It's absolutely a good chillout game - indeed, it's one of the best games I've played for that purpose, and it helped mellow me out after some challenging times at work last year. Just wandering a semi-infinite universe and browse or catalog the odd landscapes, creatures and plants you come across, it's pretty cool.…

To be fair, the article indicates that as only one way to engage with this piece of art; most players, myself included, will be engaging with it through interaction, so calling it a game is quite reasonable.

Good call - I thought of it as a review, as I'd imagine others did.

To be fair, I think even in the regular art world, it took a loooong time (circa 60-70 years, I guess) for non-traditional art installations to be taken for granted without needing a more extensive explanation. I would imagine that the same will be true of games by the 2030s, but you never know - non-traditional…

Oh man, I'm sorry you missed Teti's stint on Gameological. His work, along with the extraordinary commentariat, is what brought me to settle here at AVClub. He wrote what I still consider to be one of the funniest pieces of game writing around - a "For Our Consideration" article on Mario Kart 8 Characters.

This sounds like my favorite aspects of No Man's Sky, so I guess it stands to reason that that game got a comparison in the article. I had been entirely unaware of Everything until this week, so I might give it a whirl a little bit later this year. It sounds right up my alley (not so much letting it play itself -…

You ever read Mieville's Embassytown? I thought that was one of the more compelling alien life stories I've encountered.

This sounds like some unpleasant twist on Xenoblade Chronicles X.

Absolutely. Their bizarre walk to get there made me laugh every time. I don't know how these programmers and artists pack so much joy into a single game. And more generally, the sound design is incredible, from the music to the sound effects.

I am excited to report that I finally have a new goal (after having largely wrapped up the music website I'd been working on for four years): I am doing copy-editing work for the 2nd Edition of Unseen64's Video Games You'll Never Play book! Pretty exciting stuff. I'm not super-far in my work yet, and it moves at a…

Shovel Knight is great, isn't it? I played it years ago, when it first came out, and consequently missed all of the added content introduced later. As soon as Lent ends, I'll be picking up Shovel Knight along with Snipperclips (and maybe Blaster Master Zero) - it'll be cool to have some platformers on the Switch; on a…

Hahaha, oops!

I'm playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild this week. I got to Gerudo Village the other night, and have been completing the related storyline stuff along with a smattering of sidequests. Obtaining the Glowy Armor Set and Gerudo Armor was a pretty amusing diversion, what with needing to listen in on some…

I have done this very, very briefly, but it didn't leave a huge impression. I'm glad it's an option, but I fear this may be a situation where playing games since the NES has left me a bit stuck in my ways - I found the Wii controller, for example, dreadful in any game that wasn't Metroid Prime or Skyward Sword, though…

Oops! Sorry about that - it does sound like something you could legitimately do.

You can land on Naydra?! I fought it entirely from the air. It's amazing how many different ways there are to complete your goals in this game.

It's a fascinating window into how that "Nintendo magic" happens, isn't it? I'm so glad that they did that extensive GDC talk (even though I'm not watching much of it until I'm done with the game), since it shines a light on the very hard work that results in the inventiveness that characterizes their art.

The viewing distance thing is one area of the game where technical horsepower is actually key to its success. While the expansive world and "go anywhere" mechanics could be effectively duplicated in a more stripped down, even 2D game (…like the original Zelda, haha), the draw distance is surprisingly critical to…

I can picture an expansion on Breath of the Wild in a more urban setting, like a Majora's Mask scenario, but part of my wonders if it would end up feeling strangely derivative of Assassin's Creed.

I was imagining the same thing about Farosh, but I can happily report that it suffers no ill effects from your attack. I would have been super-disappointed otherwise, and would likely have reloaded just to keep that dragon flying around at the expense of the admittedly sweet reward.