Celebrate Destiny 2’s Upcoming Launch With This Great Fan Created Animation


Posted on September 5, 2017 by Les Major

Destiny X Thundercats

We’re twelve hours away Guardians! In no time The Tower will fall to the might of the Cabal and everyone will turn to us to protect the last bastion of humanity. Torn from the light of The Traveler and forced to struggle back to regain our power, we need to stand united! What better way to feel that strength that with an 80’s cartoon parody intro!

The theme from Thundercats gets remade for Destiny 2 in this sweet animation created by pandamusk!

Get ready everyone! The Speaker needs us. Earth needs us. Obsessive Engram collecting and discovering new loot caves needs us!


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ARMS | REVIEW


Posted on July 17, 2017 by Les Major

Out of the games shown prior to the launch of Nintendo’s new Switch console, Arms stood out as one that really surprised me. The controls were a lot more stable than things like the old Wii Sports boxing that came with their first motion controller system. Not only that but the JoyCons give a different feel to fighting with the Wiimote and nunchuck. Instead, you have a joystick at the ready for menu options, and can press one of the top bumpers to accept your options. That and holding a JoyCon in each fist to punch feels natural. The bumpers at the top work for jump and dash, while the triggers can activate your hyper attack mode when your power level is full. Each JoyCon is held facing the other, so your thumbs sit on the triggers themselves. It’s actually very comfortable and quite satisfying.

That’s not the only way to control the game of course. You can use the JoyCons docked in the holder for a regular control feel and overall use them in the various combinations to play without motion controls. Interestingly you can actually hand a friend a JoyCon as well and play the game two player in that way.

Arms at it’s core is a fighting game through and through. It feels a lot like it is more with the multitude of characters with bright variety among them. It’s easy to think of Arms as something similar to Overwatch in the sense that you have a lot of character choices. Really though Arms is more comparable to regular fighting games without the special attacks that need button combos to pull off. Because of this, newcomers to the game could feel that the title is quite shallow. However, there is something special to Arms that has been lacking in video games over the course of many years and it’s that something that makes the game special.

Surprisingly Arms captures the feel and difficulty of SNES era titles. It’s tough to explain the feeling part, but there’s just something there that has the same sense as that first time us old school gamers picked up the Super Scope 6. The feeling of the fresh new plastic controllers in your hands. The almost robotic control of your character. All that sort of stuff. It feels like picking up Battle Clash on the SNES after all these years, and that’s awesome!

The coolest thing about Arms is, you will lose! At times it may be because you send out two punches instead of a grab if the motion controls registered a split second off of each other, but in general it’s going to just be because the game is legitimately hard! Before the recent update I couldn’t even get past level three difficulty without some very tactical fighting. Things haven’t really gotten easier per say. They’ve just become more balanced, which is what the patch was mainly about. More of your punches connect now especially. When you’re not using motion controls it feels like you need to guide each shot with the thumbstick. Not like your driving it, but more so that you’re aiming it before you launch each punch. When you get used to it this actually works well.

Fighting really gets furious and you need to consider what your opponent is doing. Blocking can be bested by throwing a grab. Because of the fighters titular Arms, you can launch a grab attach from a far distance. Meanwhile, punching a grab can knock that down. Don’t punch too much though or your arms will both be extended, leaving your body open. That gives quite a lot of tactic to the game. One thing that still frustrates me and other gamers I’ve seen posting online is the split second decision making when you trigger your characters super attack. You’re about the launch a flurry of punches and instantly your opponent is blocking. It happens more often than not, even on relatively easy difficulty settings. Sure, tactics come into play there. Your opponent can’t block if they have their arms extended, but still, odds are they won’t block every time with instant finesse either.

Arms doesn’t just refer to the characters wacky extendable limbs either. It also is what the attachments at the end of their arms are called. These goodies have quite a range to them from various elemental attacks, to ways to guard against your foe. Some are heavy attacks, others are quick light attacks. They even have tactical advantages to them as you can launch light attacks faster, but a heavy attack will actually plow through lighter ones the connect with your opponent. As you progress you’ll collect coins which allow you to unlock new Arms for each character. So you collect Arms to attach to your arms in Arms. Isn’t English fun?

That’s not all, even in Gran Prix mode, the main fighting section of the game, you’ll play volleyball, basketball, and target practice with your opponents. These modes are actually a lot of fun and can be played single player as well in the versus section of the main menu. Basketball sees you using each other as the ball as you’ll struggle with your opponent to grab each other to toss into the net. Volleyball has competitors punching a ball with an explosive orb in it to land on their opponents side. It seems like there may be a time limit to the ball too, so it’s kind of like hot potato in a way too. Target smash mode sees you trying to break more pop up targets than your opponent, like at a carnival.

The latest update even adds a mode where fighters compete in an arena containing an object that can turn them into the secret final boss. It’s either for a set time or until you get knocked down. On top of that there’s even one vs one hundred mode which pits you against a wave of one hit fighters that leads up to a battle with the secret boss as well!

As I said, the game can feel shallow at first and really there isn’t that much going on here. With Nintendo stepping away from story mode in Smash Bros it isn’t too much of a surprise to see the game has no cinematics. What was a bit of a downer was the lack of voice acting. The preview videos featured Biff, the games announcer, with this deep thrilling voice. That’s nowhere to be found in the games commentary and that feels like a misstep. Typically it’s not a Nintendo thing anyway. Even though you can gleam some understanding from Animal Crossing gibberish, it’s typically just noises. Same with Splatoon characters speaking their own language. Arms felt different though and while it is awesome, it felt like one more month for some additional voice work and a bit more story / world building could have really pushed this title further.

That’s not to say this isn’t a great title! The variety of characters who have different speeds and jumping ability makes this replayable. As does just the fun of enjoying the fights. It just feels like this could have been an even bigger franchise. I get it too, it’s something new on a console that players are still adopting so you don’t want to tie up too many resources. On the same token, it’s more than just a gimmick. Moving on from here is easy. More fighting is an option. The Arms characters becoming super heroes is another. Really it would be awesome if the single player campaign team from Splatoon could throw some ideas into the mix for the next game and do something new with this fledgling franchise with it’s next installment.

If you give it a go, you may fall in love with Arms right away. If you don’t, give it a chance. It took me probably about five days to really come around on my feelings for the game and decide that I do really like it. The balancing patch coming out the day after I bought it helped my decision a lot too. The first version of Arms was merciless against me. Yes I was still learning, but it was rough. With the game balanced now I’m proud to say it feels like an old school Nintendo product. For a new franchise, that’s a big deal to someone my age. Giving a player the feeling of nostalgia with something new and unrelated just by style alone is a great feat to pull off. Nintendo has done that here and despite the initial feeling of there not being much here, odds are you’ll come around when you accept that at it’s heart Arms is a fighting game. It does what it advertises very well and you feel accomplished when you win. In a world of casual games, it’s pretty cool to feel that way again.


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Tanto Cuore – Deck Building Card Game Unboxing


Posted on July 6, 2017 by Les Major

Tanto Unboxing

What’s better than anime girls? Anime maids! Japanime Games has you covered with the deck building card game Tanto Cuore! While we were at Anime North this year a friend of mine introduced me to Japanime’s products and it really stuck with me. Thankfully those folks were nice enough to set us up with some materials so we can check out the game and share some brand new videos with you!

As I’m sure you know, we’re relatively new to promoting physical game media like this. It is something we’re passionate about however and we’re happy to finally be bringing content like this to you. The video below features yours truly opening up the core box set of Tanto Cuore. That doesn’t mean there are booster packs. Instead, everything to play the game is included in the main box. There are expansions to the game, but those come in their own full box sets.

We also have a more tactical board game from Japanime Games to check out as well. So stay tuned for that as well as my coverage of actually playing Tanto Cuore! I was surprised to see such a reaction from many of my friends in Toronto. They love the game to pieces so I’m certainly eager to dive in and see what we can do. If all goes well we may even be lucky enough to have some celebrities from our animation joining in for the video!


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SNES Classic On The Way This September


Posted on June 26, 2017 by Les Major

SNES Classic

Nintendo made the announcement just moments ago that indeed there will be a SNES Classic! Rumors and speculations have been circulating lately but thankfully Nintendo has confirmed the systems existence. What a great set of games too including the officially unreleased game, Star Fox 2!

The SNES classic will be released September 29th and is listed as being $80 USD.

Here are the included games:

Contra III: The Alien Wars™
Donkey Kong Country™
EarthBound™
Final Fantasy III
F-ZERO™
Kirby™ Super Star
Kirby’s Dream Course™
The Legend of Zelda™: A Link to the Past™
Mega Man® X
Secret of Mana
Star Fox™
Star Fox™ 2
Street Fighter® II Turbo: Hyper Fighting
Super Castlevania IV™
Super Ghouls ’n Ghosts®
Super Mario Kart™
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars™
Super Mario World™
Super Metroid™
Super Punch-Out!! ™
Yoshi’s Island™


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Cladun Returns: This Is Sengoku! Is Available Today


Posted on June 6, 2017 by Les Major

Cladun Returns Title

Legasista, which Cladun is similar to in many respects, was one of the first games I ever reviewed. It’s near and dear to my heart and it was the first time I played something so vastly different from NIS. Today, the latest release in the Cladun series is available! The cool thing this time around is a brand new story set in the Sengoku Era. You’re tasked with helping the souls of the dead complete their unfinished business across locations based on real life places in feudal Japan.

Cladun in general is a game that allows you to not only draw your own characters into the game using pixel art. Overall you’ll go through dungeons in a Mystery Dungeon sort of roguelike setting and level up. If you’re an NIS nerd like me, that’s all you really need right there. Otherwise there’s a whole system set up to help protect your character with additional party members that is quite unique too. Check out the launch trailer below!


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Soldam: Drop, Connect, Erase Coming To Switch This Fall


Posted on June 6, 2017 by Les Major

Soldam Coming To Switch

Dispatch Games, a new publisher based out of California announced today that they will be bringing Soldam to North America. It looks like the game is potentially an import of Soldam 2: Blooming Declaration which is available on the Japanese Switch eShop. The art seems to match up so if you’d like to see some gameplay, check out the video below. Just remember that it’s what we assume the game is.

Here’s what Dispatch has to say about Soldam:

Play one of the original tile-matching games from the 90’s. Dispatch Games brings back the Jaleco arcade classic with, Soldam: Drop, Connect, Erase. The game has been refreshed with updated graphics and gameplay, but retains its arcade charm with its catchy music and unique style that have been fan favorites for many years.

Players rotate and drop the Soldam fruits to match colors. Keep connecting the same colored Soldam to form an entire row and erase. Use flanking methods to change the colors of previously dropped Soldam to your advantage. Strategize your next move and maximize that score.

Looks interesting! Like if Othello and Puyo Puyo had a baby. The game will be available at E3 and is coming to the Nintendo Switch eShop this Fall!


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Injustice 2 | REVIEW


Posted on June 2, 2017 by Les Major

Injustice 2 Launch Trailer

The original Injustice was a fresh idea based around the expanded mechanics of the Mortal Kombat franchise. Adding things such as environmental objects in the background to interact with and scene transitions you could knock your opponent into for extra damage, it had an different feel. Let alone the storyline was incredible, featuring a world where Superman was fed up with villainy and Batman was struggling to keep the peace through justice and mercy.

What felt great back in 2013 has since been given a lot of polish with the sequel. Everything just feels better, and it should since the original was released on last gen consoles. You don’t really notice just how much of a difference it is until you get into seeing the game in action. Facial animations and frame rate are fantastic! Everything has a cinematic feel to it and that really makes Injustice 2 a treat to play!

Story mode will last you around 7 to 8 hours to complete your first time and then some extra to replay some fights as the opposite character when you have a choice. There’s some additional content after that was well but the main game does give a lot. There are even some impressive blocks of that time that you’ll be enjoying lengthy cinematics that flesh out the new story focused on Brainiac taking on Earth.

NetherRealm Studios has gone the extra mile this time to add in collectables to keep players busy even after the story is complete. With the massive roster of characters, you’ll have a lot of goodies to earn with the new gear system included with Injustice 2. To begin with, all of your characters earn experience points and level up. This helps to make them stronger and even improve their hit points. It seems level 20 is the max, but you can also earn gear along the way to continue to improve your characters.

Gear overall can be just enough of a boost to give you the advantage you need in tougher battles. Customizing your characters even allows for additional moves to be added and even shaders to change up their color scheme. The equipment that you’ll unlock throughout the story, but mostly in the new multiverse mode, allows you to change the look of your character as well! Each piece can add a unique look to your favorite fighters. The gear system is quite deep too, allowing you to transmog gear to your favorite looks, unlock loot boxes you’ll earn after combat, and of course improve the stats of your combatants.

All of this sounds like a small adjustment to Injustice’s formula, but it really does open up a lot more to keep you playing. Some of the pieces you’ll unlock may seem similar, but I’m sure there are hardcore DC fans out there that are thrilled with the specific pieces found in loot boxes. I’ve mainly been playing Supergirl and Scarecrow and I’m happy with the mix of gear I’ve earned. The down side is that loot box drops are randomly spread across the large roster of characters, not just for your current fighter. However, I’m pretty sure after a few losses in multiverse I did get a pity gear drop to help improve the character I was playing as and give me a boost.

Multiverse is the bread and butter of the game, even though the story mode is both fun and worthwhile. It should be noted that experience earned in the story mode does actually affect your characters. So it isn’t a completely separate experience. I did dive directly into multiverse with the promise of unique timelines that would give me various rewards. The game does indeed have multiverses that last for a short period of time, some only a few hours. It seems there will be unique gear that you’ll only be able to earn in this mode as well.

The multiverse mode also switches up your opponents gear. They’re from an alternate universe after all! So while you may be used to the typical Harley Quinn from the story mode, multiverse could pit you against a different version looking of her. This is a nice way to see some different gear, and to keep things interesting instead of fighting the exact same looking characters over and over. Each multiverse can sometimes have multiple towers to fight through. Similar to the combat tower setup of previous Mortal Kombat games. Complete the tower, and maybe some challenges along the way, and you’ll earn whatever loot is promised in that towers description.

Most importantly, Injustice 2 is fun. It takes the winning formula of the first game, makes it shiny and new, then gives you content to stick around for. There are new characters such as Scarecrow, Swamp Thing, Blue Beetle, and Firestorm that mix it up with different styles and new moves. I personally found Scarecrow to be very easy for me to get into and he almost felt like a Killer Instinct character with how naturally combos seemed to flow. He’s also voiced by Robert Englund! How cool is that? With each character having separate leveling stats, you’ll have a ton of battles to continue through to power them up. Alternatively some of the in game currency can be used to instantly boost others to level 20 after you max out someone else. There is some gear that boosts your experience point gain as well.

If that wasn’t enough to keep you playing, Injustice 2 even adds guilds to the mix to earn even more loot. This emphasis on collectibles and community really makes the game so much easier to pick back up and play for short sessions. You always feel like you’re making progress. The first Injustice was great, but the sequel steps things up and makes the franchise modern in every way. You can even tie in the mobile version to earn even more goodies!

The only issue I had that still persists is knowing when to interact with background objects. They do have a glow around them when you’re near them, but there has been the odd time that I’ll still think I’m in range and instead my fighter just won’t react. In later story mode and higher difficulties those kind of miscalculations can be very costly. Maybe it’s me, I’ll admit. I might not have a good grasp on the timing. Fighting otherwise flows very well and I found myself being able to get inside my opponents defenses and take the offensive to counter their current stance. This is the evolution of the Mortal Kombat fighting system and it feels crisp and responsive most of the time.

Injustice 2 is easy to recommend. Casual players will get a lot out of the story and probably messing around with multiverse. Fight game and DC fans will easily get caught up in those same modes for the long term. It’s just a quality game, through and through. Fight against the multiverse, fight online, or conquer the story mode! The latest NetherRealms game is here and it’s a blast!


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Injustice 2 Launch Trailer Featuring Steve Aoki “Jungle” Remix


Posted on May 15, 2017 by Les Major

Injustice 2 Launch Trailer

Tomorrow you can begin refining your DC fighters with collectable gear in NetherRealms sequel to the hard hitting fighting game! The trailer shows off some of the newcomers and fan favorites to a pulse pounding Steve Aoki remix of “Jungle” by X Ambassadors, Jamie N Commons. Stay tuned for our coverage of the latest DC fighter by the creators of Mortal Kombat!


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After Trying Injustice 2 I Think Scarecrow Is My New Main


Posted on May 11, 2017 by Les Major

Injustice 2 - Scarecrow

During last nights amazing Injustice 2 event at a wonderful venue in Toronto we got to try out some gameplay action! Sure, we only got to try three matches, but I think I’ve found my new fighter. First off, Injustice 2 boasts an impressive roster of at least 32 characters! More characters are even playable through Premiere Skins which changes their voice and appearance, but keeps the play style of a base character.

I enjoyed trying out newcomers Black Canary and Cheetah but Scarecrow really stole my attention when I just started tearing up my opponent without any prior knowledge of how the character plays. Scarecrow has this huge hook on a chain that I was able to just wreck with! After some close up damage, I was able to lash out with that hook, and then combo into spinning the chain overhead in a long range attack! The two of us didn’t know really what to do with our characters so it was a surprise when I pulled off this move and then just seemed to keep going.

It may just be me, but Scarecrow just plays naturally to me. Of course I’m sure you bound around to various characters in the campaign and I’m going to have to learn a lot more, but I know who I’ll be leveling up for fun though.

The game itself looks just incredible! The graphics are beautiful and cinematic, the frame rate flows like butter, and once you know what you’re doing the battles become an impressive display of superhuman prowess. Background items still play a role in this one, allowing you to cause damage with the scenery or bound away from your opponent off various landmarks. Super moves make a return too with impressive visuals and damage as well. Those are moves you pull off by using up your power bar by pulling both triggers and hopefully connecting with your opponent. You’re then treated to a cinematic of your character beating the tar out of your foe.

Injustice 2 is making sure that players keep coming back for more battles with a new gear system. If you’ve spent any time grinding away for loot on Destiny, you’ll probably feel right at home here. Not only can you collect new gear to customize and actually improve the stats of your fighters, but you can even use shaders to customize their look! If the thrill of battle wasn’t enough, there’s now the thrill of rare gear dropping that you can improve your favorite characters with!

We’ll be getting a good look at Injustice 2 next week and have a review on the way shortly after! If you’re still not sure check out the video we just posted with Ajay Fry’s interview Ed Boon last night at the event, or watch the Scarecrow trailer below to see my new fave!


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Toronto Injustice 2 Press Event Interview With Ed Boon


Posted on May 11, 2017 by Les Major

Injustice 2-Interview

Want to see one of the creators of Mortal Kombat discussing the huge new fighting game hitting store shelves next week? Of course you do! Check out our video coverage of Toronto’s Injustice 2 event last night with Ajay Fry hosting an interview with Ed Boon himself! I even got to ask the first audience question! How awesome is that?!

We got to join in for some gameplay too, but the real highlight of the evening was meeting the man himself! In the interview Ed discusses what makes Injustice 2 different, and what will surely be a reason that many keep playing. That reason is the new Gear system! Check out the interview below!

The battle begins May 16th!


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Touhou Genso Wanderer and Double Focus | REVIEW


Posted on May 9, 2017 by Les Major

Touhou Games

I have to admit something. When I first got into this game, and the accompanying Touhou Double Focus, I had no clue what the series really was. Being a happy little social media butterfly, I’d seen the characters scattered across the web and loving crafting in a billion fan art pieces. When I saw a mystery dungeon like title and a side scrolling metroidvania game were on the way in the same pack, I definitely wanted to learn more!

From an outside perspective, the quirks of the characters are surprisingly easy to get into. Between both games I was able to get into and enjoy the cast with no prior understanding of the franchise. I think this is the strong suit of the series and something very positive since NIS America has quite the lineup of these titles. It’s easy for Touhou to find a spot in your heart.

Touhou Genso Wanderer is definitely my favorite game out of the pack, but Double Focus is just a freebie add on anyway it seems. Not to say it isn’t an enjoyable game too. I’m very glad it was included. Though the mystery dungeon rogue-like action of Genso Wanderer kept me playing. First off, I’m one of those people who likes NIS games for the grind. There’s a mix of that here. When you return to the shrine which is your very start point of the game, Reimu reverts back to level one. It’s not quite like The Guided Fate Paradox however. This isn’t just a cosmetic leveling down. Instead, your main focus is avoiding restarting, or instead, leveling up your gear through fighting. There are goodies back at the shrine though too, so leveling down is going to happen.

Early on, you’ll come across a Yokai village that works as the main hub for the game and creates an interesting outset for the story as well. Overall, Reimu is a shrine maiden who should be destroying these spirits. Instead, she’s basically exploiting them to fight her way to a tower where a demon possessed friend has taken up residence. There is some good variety to the dungeon tile sets, tons of items to collect, fill your inventory with, and then sell off, and things to upgrade around town. A group of Kappas even run a shop that allows Reimu to teleport around or upgrade her weapons.

In general, it’s your usual mystery dungeon adventure, but it’s a fun one. I like the story and I’m glad to see there’s some form of leveling progress. The challenge is certainly here and you are at the mercy of some random hard spots. In general though I’d say most of what I experienced was a decent challenge. Nothing was too insane, but maybe I was just lucky. The village itself is populated by a bunch of characters from the series and your first interaction with the village is going around and getting to know everyone. Even the enemies themselves are clones of the characters of Touhou.

Touhou Double Focus on the other hand is an action game that comes included with Touhou Genso Wanderer. It’s sort of like a metroidvania game that I desperately wanted to have a leveling up system. While the game is fun, if it just had a few more weeks of polish from the original developer it really could have been a classic. Don’t get me wrong, I like Double Focus but it feels very basic at times. Surprisingly enough, boss battles did seem fun and challenging, but the main game seemed to be the awkward frustration. Just wandering around I felt that some enemies had an unfair hit advantage at times and it just lead me to avoiding enemies altogether. I would have rather leveled a bit (which you can’t do) and destroyed them more easily.

You do gain a lot of skills however that you can find throughout the game that benefit both Aya and Momiji. Aya for one is able to channel crow abilites that allow her to hover, while Momiji can run up walls and seems to be part dog. These skills do quickly add to your exploration and it does give a really great feel that you’d expect from a game like this. The artwork itself is quite nice, especially with the characters. It’s just the random enemies that seem to beat you down too much and made exploration more difficult than it should be. You can switch between characters on the fly, much like Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin.

There’s a good variety of levels, and while the game seems on the shorter side, I got the snot beat out of my characters too fast to really know. Interestingly the health bar seems to deplete from the side that represents that character. So Aya and Momiji share one health bar, but it depletes from left or right depending on who you play as. This can be a trippy effect at first until you realize what’s going on. You can get some health increasing items along the way too, so there is at least that. Apparently there is a way to turn on respawn points, but I didn’t realize that and often went back to save at the start. I was quite disappointed when my first death essentially restarted the game since I didn’t know about saving.

My main complaint was that I found the menu to not be obvious enough. Being a reporter, Aya quickly gains a skill to take photos. These are basically snapshops of enemies and friends saved to a gallery. It took me forever and searching online to figure out how to access that. I think it was something incredibly basic, but I just didn’t think about it. Which goes along with what I said earlier that with just a bit more polish, this really could have been a classic title. Some of the action is spot on. Other times it just feels like I had a few cheap deaths along the way. There is a section early on though to replay boss battles. So that’s sweet at least.

Together, this is a really nice pack. With the difference between the Canadian and US dollar, it’s a staggering hit when you see it on store shelves however. Don’t get me wrong, I had fun! I just don’t know if the game shouldn’t have been reduced by a bit on PS4 to bolster sales. Yet again though the US price is a lot more fair. $50 for a double pack of titles isn’t bad and if you get into the mechanics of Genso Wanderer, you’ll certainly get your monies worth in time spent.


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Fate/EXTELLA: The Umbral Star Coming To Nintendo Switch


Posted on May 1, 2017 by Les Major

Marvelous and XSeed Games latest entry in the Dynasty Warriors like combat Fate series is coming to Nintendo Switch this Summer! This version of the game even includes 35 previously released DLC costumes. Fate/EXTELLA is already available on PS4 and Vita. Take a look below for the trailer and here are a few press details.

Developed by Marvelous Inc. and expanding upon the extensive Fate universe with an original story from acclaimed series writer Kinoko Nasu (of Fate/stay night fame), Fate/EXTELLA: The Umbral Star features a diverse cast of 16 playable “Servants” – ancient warriors of legend and imagination, always at the beck and call of their Masters – who survived the Holy Grail War that took place on the Moon. In a future watched over by the all-powerful lunar super computer, “Moon Cell Automaton,” these champions now battle for dominance over this digital realm, known as “SE.RA.PH.” This story takes place after the events described in Fate/EXTRA, and depicts the world as it appears following that previous Holy Grail War.

Players will experience the story of Fate/EXTELLA: The Umbral Star from the independent perspectives of the three factions wrestling for control over SE.RA.PH. and face off against foes from a variety of Fate productions, including characters from Fate/EXTRA, Fate/stay night, Fate/Zero, Fate/Apocrypha and Fate/Grand Order, in fast-paced combat. A new form change battle mechanic called Moon Crux debuts in this entry to match its series-first gameplay style, transforming the player-controlled Servants and granting them considerable powers that allow them to devastate enemies and take formidable challenges head-on. The game will contain the original Japanese voices, with the Nintendo Switch version featuring game text in English, Japanese, Chinese (Traditional), and Korean.

Fate/EXTELLA: The Umbral Star is developed by Marvelous Inc. and is published in North America by XSEED Games. In addition to standard retail and digital formats for the Nintendo Switch version, the game is available on the PlayStation®4 and “PSVita” systems in a limited Noble Phantasm Edition bundle, which contains a 7.5″ by 6.3″ hardcover art book featuring over 100 pages of high-quality artwork and backstory from the Fate/EXTELLA universe, a pack of sixteen collectible 3″ by 5″ cards depicting each of the game’s Servants, and a 24″ by 17″ cloth poster, all housed in a custom collectible box. The PlayStation®4 and “PSVita” system versions of this title have been rated “T for Teen” by the ESRB, while the Nintendo Switch version has not yet been rated. Further details will be revealed in the coming months.


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Help Restore Lantz’s Soul By Dating Monster Girls – Visual Novel


Posted on March 27, 2017 by Les Major

Soulless Wonder Title

Soulless Wonder is on Kickstarter (http://kck.st/2nMZPwf) and it’s one of the most unique visual novels you’ll ever play! Featuring an absolutely twisted story about a cursed bard who desperately wants his soul back in his body, the game sees players venturing the wilds and trying to convince various monster girls to fall in love with our hero. Failing to do so doesn’t end in a game over however. The epic tale encourages gamers to continue forward even if some of the girls even grow to hate Lantz. With multiple endings and lots of choices to make throughout the adventure, there’s a lot to see here.

The game isn’t preachy or political, but it does take a look at some serious issues of today. Lantz himself suffers from mental health issues that are only made worse when he comes across an Eldritch horror possessed girl that he must romance. Other topics include a trans character who is involved because we wanted to tell their story, and not a way to be current or edgy. Another character is abused by her family with no hope of escaping the nightmare without help from Lantz. Further themes involve a succubus who is so terrible at harvesting souls that she is bullied constantly by her fellow kind. There’s a lot going on in this world and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. After all, the first character you meet is a cute and cuddly fox girl… who happens to be the last of her kind after Lantz’s girlfriend and Paladin Queen of the kingdom annihilated her entire tribe.

It’s huge, and we hope you’ll join us on this journey. There’s a ton of information over on the Kickstarter page. The team is looking for $37,000 Canadian to fund their game. So aproximately $5.50 US. Considering there are three people working on the game, not to mention the voice cast, that’s quite reasonable for a years worth of work.


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Soulless Wonder Needs Your Steam Greenlight Votes


Posted on March 22, 2017 by Les Major

Soulless Wonder Conversation

We’re getting close to the release of the Soulless Wonder Kickstarter. It’s a wonderful game drawn by past Marvel and Dark Horse comics artist Rod Espinosa! The story itself is quite deep too. Gamers help make decisions of Lantz, a bard who is cursed to have to date Monster Girls. It’s a comical adventure but also takes on some very serious issues as well!

It’s an important game to Darkain Arts and we hope you’ll give it a look. Covering topics like mental health, bullying, and even transgender issues hasn’t been an easy task, but the writing is top notch. The game isn’t preachy. It’s about building relationships and getting to know each of the games complex characters.

Inspired by the conversation mechanics of NIS America titles but with lots of decisions like a Telltale Games adventure, Soulless Wonder is an ironically titled game that’s full of spirit.

Give the team a vote on Steam Greenlight and help get Soulless Wonder closer to a digital release: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=874540710

There’s lots more to come on this fantastic new title so stay tuned. If you’re a Steam user, be sure to vote! It costs nothing to vote yes. It’s a poll and it shows your support for this title. The game is still in development after all.


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North America Needs This Seiken Densetsu Collection


Posted on March 21, 2017 by Les Major

Growing up in the 90s, I had some amazing experiences on the SNES. Watching Terra pilot her MagiTek armor across the snowy plains toward Narshe. Traveling through time with a talking frog, a prehistoric warrior woman, and a robot from the future. Then there was that time I drew a sword from a waterfall and doomed an entire planet. Now that, that was a good time!

The first two games I’m referring to are Final Fantasy 6 and Chrono Trigger. The latter is Secret of Mana. One of my favorite games from my youth. What’s this? In Japan there’s going to be a Seiken Densetsu Collection featuring Final Fantasy Adventure for the Gameboy, Secret of Mana, and Seiken Densetsu 3 for the SNES on one cart for the Nintendo Switch?

News of this title was teased on Twitter yesterday:

This would be a wonderful addition to the Switch. Especially being able to play with both JoyCons like that? Make it happen SquareEnix! It would also be the first time Seiken Densetsu 3 was released in North America! Look at this beautiful box art.

There’s even a trailer available. Enjoy! Hopefully we’ll get this one in our markets as well.


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