Max Miller (they/them) is a composer, writer, and game designer. As part of new studio Pitter-Patter, they released Commonplace (2022), an ordinary adventure game about working in an office. For this episode, Max spent some time talking about the game’s experimental development, how they approached writing the soundtrack, and a desire to make games that push against consumption driven mechanics.
Read MoreWe’ve made it to route 2 of our 999 playthrough, not far enough to escape the Nonary Games but able to glimpse the sub just out of reach. This time, Axe and Nathalie went through doors 4-3-2, leading everyone to a terrible end but a terrific route to get there. We dig in to what it means for this to be a failure route, lament frustrating character tropes, and get owned by bad puzzles.
Read MoreSonic Unleashed is about transformation and monstrosity. In his Werehog form, Sonic is viewed as a monster, his new appearance terrifying the characters around him. His cutscene dialogue communicates frustration at the involuntary changes of his body and at not being recognized as himself. Through the Werehog, Sonic Unleashed asks: what does it feel like when your body looks and acts in ways you don’t recognize? What does it mean to be seen as something that you know you aren’t? What is a monster? And what does it mean to suddenly become one?
Read MoreWayward Strand (Ghost Pattern, 2022) is an upcoming adventure game which follows Casey - a teenager and aspiring journalist - as she explores a hospital airship floating above the Australian country-side. Two of its developers, Goldie Bartlett (she/her) and Jason Bakker (he/him), joined me on this episode to dive into the game's origins, how the continuous in-game clock allows for new forms of storytelling, and how collaborating with indigenous and mental health advocacy groups helped the team tell richer, more honest characters.
Read MoreWelcome to episode 1 of Zero Context, where we kick off our Zero Escape playthrough with the trilogy’s first game, Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors. We dive headfirst into the game’s lore-heavy exposition, speculate on how 999 fits within the death game media landscape, and, like all good podcasts, issue some corrections from episode 0.
Read MoreIt would be unfair to expect What Comes After to be a playable therapy session, but as it addresses issues involving suicidal ideation and suggests a solution, it is worth discussing how media can meaningfully talk about mental health, analyze whether this attempt can be considered successful, and where its limitations lie.
Read MoreWelcome to Zero Context, a show where Nathalie (she/her) and Axe (they/them) play through the Zero Escape series. Join us as Nathalie learns what a visual novel is, Axe reveals the depths of their cursed fandom knowledge, and we try to figure out how exactly you podcast branching narratives. Enjoy this table setting before all hell breaks loose.
Read MoreNight in the Woods’ anti-Capitalist politics were seen as revolutionary at the time of its release, but while the game had a lot to offer, praising it as a radical text feels like a stretch. In this essay we will look back at the five years since Night in the Woods’ release, examining how its political allegory has held up, the critical conversation surrounding the game, and what roads of analysis may still lay unexplored.
Read MoreAdam Le Doux (he/him) is a game and software developer best known for creating the tiny game engine, Bitsy. Just shy of Bitsy’s six-year birthday, Adam came on the show to talk about Bitsy’s unassuming origins and surprising evolution as part of the tiny games scene. Later, we discuss how Bitsy’s form sets in in opposition to conventional, capital driven games and software, the importance of the engine’s community, and how to preserve these games against the forces of tech oligarchies.
Read MoreSpiders (they/them) are an alt game dev specializing in queer, grimy, anti-tech industry experiments. In this episode, we chat about their upcoming anthology game, The Museum of Radically Obsolete Futures, the tension between wanting to make shit that’s cool vs shit that sells, and how vital communities like The Queer Games Bundle are to the weird game scene.
Read MoreIn collaboration with utopian collective Trust, designer Son La Pham (he/him) and developer Francis Tseng (he/they) created Half Earth Socialism (2022), a browser game companion to Troy Vettese and Drew Pendergrass’s book of the same name. As part of the game’s launch, Son La and Francis joined me on the show to discuss how the collaboration began, the challenge of building a global planning simulator as a browser game, and the importance of going beyond raw calculations to allow players to become emotionally invested.
Read MoreFantasia Malware are an experimental game label specializing in mega-maximalist un-game performance art. They crowded into KRITIQAL’s digital podcast booth to discuss grotesque beauty, games as instruments, and creating art that can’t be wiki-fied. Later, they recommend birds.
Read MoreStudio Oleomingus is an art practice and game studio based Chala, India, whose work explores magical realism, post-colonial landscapes, and redacted authorship. Studio founder Dhruv Jani (he/him) joined me to talk through his unique history with modern videogames, his skepticism at the necessity of systemic interaction, and how employing fictitious external authors connections Oleomingus’ work to a larger history of post-independence Indian storytellers.
Read MoreThe promise of reaching everything in your sights has long been a cynical joke at the player’s expense in the Dark Souls franchise, one I sit with as Elden Ring earnestly fulfills it without punchline.
Read MoreIf the speedrun is an act of monastic devotion, proof of love for the game and power over the self, Asprey’s softlocks are not even so much as puzzles to be solved as koans to be contemplated, exercises in cosmic futility. Their construction is the art, the absolute knowledge required to construct such a lock the proof of devotion, examination of the cage a rumination on the nature of the virtual world.
Read MoreJoel Jordon (they/them) is the solo game developer of Time Bandit (2022), a real-time anti-capitalist work sim about how our subjective experience of time is shaped by our relationship to labor and historical forces. With Time Bandit’s first part releasing soon, Joel took some time to join me in talking through the game’s themes, how effective games can be as political instruments, and the hazy ethics of games-as-work.
Read MoreKarin Malady (any/all pronouns) is a writer, poet, and occultist interested in the relationship between art and audience. Recently, they’ve contributed writing to apocalyptic photography game, Dear Future (Dear Future Production Committee, 2021), and videogame flesh realm DEEP HEEL DOT COM. In this especially free wheeling episode, we talk about growing up on the internet, metafiction, being Tony Hawk, and provoking readers.
Read MoreI want to say thank you for listening/reading/being part of KRITIQAL. The community that has grown around the site, the contributors I’ve been able to commission, and the friend’s I’ve made along the way have been so hugely important to me not spiraling off into the void. It is perhaps the smallest bit of hope to cling to, but I cling to it either way.
Read MoreLike all of these little desert towns that pop up full of expensive Yoga studios and stuccoed Circle K’s (so the tourist knows they’re somewhere with real authentic history), the new money is all in videogames. What if you’ve got a stable base of poor players around to always make sure there’s an item in the game they can’t afford? Well you’ve got a digital ski-slope, where your only worry are the pesky locals showing up.
Read MoreForza Horizon 5 is a confidently built open-world game. You wouldn’t believe it based on the endlessly repopulating to-do list and amount of lizard-brain scratching notification icons constantly popping in the menus. These dopamine hits have long been a crutch to keep gamers from getting bored with uninspired combat loops or drab worlds. Once an incentive to keep playing the game and spend more money, they have now supplanted the gameplay entirely.
Read More