Epilogue Gaming: Video Games as Art, Literature and a Storytelling Medium
Code Vein is nothing more than an indulgence in perversion with the excuse to play Souls-like combat. There is fun to be had here, but there isn’t enough to recommend it to anyone that isn’t already part of the extremely niche targeted demographic.
I took my first cab ride in Guilin, China, in 2015, and I quickly realized somewhere between the radically sharp 90 degree turns, the language barrier, and choking cigarette atmosphere that I was more...
Borderlands 3 is like a fun, reliable friend who doesn’t know when to shut up. Every time the game gets rolling, it’s interrupted with a joke – and it’s not like the jokes are always bad, they just never stop. But that’s the world that Borderlands has built, and it’s one that feels lived in and fleshed out.
A few years ago, Canadian Geese flew several hundred miles south to where I live for the winter, but the gaggle never migrated back. Ever since, they have become an invasive, traffic-stopping, defecating, overly...
In the age of the internet – a maelstrom of confusion, corruption, call-out culture, and hateful rhetoric – I often find myself in need of a break from digital media. The question of whether...
There are far too few experiences nowadays that carry a similar air to the arcade scene, but recently we’ve been blessed with a fresh adventure, River City Girls, eager to scratch that nostalgic itch. Published...
Somehow it didn’t click at the end of my first playthrough of NieR: Automata that there would be multiple routes to multiple endings: 26, in fact. As is standard procedure through most of the...
Zombies have risen and plagued the Earth once again and I couldn’t be more bored of this genre. Growing up and watching movies like Night of the Living Dead, 28 Days Later, and Dawn...
I fell in love with Control the moment I saw the first teaser trailer. Control breathed life into the supernatural space of mainstream gaming, borrowing from tropes and archetypes from series like The X-Files and Twin...
It is Zach’s recommendation that you listen to Jack Savoretti’s “Soldier’s Eyes” while reading. Drifters and rippers and freakers, oh my! Before we even have a moment to breathe, Bend Studio throws us into...
The original Life is Strange series is one of my favorite games of all time. The characters, the worldbuilding, the magical realism, the soundtrack, the gameplay and how it’s integrated into the narrative themes...
It’s time to get schwifty! Straight from the mind of Rick and Morty’s co-creator Justin Roiland and his video game studio Squanch Games comes Trover Saves the Universe. An action platformer where rules and...
Chicory: A Colorful Tale, better known as Drawdog, is the charming new project by Greg Lobanov, the developer behind Wandersong – which was one of my favorite games of 2018. Even better, the game...
The secret to time travel has finally been revealed in the name of Ion Fury. Developed on the same Build engine as Duke Nukem 3D, Blood, and the original Shadow Warriors, 3D Realms and...
In yet another tirade, the gaming community has inflicted its most toxic behaviors on a small indie developer for the upcoming game called Ooblets. I have been following the Twitter account for Ooblets for...
This month, we’ve got Dakota and Ayana diving deep into Night in the Woods, a tale about millennial dread, the fear of growing up, and how to move on from your familiar past. They...
This weekend, I began my first venture into what is colloquially known as a “Nuzlocke” run of Pokemon Crystal. I picked Crystal because it was the game I played most as a kid. Whether...
Riding the wave of 2019 releases, I had high hopes that Sea of Solitude would be an emotionally driven experience that told its story through artistic direction and style. It was reported that Sea...
RAD is the latest game from Double Fine, set to release this summer. Described as an ‘action rogue-like,’ RAD tasks the player with delving into an ever-changing apocalyptic world brimming with nuclear fallout. I’ve...
Super Mario Maker 2 presents itself as a bigger, better version of its predecessor. More parts, more themes, online multiplayer, and a story mode are all included, and yet this wealth of content never...
In wake of the recent remakes, Crash Team Racing Nitro Fueled turbo-boosts on by with a faithful recreation that brings even more than expected. When this remake was first announced, I was a bit...
Let’s cut right to the chase. What games should you pick on on the Steam Summer Sale? Which games should you avoid? Ben’s list will help you navigate the impossible task of deciding how...
Cadence of Hyrule instantly danced itself into the top spot for my 2019 game of the year contenders. I was expecting a casual offshoot to the Zelda universe, just a whimsical indie one-off. But...
A Hat in Time is one of my favorite releases of 2017. The previous DLC release, Seal the Deal, was an incredible package that incorporated both the cutest thing in gaming as a whole...
The Legend of Zelda has a tight reinforcement loop. Even a moderate level of exploration will lead to a treasure chest, which is opened alongside a satisfying chime and Link looking like he just...
Flora, Marcos and Dakota break down each of the major E3 conferences – the good, the bad and the cringe. We gush over some of our favorite moments and grade each conference on how...
Kids by Playables, recently published by Double Fine, experiments with how our interactions we have with other people influence our perceived identity. In a nonverbal way, the game abstractly investigates social proprioception. I picked...
This article is a roundtable written by Marcos Carmona, Blake Andrea, Ben Vollmer, and Andy Webb. Here are our thoughts on the Pokémon Direct that aired on June 5th, 2019. Andy: How are we...
The Division 2 is a breath of fresh air for a genre that has one foot in the grave. After the lackluster endgame of The Division and the disastrous launch of Anthem, I went...
In outer space, humanity is a fish out of water. Aside from not being able to breathe, we can barely move except what meager momentum we can gain from flailing. Rendered helpless, all we...
The past twelve months of streaming on Twitch have fundamentally changed my relationship to video games, and now that this first year comes to a close, I think I have learned a few psychological...
Video games have become quite a prominent form of entertainment now widely accepted in pop culture. And since their inception, video games have grown quite alluring to the eye. One sense of appeal that...
Vampyr is an exhausting game. From annoying technical issues to an overburdened story, the game falls apart at nearly every opportunity. What seems like an interesting narrative-based action game that branches out in consequence...
Josh: To what extent do we as reviewers allow the idea of games as live services affect our reviews; with the knowledge that our review may become completely inaccurate not just in technical aspects...
The third episode of Life is Strange 2 was the make-or-break episode for this struggling spiritual sequel to one of my favorite games of all time. After playing “Wastelands,” I can say that I’m...
This week in the Epilogue Gaming Discord server, a series of opinions exploded around a central theme: should a game’s price affect the way it is reviewed? It began with a discussion of Joseph...
Return of the Obra Dinn is one of the most unique games I have ever experienced. Taking on the role of a claims adjuster of all things, I was tasked with exploring an abandoned...
Lush with buckets of blood and piles of torn limbs in tow, Mortal Kombat 11 weaved its buttons into my hands like a bad cold that gifted me a full week of paid leave,...
Cuphead recently released a new patch (1.2.2), which made some subtle touches and included a few more noticeable additions. This patch coincides with the release of the Switch version, so I decided to take...
Sometimes you aren’t looking for AAA titles with beefy budget visuals and hefty cinematics. Sometimes you don’t feel a need to drop the usual sixty dollars on a game you’re not entirely sure about....
I initially purchased Aviary Attorney due to my love of the Ace Attorney series. I figured it was a game that was narratively-focused like Ace Attorney, but with bird puns and a distinctly vintage...
It is Flora Eloise’s recommendation that you listen to In Love With a Ghost’s “Heart of the Woods” while reading this review. I picked up Heart of the Woods expecting a simplistic, happy-go-lucky dating...
Throughout my weeks of attempting to play this game and an additional week of waiting for Anthem to stop bricking consoles, this was the main impression I had: Anthem sucks. I’ve never before struggled...
It is Ben’s recommendation that you listen to Yuka Kitamura’s score of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice while reading. Beneath Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice’s core is a simmering swath of magical realism. The game unfolds...
In the summer of 2013, I found myself on the wrong end of what had been a long battle with depression. The kind where getting out of bed seems like an arduous task, and...
This past weekend, after 27 hours in the game, I made the decision to stop streaming Hollow Knight. This was an emotional decision to make, because Hollow Knight is such a masterfully crafted piece...
The Devil May Cry series is known for over-the-top presentation and a complete lack of player limitations. With a lineage of games that kept pushing forward in their absurdity and a focus in pure fun, Capcom’s Devil May...
Owlboy is one of the most visually charming and beautifully crafted video games that I have ever had the pleasure of playing. Every pixel in this retro-style 2D platformer bursts with exuberance. From the meek...
Up until now, I never quite understood what it means to live with psychosis. Mental illness is a sensitive subject that has been attempted across many forms of media: books, movies, television, and even...
Back in middle school, I came across a browser-based RPG, Kingdom of Loathing. For a brief time, I was hooked by its slapstick humor and simplistic charm, though it fell into obscurity and I...
