Author: Zach Barbieri

After years of asking both Nintendo and developer Monolith Soft, Xenoblade Chronicles X will finally arrive on the Nintendo Switch next year. This will make the complete collection of Xenoblade Chronicles available on the Nintendo Switch platform. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meabXp-IFkM Nintendo made this announcement on X this Tuesday complete with a trailer showcasing the improved version of the title. In an official statement from Nintendo, it was said: Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition features your character at the center of the action in a standalone sci-fi story. Customize your avatar’s looks and class to your liking and choose from a wide variety of…

During Xbox’s live stream for the Tokyo Game Show 2024, it officially announced that Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster, a collection of the original six mainline titles in the Final Fantasy series is indeed coming to the Xbox Platform and will be available starting today. unlike other games coming to the platform today it appears that the pixel remaster will not be part of the Game Pass library, at least at launch. The Pixel Remaster collection began releasing one game at a time years ago for Steam and PC, however, it wasn’t until this year that the games were finally ported…

The latest entry in the Rune Factory series, previously referred to as a new direction that the series will be taking, has been announced during the Nintendo Partners Direct today. Entitled Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, the trailer certainly paints a departure from previous games in the series, which might explain why the game chose to drop the number from its title. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDcFzgjVYII Notably, the trailer showcases a world inspired by eastern culture and mythology. While these elements have previously played roles in the series the games often use a natural world, allowing the characters to play off cultural tropes…

Nintendo has officially announced that they will be holding their next major direct on August 27th. It will consist of two portions run back to back, consisting of events that should be familiar to Nintendo fans who often tune into Nintendo’s showcases The first will be a presentation of Nintendo Indie World while the second will be a Partner Direct. In a press release from Nintendo, the company stated: Join us on August 27 at 7am PT for an Indie World Showcase followed by a Nintendo Direct: Partner Showcase! The livestream, featuring both presentations back-to-back, will be roughly 40 minutes…

I want to start my review of Closer The Distance by talking about another game if I may, a game that probably feels like worlds apart to most people but me, Persona 5. You see, my grandmother passed away around a week before the release of Persona 5 and the day I picked it up was the day I returned from the funeral. Days earlier I returned to an empty home, only to get a call my grandmother was in the hospital, not an uncommon occurrence at the time, and my mother had gone into the city for that. Despite…

The Crush House is one of those weird games that feels perfectly in line with everything that Devolver Digital has put a value on over the previous years, the anti-consumerism that felt at home on 2000’s Adult Swim when Tim and Eric still had a show on it. Looking at the game objectively it’s hard to even believe developer Nerial came up with the idea on their own, but with Devolver having arguably the best track record of letting developers be as insane as they want to, I have little doubt. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z30Scg9u1u4 What I do know, is when The Crush…

In case you have missed previous announcements for the annual THQ NORDIC Digital Showcase, the publisher has posted one final FINAL reminder on its website that the event will be held on August 2nd, 2024. The event will begin at 12:00 PM PDT / 3:00 PM EDT / 8:00 PM BST / 9:00 PM CEST and can be viewed via Twitch, YouTube, or Steam. In this press release, THQ reminds us that several games that have been in development will be featured in the event, including Disney’s Epic Mickey: Rebrushed, the Gothic 1 Remake, and Titan Quest 2. The publisher’s…

There are a lot of elements stuffed to the starting moments of Kitsune Tails before it eventually becomes the punishing platformer that it is that I honestly wish the game had more of. There is an engaging story front and center with an interesting time mechanic as you watch the seasons change right before you progress as you the world you are on. It was something I didn’t expect, to get invested in a game that played like Super Mario: The Lost Levels. To be fair, it’s not like these elements haven’t come up before in games like Celeste, or…

The CEO of Paradox Fredrik Wester has admitted that the publisher of projects such as Life by You has “made the wrong calls in several projects,” after the intended Sims competitor was canceled earlier this year. The title was canceled in June of this year, followed shortly after by the closer of the studio developing the game, Tectonic. During an earning report, Wester spoke on the project, stating it was a “difficult decision,” but “the game would not be able to meet our expectations.” He continued from this point, stating that areas in which the publisher needs to improve. He…

My first thought when starting Dungeons of Hinterberg, which was developed by Microbird Games, was how much the intro reminded me of Persona. This was in a good way of course. Your character arrives in a small town and spends blocks of their days meeting the locals, who slowly and methodically explain to the player the world and how to interact with it. It’s one of the many ways Dungeons of Hinterberg wears its inspirations directly on its sleeves. As somebody who has friends who constantly complain about slow opening like that, I could see how that could be a…