A look back at 2016

Hi everyone. Since I have taken next week as holiday, this is my last week at Ghostlight in 2016. I thought I might spend this week’s blog looking back at what’s happened in the world of Ghostlight this year.

In terms of new releases this has been a slightly quieter year than usual, with only 3 of them,  but that doesn’t mean we’ve been sitting here twiddling our thumbs. In addition to all of our new releases we brought the awesome firefighting action roguelike, Flame Over, to the Japanese PSN Store. As a long-time fan of Japanese gaming, I must admit it was very cool to bring one of our games to Japan. :)

We’ve also spent a considerable amount of time working on PC versions of games for other publishers. While we’ve still got several of these on the go, just last week we were able to share details on the first project, the traditional Chinese language version of Agarest: Generations of War, which we have been working on for our friends at Interwise.

The first of our own releases in 2016 was the fantastic Cubixx HD, which we brought to Steam way back in January. Cubixx HD was the first full console game I saw developed in house, so I’ve always had a fondness for it, and it was great to bring it to Steam, so that PC gamers can enjoy its compulsive score chasing in single player mode, and an intense local multiplayer mode for good measure.  With this one available for an amazingly good value $8.99, I’d heartily recommend it to everyone looking for a really cool arcade style game…

While I might be a bit biased, it wasn’t just me who thought Cubixx HD was a winner, with Official PlayStation Magazine UK calling it: “One of the most gloriously addictive, knuckle-bitingly frustrating experiences you can have on PSN.”  Eurogamer also gave it an 8/10, calling it: “Murderously addictive.” The Sixthaxis also awarded Cubixx HD with an 8/10, saying it: “Hovers on the cusp of absolute, delightful joy.”

It was only a few months later when we decided to defy trifling concerns, such as series order, and after previously bringing Way of the Samurai 4 to PC,  brought Way of the Samurai 3 to PC, priced at $19.99. A thrilling open world, action game, with a massive amount of character customisation and a huge amount of story routes to explore, Way of the Samurai 3 was a real pleasure to work on. It was Al’s favourite release of ours this year and not without good reason…

Honour, sacrifice, betrayal… Your choices make you who you are. How will history remember you?

Jump into the sandals of a mysterious lone samurai during Japan’s turbulent Sengoku era, in one of the most atmospheric action RPGs ever created!

Explore the villages, body-strewn battlefields, bandit fortresses, immense castles and local town of Amana, in an open world bustling with a rich cast of colourful characters that you can help, ignore or victimise.

Choose your friends and enemies carefully in a game where every decision has far-reaching consequences, and where finishing the game is just the beginning of your journey…

Our final release of the year came in August, when we followed up last year’s PC release of Mugen Souls by releasing Idea Factory’s brilliant JRPG Mugen Souls Z. It may have been our only JRPG of the year, but it was a rather good one, that improved upon the original Mugen Souls in so many ways.

Mugen Souls Z is a JRPG featuring multi-layered and hugely entertaining turn-based tactical combat, a huge array of skills, weapons, equipment and items to enhance, level up and use against hundreds of different enemy types.

Throw in a far out and hilarious plot, dozens of worlds to conquer, powerful character creation facilities, huge amounts of customisation and a 100-level Mugen Field to power through, and it’s clear that Mugen Souls Z is a dream-come-true for JRPG enthusiasts

So that’s 2016, but what’s coming up in 2017? Well, first of all we’re very close to signing a couple of console JRPGs, to port to PC. Neither of these games are part of a series which have been released on PC in the past, so fans of JRPGs on PC will have something totally new to look forward to.

We’ve also got a number of other ports for other publishers on the horizon, which means that we should have plenty to keep us busy! :)

So, what have been your favourite games in 2016, and what are you looking forward to in 2017? Why not let us know in the comments? :)

That’s all for this year. Before we go we’d just like to thank each one of you who’ve bought one (or more!) of our products in the last 12 months, as well as those of you who’ve commented on the blog or our social media pages, or via the Steam forums. We’re really grateful for your support and feedback and it’s nice to take the opportunity to thank each and every one of you for your support and for helping us do what we love. So… thank you everyone. ^_^ <3

I’ll be back in January with our first major announcement of 2017, at which point I’ll have been working here at Ghostlight for 10 years.  Although, if, say, one of the major online gaming stores was to run a big sale over the Christmas period, then there might be a blog post about it, but that does seem rather unlikely… ;)

Until then, why not follow us on our Twitter and Facebook pages, our Youtube Channel and our  Google + account, where we’ll be posting all the latest news from Ghostlight You can also follow me on Twitter for a more personal take on all things Ghostlight.