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Author: Emma Kostopolus

Here Be Monsters
An oil rig, far out on stormy seas.

HR is Having a Field Day: Still Wakes the Deep as the Lovecraftian Banal

By Emma Kostopolus • August 7th, 2024

Still Wakes the Deep is essentially just being stuck in Hell with all your worst coworkers.

Here Be Monsters
The classic pink Tamagotchi, the plain look on its pixellated face belying the bottomless chasm of its need.

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream: The Terror of Tamagotchi

By Emma Kostopolus • May 31st, 2024

This is not a cute piece of nerd nostalgia, but a brutal PsyOp designed to drive us to the brink of despair.

Here Be Monsters
A screenshot from Dead Space shows a terrifying space monster attacking Isaac Clarke as he tries to scramble away backwards in his spacesuit.

In Defense of the Jump Scare: A Manifesto

By Emma Kostopolus • March 5th, 2024

Jump scares function as a necessary pressure-release valve for the experience of watching horror, thus allowing the experience to be less unrelentingly tiring.

Here Be Monsters

Loading the Gun: Simulation and Realism in Horror Mechanics

By Emma Kostopolus • February 8th, 2024

Horror in game mechanics arises from the difference in how we interact with things that are realistic versus things that absolutely are not.

Here Be Monsters
A screenshot from Silent Hill shows protagonist James running into the misty distance.

It’s an Evil Effing Room: Level Design in Horror

By Emma Kostopolus • January 3rd, 2024

In thinking about horror level design, we can work to uncover a lot of the general horror philosophy behind some of our most beloved franchises.

Here Be Monsters

A Different Sort of Vampire: The Endemic Issue Behind Redfall’s Critical Flop

By Emma Kostopolus • November 2nd, 2023

Redfall is an excellent test case for how capitalist gamer culture has turned some gaming consumers into a particularly odious, never-satisfied group of soulsuckers.

Here Be Monsters

RE7 as American Folk Horror

By Emma Kostopolus • September 28th, 2023

Folk horror is having a minute in the scholarly study of horror.

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