What’s better than sitting on a couch with friends, playing through a cooperative experience together, joyously enjoying each other’s company and a shared love of gaming? Well, riding them like a mounted cavalry into battle as you both combine powerful magical attacks sounds better, doesn’t it? That’s what Coridden promises will separate itself from the pack of action RPGs out there. In Coridden, you and up to 3 friends explore the world of Heera cooperatively, completing quests and fighting mobs of creatures and bandits to try and find your way into the legendary and locked away city of Aasha. To accomplish this, you’ll have to level up and choose to go down a plethora of possible specialization paths to equip yourself with new attack spells, defensive buffs, and, even more excitingly, beastly abilities. For a small dev team, Aftnareld has given gaming friend groups a nicely packaged adventure that is 100% worth playing.
Every now and then, a game will be released that reminds you why you love playing big, well-produced games in the first place. Ones that go beyond simple concepts or entertainment, and really deliver on the satisfaction of feeling like you’re playing something that could only be polished and produced at the time of gaming that we’re living in. Eternal Strands is one of those experiences. You play as Brynn, a Weaver of magic that leads an eclectic group of determined fellow Weavers on a mission of discovery and salvation. Throughout your time in the “Enclave” and beyond, you’ll face element-enhanced minions, towering & thunderous constructs, and scaly & feathered beasts in abundance, as you piece together what happened while the denizens outside of your home city were locked beyond “The Veil” that none can cross because of the “tangles” that are fatal to try and pass through. At your disposal will be a bevy of magical abilities and attacks, including ones based on fire, ice, and kinetic energies, along with weapons. All of these, along with the ability to pick up and throw just about anything (including enemies), are combined for some of the coolest and most hectic combat situations I’ve played in a while. Eternal Strands combines an engaging storyline with an impeccably chosen cast of characters and voice actors and an inventive magic casting combat system to pull you into a world you won’t want to escape from.
As a 90’s kid, you’d think I’d be one of the many who grew up with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. Yet, I don’t remember ever watching the show as a kid at all, outside of renting the second TMNT movie from Blockbusters one day just out of sheer curiosity. To be honest, I was more into shows like Beetleborgs (which I’m still waiting for a game of that series) and Van-Pires (if you remember that show, you are my friend for life), so something like TMNT probably didn’t interest me at the time, though I could be wrong. But that doesn’t mean I know nothing of them. On the contrary, I do have some knowledge of the Turtles, thanks to the advent of the internet and the 2003 show which I do recall watching some episodes of when it aired, but not enough to say I’m a huge fan. With that being said, you’d think a game like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge wouldn’t really interest me. Surprisingly, it’s actually one of those games I took a chance on and found myself really enjoying, even though it does have some shortcomings that prevent it from being anything really amazing.
The Majestic Wolf Runs
Flowers Bloom Along the Path
And Once Again Spring Beckons
Ōkami is one of the most unique games I’ve played and also one of the most interesting success stories. Odds are, if you’re like me, you’ll have seen Amaterasu the White Wolf around. She’s become a gaming icon of sorts and still shows up at times in games like Marvel vs Capcom. . And yet, she seems like an enigma as unlike Ryu or Chris Redfield, her story isn’t as widely known.
Ōkami was developed by Clover Studio, and released in 2006 for the PS2. Formed by Capcom R&D veterans, Clover Studios' other notable work was adapting Viewtiful Joe for PlayStation 2 and developing its sequel for both PS2 and GameCube. They created only two original works: Ōkami and their last game God Hand. While both were interesting concepts, neither were considered financial successes as they didn’t sell as well as Capcoms more well known franchises. To be fair, Resident Evil 4, which released just a year earlier, set the bar at an unprecedented high which a new IP was probably not gonna come even close to. Despite all that, Ōkami received critical acclaim, nearly around a 9/10 universally at every notable publication. A lot of people noted how Okami’s unique gameplay seemed especially suited to Nintendo’s Wii and DS systems, both of which were very new at the time. The clamor was enough that Ōkami did get a well received port to Wii and while it wasn’t ported to the DS, that system got Ōkamiden, a spiritual successor. The game was later ported to modern consoles in an HD release that has gone on to perform pretty well. The love for Ōkami was still strong and with the 2024 Game Awards shocking announcement of Ōkami 2, now seems like a good time to take a look at this beloved classic.
When I was young, in grade school, and when I visited my grandma, my uncle lived with her at the time and had an SNES, while I had a Genesis. He always played 3 games when I visited: Super Mario World, Final Fantasy 6 and Chrono Trigger. I think this memory is what kicked off my love of RPGs but I remember Chrono Trigger always being the one that always eluded me in trying to find ways to play it. It wasn't until I got my PS1 where I got the chance to play Final Fantasy 4 and Chrono Trigger in the Final Fantasy Chronicles pack. And over 20 years later, I decided to give Chrono Trigger another try to see if It still held up. I picked up the Steam version which is the most accessible version at this time, So let's see if one of the best RPGs of all time still holds up today.
There’s nothing quite like a game by “The Wild Gentlemen”, a developer who has gained a reputation for fantastic narrative forays into detective work, which also just so happen to feature a wonderful bevy of anthro furry characters as the bedrock of the experiences. They create games in this “World of Wilderness” setting where all the cities and politics are inhabited by furries, which also heavily lean into the animalistic traits and interactions that may happen because of their species. I wish more games with animal characters did this, where we get an insight into the societal landscape that would form with predators, prey, insects, and everything in between having to learn to live with (or forcibly without) each other around. Their newest release, titled “Chicken Police: Into the HIVE!” is a sequel to the 2020 game “Chicken Police: Paint it RED!” in which we follow along with two clucking good detectives, Sonny and Marty. These two chickens are anything but, as they venture into the most dangerous of places around the city of Clawville to find the answers to their most dangerous case yet. You won’t soon forget the story and the way it’s told, and “Into the HIVE!” is one of the best narrative games I’ve played, bar none.
I don’t think I ever saw a game with such a strong contrast of opinions as I did with The Thing. When I first heard of this game years ago, the reviewer I was watching called it another dime a dozen third person shooter, so I admit I passed this game up because of said review. But, as the years went on, I started to hear more praise for this game, with some calling it a hidden gem, and it did kinda stir my interests in it but not enough to find a copy for the PS2 or original Xbox. But, thanks to the talented people at Nightdive Studios, we now got a remastering of The Thing with The Thing Remastered and to be honest? I do fall in the camp of calling this a hidden gem, but I also fall in the camp of saying that the game does have some rough spots too.
Sonic the Hedgehog, a name many know and love. And what a history he has. Much like the loops he speeds through on his way to stop Eggman, Sonic has had a lot of ups and downs. His early days on SEGA consoles solidified his popularity. Then in 1998, he made his first jump to 3D with Sonic Adventure. The early 3D era went well enough until it started going downhill with the divisive Shadow the Hedgehog in 2005 and the disastrous release of Sonic ‘06 a year later. To say ‘06 severely damaged Sonic’s reputation is an understatement. It took years before the Hedgehog recovered and was back on his feet. 5 years later in 2011, Sonic Generations released as a celebration of the Hedgehogs 20th anniversary at the time.
Out of nowhere, your ship starts to sputter. Your oil is low, your radiation analyzer and tomfoolery modules are on the fritz, and you have to make a quick decision. Luckily, you look on your intergalactic map to see that Uncle Chop’s Rocket Shop is within landing distance. You’re able to touch down safely on the platform and are met by a four-eyed “fox where it counts”, who leads you into a coffee shop before getting to work on your ship in need. That’s where you come in, playing that fox guy and helping customers in need so that you can pay R.E.N.T. to your employer before he murders you for being too much of a financial liability. Oh, and what a joy this arrangement is, as Uncle Chop’s Rocket Shop is an employment contract I’d sign again and again.
Ahh the joys of arcades. Flashing lights, games of skill and chance, competitive playfulness, and of course, tickets and prizes. With all this goodness going for it, there have been a bevy of arcade-y games released over the years. In fact, arcades are often chock full of virtual machines. Dungeon Clawler takes that formula and merges a loved arcade game with a loved genre, combining a dungeon crawler roguelite with a claw machine. Yes, it is as fun as it sounds.
