The Legend of Dragoon is a role-playing video game developed by Japan Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation in 1999 in Japan, 2000 in North America, and 2001 in Europe. Set in a high fantasy fictional world called Endiness, the game follows a group of warriors led by the protagonist, Dart, as they attempt to stop the destruction of the world. The player controls a party of 3D character models through pre-rendered, linear environments. Combat uses a combination of turn-based mechanics and real-time commands. Notably, the game includes a quick time event called "addition" during each attack, requiring the player to press a button when two squares converge.
Children of Mana is a 2006 action role-playing game for the Nintendo DS handheld console. It was developed by Square Enix and Nex Entertainment, and published by Square Enix and Nintendo. It is the sixth game of the Mana series—following 2003's Sword of Mana—and the first entry in the World of Mana subseries. Set in a high fantasy universe, Children of Mana follows one of four young heroes as they combat an invasion of monsters and learn about the cataclysmic event that killed their families.
Car Battler Joe is a 2001 vehicular combat game developed by Ancient and published by Natsume Inc. for the Game Boy Advance. The game involves using cars to fight opponents in action-styled battles, with role-playing video game game mechanics. It combined vehicular combat game with action role-playing elements in a similar manner to Autoduel from 1985.
The Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles video game series consists of Crystal Chronicles, a spin-off of the main Final Fantasy series, its sequels My Life as a King and My Life as a Darklord, and their spin-offs, Ring of Fates, Echoes of Time and The Crystal Bearers. Crystal Chronicles, Ring of Fates, and Echoes of Time have had released soundtrack albums to date, and Crystal Chronicles and Ring of Fates each have an associated single. Kumi Tanioka is the main composer for the series, having composed the three released soundtracks as well as the music for My Life as a King and My Life as a Darklord. Hidenori Iwasaki is filling that role for The Crystal Bearers. Nobuo Uematsu, the main composer for the regular Final Fantasy series, contributed one track to the Ring of Fates soundtrack. Yae and Donna Burke sang the Japanese and English versions of the theme song for Crystal Chronicles, respectively, while Aiko sang the theme song for Ring of Fates.
Riot Games, Inc. is an American video game developer, publisher, and esports tournament organizer based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in September 2006 by Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill to develop League of Legends and went on to develop several spin-off games and the unrelated first-person shooter game Valorant. In 2011, Riot Games was acquired by Chinese conglomerate Tencent. Its publishing arm, Riot Forge, oversaw the production of League of Legends spin-offs by other developers, until its shut down in January 2024. The company worked with Fortiche to release Arcane, a television series based on the League of Legends universe.
Avernum: Escape from the Pit is a role-playing video game developed by Spiderweb Software. It is the first game in the remade Avernum First Trilogy and the second ground-up rewrite of Exile: Escape from the Pit, released in 1995. The game was re-released as a graphics and game engine update, and it addressed Avernum incompatibilities with newer versions of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion and newer.
The music for the 2013 action role-playing game Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, developed and published by Square Enix, was composed by Masashi Hamauzu, Naoshi Mizuta, and Mitsuto Suzuki. Hamauzu was the leader composer for XIII and XIII-2, and Mizuta and Suzuki previously composed music for XIII-2. Musicians who had previously worked with the composers on XIII-2 and The 3rd Birthday worked on the project in Japan, while the main soundtrack was performed and recorded in Boston by the Video Game Orchestra, conducted by Shota Nakama. Along with including more percussion and ethnic elements, the soundtrack used "Blinded by Light", the main theme for main character Lightning, as a leitmotif. Unlike the previous XIII games, the soundtrack did not include a theme song, as the composers felt it would detract from the emotional impact of the ending.
Fragments of Him is a video game developed and published by Sassybot and released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox One on 3 May 2016 and 1 June 2016, respectively. The PlayStation 4 version was released on 26 September 2017.
Dark Scavenger is a point-and-click adventure role-playing game video game published and developed by Canadian indie studio Psydra Games. It was released for PC and Steam on July 12, 2012, and May 16, 2014, respectfully.
Solstice is a fantasy, mystery visual novel developed by the Polish indie studio MoaCube and released for Windows and MacOS on February 11, 2016. Set in a city in a remote frozen region that is completely isolated from the world, it revolves around an investigation into the disappearance of an archaeologist. The game received polarized reviews from critics, who praised its art and music, but had mixed opinions of its story.
Convergence: A League of Legends Story is a 2023 Metroidvania video game developed by Double Stallion and published by Riot Forge. Players control an inventor who can manipulate time. It is a spinoff of League of Legends and was released for Windows, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch.
Harvestella is a 2022 farm life sim role-playing video game developed by Live Wire and published by Square Enix. It was released for the Nintendo Switch and Windows on November 4. It has been compared to Final Fantasy and Rune Factory, and revolves around farming crops while attempting to save the world from the sudden appearance of a deadly magical plague known as Quietus.
Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengance of the Slayer is a first-person shooter video game developed by Tendershoot and published by No More Robots on Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on June 1, 2023. It is a followup to the 90s web simulation video game, Hypnospace Outlaw, and was revealed alongside the sequel to Hypnospace Outlaw, Dreamsettler. In the universe of these games, Slayers X is a game made by the fictional character Zane Lofton, who put himself in the role of the protagonist of Slayers X.
Crowns and Pawns: Kingdom of Deceit is an adventure video game developed by Tag of Joy and published by Thunderful Publishing. Players investigate a mystery involving Lithuanian history.
Mask of the Rose is a visual novel developed by Failbetter Games and is set in the same universe as Fallen London, Sunless Sea, and Sunless Skies. It has elements of detective games and dating sims. Mask of the Rose was released in June 2023 for Linux, macOS, Switch, and Windows.
Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles is a detective visual novel adventure game developed by WorkJam and published by Arc System Works in Japan and Aksys Games in the United States. It is part of the Jake Hunter series of detective games, and the first to be localized in the West. It was released on July 19, 2007 in Japan, and June 11, 2008 in the United States for Nintendo DS. Marking the series' 20th anniversary, it includes remakes of the series' first five games as well as an additional case. Unlike its Japanese version, the initial Western version of the game lacked three of the cases, and was widely criticized for its poor localization. It was re-released on May 26, 2009 as Jake Hunter Detective Story: Memories of the Past, also for Nintendo DS, which received more positive reviews for its completely new translation and inclusion of the game's full content.
Manor Lords is a medieval city-builder and real-time tactics video game developed by Greg Styczeń from Slavic Magic and published by Hooded Horse. The most anticipated game on Steam upon release, with over three million wishlists, it released into early access on 26 April 2024.
The Iron Oath is a 2023 tactical role-playing video game developed by Curious Panda Games and published by Humble Games. Players manage a mercenary company, complete quests, engage in turn-based combat, and can optionally follow a revenge-themed main story. It entered early access in 2022 and is available for Windows and macOS.
Riot Forge was a video game publishing label created by Riot Games, developers of the MOBA video game League of Legends. Its purpose was to fund various critically-acclaimed indie game studios to create spin-off games in the fictional universe of Runeterra, generally centered around one or more of the series' playable characters, or Champions. The label was initially created in 2019, and a number of games were published under it with generally positive critical reception. Riot Forge was shut down five years later in January 2024, during the 2023–2024 video game industry layoffs prompted by a post-COVID-19 pandemic drop in video game demand. The shutdown of Riot Forge was bemoaned by critics, who praised the publishing label for supporting indie developers and allowing non-competitive players to become immersed in the series' lore. They blamed a lack of marketing or attention from the company for apparent poor sales of the games, noting that many players had no idea the spin-offs even existed.
