Here's the Thing Grappling With Game Pass By Rob Rich • February 14th, 2023 A brief sojourn with Xbox Game Pass helps Rob come around on the concept of online game streaming.
Brain Scratch Bibbdi Babbdi Boo By Steven Nguyen Scaife • February 13th, 2023 I’m constantly struck by how little a game needs in order to evoke places and processes, how crude its materials can appear without compromising clarity of vision.
Forms in Light Remembering the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire By Justin Reeve • February 10th, 2023 Dishonored is a game which harkens back to a time when protection for working people was practically nonexistent, ruthless exploitation being the rule.
All The World’s A Stage By Jonathan Fenn • February 8th, 2023 Theatrical allusions don’t need to hit you over the head with high-concept meta-textual narratives in order to be effective.
Casting Deep Meteo Mapping MÖRK BORG’s Cruel Delights By Levi Rubeck • February 8th, 2023 Then it hit me, like a dirty lightbulb in an ancient office that’s gone undisturbed for far too long – I can draw these rooms.
Friction Burns When Dwarves Won’t Do What You Want Them To By Ruth Cassidy • February 7th, 2023 Friction is FUN.
Area of Effect “The Abundant Nature” By Jay Castello • February 7th, 2023 The only thing I remembered from Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s advertisement cycle was the shot where they cut to a deeply bland outdoor scene overlaid with the phrase in question.
Exploits Feature The Beauty of Backlog By Connor Queen • February 3rd, 2023 Speak to most gamers, and they’ll probably tell you the same thing: Backlogs are annoying.
Interlinked 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.
Cairn By Stu Horvath and John McGuire • January 30th, 2023 Part two of our series on ultra-light RPGs, this one mashes up Into the Odd and Knave!
Here Be Monsters Can Scorn Get Out From Under the Cosmic Horror Legacy? By Emma Kostopolus • January 27th, 2023 Scorn and other sci-fi horror games like it rely almost entirely on the horror of the unknown – the unknowable, the inconceivable, and the, well, alien.
Past Presence Recursion By Emily Price • January 26th, 2023 Over the break, I started playing Dwarf Fortress, a game about avoiding the recurring, inevitable spiral of collapse for as long as you can.
I Played It, Like, Twice... Unexpected Joys in Small Packages in Warhammer Quest: Lost Relics By Orrin Grey • January 23rd, 2023 Lost Relics feels a bit more like a game of chess (albeit played against the board) than a standard dungeon crawl.
Feature Excerpt Hideo Kojima Hates You By Emma Kostopolus • January 23rd, 2023 A study in difficulty scaling.
Into the Odd By Stu Horvath and John McGuire • January 23rd, 2023 Ultra-lite RPGs in the vein of D&D, part one of three!
Feature Excerpt Time Loop of Trauma By Alma Roda-Gil • January 20th, 2023 There is no catharsis to be had at the end of Returnal’s time loop. It becomes clear, as the player finishes the story, that it will keep going.
Letter from the Editor Unwinnable Monthly – January 2023 By David Shimomura • January 19th, 2023 Welcome to 2023!
Fantasy Gamer’s Compendium By Stu Horvath and John McGuire • January 16th, 2023 Third party publishing, ’80s-style.
Insert Coin A Tale of Two Relics By Madison Butler • January 13th, 2023 Comparing and contrasting 2022’s The Case of the Golden Idol and 2018’s Return of the Obra Dinn.
Pentiment: Thirteen Ways to Look at a Murder By Francisco Dominguez • January 10th, 2023 Once you’ve dismantled religious conviction and the formative myths behind a place’s existence, what comes next?
Open World Two Deaths By Edward Smith • January 9th, 2023 What I see I guess in all this are microcosmic pictures, metaphors, illustrations of how goddamn unknowable everything seems nowadays.
Dungeons & Dragons Third Edition By Stu Horvath and John McGuire • January 9th, 2023 The great revival? A natural progression? Or something in-between?
Three Paths Towards Approaching Mental Illness in Videogames By Kurt Grunsky • January 6th, 2023 These games differ greatly in their approaches, but each provides its own alternative to the more common portrayals and could be said to focus more on the broader theme of “living with mental illness.”
2012: The Shooter’s Overlooked Apex By Van Dennis • January 4th, 2023 While 2012 didn’t quite have one singular release that set the world on fire or dominated the discourse, it still stands out because of just how many gems it had that’ve aged incredibly well and continue to affect the medium and industry a decade later.
The Rust Monster (Remastered) By Stu Horvath and John McGuire • January 2nd, 2023 A rerun! This week, we dial it back to November 18, 2019, and our episode on the Rust Monster.
Exploits Feature Unpacking By Krista McCay • January 2nd, 2023 Objects they keep, objects they part with…
Sears Wish Books, 1982-84 (Remastered) By Stu Horvath and John McGuire • December 26th, 2022 A rerun! This week, we dial it back to December 24, 2018, and our episode on the Sears Wish Book.
Revving the Engine How Dracma Studios is Lighting Its Own Path With Candle Knight By Ben Sailer • December 22nd, 2022 Mexico-based Dracma Studios is creating more than just an intriguing platformer with Candle Knight. They’re lighting a path forward for themselves (and developers across Latin America).
Friction Burns Power Without Control In Pentiment By Ruth Cassidy • December 21st, 2022 Pentiment is a game about the changing balance of social power, and this uncomfortable dinner sets the stage for how even words are catalysts of change.
Made of Lines and Vines Sands That Set Planets Apart By Saniya Ahmed • December 20th, 2022 Sable is a desert of mystery, technological science, and whimsicality.
Here's the Thing The End of Return to Monkey Island By Rob Rich • December 19th, 2022 After reaching the end of the latest Monkey Island game, Rob was surprised by how hard he was hit by the ending.
Forms in Light Anatomy of an Airplane By Justin Reeve • December 19th, 2022 This might be the moment to take an architectural approach to the best warbird of them all, the P51 Mustang.
Dragonroar By Stu Horvath and John McGuire • December 19th, 2022 Cry havoc and let slip the hedgehogs of war!
Casting Deep Meteo Ghost of Tsushima and the Cutting Word By Levi Rubeck • December 16th, 2022 Reading poetry becomes work; writing poetry is meant to be freedom unbound.
Brain Scratch Lonely Heart of the Cards Club By Steven Nguyen Scaife • December 14th, 2022 The one Lord apparently has better things to do than stop the scavenger hunt for a forbidden trading card collection.
Advanced Fighting Fantasy By Stu Horvath and John McGuire • December 12th, 2022 First a gamebook series, then a fully-fledged RPG!
Interlinked The Prince of Hades Laughs with a Mouthful of Blood By Phoenix Simms • December 8th, 2022 Zagreus is definitely a liminal figure trapped in a purgatorial space – and this metaphor extends to the entire setting of Hades.