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journey

April 2021

…– Screen Therapy (33:05)

Courtney Garcia talks through the psychological benefits of meaningful engagement with making pacifist choices in Undertale. (Autocaptions) [extensive Undertale spoilers]

  • Celeste Might’ve Changed my Life. – Leadhead (17:00)

    Leadhead argues that Celeste portrays Madeline’s journey to become her own best friend, before considering what lessons we learn by going through this with her. (Autocaptions)

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    Have you read, seen,

    …

    July 25th

    …Blogging is a roundup highlighting the most important critical writing on games from the past seven days.

    Making It

    This week we’re opening with a pair of interviews where developers discuss their passion projects, historical inspiration, the contemporary realities of the industry, and more.

    • How a young Iraqi programmer tried to adapt Gilgamesh, the oldest surviving hero story | Eurogamer.net Edwin Evans-Thirlwell profiles and interviews Auday Hussein about the challenges and motivations for adapting elements of the oldest, fragementary surviving work of poetry and philosophy known to the modern world.
    • Neil Jones’ Single-Minded Journey to

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    November 21st

    …at Bad Game Hall of Fame!

    • Ganso Saiyuki: Super Monkey Daiboken | Bad Game Hall of Fame Cassidy tackles a sprawling Journey to the West adaptation on Famicom and finds a game big on ambition and and scope even if its ideas (or even basic mechanics) don’t all come together.

    “In an era of particularly cryptic design coming hot off Tower of Druaga (Is this something like the unpteenth time we’ve mentioned Druaga here on this site?), Ganso Saiyuki stands out as being comparatively simple, deriving more of its challenge from testing players’ stamina over

    …

    April 10th

    …at the fault lines of form as long as it is comprehensible to us. We trust good writers to keep us engaged as they self-mythologize.”

    Modes of Play

    Gathered together here, we’ve got three pieces on (mostly contemproary) games, the ways in which we engage with them, and the questions they leave us to ponder.

    • Preview: Glitchhikers Meditates on the Journey, Not the Destination | Sidequest Elvie Mae Parian eschews more goal-directed play to appreciate her time with Glitchhikers.
    • Sumire asks us to confront grief, without being consumed by it – Uppercut Monti Velez…

    June 13th

    …The Name of the Game Is Immersion | Sidequest Katherine Quevedo walks us through creating immersion in videogame. . . poetry!

  • Going Home – Into The Spine Linda M. Rullán reflects on Night in the Woods‘ subversion of the hero’s journey.
  • I Am Thou, Thou Art I | Into The Spine Tonya Pennington, Persona.

    • “My shadow reflects the hidden me.”

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    Have you read, seen, heard

    …

    March-April 2022

    …Months in Videogame Vlogging”, or perhaps even “Those Months in Videogame Vlogging”. So to begin this new and probably short-lived format, let’s all take a journey back to the months of March and April.

    Those Months In Videogame Vlogging highlights the most compelling critical videos about videogames from the specified calendar month/s.

    Auteur Personalities in the Workplace

    PMG’s exposé reminds us that all workplace hierarchy’s can be problematic, not just those of triple-A behemoths.

    • Investigating Three Indie Superstars Accused of Emotional Abuse – People Make Games (40:53)

      People Make Games follow three stories of

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    September 4th

    …its thematic potential with shallow gameplay and an uncritical approach to the consent issues (might as well call that a content notification while we’re here) endemic to the genre.

    “Sia and Hansel’s sexual journey together is far too brief, shallowly written, and concerned with titillation to be successful as a story of a victim furthering the cycle of their own abuse. While such a character arc could be incredibly messy and prone to controversy, it would at least confront the change in Hansel’s behavior directly. It would also allow the opportunity to develop the character further beyond…

    December 4th

    …too. They demand that you care about them and sacrifice yourself for their sake while—and I cannot stress this enough—the game never gives you a reason to care about the Prophecy you are meant to fulfill. There’s an overwhelming stink of compensatory masculinity and bravado to the whole thing that jars against the desolate, quiet, and depressed nature of the world. The hero’s journey of Dark Souls is, at first glance, a relatively stock-standard one. First glances, like an illusory wall, are never to be trusted.”

    Water Cooler

    There hasn’t been much to read here on the…

    January 8th

    …the objective of collecting masks is a meaningful aspect of meeting Midden locals, the magical floating ability pushes for further exploration, and her Gliding journey is about self-discovery. Along with the environment, this premise makes a world of a difference in how the alien desert is portrayed.”

    Games from the Year

    This is the closest section I have in this issue to a “Game of the Year,” but naturally I’m not quite playing it straight, with a short selection of articles that say a little more about their respective games.

    • ‘Elden Ring’ is undeniably Game…

    February 5th

    …his divine and chthonic relatives. But with Mel I’m particularly interested in how her identity and journey are tied more to the void between these two states and its boundless potential.”

    Contradictions of Play

    The third movement widens in scope beyond the game proper to account for tensions in the play experience, particularly as it shifts (or doesn’t) across successive sequels.

    • Some Thoughts on Nintendo’s Wave Race: Blue Storm | Aguas’ Points Luis Aguasvivas finds Blue Storm‘s excellent technical chops to be at odds with intuitive playability.
    • You Can’t Go Back To Pallet Town:…