entertainment, it's games like Persona 4 that we continue to discuss. Even in comparison to its own sequel, it seems to have the combination of characters, narrative, and ideas that help it to continue to be worthy of thought. We'll still be talking about Persona 4 fifty years from now, and hopefully, it remains as accessible as this new PC release has allowed it to become.
While Deadly Premonition 2 is not for everyone (and potentially offensive to some), games as an art form are better off having works like this to exist in parallel to mainstream entertainment.
When you start really pulling at what Quantum Suicide offers, it works as a metanarrative discussion around all of these games, and as a result, the game offers layer after layer of some truly fascinating narrative and structure that I'm going to be thinking about for quite some time to come.
What I can say, however, is that this game stands proudly with the likes of NieR Automata, Persona 4 and Danganronpa as something truly intelligent and meaningful. Without ever losing sight of its need to entertain players, 13 Sentinels intellectually engages with and challenges them, respecting their ability and willingness to engage with the game on that level.