Epilogue Gaming: Video Games as Art, Literature and a Storytelling Medium
As we discussed in July’s episode of our LudonarrativeFM podcast, Pony Island is a metacognitive game that subverts our storytelling expectations. We left a thread dangling in this discussion that, in editing the episode...
Unlike most mobile games I’ve played, ‘Florence’ tells its story in subtle and clever ways, indicating that the developers tried to tell this story exclusively for mobile players. Many games often feel patched in,...
Growing up without a dad, you start to imagine all the possibilities of what he’d be like. Is he heroic or cowardly? Is he a man of great accomplishment or a miserable alcoholic? This...
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...
“…c’est peut-être ça la vie: beaucoup de désespoir mais aussi quelques moments de beauté où le temps n’est plus le même. C’est comme si les notes de musique faisaient un genre de parenthèses dans...
Video games still largely marginalize the identities of people with disabilities, leaving the conversation about disability and ludonarrative rather silent. This deep-seated sociocultural callousness toward disability has been demonstrated to be uprooted by exposure...
Playdead’s Inside is often considered in terms of its role as a puzzle-platformer, as art, and for its minimalist storytelling. These three laudable elements of the game intertwine themselves into a unique and unforgettable...
People condemn Beyond: Two Souls for superficial reasons that take the storytelling for granted and focus on the controls. Sure, the controls don’t demand much from the player, and cutscenes – rather than player...
The adorable dating sim Doki Doki Literature Club might be the perfect embodiment of what we here at Epilogue try to highlight and analyze: video games as art, literature, and a storytelling medium. It’s...
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...
Quantic Dream unveiled a demo of the long-awaited Detroit: Become Human this week. And it is fantastic. August 15th, 2038. Detroit. The game’s aesthetic heavily borrows from the developing company’s previous title, Heavy Rain....
This month’s edition of the “Games You Forgot About” series breaks the mold. Most of the games in this series are old, dusty, lost games that deserve a fresh pair of eyes. But, with...
Split screen gameplay is nothing new, but it doesn’t take a reinvention of the wheel to innovate in the realm of video games. Josef Fares’ second game, A Way Out, blends a compelling narrative...
It took me four different Mega Man games, all of which I played in order, to realize that they’re pretty much identical to one another. In an era where consumers rip franchises like Call...
Video games have taken repeated beatings by the news media for ostensibly causing violence and morbid psychological behavior. The easiest target in this (misled) conversation is the presumably mindless genre of first-person shooters. As...
Mega Man 3’s combat systems serve as a puzzle that can have its pieces either a) jammed and squished together through defiance or impetuosity or b) fit snugly into their place if you’re patient...
Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy is an idiosyncratic video game – almost to a fault. This genre bending game knows exactly what it is: a trial in patience, suspense, and frustration. Frustration is...
Imagine an image of a cocoon. Spring green plant life fills the background and the sun is rising, with light filtering in through the leaves. The photograph is stagnant and there are no words,...
Kingdom Hearts II is a fusion of components smashed together to make something charming, intuitive and comprehensive. At various times, I found myself flying through the air on an anti-gravity motorcycle, participating in musicals...
Kinetica is a racing game that was forgotten about nearly as soon as it was released in 2001. It was buried in the market by giant industry racers like Gran Turismo 3: A Spec...
Video games have a way of sticking with people for years at a time, sometimes decades. The 2005 Team ICO Shadow of the Colossus release is one of those games that just never disappears...
Demon’s Souls wastes little time getting to the point: Boletaria, the imagined kingdom the game takes place, is a brutal place to spend time in. It goes without saying that the trailblazer for the...
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...
As established in my previous essay for Epilogue, most of the critical discussion surrounding Life is Strange (2015) severely misses the point. I articulated a ludonarrative defense of the game, arguing that Life is...
Level design rarely gets enough credit, but something to consider is that even a game with fantastic mechanics won’t get to show them off unless the level allows for it. When choosing our favorite...
A common critique of the choice-based, point-and-click, episodic genre of games that Telltale Games have popularized is that choices don’t matter and gameplay is tedious. Life is Strange, though adhering to this genre, defies...
Before we get into an in-depth conversation over the various nominees, it’s worth pointing out that this year has been a phenomenal one for unique art design. There was a lot of feedback that...
Every month, Epilogue Gaming will be selecting a new game to analyze, anatomize and explore. These games are chosen by our golden tier Patreon members, who select the titles from a list of games...
2017 has rightfully been championed as one of the best years for games ever. We had a variety of titles, ranging from things like the wonderfully somber Hollow Knight to the contemporary and flashy...
Welcome to the Ludonarrative Podcast, hosted by Blake Andrea and Preston Johnson. This week, they take us through the sobering “Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons”, carefully dissecting the dual-stick mechanic and how it...
If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that Super Mario Odyssey serves as the conclusion to 25 years of Mario. Our mustached protagonist has never felt so alive and district, contrasted by the...
It has been a wonderful year for video games, and here at Epilogue, we’re plenty thankful for it. From myself and the rest of the Epilogue Gaming staff, we wish you, your families and...
Owning The Cinematic Style “It’s like watching a movie” is still sometimes used as a pejorative phrase within gaming circles. I imagine that’s because some folks still have a certain level of misplaced...
There are moments in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night where, simultaneously, you’ll feel vulnerable and all powerful. It’s a rare balance in video games that is struck multiple times over the course of Castlevania’s...
This Game Still Does Bad Stuff Beauty and spectacle aside, it really is fun to watch this game battle against sins of gaming’s past, only to then fall into the old trappings at points....
Looking back to November 2007 and trying to remember what was happening in my life when Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune came out has been an empty venture. I was a sophomore in college, but I...
SOMA has spent an awful lot of time rattling around in my head since I finished it. Various moments in the narratively driven horror title were created to stick with the player, whether its...
Written by Ben Vollmer Run, jump, shoot. In Cuphead, that’s all you’ll ever need. In a game that can be deconstructed into a trial of perseverance, Cuphead doesn’t deviate from what makes it click....
Written by Ben Vollmer When we’re first introduced to Paper Mario, the most notable difference is the shift from platforming to turn-based combat. Mario has never moved at Sonic speeds, but he’s always been...
Written by Ben Vollmer When Nintendo announced that Pokemon would eventually be making its way over to the Nintendo Switch, the mind’s of many went wild. Why wouldn’t they? After the recent successes of The Legend...
Written by Ben Vollmer This is a review of the first game in the “N. Sane Trilogy” and is not indicative of the package as a whole. On a mechanical level, Crash Bandicoot is broken. This...
Written by Ben Vollmer Super Meat Boy is hard. The kind of difficult that will shake your faith, more than once, in what kind of gamer you really are. Difficulty is Super Meat Boy’s most...
Written by Ben Vollmer Yooka-Laylee is a return to form for the “3D Collectathon” genre. The tight movement, compelling worlds and off-kilter writing all serve an homage to a genre that has long lost...
Written by Ben Vollmer Atmospheric horror has an obligation to walk a thin line. Simultaneously, a game must ensnare a player’s interest enough for them to enjoy their stay, but frighten them enough...
Written by Ben Vollmer About halfway through my play through of Outlast 2, I realized that a video game had never terrified me so much. Not because Outlast 2 is in the master class of the genre,...
Written by Ben Vollmer The Legend of Zelda is largely a tale of time and space. The most recent entry, Breath of the Wild, in large part, is a commentary on this. Zelda disappears and Link...
Written by Ben Vollmer Ori and the Blind Forest is beautiful. It’s pretty rare that a game is so jaw-droppingly gorgeous that it’s the appearance, rather than the mechanics that lay beneath, that takes...
Written by Ben Vollmer Kingdom Hearts is a lot like picking through a bowl of fruit. For every bit that you enjoy, there’s something else that leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Only, in...
Written by Ben Vollmer There will come a moment in Breath of the Wild where you will figure out that you can’t do everything that comes to mind. For me, that moment game about...
Written by Ben Vollmer It takes about ten minutes. That’s how long you have in Resident Evil 7 until it flips humanity on its back and shows off its grotesque underside. Perhaps that’s what makes the...
