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Articles by Des Miller
Blue Reflection Quartet
The Blue Reflection series is approaching its tenth anniversary, and Gust and Koei Tecmo recently released Blue Reflection Quartet, a collection spanning the entire series. This collection contains an updated version of 2017’s Blue Reflection, an adaptation of the 2021 anime Blue Reflection Ray, an updated and slightly expanded release of 2021’s Blue Reflection: Second Light, and a streamlined and adapted version of the discontinued gacha, Blue Reflection Sun.
Atelier Ryza Secret Trilogy Deluxe Pack
Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout launched in 2019 to explosive success and stellar reviews. Within months, Atelier Ryza became the highest-selling game in the series. As expected with sequels, Atelier Ryza 2 and 3 sold less than their predecessor, yet still eclipsed the sales of previous Atelier titles. As of August 2025, the trilogy has sold over 2.5 million copies, far and above any others in the seriesâ history.
Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist & the White Guardian
It was a dark day for the Atelier fandom when Gust announced that Project A25—the 25th Atelier entry—was a gacha game. While the franchise is no stranger to spinoffs, including Atelier Online: Alchemist of Bressisle for mobile, Atelier Resleriana: Forgotten Alchemy & the Polar Night Liberator broke new ground for the series, for better or worse.
Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist & the White Guardian Interview with Junzo Hosoi and Yasunori Sakuda
Atelier Resleriana: The Red Alchemist & the White Guardian is just around the corner, and it already appears to be both a return to form and an impressively expanded follow-up to the mobile and PC gacha game Atelier Resleriana: Forgotten Alchemy and the Polar Night Liberator.
WERQ THE WORLD 2025: Hollywood Glam Meets Drag Royalty at The Factory
Get ready to gag on glam, St. Louis—the queens are coming, and they’re bringing the full fantasy. On Saturday, September 21, 2025, the legendary Werq The World Tour struts into The Factory in Chesterfield, transforming the stage into a glittering spectacle of gowns, gossip, and good old-fashioned drag drama. Curtain time is 7:30 PM, but trust us, you’ll want to be in your seat early.
Death end re;Quest Code Z
The Death end re;Quest series is a strange but enjoyable mixture of disturbing horror visual novels and RPGs. They’re often experimental and overly ambitious in the gameplay department, but the VN side has a lot of charm and heart thanks to a cast of endearing, fun, and memorable characters.
Wuthering Waves Review | RPGFan
It’s no surprise that HoYoVerse titles such as Genshin Impact, Honkai: Star Rail, and Zenless Zone Zero dominate the gacha market given their absurdly high quality and seemingly infinite budgets. Yet, is there room on the world stage for an unproven competitor to swing at the king and make some waves? Wuthering Waves is an open-world action RPG emphasizing stylish character action combat, much like its predecessor, Punishing: Gray Raven.
Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land
Over the past twenty-eight years, the Atelier franchise has reinvented itself with each new series. While the core themes and elements of the franchise remain intact, characters, combat, synthesis, and mechanics are often wildly different from one series to the next.
ENDER MAGNOLIA: Bloom in the Mist
Metroidvania fans have been eating well for the past couple of years thanks to fantastic entries such as Hollow Knight, Dead Cells, Blasphemous, and Metroid Dread to name a few. The long-beloved genre has delved deeper into the RPG world while mixing in Soulslike elements to keep things evolving. While fans of the genre eagerly await the release of Hollow Knight: Silksong, thereās a wide array of Metroidvanias to scratch that itch, and the Ender series stands high atop the pile.
Reynatis Review | RPGFan
FuRyu is known for taking small developers and linking them up with big names in the industry. The Caligula Effect saw Persona 1 and 2âs main writer Tadashi Satomi taking up the narrative reigns with Aquaria, The Alliance Alive had developer Cattle Call working with Suikodenâs director Yoshitaka Murayama (R.I.P.), and Crystar paired up Gemdrops with one of Keyâs notable writers Naoki Hisaya.
Stellar Blade Review | RPGFan
NieR: Automata is one of the most influential games of the previous generation and one of my favorite games of all time. So, when a NieR-like game gets announced, I sit up and listen. When Stellar Blade was revealed in 2019, it quickly slotted itself into my most anticipated list. Every trailer painted the game as a stylish, high-octane action RPG that wore its influences on its sleeve. So, after nearly five long years, Stellar Blade has finally dropped.
AI LIMIT Hands-On Preview: A Sci-Fi Souls-like with Style
The action RPG landscape is dominated by Metroidvanias and Souls-likes these days. As the subgenre gets more crowded, developers must find ways to make their games stand out amidst a sea of clones. Aside from The Surge, there havenât been many sci-fi-oriented Souls-likes, and outside of Code Vein, the anime aesthetic has been sorely underrepresented.
RPGFan's Top 25 PS4 RPGs (Part 3)
Top Lists by , , , , , and on July 17, 2024 And we’ve come to the end of our list! While there will be some surprises, the top of this list is very good and showcases just how excellent the PS4 library is! Writeup by Aleks Franiczek Disco Elysiumis, first and foremost, a PC game, heralding back to the Infinity Engine classics and the dialogue-heavy Planescape: Tormentin particular. But with its lack of mechanical complexity, it plays perfectly fine on the big screen with a gamepad.
Atelier Resleriana: Forgotten Alchemy and the Polar Night Liberator
The Atelier series has seen numerous crossovers over the past 25 years. Be they collaborations with Capcom and NIS like Cross Edge and Trinity Universe, one-versus-one-thousand Musou games like Warriors All-Stars, or even town management sims such as Nelke and the Legendary Alchemists: Ateliers of the New World, this long-running franchise is no stranger to throwing a handful of alchemists into the multiverse and hoping for the best.
Rhapsody III: Memories of Marl Kingdom
The Rhapsody trilogy recently had its 25th anniversary, yet for 24 of those years, we’ve only been able to play one of the three games. Thanks to Nippon Ichi Software’s recent push to remaster, re-release, and localize their back catalog of games, fans of the original wondrous musical adventure are finally able to play these entries in English. With the previous games being the most charming RPGs I’ve ever played, my expectations for the third entry in the series have been high.
Crymachina Review | RPGFan
Many consider artificial intelligence to be our future, but what happens once we’re all gone and AI is all that’s left? Crymachina seeks to answer this question in a follow-up to 2019’s Crystar. Crymachina shares many gameplay elements and philosophical themes from its predecessor while exploring a new setting. In Crystar, the story revolves around the concept of humans’ last thoughts lingering within purgatory.
Random Encounter 288 - Relinked and Reloaded
Article / Highlight · Podcast · Random Encounter by , and on February 5, 2024 On this episode of Random Encounter, we’re looking at a remake of an 18-year-old game and the release of a game that felt like it took 18 years to come out. Since its announcement in 2016, Granblue Fantasy: Relink has been on many RPG fans’ most anticipated lists (it was on ours in 2020, 2022, 2023, AND 2024).
Granblue Fantasy: Relink
Granblue Fantasy: Relink is here after just over seven long, long years. From its original announcement in 2016, the game had a developer change in 2019 and delays in 2022 and 2023, leading to an incredibly turbulent development cycle. Despite all the chaos in development, the long-awaited Granblue Fantasy: Relink exists and exceeds all expectations.
WitchSpring R Review | RPGFan
Every once in a while, a fantastic game comes along that feels like it emerges from nowhere. It does everything right, it’s full of heart and charm, and the developers know exactly why the games from which they pull inspiration work. WitchSpring R is one of those games: a wondrous indie darling that serves as a dark horse for my game of the year. Yet, what is it about this charming little game that managed to capture my heart? In short, pretty much everything.
RPGFan’s 30 Most Anticipated Games of 2024 (Part 2)
Below, you’ll find not one, but two Final Fantasy games, along with some long awaited releases and localizations of franchises that are almost as popular. We’ve arrived at last. With Midgar in the rearview, Square Enix’s Final Fantasy VII Rebirth looks to bring Final Fantasy VII to life like never before. The characters we all love are back to make us laugh and cry, including additions to the roster like Red XIII and Cait Sith (and the unplayable but present Vincent Valentine and Cid Highwind).
Fate/Samurai Remnant
The Fate franchise has been running strong for nearly 20 years now. Yet for the majority of its life, the series held strong with a cult following. Once the mobile gacha entry Fate/Grand Order was released to wild success, the franchise saw a massive uptick in popularity thanks to the grand cast of characters, the eye-catching artistic renditions of heroes from myth and legend, and the relatively impressive and mechanically interesting gameplay.
Fate/Samurai Remnant Interview with Director Ryota Matsushita
Fate/Samurai Remnant is just around the corner, and it’s already shaping up to be a fresh and exciting depiction of the Holy Grail War set in the relatively peaceful Edo period of Japanese History. We recently had a chance to interview Ryota Matsushita, director at Koei Tecmo games and known for his extensive history with both the Warriors series and adapting well known IPs such as Pokémon Conquest and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity.
Rhapsody II: Ballad of the Little Princess
Long before the near overwhelming damage numbers of Disgaea and the panel combo chaos of La Pucelle: Tactics, Nippon Ichi Software developed a charming little game named Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure. Rhapsody was a cute, brief adventure rife with amusing jokes and heartwarming songs.
Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg
There aren’t many franchises that celebrate their 25th anniversary while still actively releasing new games. There are even fewer who celebrate by completely remaking the first game in said series. However, Gust decided to return to where it all began by completely remaking Atelier Marie from the ground up. This also serves as the first time the game is officially available in English.
25 Long Shot RPG Localizations That Actually Happened (Part 2)
The Great Ace Attorney By Niki Fakhoori Ace Attorney localizations weren’t doing so hot during the days of the Nintendo 3DS. Hot on the heels of Investigations’ unlocalized sequel were digital-only releases of Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice—and these games were let off easy. The spin-off games, Dai Gyakuten Saiban—The Great Ace Attorney—1 and 2, released in 2015 and 2017 respectively in Japan, and that’s where they stayed.
Random Encounter 272 - Finally, We Have Final Fantasy XVI!
On this week’s Random Encounter, we’re talking about Final Fantasy XVI! It’s been six years since the last numbered Final Fantasy game, but the wait is finally over, and Final Fantasy XVI has finally arrived! There’s so much to talk about that we’re dedicating an entire episode to it, hosted by our FFXVI reviewer, Zach! Whether you’ve just started the demo or have already beaten the game, there is something in this Random Encounter for everyone who is excited about this brand-new fantasy...
Atelier Marie Remake Interview with Atelier Series Producer Junzo Hosoi
The Atelier series celebrated its 25th anniversary just over a year ago, and Gust has continued to keep the cauldron turning. As part of the 25th anniversary celebration, we’re being taken back to where it all began with a fresh and gorgeous remake of the first game in the series: Atelier Marie: The Alchemist of Salburg.
Random Encounter 270 - The First Stirrings of Not-E3
On this week’s Random Encounter, we’re seeing the beginnings of the Not-E3 season! If you’re a video game fan, it’s getting close to the most wonderful time of the year! There are slightly under two weeks until Summer Game Fest, but we still have a ton of news to discuss from Wednesday’s PlayStation Showcase and Thursday’s Marvelous Game Showcase, includingĀ Final Fantasy XVI,Ā Dragon’s Dogma 2, andĀ Rune Factory 6.
LIVE A LIVE Review
To this day, the SNES era is considered the golden era of RPGs. Beloved fan favorites such as Secret of Mana and Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars stand side-by-side with “Best RPG” chart-toppers such as Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI. That said, some of the system’s most beloved RPGs have still yet to come west, with many of these falling under Square Enix’s umbrella (or Squaresoft at the time).
Ib (Remake) Review | RPGFan
When it comes to indie horror adventure games, Ib is a cult classic. With clear inspirations from 2004’s bizarre horror-adventure game Yume Nikki, Ib helped usher in a golden era of RPG Maker horror games — including some of my favorites such as The Witch’s House and Mad Father. Originally, Ib released over ten years ago as a freeware game, and within two years, the game had received well over a million downloads in Japan.
Random Encounter 269 - Ain't Nobody Crying in This Kingdom!
On this Saturday’s emergency Random Encounter, we’re discussing The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom! We’ve assembled a panel of three people who loved Breath of the Wild, one who liked it, and one who just wasn’t a fan. The plan was to meet up to talk about the entirety of TOTK, beginning to end. Unfortunately, that plan ran directly into a major roadblock, which was that TOTK has got to be one of the most massive games ever made.
Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg Preview
On May 23rd, 1997, a small developer named Gust released the first game in the Atelier series: Atelier Marie: The Alchemist of Salburg. The game was based around a love of collecting and creating items, which their contemporaries weren’t focusing on at the time. While games such as Harvest Moon popularized the slow-life simulation RPG subgenre, Atelier series creator Shinichi Yoshiike wanted to take things a step further. Thus, Atelier Marie: The Alchemist of Salburg was released in Japan.
Cassette Beasts Review | RPGFan
When it comes to monster-collecting games, Pokémonhas the market cornered. But, now and then, a game with clear inspirations from the long-running series comes along. While many have failed to capture the charm and whimsy of the series they emulate, Cassette Beasts manages to avoid the pitfalls of a soulless clone by creating a vibrant world with lovable creatures that would feel right at home on the Game Boy Advance.
Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key
In 2016, Atelier series developer Gust made one of their most ambitious games ever: Atelier Firis: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Journey. The game featured massive maps, an expanded alchemy system with unique tricks and mechanics, and a grand world with a dizzying array of optional content and areas. While the game was certainly ambitious, it didn’t quite live up to the hopes it created and the promises it made.
Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key Hands-On Preview
The Atelier series has been on the upswing since Ryza’s debut in 2019. Thanks to positive critical and commercial reception, developers Gust have finally received what they’ve needed the most: some breathing room. A seemingly higher budget and longer development cycle for 2020’s Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy led to not only one of the best Atelier games to date, but also one of the best JRPGs of the year. Yet, how has the follow-up fared with even more time?
RPGFan Games of the Year 2022: Best DLC
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