Unwinnable

             

Unwinnable MonthlyExploitsGames MoviesTVMusic|Store|Subscribe

Interlinked

Interlinked
A screenshot of Raziel from Legacy of Kain: Defiance. He is a skeletal wraith and has a scarf covering the bottom half of his face.

Don’t Fear the Reaver

By Phoenix Simms • November 3rd, 2023

Raziel, the tragic wraith protagonist of the Soul Reaver series, contains within his arc a nuanced portrayal of how an energy vampire is made and unmade.

Interlinked

Grounding The Games Industry

By Phoenix Simms • September 29th, 2023

Games, despite all their innovative trappings, are trash. To be more specific – games can create a lot of socioeconomic trash.

Interlinked
Art from Final Fantasy VIII showing the character Laguna in the midst of battle.

Squall is Extradimensional

By Phoenix Simms • September 8th, 2023

When Laguna knew Squall and his allies were there but felt they were like faeries hovering in the ether unseen, wasn’t that what early encounters on forums and instant chat services felt like?

Interlinked
A long corridor in a school building rendered in sepia tones.

Uprooting Time

By Phoenix Simms • August 4th, 2023

Déraciné is an interesting rumination on what makes game narratives convincing, but it’s also a game that effectively communicates EcoGothic fears of being at the mercy of nature.

Interlinked

Mythology of the Commons

By Phoenix Simms • June 2nd, 2023

While there isn’t necessarily an overtly intersectional EcoGothic tone to Folklore, it does deal with bodies irrevocably changed by nature, binaries and transformed bodies.

Interlinked
A close-up of Daisy Fitzroy's face in Bioshock Infinite. She is a determined-looking young black woman with tied-back braids.

Less Punk and More Funk

By Phoenix Simms • May 5th, 2023

What would a character like Daisy Fitzroy have been capable of if her script in Bioshock Infinite were handled by an African American writer with a Steamfunk sensibility?

Interlinked
The face of the Katamari king surrounded by rainbow circles rippling outward.

Rolling Up

By Phoenix Simms • April 6th, 2023

We Love Katamari and the series it’s a part of is about the alchemy of persistence at its core. You take what’s available to you and turn it into a star.

Interlinked
An 8-bit rendering of a pale blue teacup and saucer on a wooden countertop.

What We Make From the Ruins

By Phoenix Simms • March 8th, 2023

Phoenix chats with the lead game narrative designer of The Archipelago about writing a game that explores both the political and personal.

Interlinked
Melinoë, the protagonist of the videogame Hades II. She wears an orange mini dress and has her hair cut into a blunt bob. Her left arm glows with a mystical light.

The Triple Goddess Effect

By Phoenix Simms • February 2nd, 2023

Like Hades protagonist Zagreus, Melinoë is also connected to an Orphic hymn, this time one that sings of her as a “saffron veil’d” nymph that inspires both night terrors and madness in people.

Interlinked
Greta, the female gremlin from Gremlins 2, poses in a sequined red gown and pink feather boa, a large red flower pinned to her shiny green mane of wavy tresses. Her makeup is flawless on her scaly green face.

Gremlin Girl Energy

By Phoenix Simms • January 5th, 2023

Greta is both a problem and a potential solution to that problem, but when read under a more feminist-revisionist lens, she’s charmingly camp, she’s a 90s icon and she’s absolutely that bitch.

  • « Previous
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • Next »
Video Games - Comics - Sci-Fi - Pulp

© Unwinnable, LLC.

All content is owned by Unwinnable and the fine folks who contribute to it, so just back up off it Mr. Sticky Fingers. Support criticism with your clicks, quality publications with your bucks and always tip your bartender.

  • About
  • Staff
  • Advertise
  • Submissions
  • Privacy