Rising Stars – Gaming Blogger Spotlight #1

These days gamers tend to consume video game reviews, information, and related gaming entertainment in video format on sites like Youtube or Twitch, but we still have an enthusiastic editorial gaming community here on WordPress!

I wanted to make it easier for gaming writers to connect with the gaming blogger community, so I’m starting a little series called “Rising Stars” where veteran bloggers and readers alike can discover and welcome new or relatively unknown gaming writers into the community. I hope this will help to encourage and support individuals as well as maintain the health of the gaming blogger community overall.

Let’s take a look at this week’s first five Rising Stars!

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Reminder: Video Game Literary Classics 101 Collab entries due soon!

For those still planning to participate in the Video Game Literary Classics 101 community collab, please try to get your posts in by Monday. I have been commenting on each entry that pingbacks to the original collab post, so if you did not receive a comment from me, please assume I missed it and poke me again. I just got back from a two week vacation and hopefully none slipped through the cracks while I was checking on things from mobile.

If you are a new gaming blogger community member wanting to participate or someone needing a little more time, please let me know ASAP. I’ll be working on the final collab post for a week or two so a little late is totally doable. (Already heard from one or two about late entry.)

Entries so far have been fabulous and I’m looking forward to putting together the final “syllabus”!

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Cosmic Star Heroine Review (Switch) – a modern, 16-bit, scifi JRPG delight

Cosmic Star Heroine offers a wealth of content considering its base cost. This scifi romp is a skillfully crafted, complete package of JRPG-style goodness that remains faithful to its 16-bit roots, and it has a great sense of humor to boot! With the polish of Octopath Traveler and gameplay similar to that of Chrono Trigger, if you liked either of those titles and you love scifi, then Cosmic Star Heroine is a game you will doubtless want to add to your collection.

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Sea King Mini-Review (Switch)

Sea King is a no-frills party game that released on the Nintendo Switch this past week. Featuring top down cannon fire combat, up to four players can battle on the high seas in pirate ships to their heart’s content. Households with little buccaneer or pirate fans in the family may find a affordable, good fit with Sea King.

There are a variety of ship designs to choose from and exactly a dozen different game modes available, including death match, capture the flag, and battle royale. While Sea King is highly unlikely to hold the interest of veteran gamers for long due to its repetitive simplicity, somewhat unintuitive aiming controls, and lack of content beyond party modes, Sea King could still be an acceptable choice for a family party game or a local multiplayer title that young gamers can easily pick up and play with friends on the couch.

Note: Game key kindly provided by the publisher.

Thank you for reading!

Support Backlog Crusader on Patreon – $1 a month is less than what’s lost below your sofa cushions! Plus you get Discord access!




Cattails Review (Switch) – cute, charming, and full of heart

Cattails is a charming exploration game full of cute pixel cats and winsome personality! Many describe it as “Stardew Valley but with cats” and I would agree to a certain extent– mainly in the environmental design, the sacred temple (similar to the community center), and the wake-sleep, daily gameplay loop. Though a bit rough around the edges with room to grow, I found the game entirely enjoyable and addictive.

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Zoids… Remember that anime with the giant mecha animals?

Zoids was one of my first and favorite animes when I was a teen. I would build the old Hasbro model kits in middle school and junior high all the time! My parents even used them as incentive for earning good grades. Now I’m 27 and for years I would occasionally get his strong urge: I should build a Zoid...

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Monkeys, Pterodactyls, and Polar Bear Dogs, oh my!

Just a quick off topic post while I’m still out of town… I had the weirdest dream I’ve ever had in my life a while back, so I wrote it down at the time. This dream was not lucid at all and I kept alternating between being physically part of it and watching other “scenes” without being there. Okay, get ready to interpret!

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The Banner Saga Trilogy Review (Switch) – a dark fantasy Oregon Trail

The Banner Saga Trilogy held my attention from the moment I picked it up! I would describe this series as a hybrid of Oregon Trail and Fire Emblem, nestled comfortably in a Norse mythology-inspired dark fantasy setting. The Banner Saga presents the player with a high stakes story full of make or break decision making, with the player positioned as the reluctant, elected leader of a caravan full of survivors fleeing the end of the world.

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My Hoard of Dragons

Dragons always meant a lot to me because it was the first thing I ever learned to draw, a skill taught to me by my first, true best friend in my early teens. We would spend hours upon hours reading fantasy novels (also with dragons in them of course), drawing, and playing games like Spyro and Kingdom Hearts. Since then dragons have represented the personification of imagination and creativity to me.

Dragons are in nearly every culture’s mythology, they show up all over the world, and they can look so different – a million different designs from a million different minds, yet represent all the same idea. I’ve collected dragon figures, sculptures, carvings, etc. since I was a kid and I’d love to show you some of them!

This is just an image post, but if there’s any interest I’d be happy to talk about the artists and studios behind some of the pieces, where I found them, what games and films they are from, and so on. I also have a lot more not pictured (don’tjudgemeokay) I can share. Just let me know!

Support Backlog Crusader on Patreon – $1 a month is less than what’s lost beneath your sofa cushions! Plus you get Discord access!