Unwinnable Monthly – June 2017
This is a reprint of the letter from the editor in Unwinnable Monthly Issue Ninety-Two. You can buy Issue Ninety-Two now, or purchase a monthly subscription to make sure you never miss an issue!
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Hi! Are you ready for summer? Because it starts tomorrow. If you need some beach reading, might I suggest a little bit of Unwinnable?
I’m very excited to get this month’s features in front of your eyeballs. First up is Yussef Cole’s cover story on Hitman and Mafia 3, and his discovery that stealth plays very differently for a black protagonist. This is the sort of story that makes me re-evaluate all my assumptions and I hope it has a similar effect on you. Also, Jack Forbes delivered one hell of a cover illustration in support of this essay. Red hot.
In the second feature, developer Matthew Ritter leads us through the reasons his forthcoming western game Dead Horizon exists, most of which revolve around regret and old school ideas of masculinity.
I don’t usually mention the sponsored story in the letter (because, well, sponsored?), but I was surprised at the strident queerness of the forthcoming tech-noir game All Walls Must Fall. If you usually skip the sponsored story (because, well, sponsored), I urge you to take a chance on it this month.
In the columns, Gavin Craig bends all the rules to write about Samurai Jack and Megan Condis watches the very upsetting documentary series The Keepers. Casey Lynch salutes the new guitarist of metal band Baroness and Brock Wilbur visits the not very good world of the 3DO horror game D. Corey Milne makes the case for Elite: Dangerous being one of the most compelling explorations of space ever devised and Matt Marrone provides an FAQ for if you were thinking about buying a Nintendo Switch. I rattle off some of my least positive opinions (spoiler: your favorite game sucks) and Rob Rich decides Super Sentai toys are pretty cool. Finally, Jason McMaster goes all Lawnmower Man on us.
All that and some recommendations, art and a swell crossword puzzle. Let me get out of your way so you can dig right in!
Stu Horvath
Kearny, New Jersey
June 20, 2017
