RPG

Game ReviewsGamingPS5Xbox Series SXbox Series X

Shin Megami Tensei V Vengeance Review (PS5)

I have always been a fan of RPG’s, including to a lesser degree JRPG’s. But I have never even looked at any of the Shin Megami Tensei titles. Like many games with Japanese roots, the over sexualised schoolgirl vibe has not been something I particularly like.

And on top of that, the batshit crazy storylines can be pretty overwhelming.

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GamingGame ReviewsPC / MacPlaystationPS5Xbox Series SXbox Series X

Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands Review (XSX)

It’s Bunkers & Badasses, Baybee!

Welcome to Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands. What better way is there to while away your time in space than a game of Bunkers & Badasses.

A table-top fantasy RPG being played by Valentine, Frette, and you, The Newbie. And with Tiny Tina as the Dungeon Master, well, anything can happen.

All in a very Borderlands way of course.

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GamingGame ReviewsNintendoSwitch Console

Rune Factory 5, Switch Review

Full disclosure: I’ve not played any previous Rune Factory games.

I’ve read that they employed a top-down view and that this is the first time RF has moved to 3D. I like Harvest Moon and I’ve played a bit of Stardew Valley, so I’m familiar with the idea of a farm/village sim.

I was keen to check out how Rune Factory 5 also brings monster fighting into the mix.

A review code was supplied for this coverage

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Game ReviewsGamingPC / MacPlaystationXbox Series SXbox Series X

Elex 2 Review (XSX)

So a HUGE disclaimer right off the bat before we talk Elex 2.

I am a massive fan of the Piranha Bytes stable of games. The Gothic series, Risen series and, of course, Elex are some of my favourite games ever.

These games are all slightly different to the more popular role playing games we all know and love.

Some don’t like them at all, others have never played them, and then, like me, there is a group of absolute die hard fans.

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GamingGame ReviewsPS5Xbox Series X

Elden Ring, review

By the time I got an Elden Ring review code, it was release day. I was at work and couldn’t download it until Friday night. Which meant I couldn’t play it until Saturday night, time and TV access permitting (which is not always a thing).

Life is busy, full of commitments that don’t align with a From Software title. Notorious as they are for not allowing the game to be paused.

This review approaches Elden Ring differently.

(An Xbox code was supplied by Bandai-Namco)

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GamingByte Size ReviewPC / MacPS3PS4Xbox Onexbox360

Kingdoms of Amalur, Re-Reckoning, Re-view

Kingdoms of Amalur on the xbox360 was a cult hit before it stopped being mainstream. Action RPG fans loved it and even with rough edges, it had popular appeal. There weren’t many gamers of that age that didn’t glass over and have nice things to say about it.

There’s always a game you regret selling or trading, for me this was it.

When I heard that KoA: Reckoning was getting the HD treatment, I was over the moon. One of those games that guided us out of the last generation with fond memories. I thought I knew it fairly well, but the first couple of hours were not lodged in my memory.

I selected my character, for some reason a shapely dark elf (again) and set off.

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GamingByte Size ReviewPC / MacPS4Xbox One

Byte Size – ESO Greymoor Review (Xbox One)

ESO Greymoor heads to Skyrim. A land held in high regard by adventurers world wide. A cold, bleak, and formidable landscape that only the strongest are willing to explore.

This is Western Skyrim, home of the Nords, a 1000 years before the events of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

Five years since The Elder Scrolls Online was released and following the annual major updates of Morrowind, Summerset, and Elsweyr comes Greymoor.

The fourth ‘chapter’ release for the venerable ESO. With plenty of DLC and updates between each of these  major releases it is astounding how much content is now included in ESO.

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Game ReviewsGamingPS4

Judgment review: Treading the streets of Kamorucho again

I absolutely love Sega’s Yakuza games, a rich, slightly quirky crime series set in the fictional Japanese city of Kamurocho, so it’s no surprise that I have fallen head first into Sega’s Judgment (PS4 exclusive), a game not directly set in the Yakuza universe but there’s some elements that the two games share, nonetheless.

It’s hardly surprising there are similarities in game play, though: Judgment’s made by Ryu Ga Gotuku Studio (Ryu Ga Gotuku is actually Japanese for Yakuza), the same studio behind some of the latter Yakuza games, and while there’s no appearance of the Dragon of Dogma Kazuma Kiryu in Judgment, the setting is a familiar one for fans of the Yakuza series: Kamurocho, a fictional Japanese city modelled on the real-world Kabukich?, Tokyo’s most well-known “red-light” district.

I have to say, it’s great to be wandering the streets of Kamurocho again with it’s bright lights and streets layered with signs and craziness.

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Game ReviewsGamingNintendoPC / MacSwitch Console

Octopath Traveler, PC review

I had no idea what to expect when my editor asked me if I was keen to take a look at Octopath Traveler on PC.

I’d obviously heard about Octopath Traveler on the Nintendo Switch but that was about as far as it went.  That said, I’m about mixing things up, so I said “Why not?”. The game is, after all, a big deal apparently.

It’s fun, too.

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