Hellblade enters not at the point of trauma but everything that comes after. The anguish, the self doubt, the violent attempts to feel anything at all, and finally, the recognition that this trauma is permanent.
Read MoreMy early generosity has been worn away by Subdivision’s relentlessly bland mission design. I am torn between my dislike of each mission’s flavorless grind and the small respite brought on by each taking less than 10-minutes to complete. It’s the video game campaign equivalent to a dinner of plain rice cakes: all fluff, no substance, but at least the exercise is over as quick as it began.
Read MorePrey hasn’t been able to pick and choose its points of inspiration. While the games it lifts from are mechanically engaging, their thematic tensions have not held up as well, leaving Prey an inconsistent jumble of competing philosophies and narrative styles as it tries to recontextualize plot points which in hindsight were not as clever as we made them out to be.
Read MoreWith Tacoma, it begins to feel like this optimism might be getting in the way of the message that actually needs to be heard. Unions and activists groups can change the world, it is not just a matter of working together that is needed for these systems to change. To borrow from father Marx, “there are no happy endings under capitalism.”
Read MorePart of me felt I should enjoy The Witness, that solving it would be its own reward, or that I could not truly say I disliked it until I had unraveled it thoroughly. These are all ridiculous justifications for playing a game I knew early on I disliked. It is such a strong compulsion within the videogame community to compel yourself forward with critically acclaimed games that even your own opinion stops mattering as much for whether you play a game or not. It isn’t about what you think, or what other people think, it’s what you think other people will think.
Read MoreRise never reconciles where the line between archeology and blatant theft actually lies. Between her many firefights, Lara spends most of her time picking through garbage, opening chests, and murdering endangered species, all in the name of exploration. But as is always the case with colonialism, what Lara is after is not really answers or the objects themselves, it’s money for a new gun upgrade and a bigger bag for furs.
Read MoreTHOTH is neither bloated nor even comfortably full. It is an exercise in restraint in every possible way, from its visual design to its length of less than a movie, to its soundtrack which dips in and out as if just checking in on how you’re doing. What THOTH is not is hollow.
Read MoreBeing a strong woman in The Witcher 2 is dangerous. Being a strong woman with ideas will get you killed, but The Witcher 2 doesn’t see a problem with that. It just wants to see some tits.
Read MoreClusterTruck is perhaps a more fitting name than does the game itself any good.
Read MoreOvercooked wants to show you the wacky fun of cooking with friends, but I should have guessed by the time it sent us to hell’s literal kitchen that we as a culture need to reassess exactly what that fun looks like.
Read MoreTitanfall 2 is certainly explosive, and at times elegant, but it is primarily an exercise in player omnipotence and reverence. It’s really not about the pilots or titans, it’s about making you feel cool and never stopping to ask why.
Read MoreUnravel may stumble on its way towards saying something meaningful, it never wavers on what it wants you to hear. That while the past is not a place to escape into, it is worth holding onto. Maybe only in bits and pieces, but held onto all the same.
Read MorePast Gears games have focused on the connection between squadmates, but wherein Gears 1-3 were an ode to brothers in arms, Gears 4 is bluntly subdued. The people you are fighting with are not only your family, they are all that is left of humanity.
Read MoreDance Central might not have taught me to dance, but it definitely taught me how to enjoy dancing.
Read MorePlaying Lovers with S. was more than just a chance to play together, it required trust.
Read MoreBaby Driver makes a tremendous argument that anything and everything is better with music.
Read MoreWhat A Normal Lost Phone also demonstrates, apart from its messy handling of LGBTQ themes, is how banal most text messages are. Games such as Gone Home work because the diary entries used to tell its story are at once convincing and engaging to read. As we transition into digital forms of communication, however, the ease at which information is shared causes each individual message to become less and less significant.
Read MoreUnassuming and pleasantly warm, Bart Bonte’s SEO-unfriendly mobile puzzler, yellow (2017), finds joy in simplicity.
Read MoreMake friends with the narrator, search for your life's purpose while wearing a poncho, wade through a depression blizzard, and remind yourself to tell someone you love them.
Read MoreWe can kill the alien, destroy the nest, leave the accursed necropolis behind entirely – but we cannot escape ourselves
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