Nicola Kapron, Author at COGconnected

Tsukihime -A piece of blue glass moon- Review – Lunar Legend

Nicola Kapron — Sun, 07 Jul 2024 14:32:23 +0000

Tsukihime -A piece of blue glass moon- Review

Tsukihime -A piece of blue glass moon- is a visual novel I have been waiting decades to play. The long-awaited remake of indie classic Tsukihime has finally come out in English. Is it the same as the original? No. Was it worth the wait? Yes. Even if you don’t like visual novels, this game is still worth a try. This review may contain spoilers.

After a childhood accident that nearly kills him, Shiki Tohno begins seeing mysterious lines. When he traces them with fingers or a knife, whatever they’re on breaks. And the lines are on everything. He wears glasses to avoid harming others and protect himself from the intensity of staring into death.

For years, he lives like a normal boy, exiled from the rest of the wealthy Tohno family. Then his father dies, his sister calls him home, and a serial killer begins stalking the city streets. Finally, a mysterious blonde girl passes Shiki on the street, and all his hard-earned control shatters.

Without hesitation and without reason, Shiki kills that girl. When he comes back to his senses, he’s horrified and confused. The next day, she tracks him down, introduces herself as the vampire Arcueid, and drafts him into her hunt for another vampire who’s slaughtering his way through the streets at night. What follows is a tangled story of love, blood, and betrayal. A tale of disability, responsibility, classism, and death.

Lunar Legend Resurrected

Tsukihime -A piece of blue glass moon- is a visual novel. Interaction and mechanics are limited, but the story develops differently depending on the choices you make. This game features two possible heroines, Arcueid and Ciel. Each girl is lovable and intimidating in her own way–and dragging a ton of action and baggage behind her. While this is a romance, it’s a very plot-focused one, and the game’s plot and thrilling presentation are some of its strongest points.

Shiki makes for an engaging, sympathetic, and sometimes scary protagonist. His perceptions are unreliable at the best of times, but those around him are also lying to him. Sometimes out of a misguided desire to protect him, sometimes to use him for their own agendas. Whether it’s a centuries-old vampire, a schoolmate, or his own family, Shiki can’t afford to trust anyone blindly. The absurdity of his life is played for both laughs and tears.

This game is a genre-blending masterpiece with a thick and often unsettling atmosphere. It can move from sweet romance to uncomfortable family drama to psychological horror very fast. The characters are complex, messy, and wonderfully realized, even the new additions. And the translation is really solid. Shiki’s internal narration is lively and engaging, the dialogue is fun, and Japanese kanji puns are carefully explained. There’s a flowchart to make finding endings and specific scenes easier. This is good, because there are also a lot of bad endings.

The original Tsukihime, published in 2000, was the first visual novel produced by Type-Moon of Fate franchise fame. It introduced many of the concepts that would go on to dominate its sister franchise. This game revisits those themes, expands the narrative, and updates the classic story with a modern setting, updated Fate-consistent lore, and a much higher budget. The results are spectacular.

Tsukihime -A piece of blue glass moon- is a Fascinating Remake

Tsukihime -A piece of blue glass moon- is a visual and auditory delight. The updated art is nice, especially the backgrounds. All of the portraits make the cast wonderfully expressive. The ‘camera’ moves around constantly to create an illusion of movement, and there are some really striking CGs. There are lots of visual and audio effects to keep the viewer’s interest. And the expanded story more than deserves a read.

The game is almost fully voiced and the Japanese voice acting is quite solid. The soundtrack is very good at setting the mood, even when that mood shifts on a dime. And the soundscape can provide all the ambiance a scene needs. Ciel and Arcueid hold themselves differently, have unique reactions when angry or embarrassed, and have very different relationships with Shiki. It all makes for a truly incredible visual novel.

There is one problem it’s impossible to overlook. There’s a lot of worldbuilding exposition. Arcueid literally breaks out a whiteboard to explain how vampires work at one point. That said, when the monsters actually appear, there’s a deep, visceral horror to them.

This title is a more grounded urban fantasy/horror than most of the Fate franchise. It’s part family drama, part high-octane urban fantasy horror/romance. It also asks more questions that it answers, as expected for the first half of a two-part game. That said, it is still a good entry point to the Fate franchise.

Disability, Absurdity, Alienation, Trauma

Tsukihime -A piece of blue glass moon- is a game about being young and sick, feeling like a burden and a monster, knowing you’re a danger to yourself and others, but still trying to live. It is a messy and sometimes ugly story focusing on a cast of messy and troubled characters. At 40-50 hours, it is also a hefty read despite only having two routes. And while it’s more polished than the original version, for better and for worse, it is a grim and joyous experience in its own right.

Shiki’s fragile health, lingering trauma from his half-remembered childhood, and special ability make him an eccentric and sometimes unreliable narrator. Trying to figure out exactly what happened to make him like this is part of the experience. So is puzzling out how aware he actually is of the wreck his life has become.

Not everything that’s brought up in this game is resolved here. The specific circumstances of the Tohno family and Shiki’s accident will be examined in the upcoming second game. But the affairs of the Church and Arcueid, the titular “lunar princess”, are more than interesting enough to carry this half of the title.

Tsukihime -A piece of blue glass moon- is not the original Tsukihime. But it is a fascinating update and expansion of the original game’s first two routes. I’ll definitely be looking forward to the second part of this remake, and so should you.

***Switch code provided by the publisher***

The post Tsukihime -A piece of blue glass moon- Review – Lunar Legend appeared first on COGconnected.

Naib’s Cosplay is as Intense as It Gets

Nicola Kapron — Sun, 23 Jun 2024 12:37:19 +0000

Naib Cosplay Feature

Welcome back, cosplay fans! It’s time for the weekly COGconnected cosplay feature. This week, we’re going to take a look at the work of Naib, a cosplayer who really captures the intensity of action and horror games.

Naib is a big fan of horror game Identity V, action-packed manga, and the sci-fi/fantasy titles of miHoYo. It’s no surprise that their cosplay is filled to the brim with motion and fierceness. Whether it’s the action heroines of shonen manga or the troubled heroes of horror game, Naib can cosplay them all.

When Naib isn’t making incredibly intense faces into the camera, they’re visiting conventions. And organizing Identity V fan-meets in the UK. It’s always nice to see cosplayers enjoying themselves, and Naib seems to be having a blast.

OH MY GOD! GUYS I MET CYYU!!! pic.twitter.com/hP4eNcOuRx

— CyYu 2.0 ARC = Cyno + Jing Yuan (@CyYuVtuber) June 15, 2024

CY-YU – VTuber

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“Orpheus” Deross – Identity V

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Toge Inumaki – Jujutsu Kaisen

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Ken Kaneki – Tokyo Ghoul

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Tighnari – Genshin Impact

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Alva Lorenz/Hermit – Identity V

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Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance Review – Apocalyptic Fantasy Redux

Nicola Kapron — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 14:00:50 +0000

Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance Review

Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance is the updated and expanded re-release of Shin Megami Tensei V, the fifth instalment in the mainline Shin Megami Tensei franchise. The original game was generally well-received. However, it did get hit with some minor criticisms, especially regarding the human cast. Vengeance‘s new story mode tackles those areas of relative weakness and shows no mercy.

In this game, you choose whether to play the original story or the new Canon of Vengeance story. This mode brings in a new character whose very existences throws everything off-kilter. As in the base game–or Canon of Creation–an ordinary high school student stumbles into a desolate version of Tokyo crawling with demons. There, he is saved by Protofiend Aogami and the two fuse into a godlike entity known as the Nahobino. However, events in Canon of Vengeance take a sudden swerve when a girl called Yoko appears.

Yoko teams up with the player to fight demons and investigate the Netherworld they’re trapped in. As a trained exorcist, she has her own magic to throw around. However, her upbringing has left her with her own baggage about how being selfless invites others to abuse her.

As the player’s friend group begins to splinter, she’s unable to keep her mouth shut. Her presence drives the cast to develop in new and interesting ways, but her cynical influence may not change things for the better.

A Mythological Coming-Of-Age

Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance begins where most games in the series do: with the end of the world. In this case, the world technically ended about 18 years ago, when Tokyo was destroyed and recreated. God is dead, Lucifer has sown the seeds of a wholly new future, and the player has become a deity known as the Nahobino in order to survive. And the path of the Nahobino has never been more treacherous.

The organization Bethel is determined to fight demons and protect Tokyo, but it is certainly hiding something. The player’s high school friends are being forged–and broken–under the pressure of supernatural war. And now a new faction of demons is slaughtering humans in service of its own goal. With danger on all sides, the Nahobino and Yoko must plunge headlong into a fight for their lives. The road to godhood will not be easy.

This is in many ways a far more human experience than the original release. The entire cast is far more fleshed out and their increasing desperation as the world falls apart around them hits hard. And while the demons are charming, the humans finally take center stage in Canon of Vengeance’s tragic coming-of-age.

Yoko’s subdued design and brusque attitude make her a welcome addition to the game’s human cast. In a lot of ways, she feels more realistic than the other female characters. This extends to her inner darkness and disillusionment with society.

Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance is Merciless

Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance takes a lot of inspiration from previous titles, especially Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne. However, the addition of Yoko feels like something new brought in just for this game. The franchise is no stranger to themes of corruption and frustration with the status quo. And yet Yoko’s position as a ‘saint’ who’s become disgusted with the way people try to take advantage of her is a refreshing one.

Her cynicism clashes with nearly every other character, upsetting the existing dynamics and storyline. Whether the player chooses to agree with her grim perspective or deny it, the result is a tense and fascinating dynamic. Yuzuru, Tao, and Dazai also feel more messy and complicated this time around as their flaws come to the forefront. The game’s atmosphere has never been thicker or more tragic.

The game features a delightfully eerie soundscape. And the voice acting is still solid, especially for the demons. The lovingly-detailed apocalyptic environment offers some truly spectacular views. Roaming through the desert, the ruins of Tokyo, and more exotic fantasy locales feels great. There’s a whole new ward of Da’at to explore with its own visual style, too. And Magatsu Rails make backtracking much easier.

The biggest downside is that using too many rails to backtrack across half the map made me seasick. Also, some dungeons are still a pain to navigate.

So Many Demons, So Little Time

Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance features turn-based combat and a complex system of elemental strengths and weaknesses. Hammering on a foe’s weaknesses will grant extra turns. But if you hit an enemy with an attack it’s strong against, you lose turns. Classic Shin Megami Tensei stuff. Every battle feels difficult and things can turn on a dime. One bad turn can be devastating, especially when taking on multiple waves of enemies.

Beyond that, Vengeance adds lots of quality-of-life improvements to the base gameplay. You can now have human characters join your party and fight by your side… for a time. Demon Haunts are a fantastic addition to the game. I love the Shin Megami Tensei demons and any excuse to chat with them and give them gifts is a good one.

You can chain battles together in difficult Consecutive Encounters and earn greater rewards. Demon fusion is as delightfully complicated as ever. It’s easy to spend hours assembling your team and filling out your compendium. And Vengeance offers two distinct game modes, Canon of Creation and Canon of Vengeance, with very different storylines. You can also replay previous battles in boss rush and challenge modes. And there’s a ton of grinding required, as always.

All in all, Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance is an excellent revision of a game I already liked. It’s still more sci-fi than horror, but a delightfully cynical tale nonetheless. And Yoko is a very engaging heroine in all her bitter glory. If you liked the original Shin Megami Tensei V, or even just thought about playing it, check Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance out. You won’t regret it.

***PC code provided by the publisher***

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Storm Sorceress’ Cosplay is a Fantasy Made Real

Nicola Kapron — Sat, 25 May 2024 13:00:57 +0000

Storm Sorceress Cosplay Feature

Welcome back, cosplay fans! It’s time for the weekly COGconnected cosplay feature. This week, we’re going to take a look at the work of Storm Sorceress, an amazing cosplayer with a flair for the awe-inspiring and the chilling.

Storm Sorceress has a wide variety of costumes under belt. From relatively simple designs to fantastical what-ifs, she’s willing to imagine some truly fascinating designs. And then she uses her mastery of foam, sewing, and make-up to bring her designs to life.

Some of her creations are stunning, while others are uncanny. Her Clicker cosplay is downright unsettling. All of them are a testament to her skill and experience as a cosplayer.

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Samus Aran – Metroid

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Karlach – Baldur’s Gate 3

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Shadowheart – Baldur’s Gate 3

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Nurse – Silent Hill

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Link – The Legend of Zelda

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Lilith – Borderlands

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Touhou Genso Wanderer -FORESIGHT- Review – Cute in Dungeon

Nicola Kapron — Thu, 23 May 2024 16:43:22 +0000

Touhou Genso Wanderer -FORESIGHT- Review

Touhou Genso Wanderer -FORESIGHT- is a spinoff twice over. First, it’s a fan-made game based on the venerable Touhou Project franchise, a bullet hell series that’s been going since the 90s. Second, it’s a new installment in the existing Touhou Genso Wanderer series of Touhou-inspired dungeoncrawlers. The result is a game that, while enjoyable to some, has a very high entry barrier.

Some spinoff titles are excellent gateways into the series they’re based on. Unfortunately, Touhou Genso Wanderer -FORESIGHT- does not do a great job of setting up the world of Gensokyo or the zany cast of magical and monstrous girls who live there. What it does do is plunge the player and protagonist Reimu Hakurei into a new adventure with the unbridled spirit of the franchise.

Mechanically, this is a dungeoncrawler RPG with roguelike elements. Players level up, customize equipment, gather items, and recruit partners. Then they dive into vast, procedurally-generated dungeons and fight hordes of enemies in strategic, turn-based combat. When you’re not dungeon-crawling, you’re talking to people in various locations, managing your inventory, or upgrading the shrine.

Reimu becomes stronger through equipment bonuses, leveling up, and enhancing skill trees based on her bonds with her friends. She can also bring a partner with her to fight together. This brings me to the game’s biggest asset: its charming atmosphere.

Dungeoncrawling Wholesomeness

Touhou Genso Wanderer -FORESIGHT- is adorable. The game opens with Reimu Hakurei, the shrine maiden of Hakurei Shrine, in trouble. After waking from a weird dream, her head is fuzzy, her magical powers seem reduced, and a goddess is calling her weak. To regain her memories and her strength, Reimu must battle her way through a series of dungeons and befriend the quirky residents of Gensokyo. All the while, she can’t shake the feeling that she’s done all of this before…

If you’re familiar with Touhou Project, then you’ll have no trouble settling into this story’s flow. However, you might have a bit more trouble if you’re a newcomer to the franchise. This game does not spend a lot of time introducing its cast or the overall setting of Gensokyo. It gets straight into the plot and gameplay tutorials instead, which keeps the pacing snappy at the cost of cutting some context. Since the setting of Gensokyo and its vast array of characters are key to understanding the game’s story, this is a bit of an issue.

The extra information cut from this title includes the fact that Reimu is one of the pillars of Gensokyo, the mystical land of illusion. Where yokai still prey on human fear and human exorcists still fight things that go bump in the night. Having all the ghosts, gods, and monsters in the world crammed into close quarters leads to a lot of drama. It’s Reimu’s job to solve any incidents that arise.

This is fairly basic information to be cut from the game. This absence, along with some other choices, makes the title feel unfinished.

Touhou Genso Wanderer -FORESIGHT- is the Definition of Niche Title

Touhou Genso Wanderer -FORESIGHT- takes the player from one incident to another at high speed, while about 30 years worth of cute anime girls make cameos and reference Touhou Project memes. If you’re in the target audience, you’ll enjoy it. But I don’t recommend it to newcomers.

The character portraits are adorable, the coloring is lovely, and the soundtrack is downright magical. Touhou is known for its excellent music, so I’m glad I can recommend Touhou Genso Wanderer -FORESIGHT-’s enchanting instrumental tracks. The characters are also delightfully expressive. I love how Suika sways drunkenly while talking and Marisa gestures with her hands during explanations. There’s also a solid Japanese voice cast.

There are a variety of possible backgrounds and dungeon environments you can find. However, dungeoncrawling is still an inherently repetitive genre. If you get bored doing the same thing in similar locations for upwards of 30 levels at a time, this game isn’t for you.

That said, there are a variety of fast-travel options make backtracking to the shrine easier. And although there’s no turning back once you enter a dungeon, death is barely a slap on the wrist. You respawn at the shrine with everything you had on the level before dying. This makes the game easier than a lot of similar titles, for better or for worse.

Could Use Polish

Touhou Genso Wanderer -FORESIGHT- is still far from easy, though. Beating side dungeons is practically mandatory to power up, and I kept having to re-try story dungeons after dying to bosses. Status effects can absolutely destroy Reimu and her partners in a few turns and there are a ton of them. Good luck predicting which combo of resistances you need to survive a given level.

There’s a real sense of tension when navigating the deeper levels of a dungeon you’re barely high enough level for. Bad luck can destroy a run in an instant. However, the real issue when delving 30+ levels deep is the wonky icons and item descriptions. It can be incredibly hard to tell what affects a given enemy. And there are a few wonky translations in the item descriptions.

Furthermore, it’s really hard to find the full description for some items. The text is cut off in the pop-ups and not visible on the inventory screen. I had to go into the Library to find the information, which completely wrecked the game’s pacing. The generated levels can be really poorly designed as well.

All in all, if you don’t enjoy wandering through randomly generated dungeons and frantically managing items, Touhou Genso Wanderer -FORESIGHT- might not be for you. But if you already like dungeoncrawlers and know about Touhou Project, you might have fun. Let’s just hope the devs continue fleshing out the experience post-launch.

***PC code provided by the publisher***

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Snitchery’s Cosplay Wardrobe Ranges From Sexy to Hilarious

Nicola Kapron — Mon, 06 May 2024 17:51:07 +0000

Snitchery Cosplay Feature

Welcome back, cosplay fans! It’s time for the weekly COGconnected cosplay feature. This week, we’re going to take a look at the work of Snitchery, also known as Eleanor Barnes. She’s been making hair and make-up videos for years, and she brings those skills to her elaborate cosplays.

Where some cosplayers stick to more conventional looks that are easy to pull off, Snitchery goes all the way. This results in some gorgeous cosplays and some that can only be described as cursed.

Snitchery’s make-up and wig mastery allow her to play around with cosplay in photoshoots and videos. Her wardrobe includes game and show-accurate looks, sexy redesigns, and some really wild ideas of her own. You never know what kind of look she’ll pull out next. One thing is certain: all of Snitchery’s cosplays are memorable.

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Waluigi – Super Mario Bros.

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King Boo – Super Mario Bros.

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Abigail – Abigail

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Walter White – Breaking Bad

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Thorn – Scooby-Doo

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Maleficent – Disney

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Smurfette – The Smurfs

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The Spot – Spider-Man

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Raven – Teen Titans

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Po – Tellytubbies

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Lightning McQueen – Cars

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Jinx – League of Legends

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Fairy Godmother – Shrek

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Miss Spider – James and the Giant Peach

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Skeletor – He-Man and the Masters of the Universe

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The Lorax – The Lorax

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SaGa Emerald Beyond Review – Make JRPGs Experimental Again

Nicola Kapron — Fri, 03 May 2024 13:12:50 +0000

SaGa Emerald Beyond Review

SaGa Emerald Beyond is a standalone entry in the venerable SaGa franchise. This classic JRPG series is known for its multiple protagonists, interesting structural decisions, and striking fantasy art styles. The latest entry takes things into its own hands by upsetting some classic elements of the JRPG formula on a mechanical and narrative level. I had the opportunity to play the game in advance of sharing my impressions, and what I saw intrigued me.

In this game, players can take on the role of six protagonists in five groups, each with distinct campaigns to follow. Magical puppeteer Tsunanori Mido has been roped into the mysterious Cathedral Project to help save his world. The overthrown vampire king Suignas seeks revenge after a betrayal. Young witch Ameya struggles to pass her witchterms in a strange world. Bonnie and Formina are two cops determined to solve a world-spanning mystery. And Diva No. 5, a singing robot who lost her voice, abandons her body after a traumatic incident.

All of these characters travel across 17 distinct worlds on multiple playthroughs, seeking power, answers, wisdom, vengeance, and much more. How much effort they put into unraveling their circumstances, helping others, and exploring the various worlds is up to you. Depending on your choices, individual runs can play out quite differently. And New Game Plus is worked into the narrative structure to add even more replay value.

Choose Your Own JRPG Adventure

SaGa Emerald Beyond has six protagonists and five story campaigns. However, this game is less about plot and more about encouraging the player to explore its worlds. Even the introduction spends very little time setting up the premise. Instead, it puts the player in control and leaves them to make their own way forward. This plunge into the deep end makes it very clear, very quickly whether or not you’ll enjoy the rest of the game.

Each of the 17 worlds can be cleared quickly, meaning that individual playthroughs can be very short. Especially in early playthroughs before the effects of New Game Plus start to stack. However, you can clear the same world in multiple different ways of varying difficulty, leading to multiple different outcomes. The game also features an abundance of optional scenes and sidequests. If you want to get to know the characters and setting, you can do that. If you’d rather cruise through the main plot, you can do that, too.

Every world has its own unique atmosphere and overall feel. And replaying an adventure after completing it once can cause the entire plotline of a visited world to change. Options you already took might be closed off, while entirely new ones may open up. And I mentioned, the game’s New Game Plus function makes taking more difficult options much more reasonable on a second playthrough.

In short, the more you play this game, the more its setting unfolds before you. This is a fascinating approach to the JRPG genre that allows for a very customized storytelling experience.

SaGa Emerald Beyond is a Fascinating Experience

SaGa Emerald Beyond has trimmed out most of the fripperies of modern gaming. This includes fancy cutscenes, a streamlined story, and even the ability to explore on your own terms. In exchange, it offers a fascinating kaleidoscopic experience if you’re willing to spend the time. This game is designed to be played and replayed, giving a slightly different experience each time. If you’re the type who enjoys deep dives into games with complex structures, you’ll have a good time with it.

The main narrative gimmick lies in visions, which allow you to advance the story in the direction you want. And see story events in the order you want. Some visions lead to combat, while others advance quests or show optional scenes. The game is far from a narrative-driven experience, but there’s something to be said for titles that allow you to drive the narrative at your own pace.

The music is incredibly beautiful. And so are the 17 worlds found within the game. Different worlds have dramatically different atmospheres and design sensibilities. Each has a cohesive and unique feel, no matter how long you spend in them. And the character designs range from grounded to delightfully outlandish.

I wish the visual presentation lived up to its potential. While there’s nothing offensive about the graphics, the decision to use the in-game character models during dialog disappointed me. SaGa Emerald Beyond’s character models aren’t terribly expressive. It sometimes felt like their faces were frozen as they talked. Combat animations can also be confusing to follow as the focus jumps between characters.

When is a Battle System Too Complex?

SaGa Emerald Beyond is a turn-based RPG. That said, if you try to charge into it like a standard JRPG, you will get killed. Players must balance the many types of techs with a limited pool of Battle Points. And take into account that conditional enemy techs can turn an easy battle into a grim defeat if triggered. The key is figuring out how to mitigate enemy damage while making your own hits unblockable. Every battle is strategic.

The lack of repeatable fights makes it really hard to level grind in early playthroughs. And when you’re starting out and learning the combat, each fight risks wiping your party, so level grinding isn’t necessarily a good idea. If you’re good at piecing together the rules on the fly, you’ll probably enjoy the tension in each fight.

You can customize equipment, techs, spells, and roles. And use different formations to strategize for facing different foes. This allows for a lot of control over how a battle plays out… once you figure out how to fight effectively. The lack of real exploration mechanics was a bit disappointing. I would have liked to be able to poke around the creative settings and see little details tucked away. However, the amount of optional scenes and alternative paths packed into the game is frankly jaw-dropping.

All in all, SaGa Emerald Beyond is a conversation between the player and the worlds it contains. Its presentation is far from perfect, but I’d rather something flawed and interesting than perfect and boring. And SaGa Emerald Beyond is certainly not boring.

***PC code provided by the publisher***

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The Eco Cosplayer Presents an Incredible Cosplay Challenge

Nicola Kapron — Sun, 14 Apr 2024 13:00:24 +0000

The Eco Cosplayer Cosplay Feature

Welcome back, cosplay fans! It’s time for the weekly COGconnected cosplay feature. This week, we’re going to take a look at the work of The Eco Cosplayer. Building a cosplay takes a lot of skill and dedication, but some artists go above and beyond. True to her title, The Eco Cosplayer is determined to make beautiful cosplays out of 100% recycled and secondhand materials.

Although she works with limited materials, The Eco Cosplayer’s creations are as accurate as they are gorgeous. Her socials are full of funny cosplay skits and videos about her process, highlighting the effort that goes into making them. She also works on Ren Fair and other costumes in her free time, so costuming is clearly a passion for her. All in all, this is certainly one cosplayer to be remembered.

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Ellie Williams – The Last of Us

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Eda Clawthorne – The Owl House

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Vi – League of Legends

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The Lamb – Cult of the Lamb

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Sophie Hatter – Howl’s Moving Castle

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Charlie Morningstar – Hazbin Hotel

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Susan Pevensie – The Chronicles of Narnia

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Saviorless Review – Short and Intense

Nicola Kapron — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 14:42:02 +0000

Saviorless Review

Saviorless is a 2D platformer with action elements, a gothic and religious horror atmosphere, and charming cartoony graphics that showcase some really unpleasant things. The narrators have botched the story they’re telling and the characters are fighting for the protagonist role. The controls are both frustrating and very fun, and the environments are both beautiful and unsettling. In short, it’s a game of contrasts.

In this title, an elderly narrator leads two apprentices through the story of Antar, a would-be savior traveling to the Smiling Islands. However, the kids are tired of Antar as a protagonist and his story ending with failure. When their teacher’s attention lapses, they switch to a new protagonist. Soon, the broken narrative begins to spiral out of control.

The secret of the Smiling Islands awaits, as does the truth behind why Antar has been doomed by the narrative. And even after Antar gains the power of a Savior, breaking out of the path laid for him may be impossible.

Saviorless is a religious horror game about trying to escape the path laid out for you… and a meta horror game about the price of defying the narrative. If you’re interested in weird meta games, you owe it to yourself to check Saviorless out. Everything from the art to the sound design to the frustrating gameplay is designed to enhance its storytelling.

Characters at War With the Narrative

Saviorless presented me with a lot of visual worldbuilding, but very few solid answers as to what set Antar’s story in motion. Lingering questions about where Antar came from, what a savior actually does, and what the Smiling Islands are haunt the game. However, nothing haunts this game more than the narrators and the implications of their existence.

The story of Antar wasn’t meant to go this way. But a pair of careless children threw the tale off the rails, and now everything is in jeopardy. As the game continues, more narrators appear to try and guide Antar to the outcome they desire. And another character, the hunter Nento, begins trying to take control of the narrative for his own purposes. The result feels like a religious parable gone wrong.

The game spends a lot of time questioning what it means to be the protagonist of a story. And what it means to be the narrator telling the story. It openly questions how much control the narrator actually has, especially when two protagonists are going head-to-head over the story’s outcome. And the frustrating gameplay only adds to the already thick atmosphere.

Saviorless combines a dense and unpleasant atmosphere straight out of a FromSoft title with meta storytelling, difficult platforming, and cartoony art direction. The result is far more than the sum of its parts.

Saviorless is 2D Platformer Meets Soulslike

Saviorless looks like a playable graphic novel. This allows the game to show some truly disturbing imagery without losing its simple visuals. The result feels slick and modern as well as uncanny and full of decay. It all feels like a cartoony take on the kind of ruined dark fantasy world that populates the Soulslike genre.

Antar, Nento, and Savior all resemble archetypes from religious or gothic horror, reinterpreted through a simplified, cartoony art style. Antar looks very much like a depiction of a young saint or a figure from Greek mythology. Savior’s masked visage and Nento’s horse-like head evoke a twisted, decaying atmosphere of humanity warped and betrayed.

There are some genuinely beautiful and genuinely chilling environments in this game, especially once Antar and Nento arrive in the Smiling Islands. And the soundscape includes some genuinely soothing music right alongside desperate, inhuman screams as a platforming obstacle. The player is often presented with the option to kill helpless creatures. And even hostile enemies have shockingly gruesome death animations.

Antar moves slowly, can’t run, and his jump animation takes quite a while. I had to think fast on my feet to get him where he needed to go. The platforming also starts out fairly simple, but by the halfway point the difficulty curve ramps up tremendously. Adding Savior’s time-limited action sections adds a new kind of stress. It was impossible to relax while playing Saviorless. And for a game about creeping unease and fighting the narrative, that’s perfect.

No Room For Error

Saviorless is pretty short–it can be completed in about 4-5 hours–but it’s an intense and grueling experience. Antar’s controls are a bit sluggish and his jump is a bit floaty, which can make his levels more of a precision platforming experience. If you don’t jump at exactly the right time, you’re going to die. This makes his chase sequences a complete nightmare. Especially since he has no attacks to speak of.

In contrast, Nento and Savior have much slicker controls and fast-paced combat skills. But Antar can only spend so much time as a Savior before he must return to his mortal body. And while Nento possesses overwhelming power, he’s not using it to make things better. Saviorless switches up its gameplay often enough to keep the player from settling into any sort of comfort with the controls. I think this is on purpose and it worked beautifully.

There is very little margin for error in most of Antar’s puzzles. Savior and Nento’s puzzles are comparatively simple because they can at least dash and hit people. Boss fights are a stressful, frantic experience right out of a Soulslike title, with a focus on trial and error. It’s technically fair but it sure is difficult. Each level also has collectible pages that are required to complete the story properly. Fortunately, if you miss a collectible, you can talk to an NPC to redo the level and find it.

All in all, Saviorless is an intense experience that I recommend to fans of difficult platforming and metafiction. The controls are frustrating on purpose, the puzzles are merciless, and the atmosphere is designed to stress you out. But the narrative is fantastic, especially when it’s at war with itself.

***PC code provided by the publisher***

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Lani’s Cosplay is Gorgeous, Evocative, and Hardcore

Nicola Kapron — Mon, 25 Mar 2024 15:43:59 +0000

Lani Cosplay Feature

Welcome back, cosplay fans! It’s time for the weekly COGconnected cosplay feature. This week, we’re going to take a look at the work of Lani. This cosplayer uses a mix of special effects, body language, and gorgeous costuming to create a sense of verisimilitude.

That’s impressive enough, but Lani also has a gift for alternate outfits and genderbends. No matter how many creative liberties they take, the result is always intense and gorgeous.

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Satoru Gojo – Jujutsu Kaisen

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Vi – League of Legends

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Jinx – League of Legends

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Diluc Ragnvindr – Genshin Impact

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Kaeya Alberich – Genshin Impact

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Scaramouche/Wanderer – Genshin Impact

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Tanjiro Kamado – Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba

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Ellie – The Last of Us

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Hawks – My Hero Academia

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Angel Devil – Chainsaw Man

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Lolbit – Five Nights at Freddy’s: Sister Location

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Yor Forger – Spy x Family

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Himiko Toga – My Hero Academia

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Jing Yuan – Honkai Star Rail

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Berserk Boy Review – The Best Kind of Retro

Nicola Kapron — Sat, 16 Mar 2024 04:12:49 +0000

Berserk Boy Review

Berserk Boy is a high-speed retro action platformer with a great soundtrack, gorgeous pixel art, and some classic retro attitude. The game clearly takes a lot of inspiration from the Mega Man franchise, especially the Mega Man X and Zero series. However, its Metroidvania elements, sound design, and cartoony flair give it its own identity as well.

In a world under siege by evil creatures known as Shades, humanity has banded together under the banner of the Resistance. Teens Kei and Dizzie go out searching for a powerful object called a Berserk Orb. Instead, Kei finds the mysterious talking bird Fiore. Fiore is on the run from the maniacal Dr. Genos, a scientist whose desire to harness Berserk Orbs for the sake of humanity has been eclipsed by greed for power.

After Fiore tries to merge with the orb and is overpowered by Dr. Genos, Kei makes one final attempt to save the day. He painfully merges with the orb himself, taking on a new form in the process: Berserk Boy. Now he must battle Dr. Genos’ army of Shades and colorful bosses to claim their Berserk Orbs and save the world.

If this sounds like a delightfully cheesy retro game premise, then congratulations, you’re Berserk Boy’s target audience. This game isn’t trying to be anything more than what it is. Fortunately, what it is happens to be incredibly fun.

Retro Platforming Action

Berserk Boy combines the premise of Mega Man with the attitude of Sonic the Hedgehog. The result is a slightly disjointed narrative, cheesy but fun dialog full of puns, and some entertaining characters. The game is definitely not story-driven, but the story it does have is funny. There is a lore cutscene, but you have to trigger it manually.

This title has two modes. Modern mode allows infinite retries, while retro mode has a set number of lives and stronger enemies. Either way, Berserk Boy has very slick mechanics. Platforming is smooth and easy. However, what each button does is not always clearly explained. I found myself making mistakes fairly often, adding to the trial and error.

The Metroidvania elements come in very quickly. It’s an odd experience to spot alternative paths in a platformer and be unable to actually follow them. Kei unlocks new forms with new abilities every time he beats a boss. However, the first form unlocked is probably the best for platforming, bar the one that flies. And it has a lot of movement-related unlockable powers. This is convenient, but it does mean other forms have limited options. Some seemed to be made entirely for puzzles rather than actual combat.

The game encourages you to replay levels repeatedly between exploration attempts to afford the Metroidvania-style upgrades. The ranking system lowers your score for dying. When exploring a new path, you tend to die a lot. This encourages replaying previous levels, especially when you start hunting for the game’s many collectibles.

Berserk Boy Goes Hard

Berserk Boy is difficult and unforgiving with its platforming right from the start. The harsh ranking system and tons of hidden collectibles encourage replay. Beyond that, the game is challenging enough that raising your rank feels legitimately satisfying. It encourages you to learn the layout of each level thoroughly.

Some of the collectibles and optional paths are very well hidden. Others are more obvious, requiring the player to memorize the fastest route for the best score. I like that dashing is an attack as well as a dodge and a traversal mechanic. This allows for some very fun level arrangements. Of course, the flip side is that platforming tends to be more difficult than the bosses.

The soundtrack is genuinely fantastic. In fact, it may be some of my favorite video game music ever. It really adds that bouncy arcade feel to a very good faux-retro title. And no wonder, since they got composer Tee Lopes of Sonic Mania fame onboard.

Berserk Boy features simple but fun character designs, bright colors, and adorable sprites. I’m really fond of Kei’s various forms. The art style mixes timeless appeal and retro attitude. And the game’s levels feature large, lush, and colorful environments. The game is relatively short, but as I said, it rewards replaying levels over and over to master them and find all the secrets.

Voice acting is pretty sparse, simple, and exaggerated. It does add to the cartoony retro tone, though, so I won’t complain.

No Hand-Holding, No Mercy

Berserk Boy mostly comes by its difficulty honestly, but there are some sections that are just frustrating. I came to dread Dizzie showing up with her gun because the shooter sequences annoyed me so much. And while Metroidvania upgrades are well and good, the fact that you have to buy a double dash is the bane of my existence.

For some reason, the text boxes can occasionally block the sprites, making it hard to tell what’s happening. And some sound effects are annoying. The noise Kei makes when he dies is especially bad, and you’re likely to hear it a lot.

Finally, there is a major structural annoyance. After a certain point, you need to talk to a specific rescued NPC, then replay levels and gather badges to proceed. Although the game does hint at this, it’s a little unintuitive.

Overall, Berserk Boy takes much more from the likes of Mega Man than it does the Metroidvania genre. This is not a bug, it’s a feature. I for one am very happy we got a high-speed action Mega Man in 2024. If you enjoy retro platformers, get out there and play Berserk Boy.

***PC code provided by the publisher***

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Anaelic’s Cosplay is Too Gorgeous to Be Real

Nicola Kapron — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 04:33:03 +0000

Anaelic Cosplay Feature

Welcome back, cosplay fans! It’s time for the weekly COGconnected cosplay feature. This week, we’re going to take a look at the work of Anaelic. This cosplayer from Scotland has been crafting gorgeous and elaborate costumes for years. We’ve covered her in the past, and believe us, her skills have only gotten better.

Anaelic has a Masters in Mechanical Engineering, which might explain how she can craft such intricate cosplay props. She started cosplaying in 2012 and became a full-time cosplayer in 2021. Now she travel around the world judging cosplay competitions and working with game companies like Riot and miHoYo. Clearly she’s acquired her dream job.

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Keqing – Genshin Impact

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Mona – Genshin Impact

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Raiden Shogun – Genshin Impact

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Blanc – Goddess of Victory: Nikke

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Kotori Minami – Love Live!

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Caitlyn – League of Legends

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Sailor Neptune – Sailor Moon

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Bloom – Winx Club

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Tamarak Trail Review – An Addicting Cycle

Nicola Kapron — Thu, 29 Feb 2024 18:36:32 +0000

Tamarak Trail Review

Tamarak Trail is a deckbuilding roguelike set in the dark, haunted forests of Northern Canada. A great evil has descended from the skies and corrupted the land. Players take on the role of a lone adventurer and fight their way through randomly-generated trails to save the forest.

I had a chance to play Tamarak Trail’s preview build and had a lot of fun. I’m happy to say that basically every concern I had back then has been addressed. Atmospheric storytelling, complex gameplay, and an eerie but welcoming art style make this game is a blast to play.

As players advance through the game, they unlock dice faces with unique effects. Add these faces to the dice and rearrange them in any order based on your current strategy. And if you’re rolling manually, you can pick the faces that come up more often to tilt the odds in your favor.

The game is still difficult but no longer as brutally frustrating as the preview. Customizing your dice is incredibly fun. And each of the three player characters has a unique dice pool that encourages different strategies.

There’s Something in the Woods

The feel of Tamarak Trail is conveyed through its moody visuals and eerie soundscape. This title is gameplay-focused and not very narrative heavy. However, that doesn’t stop the titular trail from coming alive during each run. The writing reinforces the atmosphere with spare and often grim description of the monsters in the woods. This links smoothly with the ability to scroll ahead and plan your route through the trail.

I really love how this game looks. The art looks like something out of a graphic novel: stylized but still anchored in reality. The realistic character and animal designs form a wonderful contrast with the increasingly spooky monster designs. As you delve deeper into the woods, the environment and the enemies become increasingly twisted and visceral. The soundscape is quite subdued in comparison, but it lends the game a quiet, foreboding atmosphere.

This title is definitely a horror game, but a relatively mild horror game. Nothing here would be inappropriate for older children and teenagers. The gameplay might be more of an obstacle there, because dice effects can get very complicated. Especially as they stack.

Character selection is also important. The Detective is a squishy rogue who specializes in status effects. The Magician is an equally squishy mage who builds up powerful elemental combos. And the Tracker is a warrior with a gun. Each of them has their own aesthetic, preferred gameplay styles, and skills. But there’s nothing stopping you from building the Magician as a tank or the Detective as an engine of destruction.

Tamarak Trail is Easy to Learn and Hard to Master

Tamarak Trail is wonderfully complicated. There are tons of status effects to inflict and combos to build. As you progress, you unlock new dice, dice faces, puzzles, and beneficial effects. Upgrading the lodge and gaining new player characters adds more and more complexity to the game.

You can customize your dice for as many strategies as you have the resources for. Running defense-focused dice alongside DPS dice and status effect-heavy dice is completely viable. I did notice that the game allows for some mild dice rigging. Not sure if that was intentional, but it did add an extra layer of strategy.

Combat is slow and strategic. This game won’t test your reflexes, but it does test your memory of how status effects can build on each other. Inflicting, curing, and managing these effects is more important than raw damage.

Resolve is both the fuel for dice effects and your defense against incoming damage. If you’re not careful, you can accidentally get killed because you lack the Resolve to defend yourself. Some dice faces have an extra cost, some will exhaust and need refreshing, and some are a great bargain. You can use a dice face that costs slightly more Resolve than you can spare. However, the face will exhaust until you spend more Resolve to refresh it.

It’s important to remember which faces you have on each dice. Even the order you roll them can depend on which outcomes are possible on each die. Also, rather than punish you for setting up an infinite combo, the game rewards you for it with a special effect. And all without breaking game balance. Instead, the game encourages you to find more infinite combos and learn what they all do.

Short and Sweet

Tamarak Trail is not a long game, but it is a good one. A full run only lasts a few hours, but the game has endless replay value. And it contains a lot more optional stuff to unlock. It’s also a game that feels good to play. In the demo, I often felt at the mercy of RNG. Playing the full release, I felt like a strategist battling steep odds. Clearly something went spectacularly right in the game balancing department.

The game tells you which sides of the dice will be affected by any given face’s effect. This made creating possible combos easy and fun. However, it also made limited Resolve a constant stressor. Just because you roll something useful doesn’t mean you can play it. Choosing to Autoroll means a basically guaranteed bump. Possibly multiple bumps, which can be great if you have bump-specific faces. As bumping dice now increases the cost of using them, I recommend rolling manually instead.

I do have a few complaints. The game did occasionally softlock on me when I entered an event tile. I got it to stop by returning to the menu until it started working again. I also found a few minor typos, and I wish the game didn’t automatically reset your character to the Detective after each run. But overall, I had a great time with this game and I think you will, too.

A good roguelike leaves you as enchanted as you are frustrated. Tamarak Trail is a good roguelike. If you don’t play this game, you’re doing yourself a disservice. Play Tamarak Trail.

***PC code provided by the publisher***

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Klepto’s Cosplay is Sweeter and More Gorgeous Than Ever

Nicola Kapron — Mon, 12 Feb 2024 06:06:16 +0000

Klepto Cosplay Feature

Welcome back, cosplay fans! It’s time for the weekly COGconnected cosplay feature. This week, we’re going to take a look at the work of Klepto. We covered Klepto a few years back, and her craft has only improved since then. She makes costumes that are beautiful, game-accurate, and durable. And she cosplays characters repeatedly to make sure each photoset is better than the last.

This Japanese cosplayer is also a gamer. Recently, she’s been playing Final Fantasy VII Remake in full Tifa Lockhart cosplay on her Twitch channel. That’s one way to combine your interests.

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Kainé – NieR

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Yuna – Final Fantasy X

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Chuya Nakahara – Bungo Stray Dogs

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Amabie

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Ellie Williams – The Last of Us

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Ookurikara – Touken Ranbu

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Aoba Seragaki – Dramatical Murder

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Tifa Lockhart – Final Fantasy VII

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Another Code: Recollection Review – Good Memories

Nicola Kapron — Mon, 05 Feb 2024 14:00:06 +0000

Another Code: Recollection Review

Another Code: Recollection is a remake of two existing games: Another Code: Two Memories for the Nintendo DS and Another Code: R – A Journey Into Lost Memories for the original Wii. And having experienced the remake, I’m now kicking myself for having missed these gems. If you like character development, complicated families, and relatively simple puzzles, you can’t miss this title.

Another Code: Recollection opens with two murders taking place about 50 years apart. Years later, 13-year-old Ashley Mizuki Robins receives two things from her presumed-dead father. One of them is a DAS, a device that looks like a game console, with an invitation to Blood Edward Island. The other is a birthday card. Her Aunt Jessica encourages her to give her father a chance, so Ashley goes to the island to find her father. When she’s separated from her aunt, she finds an amnesiac ghost and a mystery instead.

The second half of the game picks up two years later. 16-year-old Ashley investigates her mother’s secrets in a resort town. There, she teams up with a young runaway named Matthew who’s looking for a missing family member. In both sections, she grapples with the secrets her parents have kept from her while deciding what she wants to do with her future.

Memory is the Key

Another Code: Recollection is a short but engaging story of troubled family relationships, trauma, and the complicated bond between parent and child. The remake streamlines the plot of the original games quite a bit. This is to be expected when fusing two distinct games into one. And a fair bit of new content has been changed in both sections. I’ll be talking mainly about the first half when I touch on the narrative to avoid spoilers.

In the first half, Ashley finds herself on Blood Edward Island. The family that used to live on the island died, leaving it deserted. However, a specter calling himself D lingered alone for 57 years. D asks her for her help regaining his lost memories as she searches for her family. The secrets of his past can solve the mysteries of her present. A tale of family, betrayal, and repressed memories unfolds.

This game is incredibly story-driven. The cutscenes are frequent and lengthy. You may want to let the game advance automatically through them. Otherwise, you’ll have to do a lot of button-mashing. There’s a ton of dialog to get through and most of it is quite charming. Ashley is clearly going through a lot, but her teenage angst doesn’t overpower her curiosity and compassion for her companions.

Another Code: Recollection is a Solid Remake

When Another Code: Recollection isn’t a parade of cutscenes, it’s a third-person adventure game. The player must advance the story through choices, solving puzzles, and using the DAS. You can take pictures of interesting objects and scenery. Some of these can help with puzzle-solving. There are also secret messages hidden in each game. Scanning them with the DAS reveals more pieces of the story.

The DAS also contains a map of the cast, complete with notes that update when Ashley discovers something new. This is very handy for keeping track of plot twists. Each half of the game offers an engaging mystery story. I saw more than one major twist coming, but watching things play out stayed fun.

Constantly flitting between the past and present gives the game a dream-like quality. The graphics are adorable and brightly colored, and the reworked visual style is soft and expressive. The environment design is grand and atmospheric, perfect for investigating an abandoned mansion with a friendly ghost. Or a pleasant resort town with dark secrets.

I really like the character designs. They’re all very endearing. Ashley’s perpetual blush isn’t always fitting for the situation, though. And the voice acting is quite solid and expressive, though Ashley’s grunts are a bit loud. The soundtrack glides from soothing to foreboding easily, but some sound effects are a bit loud in comparison.

A Story Unfolding in the Past and the Present

As I played Another Code: Recollection, I was overcome with a deep and potent feeling of nostalgia. Not only is this a remake of two older games, it’s also about rediscovering the past. Abandoned rooms full of once-cherished items and severed relationships waiting to be understood. It’s a really interesting mood and I can’t recommend the experience enough.

However, like in many adventure games, this title requires the player to go through a series of specific steps to solve some puzzles. It can be really irritating to have solved a puzzle only for the game to stop you from using the solution until you’ve jumped through the right hoops. The cutscenes are fully-voiced, but in-engine text tends not to be.

Also, the camera moves really slowly. I kept having to examine items and rooms from different angles and it was a pain every time. And even with the built-in DAS camera, some puzzles still required me to take notes. The game only lets you save 10 pictures at a time, so you need to be quite careful with what you photograph.

There were a few strange choices made when stitching the original titles together. For some reason, there’s a single first-person POV exploration section. And the game is fairly short, only about 14 hours of gameplay. The puzzles aren’t too difficult, either–I solved a few just by trial and error. If you’re looking for real difficulty, you won’t find it here. The game offers navigation assist and puzzle hints, so people who aren’t good at puzzles should be fine.

All in all, I had a great time with Another Code: Recollection. I recommend it to fans of interesting stories, mysteries, and puzzles. It won’t provide a real challenge, but it has a great atmosphere. And if you haven’t played the original games, this is a great opportunity to fill the hole in your library.

***Switch code provided by the publisher***

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BlazBlue Entropy Effect Review – Fun But Confusing

Nicola Kapron — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 02:00:21 +0000

BlazBlue Entropy Effect Review

BlazBlue Entropy Effect is the latest standalone installment in the BlazBlue franchise. It strays from the guidelines of previous entries by being neither a fighting game nor a visual novel. Instead, it puts the iconic cast of BlazBlue into a cyberpunk roguelite. The result has some striking highs and equally striking lows.

The game takes place in a cyberspace called ACE, the last resort of a dying world. A user known as an ACER struggles to train their mind, uncover records of the past, and unlock a hidden truth. These goals are accomplished by playing as Prototypes–i.e. the BlazBlue cast–and battling your way through Mind Training sessions.

In true BlazBlue fashion, the story is very present but also very obtuse. The franchise’s plot has been notoriously difficult to understand since the original Calamity Trigger. Fortunately for newcomers, Entropy Effect is a standalone spinoff entry. Unfortunately, it has its own heaping helping of convoluted lore. The mysterious Entropy Particles, a fight against human extinction, and a dead scientist all play a key role in the mysteries of ACE.

Fast-Paced, Addicting Combat

The main star of BlazBlue Entropy Effect is the combat. And believe me, it deserves the accolades. Each character has a distinct playstyle, there are tons of moves to unlock, and everything is customizable. It combines the joy of learning a fighting games mechanics inside and out with the unpredictable thrill of a roguelite. Needless to say, I’m a fan.

Easy and Normal combat difficulties are available. You play through a selection of environments, fighting enemies and avoid traps, and overcome a boss at the end. Each run is fast-paced, intense, and plays out differently based on the upgrades you choose. Some combinations are far more potent than others. The runs are also just regular fast, generally topping out around 20 minutes. Perfect for bite-sized chunks of action. The fast pace encourages players to take risks and experiment.

This game has an incredible amount of replay value. I really enjoy the ability to borrow skills from previous runs with different characters. This is good, because advancing the story means replaying the same levels over and over. It would get repetitive without the sheer mechanical variety. You can also add additional difficulty before the run and apply or remove further debuffs through events. The result is an experience that can be customized to your liking. No matter how tough you like your roguelites, BlazBlue Entropy Effect has you covered.

The game also requires to do almost as much reading and combo memorization as the average fighting game does. And that is a surprisingly cerebral genre. If you’re not good at memorizing very specific button inputs and hitting them perfectly, this game is going to be frustrating. That said, the sheer amount of skills and tactics to unlock is delightful.

BlazBlue Entropy Effect is a Standalone Spinoff

I’m going to be very blunt here: this game is confusing. Knowing the lore of the main BlazBlue series is unlikely to help you understand BlazBlue Entropy Effect. The confusion comes less from the actual lore being overly convoluted and more from the intentionally obtuse presentation. The game begins with the tutorial for using ACE. What ACE actually is and the state of the real world outside its digital environment are revealed slowly as you progress.

As you proceed through the Mind Training, you gather Phenomena, visions of a world being choked by dangerous Entropy Particles. It slowly becomes clear that ACE and its Mind Training were created as a way to protect the human brain from the Entropy Particles flooding the Earth. But the world of ACE is full of secrets, and some people are willing to do anything to reveal them.

The game was definitely trying to lull me into a false sense of security along with the ACER. Unfortunately, the sluggish was often hard to tell what horrors I was supposed to be being distracted from. Also, despite having the BlazBlue cast be playable, this game is completely standalone. This removes the need to know all of the franchise’s complex lore.

However, it’s also disappointing. BlazBlue might be confusing, but it’s a fascinating story with a deeply dysfunctional cast. It’s a shame to see them reduced to set dressing.

A Glitch in the Matrix

BlazBlue has always been stylish, and BlazBlue Entropy Effect is no exception. The sound design is incredibly slick. The voice acting is solid and adds to the cyberpunk atmosphere. The character design reuses the franchise’s tried and tested cast with little to no changes. They’re very anime, but they fit nicely into the game’s gorgeous environments and the combat is genuinely stunning.

The little robots in ACE were absolutely adorable. I had a lot of fun zooming around as a little hoverbot. And there are a lot of visual effects designed to make the game’s environments feel virtual. They contrast sharply with the more realistic but still stylized graphics used during Phenomena sequences. I did miss the more orchestral sound of older BlazBlue games. This game has more of a modern cyberpunk techno feel. It’s not bad, but it is lacking some of the fantastical grandeur.

When I played BlazBlue Entropy Effect for review, I knew it was still in development. The 12-player multiplayer mode was still under construction, so I couldn’t try it out. I also noticed a number of bugs. Sometimes tutorial text would overlap with menus, making it hard to read. I had an NPC’s voice suddenly switch languages on me. Also, a few conversations with NPCs were still using placeholder dialog. All of these errors made the story harder to understand, but they didn’t impact gameplay at all.

All in all, BlazBlue Entropy Effect is a fun experience with slick combat. I just wish it felt like the BlazBlue title meant something. Right now, it seems like an unrelated game got put under the BlazBlue umbrella for marketing purposes. Oh well, at least Taokaka is still fun to play.

***PC code provided by the publisher***

The post BlazBlue Entropy Effect Review – Fun But Confusing appeared first on COGconnected.

Maruzee Dragon’s Cosplay is Action-Packed and Sensational

Nicola Kapron — Sun, 21 Jan 2024 14:00:48 +0000

Maruzee Dragon Cosplay Feature

Welcome back, cosplay fans! It’s time for the weekly COGconnected cosplay feature. This week, we’re going to take a look at the work of Maruzee Dragon. Also known as Mel Abbruzzese, this Canadian cosplayer specializes in transition cosplay. That means she posts a ton of short videos where she appears to instantly get into costume while doing something else. And since she’s a stuntwoman and martial artist, her transitions can be very exciting.

Maruzee Dragon can actually do the high-octane stunts that so many anime and video game girls pull off. As a result, her cosplay is as gorgeous as it is action-packed.

Maki Zenin – Jujutsu Kaisen

Sith – Star Wars

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Gwen Stacy – Spider-Gwen

Yor Forger – Spy x Family

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Miss Twisted’s Cosplay is Literally Unbelievable

Nicola Kapron — Sun, 31 Dec 2023 14:00:59 +0000

Miss Twisted Cosplay Feature

Welcome back, cosplay fans! It’s time for the weekly COGconnected cosplay feature. This week, we’re going to take a look at the work of Miss Twisted. This cosplayer and costumer has been creating incredibly complex outfits, armor, and headbands for about a decade. While some cosplayers adore bringing an existing character to life, she enjoys creating brand-new looks. As a result, she excels in creating cosplays based on non-human characters and characters from more elaborate fantasy properties, such as Dungeons and Dragons.

Miss Twisted’s creations push the limits of the believable. Her harpies have moving tufts of feathers, her angels have a multitude of blinking eyes, and some of the wings she crafts can open. The result is absolutely otherworldly.

Stella – Helluva Boss

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Aarovos – The Dragon Prince

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Nightmare Moon – My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

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Lae’zel – Baldur’s Gate 3

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Karlach – Baldur’s Gate 3

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Fallen Angel

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Juniper the Alchemist – Dungeons and Dragons

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Lilith – Solium Infernum

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The Lady of Pain – Dungeons and Dragons

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Star Ocean: The Second Story R Review – A Remake to Remember

Nicola Kapron — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 23:42:52 +0000

Star Ocean: The Second Story R Review

Star Ocean: The Second Story R is one of the best remakes I’ve ever played. From its polished combat to its lush visuals to its gorgeous sound design, this game has it all. And somehow it manages to make a game from the late 90s feel like a cutting-edge title. I am genuinely in awe of how Square Enix pulled this off.

This game picks up a few decades after Star Ocean: The First Departure left off: far in the future and on a distant planet resembling a fantasy land. Rena Lanford lives quietly in a small village on the fantastical world of Expel. After a mysterious object fell from the sky, Expel has been suffering from mysterious disasters. Prophecies say that a hero bearing a Sword of Light and wearing the garb of a foreign land will come save the people. Claude C. Kenny is an underachieving student at a sci-fi officer’s academy.

When an incident sends Claude to the low-tech planet of Expel, Rena mistakes his advanced weaponry for the sword of light. She decides that he’s the hero sent to save her world from the cataclysms affecting it. Meanwhile, Claude is a lost space traveler doing a very bad job of sticking to the Prime Directive. After a close encounter with a brainwashed friend-turned-monster, she and Claude set out to find the truth and save Expel. And if they can get Claude back home, all the better.

Science Fantasy Done Right

Needless to say, Star Ocean: The Second Story R has two distinct protagonists, Claude and Rena. Each of their storylines focuses on different elements of the game and features different sides of certain scenes. Claude’s storyline focuses more on the game’s sci-fi elements while Rena’s storyline focuses more on the fantasy elements. But whichever POV you’re looking through, this title is a spectacular mix of genres.

The clash between the fantasy and sci-fi genres forms the core of the Star Ocean franchise. Star Ocean: The Second Story is perhaps the purest example of this. The contrast between Rena, determined to go on an adventure, and Claude, determined to go home, is sharp and always in focus. As the adventure continues, it becomes clear that what’s happening on Expel is far more important than Claude thinks. And Rena is about to realize how large the universe really is.

Both protagonists have their own baggage, especially as it relates to their families. The death of Rena’s father and the knowledge that she’s adopted affect her deeply. Meanwhile, Claude struggles under the pressure of being related to a family of heroes… and the realization that he may never see his home again. All the other party members are optional, but they bring their own struggles to the table. From romantic turmoil to body horror, everyone had something they need to deal with. And if they’re lucky, overcome.

Star Ocean: The Second Story R is a Great Remake

Star Ocean: The Second Story R has some spectacular sci-fi visuals and vast, sweeping fantasy vistas. The combination of detailed but retro sprites and lush 3D environments works much better than I expected. Even the lighting on the sprites is incredibly immersive. And they’re so expressive. Watching Claude glance away awkwardly while Rena innocently treads on his feelings is very fun.

The game offers a ton of customization, including English and Japanese voice acting. There’s also a choice of arranged and original background music and an option to turn the anime-style event art off. However, the new art is so gorgeous and in keeping with the original art style that I don’t see why you’d turn it off. The English voice acting is genuinely wonderful. The cast clearly brought their A-game and it paid off big time. It makes me wish the game was fully-voiced.

Combat is nuanced and fun. Between a variety of upgradeable skills, a customizable arsenal of combat skills, combos, and a bonus gauge. The battle system feels incredibly polished. This made leveling up quick and fun. The downside is that my guest characters tended to be hilariously under leveled when they arrived. The sheer variety of available party members also adds a lot of playstyle variety. And there are even chained battles.

Also, the camera angles in this title are beautifully cinematic. I do wish you could change the camera angle to see your surroundings outside the world map, though. Navigating around offscreen enemies with the mini-map can be irritating.

So Much to Do

This game feels big. Every NPC has something to say and there are tons of hidden chests to find. Star Ocean: The Second Story R is no Trails game, but frankly, it doesn’t need to be. Not every JRPG needs to infodump for 20 minutes about fantasy finances and geopolitics to make its setting feel real. There are three difficulty levels: Earth, Galaxy, and Universe. They correspond to Easy, Normal, and Hard modes.

Add in the wide variety of Specialty and combination skills, and you have a recipe for a game that feels packed with things to unlock and discover. Speaking of which, if you like item crafting, Star Ocean 2 has you covered. Investing in the crafting system will unlock endgame-level gear early. It’s great.

This game might be one of the best-designed mini-maps I’ve ever seen in JRPGs. It’s tiny but detailed, easy to ignore but incredibly useful. Sadly, the game’s text display window is a little small. It keeps cutting sentences off halfway through to scroll down. The ability to check the text backlog and voice-acting make up the difference. But the problem is still noticeable.

All in all, Star Ocean: The Second Story R is a great experience. If you have the slightest interest in sci-fi, fantasy, and action RPGs, you owe it to yourself to play it. This remake proves that old games can become new and better than ever.

***Switch code provided by the publisher***

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Wisdom Kaye Presents Mind-Blowing High Fashion Cosplay

Nicola Kapron — Sun, 03 Dec 2023 14:34:54 +0000

Wisdom Kaye Cosplay Feature

Welcome back, cosplay fans! It’s time for the weekly COGconnected cosplay feature. This week, we’re going to take a look at the work of Wisdom Kaye. Many of the cosplayers we cover here are hobbyists. Wisdom Kaye is a model who’s worked with brands like Gucci, Dior, and Coach. He’s been called the best-dressed man on TikTok and his glorious closet cosplays prove it.

Rather than aim for game or cartoon-accurate builds, the Nigerian-American model aims to capture the vibes of each character in a high-fashion outfit. The results are unbelievable and sometimes seem to defy the laws of physics.

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The Last Faith Review – Faith is Rewarded

Nicola Kapron — Mon, 27 Nov 2023 14:01:18 +0000

The Last Faith Review

The Last Faith is an unholy hybrid of Castlevania and Bloodborne, and I love it. And since I have avoided the Soulslike genre on the principle that very difficult games make me very angry, this is quite the feat. There’s a trick to balancing the endless backtracking and exploration of a Metroidvania with a Soulslike’s punishing, brutal combat. And believe me, The Last Faith has very much found that balance.

In this game, the heavily-armed wanderer Eryk awakens in the darkness of an abandoned chapel. To escape, he must fight his way through the monsters and infected pilgrims surrounding it. As he travels, it becomes clear that the land is under a horrific curse… and Eryk is also being affected. Seeking a cure brings him into conflict with ancient religions and forgotten divinities.

Picking fights with corrupt churches, deranged worshippers, and eldritch gods is classic Soulslike material. And it’s not unheard of for Metroidvanias, either. What makes The Last Faith really stand out is its dedication to the gothic horror and Lovecraftian horror aesthetics.

It’s genuinely incredible how gorgeous, grim, and grotesque the game’s world is. Whether you’re piecing together the plot from item descriptions and notes or just enjoying the gothic ambiance. I did notice the occasional typo and the dialog can be a bit opaque. However, the overall vibes of The Last Faith are impeccable.

A New Dawn

Like many other Soulslikes, The Last Faith offers four classes: Brawler, Rogue, Stargazer, and Marksman. Each specializes in a few stats and sacrifices the rest. Brawler focuses on Strength, which is perfect for heavy melee weapons. While Marksman focuses on Instinct, amplifying the effects of ranged weapons. All classes can wield anything, however, allowing for incredible freedom and customization in fighting style. Different weapons have very different speeds and hitboxes. And they scale with different stats.

Like many other Metroidvanias, The Last Faith also offers a variety of power-ups and unlocks new exploration options over time. Many of these, such as the air dash and double jump, are also key to mid- and late-game combat. The difficulty ramps up as you get deeper into the blighted lands.

Speaking of which, the game’s combat is as brutal and unforgiving as you’d expect. If you don’t learn enemy attack patterns quickly, even the first foe can bring you down in about five hits. And this title can be stingy with its consumable health items. Having to scrape them up from crates and enemies makes retrying boss fights more difficult than it needs to be.

That said, boss fights themselves are difficult, but fair. Enemy attacks are clearly telegraphed and you can clear any fight untouched if you’re skilled enough. And finally defeating a boss after memorizing its movements is an amazing experience. However, the game has very little mercy for those who aren’t good at frame-perfect parries.

The Last Faith Has the Strengths of Two Genres

I think The Last Faith is close to a perfect fusion of two genres with very different strengths. The joy of a Metroidvania lies in exploring every inch of a sprawling map, taking in the sights and finding secrets. The joy of a Soulslike comes from throwing yourself into a meatgrinder with masochistic enthusiasm until your hard work finally pays off. This game has both, which I didn’t know was possible. And it also has a beautiful gothic map stocked with hidden rooms and secret bosses.

I love the art direction in this game. The colors are fitting, the environments are gorgeous, and the pixel art cutscenes hit the perfect balance between detailed and stylized. It’s astonishing how many different grim and gruesome environments the game features. I kept expecting the areas to get same-y, but it never happened. The character designs range from acceptable to some of the most spectacularly creepy imagery in pixel games. I absolutely adore some of these bosses.

The game’s soundtrack is beautiful and ominous in all the best ways. It’s tremendously atmospheric and fits perfectly with the gothic pixel art visuals. Also, it has some of the best character select music I’ve ever heard. Furthermore, the Last Faith’s use of sound cues is nerve-wracking. Just about every eerie cry can be traced back to an actual source. I kept jumping while in various menus because I could hear monsters wandering around while the screen was up.

The voice acting is also pretty solid. Eryk’s grunts and groans in combat can be a bit tinny, but his exaggerated growl in cutscenes feels perfect for a gothic horror protagonist. The rest of the cast all sound distinct and charming in their own right. Eryk is easily my favorite, though, and I wish he talked more.

Prepare to Die Repeatedly

The game is pretty linear for a Metroidvania, but the Soulslike elements compensate by making every screen a stressful experience. Backtracking can be as nerve-wracking as exploring a new area. And you constantly catch glimpses of new areas in your travels, so it doesn’t feel like you’re being railroaded. Also, I love that the map shows a difference between locked and unlocked doors. All Metroidvanias should have that feature.

I did get myself into trouble a few times when the Metroidvania instinct to explore every corner of a map clashed with the Soulslike genre’s trademark brutality. There are lots of hidden secrets tucked away, but there are also some fast game overs. Unlike in most Metroidvanias, jumping into a pit is an immediate death sentence. And the game is definitely a Soulslike. If you aren’t prepared to screech and rage-quit at least once, this probably isn’t for you.

There’s an incredibly small margin of error for parrying and it requires two buttons be hit just right. I ended up not using that mechanic much at all. Dodging worked well enough. And it’s irritating that the game does not pause during menus. Also, I do wish you could reload manually instead of restocking on bullets at save points. But I can’t say that I didn’t have fun.

All in all, The Last Faith is an aggravating, frustrating, and incredibly difficult experience. But it’s gorgeous, delightfully gothic, and finally getting to a new area–or fighting a new boss–is incredibly rewarding. An experienced Soulslike gamer will probably have a great time with this title. And if you’ve never played a Soulslike before, this is a good place to start.

***PC code provided by the publisher***

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Persona 5 Tactica Review – That Revolutionary Spirit

Nicola Kapron — Tue, 14 Nov 2023 17:00:35 +0000

Persona 5 Tactica Review

Persona 5 Tactica takes the rebellious themes of Persona 5 and puts them in an adorable strategy RPG. The result is far from perfect, but it’s still a ton of fun to explore. Last week, I had the chance to preview this title, and most of what I said then still holds true now. But like a new spinoff of a successful franchise, what’s new is still worth a look.

In this game, the Phantom Thieves of Hearts take on isekai fantasy, multiple flavors of tyranny, and strategy RPG mechanics. First, they’re tossed into a mysterious corner of the Metaverse dubbed a Kingdom. Then the tyrannical Marie attacks them and they have to team up with mysterious revolutionary Erina to fight back. And then they find Toshiro, a missing politician in line to become Prime Minister, locked up in Marie’s jail.

Defeating Marie is far from easy, especially when Toshiro recovers some scrambled memories and realizes she’s his abusive fiancé in the real world. And as soon as she falls, the gang ends up in another Kingdom with another cruel tyrant. Getting home means carving their way through each Kingdom and recovering Toshiro’s lost memories. In other words, just another week for the Phantom Thieves.

Commence the Mission

Persona 5 Tactica takes a very unique approach to strategy RPGs inspired by Persona 5’s mechanics. You can only have three characters on the field at any given time. Positioning is incredibly important thanks to cover mechanics and All-Out Attacks depending on it. Every single character has a gun, so maintaining a clear line of sight while avoiding enemy sightlines is key.

I like the way verticality plays into tactics. Getting the high ground makes it harder for enemies to hit you. And allows you to rain gunfire on your foes with near impunity. At the same time, enemies often spawn in high places, adding to the difficulty. I also really enjoy the game’s cover mechanics. Hiding behind various objects, shooting around corners, and aiming spells through walls is incredibly fun. Could do with a few less level gimmicks, though.

It’s a good thing quests are optional because some of them are incredibly frustrating. I got completely stumped on one that seemed entirely dependent on RNG, which is never a good look. Speaking of which, I overlooked this during the preview, but I have a very serious question for the game designers. Why on earth are there two separate Quest menus with the same information? And why can you only accept quests from one of them? This is a terrible design choice.

This title has really, really good sound design. The voice acting is great and the music is genuinely lovely. The art style is pretty solid, too, with an array of adorable and cartoony character designs. Although the Kingdoms’ denizens can be hard to take seriously, the main cast looks great. And the environment design is solid and the boss designs are spectacular.

Persona 5 Tactica Tears Down Tyranny

In general, this game is cartoonier and significantly lighter than the source material. In Persona 5, the Phantom Thieves came together because their lives were ruined by those in power. This ranged from chronic injury to extortion to sexual abuse. They fought over-the-top supervillains because those supervillains were explicit caricatures of the corrupt adults around them. Seeing them run around fighting a more typical supervillain in the name of justice feels tonally dissonant.

That said, the game does tackle a variety of social issues ranging from the surveillance state to political corruption to abusive relationships. While it focuses primarily on government corruption and tyranny as a whole, it examines those themes from every angle. And the presentation is as stylish as ever.

On a related note, the Phantom Thieves of Heart submitting to the command of a politician feels weird after everything they went through. As the story unravels, it becomes clear that Toshiro’s struggles as a disillusioned politician form the core of each Kingdom. To save the struggling citizens, the Phantom Thieves must help Toshiro break out of his learned helplessness. This is all fascinating, but the game focuses so much on Toshiro that I have to wonder why the Phantom Thieves are even here.

The biggest issue I have with this title is that it doesn’t feel like this game needed the Persona 5 label attached. It could have worked just fine with the original characters. In fact, the deeper I got into the game, the more surprised I was that Erina and Toshiro weren’t the protagonists. The dynamic between the cowardly, cynical politician and the idealistic rebel firebrand is engaging. Toshiro gets the strategist role in the narrative that player-insert characters are often assigned. Adding Joker and the Phantom Thieves into the mix seems a bit unnecessary.

This Isn’t Where the Story Ends

Now for some more criticism. Basically, every level features enemy reinforcements. They rapidly stopped being a surprise and started being a given. This is annoying, because their sudden appearance complicated pre-battle planning. Also, there are still a ton of loading screens. Making some screens have distinct loading screens doesn’t change this. I counted about three distinct loading screens and they all take too long.

There are five difficulty modes, but levels themselves vary wildly in difficulty, especially when new gimmicks are introduced. Once I failed a level entirely on Normal difficulty because it took me seven turns to figure out its door-opening gimmick. The End Turn and Undo Turn buttons are crucial to progress. It feels odd for a strategy game to expect you to do so much trial and error.

The first boss fight is a grand spectacle and coming up with strategies to defeat Marie’s wedding tank is incredibly fun. I was genuinely disappointed when the scripted ending kicked in. Marie’s defeat was entertaining enough, but it didn’t feel like I’d actually won that fight.

All in all, Persona 5 Tactica is far from perfect. But it looks pretty sound, it sounds excellent, and it is fun. If you just want to see more of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, you could certainly do worse. And if you open your heart to the new cast, Erina and Toshiro have a lot going for them. Just be prepared to replay levels a lot on higher difficulties.

***Switch code provided by the publisher***

The post Persona 5 Tactica Review – That Revolutionary Spirit appeared first on COGconnected.

Senapi Cosplay Brings the Summer Heat All Year Round

Nicola Kapron — Sun, 12 Nov 2023 14:00:39 +0000

Senapi Cosplay Feature

Welcome back, cosplay fans! It’s time for the weekly COGconnected cosplay feature. This week, we’re going to take a look at the work of Senapi Cosplay. This Polish cosplayer is a big fan of League of Legends. She’s such a big fan that she’s joined Project: League, a Polish fan community for the game. Needless to say, her League cosplays are absolutely top-notch. And she frequently attends League events in full costume.

League of Legends isn’t her only passion, though. Senapi Cosplay works in interior design, a career choice that has a lot in common with her cosplay hobby. She’d love to continue expanding her cosplaying and she definitely has the skill for it.

Check out page 2 for more amazing cosplay.

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Jinx – League of Legends

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Soraka – League of Legends

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Leona – League of Legends

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Kai’Sa – League of Legends

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Akali – League of Legends

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Persona 5 Tactica Raises the Flag of Rebellion Once More

Nicola Kapron — Sun, 05 Nov 2023 13:08:29 +0000

Persona 5 Tactica Preview

Persona 5 Tactica is the latest spinoff title featuring Persona 5‘s iconic cast of colorful characters. This time, the Phantom Thieves of Heart are stranded in a surreal fantasy Kingdom. And the new authoritarian threat they’re facing takes the form of a furious pink bride enslaving the populace with kisses. The game isn’t very subtle with its messaging, but with visuals and music like this, it doesn’t need to be.

This game starts in media res for the Phantom Thieves. In other words, it won’t make a ton of sense unless you’re already familiar with Persona 5. Fortunately, Persona 5 is a great game so I can happily recommend you play that first. Or at least watch the anime.

Joker and his friends prepare for the third years’ impending graduation–and Joker’s return to his hometown. While they’re reaffirming their bonds, a missing Prime Minister candidate sets the media and the internet ablaze with rumors about what happened to him. When the TV at Leblanc starts fritzing in the middle of a broadcast, the Phantom Thieves are transported to yet another strange new world.

There, Marie, a mysterious pink woman dressed like a bride, tries to mind control everyone into becoming her servants. Joker and Morgana manage to escape. They soon join forces with Erina, a rebel determined to overthrow Marie. They also find the missing politician Toshiro in Marie’s prison. Toshiro seems to have a connection to Marie, but he claims not to remember any details. Whatever the case, Joker must work with both of them to rescue his friends and return to Tokyo.

Persona 5 Tactica is a Refreshing New Direction

I wondered what a Persona 5 tactical RPG would look like. The answer is slick, stylish, and fun. Persona 5 Tactica does a good job of translating the stylish high-octane action of Persona 5 to a strategy RPG. The introduction of cover mechanics as a core gameplay mechanic is an interesting choice. But it does feel very in line with Persona 5’s stealth and movement gameplay.

The first tactic introduced is knocking the enemy out of cover with melee attacks and destroying them with ranged attacks. Limiting the number of active party members at a time to three is an odder choice. But it makes sense given the game’s focus on positioning and using cover. The same goes for other decisions, like making Personas a renewable crafting resource. Making All-Out Attacks depend on the positioning of your characters is brilliant, too.

I had to spend a lot of time trial and erroring my way through various stages. It was hard to judge enemy attack ranges. I can’t help thinking it would have been simpler if the grid was present by default.

There’s no city to wander freely around this time. Instead, you buy weapons, access the Velvet Room, and open dialogs from the hideout. The result is a game world that feels much smaller even though it’s a Kingdom instead of a city.

The Phantom Thieves are Back and Smaller Than Ever

The Phantom Thieves of Hearts are back again, this time in adorable Chibi form. I was afraid the art style shift might impact the game’s overall feel. However, I found that the game’s cute visuals actually added to the experience. Both because the new style allows for more surreal animation and because of Persona 5 Tactica’s take on its parent game’s themes of rebellion. There is a real sense of camaraderie between the characters that’s charming to watch.

The game features English and Japanese audio. And the English dub is genuinely fantastic. The distorted voices are especially effective this time around. And the music delivers another dose of Persona 5’s distinctive throbbing sound.

This title’s graphics are cute and stylized rather than highly detailed. This is not a complaint. The game looks really good. And the animated cutscenes bring on all the detail and flair that the 3D graphics lack. All the same, I found myself missing the more detailed designs from Persona 5 proper.

Most portal fantasy titles indulge in a sense of escapism and show off fantastical scenery and vast vistas. Persona 5 Tactica’s choice to focus on smaller environments feels almost deliberate. The Phantom Thieves are based out of one room in a familiar café. Backgrounds in cutscenes are usually simple. Only in animated sequences does the world feel big and fantastical.

Not All Good News

Persona 5 Tactica has five distinct gameplay modes ranging from Safe, where you cannot die, to Merciless, where one slip means game over. The preview levels I played were quite hard even on Normal. The game seems to demand you stop and level grind periodically. And heaven help you if you didn’t fuse the right Personas before taking a quest. This was annoying, especially when a time limit tripped me up rather than a strong enemy.

There are also a lot of loading screens in this game. The game even comes to a screeching halt between cutscenes. Sometimes I hit a button during pre-mission prep and the game would take a second or two to respond. Not a deal breaker, but definitely noticeable and irritating.

I wish the game levels included a grid so I could plan out movements more effectively. You can turn the grid on manually by analyzing units, but it doesn’t show permanently. It can be really hard to judge an enemy’s attack range as a result. Fortunately, you can undo an entire turn from the pause menu at any time. This is key, especially since the game’s beginning is way harder than you’d expect on Normal.

All in all, I had a good time with Persona 5 Tactica and I’m eager to see what the Phantom Thieves get themselves into next. But I’m also hoping against hope that a Day 1 patch adds an option for a permanent grid on the battlefield. I am so tired of accidentally launching Thieves across the map by setting off exploding barrels too close to them.

***Switch code provided by the publisher***

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10 Free Spooky Indie Video Games You Should Check Out

Nicola Kapron — Sun, 22 Oct 2023 10:43:32 +0000

Free Spooky Indie Video Games Guaranteed to Send Chills Down Your Spine

COGconnected has 10 more free spooky indie video games ready for Halloween 2023. The spooky season is once more upon us and it’s time to settle down with a grab-bag of short, free indie horror games and give yourself a nice fright. It’s time for an early, digital Trick-or-Treat session, and the candy we’re giving out is a list of great titles sure to get under your skin.

These ten games feature uncanny imagery, unsettling premises, and some of the most lovingly-crafted spooks we’ve encountered on the internet, all for the low, low price of free. Gamer beware, you’re in for a scare.

10. Entity Room

There is an entity being kept in an underground lab. Your job is to make sure it eats and that the lab is cleaned afterward. On the way, you’ll read a lot of alarming emails, wander through an atmospheric environment, and remotely feed prisoners to a horrible monster. Then you need to clean the now-empty room by hand.

This game has a very clinical horror atmosphere reminiscent of the SCP Foundation. It’s a very short experience, lasting about 15-30 minutes, but it packs a lot into that time. And the retro VHS aesthetic only adds to the unsettling feel of it all. If you want something short and spooky, you’ll have a good time with Entity Room.

Content warnings: winding hallways, jump scares, blood, gore, and people feeding other people to a horrible monster.

9. Lakeview Cabin

Lakeview Cabin is an oldie but a goodie. First published on Newgrounds back in 2013, this decade-old sprite game can still scare the pants off an unwary gamer. It tells the story of a man who heads out to a cabin for a cozy weekend in the woods. All alone. On an island in the middle of the lake. With no way to escape if something goes wrong.

Needless to say, something does indeed go wrong eventually. And the game’s outcome is determined by the way you spend your time before disaster hits. This title is quite short and combines no dialog with very simple graphics, but the story it tells is chilling nonetheless.

Content warnings: violence to animals, domestic abuse, pixelated nudity, vengeful ghosts.

8. Don’t Let It Out

Don’t Let It Out is one of those metaphorical games that’s about a very real kind of horror. The protagonist, feeling a terrible threat drawing near, locks themself in the bathroom. There, they must stop a horrible tentacle monster from breaking loose. Problem is, the monster is already inside them. No matter what, they need to keep control until the timer runs out, or they’ll face a terrible ending.

I won’t beat around the bush: this game is a metaphor for self-harm. Its simple pixel graphics contain some truly visceral imagery around the idea of fear and compulsion. If you aren’t in the right place for that, don’t play this game. But if you want an intense, timed short horror experience, Don’t Let It Out is a great find.

Content warnings: tentacles, blood, self-harm, suicide.

7. Grave of Traumerei

Grave of Traumerei is a subtler, softer kind of horror, but it is chilling nonetheless. Two young men, the mysterious Tsutsuji and the aloof Sumire, meet on a train that doesn’t seem to stop. Their quest to escape the train soon begins to spiral into madness as it becomes clear they knew each other before this. Together, they must recover their lost memories, unravel a dark secret, and find the truth.

One thing is clear: no matter what happens, they will not find a happy ending waiting when they finally leave the train. Gorgeous pixel graphics do a great job of anchoring you in a toxic relationship and a tainted wish to save someone you care about, no matter how much you hurt them in the process.

Content warnings: blood, depictions of internalized ableism, incest, sexual abuse, disturbing birth imagery.

6. The Coffin of Andy and Leyley

First created for a game jam, The Coffin of Andy and Leyley tells a topical tale of siblings going a little insane under lockdown. Beaten-down Andy and manipulative Leyley have been stuck in their apartment for weeks due to an enforced quarantine. They’re running out of food, spying on the neighbors, and generally losing their minds. But after they catch the neighbor trying to summon a demon, things start sliding out of control. What will they do to survive? And how much will Andy take from Leyley before their codependent relationship becomes too much to bear?

The game jam version of this title has about 1 hour of gameplay and a single ending. But if you have a good time with Andy and Leyley, a paid Steam version with more content is now in Early Access.

Content warnings: psychological horror, quarantines, demon summoning, cannibalism, extremely codependent siblings.

5. The Lancaster Leak – O’Brien State Park

The Lancaster Leak series is dedicated to a clever, dark premise: a playable found-footage horror game. It leans hard into the analog horror genre and the result has to be seen to be believed. Each of these short titles opens with cryptic messages concerning a missing FBI intern and the people who supposedly leaked the tapes. They depict horrifying events covered up years ago–events which led to people losing their lives to a variety of chilling monsters. The found footage tape effects are brilliant and the atmosphere is as grimy and uncomfortable as you could hope for. And if you like this game, there’s a sequel already out, and more to come.

Content warnings: general epilepsy warning, low-quality video tape horror, blood, animal death, a man-eating monster.

Head over to page 2 for more free spooky indie video games.

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