Category: Games

A top-down view of an alien figure in some sort of bed, coffin, or pod. It is unclear if it's living or dead, but something glows within its abdomen.

Can Scorn Get Out From Under the Cosmic Horror Legacy?

By Emma Kostopolus • January 27th, 2023

Scorn and other sci-fi horror games like it rely almost entirely on the horror of the unknown – the unknowable, the inconceivable, and the, well, alien.

Past Presence

A top-down map from the videogame Dwarf Fortress showing the labyrinthine halls of a massive underground cavern.

Recursion

By Emily Price • January 26th, 2023

Over the break, I started playing Dwarf Fortress, a game about avoiding the recurring, inevitable spiral of collapse for as long as you can.

I Played It, Like, Twice...

A shot of two mini figures from Warhammer: Lost Relics, a robed warrior brandishing a lamp and a hammer-wielding cleric prepaing to strike, both standing on a sample of the various ground textures available to dungeon crawl through

Unexpected Joys in Small Packages in Warhammer Quest: Lost Relics

By Orrin Grey • January 23rd, 2023

Lost Relics feels a bit more like a game of chess (albeit played against the board) than a standard dungeon crawl.

Feature Excerpt

Hideo Kojima Hates You

By Emma Kostopolus • January 23rd, 2023

A study in difficulty scaling.

Into the Odd

By Stu Horvath and John McGuire • January 23rd, 2023

Ultra-lite RPGs in the vein of D&D, part one of three!

Feature Excerpt

Time Loop of Trauma

By Alma Roda-Gil • January 20th, 2023

There is no catharsis to be had at the end of Returnal’s time loop. It becomes clear, as the player finishes the story, that it will keep going.

Letter from the Editor

Unwinnable Monthly – January 2023

By David Shimomura • January 19th, 2023

Welcome to 2023!

Fantasy Gamer’s Compendium

By Stu Horvath and John McGuire • January 16th, 2023

Third party publishing, ’80s-style.

Insert Coin

A screenshot from The Case of the Golden Idol, featuring a bell tower wreathed in climbing ivy, a surprised man in a wig and ascot, a woman in mourning with a lace veil, a pinheaded man with small John Lennon glasses, and an ominous gravestone that reads "Sebastian Cloudsley 1733 - 1786"

A Tale of Two Relics

By Madison Butler • January 13th, 2023

Comparing and contrasting 2022’s The Case of the Golden Idol and 2018’s Return of the Obra Dinn.

Screenshot from Pentiment, where a person in scholarly robes is standing by a destroyed building talking to a young villager, the scholar is saying "Good, good. Keep the faith."

Pentiment: Thirteen Ways to Look at a Murder

By Francisco Dominguez • January 10th, 2023

Once you’ve dismantled religious conviction and the formative myths behind a place’s existence, what comes next?

Open World

A screenshot from Red Dead Redemption 2, where Arthur in his trademark black hat is firing a rifle in the distance while a lone lamp hangs overhead

Two Deaths

By Edward Smith • January 9th, 2023

What I see I guess in all this are microcosmic pictures, metaphors, illustrations of how goddamn unknowable everything seems nowadays.

Dungeons & Dragons Third Edition

By Stu Horvath and John McGuire • January 9th, 2023

The great revival? A natural progression? Or something in-between?

A screenshot from the trailer of Psychonauts, featuring the lead psychic investigator getting close with a brain in a room wallpapered with blueprints

Three Paths Towards Approaching Mental Illness in Videogames

By Kurt Grunsky • January 6th, 2023

These games differ greatly in their approaches, but each provides its own alternative to the more common portrayals and could be said to focus more on the broader theme of “living with mental illness.”

Cover images from the three big shooters of 2012, with Spec Ops Warrior on the left, Halo doing the superhero landing in the middle, and Nacho Varga pondering his two guns and a severed head on the right

2012: The Shooter’s Overlooked Apex

By Van Dennis • January 4th, 2023

While 2012 didn’t quite have one singular release that set the world on fire or dominated the discourse, it still stands out because of just how many gems it had that’ve aged incredibly well and continue to affect the medium and industry a decade later.

Here Be Monsters

The mogwai Gizmo, from the movie Gremlins, with an exaggeratedly sad frown on his face. He's furry with enormous ears and eyes, the definition of "weird but cute."

Going Gremlin Mode

By Emma Kostopolus • January 3rd, 2023

Cuteness and horror.

The Rust Monster (Remastered)

By Stu Horvath and John McGuire • January 2nd, 2023

A rerun! This week, we dial it back to November 18, 2019, and our episode on the Rust Monster.

Exploits Feature

Unpacking

By Krista McCay • January 2nd, 2023

Objects they keep, objects they part with…

Sears Wish Books, 1982-84 (Remastered)

By Stu Horvath and John McGuire • December 26th, 2022

A rerun! This week, we dial it back to December 24, 2018, and our episode on the Sears Wish Book.

Revving the Engine

A miniature knight in full-plate with a head wreathed in flame stands at the edge of table, sword at the ready.

How Dracma Studios is Lighting Its Own Path With Candle Knight

By Ben Sailer • December 22nd, 2022

Mexico-based Dracma Studios is creating more than just an intriguing platformer with Candle Knight. They’re lighting a path forward for themselves (and developers across Latin America).

Made of Lines and Vines

A screenshot from Sable featuring high valley walls behind the masked protagonist standing on a minaret like structure atop a sprial staircase looking out over natural desert features and peaked roof homes

Sands That Set Planets Apart

By Saniya Ahmed • December 20th, 2022

Sable is a desert of mystery, technological science, and whimsicality.

Here's the Thing

Key art from Return to Monkey Island, featuring pirate protagonist Guybrush Threepwood and his motley crew.

The End of Return to Monkey Island

By Rob Rich • December 19th, 2022

After reaching the end of the latest Monkey Island game, Rob was surprised by how hard he was hit by the ending.

Forms in Light

A black and white illustration of an American P51 Mustang airplane.

Anatomy of an Airplane

By Justin Reeve • December 19th, 2022

This might be the moment to take an architectural approach to the best warbird of them all, the P51 Mustang.

Dragonroar

By Stu Horvath and John McGuire • December 19th, 2022

Cry havoc and let slip the hedgehogs of war!

5 classic action video games you ought to play if you haven’t

By Alan Smithee • December 16th, 2022

Video games are constantly flying off the production lines and 2022 was certainly another busy year. It is one that will have pleased the most ardent fans. But with the festive period fast approaching, it will give you a chance to dust off and pick up a classic action video game title that may have been sitting up in your loft for a long time. And with that in mind, we have decided to take a trip down memory lane, and we have recalled five of the best classic action video games that we are sure you will still enjoy

Casting Deep Meteo

Ghost of Tsushima and the Cutting Word

By Levi Rubeck • December 16th, 2022

Reading poetry becomes work; writing poetry is meant to be freedom unbound.

Brain Scratch

The title screen for Apocryphauna, featuring the text of the game's title in a pulsating, off-putting font

Lonely Heart of the Cards Club

By Steven Nguyen Scaife • December 14th, 2022

The one Lord apparently has better things to do than stop the scavenger hunt for a forbidden trading card collection.

Area of Effect

A screenshot from Slime Rancher 2 shows several colorful and smiling slimes waiting to be harvested.

Plorts Are Poop

By Jay Castello • December 14th, 2022

Make no mistake.

Advanced Fighting Fantasy

By Stu Horvath and John McGuire • December 12th, 2022

First a gamebook series, then a fully-fledged RPG!

Interlinked

The prince of Hades rests a large blade across his shoulder while showing off his well-muscled chest.

The Prince of Hades Laughs with a Mouthful of Blood

By Phoenix Simms • December 8th, 2022

Zagreus is definitely a liminal figure trapped in a purgatorial space – and this metaphor extends to the entire setting of Hades.

Collision Detection

A screenshot from Bad Writer showing the pixellated protagonist staring at a blank computer screen.

Better Living, Better Writing

By Ben Sailer • December 7th, 2022

Bad Writer shows how becoming a more interesting writer starts with living a more interesting life and there’s nothing interesting about joyless overwork.

Insert Coin

A scene from project makeover, featuring a beachside room with rattan furniture and a person in the middle with a simple dress, stylish bag, heels and wavy hair with just the right accessories

Imperfect Escapes

By Madison Butler • December 6th, 2022

An investigation into the story, gameplay and relentless advertisements of Magic Tavern’s Project Makeover.

Here Be Monsters

In a screenshot from the videogame Resident Evil, the player character gazes down at a spookily lit desk, upon which is an old typewriter, some files, and a book on castles.

Limited Inventory and Staggered Saves

By Emma Kostopolus • December 5th, 2022

The rhetoric of classic survival horror.

Down in the Dungeon

By Stu Horvath and John McGuire • December 5th, 2022

Down, down, down.

This Mortal Coyle

On Organizing My Skyrim Library and Living in a Human Body

By Deirdre Coyle • December 2nd, 2022

Organizing books makes me not care that I’m a decaying meat-coated skeleton living by the light of a dying star. I love skeletons! I love stars! Who cares, just let me read!

The title screen for the game Myst, featuring the game's name spelled out in a rusty swirling font

The Joys of Getting Lost in the Myst

By Jay Norton • December 1st, 2022

I felt as if I was ready to tear my way through the rest of Myst and prove that I didn’t need a walkthrough. That’s not exactly what happened.

I Played It, Like, Twice...

The covers for Bardsung and Myth placed next to each other. Bardsung has a cloaked character with horns, or maybe a jester hat, grinning and holding a lute. Myth has an elfin warrior with a bow standing against a horde of point-eared orcs while magical fire flies in the background

Versus Mode: Myth x Bardsung

By Orrin Grey • November 30th, 2022

Both Bardsung and Myth are dungeon-crawl games at the high end of the complexity scale, but that’s where the surface similarities end.

Exploits Feature

Elden Ring

By Connor Queen • November 30th, 2022

Love and monsters.

Friction Burns

A screenshot from Against the Storm, showing a translucent magical powerline, a shimmering church, some thorny trees and mushrooms showing a lot of potential hostility

Against the Storm, Against Randomness, Against the Inevitable

By Ruth Cassidy • November 29th, 2022

An exploration of the tensions you play with, vs the tensions the game’s text shows you. It isn’t enough to survive against all odds – for the purpose of your task list, that’s simply assumed.

Revving the Engine

The tiny protagonist of A Tale of Paper: Refolded runs across a desk scattered with papers, which lay like carpets beneath the character's feet.

Breaking Away From the Fold

By Justin Reeve • November 23rd, 2022

A Tale of Paper: Refolded poses a number of interesting questions including the extent to which our most deeply held hopes and ambitions can impact the people around us.