Author: Zach Barbieri

Road trips are more about the journey than the destination, as they always have been. You could fly to Disney Land, it would always take you a few hours, but you will also fly over the beautiful vistas, giant balls of string, and artery-clogging burgers you would find along the way. It’s ultimately about togetherness, the feeling that Open Roads manages to nail right from the start. Here we experience the story from the point of view of 16-year-old Tess, as she is being forced to pack up her room since her single mother Opal is unable to afford it…

Microsoft has made cuts to studios Aquried in their 2021 acquisition of Zenimax. This includes the closures of the Japanese Studio behind Ghostwire: Tokyo and Hi-Fi Rush Tango Gameworks, and Redfall developer Arkane Austin. Additionally, mobile developer Alpha Dog Studios will also close, and Roundhouse Games will be absorbed into Elder Scrolls Online developer ZeniMax Online Studio. In the case of Redfall, the poorly received looter shooter that was released in 2023, development on the game is being officially discontinued by Microsoft. This follows the official one-year anniversary of the game, which was marred with controversy over the hero characters…

Mark Twain once famously wrote “All ideas are second-hand, consciously and unconsciously drawn from a million outside sources,” or, that there are no original ideas left. In this vein, Stellar Blade, the first console game from Shift Up is in fact an idea thief. Many of the elements from the story, to combat, to exploration are, for lack of a term, farmed from other games and movies to the point that going down the rabbit hole can offer confusion as you try to navigate the who’s ideas are who’s, and what ideas work in the body of the product they…

I’ll admit, I wasn’t fully sold on Little Kitty, Big City from Double Dagger Studio Until a recent showing at a Nintendo Direct. Was I excited for it, Yes. Was I planning to pick it up, yes. But, maybe it was the lack of hats in some previous trailers, but it hadn’t clawed its way into my heart like I did when I finally watched it in action. This, of course, is just weird, because I loved Stray in all its feline goodness, and in truth, both games have a similar vibe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-39kuBXyKWo Stray featured a hyper-realistic cat in a…

TopSpin 4 remains high on my list of favorite sports games, all these years later so when the prospect of a return to the court came around I was all for it. Some might even have described my state of mind as elated to hear the news. Better yet, a studio I had come to really enjoy, Hanger 13, was attached as a developer, even if given their one-game history it felt like a departure from their comfort zone. The point is, that there was a lot to be excited about here and many questions. I mean, the last game…

As it turns out, Warhorse Studios’ planned announcement for their next game was a Sequel to their debut game, and one of my favorite games of the previous generation, Kingdom Come Deliverance. Titled Kingdom Come Deliverance II, the game looks to offer more of what made the first game so memorable. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQu-uuQYrXY A direct sequel to the previous entry, the game continues the story of Henry who by the end of his story last time has become a full-fledged knight who is still on a quest to see the man who ordered his village attacked face the business end of…

Nintendo held an Indie World showcase on April 17th, 2024 to showcase several of the smaller titles coming to their platform this year. While it was yet another chance for gamers excited for the long-awaited Hollow Knight sequel Silksong to be disappointed, for the rest of us, it was filled to the brim with cool-looking games to mark our calendars with. Best of all, most of these games are coming sooner rather than later. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTjjKC9gHPM Below you can find a list of every major announcement from the event! Big Kitty, Little City For fans of Stray, which has ironically yet…

Despite being a “central event” of their year, and having attended every year in the past, Nintendo will be skipping Gamescom in 2024. Gamescom is the largest gaming convention in the world by attendance, so Nintendo’s absence will be felt. Many have looked towards the event as a potential showcase ground for the Nintendo Switch 2, having been rumored to have been shown behind closed doors to journalists during the 2023 event, this no longer seems to be the case. A Nintendo of Europe spokesperson talked to German website Games Wirtschaft, stating: Gamescom is a central event in Nintendo’s event calendar.…

Square Enix has one last act left in its Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy, which is currently in development. If series producer Yoshinori Kitase is to be believed, this final part should have a streamlined development process that will see the game release with less wait than the one between Remake and Rebirth. After its announcement, Remake took five years to fully release, though in its case we know there were several issues including a change of developer and some struggles in deciding on gameplay direction. Rebirth managed to shave a year off its development life-cycle, something Kitase has attributed…

Only a few months after Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, a Metroidvania-style reboot of the franchise was released to positive reviews, another Prince of Persia title has been announced. The Rogue Prince of Persia will feature roguelike gameplay and is being developed by one of the best when it comes to the genre, an offshoot of Dead Cells developer Motion Twin, named Evil Empire. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZzOxEK7hXo Announced during the Triple-I Indie event that several smaller publishers and developers put together to focus on small titles, there is some irony that the big end cap to the event was published by…