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Articles by Hilary Andreff
RPGs Coming This Week, October 25–31, 2026 – All Hallows RPGs
With Halloween landing at the end of the week, it’s a fine time to release some spooky games. And while that is happening, most of them don’t land in our coverage at RPGFan. Still, it’s easy to see how Emberville‘s Diablo-meets-Stardew Valley still fits the bill, or how it’s a great week to revisit Bigby Wolf and company in The Wolf Among Us Remastered.
TR-49 Review | RPGFan
âBut how can a novel…be fake?â my friend astutely pointed out as I was trying to explain the premise behind inkleâs TR-49. Because the authors never existed? No, there are plenty of instances of pen names and disputed authorship. Because there were no records of these books outside one instance buried deep within an attic? That seems closer to accurate.
Rhythm Encounter 172 - Happy Jólabókaflóðið!
We’re getting festive today on Rhythm Encounter, but maybe not in the way you’d expect. It’s the end of year holiday season, and we are taking inspiration from a holiday that celebrates another thing I like as much as video game music: books! Jólabókaflóðið — which roughly translates to “Christmas book flood” — is an Icelandic Christmas Eve tradition where people gift each other books and stay up reading them, possibly with a nice hot cocoa.
Final Fantasy x Magic: The Gathering Universes Beyond Set Visual Overview: An Impressive Tribute to the Storied Series
The energy in the Boston Exposition and Convention Center ballroom was palpable even before the Final Fantasy x Magic: The Gathering panel at PAX East 2025 began. Since the previous card reveals in February, and since the set is due to come out next month, there has been a significant amount of interest and even positive buzz around this release.
Rhythm Encounter 158 - Winter 2025: Pirates, Urban Myths, Magnolias, and More
Article / Highlight · Podcast · Rhythm Encounter by and on March 31, 2025 Continuing our new run of quarterly new music updates is our first episode for 2025, and it’s a truly notable start. We have a range of new music today, from well composed soundtracks that play homage to earlier console generations to new projects from popular Minecraft composer C418.
Rhythm Encounter 155 - Music of the Year 2024: Part II
It’s time for more of 2024’s best RPG music! In the last episode, we featured nine excellent songs from last year, and today we return with Part II, bringing nine more tracks! Look for some Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance, Flowstone Saga, a double dose of Stellar Blade, and more! Scarlet Moon‘s Jayson Napolitano joins us to share some of his picks as well, so don’t miss out.
Rhythm Encounter 154 - Music of the Year 2024: Part I
It’s time for Music of the Year! 2024 was absolutely stacked with game releases. Some even felt it was one of the all-time best years in gaming. And the side effect of a year filled with excellent games means a year of excellent soundtracks. For this annual special, we let each panelist bring on three songs. Even so, how did we pick just nine today? It wasn’t easy.
RPGs Coming This Week, 2/9/25
Article / Highlight · News by , , and on February 9, 2025 It’s a new week and RPGs are happening! This week, Gio is taking a well-deserved break, so I’m here to introduce some cool RPGs coming this week, from the massive adventures that await in Trails through Daybreak II, to the cutest co-op Souls-like games you’re likely to find this week.
Rhythm Encounter 153 - Build Your Own RPG Soundtrack: Hard Mode
Almost exactly a year ago, four panelists came together to build a soundtrack to an imaginary RPG out of 8 fragments of other RPGs. Today, we’re doing it again, except our “Hard Mode” rules dictate that we must choose songs from our source games with different use cases. So our Town Theme could be anything except another game’s town theme, and so on. What kind of RPG will we assemble this time?
Rhythm Encounter 152 - New Year, New Music
Between our recent milestone of 150 episodes and the start of a new year, we will have some fun changes coming to Rhythm Encounter, starting with this episode. New games and music release all the time that don’t always fit with our episode themes. Starting today, we will release a “new music” episode every few months to spotlight the latest in RPG music. These episodes will typically be a shorter listen with a smaller panel, featuring 6–8 songs each.
Retro Encounter 442 - The Legend of Zelda: Draft of Fantasy
Article / Highlight · Podcast · Retro Encounter by , , , and on November 8, 2024 Are you ready for some Sploosh Kaboom!? Retro Encounter begins a month of Zelda celebration for a Nintendo November to remember! Five panelists draft parties of their favorite Zelda characters, items, abilities, and locations in a snake draft format, all while trying to snag their favorites before others can snipe them off the board. So what’s the first overall pick?
Rhythm Encounter 146 - Spooky Edition 2024
Somehow it’s been four years since Rhythm Encounter’s last Halloween episode, back in 2020’s episode 56. Well, it’s time we rectified that. A sequel to that episode and a spiritual successor to our previous episode about the works of Michiru Yamane, our panel dug into our gaming experiences to find music for the most spooky time of year. You’ll find one of Pok√©mon‘s most iconic themes, and everything from old PC adventures to SNES, PS4, and more.
Pokémon HeartGold & SoulSilver
Related Articles Article Author Date Category Pokémon Leak Spills Details on Gen 10, Scrapped Designs, and More News The Next Nintendo Console Should be the Wii U Again The 20 Best RPG Moms: Part 2 Feature Sub-Page 20 Years of Milestone RPGs (Page 2) Feature Sub-Page 20 Years of Essential RPG Soundtracks (Part 2) Feature Sub-Page Top 20 Nintendo DS RPGs Podcasts Episode Date Rhythm Encounter 162 – A Very Nintendo Summer Rhythm Encounter 122 – The Sounds of Autumn: Pumpkin Spice II Rhythm...
Rhythm Encounter 145 - Nocturnes & Counterpoint: Michiru Yamane
We are at the beginning of “spooky season,” and while this isn’t (yet) our Halloween episode, October is a fine time to shine a spotlight on composer Michiru Yamane, known in our parts for her excellent work on the Castlevania and Suikoden series. That means some games you may expect, but definitely some you wouldn’t, from this talented composer. So dim the lights, summon your favorite fairy companion, and get ready.
Retro Encounter 436 - Day of the Tentacle
Article / Highlight · Podcast · Retro Encounter by , and on September 26, 2024 What possible harm could an insane, mutant tentacle do? Day of the Tentacle was a tentpole release in LucasArts’s excellent run of classic adventure games from the late 1980s through the late 1990s, and its very specific dialog, puzzle logic, and sense of humor made it a cult classic.
Random Encounter 305 - Random Book Club - Legends of Localization Book 3: Undertale
Article / Highlight · Podcast · Random Encounter by and on September 16, 2024 On this episode of Random Encounter, Jono and Hilary geek out over a fantastic book focusing on the localization of beloved indie RPG, Undertale. Video game localizations have come a long way since the days of spoony bards. When we usually think about game localization, we think Japanese to English. But what about the other way around?
Rhythm Encounter 143 - Lo-fi for RPG Fans (Only)
With fall (or autumn, if you prefer) around the corner for many of us, it feels like a good time for relaxing music. While we did a pair of episodes focused on relaxing RPG music about four years ago (see Episode 54 and Episode 55), this time, RPGFan’s biggest lo-fi fans got together to listen and chat about lo-fi RPG music. Sometimes these are straight from games, but often they come from the incredible community of independent musicians and arrangers.
Random Encounter 303 - Anthropomorphic Crime Fighting
Article / Highlight · Podcast · Random Encounter by , and on August 19, 2024 On this episode of Random Encounter, we’re chatting about some of video game history’s most prolific anthropomorphic animal crimefighters! First up, Jono binge-plays the brand-new remaster of the third season of Telltale Games’ Sam & Max series: The Devil’s Playhouse. Lovingly remastered by Skunkape Games, does this remaster bring the 2010 point-and-click up to speed?
Random Encounter 300 - Draft to the Future
Article / Highlight · Podcast · Random Encounter by , , and on July 8, 2024 On this episode of Random Encounter, we’re celebrating our 300th episode with a special draft! Four years is a long time in the video game industry, so we’re making predictions about what things will be like when we record our 400th episode in April 2028. Jono has gathered all the hosts from the RPGFan podcasts to make their picks.
Riven (Remake) Review | RPGFan
It’s 1997, and you just sat down in the computer room on a summer evening to relax and stay up late playing videogames without worrying about school. You boot up Riven and enter a dimly lit, expansive stone chamber, seemingly underground yet not cramped or claustrophobic. Intricate carvings extend around pillars and over archways that frame a large, ponderous writing desk. A man sits, intent and appearing as if he hasn’t stopped writing for some time.
Rhythm Encounter 138 - City Poppin'
Almost exactly a year ago, we published a fun episode on jazz and funk RPG music. Today we are back with a spiritual sequel, talking about jazz, funk, but especially city pop. All our tracks in this episode represent one or more of these genres, but all are excellent listens.
Building a Modern Classic - Infinity Knights: Xross Developer Interview
We covered the reveal of Infinity Knights: Xross from Timesea Studio a couple weeks ago. This up-and-coming Australian studio is run by three brothers who grew up on video games and decided to harness that passion and knowledge to build their own action RPG. Infinity Knights: Xross aims to deliver something familiar to fans of classic RPGs like Dark Cloud and Secret of Mana with modern quality of life features, and a soundtrack by esteemed composer Hiroki Kikuta (Secret of Mana).
Rhythm Encounter 137 - Pirates Ahoy!
Avast, ye scurvy dogs! This here episode of Rhythm Encounter be now the property of RPG Pirates. (Note: episode actually contains only a minimal amount of pirate speak.) Join the crew with Captain Hilary, Audra “Quick Draw” Bowling, “Gemstone” Jim Turner, and Kyle “Feat of Strength” Cantelon as they plunder the very best of RPG pirate themes from across the vast sea of game music within our coverage. There are pirate tunes for every mood, so listen now or prepare to say hello to the briny depths.
Retro Encounter Final Thoughts: Omori
Before starting Omori, I knew it by reputation. This is an RPG about trauma and depression, and it handles those two topics earnestly in the form of a retro-styled RPG. But Omori is also considerably more.  Sadness, joy, and anger are status effects-slash-status buffs that are employed both positively and negatively.
Retro Encounter 420 - Omori Part II
Article / Highlight · Podcast · Retro Encounter by , , , and on June 6, 2024 I’ve walked for miles / My feet are hurting. Content Warning: this podcast episode addresses many sensitive topics, including mental health issues and self-harm. Is Omori an offbeat retro-styled RPG about a journey through a young person’s psyche? A story about a group of friends reconnecting after drifting apart following tragic circumstances? Or a harrowing depiction of trauma surrounding the death of a child?
Retro Encounter 418 - Omori Part I
Article / Highlight · Podcast · Retro Encounter by , , and on May 23, 2024 But my dreams, they aren’t as empty / As my headspace seems to be Content Warning: this podcast episode addresses many sensitive topics, including mental health issues and self-harm. Omori is an indie game that takes on dark themes such as depression, anxiety, trauma, and loss in a thoughtful, poignant manner.
Rhythm Encounter 135 - Super Mario RPGs
It’s-a-us, the Rhythm Encounter crew! With the impending launch of the remaster for the beloved sequel, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, we decided it was high time to talk about Mario’s illustrious RPG career.
Whitethorn Games Interview with Chief Accessibility Officer Britt Dye
Whitethorn Games self-describes as an indie game publisher specializing in games that anyone can pick up and play. They are committed to creating games that “might challenge you, theyâll respect your time, theyâll make sure you can play, and most importantly, theyâll never punish you.” As such, they have an in-house accessibility team and work with their developers to ensure their games follow that mission and are playable by as many players as possible.
Rhythm Encounter 131 - Sounds of the Season
Article / Highlight · Podcast · Rhythm Encounter by , , and on April 1, 2024 Huh?
Slime Heroes Hands-On Preview: A Goo-reat Time
Slime Heroes was revealed in June 2021 with an adorable trailer, showcasing both the novelty of a slime protagonist and the dang cute aesthetic overall. At the time, developer Pancake Games did not have a publisher lined up, but that changed earlier this year when indie game publisher Whitethorn Games signed on to publish the title sometime in 2024.
Rhythm Encounter 128 - Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Do we at RPGFan like Final Fantasy VII? Off course! That’s why we’re ready for…a reunion of tracks from across the expansive (and still growing) FFVII universe. The timing here is intentional to celebrate the fantastic music associated with FFVII as we all get ready to enjoy Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Join our panel of savvy veterans and one newcomer SOLDIER: First Class news editor as we celebrate our favorite music from this (sub-)series in all its iterations and, of course, fight against Shinra.
Rhythm Encounter 127 - Music of the Year 2023
It’s finally time to celebrate the music of the (last) year! As you know by now, a great deal of incredible games released in 2023, and with them, many notable soundtracks. Our panel today brought some of their favorite songs of 2023, featuring music from some Square Enix heavy hitters to some lovely indie titles and others in between.
Rhythm Encounter 126 - Build Your Own RPG Soundtrack
We’re kicking off the new year on Rhythm Encounter with a brand-new kind of episode: Building a soundtrack from pieces of other games.
RPGFan Chapters Review: A Game In The Life: A Personal Journey Through Timeless Video Games
What do the following games have in common? Besides the fact that we’re here at RPGFan and can assume they are RPGs or within RPGFan coverage. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Final Fantasy VI Persona 4 Golden Dragon Quest V Fire Emblem Awakening Dark Souls Mass Effect 2 One straightforward answer is that these are all relatively well-known, successful games.
Rhythm Encounter 125 - Long Time Listener, First Time Caller
To celebrate the new year, we put together a special episode before we return to our regularly scheduled topics, with a short episode full of music dedications. We were inspired by the idea of radio DJs who take listener calls and offer up dedications on air, so we polled the RPGFan staff, asking them for songs and written dedications to read on the episode. We both offered some of our own as well, so we hope you enjoy everyone’s heartfelt messages and musical choices.
Random Encounter 285 - RPGFan's Most Anticipated Games of 2024
Article / Highlight · Podcast · Random Encounter by , , , and on December 26, 2023 On the final 2023 episode of Random Encounter, we’re chatting about all the games we’re excited about that are coming in 2024! At the end of December, RPGFan publishes one of the year’s biggest features: our most anticipated games expected to come out next year.
Rhythm Encounter 124 - Hoedown Showdown: Farming RPG Music
In farming games, typically the slowest part of the year is winter. So why did we record our farming music episode when it’s winter for many of our listeners? Hey, I don’t have all the answers… unless it’s about work/life balance and the best Stardew Valley partner. But I digress. Today’s panel is only three people, but we still have a full slate of music to share from some of our favorite farming and sim games.
Rhythm Encounter 123 - The Secret Trials of Hiroki Kikuta
It’s time for another composer spotlight on Rhythm Encounter, and this time we’re celebrating the works of Hiroki Kikuta. Many RPG fans know his work on the Mana series — particularly Secret of Mana and Trials of Mana — but there’s much more to Kikuta than many people know. From a PSone game that never left Japan to his contributions to many indie games today, today’s episode digs into the many hats Hiroki Kikuta has worn over the years.
Rhythm Encounter 116 - U R Not (red) E: PlayStation RPG Music Favorites
On Rhythm Encounter, we have celebrated several consoles’ RPG music, including the SNES (Episode 89), NES (Episode 73), and Genesis (Episode 92). Isn’t it about time the original PlayStation got some love? It’s hard to understate the tectonic shift in RPG releases in the West that began during the PSone’s lifetime, and there is a treasure trove of wonderful music from RPGs released for Sony’s first console.
Retro Encounter Final Thoughts: Disco Elysium
Disco Elysium is a game you play when you feel like reading a book. I’ve been reflecting on this comment significantly since we convened and podcasted, and it’s true in many ways. This game requires attention, patience, reflection and promises a range of responses and feelings that match even well-written fiction. Disco Elysium was constantly triggering my personal Thought Cabinet, though what I internalize and what I gain from it remains to be seen.
Retro Encounter 381 â Disco Elysium Part II
Article / Highlight · Podcast · Retro Encounter by , , and on August 24, 2023 Time to go work on Retro Encounter! We’re back with our discussion of the second half of Disco Elysium. This week we dive into some of our favorite late-game side quests, go over our favorite conversations with our neckties, and discuss the fabulously strange ending. Did we get Kim to like us? Do we continue to be a disaster cop? Are Phasmids real?
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