Time and Eternity is an animated role-playing video game for the PlayStation 3. It uses 3D models for backgrounds and hand-drawn 2D sprites for characters and enemies. The story is centered on a princess, Toki, and her alter ego, Towa. The theme of "time" plays an important role, and is also utilized in the game's action-oriented battle system.
Playism is a Japanese independent video game publisher operated by Active Gaming Media. Playism started as a digital distribution platform for PC games in May 2011.
Ib is a 2012 adventure horror game developed and published by kouri for Windows. Players control the titular character from a top-down perspective trapped in an eldritch art museum, where they meet the characters Garry and Mary. Together, they attempt to escape the museum and return to the real world.
Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana is a 2016 action role-playing game developed by Nihon Falcom and published by NIS America. A part of the Ys series, it was first released in Japan by Falcom for the PlayStation Vita in July 2016, with later worldwide releases for PlayStation 4, Windows, Nintendo Switch, Amazon Luna, Stadia and PlayStation 5. An abridged version for Android and iOS, Ys VIII Mobile, is also scheduled for release. Ys VIII had sold over 500,000 copies by the end of 2018. The game was followed up by Ys IX: Monstrum Nox in 2019.
Octopath Traveler is a role-playing video game developed by Square Enix, in collaboration with Acquire. The game was released for the Nintendo Switch in July 2018, for Windows in June 2019, for Stadia in April 2020, for Xbox One in March 2021, and for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 in June 2024. It received generally favorable reviews, with praise for its presentation, music, and battle system, while its story received more mixed responses. The game had sold over 3 million copies worldwide by September 2022.
The Messenger is a 2018 action-platform game created by indie developer Sabotage Studio and published by Devolver Digital. The player controls the eponymous ninja, who is appointed by a great hero to deliver a scroll. As the Messenger explores levels and defeats enemies, he gains a currency called Time Shards used to purchase useful upgrades and abilities. The game begins as a linear adventure featuring elements of time travel, with the audio and visuals changing from an 8-bit style to 16-bit to represent the ninja's journey from the past to the future. In the second half, The Messenger becomes a Metroidvania-style game where the player revisits previous levels to find key items.
Ys IX: Monstrum Nox is a 2019 action role-playing game developed by Nihon Falcom. A part of the Ys series, it was released for the PlayStation 4 in Japan in September 2019 and worldwide by NIS America in February 2021. The game received additional releases for Windows, Nintendo Switch and Stadia in July 2021, and PlayStation 5 in May 2023. Ys IX received generally positive reviews from critics.
Persona 5 Strikers is an action role-playing game developed by Omega Force and P-Studio and published by Atlus. The game is a crossover between Koei Tecmo's Dynasty Warriors franchise and the Persona series developed by Atlus. The game's narrative is set half a year after the events of Persona 5, and follows Joker and the rest of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts as they investigate a series of mysterious events involving people across Japan.
In the video game industry, 2022 saw the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the industry, slowing hardware sales for most of the year as well as development delays for major titles. The industry continued its trend of acquisitions and mergers, highlighted by Microsoft announcing its plan to acquire Activision Blizzard for nearly $69 billion. The industry as a whole continued to deal with issues such as workplace harassment and discrimination, alongside crunch periods, leading to at least the quality assurance staff at three separate studios to vote to unionize.
Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth is a 2021 action role-playing video game developed by Team Ladybug and co-published by Playism and Why so serious? for Microsoft Windows. Versions for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X and Series S were also released. It is based on Ryo Mizuno's Record of Lodoss War series, taking place before the events of The Crown of the Covenant. Controlling the high elf Deedlit, who finds herself in a strange interconnected labyrinth filled with her past foes and companions, the game focuses on exploration and searching for items and power-ups in the vein of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, fighting bosses and minibosses. During gameplay, the player also locates two elemental spirits and swaps between each one.
Dark Devotion is a 2019 action role-playing game developed by Hibernian Workshop and published by The Arcade Crew. It was released for Windows, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch. Development started in 2015, with a successful Kickstarter campaign being launched two years later.
Dungeon & Fighter, sometimes abbreviated to DNF, is a series of video games created by Neople, a subsidiary of Nexon. While early games were only developed and published by Neople, Nexon began to publish other entries in the series as well as outsource the development to other companies.
RPGolf Legends is a 2022 role-playing video game video game developed by ArticNet and published by Kemco.
Jack Move is a role-playing video game developed by So Romantic and published by HypeTrain Digital in 2022 for macOS, Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
Octopath Traveler II is a role-playing video game developed by Square Enix and Acquire and published by Square Enix. It is a sequel to Octopath Traveler (2018), and the third entry in the series after the prequel mobile game Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent (2020), though it features a new cast of characters and setting separate from prior games. It was released worldwide in February 2023, for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and Windows; it is the first Octopath game released on PlayStation platforms. Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S versions were released in June 2024.
Ys X: Nordics is a 2023 action role-playing video game developed by Nihon Falcom. A part of the Ys series, it was released in Japan for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch in September 2023 and was released worldwide by NIS America, including a Windows port, in October 2024. Ys X: Nordics takes place chronologically between Ys II: Ancient Ys Vanished – The Final Chapter (1988) and Ys: Memories of Celceta (2012) and follows series protagonist Adol Christin who gets introduced to the seafaring warrior Karja Balta and the conflict between the Normans, her people, and monsters known as the Griegr.
Trinity Trigger is an action role-playing game published by FuRyu and developed by Three Rings for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Windows. The game was released in Japan on September 15, 2022, and in English by Xseed Games in mid-2023.
In the video game industry, 2025 will see the release of Nintendo's next-generation Nintendo Switch 2 console and many new video games.
Eternights is a 2023 dating sim action role-playing game developed and published by Studio Sai. The game was released digitally for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Windows on 12 September 2023. It was then released physically for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on 16 November 2023. It was later released for Nintendo Switch on 17 October 2024. It was finally released for Android and iOS on 20 November 2024 for Crunchyroll subscribers as part of the Crunchyroll Game Vault program.
