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Category: Unwinnable Monthly

Revving the Engine
A top-down view of several houses in a neighborhood. They all have the same brown thatch, and the streets between them are cobblestone.

Beyond the Backdrop

By Levi Rubeck • April 20th, 2022

The digital scene maker RPGScenery helps pen and paper RPG game masters visualize their stories while making combat scenes more immersive and manageable.

Letter from the Editor

Unwinnable Monthly – April 1872

By David Shimomura • April 15th, 2022

A trip down memory lane for this special milestone!

No Accounting for Taste
In a still from Evangelion: 3.0+1.0, a dark-haired boy stares longingly in front of a blue sky filled with fluffy clouds.

Everything Old is New Again. And Then Some

By Adam Boffa • April 12th, 2022

Thanks to one weird trick, the reboot has gotten a new lease on life.

Here's the Thing

Finally Clicking With No Man’s Sky

By Rob Rich • April 8th, 2022

Rob admits to having a difficult time staying invested in No Man’s Sky and explains why things have suddenly changed for him.

Forms in Light
A screenshot from Okami showing its distinctive brushwork art style. In it a large red and whit fox sits under a sakura tree in bloom.

The Power of Print

By Justin Reeve • April 7th, 2022

For people in the past, writing represented a method of interacting with the world around them as opposed to a means of conveying information.

Casting Deep Meteo
A close-up of Arthur Morgan, the protagonist of the videogame Red Dead Redemption 2. He is a brunette white man with a five o'clock shadow. He wears a chambray shirt with suspenders and a black Stetson hat with brown braided leather trim.

No Free Will on the Range

By Levi Rubeck • April 6th, 2022

Red Dead Redemption 2 is not a buffet but a meal of many courses, each slicing away a little more denial from the last, to keep the saliva flowing.

The Heavy Pour
A line drawing of a girl in cutoff jean shorts and sneakers hanging upside down from a large tree branch. She is beaming.

Extra Lives

By Sara Clemens • April 5th, 2022

I can hunch over Electronic Gaming Monthly in the magazine aisle and pretend to be another angsty videogame geek. Everyone knows those are boys.

Rookie of the Year
A close-up on a bowl of cornflakes. A single slivered almond features prominently.

How to Play ‘Crunch of the Day’

By Matt Marrone • April 1st, 2022

Matt dishes the deets on the newest breakfast game sweeping the nation.

Interlinked
An animated woman gestures in the air serenely in front of blue computer code. She has long white hair with red highlights, light eyes, and is wearing a futuristic white and black outfit.

Reverse-Engineering a Living Archive

By Phoenix Simms • March 31st, 2022

Creative ideas in games, just like politics in games, don’t exist in isolation. Everything is a remix.

Collision Detection
A videogame screenshot shows several 16-bit characters engaged in a gunfight while paddling down a river in a canoe. Toppled stone ruins make up the scene behind them.

Harder Core Than Thou

By Ben Sailer • March 30th, 2022

Ben tries to figure out what defines games as hardcore and nearly goes insane.

Past Presence
In a screenshot from the game Dark Souls 2, a knight in full armor carrying a sword and shield advances against three foes who seem to have emerged from beneath the roots of a giant tree.

Die, Retrieve, Repeat, Succeed

By Emily Price • March 29th, 2022

The Souls series – and in particular, Dark Souls 2 – rewards death in the same breath that it punishes you for it.

Eyeing Elsewhere
In a screenshot from the videogame Yakuza: Like a Dragon, a shirtless man lies prone in a pile of rubble.

Taking Up Space

By Phillip Russell • March 28th, 2022

Yakuza: Like a Dragon impressively leans into the friction that exists when deploying political statements into its narrative.

The Beat Box

Noteworthy Hip Hop – March 2022

By Noah Springer • March 25th, 2022

Things are happening! Noah brings us some fresh new records for March.

Revving the Engine
The sunlit facade of the museum in the videogame Mukti. Smoke pours out of a smokestack in the foreground.

Night in the Museum

By Ben Sailer • March 24th, 2022

Mukti is an upcoming first-person narrative adventure title that sheds light on human trafficking and the plight of its survivors.

Feature Excerpt
A red-headed woman rides a bicycle down a cobblestone street, scarf flying wildly behind her. A man in jorts and t-shirt chases after her on foot, arms flailing.

Imagine the Possibilities

By Noah Hertz • March 23rd, 2022

How a college course in Second Life taught me everything I needed to know about the Metaverse.

Feature Excerpt
A silver sports car makes a left-banked turn on a professional racetrack. Lush trees line the outer perimeter of the track.

Missing Mediocrity

By Evan Dennis • March 22nd, 2022

The extinction of regular cars in racing games.

Letter from the Editor

Unwinnable Monthly – March 2022

By David Shimomura • March 15th, 2022

Driving games! College classes! Too many exclamation points!

Here's the Thing
A still from The Secret of NIMH featuring Mrs. Brisby looking worried. She is a light brown field mouse with large eyes. She wears a red cloak.

I Used to be That Guy

By Rob Rich • March 14th, 2022

Rob talks a bit about the type of person he used to be, and why he’s glad things have changed.

Forms in Light

Lost Cities

By Justin Reeve • March 10th, 2022

Shadow of the Tomb Raider gets a lot wrong about archaeology, but the game at least pokes a hole in the myth of the lost city.

Casting Deep Meteo
An astronaut floats adrift in darkest space. The face of their helmet is partially shattered, revealing a grimacing red skull within.

Impossible Decisions: The Game

By Levi Rubeck • March 8th, 2022

As I am not interested in a Mothership experience completely devoid of hope, I presume my players aren’t either. But this isn’t a stroll down candy corn avenue.

Another Look
In a browned-out videogame screen, a soldier in fatigues faces off against two mud-colored tanks.

Killing My People

By Yussef Cole • March 4th, 2022

My mother once walked in on my brother and I playing a PlayStation game called SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs. She interrupted our session, asking why we were “killing our people?”

Rookie of the Year
In a still from The Sopranos, four Italian men in well-tailored suits stare down the camera.

Why They Say My Last Name on the Sopranos

By Matt Marrone • March 3rd, 2022

The reason they say “Marone” instead of “Madone” on The Sopranos is actually an untold story – one that dates back to when Matt was an intern on the show.

Collision Detection
A blurry photo of a clock reading quarter-to-twelve. It looks as if the viewer is the one with blurred vision.

Pressing Pause

By Ben Sailer • March 2nd, 2022

Ben gets his year-end wrap-ups from various entertainment services and has an unexpected epiphany.

This Mortal Coyle
Along an autumn path, a figure in a fur-collared cape and horned helmet leans over to retrieve a small log.

The Witch from Wytchwood

By Deirdre Coyle • February 28th, 2022

The main question I have while considering Wytchwood is, why isn’t this my life? Should I acquire a goat companion? Would the goat get along with my cat?

Past Presence
A sidewalk view of a New York City street from underneath construction scaffolding. The plywood walls covering the facade of the building are graffiti'd. It is a dreary day.

Telling It Slant

By Emily Price • February 25th, 2022

A rumination on the second season of How To with John Wilson and how sometimes the best way to talk about one thing is to focus on another.

The Beat Box

Noteworthy Hip Hop – February 2022

By Noah Springer • February 24th, 2022

After a brief hiatus, Noah returns with five new albums for a sleepy February.

Interlinked
Three figures stand stoically on a dock at sunset.

Spiritfarer’s Recipe for Solarpunk

By Phoenix Simms • February 23rd, 2022

Spiritfarer is perhaps one of the most authentic solarpunk games out there today.

Revving the Engine

Bringing Back the Good Times

By Melissa King • February 23rd, 2022

The On3D Studios development team chats about their upcoming indie game D.A.N.G.E.R. Team, an action thriller borrowing its style from classic spy films.

Feature Excerpt
Five soldiers in heavy gear and camouflage fatigues wade through what looks like a pool of fiery lava.

Hell is Other Shooters

By Andrei Filote • February 22nd, 2022

If we organize our play to prepare for the demands of later life, then is it possible to create a new set of values simply by the games that we choose to play?

Feature Excerpt
A giant human eye is projected on an electric-framed screen in a room that seems to exist in a liminal space.

Comfort in the Abyss

By Luke Rotella • February 21st, 2022

My relationship with That Night, Steeped By Blood River.

Letter from the Editor
A large golden upper body looms large.

Unwinnable Monthly – February 2022

By David Shimomura • February 17th, 2022

February is cold and unforgiving. But we still make a magazine!

Here's the Thing
Four Old West men sit at a poker table, eyeing each other suspiciously.

I Miss The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.

By Rob Rich • February 11th, 2022

Rob reminisces about one of his favorite TV shows that was gone all too soon (like they always are).

Forms in Light
A view of a large Japanese temple as seen from below. Stone walls tower above the viewer. A flock of birds streaks across the cloudy sky.

Sekiro’s Floating World

By Justin Reeve • February 10th, 2022

Sekiro’s cloud motif likely refers to the “floating world” of the Edo period, which offered many services geared toward samurai and the rising merchant class.

Casting Deep Meteo
A fiery meteor cascades through an inky blue sky.

An Introduction

By Levi Rubeck • February 9th, 2022

A word of explanation on the particular alchemy of interests that fascinate and beguile our newest magazine columnist.

Another Look
An Atari videogame console with wood-grain detailing on the front panel. Includes joystick.

My Cousin’s Atari

By Yussef Cole • February 4th, 2022

Yussef receives a shock to the system (in more ways than one).

Rookie of the Year
The exterior of a sun-drenched, palatial red-bricked home. (It is not Matt Marrone's new house.)

I Bought a House

By Matt Marrone • February 3rd, 2022

Matt offers his tips on buying your first home.

Collision Detection
A white plastic Sega Dreamcast videogame console. The large controller features a small LCD screen and four brightly colored buttons in red, yellow, blue and green.

Welcome to the Circus of Value

By Ben Sailer • February 2nd, 2022

Ben ponders the absurdity of inflated videogame software and hardware valuations on the used market and nearly has an existential crisis.

Hyperfixations
A mountainous, forested landscape stretches far and wide. Small space craft fly towards futuristic buildings. In the distance, the inside of a gigantic ring stretches up into the clouds. The view seems to be inside it.

The Silent Cartography

By Julie Muncy • January 31st, 2022

When it comes to playing through the open world missions of Halo: Infinite, silence is golden.

This Mortal Coyle

Maureen Corley from Full Throttle

By Deirdre Coyle • January 28th, 2022

Were Ben Throttle and Maureen Corley secretly boning after all?

Past Presence
Tiny multicolored squares are arranged in larger blocks on a black background. Their orientation suggests a top-down view of a warehouse setup.

Unholy Aisles

By Emily Price • January 27th, 2022

In a new column, Emily Price sets out to examine media objects’ relationships to time and loss.

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