Penacony is the land of dreams, and while that – plus the overt 1950s-style animation influences – make it seem like a Honkai Disney World, HoYoverse is doing something much smarter than just creating its own Mickey Mouse.

Final Fantasy 13 launched worldwide 13 years ago, and, since then, it’s developed a bit of a dodgy reputation. Environments that amounted to little more than bland hallways, a convoluted plot with a penchant for proper nouns, yet more changes to the battle system, and a dudebro hero whose heart of gold can’t mask his innate annoyingness came to define this awkward entry in the storied series. However valid some of these criticisms might be, they overshadow one of the more complex and important s

After Persona 3’s US launch in 2007, the high school sim series gradually became the face of Atlus. It did this at the expense of almost everything else in the developer’s stable. Shin Megami Tensei releases slowed down, Etrian Odyssey seemingly ran its course, and Catherine – for better or worse – was never followed up. Spin-offs like Soul Hackers and Digital Devil Saga, meanwhile, disappeared completely. It’s a happy problem for any developer to have. When studios find something their audiences want to buy, they naturally focus on that instead of other, riskier projects. But it does mean Atlus has fallen into something of a style rut, crafting narratives that could only fit either the Persona brand of school stories or the broad moral philosophizing of Shin Megami Tensei games. Into this mix steps Soul Hackers 2. More than just a second shot for a long-discarded series, it’s a chance for Atlus to reinvigorate its storytelling – exploring themes, settings, and ideas that don't have a home anywhere else.

If Tetsuya Takahashi is making a Xeno- game, you can bet it probably has something to do with gods and the shackles of corrupt religion. Xenogears – the Xenoblade series’ PlayStation 1 ancestor – is dripping with subtle and not-so-subtle references to spiritual traditions and wrongheaded religious authority. Not to mention the standard themes you often expect to find in RPGs: killing gods and freeing humanity. Xenoblade Chronicles 3, however, does away with gods completely and kills its authority structures in the first chapter. It’s a much stronger, more thoughtful and lasting experience because of it.

Elden Ring seems like your average RPG on the surface. It’s got all the usual components; a magical world of fantasy, political intrigue, impossibly large weapons, and the promise of a fight against a god at the end. It even turns out you fight more than just one god before the credits roll – and that’s the least of the game’s deceptions. Elden Ring is built on deception. It lies to you. Not just once, but for the entire game, turning you into an unwitting champion for a cycle of abuse and oppr

Final Fantasy XIV asked so much and gave almost nothing in return. This wasn’t the first quest to seemingly waste my time either. Instead of logging out or getting annoyed, I smiled and shook my head slightly, wondering whether I’d see P’molminn following her new passion later in the story. By that point, Final Fantasy XIV already had a significant effect on how I saw such undertakings.