Game Observer

Ever wonder what it’s like to run your own noodle bar in a cyberpunk, futuristic world from dawn to curfew, meeting new people every day? If so, Nivalis Nights is for you, and running a noodle bar is just one of the many experiences you’ll have throughout the game. Nivalis Nights is a cyberpunk-based, first-person life simulation game. You wake up to Ava, your executive assistant automaton, telling you you’re running late for your appointment.

Forever Ago is a beautiful visual novel about loving someone with every ounce of your being. It’s an emotional rollercoaster, and the waterfall in the introduction certainly wasn’t the only one; so many moments were so full of love and beauty that I couldn’t help but cry. It’s a quiet, narrative-heavy game that explores grief, love, yearning, and longing while weaving in old memories and human connection. The game opens with a scene where you take control of Audrey’s camera.

Radiotext is a cyberpunk-esque adventure played on a terminal access point on a fictional radio network. You are thrown into the game, sitting at your terminal. There are no real instructions to get started, but the terminal has different key phrases that you can type out and respond to. Your workplace consists only of the people on your floor; the rest is now automated. Terrorists are planning to destroy your workplace, and you are being recruited to join The Syndicate.

Magic is often cast through magical chants or spells with a speech requirement. But when the world is just recovering from a period of silence, music becomes the preferred method of casting. Songs of Glimmerwick hands you a flute and throws you in an open world farming simulator. Developed and published by Eastshade Studios, you slowly rebuild a garden while engaging with a vibrant world. Long ago, some individuals discovered magic through the power of music, speech, and potion-making.

Hira is a young boy living with his adoptive mother and brother. It is the day he gets to become a hunter, like his brother. However, just after completing his first hunt, demons appear and his hometown is attacked. His family goes missing, and he is shunned from the village with no idea what happened. He goes to look for them, only to find himself wrapped up in a plot to save the land of Raoah by defeating the gods and purging the land of corruption.

Frost has yet another augment to add to the pile, but it’s one that fans have wanted for a while. The Cold Front augment makes it so Frost’s Snow Globe attaches directly to him, rather than the shield being placed in a fixed location. Having Snow Globe move with you encourages a far more mobile playstyle, and you can become effectively invincible with the right mod pairings so long as you don’t stand still for too long.

Daiwa Scarlet is one of the characters in Umamusume: Pretty Derby who specializes in Mile and Medium distances and can run as a Front Runner or a Pace Chaser. However, building a good Daiwa Scarlet that can win you Champion’s Meetings and Team Trials is quite a challenge due to her default skill kit. Stats For Daiwa Scarlet (Peak Blue) Peak Blue is the default two-star version of Daiwa Scarlet that you can get on any Trainee Banner.

Grasshopper Manufacture (No More Heroes, Lollipop Chainsaw, Romeo Is a Dead Man) has announced a split from NetEase Games. In a press release posted this morning, the company announced that it will be going independent. Grasshopper Manufacture mentioned “A strong desire to deliver titles in an even wider variety of styles to video game lovers everywhere” as its reason “to move forward as an independent developer once again”.

“And after the artist has been long gone, turned to dust, the art remains. And even after the last one of all humans will have returned to the primordial chaos, provided that we have protected it, Art will remain.” -Gustav, from Spiritfarer I still often think about the student I had during my first year teaching college, the one who told me about the friend he lost to suicide.

I was one of those people who only played serious games. I was a serious gamer. You wouldn’t catch me playing Fortnite – oh no, I’d much rather sit with my camomile tea and dissect the themes of What Remains of Edith Finch. That was until last year, when I played Untitled Goose Game by House House (GameObserver recently reviewed their latest hit Big Walk) and discovered that silly games are just as magical.