https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LxMt7d746k Super Democracy! You might call it a lie, you might call it filthy propaganda, you might suggest its striking similarity to fascism. If that's the case, the firing line's this way - let the bullets hit you on your way out. For all my fellow loyal citizens, I congratulate you: together ,we have done... Continue Reading →
https://youtu.be/kQbj6I_-Ng4 Lil' Guardsman takes the core concept of Papers, Please! and places it in an irreverent, colourful setting that oozes with charm and an endless amount of humour. If protagonist Lil, short for Lilith, was just a sarcastic little imp, it would not have worked as well as it does. But because she has heart--because... Continue Reading →
https://youtu.be/HVr5liJhOMs?si=CLYBe2Ws8bCoWmgR The age of the Earth's exploration--or of its mapping, rather--is long since over. Yet the age in question continues to fascinate. And arctic expeditions, those journeys into the most inhospitable climate on the surface of the planet, hold a special place in the public imagination. For millennia, European peoples believed (and searched for) an... Continue Reading →
https://youtu.be/F6JvtdeQXAM Now and then comes a narrative game that will glue me to the screen. 2023 has been excellent at offering me those, and all of them different experiences: from the survival narrative of The Pale Beyond to the fantastic saga of Baldur's Gate 3 to the metanarrative mind-bending horror of Alan Wake 2, I've... Continue Reading →
...Might be that every sound, every creak and rasp and grate will set your imagination on fire with the darkest possibilities. (Can you tell that I spent way too much time on playing a game and didn't have the time to finish my daily short story reader post before bed? No? Phew!)
https://youtu.be/dBips0Bjt_I A game that wears its inspirations on its sleeve, our Death Must Die. And it draws plenty of inspirations: I'll give you a quick run-down of them. Three immediately come to mind - one is Vampire Survivor, the second Diablo, and the third Hades. From the moment you start your first run, you'll find... Continue Reading →
https://youtu.be/zF2NILz_yj4 Give a man a card game and he'll log thirty hours into it without a second thought. Give a man a dice game, and watch him go progressively wonkier as he is forced to remember six different types of dice mechanics, one for each of the six characters you can unlock while playing Astrea:... Continue Reading →
https://youtu.be/N0O3Cuvr2G0 The hero-driven real-time strategy(RTS) genre left an indelible mark on me at an early age. Warcraft 3 opened a whole new world ; I fell in love with its universe and story and gameplay, and had my first experience with the powerful sense of community a video game can create, in the best possible... Continue Reading →
https://youtu.be/7LzmsWBamkw?si=Q3PKthfr0vHX2HAt Long-time viewers will know that I played Planet of Lana's demo during one of the tri-monthly Steam Next Fests, several months ago. The demo promised an atmospheric world rendered with beautiful hand-drawn art. This 2D scroller with its enjoyable if simplistic puzzles, with its likeable protagonist and little black ball of cuddly alien goo,... Continue Reading →
https://youtu.be/3RDHWGvNFO4 DON'T NOD made a visual novel of superb audio-visual quality! But does the writing measure up? I'll try to explain why I think that it does. I'll pay special attention to why the last Chapter of the game works, and why it is that you might think it does not. If you do--that's perfectly... Continue Reading →
The Grimoire Reliquary 