Author: Lee Jewett

Developer: Midgar Studio Publishers: Dear Villagers, Plug In Digital Ltd. Genre: JRPG, Strategy Reviewed On: PlayStation 5 Also Available For: PlayStation 4, PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox The Basics: Edge of Eternity is a strategic JRPG about two siblings trying to find a cure for the deadly alien biological warfare disease ravaging their planet before it claims the life of their mother. Rather than a more traditional turn-based JRPG combat system, Edge of Eternity’s battles take place on a hex grid which requires positioning and distance to be taken into consideration when engaging enemies. Though many abilities the characters have access…

Developer/Publisher: The Game Bakers Genre: RPG Reviewed On: PlayStation 5 Also Available For: PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, PC On December 3rd, 2020, French studio The Game Bakers released their sophomore title, Haven, which is about two lovers who, in order to be together, flee an authoritarian dystopia where everyone is matched up with a life partner. Being a big fan of their debut game, Furi, I was naturally very excited to see what they had to offer this time around, but in between publication of some early reviews by other sources and Sequential Planet receiving a review code,…

Developer: WolfEye Studios Publisher: Devolver Digital Genre: Immersive RPG Reviewed On: PlayStation 4 Also Available For: Xbox, PC There’s only one things I like more than a video game western, dear reader, and that’s a video game in a “weird west” setting. You can probably imagine, then, what my reaction was like when I first heard about a game that was literally called Weird West. I do unfortunately have to admit that it isn’t everything I was expecting-slash-hoping for, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t still an excellent showing. The Basics: Weird West is an isometric RPG and immersive sim…

Developer: 1P2P Publisher: The Arcade Crew Genre: Dungeon Crawler Beat-em-Up Reviewed On: PlayStation 4 Also Available For: PC, Xbox, Nintendo Switch Sometimes a game does something very early on that just rubs you the wrong way, and no matter how much you try to keep an open mind and even if it manages to make up for it or otherwise show you that your initial impression wasn’t entirely correct there’s still going to be that little voice in the back of your head telling you it has bad vibes. Young Souls is a good example of this, one that…

Developer/Publisher: Nippon Ichi Software Genre: JRPG Reviewed On: PlayStation 4 Also Available For: Nintendo Switch The Basics: The Cruel King and The Great Hero is a fairly simple turn-based JRPG about a young human girl, Yuu, who was raised by her late father’s reformed arch enemy The Dragon/Demon King. The story follows Yuu’s quest to become a Great Hero like her father before her by helping out a varied and colorful cast of monsters with surprisingly mundane problems and making friends along the way. It is, in short, charming as all get out. The most immediately obvious thing about…

Developer/Publisher: Uppercut Games Genre: Exploration Adventure Reviewed On: PlayStation 5 Also Available For: PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox When I heard that 2015 video game Submerged was getting a sequel, I was surprised to say the least. It wasn’t exactly a terrible game, but it wasn’t a great game either; it had clunky animations, somewhat monotonous gameplay, and its graphics looked a bit dated even then. I wasn’t under the impression it had done well enough critically or financially for the developers to make a sequel, but Submerged: Hidden Depths is such an enormous improvement upon the first game in…

Developer: LANCARSE Publisher: FuRyu and NIS America Genre: Strategy JRPG Reviewed On: PlayStation 5 Also Available for: PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Windows The most disappointing games to review, dear reader, are not the ones that are just out and out bad; no, it is the games that could have been very good if not for a few key elements that hurt the most. Today I’ll be talking about one such game, a game where the gameplay and story are excellent crafted but poorly balanced to such an egregious degree that the entire experience becomes a slog and it’s almost…

French game development studio The Game Bakers have released a free content update to their 2020 title Haven which allows players to choose which versions of the two protagonists they wish to play as. Haven is an action RPG with survival elements that follows the story of two lovers, Kay and Yu, who have fled an authoritarian society which forces all its citizens into arranged marriages. Upon release in 2020, the protagonists were a man and woman, respectively. When paired with other details of the plot, this central narrative conceit of not being allowed to love freely was met with…

Developer: Berzerk Studio Publisher: The Arcade Crew Genre: Action Platformer Reviewed On: PlayStation 4 Also Available For: PC, Switch, Xbox After a bad experience with another super gory side-scrolling platformer title recently, I was admittedly a little wary of Infernax, especially upon seeing its opening disclaimer. “THIS GAME CONTAINS MATURE THEMES THAT MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERYONE, RANGING FROM SAUCY LANGUAGE, ACTS OF VIOLENCE IN THE NAME OF JUSTICE, COPIOUS AMOUNTS OF GORE, AND HALF CLOTHED DEMON PEOPLE OF VARYING DEGREES OF ATTRACTIVENESS,” it read, which sounded uncomfortably reminiscent of that other game I refuse to name. Thankfully,…

Developer: Felistella Publisher: PQube Genre: Dating Sim RPG Reviewed On: PlayStation 4 Also Available For: Nintendo Switch Part of the reason I play so many video games is that I never know when something will thoroughly capture my heart. Many a time have I started up a game that, based on appearances, I thought I would feel tepid towards or even dislike, only to absolutely adore it after having given it a chance. That, dear reader, is precisely why I decided to take on Maglam Lord despite the screenshots I saw of its gameplay being a bit off-putting, and…