Games Like Yakuza
Bug Fables is weaponized nostalgia. Moonsprout Games set out to make a game that would bring you back to the mid-90s and early-2000s, and if you played RPGs back on the SNES or N64, then this is going to unleash all the tingly feelings of your childhood stored at the back of your br
What was possible for open-world RPGs in 2004 versus what can be achieved now is drastically different. There are some exceptions, Morrowind managed to bring a well-realized open world to the Xbox, but Fable, visually, was a far superior game, obviously leading to restrictions in other areas. The core elements of RPGs have remained the same, but morality systems are an exception. For the past few decades, what gamers want out of a morality system has shifted dramatically, and with it, the way that gamers think about a narrative as a wh
As for the party management portion of the game, Bug Fables is pretty light when it comes to managing equipment and skills. Instead of individual levels, your entire team levels up as one unit. When you gain enough XP, you can then choose to upgrade your health, your Team Points (which is your MP), or give yourself more Medal Points so you can equip more medals. Medals are your main pieces of equipment as there's no armor or weapons to worry about. These can give you buffs, status ailment resistances, or in some cases, even allow you to use new moves. The RPG mechanics aren't very complex, but it leads to a streamlined experience that still forces you to strategize, as you can only equip a limited number of medals and carry a limited number of healing it
However, perhaps the most interesting portrayal of morality – one that Fable should take notes from – is that found in The Witcher 3. Choices in The Witcher 3 have real weight, in part thanks to how well the game portrays its world as being "lived-in." That manifests itself in many different ways, and on a surface level may not even look like a morality system. Geralt is, after all, a hero, but with his decisions determining who lives, who dies, and, in some cases, the well-being of entire cities, it's hard to deny the state of the world at the end of the game as a sort of morality system for Ger
An Xbox 360 launch title, Kameo: Elements of Power was essentially Rare's take on The Legend of Zelda franchise. The game was popular enough for its time, but like many Rare IP, has since been abandoned. A Kameo sequel could expand on what Rare established with the original game, while also addressing its faults and delivering a generally higher-quality adventure. Microsoft doesn't really have a Legend of Zelda -equivalent exclusive for Xbox, but it could very well use the Kameo franchise to fill that v
Today, several games were shown during Microsoft's Inside Xbox event, the first of a series of events that are being planned over the next few months. With a first-party event planned for July, the focus was on third-party games coming to Xbox Series X, and while the Assassin's Creed: Valhalla "gameplay" reveal was the star attraction, there was a surprising number of next-gen horror games featured in the showc
E3 2019 has come to a close, and as usual, the event featured a staggering number of games on display, including some promising horror games. With no new Capcom announcement as was rumored, the horror genre was a bit underrepresented compared to previous years, but there were still quite a few impressive horror titles at the s
During Bethesda's E3 presentation last year, The Evil Within and The Evil Within 2 developer Tango Gameworks revealed that it was working on a new survival-horror game, Ghostwire: Tokyo. Not a lot is currently known about Ghostwire: Tokyo , only that it's not a traditional horror game, but an action-adventure where players will need to rid the city of Tokyo of paranormal enemies and supernatural evil. Given that no release window or platforms were announced, it seems safe to say Ghostwire: Tokyo is eyeing the next-generation consoles, although this is currently speculat
From the brilliant minds at Bloober Team, developer of Layers of Fear 2, Blair Witch , and the previously mentioned Observer: System Redux comes a new original next-generation psychological horror, The Medium . Haunted by a vision of a child's murder, players control Marianne, a medium that's living between two different worlds: the real world and the spirit world, and must find answers in an abandoned hotel resort. For the creation of The Medium 's soundtrack, Bloober Team has chosen to collaborate with Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka in an effort to reflect the game’s theme of duality. The Medium will release on Xbox Series X and PC in Holiday 2
The gaming landscape has changed considerably in that time. With the new generation of consoles came new standards for design, and while Fable , for the most part, holds up in terms of gameplay, there are mechanics within it that may have trouble in the new wave of video games. Specifically, there are bound to be difficulties with Fable's handling of morality, and with how significant the mechanic is to the game, it may create other hurdles as w