Role-playing

Final Fantasy VII is a classic. Its story, its score, its mechanics - for many this was the game that defined what RPGs should be. With another re-release, this time on Steam, Square Enix proves time is no barrier to a decent game, although a little polish might serve to get rid of the dust.

While I've thoroughly enjoyed playing Borderlands 2 like a fiend the last ten months, I never found myself to be fully satisfied with the game. Sure, it feels great to get all the uber-rare weapons and mods and take on all the raid bosses and whatnot - I'm talking about emotionally: if there's one way Borderlands 2 disappointed me, it was how it mostly wasted its opportunity at creating a resonant narrative: even the death of a beloved character didn't provide anything but the most particular story beats.

Knights of Pen and Paper is a game designed to take you back to a time when a group of likely slightly smelly individuals would sit around a table, getting engrossed in a story of their own creation. By lovingly combining table top RPG with the gameplay devices of late eighties/early nineties, Behold Studios have created a game that is both nostalgic and fresh, seriously fun and, at times, frustratingly true to its source.

Akaneiro: Demon Hunters is a game by Spicy Horse, originally released as a web browser title and now available for early purchase as a downloadable on Steam. It's still in development, with new features on the way over the next few months, so this probably isn't the last time we'll take a sojourn into historic Japan. An action-RPG of sorts, Akaneiro's beautiful art style covers limited, repetitive gameplay that may be fun in small doses on a tablet or in a browser, but which ultimately falls long short of greatness.

Return to Ashan in Shades of Darkness, a new expansion to the hugely popular Might & Magic Heroes VI. With over a dozen new units and a conservative announced guess of 20 hours of new gameplay (We all know we'll play it more than that), Shades of Darkness is an adventure designed to be a little darker than the game it is based upon. With that darker tone comes an increased difficulty, a difficulty that doesn't always feel like it's been planned out. Alongside that, a myriad of bugs will work against you as well. Is this enough to stop you from playing?

In 2004 Hugh Jackman made a movie called Van Helsing where he fights vampires and werewolves. There was a tie-in game based on it, but neither the game or the movie were worth remembering nine years later. The new indie game The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing has no official relation to that movie, but it does use the film’s clever idea of re-imagining the character of Van Helsing as a tough monster-hunter in a world overrun by gothic horrors. It combines that premise with the ever-popular “It’s like Diablo” genre of games for a bloody and ...

Introduction Zombies. Not only a plague on humanity but also a plague on the entertainment industry. They’ve become pretty popular in recent years. Why? Did it start with the addition of the Zombies mode in the COD games or do we have the Resident Evil films to thank for it? No matter the reason, it seems killing mindless zombies is going be around for a while yet.  As someone who has never seen the AMC TV series, nor read any…

Cyberpunk RPGs aren't very common in gaming, so I'm always intrigued when I hear about a developer taking the genre for a spin. Mars: War Logs is the most recent post-apocalyptic RPG to surface, but the game's developer, Spiders, decided to throw a future Mars colony into catastrophe instead of Earth civilizations. This gives War Logs some unique qualities compared to most other games of its ilk, and the change is refreshing. However, despite all of this, it's held back by some unfortunate flaws.

Path of Exile is a new MMORPG from Grinding Gear Games, currently in open beta. The new action RPG introduces exciting and complex new elements to the genre, and should be a delight to fans of games such as Diablo 3 and Torchlight 2. Path of Exile places players into the dark and gritty world of Wraeclast, which is designed to be the antithesis of modern action RPGs' slant towards bright and cartoony motifs. Although it is certainly not adult-themed, this game is intended for mature players and long-time dungeon-crawler fans. After playing the open beta ...

The ocean waves beat a gentle rhythm on the beach behind me as I enter the disused bungalow. An idyllic tropical setting, but I'm here as a scavenger rather than a tourist, picking over the wasted scraps of a life once lived. The now deceased occupant lies on the floor with a gunshot wound in his temple.