“Eternal Youths” – Happiness Vol. 4
For three volumes, artist and author Shuzo Oshimi has made it clear that the cast of Happiness struggle with growth; with the fourth, he shows how easily these impulses lead us to seek out paths of regression we mistake, in our confusion, for progression. In Gosho’s case this means befriending vampire hunter Sakurane, a man who, like her, has never been able to make peace with the death of a younger sibling. He may seem like a positive role-model for the doubting teen – constructive, motivated, wise – but anyone with perspective can see that his crusade against Nora and her
Do We Really Need a Netflix for Videogames?
There’s been a lot of talk about a ‘Netflix for games’ lately. It’s an appealing idea, of course: a simple monthly fee for access to more games than you could possibly play, with new games added every month. We’re already seeing tentative steps in this direction with services like EA Access and, in a roundabout sort of way, PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live Gold. But the hypothetical Netflix for games would be far bigger, boasting the kind of catalogue that leaves you hemming and hawing like the donkey caught between two bales of hay. It sounds like a good problem
The Franz Kafka Videogame Isn’t As Absurd As It Thinks
In the absurdist play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, the feuding couple, Martha and George, skirts the thin line between illusion and reality in their marriage. One eventful evening, Martha invited a young couple to their place for some drinks on a whim. The hosts—probably one of the worst pair in the history of theater—then pummel one other verbally in front of their guests, trading increasingly vindictive insults as the couple squirmed at the spectacle. After bickering over a series of incidents involving their son, the evening culminated with George gleefully telling Martha that their child had just died in
The Road to Hell is Paved in Remasters
“This makes me want to set myself on fire,” Stu Horvath immediately replied after I sent him a 9-minute video of the LocoRoco remaster. That might have been a smidge of an overreaction but there is one specific aspect of the news that makes me want to vomit: the “remaster” part. There’s no reason that the (excellent) 2006 PSP exclusive needed to be “remastered.” Yes, this underplayed gem should be made available for more people to play. However, what about this game needed to be “remastered” for 4K? No part. In fact, as more and more games from the early 2000s
Little Nightmares is Rage-Inducing For All the Wrong Reasons
Little Nightmares is incandescently lovely. It has the kind of look that feels like a showroom model for how good the Unreal Engine is. At the same time, Little Nightmares might be one of the worst games I’ve played, mechanically, in a long time. In short, this is the prettiest game I never want to play again. In Little Nightmares you play a yellow rain coated creature/child, trying to escape from the bowels of some sort of nightmare ship. Everything wants to eat you as if you are the finest of delicacies, every corner is dripping wet and affected –
Nostalgia is a Weight Around Breath of the Wild’s Neck
From gameplay to art direction, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is an unabashed triumph. In many ways, it has set a new standard for open-world games in terms of both freedom and exploration. Sound design is also a high point; the sound of Link’s feet on stone and the little cooking tune are fantastic touches in a tremendous work of sound. At the time of this writing, I have sunk thirty or so hours into BotW, and no doubt will play many, many more. For all the good that Breath of the Wild brings to the table, however, I
