2B Joins Roster of Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising

2B Joins Roster of Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising

In a recent press release, Tokyo-based video game developer and publisher Cygames, Inc. announced the rollout of the Version 1.21 update for Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising (GBVSR) in collaboration with Arc System Works, Inc., Ltd. This highly anticipated update brings forth a wave of new content, including the addition of 2B from NieR:Automata as a playable character, along with tie-in content from Princess Connect! Re: Dive

Harmonia

Harmonia

Harmonia is a short kinetic novel featuring an emotions-capable robot, or Phiroid, waking up in a decayed factory with no memory. Players view the story through the eyes of this robot named Rei, as he is taken in Shiona, a kindhearted woman living in a small town. Rei attempts to be helpful to the townspeople while learning about emotions, which he feels he lacks. The story is set against a post-apocalyptic backdrop, and as is usual for a title by Key, it has its fair share of drama and heartbreak. Unfortunately, the pacing is a bit off, and despite the short runtime, some players will guess what some of the story twists are before the end. Nevertheless, the game is certainly worth a playthrough for fans of the genre and is also a good entry point for newcomers.

Gameplay: The story and characters are intriguing, but the pacing is a bit off.

Graphics: The backgrounds and sprites are good, but even with the limited number of characters, the men look a lot more bland and generic compared to the women.

Sound: Harmonia features plenty of great background tracks as well as Japanese voice acting for three of the four central characters

planetarian ~the reverie of a little planet~

planetarian ~the reverie of a little planet~

Planetarian is set 30 years after a devastating war pretty much ended the world and follows the story of an unnamed man entering the ruins of a dangerous city looking for things to scavenge. Instead of supplies, he finds a friendly robot waiting with unwavering optimism for customers to return to the planetarium where she works. The story is rather bleak, but like other titles by Key, it is very moving and quite memorable.

Gameplay: Planetarium is a kinetic novel so there are no choices or branching paths, but although short and linear the story is very good.

Graphics: The visuals show their age with static backgrounds and limited sprites, but the overall art style is still good.

Sound: The game features full voice acting for both its primary characters and is accompanied by a melancholic soundtrack that is quite haunting

Pretty Girls Tile Match

Pretty Girls Tile Match

Pretty Girls Tile Match tackles the match-three genre and combines it with Mahjong titles and kawai anime girls. The game features 120 levels that increase in complexity with twenty levels allocated to each girl. A combo feature incentivizes players to make matches as quickly as possible, but the addition of help functions and difficulty options keeps the game accessible. While it doesn’t do anything extraordinary it is fun and addictive enough to recommend to fans of the genre.

Gameplay: Match three identical Mahjong tiles to remove them from the board and then continue to do so until everything is cleared.

Graphics: The character designs look great and overall the game is very bright and colorful.

Sound: The soundtrack is quite catchy and all six of the girls are voiced in Japanese

Legends of Talia: Arcadia

Legends of Talia: Arcadia

Legends of Talia: Arcadia is a short kinetic novel that sees a legendary female knight trying to deal with some demons from her past. The game features a thought-provoking storyline and Arcadia is an interesting protagonist, but the whole experience is over in less than two hours depending on your reading speed. This leaves very little room to flesh things out, so it feels like a lot of potential the game had was wasted. Nevertheless, the story is interesting while it lasts and the game is affordably priced for what it offers.

Gameplay: This is a kinetic novel, so the only interaction required is sitting back and reading the story.

Graphics: The visuals look good, but the fan-service-heavy character designs are at odds with the much darker storyline.

Sound: The game features no voice acting or sound effects, but the soundtrack is decent

Japanese School Life

Japanese School Life

Japanese School Life follows an American exchange student named Brian as he experiences life in Japan for a year. Most of this time is spent in the company of Chiyoko and Arisa, two girls in his class who take him under their wing to show him around. The game is mostly a kinetic novel, apart from a few instances where players can choose which girl Brian likes more. However, these choices do not lead to any type of romantic encounters and the focus of the game is on educating players about Japanese culture. It is a familiar concept to games like Go! Go! Nippon, but not quite as memorable, unfortunately.

Gameplay: Apart from a few choices that don’t change much about the story the game is mostly a kinetic novel.

Graphics: The only sprites in the game are for the two girls, but the e-mote system and lots of CGs make up for it.

Sound: There are only a handful of music tracks, but the Japanese voice acting for Chiyoko and Arisa are really good

Pretty Girls Klondike Solitaire PLUS First Look Video

Pretty Girls Klondike Solitaire PLUS First Look Video

Pretty Girls Klondike PLUS by Zoo Corporation is a solitaire game with Klondike rules that is now available in a powered-up version. It features eleven beautiful girls ranging from cool beauties and tsundere ladies along with three difficulty levels and a full range of hint functions. Players can also use the Diorama mode to create their own scenes featuring multiple characters with different expressions, costumes, and stamps. Check out the video below for a quick look at the Easy and Hard modes of the game

Pretty Girls Breakout! PLUS First Look Video

Pretty Girls Breakout! PLUS First Look Video

Pretty Girls Breakout! PLUS by Zoo Corporation is a batting action-type breakout game featuring new game modes and new gimmicks. Players can take on Pretty Battle mode to earn points to unlock new costumes or test their skill in the never-ending stages of Eternal Challenge mode. Check out the video below for a quick look at both of these modes

Pretty Girls Escape First Look Video

Pretty Girls Escape First Look Video

Pretty Girls Escape by Zoo Corporation is a puzzle game where players must eliminate blocks of the same color. As an added twist, players must also lead character blocks to the exit while avoiding all types of obstacles. The game features a stage mode with six stages for each of the eight characters, as well as a 20-stage challenge mode. Check out the video below to see Pretty Girls Escape in action

Phantom Breaker: Omnia First Look Video

Phantom Breaker: Omnia First Look Video

Phantom Breaker: Omnia by MAGES, GameLoop, and Rocket Panda Games is a massive update to Phantom Breaker: Extra. This fast-paced 2-D anime fighting game features a cast of 20 unique characters and the ability to choose between three different fighting styles. In addition, the fighting system has been overhauled and rebalanced, while the background music for each character has been redone and remixed. In a Phantom Breaker series first, all the characters also have English voice acting. Check out the video below to see two rounds of the Arcade mode in action featuring one of the guest characters, Rimi Sakihata from Chaos;Head