The coolest part about games, in my opinion, is how entangled they are in the world. What I mean by this is, I hope, fairly simple: games provide us with springboards and points of departure to talk about other forms of media, other ways of relating to ourselves and each other, that (hopefully) deepen our understanding of the world. The video essays in this roundup are stellar examples of this. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Welcome back to The Month in Videogame Vlogging, a feature we’re bringing back to look at some of the most interesting videos about games made during the preceding month. We’ve been away for a while, so we’re going to start fresh.
Since this is our first post in a hot minute, we’re bound not to see the entire breadth and scope of great Videoessays über Videospiele that came out. If you’re like, “hey you missed this great video by X creator,” please feel free to join our Discord (link here) and make your suggestions known!
Mechanical Analysis
These videos approach a specific game or games from the perspective of engaging with their most interesting—or frustrating—mechanics, sometimes from moment to moment and others over a large time period.
- Sonia Trannitron, a big field, and an owl – pt2 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time analysis | Sonia Trannitron (35:35)
Sonia Trannitron continues her analysis of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time by turning her gaze to Hyrule Field’s compelling emptiness, and gets sidetracked by the game’s attempts to redirect her towards its intended objectives. - I tried to fix Red Dead 2 by roleplaying | Polygon (15:15)
Patrick Gill returns to the 2018 smash-hit from Rockstar to try engaging with the strangely intricate small actions Red Dead Redemption 2 employs as flavor. - Ranking EVERY Xbox 360 Era Shooter: Bioshock/Far Cry 2/Gears of War – Episode 16 | Dead Domains (27:22)
Jordan Black continues their survey of the seventh console generation with three games that each created aesthetic, mechanical and textual hallmarks still seen in the medium today. - The Lethal Comedy of Zeekerss’ Lethal Company | Errant Signal (27:33)
Chris Franklin dives deep into the Lethal Company developer’s previous non-Roblox outings to discover the mechanical – and comedic – throughlines that make Lethal Company, well, lethally funny.
The Text is Not (Just) The Text
This next batch of videos uses games to talk about other forms of media, from music to television.
- Video Games VS Music | SocraTetris (19:08)
SocraTetris takes a few minutes to point out a few games with exceptional scores and the ways in which the music is employed in them. - why Alan Wake 2 HAD to have a secret ending | Novacanoo (19:34)
Jake makes an interesting argument for why the Final Draft DLC of Alan Wake II couldn’t have been added until after the Game Awards. - The Murder Game Revolution That Has Gripped China | People Make Games (32:29)
Quinton Smith travels to Singapore to learn about a new-ish kind of social game that elicits vibes (and combines elements) of murder mystery dinner parties, escape rooms, and TTRPGs to make something fresh and new. - Persona 4 is about Television | Pause and Select (2:09:56)
Joe Yang dives deep into the TV to explain how Persona 4 and especially Persona 4 Arena combine nostalgia, procedural rhetoric and infrastructural flows to interpellate players into its particular televisual pleasures.
Player Experiences, Personal Meanings
This last group of videos present their games as doorways to specific interpretations based on different subjectivities.
- Bloodborne and Queer Humanity | Multiplay Network (4:11)
Greg McGuinness briefly compares the doomed, necessary role of the Hunters in Bloodborne’s Yharnam to a specific experience of queerness during the AIDS crisis. - How Outer Wilds Eclipses its Medium | Solemn Lemon (30:53)
Solemn Lemon presents Outer Wilds as a foundational, almost spiritual experience that has, in a small way, helped them come to terms with mortality. - Cool Ghosts: 4 | Cool Ghosts (25:08)
Several years after the last entry in this series, Matt Lees returns with ruminations on what “You Did What Needed To Be Done” actually signifies. Feat. Virtual Steven (Steven Hogarty) - The Success (and Failure) of Tekken 8’s Story | Writing On Games (14:31)
Hamish Black talks through his thoughts on Tekken 8‘s single-player campaign, comparing it to Tekken 7 and trying to figure out where it lands in the overall narrative landscape of fighting game stories more generally.
Critical Chaser
This video was already a critical chaser over on the main roundup, but it felt appropriate to end on it yet again.
- Games Video Essayists Wish You a Happy 2024! (Alan Wake Dance Herald of Darkness) | Pixel A Day (1:28)
Will we find the Champion of Light in videogame video essays in 2024, or will we stumble on the Herald of Darkness instead?