Halo 4 - Single Player Review
Halo 4 - Single Player Review

Halo 4 doesn’t feel like the manufactured product of millions upon million in development and marketing, designed like a money-making machine forged through data and playtesting. It has a soul, a personality, the way so many AAA games don’t. It may be the most expensive game Microsoft has ever made, but they didn’t bet it on a hollow shell sold on name alone. Rather Halo 4 is the culmination of everything Halo has ever been, brought to life by a new team but without losing what made it a household name in the first place. There were a lot of ways Halo 4 could have gone, but you can rest easy because 343 has not only managed to channel the series heritage, they’ve surpassed it.

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EssayNathalie343 Industries, Editor's Choice, Halo 4, Microsoft, Reviews
Lego Lord of the Rings - Review
Lego Lord of the Rings - Review

I don’t wish to imply that Lego Lord of the Rings is a bad game, and if you’re the sort of player who only cares about the critical path then it’s as recommendable as any Lego game. The problem is the portion I’ve always considered the core of a Lego game - the scouring of levels for every last doodad and thingamabob to arrive at that satisfying 100% - was insufferably tedious and drawn out. With the ridiculous number of other superior Lego games to choose from, Lego Lord of the Rings feels like a tough sell, even as a huge fan of the source material.

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EssayNathalieLego, Lord of the Rings, Reviews, Traveller's Tales
I'm Not A Gamer
I'm Not A Gamer

As I’m writing this GamerGate is entering its 8th month of ongoing terror and intimidation across social media. It’s been a horrendous period in games, destroying people’s lives, driving people out and away from the games industry, permanently scarring the reputation of games in the public eye, causing universities to cut funding for games programs, and showing no signs of stopping anytime soon as its advocates continue to find new, even more horrific methods to try and drive out their adversaries.

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EssayNathalieFeatures, Opinion
Light - Review
Light - Review

It’s tough to review a game that’s only distinguishable by the pieces it borrows from its contemporaries. I don’t mean to simply say that Light brings nothing new to the table, but that it actively feels like a collage of other games stitched together in the hopes of success by association.

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EssayNathalieJust A Pixel, Light, Reviews, Team17
Indie Impressions: Titan Souls (Prototype Demo)
Indie Impressions: Titan Souls (Prototype Demo)

I'm not sure exactly why or when it started, but I've become completely obsessed with Titan Souls and its imminent release. Despite having watched little gameplay, only knowing basic details on how it works, and having yet to read through an actual preview of the game, there's just been something about it that I can't describe which makes me feel it's going to be something special. After sitting down with the current demo build I can only say that whatever excitement I previously had is now monumentally higher, making the game almost certainly my most anticipated release this year so far.

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EssayNathalieAcid Nerve, Devolver, Impressions, Titan Souls
Cloudbuilt - Review
Cloudbuilt - Review

Attempting to learn Cloudbuilt is like scaling the face of a cliff with your bare hands. It offers no assistance, no guidance, and relentlessly beats you down to where the game can begin to feel almost hostile. There’s so much going on within a given level moving so fast and incomprehensibly, that getting your bearings can seem an impossible task in a game designed for a higher class of player. But Cloudbuilt’s most apparent problem is also one that’s almost entirely frontloaded, and once I made it over that wall and could peer over the whole of the game, Cloudbuilt evolved into one of the most endlessly satisfying and expanding games I’ve played in a very long time.

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EssayNathalieCloudbuilt, Coilworks, Reviews
Quick Thoughts On: Job Lozenge
Quick Thoughts On: Job Lozenge

ob Lozenge feels like a digital replication of this perpetual working grind. Crates drop in from the sky, which are then to be dropped into the abyss on the other side of your small village. There to ensure your cooperation and ability to perform your task is a bossy observer, showering you with praise when you finally finish your job but always with the assurance that there will be more crates the following day.

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EssayNathalieFrom Smiling, itch-io, Job Lozenge, Quick Thoughts
Quick Thoughts On: Fragile Soft Machines
Quick Thoughts On: Fragile Soft Machines

Fragile Soft Machines asks a lot from the player. It asks that they buy into the plight of a butterfly crippled by its broken wing, to guide it through the dangerous garden it’s fallen in and attempt to make it a better place. It asks for the player to fill in much of the plot themselves, through text boxes and choices for which the outcome is often difficult to discern. And it asks that they accept their fate with little in the way of closure.

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EssayNathalieFragile Soft Machines, itch-io, Madame Berry, Quick Thoughts
Duet - Review
Duet - Review

Duet is a dance. Two heavenly bodies entwined, moving in perfect unison to become one whole, inseparable and immaculate in their symmetry and differences. Duet is also a song. Somber, longing, broken and difficult. It’s a song pulled from outside the game, calling at my darker urges and insecurities. Duet isn’t a game about me, or maybe about anyone, but I was inarguably a part of it, and in its darkness and traces of beauty it found me and spoke to me in ways no other game ever has.

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EssayNathalieDuet, Editor's Choice, Kumobius, Reviews
Quick Thoughts On: Mussel
Quick Thoughts On: Mussel

Mussel’s outrageous, self-destructive style is so in your face that I almost forgot I was even playing a game, which is fine as as a shooter Mussel is perfectly enjoyable if not especially deep. Every card has been played into the game’s digital rampage of flickering pixels, and in this case it’s a single trick well worth investigating, putting fellow would-be CRT replicants to shame with its unfiltered ode to image degradation.

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EssayNathalieitch-io, Mussel, Quick Thoughts