Fresh Look: An Ode to BioWare and the RPG Worlds It Created
With BioWare closing after more than three decades, Fresh Look’s Neal Sayatovich looks back at the legendary RPG studio’s legacy, from Baldur’s Gate and Jade Empire to Dragon Age and Mass Effect while reflecting on its impact on gaming and the industry’s continuing loss of talented developers.
Fresh Look: Sekaicon 2026 Brings Big Fandom Fun to Small-Town Ohio
Fresh Look columnist Neal Sayatovich returns to Sekaicon in Newark, Ohio, for a weekend of colorful cosplay, anime voice actors, creative vendors and friendly foam sword combat, discovering how much fun a growing regional convention can pack into one weekend.
Fresh Look: Against the Storm Is Building Its Way to the Tabletop
Fresh Look’s Neal Sayatovich takes a break from controller problems and a broken DLC to look ahead to Against the Storm: The Board Game, a tabletop adaptation of one of his favorite roguelite city builders, coming soon to a game room near you.
Fresh Look: Dark Deity 2 Scratches That Classic Fire Emblem Itch
Fresh Look columnist Neal Sayatovich this week writes about the turn-based tactical RPG Dark Deity 2, which is inspired by the Fire Emblem series. Players get to command twenty heroes and fight in challenging battles.
Fresh Look: Wishing For a Galaxy Far, Far Away From Unhelpful Chatbots
Fresh Look’s Neal Sayatovich was really looking forward to Star Wars: Zero Company. But a buggy experience on the PlayStation 5 combined with an AI chatbot from the dark side of the Force has left him wondering whether this tactical trip to a galaxy far, far away needed more time in hyperspace.
Fresh Look: Game Clique Turns Gaming Talk Into a Really Great Show
Colin Flanigan is the guest columnist this week for Fresh Look, and he writes about the Game Clique podcast. The Game Clique podcast features smart people gathered together, laughing, debating and celebrating gaming.
Fresh Look: Pokemon Makes Gaming on the Go Feel Magical
After a whirlwind trip left him jet-lagged, Fresh Look’s Neal Sayatovich found comfort in portable gaming, revisiting Pokemon Legends: Arceus and Pokemon Legends: Z-A while remembering why the Legends formula works so well on the go.
Fresh Look: Palworld 1.0 Makes Monster Catching Better Than Ever
Fresh Look’s Neal Sayatovich returns to Palworld for its 1.0 release and finds new Pals, helpful quality-of-life upgrades, better base management and plenty of chaotic monster-catching fun waiting inside Pocketpair’s full release.
Fresh Look: AAA Gaming Is Following the Hollywood Blockbuster Playbook
As budgets climb and development cycles stretch, Fresh Look’s Neal Sayatovich worries that AAA gaming is adopting Hollywood’s safest habits with fewer enormous bets on new projects and less room for unusual ideas that might become tomorrow’s cult classics.
Fresh Look: EA’s Latest Sports Ad Plan Raises Bigger Questions
Fresh Look’s Neal Sayatovich takes a look at EA’s new advertising platform and argues that even if the company says the changes are aimed at sports titles, the bigger concern is what more in-game ads could mean for players and across the industry.