Collision Detection In the Spaceship Over Glasgow With Mogwai By Ben Sailer • January 4th, 2023 Mogwai are often pigeonholed as the elder statesmen of post-rock. The real story about their roots and influences is much more interesting.
Revving the Engine 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).
Collision Detection 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.
Collision Detection The Boomer Death Cult of Possum Springs By Ben Sailer • November 2nd, 2022 As the Boomer death cult in Night In The Woods serves to remind us, sometimes the scariest monsters are the ones that could actually exist.
Revving the Engine 2020s Tech, 1980s Spirit By Ben Sailer • September 26th, 2022 Dykom Software’s twin-stick side-scrolling shooter invokes 80s geek culture nostalgia while hiding a few twists underneath an absurdist premise.
Collision Detection Game Guides vs. The SEO Grind: Who Wins and Loses? By Ben Sailer • September 7th, 2022 Physical strategy guides are on their way out. But is the SEO sinkhole that has replaced them better? Spoiler alert: no.
Revving the Engine Creative Constraints in Unbound: Worlds Apart By Ben Sailer • August 29th, 2022 Unbound: Worlds Apart looks like a typical puzzle-platformer. However, thanks to some creative design decisions, it’s much more than that.
Feature Excerpt Misremembering DOOM By Ben Sailer • July 27th, 2022 In this revised reprint from 2018, Ben revisits the SNES version of DOOM, and destroys part of his childhood in the process.
Collision Detection Some Thoughts on Independent Games and Media By Ben Sailer • June 29th, 2022 As Unwinnable celebrates its tenth (twelfth) trip around the sun, Ben looks back on the developments and decisions that led him to this point.
Revving the Engine The Accessible Soul of Thymesia By Ben Sailer • June 23rd, 2022 OverBorder Studio’s Epic MegaGrants-winning action-RPG Thymesia offers new twists on a tested formula for alchemical hack-and-slashery.
Collision Detection Passion and Generosity in the Vision of Gran Turismo By Ben Sailer • June 2nd, 2022 Gran Turismo 7 has been criticized for greedy microtransactions. The spirit of its creative vision, however, is more generous than its commercial aspirations.
The Mysteries of Motorsport By Ben Sailer • May 6th, 2022 A melon farmer accidentally falls into a time warp and is commissioned to produce words on a popular videogame by the insatiable content overlords of Unwinnable Monthly LLC.
Collision Detection Harder Core Than Thou By Ben Sailer • March 30th, 2022 Ben tries to figure out what defines games as hardcore and nearly goes insane.
Revving the Engine Night in the Museum By Ben Sailer • March 24th, 2022 Mukti is an upcoming first-person narrative adventure title that sheds light on human trafficking and the plight of its survivors.
Collision Detection Pressing Pause By Ben Sailer • March 2nd, 2022 Ben gets his year-end wrap-ups from various entertainment services and has an unexpected epiphany.
Collision Detection Welcome to the Circus of Value By Ben Sailer • February 2nd, 2022 Ben ponders the absurdity of inflated videogame software and hardware valuations on the used market and nearly has an existential crisis.
Revving the Engine Mean Streets: Project Haven By Ben Sailer • January 24th, 2022 Watch the trailer for Project Haven and you might assume you’re seeing something from a large studio. Its actual origin story is rooted in humble beginnings.
Revving the Engine Surviving the Near Future in Phobos Subhuman By Ben Sailer • December 27th, 2021 There can be something especially empowering about feeling as though you can shape and survive whatever is around the next corner.
Collision Detection Rethinking the Post-Apocalypse in Eastward By Ben Sailer • December 3rd, 2021 Post-apocalyptic stories are often framed as tales of what happens after everything ends. Eastward instead shows how life moves on.
Collision Detection Rethinking Retro Remakes With Tunnel B1 By Ben Sailer • November 5th, 2021 We’re in the middle of a retro shooter renaissance. Why not mine the forgotten past for ideas and inspiration?
Collision Detection Escaping Isolation in Concrete Genie By Ben Sailer • September 28th, 2021 Ben finds a surprisingly poignant message about the interconnectedness of commerce and community beneath the family-friendly veneer of the underappreciated painterly adventure Concrete Genie.
Revving the Engine An Unreal Curriculum By Ben Sailer • September 20th, 2021 At Abertay University, students learn the skills to thrive in an industry that’s grown into an economic and educational force.
Collision Detection The Terrifying Truth Vs. Some Free JRPG Mini Games By Ben Sailer • August 25th, 2021 Ben finds a free game hidden on Google’s home page and slowly sinks into a pit of existential despair.
Collision Detection The Role-Playing Television Future of Tomorrow, Yesterday By Ben Sailer • August 12th, 2021 VR, the hard way. The really hard way.
Collision Detection Dos Vedanya, Kudryavka By Ben Sailer • June 29th, 2021 Correcting the tragedy of the first dog in space.
Revving the Engine Death is the Beginning By Ben Sailer • June 25th, 2021 Reaching the spirit world is not going to be so easy in Path of Kami
Revving the Engine The Occupation: Mind Your Deadline By Ben Sailer • June 8th, 2021 A righteous mission. An edge of danger. A David and Goliath dynamic.
Collision Detection Controlling the Future in Five Minutes or Less By Ben Sailer • June 1st, 2021 Ben gets hooked on pretending to draft players for his favorite football team, and maybe, just maybe, learns something along the way. Or not.
Revving the Engine Cute ‘Em Up By Ben Sailer • May 14th, 2021 A close chat with the creator of a “first-person cute ’em up.”
Collision Detection On Cheat Codes and Disappearing Forever By Ben Sailer • May 5th, 2021 Ben finds a book to a lost era, a time of sharks, genies, and rapid button combinations.
Revving the Engine Under the Hood By Ben Sailer • April 1st, 2021 The beauty of having a dream, and making it so, and then having thousands of others make their dreams within your dream.
Collision Detection Controlling the Narrative By Ben Sailer • March 26th, 2021 Why the hell would anyone play two-player sports videogames by themselves?
Collision Detection Cyberpunkland and the Full Service Dystopia Simulator of Tomorrow, Today By Ben Sailer • March 10th, 2021 A free dystopian browser-based game like Cyberpunkland should be a silly diversion. But considering recent events, it feels bizarrely prescient instead.
Collision Detection In Videogames, Everybody’s Working for the Weekend By Ben Sailer • January 26th, 2021 Work sucks, I know.
Collision Detection Countering COVID-19 Disinformation in Five Minutes or Less with Go Viral! By Ben Sailer • January 8th, 2021 Separating fact from fiction on the Internet and in the media is more difficult than ever. In the middle of a global pandemic, the consequences are potentially lethal. Could a simple browser game be part of the solution?
Collision Detection On Videogames, Accessibility and the Winter From Hell By Ben Sailer • December 10th, 2020 Videogames are more accessible than ever thanks to increased digitization. Facing what will be the harshest winter in a generation, this is a godsend that is easy to miss, but should not be taken for granted.
Checkpoint Colin Kaepernick, Madden NFL 21 and the Football Future That Wasn’t By Ben Sailer • October 27th, 2020 After punting on social justice for years, Electronic Arts recently patched Colin Kaepernick back into Madden NFL 21. Don’t rush to pat them on the back.
Collision Detection We Can’t Afford to Log Off By Ben Sailer • October 1st, 2020 Twitter isn’t just a time-wasting hellsite. It’s also the world’s worst multi-user dungeon.
Collision Detection Baseball is Dead, Long Live Blaseball By Ben Sailer • September 3rd, 2020 The only thing weirder than the satirical baseball sim Blaseball is actual professional baseball.
Collision Detection Open Worlds, Open Minds By Ben Sailer • August 7th, 2020 While Ben used to hate open-world games, now that life under lockdown has made his surroundings feel more compact than ever though, the promise of exploring their vast landscapes has taken on a different appeal.
