Welcome back, readers.

I hope you’re all safe and well, or as safe and well as possible between all the pandemic, wildfires, hurricanes and ongoing police violence. Today I am trying to find the light at the end of the tunnel of being eleven weeks into a second lockdown, while also determining how it feels, as an Australian who has spent the last two years doing a PhD, to watch in real time as many Australian universities carry out massive job culls. It feels not very good, I think!

Anyway, videogames.

It’s a shorter column this month. Whether this is a true reflection of the content available, or more to do with tastes constricting around fewer topics as exhaustion peaks and patience bottoms out, I can’t say. Fortunately, we’ve had a lot going on around the site recently, not least two excellent new compilations on Dishonoured and Breath of the Wild, a new Keywords in Play episode, and Zoyander’s last-minute archiving of many Kotaku UK pieces, so you won’t be short of quality discourse at this time. A reminder too that you can support our work here on Patreon.

My thanks again to everyone who sent in recommendations. Please continue to do so, be it via email, hashtagging TMIVGV on twitter, or in our discord group.

This Month In Videogame Vlogging collects the best vods of videogame criticism from the previous calendar month.

The Industry

Let’s start with some introspection.

Pointed Violence

A few longer essays look at how to read violence in the narratives of particular popular videogame series.

Oh, But What to Play

Numerous essayists this month had a think about what goes into the makeup of their gaming preferences, leading to some personal meditations on anxiety, accessibility, approachability, style, and other elements of design.

Après

A chaser of sorts, to round things off for August.

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