Letter From the Editor Unwinnable Monthly – May 2019 – PETS! By Stu Horvath • May 16th, 2019 Made possible by our last subscription drive, the Pets Issue is here!
Fire in the Sky – The Story of the Halley’s Comet Panic of 1910 By Jen Sisco and Robin Mazzolla • May 14th, 2019 The comet is coming! The comet is coming!
Documentary Sunday The Cleaners By Megan Condis • May 13th, 2019 A new kind of custodial labor is working to keep your social media feeds free from trolls, hate groups and terrorist organizations.
Self-Insert A+ Parenting By Amanda Hudgins • May 12th, 2019 Fanfics dive into how one generation’s crappy fictional dad makes the next generation’s neurotic protagonist.
Another Look The Silent Rot of Sekiro By Yussef Cole • May 9th, 2019 Repeated failed attempts in Sekiro have wide-reaching consequences, but does the player’s persistence leave permanent scars?
The Burnt Offering The Incorrect Way By Stu Horvath • May 8th, 2019 Stu and David delight in playing serious games on their own terms.
Not So Happy Mothers Day: The Tale of Anna Jarvis By Jen Sisco and Robin Mazzolla • May 7th, 2019 The story of Mother’s Day is surprising monkey’s paw.
Resurrectionists Gone Wrong: The Tale of Burke and Hare, Part 2 By Jen Sisco and Robin Mazzolla • May 7th, 2019 Part 2 of the chilling saga of Burke and Hare is here!
Backlog Nats Fans Bid Kid Fuck Off By Gavin Craig • May 4th, 2019 It’s not personal. It’s just money.
A Story of Crunch By Malindy Hetfeld • April 29th, 2019 Telling a personal story of voluntary overwork, Malindy Hetfeld tries to describe the ways of thinking and circumstances that lead to harmful practices and their continuation.
Resurrectionists Gone Wrong: The Tale of Burke and Hare, Part 1 By Jen Sisco and Robin Mazzolla • April 23rd, 2019 Mr. Burke, meet Mr. Hare.
The Nine Types of Vampires and What They Represent By Lauren James • April 21st, 2019 From ancient myths to modern-day fairy tales, the monsters of our imagination have almost always served as manifestations of real-life fears.
Crooked Construction – The Story of the Leaning Tower of Pisa By Jen Sisco and Robin Mazzolla • April 16th, 2019 Why DOES the tower of Pisa lean?
Unmissable: Episode 5 By Sara Clemens and David Shimomura • April 15th, 2019 It’s part one of a Jordan Peele double header!
Rookie of the Year The Half-Baked Book Review: 1Q84 By Matt Marrone • April 12th, 2019 Matt Marrone had a brilliant idea for a series: Reviews of half-read books. Written for parents of small children.
Jamaica’s Forgotten Tale – The White Witch of Rose Hall By Jen Sisco and Robin Mazzolla • April 9th, 2019 Notorious Narratives investigates Jamaica’s White Witch.
This Mortal Coyle Drea By Deirdre Coyle • April 8th, 2019 For someone who constantly jokes about dying, the chance to date a ghost carries its own morbid comfort.
The Burnt Offering Metal is My Church By Stu Horvath • April 4th, 2019 Stu Horvath ponders the alchemy behind taste as he reconsiders a “cheeseball” artist from his nascent metal education.
Deadly Drinks – The Story of The Chemist’s War By Jen Sisco and Robin Mazzolla • April 3rd, 2019 Notorious Narratives takes on Prohibition.
Exploits Feature Culture vs. Canon By Gavin Craig and Elijah Beahm • April 2nd, 2019 A long running discussion about culture vs. canon between Gavin Craig and Elijah Beahm culminates in a thrilling head-to-head confrontation.
Backlog Whose Apocalypse? By Gavin Craig • April 2nd, 2019 While wandering through Far Cry: New Dawn’s unplausible dystopia, Gavin Craig sees it as just one ending in a cycle as old as time.
Another Look Alone at the End of the World By Yussef Cole • April 1st, 2019 Why developers continue to make post-apocalyptic games is well studied. Yussef Cole instead examines why players like himself love returning to their ruined worlds.
The McMaster Files The Rules By Jason McMaster • March 30th, 2019 Mental illness can make a person obsessive, which – as Jason finds – makes it nearly impossible to dislike games.
Unmissable: Episode 4 By Sara Clemens and David Shimomura • March 28th, 2019 It’s all about games on this week’s episode of Unmissable!
Feature Excerpt Donut County and the Boisterous History of White Guilt By Jason Dafnis • March 26th, 2019 The quirky indie game makes a statement on gentrification, capitalism, and – in the raccoon BK’s character – the weaponization of racial guilt.
Feature Excerpt Replaying Deus Ex In An Age of Conspiracy Theorists By Mark Hill • March 26th, 2019 Nineteen years after its release, Deus Ex’s story reveals its age far more than its clunky graphics ever could.
The Family Curse – The Tale of Lemp Mansion By Jen Sisco and Robin Mazzolla • March 26th, 2019 Money can’t buy happiness, especially when there is a curse involved.
Feature Friday Nights in the Hostile Environment By Rob Haines • March 20th, 2019 British developer PanicBarn’s Not Tonight offers a Brexit-flavored critique of the past ten years of the hostile environment.
A Witness to Assassination – The Story of Major Henry Rathbone By Jen Sisco and Robin Mazzolla • March 19th, 2019 The sad tale of the man who tried to capture John Wilkes Booth.
James Lowder Interview (Plus Call of Cthulhu Goodies) By Stu Horvath and John McGuire • March 18th, 2019 We chat with Chaosium executive fiction editor and RPG industry vet James Lowder. We also discuss the Call of Cthulhu Starter Set and Chaosium’s Lovecraft for Beginning Readers series.
Collision Detection Tidying Up the Old Videogame Collection By Ben Sailer • March 13th, 2019 Sometimes, stuff’s just gotta go. Even if you loved it.
Hard to Kill- The Tale of Mike Malloy By Jen Sisco and Robin Mazzolla • March 12th, 2019 Sometimes a story is so unbelievable that it must be true. That is the case for the legend of Mike Malloy.
Another Look Art School, Demystified By Yussef Cole • March 11th, 2019 With Art Sqool, Yussef deals with his academic FOMO.
Backlog Partial List of Reasons for Writing a List in Place of a Column By Gavin Craig • March 7th, 2019 People love lists. See: the entirety of the internet.
Dirty Days – The Dust Bowl By Jen Sisco and Robin Mazzolla • March 5th, 2019 The Dust Bowl is one of the worst man-made ecologic disasters in human history.
Representing Disabilities: An Evolution in Gaming By Quin Callahan • March 1st, 2019 We’re finally seeing more people with disabilities in games, but casual representation still pales in comparison to those defined by tragic backstories.
Wash Your Hands: The Story of an Epidemic in NYC By Jen Sisco and Robin Mazzolla • February 26th, 2019 In this episode, Jen tells you how peach ice cream became a killer dessert.
The Mysterious City of Petra By Jen Sisco and Robin Mazzolla • February 19th, 2019 Few know the true story of Petra’s past, present and future.
The Most Kissed Woman in History By Jen Sisco and Robin Mazzolla • February 14th, 2019 You may not know who the most kissed woman in history is, and it may surprise you to hear that she is a corpse.
Rookie of the Year Falling Hard for the Bent-Neck Lady By Matt Marrone • February 12th, 2019 Matt Marrone may not be scared of the Bent-Neck Lady, but her iconic scene proves so horrifying it’s poetic.