This Week in Games

A Farewell To Legs

Welcome back, everyone! It's been an emotional week. Between the death of Lance Reddick, whose presence in Destiny 2 was beloved by many of its fans, and the release of Atelier Ryza 3, we've had some big farewells to make. As usual, it's a good time to remember to appreciate what we have while we have it. Also, I got to watch the new Dungeons and Dragons movie this past week. Seeing them namedrop "Baldur's Gate" and the land of "Neverwinter" was amusing. (Even if I've never played Baldur's Gate or Neverwinter Nights.)

Was there time for Xenoblade 3? Sadly, no--we had a busy week getting that Ryza review in. But enough about alchemists and barrels--we have a column to start!

This is...

This one came to our attention via one of our readers, Leonardo. As a reminder, folks are encouraged to send anything they might consider a lead either to editorial or my Twitter page (linked, as ever, at the bottom of this column). I can't promise everything will be added to the column--some stuff isn't really news. And I thought for a bit about whether to add this one because we tend to focus on games of a Japanese bend here. But in the spirit of certain developers just being relevant (after all, I did talk about John Romero hiring for a new project), I decided to greenlight this one.

So! American McGee! And yes, that's his actual name! McGee, like Romero before him, got his start at id Software working on some of the Doom and Quake titles. But his real claim to fame was 2000's American McGee's Alice, a dark take on Alice in Wonderland that had the titular Alice Liddell exploring a twisted version of Wonderland tainted by the influence of the evil Queen of Hearts--all while residing in a mental ward, the lone survivor of her family's house burning down in a fire. While dark versions of Alice in Wonderland are completely passé today, no thanks to Tim Burton's attempt at re-imagining it as a young adult movie in the late '00s, American McGee's Alice was pretty standout for the time. Though it took eleven years, there was eventually a sequel: Alice: Madness Returns, where Alice now resides in an orphanage and tracks down the truth behind the fire that devastated her home and family while liberating Wonderland from the Infernal Train. While it was a troubled, somewhat-janky title, Madness Returns is still a standout action platformer, the likes of which you don't see anymore. I was introduced to Alice: Madness Returns in 2021 when my favorite VTuber streamed it. Visually, it still looks plenty inspired by today's standards--pity about the janky combat segments. Madness Returns might have been released at the tail end of the Hot Topic era and scene girls being a thing, but it was a huge part of that.

But that was about it for American McGee and his take on Alice. While McGee has been chomping at the bit to produce a third game, he's unfortunately had to plead his case to the people that published the series: EA Games. While McGee and company were able to crowdfund a pair of animated shorts to help drum up support for a third Alice game, he's also been hard at work on a license proposal to EA to get approval and support for a third Alice title, tentatively named Alice: Asylum. McGee finished the design bible for the game and even has it available for free on his Patreon. As it stands, the design bible is meant to be something McGee and company can use to pitch a third game to financiers--they're looking at a proposed budget of US$50 million to make this game. And for that, they need investors.

Hence the design bible. It's no mere art book; it goes over every last detail of the game: gameplay flow, how the combat is supposed to work, the intended gameplay loop, possible rewards, everything. For people interested in the less-granular parts of Alice: Asylum--as in, the plot and how it ties into the prior Alice games, there's plenty of that too. Having flipped through the bible, I know the story is interesting. It does a great job of continuing the themes and aesthetics of Madness Returns, including the gimmick of each chapter having a unique dress symbolizing the themes of the chapter. Also, like Madness Returns, the game mixes in the horror of adults and their abuse in the real world with the fantastical horrors in Wonderland, leaving Alice as the bridge between the both: slaying the shadows in Wonderland to save the dreams of the real world. It's creative stuff, and it's absolutely catnip to anyone who has any interest in game design at all. All that's left is McGee and his team getting the needed funding.

American McGee's request from fans is simple: check out the book, enjoy it, and if possible, help raise awareness about Alice: Asylum and show that there's still an interest in this game. McGee's design bible is fascinating, he's a talented team leader, and we could use more inspired action-platformers like what Alice: Asylum hopes to be.

Content warning: the following story deals with self-harm, suicide, and substance abuse

Man, Needy Streamer Overload was a heavy game. I didn't play it, I just watched other people play it, and it's a lot: playing as the partner to a streamer named OMGkawaiiAngel, you help her navigate her daily life in an attempt at gathering a million subscribers before rent is due. But there are a lot of serious obstacles to OMGkawaiiAngel: she needs topics for her streams, she needs attention and affection, and she needs to have her basic needs met. That's the "how to explain the game to your parents" pitch, though--in practice, you need to pay attention to OMGkawaiiAngel and make sure she takes her meds (but doesn't fall into substance abuse), help her research stuff on the Internet (without becoming some weirdo conspiracy theorist), and show her physical affection (without making her so sex-crazed she neglects her streaming career). Fail to do so, and any number of things could happen, from OMGkawaiiAngel starting a relationship with a fellow streamer that ends in disaster to getting banned for having sex live on stream to committing suicide off-screen because you didn't answer her DMs fast enough. And neglecting to manage her stress properly leads to a very graphic moment where OMGkawaiiAngel self-harms. It's a very blunt, cynical look at streaming and the personalities that go into it. It shouldn't come as a surprise that the original Japanese title was "Needy Girl Overdose."

Needy Streamer is pretty big in Japan, where it's shaping up to receive a second manga adaptation. Titled Needy Girl Overdose: Run With My Sick, the manga launched on Weekly Shonen Champion's Manga Cross website on the 21st. It's not the first time Needy Streamer Overload was given an online manga adaptation; it received an anthology in ComicWalker in December of 2022. The series is slated to be written and drawn by Bonnoki, creator of The Vampire Dies In No Time. No word yet on Needy Girl Overdose: Run With My Sick being released in the US, but here's hoping. It's a rough, dark ride, but it does have a happy ending...

A lot of folks have joked about Fortnite being the new Marvel VS Capcom, and I don't blame them. Thanos is there, a good number of the Street Fighter World Warriors are there... and full credit to Epic, with the exception of Guile and his just plain weird face, the World Warriors look as good as they've ever looked in 3D. A lot of love was put into those models, with stuff like Sakura's emote-dance being a one-to-one recreation of her victory sway in Street Fighter Alpha. In honor of Resident Evil 4's remake, Capcom opened the door to another franchise crossing over with Fortnite:

It's not as fancy as the Dragon Ball collabs, but the Resident Evil collab has plenty of goodies for fans. Players can purchase skins for Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield in their most-iconic designs--Leon is wearing his Resident Evil 4 duds along with his famous knife and attaché case, while Claire looks more like she did in the recent Resident Evil 2 remake, complete with an umbrella. Get it? Because "Umbrella Corporation." Sadly, Leon doesn't have his sweet bomber jacket, but the attaché case alone makes the costume. No word on how long these skins will be available for sale, so if you care about Resident Evil or Fortnite, you're gonna wanna pick these up sooner rather than later.

In other news related to Resident Evil 4, we need to give a nice shout-out to modder Albert Martin. Martin is famed in the Resident Evil 4 fandom for creating a mod that ups the graphical detail. Along with Cris Morales, Martin spent the last eight years painstakingly re-creating textures in Resident Evil 4, going so far as to fly out to Wales and Spain to re-capture similar textures Capcom had originally used. This comprehensive mod was released in February of last year--and in recognition of his hard work and dedication to the project, Martin has announced that Nightdive Studios have hired him. For the uninitiated: Nightdive Studios focuses on remakes of older 3D titles. The stellar Turok 2: Seeds of Evil port and Shadow Man: Remastered were handled by Nightdive. It's not often you hear about cute stories like this where dedicated moderators get to flex their skills for the industry, but it's nice when they happen. Congratulations to Albert Martin! These old games are about to get a ton of TLC.

You can't keep a good alchemist down! Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key should be out by the time you read this, and it's chalked up as the last game starring Reisalin Stout. She's had an unprecedented three games to herself (she was the first Atelier protagonist even to get a sequel in the first place). It's not unfair to say she's responsible for much of the Atelier franchise's latter-day popularity. Just last week, Koei Tecmo announced that both of Ryza's games have sold 1.6 million worldwide! Her send-off is rather emotional for fans. But she's big enough to where Gust and company don't want to send her off into oblivion yet, so they've decided to go back where it all began and make an anime starring Ryza and her friends on their very first adventure!

As mentioned earlier, the anime is titled after the first Ryza game: Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout. The story details Ryza's first steps into the world on an adventure to discover the secrets of her island, all while making a cozy hideout in the woods with her friends Tao and Lent where she can practice alchemy. The visuals so far look stunning, primed to capture the cozy summer vibes that are the Atelier Ryza games' lifeblood. I've got big hopes for the anime! In many ways, the battle system is the least fun thing about the Ryza games. It's more fun exploring their world and watching Ryza and her friends banter and have tea parties with each other. It'll be fun to see it all condensed into an anime.

I may as well take a moment to give some other thoughts on the Ryza games, considering that my review for the third game should be up by now. It's emotional to see Ryza go, and it'll be interesting to see where the Atelier games go next! I don't know if Sophie will get a third game--maybe Ryza kicked off a new trend for Atelier protagonists getting three games apiece, but Atelier Ryza was special. Ryza was not only immensely popular, both as a protagonist and as a series of games, but Ryza 3 was even revealed in May 2022 in commemoration of the Atelier series' 25th anniversary. While the Atelier games have had their loyal fans for those 25 years, none of them got the same kind of recognition that Ryza's did. Her character designer Toridamono even drew a cute sketch of her in honor of the game's release in Japan. It's an emotional moment for Gust and fans of the Atelier games. It is like saying farewell to a beloved friend.

There's an aspect to the games I want to touch on: Ryza's got thick thighs and big boobs, and her outfits don't hide it. During an interview with the producer of the Atelier Ryza games (my very first interview for ANN, even!), series producer Junzo Hosoi credits a good chunk of Ryza's popularity to "Toridamono-san's character design [gaining] a lot of attention" (in addition to simply creating a "quality game," as Hosoi concludes). I won't pretend I'm not here for Ryza's thunder thighs because I used the old chart detailing her legs throughout the three games as a thumbnail for the column. But I've noticed a contingent of fans claiming that fanservice is the reason for the Ryza games' success and that the Atelier games should lean into that more. Following the announcement of the Atelier Ryza anime, some folks were crediting Ryza and 2B with "saving their franchises" through fanservice. And I had to wonder, did we play the same games? Yeah, Yoko Taro went on record that he's just thirsty for hot girls, which is refreshing in its honesty--none of that hokey "you will regret your thoughts and words" stuff. But 2B's butt isn't what makes NieR: Automata such a beloved game. Likewise, it feels rather out-of-place to make any claim that the Atelier Ryza games put any kind of significant weight (heh) on Ryza's body as far as a selling point. Again, you might have been roped in by the thighs, but it's the tea parties, and Ryza's boundless joy for adventure and discovery people stay for. The Atelier games are friggin' cozy, man. Even when the games make swimsuit DLC, it feels hard to attribute any salaciousness to it--and I'd know, I play Action Taimanin. Honestly, the extent of it would be Gust dangling a shapely pair of legs over people's heads to sucker them into playing a low-key RPG series about making friends and wandering the countryside. And that's okay. Like, I won't lie, Yoshida On designing Izuna the Unemployed Ninja as a cute, buxom pink-haired gremlin drew me into the Izuna games, but if it were that alone, I wouldn't have cared about the games for as long as I have. And those games actually lean in on Izuna's figure.

I'm not trying to shame people who are mostly here because they're thirsty for Ryza, because let's face it, everyone's thirsty. It's 2023, we're stressed, we're broke, our pets' heads are falling off--get your cast-off PVC statue of your anime babe or hunk of choice. And there's a generation of guys out there who started watching Inuyasha to get with that one cute girl in class that liked anime only to get genuinely invested. Life's too short not to have a PVC statue of R63 Shattered Glass Optimus Prime on your shelf. But let's thirst respectably here because there aren't a lot of games that make getting letters from your friends as endearing as the Atelier games.

With that said, I'll now be sharing The Chart™ again because, as I said earlier, it's not like Ryza's gams are not not part of the appeal. Credit to its creator, the artist Aikuxa (Warning: artist page is NSFW)

Remember, folks: love is stored in the alchemist!

This isn't the news my predecessor Heidi would want to hear. Sorry, Heidi!

Yu Suzuki disappointed many people with the much-anticipated Shenmue 3. After decades of waiting, fans were given a game that simplified much of what made the first two Shenmue games so much fun, failing to accommodate any game design advancements over the ensuing decades, and worse yet: ended on an unsatisfying cliffhanger. Not the best thing to do when fans have waited so long for a continuation of your much-beloved series. It looks like Suzuki can do worse, though, and he'll do it with the other game series he's known for: Virtua Fighter, Sega's home-grown 3D fighting game that went on to influence modern-day 3D fighting games like the Dead or Alive series.

So, Suzuki cut a deal with Sega to mint NFTs based on the first three Virtua Fighter games. Specifically, 1000 of them. Why only Virtua Fighters 1 through 3? Because those were the ones Suzuki worked on, I guess Sega feels indebted to him? I struggle to think why they'd feel this indebted, given the massive pushback against NFTs, but corporate types will do anything for that extra penny of profit. Suzuki has also gone on record that these NFTs could be the basis for Metaverse projects--he's going all-in on this. This is painfully disappointing on Suzuki's behalf. Ignoring the advancements in game design aside, going on a limb this hard for NFTs that your core audience really doesn't want when there's just this much negative sentiment towards them feels foolish. Meanwhile, fighting game fans still pray for a Virtua Fighter 6. Hopefully, this ends the same way the other attempts at gaming NFTs have, and the folks at Sega learn a valuable lesson.

I can't pretend I'm a huge fan of the Science Adventure VNs. Steins;Gate and its anime adaptation have a big fanbase even now, no doubt due to Kurisu's charming personality and Okabe being such a fun "mad scientist." I've never actually tried any of it out, sadly. But I am excited to share this bit of news! We've known about the newest Science Adventure VN for a bit now, ANONYMOUS;Code. This past week, we received official word from Spike Chunsoft: ANONYMOUS;Code is coming to America, complete with a dub and a special-edition set!

ANONYMOUS;Code seems to have quite a bit in common with Steins;Gate; a young hacker and his friends are given access to a computer system that allows them to "Save" and "Load" time. Through judicious use of "Load"ing, they can fix the past to improve the future. But the Illuminati isn't happy with people messing with the timeline, and things complicate further...

I've avoided saying the protagonist's name because, ah, it's another "Laputa: Castle in the Sky" situation where folks in Japan didn't consider whether the name of this character might mean something weird in another language. The protagonist of ANONYMOUS;Code is named "Pollon." And in some Spanish-speaking dialects (not Puerto Rican, mind), "Pollon" is slang for, erm... "Biggus Dickus." And yes, the localization team was aware of the meaning. Even the Spanish localization is going ahead with it. Again, it truly is the "Laputa" of the modern age.

Speaking of the localization, ANONYMOUS;Code is set to receive an English dub. Max Mittleman will star as Pollon, while Anairis Quiñones will voice Momo. The rest of the cast hasn't been announced yet. In addition to a dub, we're looking at a Special Edition release in a steel box featuring art from character designer Haruhisa Nakata. Fans can expect a release this September 8th for the PS4 and Nintendo Switch.

That'll do it for this week! In honor of Ryza and the cozy vibes of the Atelier games, why not try some relaxing, low-key games this weekend? Rune Factory is always great, I've heard good things about Harvestella, and hey, Pokémon Snap is always a fun time. Or heck, try out any of the other Atelier games. Thanks again for joining me for these columns; they're always fun to write. And as mentioned earlier: if you guys feel like you've got some possible scoop, feel free to hit up our newsdesk or hit me up on Twitter. Be good to each other; I'll see you in seven.