Friction Burns Unpacking Vulnerability, Empathy and Player Agency By Ruth Cassidy • December 17th, 2021 It’s that moment when you walk down the street and realise that every single stranger, whose presence is fleeting in your life, has lived an entire history up until that moment.
Friction Burns Authoritarianism (In Frostpunk) Is Not Inevitable By Ruth Cassidy • December 10th, 2021 In that optimisation-first mindset, it’s easy to do – violence will make this problem go away’. But then, so would meeting your citizens’ material needs.
Friction Burns Dishonored’s Chaos System Was Never Punishing You By Ruth Cassidy • November 12th, 2021 Dishonored’s Chaos system introduces a world where you can take exactly what you want, and have fun with it, but the cost is laid bare.
Friction Burns Urgency and Mastery in Umurangi Generation By Ruth Cassidy • October 29th, 2021 While I followed advice to turn off the timer, I kept chewing on its presence. Was it at odds with the game’s purpose, or was I acting in conflict with it?
Feature Excerpt Pendragon and Anti-Fascist Medievalism By Ruth Cassidy • October 29th, 2021 “Camelot has, for the moment, fallen, but the dream of Camelot – of a sane Government by consensus, led by an Arthur and not a Mordred – must and will live on.”
Friction Burns How Disco Elysium’s Centrist Path Observes the Player By Ruth Cassidy • October 1st, 2021 “It isn’t about diplomacy, or pacifying all sides, but about absolute control.”
Feature Excerpt Imagining the Future in Games By Ruth Cassidy • June 24th, 2021 A vision of tomorrow, today!
Feature Excerpt Your Choices Matter: The Real Power Fantasy By Ruth Cassidy • August 28th, 2020 An interview with the co-narrative leads on Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire about subverting that power fantasy of the Chosen One.
