Epilogue Gaming: Video Games as Art, Literature and a Storytelling Medium
Every spring, I have the joy of attending PAX East in Boston as a member of the games media. It’s several grueling eighteen-hour days cherished with my friends and collaborators from places like the...
For as long as I can remember, two types of stories have captivated me more reliably than almost any other: stories depicting queerness and stories featuring time travel. In Stars and Time, an indie...
I don’t often write about my Philosophy undergraduate studies, mostly because they have predictably left career doors unopened, but also because mentioning Nietzsche and Epistemology in the same sentence often makes people’s eyes glaze...
I grew up on comic books, so naturally I was the target audience when the first wave of early-2000s superhero movies rebooted franchises like Spider-Man and Batman, offering my generation some of the greatest...
One of the oddities of writing about video games for the past several years is the phenomenon of trying to write something that does your favorite games justice. Since writing, for me, is a...
One of the delights of the breathtaking entries in the remake series for Final Fantasy VII is the surprising abundance and depth to mini-games. Fort Condor, as it launched with the Yuffie DLC for...
Heading Out looks like yet another racing game, but this wonderfully designed gem should be on every Steam Deck owners’ radar. Here’s why.
PAX East is packed with game demos, but 2024’s game of the show has to be Kind Words 2 – the sequel no one expected. Here’s why.
Goodbye Volcano High is a zenith in queer video game storytelling. Here’s how my own experiences paralleled with the narrative.
Cocoon is the latest effort by the creators of Inside and Limbo. Despite tons of charm, the game never leaves that same impact.
Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name isn’t exactly the most robust attempt at a Yakuza title. Here’s where is succeeds & fails.
Strayed Lights is an impressive indie debut from Embers, but the combat system ultimately never evolves enough to remain interesting.
If you couldn’t make it to PAX East this year, Flora has you covered. She discusses her overall PAX experience as well as her favorite games from the show.
Neon White is one of 2022’s best games, indie or otherwise. It is also an exhausting, protracted experience that may burn you out.
If Life is Strange: True Colors rocked your world, then you MUST pick up the Steph DLC “Wavelengths,” one of the series’ strongest entries.
Keyword is a neat little title with a unique gameplay hook, but in its current state it feels a bit undercooked.
Despite its uniqueness, unbalanced gameplay and a focus on offline multiplayer make WarioWare: Get It Together! not worth your time.
Genesis Noir’s stunning art style and cosmically exaggerated narrative are limited by rudimentary gameplay and performance issues.
Heaven’s Vault is a compelling adventure where you explore abandoned civilizations, uncover an ancient language, and solve complex mysteries.
Pokemon Sword and Shield quickly became one of my favorite Pokemon games to date. And with the first DLC finally out I am pretty disappointed to say that while Isle of Armor does deliver...
Life is Strange 2 is an awkwardly paced adventure game developed by Dontnod, a spiritual successor and sequel to the original Life is Strange, which fails to improve on nearly anything that made the...
There are very few first-person shooter games nowadays where I find myself more excited for the campaign than the multiplayer. Growing up, the original Call of Duty: Modern Warfare on the Xbox 360 was...
Few games exercise their ability to transform what would be menial chores like vacuuming or cleaning into an experience that exceeds expectations. Luigi’s Mansion 3 serves as an example of what can be achieved...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Dakota and Ayana deep dive into “Devotion,” a first-person psychological horror game that was controversially pulled from the Steam store after it was revealed that the developer, Red Candle Games, had slipped in a...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Disclaimer: Thank you to HumaNature studios for being kind enough to provide us with a review copy for this article. When ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove was first announced, I was both...
