July 7th

Welcome back readers.

This week I’m keeping the sectioning more streamlined. As always, if you want to add to my reading list, or perhaps share some work you’re still putting together, Come hang out on our Discord!

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

New Experiences

This time around we’re starting off with writing in conversation with recent stuff. We’ve got some reviews, some impressions, some critical commentaries, some experiential pieces–a nice opening spread.

• Morality Is Shadow of the Erdtree’s Big New Feature | Gamers with Glasses
  Nate Schmidt observes Elden Ring‘s greater concern for the wellbeing of the people you meet along the way in its DLC.
• Replaying Riven | Zarf Updates
  Andrew Plotkin sits down with a largely successful remake.
• Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip Review | Gamecritics
  I’m still not completely sure what Elijah Beahm played here. . . but I’d give it a go.
• An Essential Steam Deck Title: ‘Heading Out’ | Epilogue Gaming
  Flora Merigold plays an intriguing genre mashup that combines racing, visual novel, and roguelike elements.
• Open door policy: can an escape room be queer? | Eurogamer.net
  Florence Smith Nicholls explores a subversive, intertextual approach to escape room design.

“With the new wave of dark cosy games like Grave Seasons and Wanderstop upon us, it seems there is an appetite for experiences that question the comfort that they provide. Memoirscape proves that an escape room can be queer not just in terms of subject matter, but through challenging players by creating a literal comfort zone that they need to break out of. It’s a cosy escape room that isn’t afraid to engage with the complexities of queerness and nostalgia, especially in terms of how we can idealise the past, both on a personal and wider level.”

New Angles

Our next section brings together pieces of writing on older games viewed from new perspectives, accounting for fluctations over time in genre and experience.

• Grow Up: Life is Strange Misses the YA Game Mark | Sidequest
  Melissa Brinks does a little genre analysis by situating Life Is Strange in the context of its production, its narrative structure, and its critical discourse.
• Killing the Dragon | Unwinnable
  Emily Price unrolls the Katamari.
• Metroid Prime has been making gamers love reading since 2002 | GamesRadar
  Ashley Schofield highlights the scan visor’s centrality in the textroidvania.

“The freedom in exposition created by the Scan Visor’s innovative design makes the Metroid Prime series feel uniquely natural and subtle in its delivery of information to the player. Rather than being forced to read an encyclopedia of Metroid lore, the player is instead willingly studying the world through Samus’ eyes.”

New Contexts

To conclude this issue, let’s widen the scope a little, looking at industry, impact, and games-adjacent topics.

• Democratic Socialism Simulator is a reminder of the DNC’s weaknesses | Polygon
  Zoë Hannah revisits Molleindustria’s Democratic Socialism Simulator and its continuing relevance.
• The Sphere | mssv + Have You Played
  Adrian Hon reflects on the view from the inside.
• HALLWAY TO YESTERDAY | DEEP-HELL
  Skeleton takes a cyclical view of the gentrification and desiccation of indie.

“What does independent video game mean? I see in the meaning coarse bandages of failure and wounds. Mummification rituals on digital storefronts. All of the art left behind like so many ruins. Look upon my work and see something in yourself, quiet mausoleums appearing when we’ve just had enough.”