Games reviewed… eventually
Whenever Dear Esther crops up in conversation, you’ll almost always find someone espousing the (not unreasonable) opinion that it isn’t a game. After all, I think most of us would accept that our traditional understanding of what a video game is includes ideas like having a failure state and overcoming some kind of challenge to … Continue reading Dear Esther
There are all sorts of interesting ideas for games floating about out there. If you can think of a concept, I’m sure it’s all but certain that someone has made a game on it. Obviously there’s all the standard ones, like heroes embarking on a magical quest or people out for revenge and all that … Continue reading A Mortician’s Tale
Unlike the first time I sat down to review a Frog Detective game, I think now I know what I expect and what I feel about this series. It might be some bizarre mix of bafflement, bemusement, and an odd sense of elation, but it is at least a concrete sense of how I regard … Continue reading Frog Detective 2: The Case of the Invisible Wizard
I’ll be honest, I have no idea how to introduce what I feel or think about Frog Detective. Based purely on the name alone, I admit I absolutely would not have even given a second glance to it if it had scrolled into my view on Steam. It reminds me too much of that miserable … Continue reading The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game
There’s nothing quite like flight in video games. All too often it can feel wrong in the execution, clunky, or awkward. But when being able to simply leap up and fly is one of the core tenets of your game, you’d better hope you get it right. AER: Memories of Old (PC, PS4 [reviewed], Switch, … Continue reading AER: Memories of Old
Some games ask deep and meaningful questions about their players. Questions like “How much control do players have?”, and “Is the violence we express in games merely a symptom of our own, inherently cruel human condition?” Abzu shames all of these petty inquiries. Instead, it asks a truly monumental question of us as players. “What … Continue reading Abzu
Quick question: what comes to mind when I say "walking simulator?" Some lengthy linear nonsense where you trudge around listening to a voice over? No player agency whatsoever? Barely anything that could charitably be called gameplay? The genre seems to be a much-maligned one thanks to these preconceptions but thankfully there's always something that comes … Continue reading Firewatch
The Almighty Backlog 