The announcement of a proper, full-blown remake of SILENT HILL 2 had me very excited. SH2 was my most defining moment of gaming: It changed my engagement with the medium, taught me to view art and fiction itself, in a way I had never considered at my tender 15 years. It made me fall in … Continue reading ON THAT SILENT HILL 2 REMAKE
Cyberpunk 2077 and the already broken media landscape
CD Projekt Red’s long anticipated open-world RPG, Cyberpunk 2077, has been a colossal failure at launch. More hours and words have been spent detailing how the game is a buggy broken mess than discussing the themes and game's story; console players and reviewers were duped, and despite warnings from their own developers, leadership at CDPR … Continue reading Cyberpunk 2077 and the already broken media landscape
The Pillars of Privilege
The world is on fire and that’s not OK. I’ve noticed a few people pen articles justifying why it’s OK to lose themselves in fiction, in games. This saddens me: The world is hard enough at the moment without people being made to feel guilty about their chosen coping mechanism. But let’s not lie to … Continue reading The Pillars of Privilege
On isolation: a non-gaming post
Cw: domestic abuse, end of the world discussion. I must apologise for the tone and topic of this. But, of course, things are not normal. Right now, I am struggling to focus on writing about media even though now, more than ever, I should be consuming it – being a non-medical person, with no skill to … Continue reading On isolation: a non-gaming post
Old School Pick: Dying Light
Recently, the folks at Techland released a patch for their year 5 year old game, Dying Light. This is an open-world, action-RPG parkour zombie game. You play as a Kyle Crane, a very generic, entirely forgettable lead who sounds like but isn’t Troy Baker. In this city that is definitely not Turkey, a mysterious virus … Continue reading Old School Pick: Dying Light
The New Weird and racist structures
Recently, I published a piece on IGN about Control and the weird and “New Weird” subgenre of horror. To me, what makes this such an essential genre is how it taps into the two conflicting realisations: our need for answers and our recognition of the vastness and weirdness of the universe in which we live, … Continue reading The New Weird and racist structures
Call of Duty and separating art from politics
The yearning for the separation of art and politics is one held by those for whom the status quo is their foundation. To be reminded that alternative perspectives not only exist, but are forced to exist by virtue of an individual's identity threads holes in the comfort the yearners drape over themselves; a comfort that … Continue reading Call of Duty and separating art from politics
Stop making me kill animals
Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey is one of my favourite games but after slaughtering my 6,000th boar, I realised it was playing into an aspect of open world games I wish would end: killing animals. Ubisoft, in particular, is a great offender with its Far Cry franchise requiring characters to hunt down innocent creatures for their “pelts”, … Continue reading Stop making me kill animals
Difficulty Isn’t Personality: From Software Games Can Be Better than This?
The conversation surrounding From Software’s “Soulsborne” genre is one of the strangest in gaming culture: Should it have an “easy” mode? Is it “too hard”? Are people suckered into thinking their games are good, when it might be a kind of self-delusion to justify spending hours on menial tasks to overcome unnecessarily powerful enemies? I … Continue reading Difficulty Isn’t Personality: From Software Games Can Be Better than This?
On Red Dead Redemption and historical accuracy
In Red Dead Online (RD:O), players who take on the role of black characters find themselves the frequent target of racial slurs. This is hardly news to most of us. The toxicity of the gaming community is nothing of not notorious; a known gateway drug to more noxious forms of bigotry. Gamers either dive headfirst … Continue reading On Red Dead Redemption and historical accuracy
I Need Diverse Games 