Three and Out – ‘Stellaris’
Stellaris is a huge game, taking upwards to three weeks to beat. It plays like a space opera akin to the science fiction epics by Heinlein or Asimov. In the game you’re tasked with...
Author: Preston Johnston
Three and Out – ‘Far Cry: New Dawn’
If the Far Cry franchise does something uniquely well, it is aesthetics. The most recent addition, New Dawn, is a gorgeous patchwork of neon and flowers, lending to an atmosphere that is downright spunky...
‘Gris’: A Meditation on Parents, Life and Death – Part Two
Grief is not something we can be taught abstractly, but something we must first experience and then, while it surrounds us, figure out. Gris’s main theme, “learning how to grieve,” does this spectacularly. The...
‘Gris’: A Meditation on Parents, Life and Death – Part One
Gris wants to remind you that one day your parents will die. Many games already concern parenting, such as the Shelter games, Parenthood, and That Dragon Cancer. These games expose the fears, concerns, and...
How Dynamic Lore Exposes Nuances About Characters
My two favorite game types are RPG’s, like the Witcher series, and turn-based strategy games (TBS’s), like the Divinity: Original Sin series. Both at times require some skill to play. RPG’s require weighing tactics,...
What’s Wrong With ‘Shadow of the Colossus’
A Mystery Is a Powerful Storytelling Device, But Not a Story Itself. The story Shadow of the Colossus tells uses a simple plot: Wander wants to revive Mono, and is instructed how to do...
‘Titanfall 2’: More Than a Shooter
Titanfall 2 might seem like a clone of a Modern Warfare or Call of Duty game that makes itself “different” by including robots, armored suits, and a seriously enjoyable wall running feature, but reducing...
No Man’s Subway Station
No Man’s Sky started as a flop with broken promises, and what seemed like immense empty space. The last part is the most intriguing though, a game full of empty space with very little...
Participation versus Witnessing: An Examination of Video Games – Part II
I was at work, dealing with the banality that entails, and fell into a conversation with Art, a co-worker of mine, about film and video games’ similarities and differences concerning audience engagement. Him and...
Participation vs. Witnessing: An Examination of Video Games
I was at work, dealing with the banality that entails, and fell into a conversation with Art, a co-worker of mine, about film and video games’ similarities and differences concerning audience engagement. Him and...
A Survival Economy: ‘Odyssey to the West’
Titles in games usually speak to a main theme. But what if the characters and certain game subplots undermine that main theme in the game? In Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, the game is...
The Dismantled Book of ‘Kentucky Route Zero’
When I opened Kentucky Route Zero I had no expectations or understanding for what it was going to get me to think about. After playing, I was inundated with thoughts surrounding how character dialogue...
