The following review comments heavily on the events of 358/2 Days. Beware of spoilers, for they’re coming. Kingdom Hearts 2 is a bigger, bolder sequel that goes all out in everything it does, delivering a more complex story and an action-focused combat system. It has its obvious share of faults – at this point, it wouldn’t be Kingdom Hearts without …

“And they say marriage is such hard work,” someone ironically concludes in Gone Girl, a novel that employs a typical thriller structure to deconstruct the institution of marriage and, through the conflicts of deeply troubled characters, expose the difficulties of maintaining a long-lasting relationship. On his fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne receives the news that his wife, Amy Dunne, has …

The Lovecraft Project: Howard Phillips Lovecraft is the father of cosmic horror – the genre constructed around the notion that we humans are just a tiny, insignificant part of the universe, which holds much bigger, ancient, more powerful beings. We are nothing compared to what lies out there, beyond our reach and understanding. The plan is to write a few …

AI: The Somnium Files is a fascinating adventure game whose convoluted plot is easily outshone by the quirky characters that inhabit its absurd world – which is a great thing, as the story by itself is a bit shallow and quite, quite repetitive. On a rainy day, a woman called Shoko Nadami is found dead on a merry-go-round with an …

Somehow managing to be even more insane and frenetic than the first one (which is saying a lot) Bayonetta 2 is a unique action game that, with its fascinating heroine and engaging combat system, excels at wowing us with increasingly insane set-pieces. The story begins when Bayonetta’s dear friend, Jeanne, is attacked and taken to hell by a demon that Bayonetta …

The Miniaturist is a historical novel disguised as a mystery one: its real aim is not to explore the enigma that the title character represents, but to investigate and criticize the Dutch society of the early 17th century. The protagonist is Petronella Oortman, or Nella, a young woman who marries a successful merchant she doesn’t know, Johannes Brandt, and goes …

Experimentation has been a common ethos in The Legend of Zelda series. Whether it’s by introducing the third dimension in Ocarina of Time, changing the structure of exploration in The Wind Waker, or shaping the gameplay according to the peculiarities of each console with Phantom Hourglass and Skyward Sword, Nintendo is always demonstrating a clear desire to evolve the franchise …

Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy is the sixth and hitherto last game in the series to feature the archaeologist Hershel Layton as the protagonist. It is, however, an uneven game that tries to offer more freedom to the player at the expense of pacing and narrative focus. The story begins when Layton receives a letter from an esteemed professor …

“I’m sure I can tell this story. I’m also sure no one will believe it. That’s fine with me. Telling it will be enough. My problem – and I’m sure many writers have it, not just newbies like me – is deciding where to start,” the narrator states in the first paragraph of Fairy Tale, a novel that actually starts …

“Most of the beautiful stories don’t have beautiful endings because destiny is stronger than love,” Arabic Wisdom. Sword of Destiny is the second volume of The Witcher saga, which began with The Last Wish, and continues here to present episodic tales packed with irony and social criticism while subverting fairy tales and developing the protagonist, the witcher Geralt of Rivia, …