Search Results for:

"undertale"

January 2016

…at videogames in a recent episode by asking whether or not Undertale is the most violent game of the year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvSd_opycoI

Jason Vega made a live Let’s Play (Let’s Attend?) of New York’s Game Devs of Color expo, which brought together an array of talented developers and awesome games.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdDUzqEQBI4

Nelson over at Video Games and the Bible looked at what maturity means through the lens of Doom and Lovely Planet, exploring how both games present themselves through their image, mechanics, and the cultures surrounding them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DHe_4EImfs

Kent Sheely has undertaken a fascinating pacifist…

February 14th

…to the movement, not how good he was at kissing.)

In other cases, developers integrate these expressions into the gameplay itself.

Over at Gamasutra, Arthur Canzi Zeferino demonstrates how Undertale’s combat reveals underlying character traits, while Nick Dinicola proposes that the puzzle design in The Witness has a lot to say about how we parse solutions.

The Gameosphere May Be Complicated, but Our Love Is Easy

Another trend in this week’s games writing was criticizing stubborn trends in the gaming industry that stave innovation:

Prioritizing money can limit the creative potential of gaming. On his…

May 15th

…pieces offer new answers to a question that seems to be returned to rather often in games criticism.

  • There Is No Coming of Age in Oxenfree | PopMatters Nick Dinicola argues that by challenging a narrative form that normally presents character development as forgone conclusions, adolescence and adulthood are radically reimagined in this survival horror adventure.
  • Jolly Determination: Dark Souls, Undertale & Player Motivation | Medium Yussef Cole demonstrates how difficulty can be addressed as part of a game’s narrative and aesthetic ethos.
  • Health 101 with Professor Yoshi’s Island | Gamasutra Blogs Christopher Gile shows that

…

Episode 47 – A Measured Response: Hbomb

…videos look like a slapdash production.

SHOW NOTES

Hbomberguy YouTube Channel

The Sarkeesian Effect: A Measured Response

Measured Response: Bill Nye VS Pseudoscience (Part One)

Fallout 3 Is Garbage, And Here’s Why

SHIELD BASH: LORDS OF THE FALLEN REVIEW – Hbomberguy

Why Braid Is Great – Hbomberguy

Bloodborne Is Genius, And Here’s Why

What Makes An Action Scene Good?

Perverted Sentimentality: An Analysis of UNDERTALE

SERIOUS SONIC LORE ANALYSIS

Hbomb Patreon

Opening Theme: ‘Close’ by The Alpha Conspiracy

Closing Theme: ‘Wishing Never’ by The Alpha Conspiracy

…

Dark Souls

…and return to Firelink, you don’t feel mighty or powerful having bested an enormous enemy. You feel small. You feel insignificant. But importantly, you feel like you have truly earned the sun shining on your face.”

In “Jolly Determination: Dark Souls, Undertale & Player Motivation“, Yussef Cole views the difficulty itself as secondary to the player’s own responses to it.

“being controlled by a human player in Dark Souls grants your chosen undead a sense of determination unparalleled with anything else in the game world.”

In “Dark Souls: A Time To Grind“, Brendan Keogh…

Abstract image evoking bird silhouette

April 1st

…videogame misses the political edge of the genre of novel and movie which inspired it.

  • What Does the Soul Look Like | vextro In a fascinating long read, leeroy lewin explores the limited existentialism of games that play with metatext (e.g. by commenting on the fact that the player can return to life). Spoilers for Undertale, Pony Island, and Doki Doki Literature Club.

    • “Metatext in videogames is super fixated on critiques of some sort of choice made—basically critiques of freedom—because it’s the nearest most horrible thing collectively felt. The fear of art is a fear of…

    November 18th

    …feel them all around you, reflected in the thoughts, actions, and beliefs of everyone you meet.”

    Truer Stories

    Three articles this week–Two of them on Red Dead Redemption II–look at the ways in which series successfully iterate upon their founding narrative ideas to produce sequels with greater depth, complexity, and yes, authenticity.

    • Hell is Other People | Unwinnable Jeremy Signor maps out how Deltarune complicates Undertale‘s meditations on agency and violence with an added dimension of sociality.
    • Why Red Dead Redemption 2’s Sean MacGuire is the best Irish character in a video game yet…
    Abstract image evoking bird silhouette

    This Year In Videogame Blogging: 2018

    …Bombing – Mahli-Ann Butt Mahli-Ann Butt points out that for all of its freshness in mechanically representing a relationship, the relationship itself is highly gendered in how the pair expresses their feelings to one another.

  • Hell is Other People | Unwinnable – Jeremy Signor Undertale’s follow up, Deltarune, is another game about empathy and games. Jeremy Signor explains how Deltarune is exploring a slightly different aspect and how it reveals a blueprint for a better world, one worth hoping for.

    • Card Games

    • ‘Artifact’ Isn’t a Game on Steam, It’s Steam in a Game | Waypoint…
    Abstract image evoking bird silhouette

    June 30th

    …have often been wrapped in mystique, tragedy, and melodrama. As we near the end of Pride month, I find myself fondly remembering Undertale, Night in the Woods, and Butterfly Soup for each having a scene in which queer women actualize their feelings, or reminisce on a time they attempted to do so, and fail spectacularly or embarrass themselves.”

    Content Roadmaps

    The idea of purchasing a game as a singular event is increasingly a quaint and remote myth. Contemporary games are less discrete products and more amorphous webs of monetization, both via official press channels and their influencer…

    New Call for Critical Compilations!

    …Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption 2

  • Resident Evil series
  • Silent Hill series
  • The Sims
  • Sonic the Hedgehog series
  • Spelunky
  • The Stanley Parable
  • Undertale
  • The Walking Dead (Telltale)
  • Yakuza series

    • We’ll consider pitches for games outside this list, but these are the ones we’re considering high priority right now!

    PITCHES ARE NOW CLOSED. Thanks to everyone who submitted!

    Many thanks to our generous Patreon donors for helping us to promote features like these! If you want to support Critical Distance’s continued mission to promote and preserve

    …