first impressions
Global Chat: Getting sucked into Palia
Cozy life sim Palia is making more converts, even after a rough start. One player who's glowing brightly about the title is The Friendly...
First Impressions: Hands-on with Fae Farm’s delightfully strong opening chapters
I suspect that many readers are familiar with the moment when a game has you so completely engrossed that you forget to look up...
Not So Massively: First impressions of Warcraft Rumble
Being Canadian and living door to the global superpower down south sometimes feels like being the overlooked younger sibling of a celebrity, so it's...
First Impressions: I sat through Wayfinder’s queues so you don’t have to
Over the past few days, I have spent many hours waiting in Wayfinder's seemingly endless queues. But what of the game at the end...
First Impressions: I honestly can’t tell whether I like Wayfinder or not
Playing Wayfinder marks the first time in my games writing career that my impression of a game has involved quite so much of my...
First impressions: Palia is a half-baked project that could rise to be a masterpiece
For a reviewer, there is nothing more frustrating than something that is equal parts amazing and terrible. All awesome? That's an easy, glowing recommendation....
First Impressions: Palia is missing the depth MMO life-skillers are hoping for
"Life-sims" are another of those game genres that I like in theory, but less so in practice. Most have graphical styles I find off-putting,...
First Impressions: Craftopia’s seamless world update is a game-changing breath of fresh air
I've been inside of Craftopia once before, having taken a look at this weird yet colorful survivalbox back in 2020. Since then, I've dabbled...
MMO Burnout: Final Fantasy XVI is a high-water mark for the franchise in every way that matters
Over the coming days, weeks, months, and likely years, we are going to watch a whole lot of fighting happen over Final Fantasy XVI....
MMO Burnout: Dramatic Labs finds the right tone for Star Trek Resurgence
As a longtime gamer and observer of the industry, I know it can be tough to get excited about new announcements and releases. We’re...
Global Chat: MMO players’ reactions to Diablo IV’s launch and SWTOR’s studio move
As the online community once again gets swept up into the hellscape of Diablo, there are no shortages of opinions about the quality of...
First Impressions: Phantasy Star Online 2 New Genesis’ player housing aka ‘creative spaces’ has huge potential – and a huge learning curve
One of the best methods for MMORPG players to feel connected to their game's world is through the avenue of player housing. It's an...
Global Chat: How insistent are MMOs that you group up?
In a recent essay over at Inventory Full, the author looks back at a couple decades-plus of MMO gaming to recall how fast and...
Global Chat: How do you play older MMOs?
It's always a challenge -- sometimes an insurmountable one -- when you jump into older MMORPGs after being conditioned by modern experiences. To help...
First Impressions: Ethyrial Echoes of Yore needs a lot more polish to be worth a sub
I'll be very upfront: I did not have a whole lot of time to play Ethyrial: Echoes of Yore even though I was granted...
Four Winds: The Artist has become my favorite support class in Lost Ark
Here's a thought experiment: How would have Anakin Skywalker turned out if he had grown up on planet covered in paint rather than coarse,...
BitCraft dates its next pre-alpha for March 31, promising to add ‘several thousand’ new testers
The pre-alpha testing progress of BitCraft is pushing forward, with the developers noting in last month's address that "several thousand" players would be considered...
First impressions of Diablo IV: Resurrecting Diablo II once again
If franchise media has taught us anything, it's that sequels which take risks and aren't universally beloved cause the parent company to panic and...
Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2’s What Lies Beneath, the next End of Dragons story, has launched
Happy anniversary to Guild Wars 2's End of Dragons expansion! Can you believe it has been a whole year? In some ways I feel...
Albion Online’s Beyond the Veil Patch 4 is live with ZH/IN language support and combat balancing
Yesterday saw a major planned outage for Albion Online as studio Sandbox Interactive pulled the servers offline for patch 4 and preparations for the...
