Win a copy of Agarest: Generations of War 2

Earlier today we gave you our review for the recently released Agarest: Generations of War 2 on PC. Robert was a huge fan of the game - so we thought we would do something for our readers better than just talking about it. How would you like a chance to win a free Steam code?

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Hyperdevotion Noire: Goddess Black Heart - PS Vita Review

I have been more than a little excited about this one. It has been a while since I played a solid strategy-RPG title (I was not all that fond of Natural Doctrine, despite the hopes I had been harboring for it). In fact, the last awesome handheld strategy game I played was Fire Emblem Awakening - which was amazing. While Hyperdevotion Noire: Goddess Black Heart does not quite reach those lofty standards, it is still an excellent strategy title that should appeal to fans of the Hyper series.

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Agarest: Generations of War 2 - PC Review

We at Chalgyr's Game Room have a long history with the Agarest war games. In fact, it is probably one of our most-covered franchises here on the site. Every iteration, from the very first Agarest, released in 2007, to this latest port-that-is-not-really-a-port (more on that in a bit) to the PC, has brought us countless hours of joy, hilarity, and a few "ummmm" moments. A large portion of our staff here at Chalgyr's Game Room absolutely adore the JRPG genre, so when either a new title or a re-release (or port) is announced we all tend to scramble our way to the forefront so we can spend as much time as possible grinding away, running side quests, or just generally wreaking havoc on the denizens of the darkness.

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Sins of the Saviors Pathfinder Adventure comes to life with a new Syrinscape soundpack

I used to try just about everything to make tabletop RPG sessions a bit more immersive, and one of those tactics years ago was trying to find music to play for ambient effect. I wrote about the Syrinscape service at some length yesterday, and found this recent announcement interesting enough to want to share it.

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Soul Axiom - PC Preview

Would you like to live forever?

If someone offered you the opportunity to download your soul, your memories, the very essence of who you are into a server to be relieved by family once you’re gone, would you take it?

This is the opportunity offered by the Winter Corporation and their Elysium server in the physiological thriller Soul Axiom. The game is still in early access but so far promises to be a gem for those who enjoy puzzle solving, exploration and mystery.

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Munchkin Zombies Deluxe - Tabletop and Board Games Review

Munchkin Deluxe caught me completely by surprise when we played and reviewed it recently. I knew nothing about the game, but our group found it immediately addicting with its unique brand of humor and the mechanics that have players interacting with (messing with is probably more appropriate) than most other board games.

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Red Dragon Inn: 5 - The Character Trove is killing its Kickstarter

Man, this is great news. We really enjoyed our recent time with Red Dragon Inn 4, and we have been keeping a close eye on the next Kickstarter, which launched about a week ago. Well, that goal of $20k was seen and well passed by now as the backing is just a shade over $70,000!

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Syrinscape - PC Review

"You wouldn't play your favourite computer game on mute, so why play unaccompanied at the gaming table."

That is one of the taglines found on the Syrinscape website, and on several levels, it makes a lot of sense to me. What Syrinscape promises is an application that will provide gaming sessions with a variety of soundtracks and effects to help bring some extra life to the table.

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Casa Grande - Tabletop and Board Games Review

Casa Grande by Ravensburger Games is a unique title that does not fall into the typical 'card' or 'dice' game categories. There is a die involved, and it is needed to inject a bit of good and bad luck into the game, but Casa Grande is much more centered on strategy than just good fortune.

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Crowfall, an MMO created with Voxel Farm Technology has been announced

Being an independent developer has plenty of challenges, and undergoing an MMO is a significant one. It will be interesting to see what comes of ArtCraft Entertainment's upcoming effort, Crowfall.

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htoL#NiQ: The Firefly Diary - PS Vita Review

The Firefly Diary is an interesting experiment that suffers an interesting paradox. What should be its strengths often turn out to be the game's greatest weaknesses. Visually htoL#niQ: The Firefly Diary does a beautiful job of creating a world of light and shadow around our quiet protagonist Mion, but that atmosphere is squandered by some questionable game mechanics that might wear players' patience thin before the game's conclusion.

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Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy+ - 3DS Review

In many ways 2014 felt like 'year of the remake', but I think 2015 might be close on its heels already. Thankfully this is a title that still looks and feels great. Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy+ probably did not need a remake, but I am glad it got one all the same.

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Magic Origins attempts to mark key moments in the lore of Magic: The Gathering

I have been playing Magic: The Gathering for a long time, and this ranges from the card games, the obscure Micropose PC game, the Duels titles and even having read books and collected comics years ago. This newest set really appeals to someone like me, who always appreciated the history of MTG - right down to having read almost every bit of flavor text on the cards ever.

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Gratuitous Space Battles 2 - PC Preview

“What did Robert get me into?” were the first words out of my mouth as the various screens of dialog went by. Not having played something this heavy in instructions in a long while I read through all of the menus and instructions until the fateful press of “Fight” after setting up my first fleet through the tutorial. Once that fleet launched there were only a few appropriate words left: “This is so sweet”.

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Besiege - PC Preview

Wait I can do what…? How do I do that other thing…? There’s no way that this is going to work… Dear sweet merciful gods! Did you see that? Which button pulls back the springs again and how can I make a death chucking catapult? All the above were uttered while experimenting with the various crazy ideas that I had with the very interesting Early Access of Besiege “... a physics based building game in which you construct medieval siege engines and lay waste to immense fortresses and peaceful hamlets.” Needless to say, It is a lot of fun!

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Bossa Studios shows off some very early Worlds Adrift footage

This is very early footage of the upcoming game from the makers of I am Bread and Surgeon simulator, but it certainly looks promising at this point.

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Cities XXL - PC Review

There are many things that I can say about the recent issues surrounding Cities XXL; plenty of gamers and press outlets are hammering Focus Home Interactive for what is seen as essentially a re-release of a previous title under a new name while charging more for essentially the same thing. Admittedly that can be a bit of a shady practice and can burn a lot of bridges, but the those that are yelling the loudest are those that feel the most snubbed; the existing fans of the franchise. They are absolutely entitled to their opinions and most of them are absolutely correct; Focus Home seems to have stuck it to the existing fans. However, existing customers are only a part of the equation, the other part, often the most overlooked part by fans, is the new users.

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Thumb Treadz - Hardware Review

Yesterday I had a chance to talk about the Trigger Treadz sold by iMP Gaming. They are a nice accessory that do what they advertise, but might not necessarily been seen as a must-have from a competitive edge standpoint. The other product in the Treadz series is Thumb Treadz. These work off of the same principle but for a different part of your controller.

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Mekazoo is still a ways off - but here are some assets

Not slated to land until later this year, Mekazoo looks like it could be really fast fun. I was reminded of older Sonic games when watching part of the trailer.

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Red Dragon Inn 4 - Tabletop and Board Games Review

The Red Dragon Inn games are all about what happens after the day's or week's adventures have played out. Many a good RPG starts in a tavern, but what about those stories that take place at the tavern when all of the adventuring is said and done? Here a group of friends get together to win one coin from each other while drinking one another under the table.

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Trigger Treadz - Hardware Review

iMP Gaming saw a need and came up with a solution to try and meet it. Triggers on controllers can often get a bit slippery. Some games hardly use the triggers, relying heavily on face buttons, but shooters and racing titles in particular lean every heavily on the triggers. Unlike the shoulder buttons just above them, triggers have a tendency to be held. While the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 controllers have a nice contour to their triggers that make it harder to slip off of them, the idea behind Trigger Treadz is a solid one - add some traction to those hard plastic surfaces.

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Three trailers and some screenshots for The Awakened Fate Ultimatum

The Guided Fate Paradox was a great game that really surprised me with its entertaining story, charming characters and gameplay hooks that merged strategy, RPG and roguelike elements into one very slick package. The following media and press release information has me that much more excited for the upcoming sequel, The Awakened Fate Ultimatum.

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Dungeon Roll - Tabletop and Board Games Review

Dungeon Roll is a push your luck style of game that actually proves surprisingly fun once you wade through the somewhat murky rulebook. This is a dice rolling game that is quick to set up and play, but has plenty of replay value in its small, portable package. Founded on a successful Kickstarter, Dungeon Roll has a great dungeon crawling theme that plays out in fast, unpredictable fashion.

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Hand of Fate - PS4 Review

Every now and again, a game comes along with a completely original premise. These are actually few and far between. Sometimes we see a new hook, or a clever twist or variation on what has come before, but it is not often you come across games anymore that actually feel completely new and different. The fascinating thing about Hand of Fate is that its parts are all inspired from other games, but the way they are molded together into a singular package creates something fresh and fun.

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Kholat - release date, pre-order info and plenty of images

Previously we had talked about how Sean Bean was involved in the upcoming game Kolat and readers seemed interested in this horror/mystery title. Well with more information available, we hope that there is even more interest in what looks like it is shaping up to be an excellent game so far.

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New Nintendo 3DS XL - Hardware Review

Nintendo is getting known for their handheld hardware refreshes over the last several years. In fact, this latest iteration of the DS rather reminds me of the Game Boy Advance or Color. It is essentially the same system, it has some backwards compatibility, but it has promise for future expansion as well. Now that I have had several days to work with the system, I am ready to talk about my experiences a bit more.

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Dungeons & Dragons: Dungeon Master's Screen - Tabletop and Board Games Review

Ah... the Dungeon Master's screen. A DM's bastion of privacy when rolling the dice or referencing maps. I have seen and owned a lot of different ones over the years - including having fashioned several of my own as well. With the handful of new Dungeons & Dragons materials released over the last year, it was only a matter of time until we received a new DM screen as well.

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More screens of the upcoming htoL#NiQ: The Firefly Diary

With Criminal girls getting a release today, the next title from NIS America is htoL#NiQ: The Firefly Diary near the end of the month. Here is their latest batch of screenshots and a bit more information about the game itself.

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Double Dragon II: The Revenge - Retro Reflections

There is really no getting around it - I have been on a huge Double Dragon kick lately. I blame the recently released Double Dragon Trilogy on Steam. That got me back to comparing the first Double Dragon's arcade release to its NES counterpart. I had played both versions of the game a lot when I was younger. However, I had never seen Double Dragon II or III in the arcade, so the Steam trilogy release was my first time getting to play those. I only felt it was fair to go back and take a look at Double Dragon II on the NES afterwards.

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Sheriff of Nottingham - Tabletop and Board Games Review

Many board games put you in roles where you are competing with other players, but in a very indirect fashion. These tend to have minimal interactions that impede the progress of others. Some games turn the tables and you only progress by directly hindering an opponent. Sheriff of Nottingham is closer to the latter, but with a few unique twists, this game of bluffing and roleplay stands out for its simple design but addicting gameplay.

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Dungeon Masters unite - Sword Coast Legends teases new opportunities to play

I feel it's safe to say we enjoy Dungeons & Dragons around these parts. Between our love of the Neverwinter games (seriously, we did two different Retro Reflections here and here), and we spent plenty of time reviewing the latest edition of Dungeons & Dragons tabletop materials and I know I was excited about some of the announcements coming from Wizards of the Coast in 2015. That is why this latest bit of news has me very interested.

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Costume Quest 2 - PS4 Review

Of all the yearly events in the year, there is one that truly should be reserved as a holiday and it isn't. Allhallows Eve, aka Halloween, one of the best events of the year. It isn't just about the candy, or the costumes, be they spooky, creepy, epic, or otherwise (though they are a nice touch) but it is the surrounding lore and myths that give that night that mysterious feeling that always seems to accompany it. Double Fine took a bit of this feeling, mixed in a ton of comedy and created Costume Quest and its sequel.

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Resident Evil HD Remaster - Xbox One Review

Resident Evil was originally released in 1996 for the original PlayStation and then ported over to the Sega Saturn; that is where I was first introduced to the series. In '96/'97 I remember picking up Resident Evil for the Sega Saturn (along with Daytona USA and Dark Savior around that same time) and being unsure about the game; I did not know much about it other than it was a fairly new take on 3rd person action. I remember firing it up for the first time and watching the opening movie and simply marveling at the quality of the video. Once I got in-game I was not entirely sure what to do so I wandered throughout the mansion until I happened upon my first zombie. It scared the proverbial crap out of me and I ended up putting Resident Evil down to play some Aladdin on the Super Nintendo. I have never been one for scary games (I still refuse to touch a Silent Hill game) and boy, was I in for a trip with Resident Evil.

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Sandbox - or Seabox? Windward now available for Early Access

Windward is in Early Access and better yet - launching fully sooner than later with an expected release in Q2 of this year. Here is hoping that it will capture the feeling of sailing the high seas and open world environments.

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Atelier Ayesha Plus: The Alchemist of Dusk - PS Vita Review

The Atelier series of games have long been a favorite here at Chalgyr's Game Room. While it still fits within the JRPG realm of games, the Atelier series is something a little more and something quite different. The primary focus of the majority of the Atelier games is actually running / managing an alchemy shop with reagent grinding taking place between orders for potions. A welcome and unique twist, one that sets the Atelier series apart from other roleplaying games. Atelier Ayesha was originally released for the PlayStation 3 back in March of 2013 and is now ported to the PlayStation Vita. While previous Atelier games took place in rich and vibrant worlds, Atelier Ayesha Plus takes place in the Dusk World which is on the brink of ruin. Does the recent port of Atelier Ayesha Plus: The Alchemist of Dusk translate well on the oft-underrated yet extremely awesome PlayStation Vita?

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The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds - 3DS Review

This game is a long time in coming. Having originally picked up A Link Between Worlds upon release and wanting to do nothing more than play the sequel to my favorite Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, life got in the way. Fast forward three months and I decided to pick it back up and restart from the beginning while heading out on a trip. The result was a bit of a sun burn and a hugely satisfying journey.

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The Windwalkers Kickstarter looks like it could be interesting

Below we have the press release from Forge Animations, the team working to help create this game. They have some pretty ambitious goals here, but there is plenty of potential as well.

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Heroes of Might & Magic III - HD Edition

Heroes of Might and Magic III - HD Edition can be approached from two different angles, as I see it.  The first is on its own merits, which is to say, a turn based strategy game that has just been released on Steam, while the other approach is to view it relative to the original variation of the title.

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Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds - PC Review

Right off the bat, Phantom Breaker Battle Grounds tells me one thing: I’m out of touch with the Xbox Marketplace because I should have played this two years ago!

Recently released on Steam, Phantom Breaker Battle Grounds is a side scrolling brawler that supports up to four players in a well-designed, fast paced, Scott Pilgrim-esque beat-em-up that kept me coming back for more.

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Evolve is here!

We have been keeping an eye out for this one for quite some time now. Don't believe us?

We talked about the Alpha numbers as well as when the alpha become available, not to mention the DLC plans and more. This is a big release.

Well, now the big day is here - so how about one more trailer and a bit more news?

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Relic Knights: Shattered Sword & Black Diamond - Tabletop and Board Games Review

Relic Knights was a Kickstarter project that absolutely demolished its goal; posted by CoolMiniorNot with an initial goal of $20,000, Relic Knights landed just over $900,000 in pledges and was successfully funded launched in 2012 and since then has developed quite the cult following. Relic Knights is a sci-fi strategy game eschewing either the standard "wargaming" concept like Robotech RPG Tactics or Warhammer 40,000 as well as the standard "board game" concepts like you will find in traditional tabletop games. Using unpainted and unassembled miniatures that range from roughly 30mm to 60mm, you can choose one of six factions to wage war against two or more of your friends.

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Sentinels of the Multiverse - PC Review

I have a huge weakness for comics. I also enjoy card games. There are loads of video games out there that use comic book characters, but most of the time these just feel like derivative action titles with very little owed to their page turning origins. This video game feels much truer to its roots, with visuals that leap off of the 'page' and excellent game mechanics to create a unique and entertaining experience.

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The latest Paperbound trailer looks like crazy fun

When Pierre-Yves had a chance to get his hands on a preview build of Paperbound, he could not say enough good things about its particular brand of frantic fun. The latest trailer from Dissident Logic shows enough of the gameplay that has PY anxiously awaiting its arrival.

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Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1 - PC Review

The Hyperdimension titles stormed our shores about 5 years ago, bringing Hyperdimension Neptunia to the PlayStation 3 back in 2010/2011 and we here at Chalgyr's Game Room have long been fans of the series. Eschewing the generally heavy themes that one finds in most JRPG games, the Hyperdimension games have always walked along the lines of comically absurd and intriguingly deep. Taking place in a virtual world called "Gamindustri" during the "Console War" where Console Patron Units (aka CPUs) are fighting for supremacy. The four primary CPUs are Neptune (The Purple Heart) the CPU of Planeptune who symbolizes a non-existent next-generation Sega console; there is Blanc (The White Heart) the CPU of Lowee, which as you can guess by the name, represents Nintendo's Wii home console.

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Double Dragon - Retro Reflections

Having recently had a chance to play the classic Double Dragon arcade games with the Double Dragon Trilogy on Steam, I felt it was probably time to take a look back at the game on the NES. This was one of my favorite titles growing up, even if it was something of a pale imitation of the arcade original.

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Shadows of Esteren prepares for several upcoming product releases

A new video game? A music album? Gaming accessories and more? All of these based on a horror scenario? Sign me up - I've always had a weak spot for horror movies, games and books. Hot on the heels of yet another successful Kickstarter and Ulule campaign, Agate RPG has some pretty big announcements to share.

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Criminal Girls: Invite Only - PS Vita Review

Criminal Girls: Invite Only is something of a mixed bag in that JRPG fans will likely enjoy the solid level design and unique combat system, while anime fans might enjoy the fan service that could very well make other gamers somewhat uncomfortable. The visual style is actually very appealing with complimentary music that suited the game from start to finish, but unfortunately cute but underdeveloped characters and a middling story take some of the shine off of what could have been a great JRPG and leave it standing as a merely good one.

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Afterglow Nur Premium Wireless Headset - Hardware Review

Over the past year we have reviewed many of the different Afterglow headsets, from the highly adequate AGU1.s headset to some of their later offerings like the Kral and Karga headsets. Needless to say, we are very big fans. Affordable price points and exceptional quality while being a bit more on the flashy side, the Afterglow gear is designed with the flashier gamer in mind, as the gear contains signature lighting and an exposed-circuitry appeal. With the release of the Nur, PDP's newest offering for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PC, their signature looks are still there, but with a more refined design in an attempt to appeal to the aging gaming crowds. Does it work?

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Homeworld Remastered is coming sooner than expected

We have some serious space fans in both our reader base and on the team, so the announcement that the Homeworld Remastered Collection was right around the corner got a few guys on the team excited.

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Munchkin Deluxe - Tabletop and Board Games Review

Do you remember that time you were playing Dungeons & Dragons and you worked your way deep into the cavern in search of loot, fame and fortune? Do you recall that same adventure where you kicked open the door to a new level only to be... confronted by an undead pony who was quickly assisted by an evil lawyer? I bet you handled the situation by donning your your Boots of Butt-Kicking or the Mace of Sharpness, right? If the answer is 'yes', you are probably thinking of Munchkin Deluxe and not Dungeons & Dragons, which is just fine because Munchkin pokes plenty of fun at fantasy standards while injecting its sense of humor into a surprisingly deep board game.

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