March 24th

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This Week in Videogame Blogging is a roundup highlighting the most important critical writing on games from the past seven days.

Goblins Ahead!

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is here at long last, and it just feels right to open this week’s issue with words from two of the original game’s mightiest champions.

• 65 Hours with Dragon’s Dogma 2 | Paste Magazine
  Dia Lacina chronicles her first foray into what might be 2024’s paradigmatic sickos’ banquet.
• Four Thoughts on Dragon’s Dogma | Remap
  Austin Walker presents four short essays on Dragon’s Dogma (2).

“This is the rhythm of Dragon’s Dogma 2: Movement and stillness, sometimes in succession, as in the exhale-depletion of resources—like your ever-decreasing maximum health cap—and their inhale-restoration, whether through crafting or camping or simple discovery. Movement and stillness, sometimes all at once, like when you are atop a griffin, holding perfectly still—while the being you cling to cuts through the air across regions you haven’t even seen yet. Movement and stillness, like breathing, like storm wind in trees, in succession, all at once, from hub to loop, from loop to spoke, from spoke to cave, and back.”

Each Revives the Other!

Though prospects looks bright for fellow Arisen (and a bit dim for my work schedule over the next few weeks), Dragon’s Dogma isn’t discourse-proof–what game is?–so we’ll use that as our entry point to our next section on industry-minded topics.

• There Are Better Things to Be Mad at Than Dragon’s Dogma 2 Microtransactions | Inverse
  Robin Bea asks if all that energy might be put to better use.
• Abubakar Salim talks his first game, Tales of Kenzera: ZAU, an Afrofuturist platformer | Epic Games Store
  Ade Adeniji sits down with Abubakar Salim to chat about both tradition and futurity in his new ludic remix of Bantu mythology.
• Fighting for better while facing the worst | This Week In Business | GamesIndustry.biz
  James Batchelor’s roundup–on developers speaking out about the toxic conditions in the industry–earns a spot in our own roundup.

“Developers have had enough of being treated as expendable based on what the C-suite reads on its budget sheets. Of being silenced, drowned out or just plain ignored during one of the most difficult periods in the industry’s history. Of the games industry pressing on as if, as Siegel said, everything is fine.”

This Looks Interesting

Next let’s look at play impressions for other recent games of note.

• Children of the Sun Understands The Soul of Hotline Miami | Medium
  Elijah Beahm spends time with a new slick meditation on violence.
• Princess Peach: Showtime! is everything I wanted in a game as a little girl | Polygon
  Nicole Carpenter channels her inner child to situate the most important audience for Peach’s return to centre stage.
• Alone In The Dark Nails What I Love About Survival Horror | Kotaku
  Claire Jackson highlights some peak sound design in an otherwise uneven survival horror revival.

“Alone in the Dark 2024 strikes an aural mood from the moment the game boots up. A slow-moving, smokey jazz tune led by a gentle drum beat, upright bass, and drifting vocal lines that move about the stereo field before a piano and horns come in to pull you further into its darkness. It’s a perfect soundscape that doesn’t immediately fill you with impactful horror. It lulls you into an auditory liminal space somewhere in between safety and the knowledge that dread awaits.”

The View Extends for Leagues Beyond the Shore

Keeping the theme of recent games, let’s dig now into some longer form critical reflections.

• Our marital Baldur’s Gate III co-op game’s a complete disaster, and I’m a better player for it | Kimimi The Game-Eating She-Monster
  Kimimi pivots from bodyguard to tour guide in escorting her less-experienced husband through the sprawling reactive world of the Sword Coast.
• Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth and the Art of Letting Go and Moving On | No Escape
  Kaile Hultner reflects on earned endings and new beginnings as the Yakuza series enters its next era (disclosure, Kaile works for us!).

“As we roam around Yokohama and Kamurocho, Kiryu reminisces on the past and the effect he’s had on the people and places around him (and vice versa). He slowly realizes through a series of “Life Link” quests (the vibe of which I can only describe as “attending your own funeral in disguise”) that people genuinely liked him, and miss him, and became better people for having him in their lives. And it works.”

A Heady Aroma!

Hope you saved room for dessert.

• The Definitive Game Foods Menu, Part One | Sidequest
  The Sidequest team name their picks for the most delectable dishes to be had in games.

“I love watching my husband play FromSoft games, and I once asked what he thinks an Estus Flask tasted like. I don’t remember what his answer was (sorry), but I thought “apple juice” was pretty funny, and now I only refer to any FromSoft healing item as “a sippy of apple juice.” Except for Demon’s Souls, which is quite obviously a salad.”