About Kirk Hiner

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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Switch owners have been able to get their hands on quite a few Ys games. Next up is Ys Memoire: The Oath in Felghana, which releases on January 7th, and we offer this preview to help you get ready for Adol Christin’s latest (repeat) adventure.
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One of the first things I point out in my reviews of franchise-based games is whether you need to know the source material to play. With FAIRY TAIL 2, that’ll likely be the case…and maybe the game deserves some credit for that.
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Flynn’s Arcade is my new favorite hangout. Some of you may prefer Arcade Archives across town, and I get that. Huge selection. But they never get anything new. Flynn’s does, the latest of which is Super Spy Raccoon.
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Well, we’ve reached the point with KEMCO that we now have throwbacks to their throwback RPGs. Maybe we’d reached that point already, but no game has made it feel more obvious to me than Journey to Kreisia.
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In Dungeons of Dreadrock 2: The Dead King’s Secret, you’re a member of the Order of Flame, and you’re out to recover the Crown of Wisdom. It all sounds so noble, but is it fun? If you’re an adventure/puzzler fun, it sure is.
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I come to Goblin Slayer -Another Adventurer- Nightmare Feast not as a fan of the series, but of tactical RPGs in general. In that regard, it’s OK, but I wonder if I would’ve liked it more if I were a fan of the material on which it’s based.
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I’ve played so many turn-based RPGs over the years that many have amalgamated in my memory. World of Kungfu: Dragon and Eagle will likely not meet that fate.
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