You can take part in a player satisfaction survey for Wartales.

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RPGFan checked out The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II:

The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II Preview (Part 2) + 2 Demos Coming

Thanks again to the wonderful team at NIS America, we got a second exclusive sneak peek at The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II. As mentioned in our first preview, even though the first Trails through Daybreak only just arrived in July, its sequel is already on the horizon. As devoted Trails fans, we are thrilled to share what Trails Through Daybreak II has in store. The event showcased not one but two demos: a story demo and a gameplay demo, each highlighting different aspects of the game. Both demos will be available to the public on January 24th, 2025.

The story demo features the first chapter of the game, spanning 2–3 hours—or more if you’re the type to lose yourself in side quests. Better yet, your progress from the demo will transfer to the full game, so you can start your adventure before the official release. This installment continues the branching path structure seen in Trails into Reverie, but with a twist: you’ll need to commit to a single path, with no jumping between storylines. If you’ve played Trails through Daybreak or the Ys X: Nordics story demo, you should expect a similar experience here.

[...]

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Couchpotato spotted a PC graphics presets video for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth:

FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH - PC GRAPHICS PRESETS VIDEO

Discover and compare how the PC version of FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH looks on different PC setups. With a wide variety of performance modes available, the game can be played comfortably on Minimum, Recommended, or Ultra specs.

Couchpotato spotted a new trailer for Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma:

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma - Launch Date Trailer

Experience Rune Factory reimagined when Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma launches on the 30th May 2025.

Couchpotato spotted a new trailer for Dragonkin: The Banished:

Dragonkin: The Banished | Hero Reveal Trailer

Learn more about squad Leaders and stats in MENACE:

Dev Diary #5: Squad Leaders and Stats

Meet the Squad Leaders of MENACE - they shape battles with unique perks, detailed stats, and distinct roles.
After getting into the details of how squad weapons and special weapons work, we are looking at the second important part: the soldiers wielding those weapons! We will also see what other types of equipment can be brought to the battlefield.

Squad Leaders
There are two fundamentally different character types in MENACE: Squad Leaders and Pilots. In today's diary, we look at the former and keep the latter for a future diary.

What are squad leaders in MENACE?
Any unit you deploy in MENACE features a squad leader acting as its identification figure and its commander on the battlefield. Squad Leaders (short SLs) are handwritten characters with their own backstory and unique perk tree.

Furthermore, they have a set of specific stats reflecting their squad's capabilities. However, being unique doesn't automatically protect the SLs from harm. They can still be killed on the battlefield, so you have to take that into consideration when going for bold moves and suicide missions.

[...]

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A demo for The First Berserker: Khazan is now available - Fextralife checked it out:

NEW First Berserker Khazan GAMEPLAY - Full Demo Walkthrough

The First Berserker: Khazan - Official Accolades Trailer

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Skill Up checked out Kingdom Come: Deliverance II:

Kingdom Come Deliverance II - Unique, vast, immersive and brilliant (Hands-On Impressions)

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GamesRadar thinks Baldur's Gate 3 should be GotY again:

Why Baldur’s Gate 3 should be GOTY again

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IGN checked out Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii:

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii – The Final Preview

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The J-RPG Tales of Graces f Remastered has been released:

Tales of Graces f Remastered - Launch Trailer

The roguelike Tyrant's Realm has been released:

Tyrant's Realm is Available Now!

Welcome to the Tyrant's Grim World

Hello everybody,

The time has come - Tyrant's Realm is officially live and ready for you to explore! Dive into an epic dark-fantasy adventure filled with mystery, danger, and choices that will shape the fate of the realm.

We are excited to finally share what we have been working on for many months!
Tyrant's Realm, our love letter to the PS1 Era of gaming & Soulslike games is finally hitting the Steam Store.

We'd like to say HUUUGE thanks to everybody who has supported us along the way & we truly hope you enjoy the game.

The wait is over - your adventure begins NOW!

We’re excited to hear your thoughts and see how you navigate the challenges of the Tyrant's Realm. Don’t forget to share your feedback with us—it means the world!

Prepare to face the Tyrant. Your realm awaits.

Team Tyrant

RPGFan posted a Demonschool Q&A:

Demonschool Q&A with Creative Director Brandon Sheffield

I had a great time with the Demonschool demo over the summer, so it was a pleasure to interview the school’s principal game’s creative director (and founder of Necrosoft Games) Brandon Sheffield. We conducted the Q&A over email, where Sheffield revealed some fun and intriguing insights into the design concepts and aesthetic inspirations that informed Demonschool‘s appealing blend of Shin Megami Tensei‘s horror-tinged demon hunting, Persona‘s social management, and air-tight tactics combat. You’ll even get some horror movie recommendations.

RPGFan: What are some of the main themes that informed Demonschool‘s overall design and narrative? How did they inform the development process?

Sheffield: The core design of the battles came initially from a tactics puzzle prototype – I was trying to devise the smallest tactical game I could. Things evolved from there to where the focus became a tactics game where you don’t have to make a lot of clicks or confirmations. That’s how I landed on the idea of moving your character and having them automatically do whatever sort of action is applicable when they reach an enemy, or an empty tile, or a trap, etc.

From there we defined the visual style by thinking of a fictional game console and trying to stick to its “rules.” Essentially if there had been an update to the Sega Saturn, a Saturn 1.5 or so. Giving ourselves bounding boxes helped the game feel true to its own universe. We also devised a loose conceit of the human world being represented by 2D, and the demon world being represented by 3D. When weaker demons come through they are flattened into our dimension, but stronger ones come through in full 3D, representing their threat and unfathomableness, which probably isn’t a real word.

[...]

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The Turn Based Lovers checked out Astral Throne:

New Fire Emblem-Inspired RPG Arrives This February - Demo Available Now

I talked about Astral Throne back in September, though it feels like much less time has passed. This game borrows its combat system from Fire Emblem while introducing a much more dynamic single-player campaign filled with Roguelite elements. It’s called Astral Throne, developed by Zero Sun Games, and it’s gearing up for release next month on PC.

Astral Throne is a Roguelike Strategy RPG that combines tactical combat with procedural design and player-driven choices. Set in a land cursed by Stardust from a fallen star, the game challenges players to build and lead a party of heroes through handcrafted encounters and dynamically shifting overworld maps. Core gameplay focuses on synergizing character classes, utilizing the weapon and magic triangles, and navigating the risks of permadeath to secure victory.

As said in the intro, the game roguelite-nature emphasizes replayability through its procedurally generated maps, recruitable characters, and varied outcomes based on player decisions. Party customization is highly flexible, offering the ability to adjust skills, equipment, and strategies between runs and an evolving story that adapts to your choices and a suite of difficulty modifiers for tailored challenges.

[...]

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Couchpotato spotted a new trailer for Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii:

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii | Combat Overview Trailer

Game Rant checked out GreedFall 2:

What to Expect from GreedFall 2 in 2025

GreedFall was a surprise hit as an age of sail fantasy RPG that confronted the dark truths of colonialism back in 2019. GreedFall 2: The Dying World follows the action away from the original’s setting on the island of Teer Fradee and back to the continent from which the colonial powers hail. GreedFall 2 entered Early Access in September 2024, and it has seemingly adopted a slow but steady approach to the ongoing development.

While it’s out in Early Access now, surprisingly little is known about where Spiders’ unique fantasy setting is going in 2025. However, based on the past few months and what's to come for the game, it is possible to have a few key, managed expectations.

GreedFall 2’s Approach to Early Access
Spiders rang in 2025 with a tweet promising to share next steps and the future of the GreedFall 2 Early Access, but fans are still lacking perspective. In its year-end retrospective, Spiders acknowledged the shaky beginnings of the Early Access, but its dedication to move forward according to a path that has been very successful for other recent titles. Spiders’ Early Access on PC is a familiar strategy employed by many games, including Larian and Baldur’s Gate 3: share a slowly developing Early Access with the players in order to hone the game with the feedback of players.

[...]

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RPG Site reviewed Tales of Graces f Remastered:

Tales of Graces f Remastered Review

There's something about catching up with an old friend. Whether it’s been weeks, months, or years since you last saw each other, it only takes one moment to reacquaint, and suddenly it’s like no time has passed at all. It has been over a decade since I first played Tales of Graces f on the PlayStation 3, when I enjoyed the game well enough at the time. Yet revisiting this game in 2025 has been nothing short of delightful. Bursting with an endless supply of charming characters, frenetic combat, and a heartfelt story, Tales of Graces f Remastered is a great example of why the series remains beloved, and hopefully a sign of things to come from future re-releases from the series.

[...]

That's the thing about catching up with old friends. It's nice to think like nothing has changed; that no time at all has passed, even though we know it's not true. What a pleasant surprise then, to be able to play Tales of Graces f Remastered and experience something that looks and feels even better than you remember.

Score: 9/10

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The Chinese Room posted a new developer diary for VtM: Bloodlines 2:

Legend of the Nomad

Developer Diary #24

Happy New Year, and welcome to a fresh and tasty Dev Diary from the team at The Chinese Room. We are starting the year by talking about the player character, Phyre, and how you can shape their legend and add to it as you play. As you’ll see below your story will start wearing rags, but will it end in riches? Seattle’s fate is in your hands.
- Project Creative Director Alex Skidmore

[Picture: Description: Masculine and feminine side-by-side renders in the robes you start the game wearing.]

An Elder of your choosing
As our game starts, an Elder that some call the Nomad wakes up in an abandoned building in Seattle. They don't know where they are or how they got there, but they are quick to adapt - the Nomad is old, and they have survived for a long time.

It is clear that they have experienced the deathlike sleep of torpor. The last they remember was a smile and a piercing pain in the chest, delivered in their Haven in Tunis at the start of the 20th century.

Now they are awake. What happened to them in their long slumber, and who woke them? Why does their Blood lack the strength and power they are used to? And why is their body carved with arcane sigils?

The Nomad is a legend amongst Kindred. Their name has been whispered for four hundred years - of their presence in revolutions, on battlefields, at slaughters, and at the fall of Princes. Are they escaping these situations, causing them, or taking joy in red wrath and ruin? Whatever the truth, they are a catalyst - when they appear, the world of the Kindred will be irrevocably changed.

[...]

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Gematsu reports that the Asian version of The Legend of Heroes: Kai no Kiseki will launch on January 23.

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Console Creatures checked out The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak II:

The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak II Preview – Mini-Games Are Back!

The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak II follows up on one of last year’s best RPGs, The Legend Of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak.

Taking the long-running series to the new country of Calvard and focusing on a mostly new cast of characters, Daybreak featured a darker overall storyline and more mature themes than ever before. Trails has always had dark moments and tragic backstories, but Daybreak dealt with topics like racism, classism, representation, and more, all mostly handled with grace and emotional maturity.

Though it didn’t entirely close out the story, leaving several threads and the central mystery left unsolved, Daybreak II is here to clean all that up while also bringing back something the original sorely missed: mini-games. It also borrows a lot from Trails into Reverie in its structure and the brand new Märchen Garden.

[...]

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GamesRadar checked out Atomfall:

Atomfall isn't Rebellion's Fallout, it's something far more interesting | Preview

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The Turn Based Lovers present their top 20 of upcoming turn-based RPGs:

Top 20 NEW Promising Turn-Based RPGs Of 2025

Timestamps
00:00 Intro
00:41 Mercenaries Lament
01:49 Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
03:30 New Arc Line
04:38 Bonaparte: A Mechanized Revolution
05:38 MENACE
07:08 Civilization VII
08:27 Trails Through Daybreak II
09:27 Suikoden Remaster
11:08 Solasta II
12:10 The Starbites
13:21 Demonschool
14:12 Lost Hellden
15:36 HOMM Olden Era
16:26 Dark Deity 2
17:26 Dragon Quest Remake
18:18 The Way of Wrath
20:24 Liegecraft
22:19 Mechanicus II
23:31 The White Raven
24:39 SacriFire
25:57 Outro

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Mortismal Gaming shares his thoughts about a Oblivion remake:

My Thoughts On An Oblivion Remake

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GamingBolt reviewed Tales of Graces f Remastered:

Tales of Graces f Remastered Review - The Final Verdict

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Broken Alliance has been released into Early Access:

Broken Alliance is out in Early Access Now!

It is time! We now open the gates of Broken Alliance to the public after more than 3 years of work ^^

Hello!

It is time! We now open the gates of Broken Alliance to the public! So excited to get people playing the Early Access version of our game that we have been working on for a bit over 3 years and will continue the development with the players feedback!

If you are not sure whether you would like to get the game; try out the demo, it is not a fresh one - so some things have already been fixed in the EA release version but it gives a good idea of what you might expect from the main game!

I think our team members experience of working on games like Death and Taxes, Disco Elysium, Pentiment and Heroes of Might and Magic series etc, have come together in a beautiful story filled fantasy world quite well and I am very proud of what we have achieved thus far!

If you would like more info about our Early Access release, you can take a look at our last blog post.

Enjoy and if you have time, please give us feedback in the forums or in discord, you can be in direct contact with our indie dev team members there. Would love to hear your thoughts!

Again, we are excited for this big milestone for us!

Thank you for your support - whether it be buying the game or giving us feedback in our community discussions or discord! 

Leene

Fextralife checked out The Blood of Dawnwalker:

The Blood of Dawnwalker FIRST LOOK - Upcoming ARPG From EX-WITCHER 3 Devs!

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The Kickstarter for Chernobylite 2: Exclusion Zone has been started:

KICKSTARTER LAUNCH TRAILER - Chernobylite 2: Exclusion Zone

Explore the mysterious open world of the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone in this post-apocalyptic action RPG adventure. Craft your story by facing sinister hazards and monsters. Survive furious encounters with the help of your crafted weaponry, developed skills, gathered teammates, and supported factions

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Couchpotato spotted dev update #4 for Solasta II:

Dev Update #04 - A Chat with our Art Director

What exactly changed between Crown of the Magister and Solasta II in the art direction?

Hello there you fine folks!

I hope our previous article gave you some reassurance regarding our character models! Today we’re going to be having a little interview with Thierry Dunter, our Art Director, in order to better understand exactly what changed - and how - between Crown of the Magister and Solasta II to make such a difference. But as usual, before that….

Getting to know our Art Director

Hello Thierry, can you give us some information about yourself?
Hello there everyone. I am Thierry Dunter, the Art Director of Tactical Adventures. I’ve been with the studio since the very start, and have worked in quite a range of different games before that - such as XIII, RUSE, the Ghost Recon and Steel Division franchises. In my spare time I enjoy painting, cooking and I’m quite into airsoft!

RUSE and Steel Division? That’s thematically quite a far cry from Solasta, isn’t it?
It is! However, as an Art Director it is a challenge that is very interesting to tackle - I believe growth as an Art Director comes from exploring new horizons and challenging your existing views and techniques. The high fantasy world of Solasta as you currently know it took a lot of experimentation and researches - we’ve shared some early concept art in our Solasta Sourcebook, but there are many more sketches lost on hard drive or even my iPad (got to keep my hands busy during those train rides).

And what a world it turned out to be! If you don’t mind me asking, players have noted that while the environment ended up quite striking in Crown of the Magister, our character faces were fairly rudimentary. What happened there?
A hard hitting question, but one that resulted in our character models taking a big step up in quality with Solasta II! Let’s start from the beginning: You have to remember that our team started very small developing Solasta I. I’m talking no more than TWO people doing research on faces during pre-production - as you can imagine, that did not give us a lot of time to experiment.

Pre-production? Could you explain a little more for those who may not know this term?
Of course. Pre-production is the period during which we do research, experiment and establish pipelines. So for example here: How do we make a character face, from drawing it in 2D to having it available in-game. What are all the little steps, and how long do they take to create? This is an important step because it allows our Producer to estimate how much time it would take to make 20, 40, 100 different faces - and more importantly, if we have the time to make that many different faces during Production (which follow pre-production)!

So if I understand correctly, you’re saying that we had to settle on a pipeline during pre-production?
Exactly. Once pre-production ends, we can’t go back and keep changing the pipeline - so we had to settle with what we had. As you saw in-game, the result was… not ideal. We had a very limited amount of polygons to play with due to how scenes were handled in Unity, and our limited budget and time meant we had to quickly move onwards to start production.

It is also important for artists to check in-game from time to time. Is that an old character model? Is the lighting off? Etc…

But that’s different with Solasta II, correct?
Absolutely, and there are many reasons for that! First is switching to Unreal Engine, which allowed us to basically multiply by 10 the number of polygons in our character faces. Second is our areas of focus - with Solasta II, making faces better was a goal from the start, so we started working on them earlier to make sure we’re satisfied with what we have before production

Would you say anything changed in our philosophy regarding character models?
Yes, in Solasta II as we’re able to add more details we want characters to be able to tell their story through their appearance. In a way, we’re keeping a realistic artstyle.. But also exaggerating a few traits a little more for visual storytelling. Something similar to characters you would describe on Tabletop - the Paladin stands tall and strong, their appearance noble and unblemished. The grizzled old veteran sports a cleanly shaven beard, a heavily scarred face eyeing you with a stern look.

We’re also leaning back into more classical medieval fantasy codes, with characters that are more visually appealing overall. You know, how characters in med-fan shows always have white teeth or look fairly fine after trekking in the woods for two weeks. That doesn’t mean everyone will look perfect, far from it - but that should reduce the amount of uncanny valley some Solasta I faces gave off.

Can you give us some juicy bits of info about the upcoming Character Creator?
Well we’re still very much working on it, but we do want to push customization a lot more than in Crown of the Magister. No promises, but we’re currently playing with sliders quite a bit and I’m sure you will be able to be much more creative this time when building up your party of adventurers!

Thank you Thierry! I’m very excited to see what happens next with the Character Models!
Thank you! Look forward to our Character Creator once it’s implemented!

Article by Tactical Myzzrym

The J-RPG Lunar Remastered Collection has been announced for April 18:

LUNAR Remastered Collection releases April 18, 2025!

LUNAR fans, mark your calendars!

The epic adventure to save the world from the forces of evil with old friends Alex, Hiro, and more, begins April 18, 2025.

Wishlist now!

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Kiwi Talkz talked with Dennis Mejillones:

Dennis Mejillones Interview (Character Artist On Skyrim, Fallout 4, 76 & Starfield)

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Mortismal Gaming checked out The Blood Of Dawnwalker:

The Blood Of Dawnwalker - Reveal Details & Thoughts

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GamingBolt is looking back at The Witcher 3:

Why The Witcher 3 STILL DAZZLES GAMERS Even After 10 Years...

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Fextralife checked out The Wayward Realms:

The Wayward Realms FIRST LOOK – Spiritual Successor to ELDER SCROLLS?

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PC Gamer checked out Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen:

Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen is an aggressively old-school MMO that hates hand-holding so much it won't even give you a map—but a certain type of player might just love it

If you like having no guidance, murdering rats and working very hard for stingy rewards, man do I have good news.

"What the heck is a Dire Lord?" I asked myself, staring at Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen's character creation screen. This was my first inkling that I was about to start playing an MMO that would rarely tell me anything I needed to know. From the absence of practical information about classes and races, to the lack of any in-game map, Pantheon is aggressively against any sort of hand-holding, which makes for an excruciating new player experience.

Amongst the veteran MMO crowd, though, Pantheon's been making waves. Understandably, too. EverQuest legend Brad McQuaid was developer Visionary Realms' chief creative officer until his death in 2019, and the promise of an extremely social MMO that maintains a lot of the friction that modern games have done away with sounds compelling. But it's been a decade since its announcement, and it's only now in early access, where it will be for at least two years, and it still doesn't feel close to prime time.

[...]

Thanks MAHak!

Version 3.0 of Honkai: Star Rail has been released:

The Herta Character Trailer: "Geniuses in the Universe" | Honkai: Star Rail

A second closed beta for Within the Cosmos is coming:

Second Closed Beta Playtest Announcement

Hi again everyone!

It's been a little over a month since the first closed beta ended, and I want to say a heartfelt thank you to the beta testers. The feedback you all gave was truly invaluable. I've been able to polish the game in ways that would've taken me months to achieve on my own. Thank you so so much for everything! 

I’ve addressed all the bugs you reported and implemented most of the feedback I received. For those in the Within the Cosmos Discord server, you’ve probably seen my weekly changelogs/patch notes detailing the progress that I've been able to do. I'm really excited for you to test this more polished version, and see the improvements since the first beta.

The previous beta was a tremendous success, and I genuinely loved the experience, largely because of the amazing people who took part in it. Also, while I do as much testing as possible on my own, a larger group is essential to catch issues I might miss. These two reasons are why I've decided to run another closed beta, and I aim to double the amount of testers this time. Priority will go to those who are active in the community forums or social media and who have expressed a genuine interest in Within the Cosmos.

If you're a previous tester, I'd really love to have you participate in this beta as well.*

You can apply here via this Google form.
This survey will close on 19 January at 00:00 UTC.
The beta itself will run from 17 January at 00:00 UTC until 20 January at 00:00 UTC.

Over the next couple of days, I will reach out to those selected via email with an invitation to the beta Discord server, and instructions to download the beta.

Google Form: Apply Here

What to Expect:

• Access to a portion of the game, including the starting area and the first city.
• Most gameplay mechanics, and features are in place.
• Your feedback will help refine the gameplay loop, improve performance, and identify bugs or areas needing polish.
• If you have any suggestions for Quality of Life improvements or changes, please feel free to share them!

How to Join:

Fill out the Google form to apply.
I’ll review applications and select testers based on the information provided.

Thank you so much to everyone who applied last time, I hope you'll apply again! There were many of you that I wanted to invite previously, but due to my limited experience in running betas, I had to keep its scale manageable, but I’m excited to expand this time.

I can’t wait to hear your thoughts and see how you enjoy the improvements!

- debdev

* For previous beta testers: If you don't want to go through the effort of re-applying through Google forms, simply message me on Discord, and I'll send over the beta key when the beta begins :)

Thanks Henriquejr!

Olipa Games is planning new updates for The Black Grimoire: Cursebreaker:

Devblog 19 - New year, new patches...

Greetings, medieval adventurers!

This is a short news blog conveying our thoughts and plans for the near term updates to the game. We’ve continued to sift through the feedback and reports we’ve received since launch (there’s been quite a bit!). With a focus on improving the game, aside from general jank, we've received few enough complaints expressing various degrees of frustration with some of the content in the game, starting with the ambusher groups roaming the mountains.

Mountain Ambushes

Though we think the concept remains good, we admittedly missed the mark with its implementation and the idea wasn't properly conveyed to the player. The ambushers roam a very specific section of the mountains, leaving some areas more chill whereas in others the player's expected to be more on guard. The intention was that the player might try to pick their fights, and rather avoid and try to escape groups of enemies that posed too much of a threat.

Nothing particularly prepares the player for these encounters though; their functionality isn't explained anywhere, nor does anything else in the game work the same way. When players are attacked, they tend to instinctively try to fight their way out of it.

If the player succeeded in defeating them early on, the problem was only compounded, as that triggered higher level ambushers to attack next time with better drops. The increasing ambusher levels were more intended as an optional end game challenge, but they were also overtuned, with their levels increasing too quickly compared to how many kills were needed for the end game craftables. While some of you experts handled them fine regardless, they did also leave a fair few players at their wit's end.

So, with that said, we're exploring ways to rework the encounters entirely. At the moment we're leaning towards building a minigame around the ambushers, including a potential introductory quest, which would leave the ambushes much less frequent/intrusive while not active, i.e. while you're not trying to hunt for them.

During the challenge, you would gain increasingly better rewards based on how many groups you're able to take out in row, and it would contain conditions for failing the challenge (dying or fleeing from a fight), which would reset your current tally and roll back the ambusher levels.

[...]

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Lost Pilgrims Studio looks back at 2024:

A Review of 2024 and Happy 2025

Fellow vagri,

With 2024 behind us, we're closing the book on those adventures and looking forward to what 2025 brings. For this occasion, we thought we’d look back on the past year and list some of the things that happened around Vagrus.

How It Started
We kicked off 2024 with a post about our plans for the year. In retrospect, wanting to release smaller bits of content at intervals while developing two very content-heavy DLCs with our tiny writing team was wishful thinking. Why it did not exactly pan out like that also involved a lot of other factors, like the many, many other aspects of the game we’ve worked hard to improve. Also, it seems that there’s no such thing as “smaller bits of content” when it comes to Vagrus. With millions of words worth of written content behind us, everything is interconnected and adding things can be very tricky. Also, players now expect meaty additions, so just any odd small story just won’t cut it. Still, this effort gave us Clandestine, so it was not in vain.

Clandestine Part 1
Of course, we haven’t forgotten about Clandestine, which started out as a multi-part, free questline that we wanted to add part by part. Unfortunately, we fell in love with it, so it became intricate and too big in scope. We have every intention to keep adding the other parts but with the shift of the industry towards the middle of the year, we realized that we can’t spare the capacity for more free stuff for a while and instead have to concentrate on things that generate revenue. It’s not an ideal position but watching so many companies and studios close down around us made us face harsh realities. We’re super satisfied with Part 1, though – it has a unique atmosphere, artistic identity, and creepy storyline that we’d love to revisit one day.

[...]

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Entertainium reviewed Breath of Death VII: The Beginning Reanimated:

Review: Breath of Death VII: The Beginning Reanimated is a well made remaster of the indie parody RPG

Breath of Death VII: The Beginning originally came out on Xbox Live Arcade during the golden era of the service in April 2010, as the second game from Zeboyd Games, who have gone on to develop a variety of 16-bit style RPGs over the last 15 years. Breath of Death was later bundled together with its spiritual successor Cthulhu Saves the World, as both were humorous experiences with a similar style of gameplay, as well as a low price point. Now, Shadow Layer Games have remastered the original with new artwork, graphics and audio, breathing new life into the ghosts and skeletons of this cute post-apocalypse.

[...]

Breath of Death VII: The Beginning Reanimated does what it set out to do; remaster the original indie RPG with a nice new lick of paint, while preserving its accessibility and charm. To that end, it’s a success. I imagine Shadow Layer Games will likely have a go at remastering Cthulhu Saves the World next given how well the two games compliment each other. If you didn’t play the original at the time, or are a new player finding it for the first time, it’s an easy recommendation for anyone looking for a streamlined and more bitesize classic RPG.

GameSpot reports that Larian is now focused on the development of their next game - codenamed Excalibur.

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Danny Pena interviewed Naoki Hamaguchi and Yoshinori Kitase about Final Fantasy VII Rebirth:

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth PC Interview with Naoki Hamaguchi & Yoshinori Kitase

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