Search Results for:

journey

February 19th

…Crisis | Kat (Pixel a Day) Kat finds that for a game pitched as a breath of fresh air, Sable‘s busywork feels a little too familiar.

“It’s a means to an end, and Sable — like so many other open world games — focuses on the means at the expense of the end. It seems less interested in making the journey itself engaging and resonant than in “rewarding” you with arbitrary tokens — badges, masks, coins, scrap, general stuff — almost none of which are very interesting or pleasurable to acquire.”

Critical Chaser

For

…

April 2nd

…games to the public.

  • Persona’s journey from PS2 hidden treasure to global phenomenon | TechRadar Francisco Dominguez compares Atlus’ business strategy to the midlist model of the book publishing world.
  • 3/22 5:00 PM (GDC #3) | DEEP HELL Skeleton reports from the IGF.
  • The New Super Mario Bros. Movie Embraces the Dystopia the 1993 Super Mario Bros. Movie Warned About | Paste Madeline Blondeau looks back at the campy 1993 dystopian satire that simultaneously scared Nintendo off films for 30 years while prophesying its eventual turn to corporate media convergence.

    • “The Super Mario Bros….

    April 16th

    …than just a rote platitude.”

    Critical Chaser

    This week we’ll close out with a meditation on portable play.

    • Moving Sitting Still | Unwinnable Jay Castello reflects on pacing, momentum, journey versus destination, and the cirumstances of play via Octopath Traveller 2.

    “Maybe it’s because it’s a game about movement. Skipping between the individual characters’ stories requires continent-hopping, back and forth over and over across the map. It’s not especially cohesive, but the constant shifting between locations lends the game an ongoing momentum.”

    Subscribe

    Critical Distance is community-supported. Our readers…

    July 2nd

    …most important critical writing on games from the past seven days.

    Diablo For Answer

    We’re off to a hell of a start this week with two crunchy critiques on Diablo games past and present. Sorry.

    • Diablo’s Unadorned Dark Fantasy Still Has Claws | Paste Grace Benfell peers into the minimalist charms and roads-not-taken in Tristram’s first Darkening.
    • diablo 4orse discourse | a weapon to surpass blaming yourself or god while knee-deep in the dead Chuck Sebian-Lander isn’t horsing around in this meditation on the little things Diablo IV gets right about the journey over the

    …

    Stephanie Harkin | Keywords in Play, Episode 29

    …games, a lot of it I noticed where in contemporary kind of blockbusters, the AAA games. You know, some key examples being Horizon Zero Dawn, The Last of Us, even Life is Strange – not as AAA but it’s published by Square Enix and I think that’s a pretty big deal. So, I was noticing a lot more of these not being segmented in this separate gendered category but were just becoming normal stories. As a part of games, we were sort of moving away from that archetypal hero journey, like what we see in the Legend of Zelda, for…

    November 12th

    …test | Rock Paper Shotgun I wonder what horrors Sin Vega built in RollerCoaster Tycoon back in the day.

    “I can only admit defeat. My citizens responded to my ever-increasing malice with the drastic collective action technique of ceasing to exist when the boss looks away. I haven’t found their precise limits, as doing so would take longer than I expect to live, but it’s somewhere between “several miles” and “infinity”. I’m actually quite impressed with how far they’re willing to go and the ways they’ll re-evaluate even their current journey, judging by their willingness to retrace…

    November 26th

    Welcome back readers.

    We’re running a shorter issue for this holiday (?) weekend, but don’t forget to submit your picks for our end-of-year review!

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

    Modes of Production

    This week we’re opening with a pair of large industry-scale pieces on culture and labour.

    • How Black Myth: Wukong Developer’s History of Sexism Is Complicating its Journey to the West | IGN Rebekah Valentine and Khee Hoon Chan situate a prominent AAA studio’s misogynistic rhetoric

    …

    November Roundup: Collapse

    Now is the time when it’s all coming to a head. Here at the nexus of finishing semesters and quarters in scholastics, several seasonal holidays, coming to a collapse seems inevitable. It’s a rough time, but the immediate future promises new rest. So, putting of work no longer, let’s all settle down, take out the food we’ve had cooking in the oven, and gather our feast here at the Blogs of the Round Table!

    This month was rich in topics on Collapse, so we’ve got plenty to discuss. Predominant among them are discussions of Wolfenstein II, so be

    …