Best of Unwinnable – Archive

Queen Without a Throne

By •
Do we really expect the show to make a meaningful statement about the tenuous grip Westerosi women have on power?

Yes, Cersei’s decisions are usually ill-conceived and ineffective. Yes, she is selfish and prideful and vindictive. Yes, she is consistently depicted as one of the show’s main antagonists. That doesn’t change the realities of the political landscape Cersei occupies, or the misogyny that consistently tries to disempower her.

This is Not Your World: An Essay in Two Parts

By •
Without a controller in our lap or a television screen before us or, perhaps, an Oculus Rift strapped to our face, we could not pretend we are immersed (and make no mistake, to be immersed is to pretend, to make believe).

Some thoughts on immersion and virtual worlds.

Second Banana

By •
"They didn’t identify with Robin, they wanted to be Batman."

Ethan Sacks looks at the role of the sidekick – from the problematic to the progressive.

Episode IV: A New Hope – With a Twist

By •
When Anakin Skywalker turned to the dark side, Leia was taken to Alderaan and Luke to Tatooine. But what if it was the other way around?

Jill Scharr does a little Episode IV character swapping.

Relational Quantum Mechanics and Game of Thrones

By •
As a defender of criticism and a writer, one is perpetually thinking about story ideas. This affliction gets especially dangerous when it is paired with an idealist outlook.

Jordan Young shows you how problematic it is to be an overconfident writer who thinks entirely too much.

bioshock infinite

We Stared Into Infinity and Saw Only Madness

By •
An analysis and judgment of the merits and faults of the Bioshock franchise.

For Dennis Scimeca, Bioshock Infinite is exactly the game it is supposed to be.

He’s Still Alive

By •
I don't think I've ever played a videogame that takes place in an ICU before.

Jenn Frank plays a rough demo of the heart-wrenching adventure game That Dragon, Cancer.