Man, that Metal Gear Survive thing. It’s weird to think of games that manage that act of being so derivative, so ideologically lazy that they almost wrap around to being casually surreal. Which is a lovely if nakedly forced segue into the game I have been unfortunately playing most this week: Shadow the Hedgehog. In a…

That’s entirely true about Lollipop Chainsaw, and I say that as someone who was more supportive of that game when it came out (though if I returned to it now, I expect the only thing I’d actually like would be how all the bosses were based around distinct musical genres. That was pretty neat). Suda does use actual…

I would agree, except I’m not sure how interesting his later works really are. At least when I jumped off the train with Lollipop Chainsaw, the move from No More Heroes to Desperate Struggle to Shadows of the Damned began feeling less and less exploratory or experimental (mechanically and narratively), and more about…

For me, it really comes back to killer7, though I’ll admit that more than a bit of that comes from nostalgia. Reading about it, playing it, sorting through GameFAQs articles working through it was exhilarating. It was the first time in my life I really thought about a game on a critical level, where it could be…

I feel sad that I pretty much have to agree with Gerardi on this. I can’t not have at least some nostalgia for Suda - killer7 is very much the game that directly led me to becoming a game critic and journalist - but a lot of his aim has always been far more about provoking sentiment than saying anything substantive,…

Once again, Bloodborne has become a fairly good curative for my ongoing depression. I’m definitely overleveled - after some exploration and grinding, I beat the Witch of Hemwick quickly, then after levling up Vicar Amelia at Lv. 51, and today the Shadows of Yharnam at 53 (now 58 thanks to all the piggy-slaying I made…

Actually, I beat him this morning (with generous help thanks to Alfred)! I got to Vicar Amelia, but realized it was obviously a boss arena before my first attempt and got a skull lantern in the forest. And after one good but failed fight against her, I’m just enjoying exploring some of the near locations beforehand.…

I saw that Mummy movie. It ain’t so hot - it might even be the exemplar of the bloated, mediocre, desperate to initiate a franchise blockbuster (to the point where it carries seemingly no other ambition than to kick off a cinematic universe whose first movie was immediately declared non-canon, and which died with its…

I think the greater access to games, and especially the proliferation of digital markets, have been a part of that shift in thinking, too. Your will (in theory) be around for as long as Steam and GOG are, so no matter what your thing is likely to be seen by at least someone as an artistic statement. Even the big…

I eagerly await some goofy, player-directed Mario Odyssey balloon adventures, and that Sunshine tie-dye shirt I’d been hoping for. Personally, I’m mentally debating the economics of getting Hyrule Warriors again after spending so much time and money on the DLC for the Wii U version. I won’t be doing the same for Tropic…

I don’t think you need “evidence” or anything; video games are an art form because they are something created by people - ambition or quality or institutional legitimacy aren’t required for that. Assuming Gorogoa is as great as Gerardi is saying, I’m happy we’ve got another game to show the values of the medium, but I…

I was looking this up a few days ago, and it looks exactly up my alley. Traditional sliding block puzzles are pretty much all beyond my abilities, but something like this, where you have to engage with the environment, more interesting both mechanically and thematically.

My deepest congratulations for you and your family!

As much as I get how ugly the N64/PSX graphics are, it’s really nice to see a game actually try to explore it. With all the (S)NES nostalgia, I’d actually enjoy a return to exploration with early 3D game design. Plus, the main theme is pretty rockin’.

And turkey isn’t even that good! It’s a mediocre meat.

I just finished the True Pacifist ending, and while I’m not going to get into it much here (mostly because Kinja doesn’t have spoiler tags, it was absolutely brilliant. Astonishingly good, as emotionally resonant as any game I’ve played in some time. Was a great time, and the game really is deserving of all the hype…

With all the terrible parts to the game, it’s sometimes easy to forget just how awful the enemies are. There’s only five of them - the generic imps, the bee soldiers, the googly eyes, the jellyfish, and the big burly guys. That’d not be great in most platformer games, where enemies are more a fun obstacle to break up…

What maybe should be in mine, but isn’t, is Horizon Zero Dawn; I only gave it a few hours and want to try it again, but it just wasn’t engaging for me after Zelda. Though there’s still a lot from this wonderful year I want to try: Resident Evil 7, Golf Story, Persona 5, Splatoon 2, Cuphead (a pipe dream; I don’t have…

Okay, pretty much all of these sound amazing, especially Hell (which gives me a real Pony Island vibe) and Ready Player Fuck (which, okay, I want to play mostly because fuck Ernest Cline). I really appreciate your having done this, Clayton, because otherwise I’d have not heard of any of them other than Echo, Tacoma,…

I watched it on Monday night, and started Yooka-Laylee the following morning. I was writing some thing that was discussing both, so it seemed like the easiest way to criticize the game.