George Yang

Rolling Stone • 31st January 2023

Inside the Art of 'Breaking' Video Games

How fast can a game be beaten — and how many tricks can a player use as they do it? With “game breaking,” users look for loopholes in a game’s design and use them to get past difficult enemies. Different players have different approaches: Speedrunners, for example, find the fastest way to finish, while “map clippers” twist “mechanics” — the rules by which the digital universe is bound — to see what they can get away with before it becomes a problem for developers, or crashes the game completely.

CNN • 31st January 2023

Fire Emblem Engage offers the series’ best gameplay yet — even if the story disappoints

The Fire Emblem series is now as popular as ever. When Fire Emblem: Awakening launched for the Nintendo 3DS in 2012, the game single-handedly saved the franchise from cancellation due to its overwhelming popularity. It expanded on the relationship simulation elements popularized by games like the Persona series while retaining the same chess-like tactical combat, and was later built on with well-received entries like Fire Emblem: Fates and Fire Emblem: Three Houses.

Rolling Stone • 26th January 2023

Reanimated 'Dead Space' Is a Gruesome Body Horror Nightmare

Like it or not, we’re firmly entrenched in a sea of video game remakes. With the success of 2022’s The Last of Us Part I and Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion, alongside the upcoming Resident Evil 4, it’s clear that the trend is here to stay. But if there’s any game deserving of resurrection, it is EA’s 2008 horror classic Dead Space.

Variety • 23rd January 2023

‘Forspoken’ Shines in Its Combat and Traversal: Video Game Review

What if you took the gameplay of modern-day “Final Fantasy” and combined it with the exploration of “Horizon Zero Dawn?” You’d get something like “Forspoken.” The game follows a young woman named Frey from New York as she suddenly gets whisked away into a new world called Athia, filled with magic and dragons. What comes after is a journey of self-discovery, finding her place in the world, and lots of parkour. “Forspoken” feels fluid to play and has gorgeous visuals to support its open-world str

Crunchyroll • 18th January 2023

GUIDE: What is NieR? The Action RPG Series, Explained

NieR:Automata Ver1.1a is an anime adaption of the video game, NieR:Automata. We wanted to take a look at the history of the NieR franchise and answer some of your questions about the anime. After hitting some serious mainstream appeal with its release in 2017, the action-RPG series from PlatinumGames (Bayonetta, Astral Chain) and Square Enix (Final Fantasy) has a unique and complex history that makes for one of the most powerful sci-fi narratives in gaming.

Inverse • 18th January 2023

'A Space for the Unbound' review: 2023's first great indie game

Drowning in a river trying to save a little girl is a hell of a way to open a game about high school romance. But this literal nightmare is exactly what happens to Atma, the main character in A Space for the Unbound. He wakes up next to his girlfriend, Raya, and thus begins the story of their dreamy, bizarre romance. Set in Indonesia in the late ‘90s, A Space for the Unbound follows Atma and Raya as they near graduation and reflect on what the future holds for them.

Digital Trends • 17th January 2023

Persona 3's new remaster shows how far the series has come

In 2006, developer Atlus would pave its future with an important game release: Persona 3 for the PlayStation 2. It was a smash-hit, finally taking the JRPG series mainstream in a way that its first two games didn’t. Persona 3 laid the groundwork for what would eventually be Persona 5’s monumental mainstream success and Atlus’ crown jewel.

NPR • 16th December 2022

Best games of 2022 chosen by NPR

The world may have returned to a halting, uncertain normalcy in 2022. But 2022's video games were anything but ordinary. The Pokémon Company graced us with not one, but two huge titles. Ambitious indies had us sift through mysterious movie footage, found our own cults, investigate supernatural deaths, delve into outer-space colonies, search for secret treasure, and so much more.

Crunchyroll • 9th December 2022

The 10 Best JRPGs of 2022 You Should Play

Every year is a great year for JRPGs and 2022 is no different. In fact, 2022 was particularly loaded with strategy RPG games like Tactics Ogre: Reborn, Relayer, and the Front Mission 1 remake. Square Enix also released so many games this year, especially toward the latter half, like Dragon Quest Treasures and Romancing SaGa -Minstrel Song- Remastered. I sometimes even lost track of the company’s release schedule!

Rolling Stone • 8th December 2022

A$AP Rocky Always Dreamed of Being Part of a Video Game

When Electronic Arts asked A$AP Rocky to be part of its latest racing game, Need for Speed Unbound, the answer came quickly. “I grew up on Need for Speed, so I just felt like it was only right, you know?” the rapper says. “That was one of those things that we all grew up on. I was interested off the bat.”

Rolling Stone • 6th December 2022

'Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion' Is a (Slightly) Updated Time Capsule From the Mid-2000s

In 1997, Japanese developer Square released a juggernaut with Final Fantasy VII, a game generally considered one of the greatest ever made. Ten years later, they’d expand that world with a prequel, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, released for the PlayStation Portable. Relatively well-received at the time, that title would help keep the torch burning for fans as they anxiously awaited a next-gen remake of the original game.

CNN • 5th December 2022

Best Buy has a PS5 restock today — here’s how to get yours

Best Buy is restocking both PlayStation 5 consoles as well as a PlayStation 5 God of War Ragnarok bundle today, December 5, at 12 p.m. ET / 9 a.m. PT. In order to access the restock, you must be a Best Buy Totaltech member. Here’s how you can sign up and nab that elusive PS5.

CNN • 30th November 2022

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are among the best Pokémon games yet — but they have some glaring setbacks

The monumentally famous Pokémon franchise returns with a new pair of mainline games: Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet. Now in its 9th generation, the series shows no signs of slowing down as Nintendo announced the game had sold 10 million copies within its first week.

Variety • 29th November 2022

‘The Boys’ Star Karen Fukuhara Makes Her Video-Game Debut With ‘The Callisto Protocol’

Developed by Striking Distance Studios, “The Callisto Protocol” is a survival horror game set in the Black Iron Prison on one of Jupiter’s moons, Callisto. Players assume the role of an inmate named Jacob Lee, played by “Transformers” and “Shotgun Wedding” star Josh Duhamel. He meets Dani Nakamura, the leader of a resistance group called Outer Way, and together they must uncover the Black Iron Prison’s dark secrets and escape with their lives. Dani is portrayed by “The Boys” star Karen Fukuhara.

Inverse • 16th November 2022

How to fully upgrade the Blades of Chaos in 'God of War Ragnarok'

sad dad is back to take on Asgard. In God of War Ragnarok, our hero Kratos can use an assortment of powerful weapons suited to any combat situation — and he can learn a variety of abilities to make them more powerful. Kratos’s Blades of Chaos are his original weapons from the older God of War games, and they were reintroduced partway through the 2018 installment. Now, Kratos starts with them at the beginning of Ragnarok.

Inverse • 16th November 2022

'God of War Ragnarok' Gale Flame locations: How to fully upgrade the Draupnir Spear

to have options. In God of War Ragnarok, protagonist Kratos wields multiple weapons that let him handle any combat situation — and he can learn a variety of abilities to make them more powerful. While both the Leviathan Axe and the Blades of Chaos from 2018’s God of War make a return, there’s also a brand new armament that Kratos wields on this adventure.

CNN • 15th November 2022

The PlayStation VR 2 is up for pre-order now, but is it worth the $550?

PlayStation has been one of the leaders in the gaming space in terms of VR. The PlayStation VR headset was relatively affordable compared to more expensive high-tech ones like the Valve Index. It was also a fun product due to PlayStation’s lineup of strong exclusive titles like Astro Bot Rescue Mission and Firewall: Zero Hour.

Inverse • 12th November 2022

How to fully upgrade the Leviathan Axe in 'God of War Ragnarok'

Fimbulwinter is upon us. God of War Ragnarok is the latest game from Sony Santa Monica and the sequel to 2018’s God of War. In this game, protagonist Kratos can wield multiple weapons that let him handle any combat situation — and he can learn a variety of abilities to make them more powerful.

Variety • 11th November 2022

How ‘God of War Ragnarök’s’ Thor Was Inspired by The Hulk

“God of War Ragnarök” is one of 2022’s most explosive video games. Focusing on Norse mythology, the game features the folklore’s most iconic figures such as Heimdall, Freya, Odin, and Thor. Thor, in particular, has received tons of attention due to his prominent role in the game and overall popularity in pop culture. Thor has many layers to him, both physically and emotionally. Variety sat down with narrative director Matt Sophos, art director Raf Grassetti, and voice actor Ryan Hurst to talk about how Sony Santa Monica approached the god of thunder.

Variety • 7th November 2022

‘Sonic Frontiers’ Is Simultaneously Bizarre and Cathartic: Video Game Review

“Sonic Frontiers” was supposed to release in 2021, but it was delayed to 2022 in order to improve its quality. After the two “Sonic the Hedgehog” movie adaptations did well at the box office and received generally positive feedback, it makes sense that SEGA would like the next big “Sonic” game to exceed commercial and critical expectations, too. “Sonic Frontiers” is a crockpot of a bunch of different game mechanics that work just fine individually, but the game itself lacks an overall identity.