Unwinnable Monthly – March 2018

This is a reprint of the Letter from the Editor from Unwinnable Monthly #101. If you like what you see, grab the magazine for less than ten dollars, or subscribe and get all future magazines for half price.

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Welcome to March! Spring is starting to thaw our hearts here at Unwinnable, and I think you’ll find a giddy sort of energy in this issue because of it. Let’s dig in!

Our cover is J.W. Waterhouse modified by our own Yussef Cole, illustrating a lovely essay by Kate Gray on the philosophical similarities between Homer’s Odyssey and Super Mario Odyssey. Our second feature, by Dylan Bishop, investigates the surprising new game development scene in West Virginia. I snuck in a third feature, a discussion with director Phil Gelatt and horror author Laird Barron (both friends of Unwinnable) about Phil’s excellent new horror movie They Remain, based on Laird’s short story “–30–.” Finally, our sponsored Unreal Q&A is a chat with the fellows at Feral Cat Den about their forthcoming adventure game Genesis Noir.

Then there’s the columnists. Gavin Craig tackles violence in videogames relative to the ongoing gun control debate and Megan Condis checks out a documentary about an artificial intelligence learning Go, a game AI was supposed to never crack.  Astrid Budgor shares another batch of unusual, aggressive metal and Brock Wilbur comes to terms with some ugly realities of the original Prey. Deirdre Coyle reveals her second life in the Capital Wasteland while Corey Milne digs into the hollow core of Wolfenstein: The New Colossus. Matt Marrone mourns the death of one of Halt and Catch Fire’s central characters and Yussef Cole learns a bit about his own identity through All Our Asias. Sara Clemens learns to type with David Lynch and Jason McMaster find pain in the loss of a beloved pet. Finally, longtime MonHunter Rob Rich breaks down the success of Monster Hunter: World and we chat with his wife, Diana Teeter about her delightful paintings that merge animals, puns and pop culture references.

There’s one more essay. In an unusual movie, I’ve reprinted my piece on diversity at Unwinnable, originally run on the website. It seemed important to do so. If you haven’t read it already, I hope you find it thought provoking.

That’s it! Go on, get readin’!

Stu Horvath
Kearny, New Jersey
The Ides of March, 2018