DreadOut: the Indonesian Fatal Frame

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by Omar (@siegarettes)

With this year’s Fatal Frame being kind of a wash, it felt fortunate that I stumbled across DreadOut, a low key horror game by the small Indonesian developers Digital Happiness, with heavy influences to the series. The transplant of Fatal Frame’s signature mechanic from a traditional Japanese setting into an Indonesian one, had my attention. Could the efforts of a smaller team translate the atmosphere of Fatal Frame to Indonesia? I’ll tell you once my hands stop shaking long enough to write this.

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Short Review: Samurai Warriors 4-II

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by Omar (@siegarettes) 

  • Samurai Warriors 4-II
  • Developer - Omega Force
  • Publisher - Tecmo Koei
  • PC, PS4, PS3, PS Vita
  • Rating - T

The critical consensus on Tecmo Koei’s Musuo series seems to be stuck forever at the, “all Dynasty Warriors games are the same” stage. With that prevailing sentiment it seems to be easy to dismiss each entry at a glance as another throwaway game. Regardless of that, even after playing Gundam Reborn, Pirate Warriors and Hyrule Warriors I still find myself returning for more Musou with Omega Force’s Japanese history themed Samurai Warriors. 

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Sega’s new Warhammer preorder is a total rip off

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By: Ryan (@henchman34)

Creative Assembly, or more likely SEGA, is once again holding consumers’ wallets hostage with a controversial preorder DLC. This time, it’s with the new Chaos Warrior Race pack for Total War: Warhammer. With the worldwide release date of Total War: Warhammer set for April 28, 2016, comes the tide of new preorders and preorder offers. There’s only one problem. Creative Assembly’s idea of encouraging preorders, is offering a relatively large portion of the game to early buyers, despite that many fans believe the content should be shipped on release. Needless to say, this announcement of the Chaos Warrior race pack has made waves among the Total War community. 

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Short Reviews: FATAL FRAME - MAIDEN OF BLACK WATER

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By: RJ (@rga_02)

  • Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water
  • Developer - Tecmo Koei/Team Ninja
  • Publisher - Nintendo
  • Wii U
  • Rating - M

When I first saw the Wii U’s GamePad I knew Fatal Frame would be the perfect fit for the console. I mean, who doesn’t want to swing around the GamePad like a fool trying to chase down ghosts?

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Downwell Review

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by Omar (@siegarettes)

  • Downwell
  • Developer - Ojiro Fumoto
  • Publisher - Devolver Digital
  • PC (Steam), iOS

“Downwell is a game about a young person falling down a well, battling enemies with gun boots, and sometimes visiting shops.” -Downwell Official Site

I’m generally not one to use the game’s tagline, but that’s about as succinct as summary as you’ll get. Developed by Ojiro Fumoto, Downwell is most aesthetically confident and complete game I’ve played since FOTONICA. That extends from the artwork all the way down to the feeling of each moment of play. I first witnessed it at Chicago Bit Bash, and even within the truncated time I spent with it felt GOOD. 

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Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax Review

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By: RJ (@rga_02)

Second Opinion By: Omar (siegarettes)

  • Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax
  • Developer - French Bread & Ecole Software
  • Publisher - SEGA
  • PlayStation Vita & PlayStation 3
  • Rating - T

Have you ever imagined what would if feel like to pin Akira from Virtua Fighter against Kirino? Or Selvaria from Valkryia Chronicles against Mikoto? I didn’t. If you did however, your dreams can come true in Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax. A 2D fighting game featuring everyone’s favorite characters from various light novels under the Dengeki Bunko label with a few SEGA characters sprinkled in. Sounds like an otaku’s dream game. What about the rest of us though? Who doesn’t care about the Sword Art Onlines or Accel Worlds. Would this game appeal to the people who just want to play a fun fighting game?

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Steam Marines Review

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By: Ryan (@Henchman34)

  • Steam Marines
  • Developer - Worthless Bums
  • Publisher - Worthless Bums
  • PC
  • Rating - N/A

At first glance, Steam Marines might be mistaken as the table top classic Space Hulk, fused with the pixilated charm of games like Starbound and Terraria. Yet Steam Marines walks a fine line between retro and murderously infuriating.  

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Single Press: Without Direction

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by Marie (@rlpte)

Single Press is a series of short writings on small games.

What makes one person to matter to another? And how would you express that? What words would you use? What picture would you paint? Direction tries to paint it’s own picture through a series of increasingly surreal, loosely connected vignettes, arching towards a broader question: how can we represent the things that defy words?

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