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By the end, the island of Seiren is one you won't want to escape.

At some point in everyone’s life, they’ve wondered what it would be like to find themselves on a deserted island, removed from the comforts that make civilized life so easy. I’d also wager that many have also dreamed of what it would be like to uncover ancient ruins and be the first to gain a glimpse into the past. Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA capitalizes on both of these contemplations through the lens of Adol Christin. While serving as crew on the Lombardia, Adol is treated to tales of the mythical and uninhabited isle of Seiren, which is thought to be cursed. Upon passing, in classic fashion, a Kraken attacks the ship and despite Adol’s best efforts, destroys it, thrusting him and the ship’s passengers into an unexpected adventure on Seiren. These circumstances setup the experience, pitting the castaways against the harsh nature of the island, as they struggle to escape back to the life they’ve known. As the adventure kicks off, players are quickly treated to solid action RPG combat, an intriguing story, and an addicting gameplay loop that will keep them coming back for more.

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The conclusion of our series featuring Richard Clark, of GameChurch.com!

So, we wrapped up El Shaddai, and, for better and for worse, our expectations were pretty spot on. As you might imagine considering our previous podcast, stuff got deep again. We also had some theories and conjecture about a lot of the messages and artistic choices present in the game. Even if El Shaddai ended up not being for you, we hope you'll listen anyway to see what we took away from it. 

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Think before you shoot.

If you’re starting to feel like there’s too much Call of Duty in every shooter out there, you’re not the only one. With pressure from fans of the almost extinct strategic shooter sub-genre, designer Christian Allen spearheaded a Kickstarter project to keep this methodical niche on life support a little longer. Allen is self-admittedly part of the “problem” of shifting slower-paced shooters to mainstream sensibilities during his years of working on the Ghost Recon franchise. His current game, Takedown: Red Sabre, throws all of those years of mainstreaming the genre right out of the AC-130 Gunship’s window and promises to give us the realistic, slow-paced, strategic squad shooter we’ve been missing. 

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