To open, Monument Valley 2 is to enter a pastel world of strange, wonderful landscapes, where everything is M. C. Escher and physics aren’t real. There’s nothing quite like the satisfying mental click when you finally crack its nonsense puzzles by sliding a set of stairs into an unlikely place or rotating a wheel just so…
Diaries of a Pathfinder Sex Idiot: Flirtroductions
Welcome to the first installment of Diaries of a Pathfinder Sex Idiot! In case this is not obvious, this is my personal account of my adventures in Mass Effect: Andromeda romance storylines, quite frankly my favourite part of any Mass Effect game. My Pathfinder, Fiona, has been in cryo for 600 years, and she didn’t…
The Sims 4: Parenthood, or, how Millennials are Killing Family, Too
The Sims 4 has been out for almost three years now, and I’ve been playing it almost since launch. I’ve bought DLC after DLC but, until now, none addressed my one major qualm about the base game: its lack of family-oriented gameplay features. But with the addition of the Toddler life-stage earlier this year, and…
Borderlands: The Movie (Or, My Plea to 2K)
Picture it: a soft instrumental in the background, a train rolling across the screen. The desert rolls behind it, the sunshine glinting off the heavy metal. It’s serene, a peaceful picture. Then a dog-reptile hybrid gets run over by the train, and the track by The Heavy picks up.
Seeing Myself in Wonderland: Mental Health in American McGee’s Alice – Part Two
This is the second part of a two-part piece. In case you haven’t already, be sure to click here and read part one first in order to acquaint yourself with how my history interweaves with that of Goth Alice in Depression Wonderland. Otherwise, you’ll probably be really confused.
Mass Effect: Andromeda – Seeing Myself in Another Galaxy
Vetra, Drack, Peebee, Jaal, Cora, Liam … That is my present list of favourite party members in order for Mass Effect: Andromeda, roughly 80 hours in. You think this will be about Vetra? You would be incorrect. Whilst I can rant on how Vetra’s character is woefully neglected in spite of her badassery, how Jaal’s emotional openness…
Idle Animations: Visiting the Rat Shrine
Idle Animations is a recurring series in which I play games without playing them, exploring quiet, still moments, how games fill space and time, and what happens when you let a game play itself.
Indigo Panics: Anxiety in Gaming
Dear video games, We have long had a strange and tenuous relationship. I have very often been busy with life. Building one’s own business is a long and difficult task. I had been trying to find time to myself, but when I had that time, I usually found I needed to sleep. It seems strange,…
Seeing Myself in Wonderland: Mental Health in American McGee’s Alice
I have to admit, I’m a little embarrassed when I, a grown woman at the ripe age of 25, tell people that one of my favorite games is American McGee’s Alice. It definitely has connotations of early 2000s mall-goth culture. You know, kids who had Vampire Freaks accounts, worshiped The Nightmare Before Christmas, and wore…
Idle Animations: El Presidente Doesn’t Care
Idle Animations is a recurring series in which I play games without playing them, exploring quiet, still moments, how games fill space and time, and what happens when you let a game play itself.
Video Game Pole Dancing is (Mostly) Bad
Video game sexiness has come a long way since the days of the original Leisure Suit Larry, but its depictions of pole dancing are largely stagnant. Dead-eyed women walk around poles in heels, their faces void of expression, as if the people animating them have no concept for what “sexy” is other than that it…
Indigo Panics: In the Beginning
In a galaxy very, very close, exactly one lifetime ago… From this time, there is hardly any history, as MySpace was not yet invented, so no one could immortalize their memories without leaving the comfort of their homes. Princess Leia–uhhh, Indigo–takes up one controller in their small hand. It is the start of a lifetime looking…