Last weekend, the two of us played Bound (Plastic Demoscene Group), a game released last month that makes use of surreal landscapes and surreal storytelling. And its surreality and fluid fragmentation seem to work to construct a narrative and world that shifts and changes, that asks us to constantly question the […]
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Space travel has always been fascinating to me. Not fascinating enough to make me want to actually go to space, but definitely intriguing enough to watch it from afar. I blame this, in part, on my mother. When I was a child we watched Star Trek every Sunday. It was […]
This week several of us played review copies of Lost Sea, a game that launched yesterday on XBox One and launches on July 5th on PS4 and PC. We have decided to come together and write a collaborative review that allows us to discuss our thoughts about the game more comprehensively*. […]
Supermassive Games’ Until Dawn is often mentioned as playing on a number of horror tropes. Everyone can survive (depending), the two sex-craziest teens may have a real heart-to-heart about vulnerability (maybe), the ostensible Final Girl could meet her maker while others survive (possibly), and the black guy might make it (if […]
No Man’s Sky, the procedurally generated universe-exploring created by the small team at Hello Games, may have made a splash at this year’s E3, but last night’s demo on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert launched the game into a whole new dimension. Hello Games’ co-founder Sean Murray seemed in his […]
(Spoilers ahead) Supermassive Games’ Until Dawn had me rolling my eyes from moment one. The first chapter, with its cast of self-centered teenagers and cliché narrative, annoyed me to my bones because it’s a scenario that perfectly fits in the horror movie framework and it’s one I’ve seen countless times […]
You find yourself licking the salt from your lips, an automatic action, as you guide your small boat through a flooded metropolis, the motor sputtering like an old man struggling to catch a breath. The encompassing silence in the seemingly desolate city would be crushing had it not been for […]
Last year, as I was getting ready to move out to Indiana to begin my Ph.D. program, I watched the first season of the French television series The Returned. As I watched each episode (while I piled books into boxes and wrapped plates up in paper), I was struck by […]
After years of clamoring and hoping, fans finally got confirmation of dreams come true: Square Enix is remaking the classic, fan-favorite 1997 RPG Final Fantasy VII. Such a possibility was teased as far back as E3 2005, with the PlayStation 3 tech demo, and it’s captured the fanbase’s imagination since. […]
As a LEGO fan and a gamer, I have enjoyed many of the LEGO video games, but LEGO Jurassic World has been my most anticipated LEGO video game by far. I like the superhero film franchises, like Batman well enough, and LEGO Batman 2 is thus far my all time […]
I’m not sure why I call myself such an unapologetic fan of Bethesda Softworks and all their related arms; I played Skyrim a while, but found it mostly boring, I won’t touch Elder Scrolls Online, and if you mention The Evil Within, I will set off on an hour-long rant […]
One more week to go. Can you feel it? Is your body ready, Reggie Fils-Aime? Nintendo On June 14, Nintendo will stream some sort of Super Smash Bros. announcement on Twitch. What could it be? (Please let it involve an Amiibo restock.) Sony Could The Last Guardian actually show up? […]
It’s June 1, which means E3 is only two weeks away. The floodgates are opening, releasing a deluge of pre-E3 announcements. Check out a quick roundup below. Microsoft Rise of the Tomb Raider gets a new trailer two weeks ahead of E3. Check out its box art. Respawn Entertainment will not unveil […]
PlayStation recently announced plans to launch storyline DLC for The Last of Us, 2014’s Left Behind, as its own title on the PlayStation store on May 12. It will be available on both PS3 and PS4 for $10 / £8 / €10. The package also includes a two hour […]
Consider a few of the common components that comprise a narrative: complex characters, conflict, setting, resolution, dialogue, etc. Is dialogue a necessary element? Is a silent protagonist capable of weaving a powerful story that captivates and inspires? I find that videogames are comparable to picture books because they’re both visual mediums that can be visually read or interpreted. In […]
This full game review comes courtesy of guest writer Carol Hood. Welcome, Carol! The best-worst thing to ever happen to my Vita was Hotline Miami. See, no one can convince me there was a better old school beat ‘em up than Streets of Rage (1 and 2, we do not […]