My name is Mattias, this is my website.
The year is almost over which means it’s once again time for game of the year lists. Since I never agree with any of those, and because I love making lists, I’ve decided to make my own for the second year in a row. The criteria for Anosou’s Game of the Year list is simple: I must’ve made up a reason to put it on this list.
Time to get GotY’d!
Continue reading “Game(s) of the Year 2024”
It’s not every day Atlus develops a game and it’s a new IP. The last time they tried something new was Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore in 2015, but it’s honestly more of a one-time crossover. You’ll have to go all the way back to 2011’s Catherine to find a new IP from Atlus.
What I’m trying to say is that Metaphor: ReFantazio is Atlus finally trying something new that isn’t Shin Megami Tensei, Devil Summoner, or Persona. After finishing it I can confidently say that the result is… well… a game that’s quite similar to Shin Megami Tensei, Devil Summoner, and Persona.
Is that a problem? No, not even slightly. In fact, Metaphor: ReFantazio might just be the best damn video game I’ve played this year.
Continue reading “Games I Play: Metaphor: ReFantazio”
I was lucky enough to get a PlayStation 5 pretty early in its lifecycle. Apparently I was a “top customer” at a Swedish online game store so I got to pre-order an early batch. I guess it pays to be really careless with money.
Anyway, with this PlayStation 5 came the game/tech demo Astro’s Playroom. Imagine my surprise when it was actually fantastic! Great controls, fun use of the DualSense, pure platforming joy, and lots of PlayStation callbacks. Now, with Astro Bot, we have a standalone game in the same vein and it’s even more fantastic.
Continue reading “Games I Play: Astro Bot”
During my summer vacation I decided to browse the Nintendo eShop and maybe buy some cheap games that don’t have a physical release. Browsing the eShop was, of course, an absolute horror show of laggy UI and shovelware but in the end I grabbed a handful of games. One of those was Vampire Survivors, a game I had heard a lot about but dismissed due to the hype and looks. Still, people insisted it was basically video game drugs so I gave it a shot.
As it turns out. it was basically video game drugs.
Continue reading “Games I Play: Vampire Survivors”
During summer vacation I took the opportunity to play even more Trails! After finishing up the first arc on Steam Deck, it was finally time to tackle the next arc on Nintendo Switch: Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure, AKA the Crossbell Arc. Did it live up to the expectations set by Trails in the Sky? Would I experience Trails fatigue? Should you play Trails? The answers are: yes, no, and yes. If you still want to know more, read on!
Continue reading “Games I Play: Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure”
The Trails saga continues! Shortly after I finished the first game, I went on to play the second and third in this first trilogy. The story picks up right where the first game left off and really kicks the story (and anime tropes) into high gear. Having now finished the entire Sky trilogy, one might wonder what I thought of it. So, let’s get into that.
Continue reading “Games I Play: Trails in the Sky SC and the 3rd”
13 years after the fact, the soundtrack I and Josh Whelchel wrote for Caller’s Bane (or as it was known back then, Scrolls) is available on streaming services courtesy of Mojang! I’m still really proud of this music, so it feels great that more people can access it now.
I recently finished the second game in the unbelievably ambitious Final Fantasy VII remake series of games, Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth. In a way that only Square Enix can, the naming is of course ridiculous but how was the game? I’ll save you reading the rest of the post if you want: I absolutely loved it. Let’s get in to why!
Continue reading “Games I Play: Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth”
With Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth around the corner I finally mustered up the courage to play Crisis Core. I’ve owned on PSP forever but never got around to playing it, partially due to fear that it’d soil my pristine memory of Final Fantasy VII as a perfect game in its own right. But now that the remakes are flipping everything on its head anyway and Crisis Core got its own fancy remake treatment, it was finally time.
Continue reading “Games I Play: Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- Reunion”
I finally got around to starting the Trails series. A sub-series of Falcom’s The Legend of Heroes, it’s epic Japanese role-playing games with an overarching narrative. In other words, you basically have to play all 10+ games in order to get the best experience—or so the fans say. The first game, Trails in the Sky, establishes the world and starts off what’s called the Liberl arc of the story.
So was it worth beginning this daunting task? This humongous video game undertaking? This “most ambitious story in video games”, as the developer calls it? After just one game I’m inclined to say: yes.
Continue reading “Games I Play: The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky”