Alan Wen
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Articles by Alan Wen
8 new Final Fantasy 7 Revelation features that make this RPG Square Enix's most ambitious to date
If you thought Final Fantasy 7 Revelation was going to rein things in after the maximalist scale of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, then think again. This is, after all, the finale of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy, so it's got to go out with a bang. Square Enix has also, so far, designed each instalment to be its own standalone RPG with a raft of new gameplay features rather than just a mere iteration of the next episode of the story.
8 huge story threads I still need Final Fantasy 7 Revelation to resolve
Square Enix has given itself a monumental task with the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy. You would think simply retelling the story of the 1997 PS1 RPG classic with modern production values would be a tall order in itself, but this reimagining ambitiously pulls in elements from the metaseries that is Compilation of Final Fantasy 7 while also expanding it with multiple, even infinite, timelines.
Grand Theft Auto Has Broken So Much Ground, What Else Can GTA 6 Do?
GTA has built a reputation over the years as not just AAA gaming at its peak, but a new revolution for the medium upon each game’s launch. So it struck me how after watching the Extended Look at GTA 6 back in August, there was considerable chatter in my social circles claiming it looked like an Xbox 360 game.
I'm now FF7 Revelation-ready after putting together the entire Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy story-so-far
Final Fantasy 7 Revelation is the third and final instalment of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy that reimagines the 1997 PS1 JRPG classic while incorporating the wider universe known as The Compilation of Final Fantasy 7 (which includes spin-offs like PSP's Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7, and even movies like Advent Children).
What GTA Clones Did Better Than Grand Theft Auto Itself Original
Grand Theft Auto represents the pinnacle of AAA games, not just in huge-scale production values, but in the kind of innovation that rewrites the rules for what games can even be. It seems only Rockstar is capable of fully nailing this style of game. Of course, with its level of success, that hasn’t stopped other developers from trying. Rightly or wrongly, these games are often dubbed GTA clones, a label that automatically assumes it’s an inferior imitation to the real McCoy.
This horny anime food-themed tactical RPG roguelite isn't just a thirst trap, even if it will make you hungry
9 hours ago Trying to narrow down the best RPGs of all time is a nearly impossible task. Role-playing games encompass everything from dice-driven fantasy adventures and turn-based Japanese classics to sprawling open worlds, interstellar soap operas, as well as whatever Disco Elysium is doing. And while everyone …
Phantom Blade Zero review: dark wuxia martial arts masters with an apprentice's execution
9 hours ago Stories about the end of the world are rarely just about watching civilization collapse. They’re about what people try to save, what they’re willing to do to survive, and whether anything better can grow from the ruins. That’s why apocalyptic fiction can be harrowing, absurd, or even comforting. No …
How Unreal Engine 5's Chaos physics was modified for this indie game about tearing down your hometown with a sledgehammer
10 hours ago SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct. 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Reallusion's 2026 3D Character Contest was held from June 1st to October 1st, 2026. Within 3 months, 200 submissions were submitted from 49 countries. The contest showcases the best 3D character design and animation created using Reallusion's powerful …
Phantom Blade Zero's dark wuxia world feels like a playable kung fu movie
4 days ago Has 2026 been a vintage year for games? Arguably not. There's been plenty of good stuff to play, there always is. But, at this late stage in the year, we've yet to see any games that rise above and make a bid for modern classic status. There's been no Clair Obscur, no Baldur's Gate 3. And average …
How indie game Inkblood's hand-drawn art makes a 2D world feel alive
1 hour ago Anime has never been short on landmark science fiction. Akira wrote the book on bridging cyberpunk and adult animation, while Neon Genesis Evangelion blended apocalyptic mech battles and psychological trauma into pure spectacle. The great Shinichiro Watanabe made a western in space with Cowboy Bebop, …
Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave review: "Deep tactical battles and a compelling narrative make this an ambitious epic where every route matters"
Gaming 2 hours ago Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave is absolutely massive and absolutely brilliant, say reviews Polygon - Oli Welsh • 2h Critics are almost unanimous in declaring that Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave is superb, and a new high point for the long-running series of tactical role-playing games from Intelligent Systems and Nintendo. And they're 100% unanimous in saying that the game is absolutely enormous.
FF7 Revelation Is Doubling-Down On Rebirth’s Maximalism With Its “Planetary Scale” Open World
I still vividly remember the first time I played Final Fantasy VII Remake‘s demo in 2019, and fully how it sold me on Square Enix’s reimagining of one of the most beloved RPGs of all time. Following ex-SOLDIER Cloud’s mission with Avalanche members to destroy Mako Reactor 1, the demo was perfectly paced for showcasing its beautiful modern visuals and more action-focused combat system, both of which made for an electrifying experience filled with cinematic spectacles.
Final Fantasy VII Revelation Hands-On Preview
If you thought that Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s open world maximalism was going to be impossible to match, you haven’t seen anything yet. Featured In This Story Final Fantasy VII Revelation First Released Jun 30, 2027 Platforms NS2, PC, PS5, XBSX View Game Hub
Persona 6 Got The Smallest Announcement On Nintendo Direct, Despite Big Leak Reveals
After being officially announced earlier this summer, Persona 6 will now officially also be coming to Nintendo Switch 2. Yet several months later, we still only have the game’s spooky green logo to go on and no new information from Sega and Atlus.
Capcom Is Having A Busy Year On Switch 2, With Monster Hunter And Resident Evil Games Coming Very Soon
Capcom’s support for Nintendo Switch 2 has been non-stop since day one, and it’s only increasing as the publisher has revealed more upcoming releases this fall. During the September Nintendo Direct, it was revealed that Monster Hunter Wilds and the Resident Evil 2, 3, and 4 remakes will be coming to Nintendo Switch 2.
Ocarina Of Time Remake’s Map And Level Design Looks Quite Similar To The Original So Far Original
Nintendo’s Zelda 40th Anniversary Direct has given us the first gameplay deep dive, showing how the 1998 N64 classic has been updated for Nintendo Switch 2, from a new detailed art style to new control additions like a jump button and motion-control aiming. However, from this first look, it also looks like the game will be sticking closely, if not identically, to the original game’s layout.
The Ocarina Of Time Remake Has The Coolest Use Of The Switch 2’s Built-In Mic
The remake for Zelda: Ocarina of Time isn’t just a modern visual upgrade of the classic N64 game; it also makes use of a modern hardware feature, one that is built-in with the Switch 2 console. As shown during The Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Direct‘s first gameplay deep dive, you will be able to play Link’s iconic ocarina not just with button inputs but also with your own voice humming the melodies of songs like “Zelda’s Lullaby”.
Honkai: Nexus Anima could be the free-to-play Pokémon killer
Honkai: Nexus Anima feels like a logical evolution of Hoyoverse's ambitions to create its own take on a range of beloved games or genres. If Genshin Impact was its open-world action RPG à la Breath of the Wild , and Honkai: Star Rail was its take on Final Fantasy -style turn-based RPGs, then Nexus Anima is its twist on the creature collector. Although the game has had two closed betas already, my first chance to get hands-on with Honkai: Nexus Anima was at Gamescom 2026.
Honkai: Nexus Anima could be the free-to-play Pokémon killer
Honkai: Nexus Anima feels like a logical evolution of Hoyoverse's ambitions to create its own take on a range of beloved games or genres. If Genshin Impact was its open-world action RPG à la Breath of the Wild, and Honkai: Star Rail was its take on Final Fantasy-style turn-based RPGs, then Nexus Anima is its twist on the creature collector. Although the game has had two closed betas already, my first chance to get hands-on with Honkai: Nexus Anima was at Gamescom 2026.
Honkai: Nexus Anima could be the free-to-play Pokémon killer
Once again, it is genuinely cheaper for me to fly to PAX West and track down Nvidia's 'GeForce Evangelist' rather than buy the RTX 5090 anywhere else They didn't even have boxed GPUs at the event this time. Hello, and welcome to another episode of 'I'd do anything for an Nvidia RTX 5090 at MSRP, but …
As a longtime fan, I was disappointed with the Crazy Taxi: World Tour Gamescom demo
Alien: Isolation 2 continues the original 1979 film's aesthetic but takes the horror outside My Gamescom hands-on of the cult sci-fi horror sequel is familiar but with a twist that makes me think of another sci-fi franchise. Although it was …
Alien: Isolation 2 continues the original 1979 film's aesthetic but takes the horror outside
Celebrity 5 hours ago Man Spends $4.5K Digging 80-Foot Pond in His Front Yard Over 2 Days, Then Fills It Up Without Spending a Dollar More (Exclusive) People - Tereza Shkurtaj • 5h What started as an excavation project for Garrett Newman’s home eventually became an unexpected source of family fun. While building his house on an 11-acre lot in 2015, Newman began digging a large hole in his front yard to use the dirt for construction work around the property. Once the excavation …
This indie tactics game is a tribute to 80s glam metal with some ingenious low-tech solutions
12 rock bands who should have been huge – but fate had other ideas In an industry as volatile and fast-moving as rock music, everything can turn on a penny. These are the bands whose talent far outstripped their …
Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve delivers Top Gun thrills
In the packed halls of Gamescom with so many games to see, it's easy to get tetchy if a session goes on for too long when there's another appointment you have to rush off to see. Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve was a rare exception where I wished I had more to go on than I was given. On one hand, the Ace Combat series' appeal is a straightforward one.
My first 90 minutes wandering through Silent Hill: Townfall's 90s Scottish town were atmospheric… and aimless
Silent Hill: Townfall is the most Scottish game I've ever played and the most effective horror game I've seen in ages: 'It made sense for us to dig deep into our upbringings, into our past, and try and build a place that felt believable' And not just because of the foul weather. Silent Hill has gone international. Last year we went to Japan in Silent Hill f, and now the series is off …
Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve delivers Top Gun thrills, but I was hoping to see more of its story and the bonds with your wingmen
In the packed halls of Gamescom with so many games to see, it's easy to get tetchy if a session goes on for too long when there's another appointment you have to rush off to see. Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve was a rare exception where I wished I had more to go on than I was given. On one hand, the Ace Combat series' appeal is a straightforward one.
Persona 4 revival plays well, but I'm still not sure it's an essential remake
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Persona 4 Revival plays fantastically, but I'm still not convinced it's an essential remake of Golden
Persona 4 was my belated introduction to Atlus's Japanese high school RPG series, so it still has a special place in my heart. The PlayStation 2 original was, however, also usurped by the greatly expanded and far superior Persona 4 Golden, which is where I racked up my New Game+ playthroughs. Even as I have become more time-poor over the years, I would still dip into its subsequent post-Vita ports. That does, however, present a problem for Persona 4 Revival.
Final Fantasy Resonance Is A Return To Classic Series Conventions While Also Evolving Square Enix’s HD-2D Style
Given its rich legacy spanning almost four decades, it’s something of a surprise that Square Enix has taken its time to give Final Fantasy an outing in HD-2D, the retro-modern aesthetic that clearly harks back to the pinnacle of pixel art from RPG classics of the 16-bit era, including Final Fantasy VI. But rather than introduce this visual style to the franchise with a brand-new title, Square Enix is using the HD-2D treatment to reimagine and preserve a now-defunct mobile game.
Final Fantasy Resonance Hands-On Preview
Final Fantasy Resonance is a return to classic series conventions while also evolving Square Enix’s HD-2D style.
Guns of Eschaton turns Viktor Antonov's final game into a nightmare Western shooter
Nintendo's Game Boy ads were outrageous in the nineties – here are three examples that would never get made today Is that a ferret down your trousers or are you just pleased to see these ads? In 2026, it can be hard to imagine the 'lads mag' culture of the '90s. …
Elden Ring Tarnished Edition review: FromSoftware's open world masterpiece is still full of grace on Switch 2
Culture Now 6 Ancient Artifacts That Challenge Everything We Thought We Knew About History Discover Wild Science - Kristina • 19m History is supposed to be a settled story. Dates, timelines, causes, and effects, all neatly filed away in textbooks and museum plaques.
How Screenbound's impossible '5D' platformer concept became a real game
Culture 4 hours ago The glaring design fail in the new iPhone Safari logo is proof that Apple's lost its direction creativebloq.com - Joe Foley • 4h Will this be fixed before the release of iOS 27?
The Duskbloods is FromSoftware at its weirdest – 5 things I learned from playing the Switch 2 exclusive
1 day ago Ever since the one-two punch of FromSoftware’s Demon’s Souls in 2009 and Dark Souls in 2011, the Soulslike genre has gradually grown in popularity. Recent years have given parry aficionados plenty of drab environments, grotesque enemies, and opaque stories to enjoy. Of course, not every Soulslike is …
Star Wars: Galactic Racer's podracing meets Burnout had me on the edge of my seat
Star Wars pod racing in a video game. Whatever your thoughts on the divisive Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, we could probably all agree that the breakneck podracing sequence was an exciting highlight, which became its own game that beats the likes of Wipeout and F-Zero as the best-selling sci-fi racer of all time, and even got an HD re-release back in 2020.
This dark Slavic fairy-tale game is like Devil May Cry with ballet combat
Concept art of bird people for a video game. When watching a thrilling fight sequence in a film or performing it yourself in a high-octane action game like Devil May Cry or the upcoming indie Spine, it's not uncommon for critics to praise brilliantly executed examples as balletic or comparable to dance (in film, fights are also staged through choreography).
Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls review: "A stunning comeback for superhero fighters, essential for Marvel and genre fans alike"
Blade sheathes his katana in Marvel Tokon. Every match in Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls feels like it could be ripped fresh from the pages of a comic book in how it builds a tight narrative of clashing superheroes and supervillains.
This indie game is turning dressmaking into the ultimate creative fantasy
Three women wearing nerdy, Victorian, and flapper outfits. . The wonderful thing about gaming is that it can be a virtual gateway for people to fulfil dreams that would otherwise be impossible. In Sabrina Becker's case, she has always had a deep passion for dresses and fashion history, but being diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a connective tissue disorder, prevented her from being able to pursue costume design professionally.
How Kingdom Hearts, Spanish culture and Unreal Engine 5 shaped Duskfade's stunning art
Colourful art of a boy holding a golden sword riding a rail. It used to be that saying a new game looks like a PS2 game, or any platform several generations past, was derogatory. But whether it's a case of rose-tinted nostalgia or disillusionment with the current state of gaming, comparisons to older games aren't just a compliment but something many modern developers are consciously leaning into.
Splatoon Raiders review: a clever spin-off that turns familiar parts into something fresh
Splatoon Raiders; colourful stylised characters. (Image credit: Nintendo) Release date 23 July 2026 Platform In-house Proprietary Splatoon may be over a decade old now, but it remains one of Nintendo's freshest IPs, or any publisher's, when you consider an industry content with rehashing its back catalogue for decades. That said, the series has also been largely iterative, as is often the case with a multiplayer shooter where you don't really want to fix what's not broken.
This anime-themed game is like Katamari Damacy, Crazy Taxi and Tony Hawk rolled into one, with a mix of 2D anime, pixel art and Dreamcast-era 3D visuals – it shouldn’t work but does
Anime illustration of a truck racing and a lade in armour and holding a sword. At a time when game development takes years – a whopping 13 years between GTA 6 and its predecessor, for example – there's something quite remarkable about Strange Scaffold, an indie developer that has shipped 18 games between 2019 and now, each one distinct from the other in style and scope.
I learned 5 fundamental truths of game art direction, which aren't always about art
Concept art for video games. Sometimes you go into a talk and expect a step-by-step guide to success, only to stumble out even more confounded. That's one way to describe a talk on the last day of 2026's Develop: Brighton by Gerben Pasjes, an art director who previously worked on indie titles Deliver Us The Moon and its sequel, Deliver Us Mars.
I learned 5 fundamental truths of game art direction, which weren't always about art
Rockstar Games 1 hour ago GTA 6 trailer 3 hysteria intensifies as gamers spot telling clue gamingbible.com - Kate Harrold • 1h Grand Theft Auto VI’s third trailer is still yet to arrive, but eagle-eyed fans believe it’ll drop today, 23 July, after spotting a clear … Finance 4 hours ago Temasek Nexon SG Review 2026: Verified or Not?
A GTA 6 concept artist says you’re probably using too many tools – why the 80:20 rule is all you need
Concept art for a game, key art for GTA 6. Concept art is a hugely important aspect of game development, as it is the moment when great game ideas are visually represented before actual assets can be produced for the game itself. Concept artists can be expected to do a lot with limited time and resources, while AI is also being seen as an existential threat to their work.
A GTA 6 concept artist says you’re probably using too many tools – why the 80:20 rule is all you need
Sanzo Wada built his color system almost a century ago, yet nothing on my desk gets touched more often than this little book right now. I ordered A …
The Unreal Engine 5 secrets that made the highest-rated Lego game of all time possible
Photos of a talk on a LEGO game. Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight might be seen as the lighter family-friendly version of DC's iconic caped crusader, but in many ways it was set out to be even more ambitious than the Batman Arkham series that has influenced countless modern action-adventure games.
The Unreal Engine 5 secrets that made the highest-rated Lego game of all time possible
Now Game 🔍 Can You Find ALL These Items? 💜 | LEGO Friends: The Next Chapter www.youtube.com on YouTube • 33m GAME TIME! 🔍 Hello detectives! Can you find all three hidden items: a unicorn horn, the statue of Popcorn, and a star shaped key in this fun LEGO challenge? This level is tricky, so keep your eyes peeled! Don't worry, we believe in you. You've got this! Did you manage to find all 3?
Modern games have a readability problem – Saros shows how to fix it
Screens from PS5 game Saros showing patterns of bright lights. Saros stands as one of 2026's best releases, a relentlessly hardcore shooter that demands mastery over many repeated runs and deaths. But even though it's not a game designed for you to just slow down to admire the view, that doesn't mean it's short of eye-catching art direction, even if it's a different aesthetic to PlayStation Studios' mainstream blockbusters – a little more arthouse, if you will.
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