George Yang

Digital Trends • 1st July 2022

Yurukill: The Calumniation Games review: Creative, but disjointed

Yurukill: The Calumniation Games tries to mesh two incredibly niche genres together: visual novel and shoot ‘em up (shmup). By incorporating both, developer Izanagi Games risks narrowing the game’s audience down even further. Half of the game consists of reading through mounds of dialogue between characters to get through the story along with some light puzzle solving. The other half has players commandeering a battleship in classic shmup sections and taking down grotesque enemies.

Digital Trends • 29th June 2022

All mainline Mega Man Battle Network games, ranked

Capcom recently announced the Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection during the June 2022 Nintendo Direct Mini. It contains 10 games from the iconic Gameboy Advance series, with Battle Network 3 onwards having two versions similar to the Pokemon franchise.

Polygon • 24th June 2022

AI: The Somnium Files - Nirvana Initiative is the best detective story this year

AI: The Somnium Files - Nirvana Initiative is a riveting, time-hopping murder mystery from the minute it begins until its closing moments. Written by Kotaro Uchikoshi, who also wrote the excellent Zero Escape trilogy, Nirvana Initiative is just as effective as a singular story as it is a compelling sequel to 2019’s AI: The Somnium Files. It’s a well-paced visual novel wrapped in detective conceits and packed with surprises at every corner.

CNN Underscored • 21st June 2022

The new PlayStation Plus is filled with untapped potential

The new PlayStation Plus is a revamped subscription service that combines Sony’s previous PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now offerings to provide gamers with up to hundreds of titles for a monthly fee. With the monumental success and accessibility that Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass has provided, it was only a matter of time before PlayStation would try something similar.

Digital Trends • 13th June 2022

Xbox's 2022 lineup feels as desolate as it did in 2017

The Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase on June 12 was Xbox’s chance to prove to the gaming world that it had an incredible lineup of titles coming. And it does, just not anytime soon.

Inverse • 10th June 2022

'Tales of Arise' producer on the secrets behind 2021’s best video-game romance

How do you follow up happily ever after? According to the team behind Tales of Arise, which took home the 2021 Game Award for Best Role Playing Game, you don’t.

NPR • 8th June 2022

'The Quarry' Review: Summer 2022's Best Horror Game

If you're looking for a summer scare — look no further than The Quarry, a glossy new video game that offers scares as satisfying as any horror movie. It's billed as a spiritual successor to Supermassive Games' 2015 hit, Until Dawn. That game won over audiences with captivating monster lore, a fun cast of characters, and intense moments of terror. After its release, the studio put out several horror titles under its Dark Pictures Anthology series, but none quite hit the high bar that Until Dawn set. However, The Quarry comes incredibly close.

GameSkinny • 31st May 2022

The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story Review — 100 Years of Greatness

Full-motion-video games are rare to come by, and the last one that Square Enix created was The Quiet Man in 2018. It wasn’t very good. Thankfully, the publisher nails it this time with The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story. While the “gameplay” and interactive elements are a bit contrived, the immense quality of the game’s story, characters, and acting far outweigh the negatives.

Digital Trends • 30th May 2022

Yakuza's selective English dubbing reminds me of going home

When Sega announced in 2018 that Yakuza spinoff title Judgment would receive an English dub, I was pretty excited. While I really enjoyed 2017’s Yakuza 0 and its original Japanese voice track, I’m the type of person who prefers listening to English dubs when watching anime or playing Japanese RPGs.

NPR • 27th May 2022

Xbox promotes Asian characters and creators amid calls for greater diversity in games

Asian characters have a long history in video games, thanks to Japanese giants like Nintendo and Sony. Now, US-based Microsoft is taking pains to acquire, promote, and create more games with Asian characters — as the industry responds to increased calls for diverse representation.

Digital Trends • 26th May 2022

The Quarry might just live up to Until Dawn's horror legacy

I absolutely loved Supermassive Games’ 2015 horror title Until Dawn. The interactive drama had intriguing supernatural lore and impeccable pacing that kept me engaged throughout the entire experience. Since then, I’ve been mixed on Supermassive’s output with its Dark Picture Anthology series, hoping that it could recapture the magic I felt with Until Dawn. That’s the direction in which the studio’s upcoming game, The Quarry, seems to be going for me. I went hands-on with The Quarry and played

NME • 18th May 2022

'Eternal Threads' review: a time travel jump that just almost makes it

time travel mechanics can make for some unique experiences, like the narrative puzzle game Eternal Threads. It follows Agent 43 as they are tasked with traveling back in time to 2015 in order to prevent six people from dying in a house fire. However, it’s not that simple. Agent 43 can’t stop the event from happening but has to engineer a series of events that enable all six housemates to survive the inevitable blaze. • READ MORE: Uematsu’s prog-rock influences are what makes ‘Final Fantasy”s mus

Complex • 16th May 2022

The Live-Action ‘Halo’ Series Delivers High Impact Sci-Fi Storytelling

Taking video game plotlines and adapting them for television has had a shaky past. What kind of story should the series portray? Should it be an exact retelling of the source material? If so, why not just play the game itself? For gamers and television fanatics, it’s important that a new experience is created that’s appropriate for the medium. This challenge is what Paramount+ has taken on with the critically acclaimed Halo series (streaming now on the platform). Taking the iconic Xbox franchise

Digital Trends • 12th May 2022

Xbox delays mean 2022 is now the Nintendo Switch's year

Nintendo has had quite the year so far, and it’s starting to look like it’ll maintain that momentum through the end of 2022. With the company’s competitors delaying major holiday releases left and right, the runway has been cleared for Nintendo to blow past Sony and Microsoft despite doing so on a five-year-old console.

PCGamer • 12th May 2022

Trek to Yomi review

Trek to Yomi copies the style of Akira Kurosawa's iconic black and white samurai films: rice fields blowing in the wind, villages burning, a great black swirling vortex in hell. Okay, so Trek to Yomi goes to some places Kurosawa's films didn't. But the path there is littered with glitches, and I only stuck it out through the finicky, floaty combat to see where my samurai's descent into madness would lead him.

Inverse • 11th May 2022

6 years later, the most underrated travel game deserves a sequel

Remedy Entertainment’s 2016 game, Quantum Break, assumes that the past cannot be changed, incorporating the Novikov self-consistency principle. This foundational theory leads to some of the most satisfying and airtight time travel rules ever represented in a video game.

GamesRadar • 4th May 2022

Sifu devs on the challenge of bringing Mandarin Chinese to the action brawler

Sifu is a game that relies heavily on Chinese culture. And, in its attempt to create something authentic to its source material, and adhere to cultural differences, developer Sloclap sought to include Mandarin Chinese voiceovers from the game's launch.

Rock Paper Shotgun • 22nd April 2022

How Chinatown Detective Agency is making a cultural impact

Chinatown Detective Agency is a point and click adventure game that takes place in Singapore in the year 2037. It follows a young detective named Amira Darma as she starts up her agency to solve cases. While futuristic Singapore has secrets hiding at every corner, the case she ends up working on takes her all over the world. I spoke with Mark Fillon, creative director at General Interactive Co., about the inspiration behind the game’s themes, characters, and scope.

Inverse • 20th April 2022

Infuriate your friends and family with the 16 best shortcuts in 'Mario Kart 8'

slow down. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has only gotten better in the years since its initial 2014 release for the Wii U, and the Switch version continues to hold strong in video game sales charts month after month. Whether you’re a Moo Moo Meadows newbie or a Rainbow Road master, shortcuts can help you shave precious seconds off of your time.

Inverse • 18th April 2022

Where to find and catch all 18 legendaries in 'Pokémon Legends: Arceus'

in Pokémon Legends: Arceus is an exhilarating experience. Not only do they contribute to your Pokedex count — taking you one step closer to becoming a Pokémon Master — but best of all, you get an incredibly strong Pokémon that will help you conquer the toughest challenges in the Sinnoh region.