July 23rd
…Mitchell highlights the biological imagery used in the space design of Pathologic.
…Mitchell highlights the biological imagery used in the space design of Pathologic.
…the trauma of loss | Kotaku Heather Alexandra’s take on the much-discussed Hellblade shifts focus away from the objectification of paranoid delusions, toward the fundamental psychological injury that caused them – loss.
“Boiling down mental illness to a Campbellian Hero’s Journey fails to provide the nuance required to say anything conclusive. Is the rot on Senua’s arm a representation of her growing self-doubt? Is it a bruise left by her abusive father? It is a literal mark of shame from the gods? It ends up being all of these things, because Hellblade shies away from anything too…
Sometimes I get nostalgic for the era of “personal writing on games”, “confessional critical essays”, or “gonzo games journalism”. A few years ago, it seemed like the best way to start writing critically about games was to tell personal stories about how they had affected you. While it’s not disappeared entirely, that style of writing has waned in popularity lately. I can think of a lot of good reasons why that happened – for one thing, the environment got much more hostile for the minoritized writers who were doing the most interesting things with this form – but I
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…boxes certainly aren’t there for fun. They have always been designed for the purpose of making sure that a company turns a profit.”
While some of the discussion about loot boxes evokes treasured notions of player agency, critical writing on other games continues to trouble the assumption that players should always feel in control – or, examines what that dream of control means in the context of people’s personal ethics.
…“squad mechanics” of the original Call of Duty were far more impactful than the latest iteration.
“WWII’s squad mechanics end up feeling insufficient when compared to the original game’s unpredictable violence. I might appreciate the spare health pack from time to time, but I never built affection for my squad.” Three critics this week considered the kinds of future scenarios that have been portrayed in games, with a particular eye toward what sort of stories have been relatively rare.
Necropastoral
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…literary origins of some of its representation problems.
“Lead designer and co-founder Carlos Gómez Quintana has said his interest in the Mexica derives from an early encounter with Gary Jennings’ Aztec, a flawed text rife with noble savagery. This is really what binds everything in Dragons Conquer America together.” Critical Distance …
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In writing on emotional well-being and games, two pieces look at portrayals of pain and survival in a hostile world.
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…Allegra Frank highlights the portrayal of motherhood of this much-discussed game – an aspect that has been underappreciated, as most critical writing has focused on the politics of the story’s setting and the protagonist’s identity.
“[T]he audience often require[s] a pre-existing political alignment with the satirist to recognize the commentary…
…Photo Modes – Waypoint Dia Lacina theorises player agency and power in the practice of video game photography.
“Video games have historically been rather solitary things, and when you stick them in a museum they just sort of sit there and get a bit sad. Kinect, though, is all about being seen.” …
…which to imagine alternative cities and political structures.”
Finally, two critics look at visual expression in games, with an eye towards things that feel familiar, whether that familiarity is comforting or creepy.
“FAITH‘s…