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Here Be Monsters

Here Be Monsters
SHODAN from System Shock gazes ominously at the viewer, electric green and purple beams of light shooting outward from her face.

The Banality of AI Hell, or: We Were Worried About the Wrong Thing

By Emma Kostopolus • May 6th, 2025

I know you’re watching me type this, Copilot.

Here Be Monsters

Letting the Days Go By: The Historical Horrors of Pentiment

By Emma Kostopolus • April 9th, 2025

The history we record and maintain is a “fable agreed upon” written by the people in positions of power.

Here Be Monsters
A screenshot from Crow Country shows a woman standing in the center of a very dark and funky bathroom, the line of urinals along one wall looking scarier than any ghost.

In Defense of Tank Controls

By Emma Kostopolus • March 5th, 2025

We don’t need to throw the super cool atmospheric and mechanically interesting baby out with the bathwater of outdated hardware limitations.

Here Be Monsters

The Fable of Myhouse.wad, or: Why We Should All Be Scared of ChatGPT

By Emma Kostopolus • February 5th, 2025

Every time someone uses text or art generated by an LLM, they have allowed the AI to make decisions about the final composition.

Here Be Monsters

Same as It Ever Was: Narrative Fidelity and the Art of the Remake

By Emma Kostopolus • January 10th, 2025

Silent Hill 2 Remake feels more like a retelling of a classic tale, almost a myth, than a remake of a singular media property.

Here Be Monsters
A mustachioed man in an argyle sweater vest menacingly holds a shovel in art from the game Hello Neighbor.

The Discomfort of “Hello Neighbor” in Contemporary America

By Emma Kostopolus • November 7th, 2024

The people under the tightest scrutiny are already the most vulnerable – our queer, trans, and POC neighbors.

Here Be Monsters
A screenshot from Ooblets shows three cute little bubbas: a tiny radish, a skull-faced pink cow thing, and a tiny cactus.

Spoopy, Not Spooky: The Intersections of Cozy Games and Horror

By Emma Kostopolus • September 4th, 2024

While on the surface they’re fairly dissimilar, there’s pretty substantial evidence that the Venn Diagram of spooky vs. cozy game enjoyers has a large middle section.

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.

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