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You Should Play: Aka Manto | 赤マント

Chilla’s Art’s Aka Manto is in many ways a superior game to its successor, Yuki Onna. Yet it does a splendid job at rivalling its inspiration, Puppet Combo’s Nun Massacre, one of my all time favourite horror games.The setup of Aka Manto is simple and quite stupid, in the way horror conceits often are. You play as a girl who has been bullied to come into an abandoned school complex late at night,…

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Sly 3 is a Great, Uneven Game

Full spoilers for Sly 3: Honour Among Thieves follow. “You’re an ignorant child playing dress-up in his father’s legacy.”– Sly 2: Band of Thieves (2004)I can unequivocally recommend Sly Raccoon and Sly 2: Band of Thieves. Both games fill a decided niche in the 3D platformer space, creating a compelling narrative out of what appears to be, on its surface, just another 3D platformer with cutesy…

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The Forgotten City is Weird

First things first: I actually quite like The Forgotten City. For all the criticism that follows, I enjoyed much of my time with it. It is earnest, human, and a game that defies both its budget and its small team. It builds a really compelling setting and weaves a mystery that held my interest for the game’s runtime. However, I wanted to discuss two weird decisions that sink the game in the end –…

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Bloodwash is Weird

Spoilers for Bloodwash follow. Bloodwash is a traditional Puppet Combo adjacent, Torture Star published horror game in many ways. In some ways, Jordan King and Henry Hoare’s game is a very strong recreation of the formula that has been established in previous Puppet Combo games.The story is pretty simple – you play as a pregnant woman who has to do her laundry at a rundown laundromat in the dead…

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You Should Play: LEGIE

LEGIE (hereafter referred to as Legie) is an odd game in many ways. But it does appeal to me – and not just because of its brevity. I love roleplaying games, but I hardly have any time to play them at the moment (next year I hope that will change as I finally take my foot off the accelerator and take some time to myself). LEGIE, though, is a good intermediary until I get a chance to slow down –…

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Seriously, You Should Play: The Dream Machine

Sometimes there are games that have impacts on me that I don’t appreciate at the time. These kinds of games are often very good in the moment – I enjoy them a lot – but I don’t quite factor in just how cool or interesting some of them are. Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines was one of those games. So was The Dream Machine. The Dream Machine is a point-and-click adventure game in the classic…

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You Should Play: Sly 2: Band of Thieves

Show your bling and let me shine you!Making a sequel, to anything, is tough. On the one hand, the temptation to cohere to the same core elements entirely is always there – but on the other, there is an intuitive sense that some reinvention is expected, if not necessary. Sly 2: Band of Thieves is one of those rare games that manages to not only grow the seeds planted in the first game, but find a…

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TOMORROW. (i'll be there to chat and answer questions, etc. hope to see you there!)

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Monsters of Note: Oblivion's Necromancers

An essay on the weirdly lame necromancers in Oblivion.

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You Should Play: Yakuza Kiwami 2

“Real men ought to be a little stupid.”Positive masculine role models within video games can be surprisingly hard to find. Male figures who can be emotionally vulnerable as well as tough and rugged are still relatively rare within mainstream video games. Most video games tend to opt for “tough and rugged”, particularly when contemplating the games from earlier console generations. Yakuza 2 (and…

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You Should Play: Blasphemous 2

It is rare that I get so excited for a game that I anticipate the day of its release, and try to set aside time to play it. Blasphemous 2 was one such game. I adore the first game, and so for the developers to make a sequel… it was both dizzyingly exciting and also slightly worrying. What would be gained, and what would be lost? Because all sequels must perform that balancing act. What did the…

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Reflection 2023

The darkness corroded all it touched. That was the truth of the matter, and the light of the world was the only thing that could stop its terrifying encroachment. He was safe in the knowledge that it was he that was the light of the world, the steel of his mind the barrier against all things malevolent. He was the Great Preserver. He was Lord Ethal. Lord of Order. For there is no problem that…

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Coda: The Hauntology of Forbidden Siren

Of all the videos I released in 2023, this happened to be the most popular – I think as it happened to vaguely coincide with the release of another channel’s (Boulder Punch) large Forbidden Siren video. I want to sit down and watch that video soon, actually – I still haven’t had the chance.My video on Forbidden Siren is a video that I am definitely proud of, but if I’d been able to choose which…

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You Should Play: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II

“As my feet walk from the ashes of Katarr, I shall not fear, for in fear, lies death.”I played Knights of the Old Republic fairly late, all things considered. I bought the discs at the relative tail end of the whole “being able to buy PC games on disc” thing. Now I can’t find a store that sells anything but old Sims expansion packs. That’s besides the point, though – I can track my appreciation…

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2024 Roadmap

Hi there everyone!It’s been a long year (again), and I think at the end of it, I can look back on it and be exceedingly proud of everything I’ve managed to pull off and release at the end of it. Frankly, I didn’t think it could be done at some points. I pushed myself hard to balance everything together, and then COVID basically forced me to take a rest. Which, probably, was a good thing – though…

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Fear & Hunger 2: Termina | Some Thoughts

Better than my wildest expectations. Phenomenally clever, brutal and surprising all the way through. It's infatuation.

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Games and Violence

Content Warning: This has discussion about the nature  of video game violence and how it is enacted. It refers to recent  real-world events that may be upsetting for some readers. Please read  with discretion and stay safe.

Spoiler Warning: Contains spoilers for Silent Hill 2 & 3, Spec Ops: the Line, Resident Evil 7, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. An article that begins to discuss and unravel the representation of violence within modern, big-budget video games. It is a large topic so it is a beginning, rather than an end or anywhere close to it.