The arrival of an English translation for each Legend of Heroes game is something of a wait vs reward game. On the one hand we got this title after the East had already gotten their hands on its sequel, Cold Steel IV, but the game and indeed the series as a whole is of such quality that any Legend of Heroes title getting a Western release is a thing to appreciate.
It’s often the case with mobile stores that great indies get swept under the rug in the wave of freemium efforts from AAA developers trying to break the market or the latest release from the big-boys of the mobile space. Fairy Knights is one of those games that’s managed to fall through the cracks for many, but manages to be a creative entry into the Puzzle-based RPG scene.
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Square Enix keeps pushing out mobile titles packed with free-to-play mechanics but rarely seems to hit the nail on the head. Here in the west we’ve seen only a limited few based on the Dragon Quest series, but to the east they have already seen a slew, and with two more promising titles on the horizon (a Tactics RPG and a Geo Quest title to compete with ‘Fire Emblem Heroes’ and ‘Pokemon Go’ respectively), is Dragon Quest of the Stars worth playing?
Aside from a single adventure game release in 1982 by Sierra, the unique world setting of Jim Henson’s film ‘The Dark Crystal’ has been curiously unexplored in video game form. Though it’s always been a cult classic, a recent resurgence in interest led by a series of young adult novels and comics cumulated in Netflix commissioning a prequel series subtitled ‘Age of Resistance’ that also came with its own Tactics RPG tie-in.
Cards, the Universe and Everything is an excellent mixture of gaming and education that builds upon the foundation created in Avid Games previous title ‘Card Explorer’ in every conceivable way. Educational games have a reputation for being hit and miss in terms of quality, and some have a questionable level of content that could be considered useful to growing minds. Luckily, the team at Avid Games seem to have hit the perfect balance with this title.
A quirky little dungeon crawl with some excellent artwork, Green Skin Dungeon Master is one of those rare titles that swaps the traditional fantasy perspective of Humans vs Orcs and instead places you in the shoes of one of the titular Green Skins. Continue reading
The Puzzle Quest series was one of the first titles to mix the match 3 and RPG genres successfully, and Puzzle Quest 1 and 2 are still solid entries into the sub-genre years after their original release (though ‘Puzzle Quest 2’ is notable by its absence in digital stores these days). With the main-line titles spinning off into licensed properties such as ‘Magic: The Gathering Puzzle Quest’ and ‘Marvel Puzzle Quest’, it’s been left to Gems or War to carry the banner for original content in this respected series.
Rightfully called one of the best RPGs of all time, Panzer Dragoon Saga finds itself in the highly praised company of ‘Suikoden II’ and ‘Chrono Trigger’, but unlike these staples of the genre it gets a lot less attention and has never seen release outside of its original appearance on the short lived Sega Saturn.
When the announcement of a sequel to Ni No Kuni was entering production without the involvement of Studio Ghibli, many were skeptical if the game that had sold itself on its strong connections to the famous Japanese animation house could stand on its own. Looking at the shift toward more visceral and violent combat, it’s easy to see why Studio Ghibli moved away from the franchise, which had previously used puppets for conflicts to keep things child-friendly. Still, Level 5 are established JRPG developers with a long list of titles already under their belts and Ni No Kuni 2 should be in safe hands.
The product of Armour Games Studios, who also brought us ‘Gem Hunters’ and the mobile edition of ‘Sonny‘, Void Tyrant isn’t the first game to fuse deck building and dungeon crawling, but it does manage to do so with a massive amount of charm.
