Castlevania II: Simon's Quest by developer and publisher Konami—Nintendo Entertainment System Retro Reflections by Nick.
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Culdcept the First (also attributed as Culdcept the First Saturn Tribute) is a very fun game, that does show its age. This is basically a re-issue of the 1997 Sega Saturn game that mashes together deckbuilding (think Magic: The Gathering) and boardgames (such as Monopoly).
With these annual seasonal renewals of the sports season comes the related video games as well, and the question reviewers such as myself always face is this: Is this year’s game worth purchasing one year after the last one? My answer? Yes, absolutely. NBA fans are going to almost certainly enjoy NBA 2K27.
Midnight Moments is a cozy cyberpunk diorama-building game that is stunning. Unlike games that require you to complete quests or take out assailants or even solve challenging puzzles, this one only requires one thing: imagination.
Isle of Reveries is a top down 2D action adventure game that made my nostalgia for old school Zelda games flare up really hard. A good blending of puzzle, exploration, and combat, Isle of Reveries is a wonderful title to experience inside and out.
Let me tell you about this cozy game my daughter and I are playing together called Outbound. Now, I've been following this game from the initial Kickstarter back in April 2025 to its full release in May 2026. The best Mother's Day gift for myself and my first ever collector's edition in a physical copy!
In OVER REQUIEMZ Yuhiru is thrown into the castle of Oz and is immediately accused of trying to assassinate the King and shoved into the dungeon. Not only is she treated like a criminal...
Today we’re looking at what has rapidly become an absolute favorite in the open-world RPG genre for me. An interesting story, memorable NPCs, stunning visuals, and a setting absolutely dripping with flavor, Dread Delusion sets its tone immediately and sticks with it.
...and I have been playing NHL games since. It didn't matter whether it was EA or another game like 2K in the 2000s; I loved hockey games and still do, but is NHL 27 a step in the right direction?
Asdivine Knot is the latest title in the Kemco JRPG library. Following protagonist Verselio, who's on the run from the church that they once served, he'll be accompanied by an odd selection of party members as they all find a reason to band together…
Our story begins in Akihabra, Tokyo Japan. The protagonist Okarin… Or rather Rintaro Okabe, (Voiced by Mamoru Minyano) is a recent high school graduate who rents an apartment with his best friend and resident computer hacker, Itaru ‘Daru’ Hashida (Voiced by Tomokazu Seki) during the summer of 2010.
Castlevania II: Simon's Quest by developer and publisher Konami—Nintendo Entertainment System Retro Reflections by Nick.
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
“We pursued two goals: Firstly, we wanted to bring the first three parts Boulder Dash I, II and III to life as faithfully as possible on current machines. Secondly, we wanted to spice up the classic gameplay with contemporary visuals and suitable new ideas such as growing walls, slime, an enemy generator, eggs and other things. All in all BOULDER DASH 40th Anniversary is certainly the most comprehensive game in the series of all time: The first three games in the original Commodore and Atari look, more than hundred of brand new levels in a new look, and all tested and approved by the best Boulder Dash players worldwide. On top we have integrated a level editor which allows the users to create, play and share all these levels to Boulder Dash players worldwide plus stunning music and sounds from Chris Huelsbeck.”
Ultima: Exodus by developers Origin Systems and Newtopia Planning and publisher FCI —Nintendo Entertainment System.
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
There are two times of the year that tend to get me reflecting on games of old. One is near the end of spring, around my birthday and the other is near Christmas. The connection here should be obvious, as when I was a kid – most of the video games I played were gifted to me during one of those two yearly occasions.
In prior articles, I’ve touched on some of these gifts. Unabashed link-fest coming up, but I still have some strong memories and emotions tied to when I received my Nintendo Entertainment System (and Joust – I’ll have to reminisce on that one soon) from my Uncle Ken for Christmas. That same year my parents got me Elevator Action and Dragon Power as gifts, and my Grandpa Joe and Grandma Bev got me Double Dribble. A few years later, my Grandma Barb picked up Tecmo Basketball for Christmas. Before that my parents had gotten me into gaming with a TI99/4a, and years later my Uncle Ken again came through with the win, giving me a Sega Genesis for my birthday (and a ton of games such as Columns, Altered Beast, Sonic the Hedgehog and an EA golfing game).
Okay, that was a lot of nostalgia. But when I think of Ultima: Exodus, I get hit pretty hard with nostalgia as well. This wasn’t year one of me having my NES – it was a couple after I received it. This title got released on over a dozen platforms, with some variance in the naming such as Exodus: Ultima III and Ultima III: Exodus, but as it was the first release on the Nintendo Entertainment System, they simply went with the title Ultima: Exodus.
I had never heard of this game, and I’m not entirely sure what inspired my parents to pick it up. I vaguely recall my dad saying that he thought the cover of the box looked interesting and he was well aware that I was a big fan of the fantasy genre. This however, was also my true introduction to the roleplaying genre. Dragon Warrior wouldn’t be too far behind – I wound up borrowing that from a friend a few months after discovering my love for grinding through oodles of turn-based battles. This was well before I was introduced to Dungeons & Dragons or played my first Final Fantasy.
Now, in retrospect, Ultima: Exodus is a pretty flawed but still fun game. I’ve played it in somewhat recent years, and sure – any game release in 1989 is going to struggle when held up to today’s standards more than three decades later. I’m not talking about the graphics and sound (it is surprising how quickly the music tickled the back of my brain, but I logged dozens and dozens of hours with this game back in the day, so that music’s apparently been burned into my brain by now.
But even comparing this game to some of its contemporaries from around the same time, such as the first Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy titles, Ultima: Exodus just had a lot of rough edges. Several things were poorly explained (somewhat common for the time), leading to a lot of wandering about and happening on to the next steps in the journey. The number scaling was off too, as experience for leveling was far easier to come by than the gold needed to purchase leveling. Those two things feel out of sorts with one another, despite being tied to the same progression system.
Also, the way the world handled levels was a little oddly inconsistent as the overworld scaled with your level but the dungeons were more set to level ranges, leading to an uneven experience if you grind a lot early on. Combat had a sort of weird hit / miss frame thing that was more about timing than the more traditional behind the scenes dice rolling.
However, there was a flexibility to Ultima: Exodus that felt somewhat ahead of its time as well. Character creation was incredibly flexible compared to similar titles. You had greater control over the way you could interact with characters, with commands to attack, attempt to steal or even bribe NPCs. You could even pick a fight with the king (though you’d lose – he’s indestructible). I did a lot of saving back then – but there were a lot of things that you could try – and screw up. Reviving characters is expensive, which makes the game feel more punitive than most of the era.
It's also worth noting that when you discover the hidden land of Ambrosia, the game opened up in a new and unexpected way, including better character progression. That’s sort of the theme of Ultima: Exodus. It was a dense game with a lot of systems that often were not well explained, and there was precious little handholding done. It’s not one of the hardest NES games in the traditional sense, but a lot of hours and perseverance is needed to see it through to the finale.
In the end, however, for all its foibles, Ultima: Exodus is more than just the game it is – at least to me. It’s another set of memories tied to a Christmas gift from loved ones, and it also introduced me to one of my favorite video game genres ever. I think those things make Ultima: Exodus something far more special.
Article by: Nick
STOCKHOLM – Dec. 18, 2023 – Independent developer High North Studios and publisher Raw Fury have revealed that SKALD: Against the Black Priory, the retro-style, party-based RPG that combines the nostalgic charm of classic role-playing games with richly illustrated grimdark fantasy and Lovecraftian horror, will launch in spring 2024 on PC and Mac via Steam and GOG.com.
Skald: Against the Black Priory is an old-school RPG combining modern design and a fully realized narrative with Commodore 64 era-inspired visuals and charm for a unique adventure that will appeal to genre fans old and new alike. Delve into an elaborate fantasy world full of tragic heroes, monstrous horrors and lovingly drawn pixel-art illustrations.
Experience an engaging, branching story with rich exploration and multiple-choice dialogue. Battle foes in gripping turn-based combat as you journey through handcrafted environments to unravel SKALD’s sinister secrets. Do you have what it takes to lead a company of broken heroes from the tainted shores of Idra to the gates of the Black Priory – and beyond?
Watch the latest trailer to get an updated look at the core pillars of SKALD: Against the Black Priory, including:
The free playable demo for SKALD: Against the Black Priory continues to be available on Steam and GOG.com. While the demo does not include all of the elements shown in the latest trailer, players can experience a taste of what is to come! For more on the game, visit www.SkaldRPG.com, and follow the latest development updates on Twitter and Discord.
High North Studios is a one-man indie studio from Northern Norway, created and fueled by Anders Lauridsen.
Raw Fury is a boutique indie (un)publisher founded in 2015 by Jonas Antonsson, Gordon Van Dyke, and David Martinez. We do not care about genres or mechanics. We care about experiences and emotions. We want to help developers make magic.
Web: rawfury.com
Twitter: twitter.com/rawfury
Discord: discord.gg/rawfury
Antstream Arcade by developer and publisher AntstreamLtd—Microsoft Xbox Series X review written by Nick with a copy provided by the
publisher.
Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes
Antstream Arcade touts a pretty hefty package. Play over 1,300
classic video games via a streaming service. Being a subscription service, it
is easy to see why it draws an analogy of being the Netflix of video games. By and
large? It works pretty well, especially for an old school gamer such as myself.
The sales pitch is an interesting one. The Antstream Arcade
service isn’t the games itself – it’s a window to access the huge collection of
classic titles. This allows them to be worked within dynamic ways. The library
can and will change, there are missions and leaderboards that allow people to
compete against one another. The missions / challenges are a neat idea, as it
takes the core game and has you attempting to get the best score you can with
one life or in a particular time frame or some other predetermined constraint.
The library is massive (you can check it out here), pulling
from a wide variety of sources like the Amiga, Atari, NES, arcades and so on.
Some of this feels a bit like checking boxes. Yes, there are PlayStation games,
but there’s only a handful. There are SNES titles, but you’re not getting first
party Mario games either. That being said, there are lots of really great games in here,
especially for someone like me who grew up on these titles. I’m a sucker for
arcade brawlers like Double Dragon, Final Fight and Ninja Gaiden. There is also
a pretty wide range of genres here. I had initially figured that the library
would mostly consist of shoot-‘em-ups and brawlers, but there’s plenty of
1-on-1 fighters, platformers and even RPG titles baked in here. Now, it is
worth calling out that there is some title duplication, where you might see
something that was on both NES and Sega Master System, or across a few of the older
computer platforms.
I’m pretty impressed with how well the service streams. You
need more than 4mbs, which is not a high bar to clear. That makes this pretty
accessible to most people (I was playing this at my cabin, which often maxes
out in the high 20’s in mbs) with reasonably solid performance. I’m sure this
plays into their strategy of focusing on older games that have small file sizes
– I wouldn’t count on seeing a lot of disc-based PS2 games in the near future
because of this.
Even with this pretty rough internet I have at the cabin (I
like to refer to it as internet delivered via tin cans and string), Antstream
Arcade performed really well. There was some odd pixilation that happened at
times, but it worked well. I didn’t run into any notable issues with the
gameplay itself, and even when I was playing at my house with a 1+gbs connection,
there was the occasional odd visual artifact in larger / newer titles (Mortal
Kombat or Pit Fighter come to mind), but it was never a major deal to me.
While the content here is pretty stellar, the interface is a
bit more of a mixed bag. On the downside, searching for games can be sort of
rough. It relies heavily on text searching. Games are tagged with genres such
as platforming or fighting. However, with so many games, it can be tough to
find a specific game unless you know what title you are searching for. On the
one hand, it was fun randomly stumbling onto cool games that had been tucked
away in the back of my head for decades now, but there were times trying to
figure out what I was going to play next was a bit of a challenge. For some
reason beat-‘em-ups just didn’t work for me when I selected the ‘more’ option
to the right, like the default search terms actually didn’t line up with their
own tagging.
Another plus of the interface is the ability to save games,
which was obviously lacking in many of those old Atari or arcade titles. An
interface shortcoming is I didn’t see any way to remap buttons. They are
assigned on a per-game basis, and the majority of the time they made a lot of
sense. However, there are just some genres like 1-on-1 fighting games where I
have been using my own personal button remapping for years now, and not having
the ability to do so sort of felt like fighting with a hand tied behind my
back.
There’s a few different flavors of access. You can install
the game itself and get access to some of the titles without paying anything,
but that’s really missing the beauty of what is offered here. That means you
can do a one year subscription for $29.99 or a lifetime at $79.99. I have a lot
of these titles on my actual NES or Atari that I still have, or they’re
available in other compilation titles like the Capcom ones or these old school
games might just not be your thing – so mileage may vary. That being said? This
hit a huge sweet spot with me. Elevator Action tournament? Cool – that was a
favorite arcade cabinet of mine as a little kid, and I didn’t have to hem and
haw at the corner store and decide between playing it or picking up five atomic
fireballs to snack on.
Lastly, Antstream Arcade has a rather unique take on
competitive play. I mentioned missions before, and tournaments. High scores are
documented and when someone beats your progress you get notified automagically
by the system. It all tries to build a sense of competitive community, and for
those who don’t particularly like playing with / against other people, this
asynchronous method is likely ideal. That being said, some of these games were
at their best (especially brawlers) when you were partnered with a person, and
there’s no active multiplayer options. Given the streaming nature of the software,
that makes sense as I suspect there would be some significant technical hurdles
to overcome there, but it’s still worth calling out for someone who might have
been looking forward to some co-op arcade Double Dragon.
Antstream Arcade is going to appeal to a pretty niche group –
but I’ll fully admit that I’m a member of that target audience. It’s great to pick
up some classic game I used to enjoy, virtually toss in a handful of quarters
and spend the next half an hour blasting or punching away at something. This software
absolutely scratches an itch that I frequently have. I dig the broad collection
of titles, the way they try to virtualize a community and that it’s a living
service with new tournaments, games and updates being continuously rolled out.
All of those positives aside, there is room for improvement. I’d love some
button mapping, multiplayer and stronger discovery options to help me get the
most out of the framework itself and the games provided within. All things
considered, Antstream Arcade is a lot of fun, even with some as of yet untapped
potential.
Score: 7 / 10