Magpie Gamer

Story: Set in the 2100's, humanity has branched out from Earth to colonize Mars and Jupiter's moons. Over time the relationship between the three degraded as Earth began to see itself as superior to the Martian people and exploited them for labor and resources. "Ender" became a derogatory term for anyone not born on Earth and growing tensions between the two eventually led to Mars forming their own military organization called "BAHRAM" (the ancient Persian name for Mars). Specially made mechanical suits called "Orbital Frames" , piloted by people called "Runners" , allowed Mars to hold their own against Earth's UNSF forces (United Nations Space Force). The cold war between BAHRAM and the UNSF blew up into full on war in the year 2172 when the UNSF took control of BAHRAM's production facility. BAHRAM managed to recapture one of their most powerful Orbital Frames called "Anubis" , but a second frame called "Jehu...

"Special" is a port and minimalist remaster of the original handheld title. Rune Factory 3 was the game to introduce many of the series staple gameplay systems and is when the Rune Factory series "finally got good" according to most fans. That said, the remaster retains some of the rough edges from those early days. The controls are slippery and finicky, causing Micah (protagonist) to hit the wrong field tiles. Other times if you aren't standing in the exact spot the game wants you to be in it will be impossible to collect resources from ore and stumps, even though visually, it looks like you should be able to. Of the three games I have played (RF3, RF4, and RF5), this entry in the series has my favorite player home. The colorful cast of characters are considered to be the most eccentric of any Rune Factory game and I love it. There is just something about Rune Factory's brand of 'quirky character' that suits their world. Sofia and Sherman f...

Review based on patch 1.3.0 Story: After being saved from drowning by a mysterious woman named Karen ( Charon or Kherty ), the player character is asked to search for her friend who went missing in the nearby ruins. While exploring the ruins, the player stumbles into a restored version of the city during the time of the Roman Empire. The handful of residents living there - which include ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans - all follow a "Golden Rule", where if any of them were to commit a sin, everyone would be turned to gold as punishment by the gods. No one is sure what counts as a punishable sin, but the magistrate asks the player to use their status as the 'newcomer' to discover who is most likley to sin. Gameplay: The player has the ability to loop time - repeating the same day while retaining both physical objects and information obtained from the previous loop. The narrative is one that discourages violence, brute force and combat, and instead a...

Story: The female warrior Bellona (painted by Rembrandt) is bummed-out because the holy war has come to an end and the new leader, Immortal John, has ruled that there should be no more killing - Bellona's favorite thing to do. However, the previous tyrant, Heavenly Peter, has escaped, giving Bellona one last chance to commit (legal) murder by claiming his head. Every character, object, and background has been taken from real-life Renaissance paintings and given simple animations to create a very unique 'cut-out' visual presentation. These paintings often feature absurd imagery, such as lap-dog sized pet lions, two fully nude men 'wrestling' by the beach, or people holding freakishly oversized keys. The imagery is not only interesting, but blends well with the story's dry humor written in the comedy style of Monty Python . The music is all classical stuff as well, played on screen by musicians hidden in every background. Bellona can even sing along or ap...

Story: The world is stuck in a perpetual loop of war, death, and suffering where colonies of child soldiers are ruled over by a Moebius monster with fealty to a "Queen". Sounds dark, right? Well... its not. The 'power of friendship' is emphasized heavily and everyone is obsessed with smiling. A certain villain ( Shania ) who commits genocide - twice - is forgiven because they have mommy issues. The story keeps telling you how bad things are but it doesn't look or feel that way. Characters talk in circles constantly, explaining and reexplaining the very obvious themes of the game like you're a 5 year old. Noah (the protagonist) is the most generic "good guy" and the Moebius villains are literal immortal children playing with their 'toys'. They all have the same wacky mannerisms and will throw a tantrum whenever things don't go their way, so they never come off as a serious threat. Most of the story beats are broadcast too early and...