The endless tide of Match-3 RPG hybrid titles seems to have slowed down of late, and attempts to really dive into a blend of the two that goes beyond ‘Match-3 that resembles combat’ have become rare. The original Gunspell was released on mobile and Steam in 2014 and stood out in the crowd of anime-styled titles by have a strong WRPG vibe and modern supernatural fantasy setting. It’s sequel arrived early 2020 and looks to build on that formula. Continue reading
When SquareEnix announced that ‘Kingdom Hearts 3’ was going to end the original story setup to date through the series, which at the time spanned 9 titles across consoles, portable systems and mobile, it was highly expected that we would see the end of Sora and his nemesis Xehanort. Little did we know that Dark Road would be releasing to flesh out the series’ antagonist’s younger days.
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?
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
On paper, Monolisk is a perfect fit for mobile, with endless user-created dungeons that can keep you dungeon crawling for years to come. In practice it’s a little bit of a shallow experience that may have mistaken ‘streamlined’ for ‘dull’.
Phantasy Star III is often viewed as the black sheep of the series, and it’s a fair standpoint. In terms of world setting, gameplay and characterisation there’s a definite disconnect from the other titles in the series and many of the further-reaching or impactful elements are tied in retrospectively by the games successor instead of directly in the game at hand. Still, does that necessarily make it a bad game? Continue reading
Famously the last game to be translated and released for the Sega Saturn, the CLAMP property ‘Magic Knights Rayearth’ also saw release on the SNES in the form of a more traditional JRPG.
The official sequel game to Record of Agarest War turns in the old engine and builds a whole new game from scratch. One that whilst claiming to be a Tactical RPG has more in common with a conventional Turn Based system.
Divisive no matter the format, Agarest has seen release on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, a PC port over steam and mobile devices and has either been hailed as wonderful or horrible depending on the player’s standpoint on its design decisions. Regardless, it stands as the first part in a trilogy of games that takes the formula first seen in ‘Phantasy Star III’ and turns it from a novel innovation into a central mechanic.
Sometimes Steam is an interesting place to find RPGs that might not have found an audience elsewhere. Its Greenlight service appears to be a treasure trove for the genre, though the quality can be variable. Tiny Assosiates Brand have managed to lever Greenlight to get their love-letter to the lighter side of the RPG market out to the masses.
