Rain is a common motif in noir. Whether it be the grim, dank, and hostile urban decay of Se7en, or the neon-drenched dystopia of Blade Runner, water is so common to noir that there is, to quote Paul Schrader in his book Notes on Film Noir “an almost Freudian attachment…
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Pikmin is delightful. It’s not Nintendo’s biggest property, but it is one of its most whimsical, and from what I’ve played of Pikmin 4 so far (which is admittedly not that much… it has been a busy week), this new one has lost none of the loving craft that Nintendo’s…
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Loop8: Summer Of Gods is too easy to overlook. I know, I put it to a side myself while I was playing much larger and high-profile games (such as Final Fantasy XVI). I do feel like I did this game a disservice, however, as it is different and has the…
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It’s hard to say, but it’s true: the Nintendo Switch is nearing the end of its lifecycle. So it best go out with a bang! Today’s Nintendo Direct features titles mostly releasing this year, with a few coming in 2024. Here are my highlights from the showcase, as well as…
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Once, many years ago, I read an argument that the enduring popularity of Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons in its homeland in Japan has to do with a very real desire for a “sea change” or “tree change” among Japanese urban populations. If this is true (and I believe there is…
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Bleak Sword DX is the latest Apple Arcade game to make its way over to consoles. This Devolver Digital-published title was always an admirable and interesting effort to take the core tension and taut action of the Souls “genre” and make it work on mobile devices. It did work and…
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Just yesterday I reviewed Demon Sword Incubus. This is a truly terrible “erotic” game that needed to remove the one “quality” it had going for it so it could have a console release. The Nintendo Switch port of Sakura Dungeon has also been released this past week, and while it…
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If the developers of Demon Sword: Incubus put half as much effort into the actual gameplay as they did with their array of costumes designed to show off more than cover, it might almost have been worth playing. Mind you, with a scintillating narrative that includes lines like this, I…
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I love Hatsune Miku. I’m pretty sure I’ve said that on this site before. However, I’ll keep saying it as long as the character and the games she appears in are as adorable as Hatsune Miku: The Planet of Wonder and Fragments of Wishes get published. Crypton – the IP…
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What is it with sports video games and card-based modes being the focus? I do understand that sports and cards go together fine. I used to collect basketball cards myself. But I always thought the appeal in those was the tangible collectability (and potential value) of them. Apparently, there’s something…
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