Player select screen showing each of the four playable characters: a shadowy figure in yellow; a flame-haired djinn in red; a zombie in green; and a Frankenstein's monster in blue.

Let’s Play a Love Game: Depths (and Shallows) of Monstrosity

July 29, 2022 · by · in Columns, Let's Play a Love Game

Eric Cline embraces the monster inside.

Link standing on a cliff, looking out over a forest

Breath of the Wild, My Neighbor Totoro, and the Miraculous Healing Power of the Korok

July 22, 2022 · by · in As Zelda's Waiting, Columns

Harry Mackin sees the forest for the trees.

Twilight, with the faintest pink left in the sky from the sunset, against a backdrop of forest and mountain peak.

To Feel Small and Know Your Worth: The Long Dark’s Vision of Survival

July 19, 2022 · by · in Features

Wyeth Leslie has miles to go before he sleeps.

Front view of two cars in a competitive head-to-head positioning

Racing Line: The Bling Era

June 30, 2022 · by · in Columns, Racing Line

Miguel Penabella ups every rim size to 24”.

Etsuji appearing surprised

Let’s Play a Love Game: The problem with parody

June 28, 2022 · by · in Columns, Let's Play a Love Game

Eric Cline ponders the limits of satire.

man with a revolver head walks into minimalist bar. 'time to score me some dick,' he says.

Let’s Play a Love Game: Loaded questions

May 24, 2022 · by · in Columns, Let's Play a Love Game

Eric Cline ponders the violence of the body.

Two space ships, one white and one black, contrasted against the semi-blue void

Star-crossed love: Navigating confinement in Starfighter: Eclipse

April 14, 2022 · by · in Columns, Let's Play a Love Game

Eric Cline finds love in a hopeless place.

Joseph reminiscing about 'The Margarita Zone'.

Let’s Play a Love Game: Adultery and empathy

March 11, 2022 · by · in Columns, Let's Play a Love Game

Eric Cline dreams of daddies and happily ever afters.

Sportscar is parked in front of a beautiful, painterly skyline

Racing Line: Your Dream Life

February 17, 2022 · by · in Columns, Racing Line

Miguel Penabella races through a more beautiful reality.

Screenshot from The Last of Us (2013) showing Joel looking down a heavily fungal-infested corridor.

Immune, Superior Protagonists in Zombie Videogames

December 2, 2021 · by · in Features

B.G.M. Muggeridge puts zombie game protagonists under the microscope.

Video Game Viruses and Dehumanization

Video Game Viruses and Dehumanization

October 14, 2021 · by · in Features

B.G.M. Muggeridge on the symptoms of the illness.

Limbo protagonist stands on the edge of a fallen tree, overlooking a fog-covered valley

Opened World: Sharp Objects

September 23, 2021 · by · in Columns, Opened World

Miguel Penabella treads through dangerous grounds.

a close up of a block'hood city, with trees in the foreground and tall towering buildings in the background

My beautiful dark twisted product design fantasy: Design-first thinking in Block’hood and beyond

September 8, 2021 · by · in Features

S.P. Myers moves slow and doesn’t break anything.

A dazed, weeping office manager is physically thrown backwards by a large full-capped 'NO' emitted by the player character.

Opened World: Refusing Labor

August 26, 2021 · by · in Columns, Opened World

Miguel Penabella impolitely declines.

Opened World: The Hollow Spectacle of Power

Opened World: The Hollow Spectacle of Power

June 6, 2021 · by · in Columns, Opened World

Miguel Penabella praises meaningful choices that don’t matter.