About Kirk Hiner

Kamikaze Lassplanes—thus named because the planes are the lasses and the…well, I’m not sure about the kamikaze part—leans heavily into its visual novel gameplay and ecchi art. It also serves up an engaging story and fun shoot ’em up combat throughout.
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There are a lot of words one feels compelled to use when covering an announcement such as the remake of Tony Haw’s Pro Skater 3 + 4. Those words all feel wrong coming from me, so I’m going to let the official press release do its thing.
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It’s hard for me to shake the stereotype that visual novels tend to be romances. Take a look at the eShop screens for this game, and you can see why that would be the case. But believe me, the HD remake of Ever 17 – The Out of Infinity is much more than a romance.
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The first thing that struck me while playing WARRIORS: Abyss was just how fond I’ve grown of these characters. I mention that because you get over 100 characters from Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors. Unfortunately, you’re not given much to do with them.
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It’s not really a trailer, right? It does a lot more than just promote the game; over the course of 6-1/2 minutes, it details game features, provides more story information, digs deeper into the environment and customization options, and…gives us a few key hints of things to come.
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Search levels for potion ingredients, collect them while avoiding deadly enemies, and mix them in a pot to save your daughter from an evil dragon. Such is the premise of Freddy Farmer, a throwback to ’80s and ’90s gaming.
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We’re exactly a month from the March 21st release of Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land, and what better way to build hype than with a closer look at the continent of Aladiss?
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X-Out: Resurfaced is an extremely challenging, side-scrolling shoot ’em up from the Commodore 64 days, effectively polished for modern consoles. Will that polish help it appeal to modern arcade action fans? Let’s dive in to find out.
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Is ROBOBEAT the first rhythm-based first-person shooter available for the Nintendo Switch? It’s certainly the first one I’ve played, and that maybe explains my confusion. The game’s certainly unique, but is it necessary? Let’s figure that out.
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With so many games and so many tweaks to those games in this series, elements I like and dislike come and go. That’s expected and appreciated, but there’s one element that should remain consistent, and it’s really not in The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak II.
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Whether they be more about puzzle solving, adventuring, or arcade action, platformers tend to involve a slow build into what they’re about. Moons of Darsalon starts with its foot on the gas and doesn’t let up.
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Nippon Ichi games test my brain in ways that most do not. The strategies required to work through them run deliberately and distinguishedly deep, and the same can be said of Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero.
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The alien terror won’t come from above, it’ll come from the deep. And it’ll rise on February 20th when ININ, Kritzelkratz 3000, and Ziggurat release the Amiga-era shoot-’em-up X-Out: Resurfaced in digital and physical editions.
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We’re just two months away from the March 21st release of Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land. Can you think of a better way to acknowledge that than with a new exploration, synthesis, and combat trailer from KOEI TECMO America and Gust?
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As if to spite all the rumor-mongers and leakers, Nintendo today officially unveiled the Nintendo Switch 2 with a 2025 release in a decidedly “meh” manner. Check out the first-look trailer and let us know if you agree.
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The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak II is sure to delight JRPG fans. How am I so sure? Because I’ve now attended two Discord previews from NIS America, the most recent of which focused on the game’s Märchen Garten.
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Originally released as Ys III: Wanderers from Ys in 1990, this remaster of that game’s 2005 remake will be a comfortable fit for anyone who started with the more modern 3D adventures.
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I’ve come to appreciate two aspects of visual novels: their low-pressure gaming experience their typically unique visions. Both of these are on display in Tmesis Studio’s Universe for Sale.
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