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‘Star Trek’ Journalists, Ranked

by admin August 22, 2025

The potential for what journalism looks like in Star Trek is a heady idea that’s been around as long as the series itself. What does reporting the news look like in utopia? What does it mean that the Federation has its own news networks, alongside a host of interstellar media organizations? What does freedom of information mean in a universe that has Starfleet? And yet, we’ve actually had very few characters appear in the series as fully dedicated journalists and reporters.

That changed a little with this week’s episode of Strange New Worlds, “What Is Starfleet?”, which, well… okay, yeah. It was pretty atrocious journalism. But Mynor Lüken’s Beto Ortegas joins a rarefied crew of professional media in Star Trek to have significant roles in the series, for better or worse. So speaking of for better, at least, let’s take a look at who’s got their press hat on tightest in the arena of boldly going.

9) Beto Ortegas

Again, you should probably just read our recap of “What Is Starfleet?” to see why Beto is ranked here. There’s certainly an argument to be made that not necessarily all documentary filmmakers are journalists, but it’s pretty clear that Beto was, at least, trying to engage in investigative journalism in documenting life aboard Enterprise and its reflection of the Federation’s role. Emphasis on the trying there, because what he did really, really sucked!

8) Gannet

On the one hand, Gannet probably shouldn’t be on here. Her job as a journalist was in fact deep cover for her real work with Starfleet Intelligence during the events of Enterprise‘s fourth season—work that got her accused by Archer of potentially being a member of the human-supremacist group Terra Prime. On the other, while ostensibly acting as a journalist, Gannet did both wiretap translator devices at a conference to record attending delegates and, through Mayweather, did ultimately engage in a sexual relationship with a source while purportedly working on a story about the NX-01. Slightly different realm of ethics for an intelligence operative, but definitely not ideal for her cover story in journalism.

7) Natima Lang

Better known for her appearance in the Deep Space Nine episode “Profit and Loss” as a then-current professor of political ethics on Cardassia (and in actuality a radical member of the dissident movement fleeing the wrath of the Cardassian high command), Lang was previously a correspondent for the Cardassian Communication Service during the occupation of Bajor, working directly on Terok Nor. Unfortunately, it’s during that assignment that she met and fell in love with Quark, who promptly used her press access codes to directly steal money from the Cardassian government.

Good for Quark (although he was obviously not stealing from the Cardassian occupation forces for altruistic reasons), but deeply embarrassing for Lang.

6) Neelix

Neelix briefly dabbles in the world of independent journalism early on in Voyager, when he attempts to kickstart a daily news program aboard the ship in “Investigations” called A Briefing With Neelix. Although Neelix does attempt to rigorously defend his hard pivot from general interest puff pieces to investigative journalism when he breaks the news that Tom Paris had purportedly been removed from the ship for collaborating with the Kazon, even when pressured by Tuvok to drop his investigation, ultimately he does end up collaborating with Captain Janeway and Tuvok to allow A Briefing With Neelix to be used as bait to catch the real collaborator, Michael Jonas. Can you be state media if the state is a single starship?

5) Sylvia Ront

Do you know how bad everyone below Sylvia Ront on this list has to be at journalism to not even get past a character with a handful of minutes of screentime who simply just reads the broadcast news?

4) Jake Sisko

On the one hand, Jake gets away with an awful lot of his mistakes as a reporter for the Federation News Service on account of being a literal teenager on the front lines of one of the deadliest interstellar conflicts ever seen by the Federation. Hell, he reports from aboard the Defiant during military engagements and even willingly stays behind on the Dominion-occupied DS9 to report the stories of what is really going on there when the Federation is forced to abandon the station, even if his stories are ultimately censored from distribution by the Dominion.

On the other hand, kid or otherwise, Jake is kind of just not that great at his job. For one of his first stories, about a potential non-aggression agreement between Bajor and the Dominion, Jake sources key contextual information—that Captain Sisko, and through him the Federation, is against the pact—from offhand conversations with his father, who was unaware that his son had joined the Federation News Service. Ben shouldn’t have been discussing Starfleet matters with his son, arguably, but Jake also should’ve reached out to his dad as commander of DS9 and Starfleet’s primary representative for comment officially, instead of simply going “the source is literally my dad.” Speaking of that, what he should’ve done was have the story assigned to another reporter, given his direct personal relationship to important figures involved in it!

3) Marci Collins

Marci Collins—the late ’90s 3 Action News reporter we see in Voyager‘s Y2K-era flashback “11:59″—doesn’t really get to do much other than be a consistent voice reporting on the events the audience is watching unfold in the episode, as we see the story of how one of Janeway’s ancestors was convinced to close their bookstore and make way for the construction of the Millennium Gate, the first self-sustaining civic environment, a predecessor to future interstellar colonies. But the fact that the simple act of being a journalist who does their job completely perfunctorily makes her one of the best Star Trek has put on screen speaks to the franchise’s peculiar history with the press.

We’re ranking her above Ront simply because she’s on screen a bit more.

2) Richter

A reporter for the Federation News Network who appears in Picard‘s very first episode, we as an audience are kind of meant to see Richter in part as a bit of an antagonist: she agrees to a very strict set of conditions in order to get access to interview the retired Jean-Luc, including the stipulation that she not ask questions about why he left Starfleet. She does so anyway, leading to Picard having an angry outburst on camera and storming off mid-interview, reflecting very badly on himself in the process.

So sure, boo, the episode frames it as our beloved hero is seemingly ambushed and made to feel bad by a “mean” reporter. But even putting aside whether or not Richter should’ve agreed to the interview on the basis of controlling what questions she can ask, she did ask a perfectly reasonable question that was of considerable public interest to a person who still wielded a great deal of political power. She wasn’t particularly combative with him; she just didn’t offer a softball interview either. Sometimes journalism is about the risk of making people uncomfortable by asking the right questions!

1) Victoria Nuzé

The reporter behind the exposé “Starfleet’s Shame” that uncovered the misconduct (misconstrued or otherwise) by Captain Freeman aboard the Cerritos during the events of Lower Decks season three’s climax, Nuzé is shown to be an incredibly rigorous reporter, especially in light of Captain Freeman’s panicked overreaction to her presence aboard the ship. Her extensive report is not only built on interviewing tons of sources, but also her getting around Freeman’s attempts to blacklist certain personnel from talking to the press (mainly Mariner) speaks to her diligence as a reporter.

Also, she’s literally named “Nuzé.” Talk about the perfect person for the job.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

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August 22, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Daedalic reveal story-driven Star Trek: Voyager strategy game in which you can betray everything Janeway ever stood for

by admin August 21, 2025

Oi oi, where my Janeway fans at? Where my Parisians and my Torresians? Can I get a whoop, whoop for Chakotay? A high five for Seven of Nine? Daedalic have announced Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown, a “story-based survival strategy game” adaptation of the loneliest of the classic Treks. Created by developers gameXcite, who I may yet forgive for capitalising their name that way, it asks you to “manage systems and crew, engage in diplomacy, navigate difficult moral decisions, and face the unknown”. It’s got a cutaway dollhouse spaceship and a HUD made up to resemble a Star Trek bridge display. Also, Ensign Harry Kim is here! He wants orders. Kim, your orders are to roll that trailer.

Watch on YouTube

Here’s some blurb from the Steam page:

Set aboard the U.S.S. Voyager and deep in the unexplored reaches of the Delta Quadrant, Star Trek Voyager: Across the Unknown invites players to relive–and redefine–the legendary starship’s journey back to earth. The game blends exploration, ship & resource management, roguelite elements, and meaningful choices. Experience crew dynamics and a fresh take on a beloved sci-fi universe — with what-if scenarios that open up new possibilities.

If you’re like me, you are presently being torn in half by the contrast between your apathy for yet another set of “roguelike elements”, and your enthusiasm for the what-if scenarios. Maybe an episode where Janeway becomes the Borg Queen? Maybe the Doctor gets to be captain? Maybe Neelix undergoes some kind of Garrus-style reinvention as a badass with hairy ears? All that may have actually happened, I can’t remember. Some more from the Steam page:

Take a risky approach or play it safe. Be diplomatic or let phasers do the talking. Research technologies that were shunned by the crew. But: Be prepared to deal with the consequences of your actions! The game features rogue-like elements, so in each run you will encounter different situations and even iconic characters might meet an early end if you don’t react accordingly.

There’s a base-building component: you’ll add facilities to Voyager’s innards as you go, in the manner popularised by XCOM: Enemy Unknown. I’m less sold on the tiddly, top-down spaceship movement within solar systems, which recalls Mass Effect at its dinkiest and makes the Delta Quadrant seem as strange and enveloping as Center Parcs. But I do like the sound of the away missions, in which you get to handpick a team of named faces and redshirts.

“A team with skills that complement each other might be best suited for the task, but it is up to you to call the shots,” the developers comment. “Minimize the risk for the team’s members, rush headlong into danger, or take a scientific approach – you decide.” All this and, of course, ship-to-ship combat, in which you’ll assign crews to stations and target individual systems.

There’s no release date. In case it wasn’t obvious already, my excitement about this game is at least 80% nostalgia spike, with another 5% consisting of furtive teenage memories of certain saucy fan fiction websites. Finally, we can make Paris and Chakotay bone. The developers don’t have much form for space sims: going by their website, they have hitherto specialised exclusively in Asterix comic adaptations. I guess a starship is a kind of Gallic village? Let’s finish off by watching the original Voyager intro again.

Check out our Gamescom 2025 event hub for all the PC game announcements and preview coverage from Cologne.

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August 21, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Star Fox man’s new game Wild Blue looks delightfully, deliriously like Star Fox

by admin August 21, 2025

So this is what Star Fox man Giles Goddard has been up to: making a game that looks just like Star Fox. It’s even got a team of anthropomorphic animals flying the spaceship-fighter-planes. It’s even got those boxy aiming windows. It’s even got the same bright-skied vibe. There’s no denying what Wild Blue’s inspiration was, and I’m A-OK with that.

We got our first look at Wild Blue’s gameplay yesterday in the Future Game Show, in a trailer that mixed comedic anime sections – presumably the game’s cutscenes – with actual footage of the aerial dogfighting game in action. We saw the little red and white spaceship-fighter-planes boost around cloudy levels and caves together, while barrel-rolling around lava-filled obstacles and laser-firing at enemy craft, then thanking each other for the assist in pop-up dialogue windows after. Sound familiar?

Even the trailer blurb underlines the game’s inspiration: “Wild Blue reimagines the classic on-rail adventures of the ’90s. Join Bowie Stray and the Blue Bombers as they soar through the skies on a mission to save the world in this action-packed, nostalgic journey!”

Our first look at Wild Blue gameplay. Be still my beating heart!Watch on YouTube

Curiously though, given the inspiration and the studio’s Nintendo heritage, Wild Blue is only in development for PC and Xbox Series X/S. It also doesn’t have a release date. These are things I’m following up on with the studio so I’ll let you know more if and when I do.

Wild Blue is the project Giles Goddard was teasing when I spoke to him back in 2019, about his time making the original Star Fox, and other games, at Nintendo in the 1990s. It’s a wonderful story (if I don’t say so myself) of two Westerners who found themselves lifted from the scruffy, home-based office of Argonaut in the UK, to Nintendo’s secretive and regimented HQ in Japan. Goddard would stay there for a number of years, working on projects like 1080 Snowboarding and the iconic pullable Mario face in Mario 64.

Look at those colours!

His tenure saw him work regularly with legendary Nintendo figures like Shigeru Miyamoto and Satoru Iwata, who he went on an American away-trip with, while the company researched the chip it would use for the N64 console. Goddard played an important role there, then, and the time he spent there rubbed off on him enormously, particularly the company’s famously high standards.

Goddard left Nintendo to make his own studio but worked with the Mario-maker as a second-party studio for years to come. It was only relatively recently his company rebranded to Chuhai Labs and stepped out of the Nintendo shadow, making games of its own, albeit those with a heavy Nintendo bent, such as Carve Snowboarding, an obvious successor to 1080 Snowboarding, and now of course Wild Blue.

“If you like Star Fox then you’ll like this,” Goddard told me back then, when he couldn’t say what the game was, and I remember the face I pulled as it dawned on me what he was saying. He must have noticed this because he quickly added: “It’s not a Star Fox game. But if you like Star Fox, I think you’ll like this.”

I think I will. I can’t wait.

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August 21, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

How the Casting of ‘Andor’ Brought More Powerful Women to ‘Star Wars’

by admin August 20, 2025

The extraordinary ensemble seen in Andor exemplified the best of Star Wars and brought more iconic heroes and villains to the franchise in two unforgettable seasons. Led by Genevieve O’Reilly, reprising her role as Mon Mothma, the women of the Disney+ series really carved out their legacies within the Lucasfilm universe.

In a behind-the-scenes featurette for Andor, casting directors Nina Gold and Martin Ware discussed discovering the immense talents of the series’ key leading ladies. Elizabeth Dulau was an utter revelation as Kleya Marki, a season two standout as Luthen Rael’s right-hand spymaster. Gold described their search for Kleya: “Obviously, Stellan Skarsgård is completely a genius. We needed to find someone to play Kleya, who [while] a young woman, could match him in authority and intensity and could go toe-to-toe with him in all situations, and [Dulau] really did that.” We’d have to agree with the sentiment because even when Kleya was no longer sharing moments with Skarsgård’s Luthen, the actress shone in some all-timer scenes, in particular that fateful hospital mission.

Ware knew that finding an equal to match Skarsgård was key for their storyline’s eventual conclusion. “With Stellan, because he kind of plays two parts in a way for quite a lot of the show, the gallery owner requires quite a lot of lightness of touch, and then he’s got the darker side, so it was just finding…”

Gold jumped in, “…Finding someone who could do that journey with him. She really had this inner command and real authority.” And it’s one fans would love to see again if Gilroy ever revisits Andor‘s surviving characters.

An Imperial baddie who we want to see get a bigger cinematic comeuppance is Denise Gough’s Dedra Mero, the overachieving Empire social climber. Gold described the cutthroat villain as an “evil mastermind.” Gough was cast after the casting directors saw her and co-star Kyle Soller on stage. “This was a real amazing showcase for their brilliance on screen. Both of their characters have really gone through a full, really big journey to go from where they started, as she was a very impenetrable, authoritarian boss.”

Ware complimented Gough’s season two transformation. “In season two, Dedra’s character, we see her in a domestic setting. We see her at home. We see her dealing with Syril’s mum. And loving Syril in her own very strange, peculiar way.” But of course her ambition leads her to abandon the simple fascist family life for bigger things that blow up in her face.

Gold and Ware had their work cut out for them insofar as what Gilroy wanted for Cassian’s romantic partner, Bix. Thankfully they found it all with Adria Arjona. “[As] soon as she did her first five words of her first audition, it suddenly became really obvious that it must be her.”

Gold explained that Bix needed to be more than just a love interest and demonstrate that she too was a capable fighter within the rebellion, which Arjona easily handled. “She had such an incredible mix of the other kind of strength and resilience of Bix and the vulnerability and willingness to go through this immense journey that Bix has to go through. She was one of the few people who we were able to get in the room to do a chemistry test with Diego [Luna], and again that just cemented it very clearly that they were really meant to be playing these parts opposite each other.” And we agree that Arjona and Luna’s performances gave Andor its heart as well as the hope the show’s lead sacrificed so much for.

According to Ware, the casting process was shaped by both the script and Andor‘s creator. “The script alone is so detailed and precise about character and intention that it’s quite easy for us to start thinking about brilliant actors to bring them to life. But then Tony Gilroy also would love to talk about other thoughts he had on the characters before we headed out there making lists and auditioning actors.”

Gold added that Gilroy’s input along the way really brought out what the galaxy needed in its heroes and villains to serve the incredible overarching story Andor brought to our screens. “It was fascinating because Tony’s interest in character is so detailed and wonderful, and he’s very flexible in his thinking,” Gold said. “When he sees something in an actor that’s not necessarily the thing that he’d originally thought, he’s quite happy to make some changes in his thought process if it seems the right thing to do. And also the writing is so appealing to actors because it is so interesting and good.”

The trio don’t even round out the rest of the supremely talented actresses showcased in Andor, but the galaxy is a better place because of them, that’s for sure. Watch the clip below!

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August 20, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

‘Superman’ and ‘Star Wars’ Actor Terence Stamp Dies at Age 87

by admin August 18, 2025

English actor Terence Stamp, seen across a variety of film and TV over the decades, has passed away at 87 years old.

In a statement to Reuters, the actor’s family revealed he passed on Sunday morning. Born July 22, 1938, he made his film debut with the 1962 adaptation of Herman Melville’s Billy Budd as the title character. The role earned him an Academy Award nomination and recognition that allowed him to star in films like 1965’s The Collector and 1967’s Poor Cow.

Genre-wise, Terence Stamp famously played General Zod in the first two Superman movies, and Chancellor Valorum in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Other notable roles include Stick in 2005’s Elektra, Bud Chantilas in Red Planet, and Ramsley in Disney’s 2003 Haunted Mansion. Stamp would later return to DC for Smallville (as Jor-El) and Static Shock (Professor Menace), and voiced the Prophet of Truth in Halo 3 and Mankar Camoran in Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. He was also a potential James Bond candidate after Sean Connery retired from the role, which ended up not working out. He also appeared in Tim Burton’s Big Eyes and Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.

More recently, Stamp could be seen in Netflix’s Murder Mystery, HBO’s His Dark Materials series and Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho. Archival audio of his performance as Mankar was also used for the recent Oblivion remaster.

In its statement, Stamp’s family noted his “extraordinary body of work, both as an actor and as a writer that will continue to touch and inspire people for years to come.”

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August 18, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Why is everyone playing Star Wars Battlefront 2?

by admin June 23, 2025

On Sunday, Star Wars Battlefront 2, a nearly eight-year-old game, hit a peak concurrent player count of more than 35,000 players on Steam. That’s just part of the story of renewed interest in Electronic Arts and DICE’s Star Wars shooter, which has become a must-play for fans of George Lucas’ space saga — and a rallying cry for Battlefront fans who are desperate for a Star Wars Battlefront 3.

How did Star Wars Battlefront 2 become a 2025 hit on Steam, some five years after its final update? You can thank a big year for Star Wars, led by the popularity of Andor and the return of Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith to movie theaters for that film’s 20th anniversary, in part. Major Star Wars-themed events in Fortnite and mobile hit Monopoly Go may have also given Battlefront 2 a lift.

Renewed interest in Star Wars Battlefront 2 started to grow in early May, right around Star Wars Day (aka May the Fourth), which landed right in the middle of season 2 of Andor. Player counts quintupled, according to data from SteamCharts, as daily peak concurrents went from about a thousand players to 5,000.

Interest grew as Revenge of the Sith returned to movie theaters on May 19, and as longtime Battlefront 2 players rallied supporters to the cause. They wanted to break the game’s previous Steam concurrents record — 10,345 back in January 2021 — to hopefully capture the attention of publisher EA. Player counts crested as the makers of Kyber, a Battlefront 2 dedicated server and community mod manager service, recruited Star Wars fans for a “resurgence” event on May 24.

Interest begat interest, and as former Battlefront game developers began posting to social media to recognize the Battlefront 2 craze.

“As a former developer of SWBF2 it’s amazing to see old and new players check out the game,” wrote Manuel S. Llanes, design director on Battlefront 2 in a post on Reddit. “While us devs are a bit scattered across the galaxy I am sure I can speak for all the rebels and say that it means a lot.”

This weekend, Star Wars Battlefront 2 reached an all-time peak 35,321 on Steam. And according to research firm Circana, the game has appeared in the top 15 most-played PlayStation and Xbox games, based on player engagement, over the past month. A Death Star-sized discount from publisher EA (and the game’s availability on subscription service EA Play) probably helped; Star Wars Battlefront 2’s Celebration Edition is now just $3.99 on Steam, until July 10.

What’s more, Battlefront fans have a friend in multi-year NBA All-Star Kyrie Irving, who streamed Battlefront 2 on Twitch this weekend. “I love this game,” Irving said. “I want them to make Battlefront 3 already, bro.”

Whether all of this interest will translate into a third Star Wars Battlefront from EA remains to be seen, but it seems unlikely to happen any time soon. EA and DICE are all-in on the next Battlefield game, and reportedly focusing on a small handful of franchises: Battlefield, The Sims, Skate, and Apex Legends. That’s in addition to the already in-development Iron Man game at Motive, Respawn’s third Star Wars Jedi game, and the EA Sports lineup.

But maybe there’s a chance in the long run. Star Wars Battlefront 2 has evolved, after all, from a hated pay-to-win, microtransaction-infested pariah to a fondly remembered shooter. So anything is possible.

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June 23, 2025 0 comments

Red Dead Redemption star teases he "cannot wait" for us to know about a big announcement that's coming "before Friday"

Game Reviews

Red Dead Redemption star says he “possibly misled some people” but insists “exciting” news is still on the way

by admin June 21, 2025

Red Dead Redemption 2 actor said he “possibly misled some people” when he teased a Red Dead Redemption-related announcement was on the way.

Last week, John Marston himself – or, at least, the actor who brings him to life, Rob Wiethoff – was very excited indeed about an upcoming announcement, stressing that he was particularly excited as he livestreamed “this game”, the original Red Dead Redemption. His tease came just days after we heard another rumour that Red Dead Redemption 2 may be getting a next-gen update alongside a Nintendo Switch 2 port, and Roger Clark – who portrays Red Dead 2’s Arthur Morgan – backed up Wiethoff’s tease.

Now, however, Wiethoff has walked back his comments, reminding fans that he “do[es] not make announcements for Rockstar Games”, yet still insists he has something exciting to tell us.

Gym Buddy with Rob Wiethoff.Watch on YouTube

“There’s one more thing I wanna say,” Wiethoff told his viewers on YouTube as he introduced a livestreamed gym buddy session on YouTube. “I don’t know how to say this exactly, I’ll just say the one thing, uh, that I need to say, and I think all of you recognise this and know this, anyway.

“I do have something I’m really excited about. I truly am. And I think you will be, too, I really do think so. But I possibly, uh, misled some people when I announced that I have something to announce that I can’t talk about right now. Just please recognise – and I know that you know this – but let me remind you, I guess: I do not make announcements for Rockstar Games. We all know that. I’m just reminding you. I do not make announcements for Rockstar Games. Rockstar Games makes announcements for Rockstar Games, and they don’t use me to do that. So please know that.

“And again, I still think that, uh, a lot of you are going to be really excited about this news. Absolutely. Also, I can’t share it with you yet. And I’m so sorry,” he finished. “But I truly am that excited. That’s all I’m gonna say about that right now.”

Shortly thereafter, fans noticed a main cast reunion was scheduled for the National Gaming Expo in Tampa, Florida, from 8th-10th August, leading some to think this could be the “announcement” he was excited about (thanks, Push Square). The line-up for that was announced several weeks back, though, which doesn’t quite track with Wiethoff’s timeline.

Whatever it is, the announcement has seemingly been delayed. Going by Wiethoff’s original tease, we should’ve finally found out by yesterday, 20th June. However, when asked by a fan today, 21st June, for an update, he replied: “It’s coming. Sorry for the delay. Ha! There are a lot of moving parts. We want to get this right. I think it will be clear why once we’re able to say what’s going on.

“I can assure you, I want to tell you as soon as possible. Ha! I love it. Let’s goooooooo!”

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June 21, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Fantasy Life i might be the star of the Switch 2 launch, providing both the Animal Crossing and RPG experience it needs

by admin June 21, 2025

What a strange and wonderful game. It took me about four hours to pin down what Fantasy Life is, because by turns it’s Animal Crossing and then it’s a role-playing game, and then it’s something else. The form of the game shifts and shimmies during the opening hours as a constant stream of new ideas are introduced, and it’s only as they begin to settle that you begin to appreciate what an intoxicating blend it can be.

Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time

Officially , Fantasy Life i is a life sim RPG, which broadly means – and you’ll know this if you’ve played Fantasy Life on 3DS of course – that you can play many roles within the game, many Lives, as they’re known. You can be a carpenter, a blacksmith, a mercenary, a paladin, an alchemist, a spellcaster, a tailor and so on. There are many Lives to choose from. But the crux of this is you don’t have to choose only one of them. If you want, you can be them all.

You can be out adventuring as a mercenary, wielding a big sword and wearing your mercenary kit, then switch instantly to being a woodcutter the moment you approach and interact with a choppable tree. It’s similar when approaching a workbench, as your carpentry Life takes over and woodworking skills kick in. The same is true of every Life skill you learn: once you’ve got them – and there’s a little tutorial to-and-fro involved in getting them (which you can skip if you know what you’re doing) – they will be available wherever you go, whenever you need them. It’s a surprisingly liberating system.

There is cloying sweetness to the game, which isn’t entirely unwelcome, and there are some genuinely funny jokes and characters to meet. There’s a strong sense of tongue-in-cheek running through it.Watch on YouTube

Why would you want so many Lives, though? Firstly because the game encourages you to have them, either through main quests or villager-given quests on the island, but also because being a woodcutter and being able to source your own wood for your carpentry Life makes sense, just as mining your own ore as a blacksmith makes sense too. But Fantasy Life i takes this a step further, in terms of motivating you, by also being a go-out-and-adventure kind of role-playing game, meaning you’re not always stuck in town, wandering around.

The story is convoluted but it involves travelling backwards and forwards in time to an island that’s either resplendent and filled with life, or destroyed, depending on whether you’re in the past or the present. A thousand years ago, the island was vibrant and populated by an eccentric cast of villagers, who you’ll slowly get to know – and some are genuinely very amusing – whereas in the present, there’s no one around. It’s in these past and present futures where you’ll build a home and make a life, but that’s not all there is to Fantasy Life i.

Well I don’t want to toot my own horn but it’s true, I do. | Image credit: Eurogamer / Level 5

There is a wider game to explore that goes as far as other worlds, and it’s one of these, Ginormosia, that you’ll keep coming back to. This place is massive and much more closely resembles the kind of adventuring land you find in a typical action-based RPG (and which will be the basis of the roguelike mode being developed for the game, by the way). It’s the sort of place with zoned biomes and packs of enemies that gradually increase in strength, and even towers and shrines to unlock that do similar things as in the recent Zelda games – reveal nearby locations, or offer puzzles.

In Ginormosia, your combat skills will be of particular use, and you’ll obviously benefit more heavily from whatever better-quality armour and equipment you’ve made or acquired. But there’s no way you can tackle Ginormosia in one go: it will take several nibbles over the course of the game, as each time you go away and level-up a bit, and equip-up a bit, and then return. This is where Fantasy Life i finally starts to come into view, in how it presents us with two game experiences stretched across our home life and our adventuring life, that compliment each other.

For instance, combat prowess: you can level up in your chosen Life while out adventuring, but you can’t increase your rank without doing jobs for the guild master, who’s back in town. And it’s only by increasing your rank that you can access more powerful skills on your skill tree, and unlock things like charged attacks, better combos, and various passive abilities, all of which make you more deadly or hardy, depending on what you want to do. It’s a similar deal for crafting abilities – yes they have skill trees too. So you see that you might want better combat abilities and equipment for your adventures, but in order to get them you’ll have to pursue several different Life paths at home first.

This is the carpentry mini-game. You have to move between the three stations and press the buttons prompted as fast as you can. It’s simple but it’s fun.

That might sound laborious but there’s an innate joy involved in pursuing them. Take carpentry for example. A mini-game springs into life when you want to make something that involves pressing button prompts as fast as you can in order to successfully craft. It’s a little more complex than that but suffice to say that it’s energetic and fun, which aren’t words I typically associate with crafting systems in games. Even chopping trees or mining ore are enjoyable, using ideas like ‘find the sweet spot’ to alleviate the boredom, whereby if you hit a sweet spot, you can greatly increase the speed you take a node down. Couple this with powerful buffs from food or potions and you can smash through resource nodes in seconds. And now you probably want to learn alchemy in order to achieve this. Do you see how it goes? One thing encourages another.

It’s as you start to nose through the skill trees in the games and overlap the Lives you’re living that Fantasy Life i really gets a hold of you, and because it’s so broad, it manages to satisfy a lot of game urges in one. Do you want to build and decorate a home like you do in Animal Crossing? That kind of peaceful island life exists here. Do you also want the thrill of adventure and story and combat?

That kind of experience exists here too. It’s a clever blend and a clever studio that can knit them together and make them work. There’s much more to Fantasy Life i than meets the eye and, for me, it’s one of the stars of the Switch 2 launch.

A copy of Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time was provided by Level-5.

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June 21, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Honkai: Star Rail Version 3.4 will finally introduce those Fate/stay night collab characters you’ve been hearing about

by admin June 20, 2025

The big Honkai: Star Rail version 3.4 livestream took place earlier today, right on schedule. As with every major new iteration of the incredibly popular HoYoverse game, the main thing people have been looking forward to has been, of course, the new characters. The livestream did, indeed, show off the new characters that will be arriving in the free-to-play RPG soon.

The big news from the program is, of course, the imminent arrival of the Fate/stay night collab event. A collaboration between Honkai: Star Rail and genre-defining fantasy visual novel Fate/stay night was first announced in August of last year, at the same time as the latter received its long-overdue official English localisation and modern remaster. It was apparent at the time that the Star Rail crossover was going to be in the oven for a while longer; and indeed, 10 months down the line, the wait is almost over.

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New characters introduced in Version 3.4 will include Fate series favourites Saber (as a 5-Star Wind/Destruction character who’ll be receiving her own banner in the gacha) and Archer (a 5-Star Quantum/Hunt character who will be claimable for free by everyone who logs into HSR during the collaboration). Both are expected to be available for longer than is usual in HSR, with the collab confirmed as lasting from Version 3.4 right through to the end of Version 3.6 (expected circa November of this year).

Additionally, Phainon — who’s been a major NPC since Version 3.0 launched early this year and was the first new character you met on Amphoreus — will finally be added as a playable unit, an honour already granted to several of his fellow Chrysos Heirs over the past few months. He’ll also be a 5-Star character, armed with a Physical/Destruction kit. Since the Fate collab characters exist outside of the usual banner cycle, all three new characters will be releasing in Phase 1.

Not only that, but the version will feature a grand total of six rerun banners, with Tribbie, Sunday, and Sparkle making a limited-time return to the gacha in Phase 1, while Firefly, Jingliu, and Blade all return during Phase 2. That means the latter half of this update will be a rare occasion when HSR receives no new characters, but considering how packed that line-up already is, I don’t think it’s exactly fair to complain.

And last but not least, everyone’s favourite Stellaron Hunters are getting some love in V3.4, with enhancements coming to the battle mechanics and Eidolon effects for Kafka, Silver Wolf, and Blade, as well as a new alternative outfit for Firefly. Jingliu will also be getting a kit enhancement of her own, which hopefully doesn’t mean this troubled Luofu loyalist is joining Elio’s morally-gray team of mercenaries now… although actually that could be rather cool.

Honkai: Star Rail 3.4 is scheduled to go live on July 2nd, with its changeover to the second banner phase expected on July 23rd. You can watch the whole special program livestream on the VOD below:

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Back in May, Honkai: Star Rail’s version 3.3 update introduced Hyacine to the game, and brought back The Herta for the first time as part of its first phase. The banner’s second phase, on the other hand, kicked off just last week and brought new character – Cipher – to the game, alongside a few returning favourites.

It also featured the controversial recasting of the English-language voice actors for the playable protagonists, the female and male Trailblazers (canonically named Stelle and Caelus). This followed the actors’ participation in solidarity action with SAG-AFTRA, who recently suspended their long-running video game voice actor strike after the arrangement of a tentative agreement with several major studios. The status of several other characters whose actors have been participating in the action — which includes two other main characters, Dan Heng and Himeko — remain unclear.

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June 20, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

A New ‘Star Trek’ Comic Will Bring Captain Kirk Back to Life

by admin June 18, 2025

Somehow, Captain Kirk returned. Wrong sci-fi franchise for that meme, but it’s true. IDW Publishing has just announced Star Trek: The Last Starship as a new addition to its line of Trek comics, and it’ll focus on a certain Starfleet hero who’s been dead since the big-screen events of 1994’s Star Trek: Generations.

How is this possible? Well, beyond the long-held notion that anything is possible in sci-fi, a notion that also applies to comic books, the Hollywood Reporter—which was the first to announce the news—says only that he’ll be “mysteriously resurrected.” So that must be a part of the story, written by Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing (whose previous collaborations include IDW’s Eisner-nominated Star Trek series, which launched in 2022) with art by Adrián Bonilla.

Speaking to THR, Lanzing promised Star Trek: The Last Starship will feature “a new crew, a new era, and a completely different tone” compared to other Star Trek works, and noted that even Trek newbies will be able to dive right into its world.

According to the trade, “the series takes place during the Burn, a galaxy-wide disaster which caused the destruction of every active warp core, killing trillions and shattering the peace and stability the United Federation of Planets provided for seven centuries. Facing a true wild west in space, a mysteriously resurrected Kirk will need to lead a new crew and ship in a seemingly impossible effort to uphold Starfleet’s mission of unity across the cosmos.”

Fans of Star Trek: Discovery will recall the show’s far-far-future third season investigated what caused the Burn, but this will be the first story taking place during the immediate aftermath the disaster itself. The distinctive visage of William Shatner will obviously provide the model for The Last Starship‘s Kirk, and THR reports the comic—debuting September 24—will become IDW’s new flagship Trek title, along with new limited series based around Strange New Worlds and Voyager.

Are you excited for Captain Kirk’s return? Do you prefer your Trek in live-action, animation, or comics, or do you consume a combination of all three? Head to THR to check out first looks at the cover variants.

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June 18, 2025 0 comments