25,358 community articles
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Oddworld has been one of my low-key favourite video game franchises for over twenty years. My first exposure to the series was all the way back in the year 2000, when I spotted a copy of Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus in a local newsagent for the very reasonable price of £9.99 and managed to convince my mother to give me an advance on my pocket money so I could purchase it there and then. Its 2D prese...
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Hexic HD is one of the hardest puzzle games I've ever played, at least, when I'm playing to win. I realise that sounds silly because match three games are known for handling their players with the softest of grips. Their rules are so simple that even a child can learn them in seconds, and most of these games don't have a lose condition. You play against a clock or until you've filled up the scr...
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Occasionally, I'll find pre-pandemic video games (and other popular culture) that so perfectly encapsulates our current era that I wonder if the creators retroactively feel a little weird about it. Opus: Rocket of Whispers follows Sigono 's previous work, Opus: The Day We Found Earth , in a thematic sense if not necessarily directly: with The Day We Found Earth, it was about rediscovering the c...
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Psychonauts 2 is a game so good, I’ve had dreams about it. Every second is brimming with wild imagination, instantly classic characters, and unstoppable joy. Not only does the sequel quell any concerns that arose during its protracted development, but it signals the start of a golden era for the studio that brought it to life. Which actually makes my job harder, because it’s tricky to structure...
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When it comes to game releases every year has its big headliners and hidden gems, but none were more packed than 2017. As my backlog-related project for this year I'm looking to build a list of a hundred great games that debuted at some point in 2017, making sure to hit all the important stops along the way. For more information and statistics on this project, be sure to check out this Intro bl...
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Ever since I heard "See You Again" on Giant Bomb's farewell video with Vinny, Alex, and Brad , I knew I had to make this.
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After the gargantuan undertaking of last time, where I completed both versions of Lord of the Rings: The Third Age , I needed a palette cleanser. Luckily, I have seventeen unfinished games running at any time. One of those projects that I got way into, but never finished, was NeverDead , the now infamous Konami joint. Though developed by Rebellion, the action shooter with dismemberment mechanis...
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Long-time followers of this little column of mine (phrasing) might know that I've trying to break into the Indie RPG scene a little more. RPGs remain my overall favorite genre, though I recognize that they're also massive timesinks - I am still chipping away at Underrail , a game started in late July (and reviewed as IGotW #229 ) - so I'm trying to be judicious. With that in mind, what I've com...
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Decided to spend the second half of 2021 checking out some renowned visual novels . Sometimes my ideas aren't any more elaborate than that. I've tried to discuss the following games in as spoiler-free a manner as possible, with a very spoilerish section at the end for my final thoughts on where the story goes. This month's barely-interactive fiction is Raging Loop , a horror-themed survival sto...
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Welcome to “Gaming Memories,” a blog series where I reminisce about my favorite video games . I will slowly but surely get to every game on the list, and speak to why each holds a special place in my heart. That not only means I’ll talk about why I think each is a great game that speaks to my tastes, but also where and how it affected me in a larger context. I hope you enjoy, and thanks for rea...
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That's right, I played that Cursed GeoCities game finally. Tendershoot's Hypnospace Outlaw is a game set at the end of the last millennium on an internet browser that operates while the user is asleep via a special headset. The player is a community member that has recently volunteered to be an Enforcer - a moderator that essentially performs hard graft for free, but what else is new - whose ta...
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The Legend of Dragoon Developer: Sony Interactive Entertainment (but like, specifically Japan Studio IIRC) Release Date: December 2nd, 1999 Time Played: A little more than four hours Dubiosity: 2 out of 5 CD count: 4 Would I play more? Probably not, if only because there are so many other weirder PS1-era JRPGs out there. Still gotta touch them Suikodenzz… or like, Xenogears. There’s something r...
arbitrarywater (Premium member)
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As people get older, their motivation for playing video games tends to ebb and flow. As someone who has played video games ever since they were able to make memories, however, this obstructing feeling hits different, as the kids say. Having that drive suddenly evaporate like water in the desert sun has been challenging, these last few months. Life post-2020 has become exponentially harder each...
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Dear visitors on my page Here are my dot points on each sub-genre of driving/racing games that should be more official and associated with each gaming platform in my personal opinion are: Racing Simulator = PC Rally Simulator = PC Truck Driving Simulator = PC Vehicle Mechanic Simulator = PC Simcade Racing/Gran Turismo & Forza Motorsport Type = PlayStation/Xbox consoles and Mobile phones Off-Roa...
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Total randomizer pick, this time selected from the other gigantic Itch.io bundle to come out recently (the Palestinian Aid one). Those two bundles are going to keep this feature well supplied for another year at least. Another Perspective is also another deeply nostalgic pick: not in the usual Indie sense that we're hearkening back to our misspent youths playing 2D platformers on 8-bit/16-bit s...
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If anyone saw footage of Cris Tales before release, they were arrested by its striking, colorful art style and exciting time travel mechanics. The game promised the opportunity to explore its world’s past, present, and future all on the same screen. With listed influences including the best role-playing games in history, Cris Tales quickly earned my attention. I hoped for a light adventure to e...
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(Played mostly on OneXPlayer tablet through Steam in Japanese) Without releases on the wiki, a scored user review for Scarlet Nexus is out of the equation as the time of writing. So I decided to dedicate my first blog post on Giantbomb.com to this debut title in a year filled with rerelease in the AAA space. I suppose I can write bit more spoilery here. Scarlet Nexus is an action role-playing g...
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I'm not sure if it's a coincidence or it's just become my thing now, but I've been "enjoying" a lot of tough RPGs so far this year. Not just tough in the sense that the difficulty curve is a little more K2 than usual, but tough in how there are mechanical or narrative reasons to encourage you to go as hard as you can for the best rewards. I started the year with a little game called Operencia:...
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Get on the funk pants, because it's time to groove to the sweet music my words are going to make in your brain. No. No, Gertrude, I said FUNK pants. Goddamn it, that's going to burn into my retinas forever and ever. Disgaea 6! I planned on writing a big fun series on it the same way I did Disgaea 4 (and maybe other Disgaea games? I don't remember. Look, I've been on this site a minute and I for...
sparky_buzzsaw (Premium member)
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Follow my blog Retroscope: Memories Alive V5 Support my list Buy Me A Coffee Favorite Systems as of June 2022: Sega Saturn TurboGrafx-16 / TurboGrafx-CD / SuperGrafx Super Nintendo Dreamcast PlayStation Nintendo Entertainment System Sega Genesis / Sega CD/ 32X Neo•Geo AES MVS / Neo•Geo CD Sega Master System Game Boy / Game Boy Color Nintendo DS PlayStation 2 Wii / Wii U Sega Game Gear Game Boy...
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Welcome back to Indie Game of the Week, Giant Bomb's longest running ongoing feature (that's wild, huh? Not that it's an official one or anything). I don't talk about my process in selecting new games here too often, but I'm sure I bring up my inadequate PC every chance I get: I actually had to dismiss several games this week simply because they're not optimized for a slightly(!) out-of-date PC...
