George Yang

Digital Trends • January 16th, 2025

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii’s naval battles are more than minigames

There’s been a renaissance of pirate games over the past few years, and the quality of them has been all over the place. Rare’s Sea of Thieves dominates the space with its wondrous sense of adventure and swashbuckling exploration. Ubisoft’s Skull and Bones, on the other hand, is filled with mundane tasks that make for a live-service slog.

Digital Trends • December 11th, 2024

Synduality: Echo of Ada feels like a cross between Gundam and Genshin Impact

I once visited a friend in Los Angeles who has an obsession with mecha and anime characters. His room is filled with figurines from Mobile Suit Gundam and Genshin Impact. I thought to myself: “Wouldn’t it be cool if someone combined these two interests?” Now, that’s just what Bandai Namco has done with Synduality, a new mixed media project that features multiple stories.

Digital Trends • November 21st, 2024

I played 2 hours of Avowed entirely in third-person

When I first played Avowed back in August, it was only through a first-person perspective. The RPG’s third-person camera wasn’t available in that build. While developer Obsidian Entertainment revealed the game through its first-person camera, the developer confirmed that third-person was an accessibility feature planned from day one and wouldn’t be treated as an afterthought.

PCMag • September 25th, 2024

All Aboard! Hands On With Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii

Officially revealed days before the Tokyo Game Show, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is a spin-off of Sega's wacky gangster RPG series starring the eccentric Majima Goro. Its announcement was a surprise, considering that fans have clamored for a game centered on the antihero for years. We got to play a short demo, and so far, it looks like developer Ryu Ga Gotoku delivers the goods in a big way with zany characters, exhilarating combat with fresh twists, and an intriguing pirate setting.

Digital Trends • September 19th, 2024

Dragon Age: The Veilguard mixes the series best ingredients

With each new Dragon Age game, BioWare brings a new evolution of its RPG series that builds on what came before. 2011’s Dragon Age 2 transitioned away from the CRPG roots of its predecessor for a more engaging and real-time action battle system. Then, 2014’s Dragon Age: Inquisition fully embraced gaming’s open-world trend at the time and delivered a story filled with political intrigue.

PCMag • August 26th, 2024

Hands On With Avowed, Xbox's Skyrim-Inspired RPG

Avowed was originally pitched as Obsidian's take on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and it certainly shows. The magical fantasy vibes are reminiscent of Bethesda’s popular role-playing game, but the real-time combat, humor, and rich game world give it a unique flavor. Avowed is set for PC and Xbox Series X/S release on Feb. 18, 2025, but you can read my early thoughts on the upcoming RPG right now.

Digital Trends • August 25th, 2024

Atlus almost gave up on Persona 3 Reload's The Answer DLC

When Persona 3 Reload was announced, fans were both excited and anxious. Since the original Persona 3’s release in 2006, the RPG has received two iterations in the form of Persona 3 FES and Persona 3 Portable, both of which had separate exclusive content that wasn’t available in the other. The former had a playable epilogue called The Answer, while the latter added a female protagonist.

Mashable • August 20th, 2024

'Indiana Jones and the Great Circle': I saw 30 minutes of the game before you did

Ever since Microsoft acquired Bethesda, players have been curious as to what MachineGames’ first game under the new Xbox umbrella would be. The studio is best known for creating the Wolfenstein series, but it’s now shifting gears to a beloved one: Indiana Jones.

Digital Trends • August 14th, 2024

Visions of Mana sticks to the series' roots while feeling fresh

I really appreciate Square Enix taking risks to revive dormant franchises with new entries while also continuing its flagship Final Fantasy series. Over the past few years, we’ve gotten Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince, SaGa: Emerald Beyond, Star Ocean: The Divine Force, and Theatrhythm Final Bar Line. Now the Mana series is the latest one to get Square Enix’s treatment with Visions of Mana.

Digital Trends • July 22nd, 2024

Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection is only the beginning

Capcom stands out from other fighting game developers by constantly bringing its old games to modern audiences for both new and veteran players. Following 2022’s release of Capcom Fighting Collection, Capcom is releasing its second compilation, Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics, later this year. The hotly anticipated package includes seven games from the Marvel vs. Capcom subseries from the 1990s.

Anime News Network • June 20th, 2024

Assassin's Creed Shadows Makes Great Use Of Its Two Protagonists

Assassin's Creed has been a household name in the gaming industry ever since it debuted in 2007. With a series focusing on stealth, trickery, and assassinations, you'd think there'd be an Assassin's Creed game in Japan, right? It took a while, 17 years to be exact, but we're finally here.

Crunchyroll • June 17th, 2024

Metaphor: ReFantazio is the Perfect Middle Ground Between Persona and Shin Megami Tensei

Metaphor: ReFantazio is Atlus’ brand new IP. Atlus is well known for creating the Persona series, but now the studio is taking what it's learned over the past several decades to take a stab at the fantasy genre rather than the typical Japanese high school life.

Crunchyroll • June 12th, 2024

Monster Hunter Wilds Builds on the Solid Foundation of World

When Monster Hunter World was released in 2018, it took the ahem world by storm. Its immense popularity skyrocketed the series to new heights and sales figures, finally bringing it to the mainstream spotlight.

Now, almost seven years later, Capcom is following up lofty expectations with Monster Hunter Wilds. I was able to catch a 30-minute hands off demo of the game, and it looks like a worthy successor that builds upon the solid foundation set by World.

Digital Trends • June 10th, 2024

Sonic X Shadow Generations gives Shadow the spotlight he deserves

Back in 2011, Sonic Generations came up with a unique idea: combining Sonic’s classic 2D side-scrolling self with his modern 3D self. That made for a fun mix of two distinct kinds of Sonic levels. A lot has changed since then. With 2022’s Sonic Frontiers, the series finally took the next step to transition to an open world, for instance.

Digital Trends • June 4th, 2024

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is already wiping the floor with me

Elden Ring was unanimously 2022’s Game of the Year. While many other fantastic games were released throughout the year, Elden Ring shut down all competition when it dropped in early March. It swept at awards shows and even landed a Game of the Year spot here on Digital Trends.

Digital Trends • March 27th, 2024

Stellar Blade feels more like a Soulslike than I was expecting

Korean developer Shift Up first made a name for itself with mobile games like 2016’s Destiny Child, a turn-based RPG, and 2022’s Goddess of Victory: Nikke, an on-rails third-person shooter. Now, Shift Up is throwing its hat into the ring of AAA game development with Stellar Blade, an action game starring a young woman named Eve who is trying to reclaim Earth from an invading alien species.

Digital Trends • March 11th, 2024

Rise of the Ronin is a grab bag of gaming's greatest hits

When I grappled to the roof of a building using my hook, I felt like I’d played Rise of the Ronin before. That’s not a bad thing; I’ve played many of Team Ninja’s previous games, but it felt oddly familiar, in a bloody comforting way.

PCMag • February 7th, 2024

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth: Hands On With the Year's Most Anticipated RPG

The long-awaited sequel to Final Fantasy VII Remake is less than a month away, and with it comes new gameplay mechanics that build upon its predecessor. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth goes open world, which might make some series fans leery due to the video game industry's overreliance on the design structure in recent years. However, Rebirth’s charming characters, exciting action, entertaining side quests, and strong world building feel like a natural extension of Remake.

Digital Trends • December 13th, 2023

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is a fitting Suikoden successor

Spiritual successors have been quite popular during the last several years. Bloodstained launched as a spiritual successor to Castlevania, Yooka-Laylee tried to be the same for Banjo Kazooie, and Mighty Number 9 tried to capture the spirit of classic Mega Man games with mixed results. Not all of them have been successful, but nostalgic players still look for those types of games to recreate the magical experiences they had as kids.

Digital Trends • December 12th, 2023

Tekken 8 is the series' most approachable entry yet

The fighting game genre has always had some barriers to entry, with top-level play requiring hundreds of hours of practice to master combos, positioning, and character matchups. The high skill ceiling has often pushed away more casual players from participating, sometimes making them feel inadequate compared to more seasoned competitors.

Fangoria • December 11th, 2023

Alone in the Dark Leans More Toward Adventure Than Horror

The Alone in the Dark franchise has been around since 1992, and its debut game is often credited as the creation of the survival horror genre. While its first several entries received mixed to positive reception, attempts to bring the franchise to the modern age have been less than stellar. The 2008 reboot was average, and 2015's Alone in the Dark: Illumination was critically panned.

Digital Trends • December 7th, 2023

Granblue Fantasy: Relink is RPG multiplayer done right

The Granblue Fantasy franchise originated in the mobile and web browser space as a turn-based gacha game with microtransactions. The franchise has since expanded to include the 2D fighting game Granblue Fantasy Versus, its upcoming sequel Versus: Rising, and the action RPG Granblue Fantasy: Relink.

PCMag • September 28th, 2023

Alan Wake 2 Preview

Remedy Entertainment's Alan Wake 2 shakes up what you thought you knew about the series. The first game had many combat segments that were broken up by light exploration and puzzles—gameplay elements that carry over to the upcoming sequel.

CNN • September 21st, 2023

We demoed Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth — and it’s incredibly promising

The release of Final Fantasy 7 was a hallmark for Japanese RPGs back in 1997. So when Final Fantasy 7 Remake launched in 2020 for PS4, there were high expectations. Needless to say, the remake surpassed them. With its updated battle system and incredible visuals, it was one of the best games of that year.