George Yang

Anime News Network • June 12th, 2025

Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree is Hades but Japanese

During Summer Game Fest, Bandai Namco revealed a new roguelike game called Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree. While it was a bit difficult to tell what it was just by the gameplay trailer, it looked like Supergiant's massive hit roguelike game Hades, but with an Eastern aesthetic.

Anime News Network • June 11th, 2025

Onimusha: Way of the Sword Keeps True to its Predecessors

CAPCOM's Onimusha series had a long run on the PlayStation 2, starting with 2001's Onimusha Warlords. It was basically Resident Evil but with samurai, due to the gameplay's focus on fixed cameras. However, Onimusha didn't really take off nearly as well as CAPCOM's iconic horror franchise. As a result, 2006's Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams was the last mainline entry in the series.

Anime News Network • June 11th, 2025

Capcom's Pragmata is Intriguing

Five years ago, CAPCOM released the announcement trailer for Pragmata, a new sci-fi IP. It was only a cinematic trailer, but it piqued my interest as it showed an astronaut interacting with a small girl. All of a sudden, their surroundings completely warped in zero gravity, with both of them sent flying and a giant telescope was on its way to crash into them.

Anime News Network • June 11th, 2025

Code Vein 2 is Bigger and Better

One of the biggest surprises during Summer Game Fest was the announcement of Code Vein 2, Bandai Namco's follow-up to the 2019 vampiric soulslike RPG. The game is slated to launch sometime in 2026, and I got a chance to learn more about it through a hands-off preview with Bandai Namco.

Fangoria • June 11th, 2025

We Got A First Look At RESIDENT EVIL REQUIEM And It's Horrifying

The ninth mainline game in Capcom’s iconic Resident Evil franchise has finally been revealed. During the Summer Game Fest showcase, the show ended with the reveal of Resident Evil Requiem. It follows a new protagonist, Grace Ashcroft, an investigative reporter who’s also the daughter of Alyssa Ashcroft from 2003’s Resident Evil Outbreak.

Fangoria • June 9th, 2025

Supermassive Games' DIRECTIVE 8020 Is A Big Step Up

We played a 20-minute demo of Directive 8020 and spoke with executive producer Dan McDonald about why it took so long for the next Dark Pictures game to come out, as well as their future plans for the series.

Anime News Network • May 29th, 2025

Persona 5: The Phantom X Makes Smart Changes to the Traditional Persona Formula

Persona 5 was released almost a decade ago in Japan. Since then, we've had many spin-offs: Persona 5 Strikers, Persona 5 Tactica, Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight, and Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth. I'm surprised we haven't had a Persona 5 spin-off fighting game. While the whole world is waiting for even the slightest crumb of Persona 6, there's yet another Persona 5 spin-off coming.

Enter Persona5: The Phantom X, a free-to-play mobile spin-off of Persona 5.

Inverse • May 27th, 2025

The RPGs That Started It All Are Finally Getting Perfect Remakes

The Dragon Quest series isn’t the most well-known within Square Enix’s stable, but it’s one of the most influential. Its simple turn-based combat became the blueprint of hundreds of modern RPGs. It doesn’t have any fancy battle mechanics like Persona’s Press-Turn system. But that’s what’s so special about these remakes.

Anime News Network • May 20th, 2025

Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army Is Shaping Up to Be One of Atlus' Best Games

I spent three hours playing the remaster's first two chapters, and it's shaping up to be one of Atlus' best games, especially from a combat angle. Aside from Persona 5 Strikers, Atlus is known for its turn-based combat, but Raidou takes the opposite route and has real-time action. It's a departure from what recent Atlus fans are used to, but it's a welcome one after years of creating turn-based games.

Digital Trends • March 13th, 2025

Rainbow Six Siege X’s new mode is perfect for newcomers like me

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege was released in 2015 and has had a surprisingly long shelf-life as a live-service game. Now, coming up on its 10-year anniversary, Rainbow Six Siege is getting an overhaul titled Rainbow Six Siege X. This includes new content, enhanced visuals, and a new game mode called Dual Front, which turns the traditional Siege gameplay formula on its head.

Digital Trends • February 12th, 2025

Elden Ring Nightreign feels like a PS3 multiplayer game in the best way

In a night full of surprises at the Game Awards 2024, Elden Ring Nightreign may have been the biggest shocker of them all. FromSoftware built its reputation on the fabled Dark Souls series and single-player games. While games like Elden Ring and Bloodborne include co-op, the studio has never taken its award-winning formula into full-on multiplayer territory. That changes on May 30.

Fangoria • January 23rd, 2025

Step Into the Past with DOOM: THE DARK AGES Prequel Sneak Peek

The highly anticipated third installment of the modern Doom trilogy is on its way this year. This time around, we'll be following our hulking Doom Slayer protagonist to the Middle Ages as he slays more monsters and demons than ever before. Doom: The Dark Ages is a prequel, making it the perfect starting point for newcomers, but veterans won't feel left out either.
FANGORIA got a sneak peek at Doom: The Dark Ages before the Xbox Developer Direct 2025 today, January 23. Game director Hugo Martin a...

Digital Trends • January 23rd, 2025

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is perfect mix of classic and new

When Ubisoft released Assassin’s Creed Origins in 2017, it seemed like the franchise was at the start of a transformation. While previous entries focused much more on stealth, Origins started to move in a more action-focused direction with a major emphasis on open-world exploration. 2018’s Odyssey and 2020’s Valhalla continued the trend and refined its combat mechanics, which cemented Assassin’s Creed as an action RPG series.

Digital Trends • January 16th, 2025

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii’s naval battles are more than minigames

There’s been a renaissance of pirate games over the past few years, and the quality of them has been all over the place. Rare’s Sea of Thieves dominates the space with its wondrous sense of adventure and swashbuckling exploration. Ubisoft’s Skull and Bones, on the other hand, is filled with mundane tasks that make for a live-service slog.

Digital Trends • December 11th, 2024

Synduality: Echo of Ada feels like a cross between Gundam and Genshin Impact

I once visited a friend in Los Angeles who has an obsession with mecha and anime characters. His room is filled with figurines from Mobile Suit Gundam and Genshin Impact. I thought to myself: “Wouldn’t it be cool if someone combined these two interests?” Now, that’s just what Bandai Namco has done with Synduality, a new mixed media project that features multiple stories.

Digital Trends • November 21st, 2024

I played 2 hours of Avowed entirely in third-person

When I first played Avowed back in August, it was only through a first-person perspective. The RPG’s third-person camera wasn’t available in that build. While developer Obsidian Entertainment revealed the game through its first-person camera, the developer confirmed that third-person was an accessibility feature planned from day one and wouldn’t be treated as an afterthought.

PCMag • September 25th, 2024

All Aboard! Hands On With Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii

Officially revealed days before the Tokyo Game Show, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is a spin-off of Sega's wacky gangster RPG series starring the eccentric Majima Goro. Its announcement was a surprise, considering that fans have clamored for a game centered on the antihero for years. We got to play a short demo, and so far, it looks like developer Ryu Ga Gotoku delivers the goods in a big way with zany characters, exhilarating combat with fresh twists, and an intriguing pirate setting.

Digital Trends • September 19th, 2024

Dragon Age: The Veilguard mixes the series best ingredients

With each new Dragon Age game, BioWare brings a new evolution of its RPG series that builds on what came before. 2011’s Dragon Age 2 transitioned away from the CRPG roots of its predecessor for a more engaging and real-time action battle system. Then, 2014’s Dragon Age: Inquisition fully embraced gaming’s open-world trend at the time and delivered a story filled with political intrigue.

PCMag • August 26th, 2024

Hands On With Avowed, Xbox's Skyrim-Inspired RPG

Avowed was originally pitched as Obsidian's take on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and it certainly shows. The magical fantasy vibes are reminiscent of Bethesda’s popular role-playing game, but the real-time combat, humor, and rich game world give it a unique flavor. Avowed is set for PC and Xbox Series X/S release on Feb. 18, 2025, but you can read my early thoughts on the upcoming RPG right now.

Digital Trends • August 25th, 2024

Atlus almost gave up on Persona 3 Reload's The Answer DLC

When Persona 3 Reload was announced, fans were both excited and anxious. Since the original Persona 3’s release in 2006, the RPG has received two iterations in the form of Persona 3 FES and Persona 3 Portable, both of which had separate exclusive content that wasn’t available in the other. The former had a playable epilogue called The Answer, while the latter added a female protagonist.

Mashable • August 20th, 2024

'Indiana Jones and the Great Circle': I saw 30 minutes of the game before you did

Ever since Microsoft acquired Bethesda, players have been curious as to what MachineGames’ first game under the new Xbox umbrella would be. The studio is best known for creating the Wolfenstein series, but it’s now shifting gears to a beloved one: Indiana Jones.

Digital Trends • August 14th, 2024

Visions of Mana sticks to the series' roots while feeling fresh

I really appreciate Square Enix taking risks to revive dormant franchises with new entries while also continuing its flagship Final Fantasy series. Over the past few years, we’ve gotten Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince, SaGa: Emerald Beyond, Star Ocean: The Divine Force, and Theatrhythm Final Bar Line. Now the Mana series is the latest one to get Square Enix’s treatment with Visions of Mana.

Digital Trends • July 22nd, 2024

Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection is only the beginning

Capcom stands out from other fighting game developers by constantly bringing its old games to modern audiences for both new and veteran players. Following 2022’s release of Capcom Fighting Collection, Capcom is releasing its second compilation, Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics, later this year. The hotly anticipated package includes seven games from the Marvel vs. Capcom subseries from the 1990s.

Anime News Network • June 20th, 2024

Assassin's Creed Shadows Makes Great Use Of Its Two Protagonists

Assassin's Creed has been a household name in the gaming industry ever since it debuted in 2007. With a series focusing on stealth, trickery, and assassinations, you'd think there'd be an Assassin's Creed game in Japan, right? It took a while, 17 years to be exact, but we're finally here.