Video Game Thoughts

Introduced in 2013's The Playroom, the general concept for the Astro Bot series has always been fairly straightforward, serving as essentially a tech demo and tutorial to the myriad of functions present in the PS4 and PS5. Generally consisting of minigames that take advantage of the unique features of the Sony consoles, the games serve as an introduction to the DualSense controller and Sony's VR headset, all in a cute, family friendly package. After finishing work on Astro's

Founded by industry veterans from Telltale Games, Ubisoft, and Night School Studio in 2018, following the rather sudden closure of Telltale Games, AdHoc Studio partnered with Critical Role Productions to create a workplace comedy game focused on superheroes. The original concept was meant to be a live action production inspired by, of all things, ESPN's "This is SportsCenter" commercials, though the idea was scrapped due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Revived in the form of a vide

Since I apparently have a new fascination with playing games in which I play as a cat, Copycat's siren call of feline antics was irresistible. Developed as the debut title from Spoonful of Wonderful, Copycat puts us in the role of a stray cat with a checkered past as we get adopted from a shelter and, over the course of the game, learn the true value of home. Though most of the game is lighthearted and silly, the narrative touches on some deeper, rather dark elements, handlin

Launched in Febuary of 2003, Kingdom of Loathing is a browser based adventure game notable for its hand-drawn assets and surrealist humor. In it, the player explores a satirical fantasy land primarily through text while engaging in PvE combat. There are PvP options available, as well as a chat feature, the ability to join clans, and a surprisingly robust option to sell items to other players that has been the focus of academic study. While the visuals are simple, the characte

Released in September of 2020, When the Past Was Around was created and illustrated by Indonesian illustrator and developer Brigatta Rena who wanted to create a love story that was relatable, yet mysterious. Partially based on her own life experiences, the game was made with no dialogue, leaving interpretation up to the player. While this caused some issues during development as each team member interpreted the story differently, they eventually agreed on the details after a

Developed by Colombian indie studio Dreams Uncorporated, Cris Tales is a self proclaimed tribute to classing JRPG titles such as Final Fantasy, Persona, and Chrono Trigger. Featuring plenty of influences from Colombian culture and architecture, the game also shows clear visual influences from Genndy Tartakovsky, Mary Blair, and Eyvind Earle, with character designs inspired by 2009's The Secret of Kells. Combined, these influences give Cris Tales a unique visual identity that

After working on the excellent sidecroller beat 'em up, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge, the team at Tribute Games approached Marvel in hopes of developing a game in the Marvel universe. Getting the greenlight with the condition that the game launch with at least 15 playable characters, the team set out to compile a roster of popular and lesser known characters while taking artistic cues from Jack Kirby, Jim Lee, and John Byrne. They chose to adapt 2006's Ann

After playing Pokémon Legends: Z-A and being left with a somewhat bitter taste in my mouth, I yearned for a new experience that could perfectly capture the glory days of the franchise. Unwilling to replay for the thousandth time one of the many versions of the game to be released over the past 30 years, I opted to look elsewhere, finding myself desperately scouring the eShop in the pursuit of that sweet dragon-type fix. As a popular and incredibly profitable franchise, Pokémo

How far can you take a single gameplay concept? How far can you push a premise, regardless of how stupid it may be, before you cross the line between funny and annoying? How far can you stretch the premise of the player controlling each individual action, such as taking a step or breathing, without the game losing its charm and becoming unplayable? Is it possible for Death to land a kickflip? These are the hard hitting questions that the team at Perfectly Paranormal set out t

Final Fantasy, as one of gaming's longest running franchises, is certainly no stranger to spin-off titles. Generally, these either become new series themselves, such as with the Mana, Bravely Default, and Octopath games, or serve as the odd direct sequel to a mainline game. The few times that the series has experimented by branching out into other genres is typically met rather tepidly. So, imagine my absolute surprise when Square, in collaboration with Team Ninja, announced

Released in 2021, In Sound Mind is the first game built from the ground up by the team at We Create Stuff, whose previous work included browser and flash based projects, as well as the Nightmare House games which were elaborate, horror themed Half-Life 2 mods. Working with mental health advisors and with a soundtrack crafted by the band "The Living Tombstone"In Sound Mind bills itself as a psychological horror game. Putting players in the role of therapist, Desmond Wales, the

First released in 1997, the Harry Potter series quickly became an international phenomenon, and easily sits among the top ten highest grossing franchises in history, currently nestled comfortably between the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Hello Kitty. While certainly not without controversy of its own, unsurprising considering its focus on wizards and magic, it inspired a generation of children and adults to discover a love of reading, and has inspired an untold number of work

Releasing in 1996, the Pokémon franchise, originally developed from director Satoshi Tajiri's childhood love of collecting bugs, has grown to become the highest grossing media franchise of all time. What began as a passion project that was cobbled together with barely functional code exploded into a juggernaut that easily rakes in over $10 billion dollars a year. With this massive success comes a ton of pressure to constantly release new items, whether it be trading cards, pl

Released in 2016, Maize is an absurdist comedy take on the point and click adventure genre that draws heavy inspiration from Monty Python and X-Files. We start the game waking up in a corn field where we're gently guided toward an abandoned farmhouse. After a bit of exploration and light puzzle solving, we then come face to ear with sentient stalks of corn who, using some baffling logic, allow us to enter a secret facility beneath the small farm. We spend the majority of the

Seen as a spiritual successor to Deck13 Interactive's 2014 release, Lords of the the Fallen, and taking inspiration from the 1994 title, Rise of the Robots, The Surge is a refreshing sci-fi take on the Soulslike genre. Taking place in a dystopian future in which mankind has exhausted the world's resources, we take on the role of Warren, a wheelchair bound new employee of CREO, one of the largest tech conglomerates renowned for its revolutionary breakthroughs, such as advanced

Made over the course of seven years by German developer Matthias Linda, Chained Echoes is a passion project that serves as a love letter to classic JRPGs. Influenced by games such as Suikoden 2, Xenogears, Final Fantasy VI, and Secret of Mana, among others, Linda was mindful to not just copy the games that inspired him. Instead, he sought to capture the experience of playing them, to make it feel like how one remembers they play, even if they exist better in your head than in

Beginning development in 2005, Tales of Vesperia is the 10th installment in the Tales franchise, and was initially planned for the PS2. Feeling limited by system hardware, and at the urging of Bandai Namco's executives, the decision was made to push it to the next generation of consoles. As the PS3 had yet to be revealed and with the Xbox 360 doing very well in western markets, it was made with the 360 in mind, with the team working with Microsoft on how to best utilize the p

Based on a comic book series of the same name, The Darkness puts us in the role of Jackie Estacado, an orphaned hitman for the Franchetti mob family as he is targeted for assassination by his "Uncle" Paulie Franchetti who believes that Jackie is planning to take his place by force. We open with Jackie on his 21st birthday as an ancient demonic force makes it known that Jackie will now serve as its host, imbuing him with supernatural powers. At the time of release, The Darknes

Though it debuted in 1997, South Park's origin dates back to 1992 when Trey Parker and Matt Stone created a roughly four minute short about a group of boys in a small town who accidentally trigger a fight between Frosty the Snowman and Jesus Christ. The original short, filled with crude humor, was made using construction paper and an old 8mm film camera, and was made while the two men were attending the University of Colorado. Three years later, in 1995, the pair were commiss

After the release of their debut title, The Unfinished Swan, the team at Giant Sparrow wanted to create something sublime. As creative director Ian Dallas described, the goal was to create "an interactive experience that evokes what it feels like to have a moment of finding something beautiful, yet overwhelming." Initially drawing on his experience scuba diving in Washington, seeing the ocean fall off into darkness in the distance, the team struggled with several aspects of t