Preview: void tRrLM(); //Void Terrarium adds a new sense of roguelike pressure

When it comes to roguelikes, there are certain sorts of weights people have bearing down on them. How much do you take into a dungeon with you, if you can? When should you abandon a run and attempt to escape to safety? Could that be the monster that kills me? With void tRrLM(); //Void Terrarium, NIS’ latest digital title about some poor unfortunate souls, there’s another pressure. It’s keeping a fragile child alive.

Read more

Preview: Persona 5 Scramble shows how a Musou incorporates Persona elements

Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers is a strange new world for the Shin Megami Tensei series. Never before has one taken such an active approach to battles, but Omega Force is welcoming it into the Musou line with this installment. While the idea may seem intimidating, especially since all previous Persona installments take a more leisurely, turn-based approach to battles, the demo shows off all the ways in which it is still true to the series.

Read more

What do you need to know about Warriors Orochi?

What is old will become new again! Warriors Orochi 4 is coming back in 2020 as Warriors Orochi 4 Ultimate. You know that “second verse, same as the first” from “I’m Henry VIII, I am?” Well, I suppose you could say this is something like that. But why would it be so similar? And what sets Warriors Orochi apart from all of the other Omega Force Musou games out there? Michibiku is here to help with that.

Read more

Atelier Dusk Trilogy shows beauty in a dying world

The Atelier series is no stranger to alluding to past civilizations that were far more advanced than the ones we inhabit in the games. We’ll see artifacts and ruins, some of which can lead to new discoveries or advance plots. In most of these situations, they’re things that happen to exist. They add extra depth and more mysteries to solve. Atelier Dusk Trilogy is different. Its past is a deadly one with a far-reaching effect on the people of the present. This trio’s world is dying, but it is one of the prettier apocalyptic situations.

Read more

Atelier Dusk Trilogy shows how a series grew

The best way to appreciate a classic Atelier series has arrived. Gust and Koei Tecmo have brought about the Atelier Dusk Trilogy, giving people the best DX versions of Atelier Ayesha, Atelier Escha and Logy and Atelier Shallie. While getting everything at once in a compilation is a boon, there are other bonuses. This compilation means we have the easiest way of understanding what is going on in the world of Dusk and best way to see how these games take the idea of daily life and growth and apply them as gameplay concepts.

Read more

Preview: Project Sakura Wars focuses on establishing characters

Project Sakura Wars, known as Shin Sakura Taisen in Japan, is an opportunity. The series has been dormant for years and is being revived with a new developer (Sega CS2 R&D), a new character designer (Bleach’s Tite Kubo) and entirely new gameplay that abandons its strategic roots. It is a lot of change all at once. As a means of showing how what is old fuses with something new, the Shin Sakura Taisen demo does its best to try and introduce everything this installment attempts in a short amount of time.

Read more