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Author: J.M. Henson

A screenshot from The Isle of Sgail mission in Hitman, with a dark nightclub where an armed guard stands before a red doorway, a woman in a white pantsuit struts across the stage, and a bald man in a white mask and tuxedo peers on from behind cover

Where Do We Go From the Isle of Sgàil

By J.M. Henson • January 23rd, 2025

If the world dies, then capitalism will die with it.

A screenshot from Nickelodeon Barnyard where we see three farm animals on top of a barn, a cow pulling a chicken back in a gian slingshot and a... weasel? I think? helping?

Where are the Games for Children?

By J.M. Henson • December 11th, 2024

There is no greater void in the current market than games intended for children.

A screenshot from one of the various iterations of to catch a predator, featuring the show title in a treatment that looks like a web address

To Rewatch a Predator

By J.M. Henson • September 27th, 2024

Was I laughing at the reactions of terrible people ruining their lives, or was I laughing at the quirks of people who, to some extent or another, are unable to fully recognize the severity of their offenses?

A crop of some key art for Metro 2033 Last Light, with a soldier in black with a gas mask and helmet and handmade firearm crawls through the ruined buildings of post apocalypse Moscow

The Grimy Optimism of the Metro Series

By J.M. Henson • August 2nd, 2024

There’s a sense of forward momentum in the tunnels.

A screenshot from Fallout 4 in the sterile white walled Institute lab with a synth trooper in white armor getting shot by a laser

Fallout 4: The Railroad Has a Short Track

By J.M. Henson • June 24th, 2024

The questions of Civil Rights and self-determination that the Railroad are attempting to posit to the broader Commonwealth are rendered secondary (at best) to secret-agent roleplaying.

Title art for Getting Over It with Bennet Foddy with the player character in a cauldron on the left by a tree and the mountain looming to the right

Learning to Love the Mountain While Getting Over It

By J.M. Henson • May 9th, 2024

To begin the task of climbing was to promise myself that I could reach the summit. 

Max Hass holds BJ's head against his own as an intimate greeting while BJ reciprocates the feeling

Why Max Hass Matters

By J.M. Henson • April 1st, 2024

The act of resisting the Nazi occupation with violence is not enough. The Resistance must also revolt via empathy towards those that fascism casts aside.

Four workers in total body suits with square helmets, flashlights, and some industrial gear pose as if something terrifying lurks just out of the frame

Lethal Company and the Ethos of the “Bad Job”

By J.M. Henson • February 16th, 2024

It is a fact of playing a horror game ad nauseam that it will at some point become less scary, and this is another facet of the gameplay loop that invokes the feeling of working a drab retail position.

A screenshot from the trailer for Bloodborne, with a hulking humanoid in a fedora stalking through bare streets with peaked buildings

Bloodborne’s Fresh Insight on Cosmic Horror

By J.M. Henson • January 12th, 2024

Then, halfway through the game, after exploring a city of beasts and a forest full of madmen and serpents, the player navigates the lost ruins of Byrgenwerth to a balcony overlooking a lake. They dive into the moon’s reflection, are brought to a white dimension beneath the water, and, perhaps unknowingly, they kill a god.

A screenshot from Grim Fandango where main character Manny stares out a window with an expressionless but still somehow mournful gaze

Grim Fandango and Notions of a Working-Class Underworld

By J.M. Henson • December 13th, 2023

Manuel’s status as the protagonist permits him this grand redemptive journey, but many of Grim Fandango’s most memorable side characters resonate specifically because they have simply allowed their afterlife to pass them by in menial jobs.

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