Summer is always an interesting time for game releases, aside from a few big releases, It sometimes feels like a dead zone.

In a rather pleasant surprise, it was announced that the PSP strategy RPG Jeanne D’Arc would be coming to the Playstation Store, and available for free through PS Plus.

I’ve picked up and enjoyed every title MiHoYo has put out to date, so I really wasn’t expecting anything different from their latest game, Zenless Zone Zero

I really don’t know if this is a typical problem for every gamer, but it almost always is for me, and that’s how many games can you play at once.

Elden Ring, 2022’s game of the year, is finally getting its long awaited DLC, Shadow Of The Erdtree. I played the game right when it was released, and it quickly earned a spot on my top 10 list, as well as becoming a cultural phenomenon.

After the meteoric rise of Genshin Impact, it stands to reason that games would come along trying to take a piece of the very profitable pie that Genshin Impact has. Wuthering Waves appeared to be just that

MultiVersus, after a year long open beta, was taken offline for some major development reworks. On May 28th, MultiVersus relaunched with a proper “full” release. But, after jumping in to play the game once again, I find myself disappointed.

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes and SaGa: Emerald Beyond, two games that are very much up my alley, released in April, but over a month later, I still haven’t spent very much time with either of them. And that’s okay.

While I’ve only met with my English club twice, once a brief 15 minute intro, and then the first official meeting, we brainstormed some ideas of what to do. I want to make English club as fun as I can, so I suggested some board and video games.

Well, somewhere around the 60 hour mark, I managed to finish Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. It’s a huge, quite remarkable game, even if I was left a little cold on the ending. There’s plenty to talk about before we get to the ending though, and I’ll be sure to put a big spoiler warning before diving into this game’s rather controversial ending. 

I’ve been bouncing between a lot of media recently, and was finding it hard to zero in on a specific topic for this week. So instead, I thought I’d just do a bit of a scatter shot and mention all the different things I’ve been checking out lately.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is a weird game. It’s not quite like any other game I’ve played, and that’s both a good thing, and a not so good thing. It’s full of friction it’s ways I like, and some ways I could do without.

On March 1st, Akira Toriyama passed away due to an acute subdural hematoma at the age of 68. A private funeral was held by his family who grieved his passing. One week later his death was announced to the world, and the whole world mourned.

Unicorn Overlord, which isn’t the greatest name, but anything with Unicorn in the title gets points from me, is a tactical role playing game from Vanillaware. Vanillaware games are like a rare treat, coming out only every couple of years, always certain to be interesting, if not outright delicious.

One pleasant trend with games in 2024, seems to be the return of the demo. After seemingly becoming a thing of the past, or inadequately replaced by timed trials, available only at high tiers of subscription services, like playstation premium, demos seem to be making quite the comeback.

After being rather disappointed with Final Fantasy XVI and really enjoying Final Fantasy VII Remake, I felt a little trepidation about the next entry into this trilogy. Thankfully, the demo went a long way to assuage my fears, and I excitedly picked up a copy at my local book/game store, even if the discs were misprinted here in Japan.

This winter anime season didn’t have much that grabbed my attention, but there was one unexpected treat, a new season of Blue Exorcist. The first season aired all the way back in 2010, the second season in 2017, and now, in 2024, we get a third.

I mentioned this title in the main blog in reference to my adventures in Shibuya, so I thought exploring this title further would be a fun little cross promotion. This will also serve as the first entry in a (hopefully) continuing series of explorations into titles that have been deeply influential to me as a person, a gamer, and a game designer. 

Welcome back to class! Hopefully you all found an anime during our 101 course and at least dipped your toes into the world of anime. Assuming you’ve all at least seen an episode or two of anime by this point, let’s learn more about this beautiful art form. 

The 2024 anime season seems to be off to a bit of a slow start. Other than continuing anime, not many new series have caught my eye. There was one though that seemed to be fairly heavily promoted, Solo Leveling.