• Video Games

    Why Silence is The Great Strength of Dragon Quest III

    February 14, 2025 - By 

    Playing the recent HD-2D remake of Dragon Quest III, it didn’t take long for me to realise that this game is special. At first, I attributed it to the stunning, ultra-detailed art style and soothing soundtrack, which has a nostalgic quality even for first time visitors to the Dragon Quest franchise. The magical journey to defeat the evil archfiend Baramos has never looked or sounded better. But I soon realised that there’s more to Dragon Quest III in what it – or rather, its central characters – leave unsaid.  The Silent Protagonist of Dragon Quest III A silent protagonist can…

  • Reviews - Video Games

    6 Reasons Marvel’s Midnight Suns Impressed Me on Apocalyptic Proportions

    April 27, 2024 - By 

    Comic book video games have long been a kind of gaming comfort-food for me. Whether it is delivering pizza in Spider-Man 2, or re-playing the Superman Returns demo over and over (usually just to have Clark Kent lift innocent bystanders miles into the air, only to abandon them in the chimney of a power station). Even now, there is something reassuring in knowing there will always be games like this. Games which first let us pretend to be the most powerful beings on Earth, and then let us behave as we actually would by giving us the silliest of gameplay…

  • Video Games

    9 Ways Final Fantasy IX Stopped Me in My Tracks

    February 20, 2024 - By 

    This month, I finished playing my third Final Fantasy game – Final Fantasy IX. And I loved it! There was so much to enjoy about my journey across Gaia, but my biggest take away was how many times it took me by surprise, sometimes by doing the unexpected and other times by sticking to conventional JRPG fare but really excelling at it at the same time! Here are 9 ways Final Fantasy IX stopped me in my tracks: 1. Every Time Someone Said ‘Bastard’ I’m not sure why this was so jarring to me, possibly because FFIX is a very…

  • Video Games

    I Played Bloodborne Like a Couch Co-op Game (Pass-the-Pad style) and Now I’m Convinced It’s the Only Way to Play Souls-like Games

    January 6, 2024 - By 

    I’ve avoided Soulsborne games for as long as possible. I’m not the type of person who loves a challenge and I get gamer rage very easily, so I convinced myself that watching various Let’s Players handle them was enough for me. But since moving in with my partner, we’ve been working our way through a number of your typical co-op games. I think our success must have filled us with a bigger-than-usual dose of hubris the day that we decided we were going to beat Bloodborne together. Both of us having already dabbled in only the first Dark Souls, Bloodborne…

  • Video Games

    The One Thing Fire Emblem: Three Houses Does Better Than Any Other JRPG I’ve Played

    November 6, 2023 - By 

    Enjoying video games is hard when you’re an adult with a job. Free time becomes a scarce and sacred resource, and so naturally we become much more selective about what games we play. As much as I want to clear my backlog of From Software games, it’s a little hard to unwind after a long day by playing… Bloodborne. Sometimes I want something mindless, which is why I tend to rack up hours in sims like Planet Coaster, Two Point Hospital and The Sims 3.  But sometimes sims aren’t enough. Sometimes, a little more substance is needed. A good story,…