UPDATE: NieR: Replicant won the Best Score and Music Award at The Game Awards 2021! While it can sometimes go unnoticed compared to gameplay and story,music is a crucial part of video games. Music can be used to set a mood, establish tone, or enhance the immersive experience. A lot of video game soundtracks have become iconic, whether it’s theSuper Mario Bros.theme song, the first chilling notes ofFinal Fantasy 7’s"One-Winged Angel," or the brilliant use of Pearl Jam’s “Future Days” inThe Last of Us 2....

Warning: Spoilers ahead for The Last of Us 2.The Last of Us 2not only offers an incredible story, but it enhances that narrative through its gameplay. Consistently, players are forced to do things that they do not want to do, whether that be leading Abby to Joel,torturing Nora as Ellie, or battling either of the leading ladies during the two Abby vs. Ellie boss battles. The game brilliantly forces players to engage with violence to the point where they are desensitized to it, all with the goal of mirroring Ellie’s own feelings and her eventual realization that the cycle of violence is not worth it....

Summary While it might seem a tad hyperbolic, it’s true thatThe Last of Usbroke new ground for the gaming industry back in 2013. Narratives had always been present in video games, and stronger ones were growing increasingly prevalent in the mid-late 2000s, butThe Last of Us' clear and definitive focus on story and characters above all else changed the way developers made games moving forward. One of the most special elements ofThe Last of Uswas its unique take on the post-apocalyptic scenario....

At The Game Awards 2019, developer Telltale Games announced thatThe Wolf Among Us 2was in pre-production. However, Telltale has since laid low, leavingThe Wolf Among Usfans questioning what was happening - though thankfully, an update is on the way. Telltale Gamesacknowledged that it had nothing to show alongside theannouncement ofThe Wolf Among Us 2over two years ago, and that it had nothing to say about it during The Game Awards 2021 just a few days ago....

Xboxand Microsoft have gained a lot of good faith back from consumers after a troublesome eighth console generation dominated by PS4. At first, Xbox One seemed to focus inherently on multi-faceted capability, rather than doubling down on gaming itself. The console suffered as a result, but in the long-term, Microsoft has paved new roads to success with Xbox Game Pass, backwards compatibility, and more. However, most of all, Microsoft has shown that its unprecedented reception to the Xbox playerbase is the biggest improvement the company’s made....

Among the JRPG genre, there is no company that has put out more beloved classics than Square Enix. Square and Enix separately made theFinal FantasyandDragon Questfranchises, the two poster boys of the genre that defined it for years to come. Along a path paved by those franchises came plenty of pit stops to try different games.Chrono Triggerwas one of its most acclaimed titles, and its own spiritual prequelLive A Liveis now getting similar recognition....

Summary OnePokemon GOplayer has recently stumbled on a weird glitch that makes their character comically large. Their find later made the rounds on social media, expanding the list of weirdPokemon GObugs that fans have encountered over the years. As is the case with essentially all frequently updated games,Pokemon GOhas introduced plenty of strange glitchesover the years. Niantic usually manages to fix major issues relatively swiftly, but not before many of them end up making the rounds online, assuming they are consequential or unusual enough to attract attention....

Since 2015’sMobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphan, there haven’t really been any majorGundamseries released. There were a couple ofGundam Build Diversseries, along with some spin-off stories likeTwilight AxisandNarrative, but for the most part, those are just minor releases. The fans want something big from the franchise for this new decade. That is why the 2021’sMobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway’s Flash, the first of the planned trilogy of movies, was such a major event forGundamfans around the world....

Summary Despitebeing an open-world gameentirely based around the idea of Wizards…with Guns, the game calledWizard with a Gundoesn’t actually have all that many to choose from. As it turns out,Wizard with a Gunis much more varied in the ammunition, powders, and general research advancements players make than it is with the guns they choose to wield. However, from the options they do have, here’s how they stack up against each other....

World of Warcraftplayers have been calling for an Azeroth world revamp for a while now, but Blizzard has yet to do anything about it. The current version of Azeroth was introduced way back in Cataclysm and has been inWorld of Warcraftlonger than the classic version was. As time has gone by, the cracks and imperfections in this version have only gotten more prevalent, and Blizzard missed its perfect opportunity to revamp it....

Xbox Game Pass has delivered an impressive array of games since its launch in 2017, both on Xbox consoles and PC. However, considering Xbox’s promise of delivering first-party exclusives on Xbox Game Pass day one, as well as Xbox’s first-party library of older games, there’s always been one glaring omission –Minecrafton Xbox Game Pass for PC. That’s an omission Xbox and Mojang are now ready to correct. Both versions ofMinecrafton PC, the Java version and the Bedrock Edition, are coming soon to Xbox Game Pass for PC....

It is no secret that indie games can be a hit-or-miss experience. There are those likeStardew ValleyandCelestethat have garnered widespread attention, pulling the focus of gamers away from AAA studios.While indie games come in various shapes and forms, many of them often lean into classic video game genres such as platformers, one example of which being the upcoming indie gameA Sister’s Journey. A Sister’s Journeyis currently being developed by Florian Lackner....

Summary The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomwas a strong follow-up toBreath of the Wild, with both games breaking ground from series norms. WhileThe Legend of Zeldaas a whole is known for linear progression through puzzle-filled dungeons,Breath of the Wildbroke away by bringing the series into an open world format, with its sequel taking things one step further. InThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, everything is a puzzle....