Video Game Thoughts

Tensei is, as the developer's put it, "an ultra-casual endless action game." While that description is mostly true, the "action" is pretty much limited to moving a small blob of ink and making it jump in an effort to climb ever higher. As such, Tensei technically has no ending, as it can seemingly go on forever, but there are certain progress markers , as well as a point at which credits will roll. Tensei isn't a game you're meant to beat, instead existing as an experience.

Originally conceived as a ninja-themed project by a then new employee, John Tobias, the initial pitch was shot down by his boss, Ed Boon. Approached to make a game for the upcoming film Universal Soldier, Tobias imagined a fighting game featuring a digitized version of Jean-Claude Van Damme. Intending to make a game that was more "a lot more hard edge, a little bit more serious, and a little bit more like Enter the Dragon and Bloodsport" than the more cartoonish fighting game

Released in April, Adorable Adventures is a laid-back, cozy game in which we play as a young boar named Boris. Separated from his family due to a wildfire in the park in which they live, young Boris must use the best tool he has, his prodigious porcine snout, to find his siblings in order to reunite with their mother. Doing so will involve a delightful romp around the park in which they live, which is modeled closely after the gorgeous Cévennes National Park in southern Franc

Beginning development in 2010, Pokémon X and Y would mark one o the biggest shifts in the franchise's history. While no stranger to using 3D assets in previous games, X and Y marked the first time that the main series would shift from the 2D sprite based aesthetic and instead explore the world of 3D gaming. The names X and Y were chosen to represent the X and Y axis, with the third legendary, Zygarde, representing the third. Deciding on the main themes of beauty, bonds, and e

As the first console exclusive developed by Sega's AM2 division, Sword of Vermilion is an ambitious addition to the Genesis library. While ostensibly an action-RPG, I feel such a classification does little justice to the myriad of gameplay styles on display and sells short just how unique the experience is. Seamlessly blending the top down action found in the Zelda series along with first person dungeon crawling you'd expect to find in Wizardry, along with a dash of side scro

First announced as a remaster of the original Medievil from 1998, the team at Other Ocean Emeryville would later classify the game as complete remake in 2018. The team felt that it was important to keep as many elements of the original game intact unless they had a good reason to change them. This included retaining several glitches the team felt were important to the experience, and the team went so far as to research music the original development team likely listened to wh

Developed as the first title of the newly formed Riot division of Telenet Japan, Tenshi No Uta: The Angel Verse was released for the PC Engine, better known as the TurboGrafx-16 in the US, in 1991. In 1993. due to declining sales, Telenet Japan underwent extensive restructuring that unfortunately saw a number of their studios close. While some of the staff at Riot would be absorbed into other teams within the company, several key developers opted to leave, founding Media.Visi

Beginning development in 2018, the team at Cococucumber wanted to capture the nostalgic feel of childhood in a small town with the active turn-based gameplay of the early Paper Mario games. Using the same voxel-based visuals the team had previously used on the game Riverbound, the game has a unique blend of retro style graphics that still allows for the freedom provided by a fully three dimensional world. This helps the game feel fresh and new while helping to establish the e

Set in what passes for early 20th century England, we play as Lord Winklebottom, a gentlemen giraffe who also happens to be a world class detective. Together, with our stalwart hippopotamus life mate, Dr. Frumple, we're invited to a party hosted by a reclusive friend ours where he intends to announce something big. After a brief point and click tutorial in which we ruin tea and help an old sea dog sober up, we're off to our reclusive friend's island, where things aren't alway

During the development of Serious Sam 4, the developers at Croteam began to experiment with the use of interactive objects as part of the game design. This led to the creation of some complicated puzzles that, while they didn't quite fit the action based design of Serious Sam, the team felt inspired by to build upon as a separate title. After about a year of development, with around 80% of the puzzles that would be used having been completed, the team brought in Tom Jubert a

With development beginning in late 2002, near the tail end of the production cycle for the original .hack series, .hack//G.U. sought to fix some of the issues players had noted with the original series while having a story that was connected yet separate enough as to not alienate new players. Where the original series was comprised of four entries, .hack//G.U. was developed to tell its story over the course of only three. Though the release was initially delayed, this was in

As the third and final game in the Vandal Hearts series, Flames of Judgement actually serves as a prequel to the original game. Released as part of Xbox Live Arcade, which focused on smaller, cheaper games, the scope is significantly smaller than previous entries in the series. This was right around the time that Konami started to shift focus away from traditional video game development in order to focus on much more profitable mobile and casino style gaming. While the shift

Oh, to be a child again, in the long, halcyon days of summer. The sun shining brightly, the world rife with the orchestra of life as each day sprawls before you filled with wonder and adventure. While it's easy to take these moments of tranquility for granted, as an adult I often find myself yearning to return to simpler times where my only concern was what to do with all of the excess free time afforded to me. It's these feelings that Kabuto Park aims to evoke, and it's safe

Following the release of Pokémon Go in 2016, work on Pokémon: Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee began to capitalize on the resurgence in popularity of the franchise. Aimed primarily at a younger and more casual audience, director Junichi Masuda decided to make the game a remake of Pokémon Yellow, as the incorporation of elements from the anime made it resonate more with the target audience. The decision to have Eevee be the mascot of the paired version came down its fairly wide popu

Created as recently as 1987, nonograms are picture logic puzzles in which cells in a grid are either colored or left blank according to numbers along the the edges in order to form a picture. Due to the easily scaled difficulty of the puzzles, along with the binary nature and blocky nature of the puzzles, they've been a fairly popular form of puzzles in the video game landscape since the mid 90's. So, what do we get when Ed Fear, writer for the game The Sword of Ditto, teams

The first of three DLC packs available for Far Cry 5, Hours of Darkness is, for my money at least, the hands down best of the bunch. Far Cry 5 definitely went above and beyond in terms of how out there they were willing to go for the DLC, including a zombie storyline and a mission to Mars, but Hours of Darkness stands out for how grounded it is not only in real life history, but also in terms of how it provides context for a minor NPC and the sidequest he sends us on. I don't

After the release of Far Cry: Primal in 2016, Ubisoft announced that the next installment in the franchise would need more time in development, and thus would not release in 2017 as had been previously planned. Instead, the game released in 2018, and though it released to mostly positive reviews, the game was steeped in controversy due to the setting and plot. Far Cry had long been known for its more exotic locales and antagonistic groups that were easy to identify as being

After the release of Sunset Overdrive for the Xbox One, Sony Interactive Entertainment's VP of Product Development, Connie Booth, met with Insomniac Games' CEO, Ted Price, for an informal, off the record meeting. From this meeting, Marvel's Spider-Man would begin to form, seeing a marked difference both in how Marvel would handle its video game releases, as well as marking the first time Insomniac would work on a licensed property as opposed to an original IP. Since 2000, Act

After an incredibly successful Kickstarter campaign, the most successful ever for a Spanish developed game, Mika and the Witch's Mountain released in early 2025. With heavy inspiration from Wind Waker and, most prominently, Studio Ghibli's Kiki's Delivery Service, the game puts us in the role of Mika, a young aspiring witch who travels to small island in order to receive training from the witch that resides at the top of the mountain in the center. The story begins as Mika,

Beginning development in 2019, shortly after the initial release of Sword and Shield, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet represent an ambitious step forward for the series. The titles ditch the linear routes and progression the series is known for, instead focusing on a fully open world that had been heavily requested by fans. The team at Game Freak made realism one of the primary goals of the games, setting out to craft realistic areas, redoing Pokémon models with more detailed text