Five More From PAX East 2019 By Levi Rubeck • May 23rd, 2019 Cutting through my notes of PAX East 2019 (and earlier, gulp) to drop a few thoughts on small, punchy games coming forth hopefully soon.
Chasing Pinballs Through the Earth By Levi Rubeck • May 16th, 2019 Creature in the Well is a sly title that purports that everything’s all been laid out.
The Beatdown is Coming Back By Levi Rubeck • May 9th, 2019 Streets of Rage 4 is as much a mixtape rhythm game as it was a brawl simulator.
Cuter Than a Cat in a Bowtie By Levi Rubeck • May 2nd, 2019 There’s more to Outerloop Games’s Falcon Age than the titular falcon.
Looking Ahead to Panzer Paladin as it Looks Back By Levi Rubeck • April 25th, 2019 A pinch of Titanfall, a little Mega Man, a fair shake of a couple Zelda’s, all coming from the well-seasoned sprite chefs at Tribute, I was already on board with Panzer Paladin.
So the Katana is Back By Levi Rubeck • April 11th, 2019 Like black clothes and classic jams, some things never go out of style, and we might as well just pin ninjas to the list now and forever.
Let Jawbreaker Live By Levi Rubeck • April 4th, 2019 They were young, money and booze and tour life made things shitty, then it all fell apart, it’s nothing really new or altogether special.
The Sax Always Brings Me Back By Levi Rubeck • March 28th, 2019 Angel Du$t fooled the old fans by daring each to hate this laser-beam of everything they’ve ever worked towards.
Let the Hero Speak By Levi Rubeck • March 21st, 2019 Fiction finds common ground by showing us the ubiquity of life’s specificities—I may not have lost my hometown, but I can relate to the loss of loved ones.
Never is that Brief Flash Resented By Levi Rubeck • March 14th, 2019 When a relationship is sent crashing, the unmoored self can be so easily thrashed upon the rocks—it’s necessary to reaffirm that sense of self, to rejoin that once-blended ego.
New Street Fighter for Old Hands By Levi Rubeck • March 7th, 2019 A lot of games try to replicate, if not exactly duplicate, the inherent friction and flow of what’s splayed on screens, but not Street Fighter Exceed.
The Slither and the Bop By Levi Rubeck • February 28th, 2019 While there are many bands I love that I feel don’t get their due, I’m particularly chapped that I can hardly find mention of Just a Fire online
Improving Your Headspace with Blades By Levi Rubeck • February 22nd, 2019 It is nice to be someone else for a while, even if that somebody is a scoundrel.
They Killed the Mechs so that the Pilots Might Live By Levi Rubeck • February 14th, 2019 Apex Legends is still fresh from the wrapper, but the squad communication, weapons, and range of tactical options already serve up a delectable sushi of hide-and-seek with bullets.
Now You’re Playing with Potential By Levi Rubeck • February 7th, 2019 As an early access cyberpunk game, 2084 currently floats on mists of possibility.
In Memoriam: Keiji of Celene, Drow Ninja By Levi Rubeck • January 31st, 2019 I want to lower my head for all the dead and abandoned characters we’ve lost
Artificial Interpersonal Relationships By Levi Rubeck • January 24th, 2019 CrossCode tingles with succulent friction and the loops carry me along on a raft that feels like home, even if I’m unsure where I’m going.
In the Trenches with Root By Levi Rubeck • January 17th, 2019 Where Root delightfully succeeds is melding the central conceits of territorial control games like Risk with resource management sims like Settlers of Catan, all blended with the exceptional art of illustrator Kyle Ferrin bringing in a whiff of Mouse Guard.
To Better Know that Death By Levi Rubeck • January 3rd, 2019 Gather round, lay out the tarot and find out the manner of our end.
Escape from the Sweet Board Game Bubble By Levi Rubeck • December 20th, 2018 There’s a bubble brewing around board games.
When I Flip a Card, I Hear the Sounds of Transforming By Levi Rubeck • December 13th, 2018 The Tranformers CCG is…more than meets the eye. (not sorry)
Netrunner, Begin Again By Levi Rubeck • December 6th, 2018 Netrunner is an itch that will always need scratching.
Old Dog, New WASD By Levi Rubeck • November 29th, 2018 Levi has controller problems, but the public stage of Overwatch is not the place to practice new configurations.
Restorative Hardcore By Levi Rubeck • November 23rd, 2018 Hardcore has always struggled with this idea of restoration. As a sound it implodes buildings, razes the ground, acts as a cleansing flame.
Gwent for One By Levi Rubeck • November 15th, 2018 Believe it or not, Carly Rae Jepsen’s new single sets the tone for Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales.
Diary of a First-Time Dungeon Master By Levi Rubeck • November 8th, 2018 “I want to do a perception check on that guard’s butt.”
Call Dad By Levi Rubeck • November 1st, 2018 Make noise, refuse to settle, share the heat with somebody, check in with your loved ones.
The Myth of Difficulty By Levi Rubeck • October 25th, 2018 It’s not grit or will or skill. You survive on luck, pure and simple.
A Criticism of Adequacy By Levi Rubeck • October 18th, 2018 Katamari Damacy blindsided videogames with style and simplicity, imploding the paradigm of violence for a brief, fantastic moment.
A Bus Full of Dogs in El Salvador By Levi Rubeck • October 11th, 2018 As the world shrinks, Stonebot games shows the value of staying local, thinking big, and defending man’s best friend.
The Lifelong Labor of a Working Musician By Levi Rubeck • October 4th, 2018 For every post-Nirvana success story, there are cemeteries choked with the tombstones of failed major label alternative and grunge bands.
Bullets are the Pennies By Levi Rubeck • September 27th, 2018 Destiny 2 is penny slots, a string of tiny thrills occasionally punctuated with glowing ones.
The Loop Remains the Same By Levi Rubeck • September 6th, 2018 In Dead Cells, The Prisoner is a loose G.I. Joe winding through a bedroom jungle by hand, a two-legged finger ninja pirouetting on the kitchen table.
In Defense of the Wrong Record By Levi Rubeck • August 30th, 2018 Fans usually reach a consensus on a band’s best work, but what do fans know?
Seize the Sandbox By Levi Rubeck • August 23rd, 2018 I don’t want to craft my own tale in the game, I want to live vicariously through a meticulously arranged narrative.
Chasm Emerges from the Depths By Levi Rubeck • August 7th, 2018 Chasm ticks all the boxes, but at the same time suffers from its own success. I want it to be just a little bit more.
Mini-Operas in Grind and Glitch By Levi Rubeck • July 26th, 2018 How grindcore taught me to appreciate Tierra Whack.
Daughters Split Open Their Satanic Chrysalis By Levi Rubeck • July 18th, 2018 This country has had no shortage of crusty street preachers, split-lip soothsayers crawling across glass-littered asphalt to cough up a truth few are brave enough to bear.
Ill Considered’s Sublime Echolocation By Levi Rubeck • July 12th, 2018 I watched Lost Highway alone at midnight, on a sweltering Northern California summer evening, and when it was finally over I only really retained two thoughts.
Netrunner is Dead, Long Live Netrunner By Levi Rubeck • July 5th, 2018 It’s a lifestyle game, and like the word implies, to live the Netrunner life is to let it consume your thoughts at all times.
