Category: Features
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Video Games as Art: Ico as Isolation
I like to think that we have moved beyond the question of whether video games are art. Critics and consumers are much more receptive to the idea that the medium has reached a level of creative, emotional power that it can be seen as a genuine form of artistic expression, to stand alongside literature, cinema,…
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In Search of Hate
As a rule of thumb, I tend not to write about games that I do not like. The idea that it’s easy to denigrate and much harder to praise is not a theory I subscribe to. Perhaps this mindset is something that came about with the inception of the YouTube internet critic, with figures like…
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I Played Every Monkey Island Game and All I Wrote Was This Stupid Retrospective
Having been around for a whopping 31 years, Monkey Island is going to mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. Maybe you’re an original gangster, having experienced the first game in the series all the way back in 1990 and its sequel the following year in 1991? Or you could…
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The Overwatch 2 Beta is Threatening My Productivity
Back in February I wrote a piece on my multiplayer addiction of choice, Overwatch. Make no mistake, although titled a ‘lament’, I deeply enjoy the game and, despite its reoccurring pockets of player-base toxicity, still regularly play with the same group of friends. At the end of the article, I made the (admittedly) desperate claim…
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Three Days at W.A.S.D.: Or Why Indie Ambition Reigns Supreme
Last Thursday I had the pleasure of travelling from Cardiff to London’s Tobacco Dock in order to cover W.A.S.D., a new event that offered the opportunity to play a ton of upcoming indie games, chat with developers and attend panels covering all aspects of the industry. Unlike my most recent trip to the bustling capital…
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Meta is Dead, Long Live VRChat
I stumbled upon VRChat at about the same time most people did, during late 2017/early 2018 and smack bang in the middle of the incredibly unfunny ‘Ugandan Knuckles’ meme’s meteoric rise in popularity. The game, at that point in time, saw a huge influx of players — mostly kids aping their YouTube idols, spouting ‘do you know…
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Infinite Weekends: In Search of the Perfect Video Game Length
Elden Ring made me incredibly sick. Ever since I managed to finish up the game at exactly 8:15 AM on March 11th, I have had a sore throat, blocked nose and thumping headache. Now, this may be due to the fact that on the previous Friday I went out and drank far too much (and…
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10 Hours with Elden Ring
After three years of anticipation, FromSoft’s Elden Ring was finally released last Friday to universal critical acclaim. Eager to enter the Lands Between, I booted up the game that morning and proceeded to spend about five hours exploring, fighting and dying. Almost everyone else I know (even those with only a passing interest in video games) did…
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There and Not-Quite Back Again — The Story of How Six Low-Level Hobbits Walked to Rivendell in The Lord of the Rings Online
It is hard to get an exact measurement of just how big Lord of the Rings Online is. Initially released in 2007, the game now has nine separate expansions, each of which adds another huge playable area to the virtual Middle Earth (the most recent of which was released as recently as November 2021). Trawling through the…
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Waiting to Die (Consumerism, Hype and Elden Ring)
My brain has an unfortunate habit of fixating on a game I’m excited about, so much so that it actively lessens my enjoyment of anything I’m attempting to play in the meantime. I’ll be the first to admit that this kind of reaction is a little childish, akin to a five-year-old unable to sleep the…
Gamer! Beware! 