Musings from a mercurial mind on all things gaming
Financially, making a sequel to a well-liked game is pretty safe. There's a proven audience that payed for and enjoyed the type of product you're putting out. This is part of why there are so many sequels. Artistically though, making a sequel is hard. The best games are often the ones that show us something … Continue reading Forbidden West and the Challenge of Sequels
With 2021 in the review mirror, it's time to take a look back at another year of gaming and highlight some of the best and brightest. There were some real bangers this year, and I even managed to snag a PS5, so all in all I'd say from a gaming perspective it was a good … Continue reading My Favorite Games of 2021
The “metroidvania” genre owes much more to Metroid than Castlevania, even if the namesake includes both. The labyrinthine maps and power-ups that peel back said maps’ layers have been present since the beginning of Metroid, and the series built on these ideas, even successfully bringing them to 3D with Metroid Prime, one of the finest … Continue reading Metroid Dread: The Weight of Legacy
Ever wished you were on one of those dating shows? You'd have beautiful women tripping over themselves to win your affection, get to know them over romantic dates in a tropical paradise, and in the end, ride off into the sunset with your one true love. Sounds like a dream, right? But what if there … Continue reading Find Love or Die Trying–Bachelor in Peril-dise
One of the most common complaints I see about galge (romance visual novels with male protagonists and female love interests) protagonists is that they're too passive. Maybe the guy is dense, or wishy-washy, or just overall milquetoast. In any case, he sits back and waits for things to happen. If he can be spurred to … Continue reading Visual Novel Romance: On Agency
While I'd dabbled before, Nuclear Throne is the game that sold me on twin-stick shooters. I've sunk over 100 hours into Vlambeer's arcade perfection, and I still go back to it when I feel my trigger finger get that itch. So when the next big thing in twin-sticks, Dodge Roll's Enter the Gungeon, dropped the … Continue reading Patience and Pandemonium: A Tale of Two Twin Sticks
Fresh off the high from the spectacular Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, I've been in the mood for more mystery. So the recent release of The Mysteries of Ranko Togawa: Murder on the Marine Express, a short murder mystery visual novel from 1564 Studio, caught my eye. The title brings to mind Agatha Christie's Murder on … Continue reading Review: The Mysteries of Ranko Togawa: Murder on the Marine Express
Voyvod Arts, the team behind the planned original English language visual novel One Spirit reached out and asked if I'd take a look at their recently released demo. One Spirit is set in an alternate history where the Cold War never ended in the fictional Western satellite nation of Sysica. It's an intriguing setting--not one … Continue reading First Look: One Spirit Demo
For me, Clerks is the quintessential 90s slacker movie. Dante gets called in to work the convenience store on his day off, and he and his buddy Randall do everything from yak about pop culture to screw with customers to play rooftop hockey. But underlying the references and quippy dialogue is Dante’s mantra: “I was … Continue reading Review: Gloom and Doom – Welcome to the 90s
I’ve been going back and forth with my colleague Toasty about scoring in video game reviews the past few days. (You can listen to his excellent as always take here.) What’s the value of numeric scores? How should we assign them? Should we even use them at all? If you’ve read my About Reviews page, … Continue reading Review Scoring: Let the Bottom Drop Out
Fair Plays by Wes 