Author: Max Mitchelson
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A Space For The Unbound: Hi-Bit Narrative Bliss – Demo Preview
When initially scrolling through the games in this year’s LudoNarraCon, it only took a single look at the screenshots to sell me on A Space For The Unbound. I hopped into the prologue and was immediately taken in by its hyper-detailed hi-bit rendition of Indonesia in the 1990s and drawn into the heartwarming magical realist narrative. In…
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Mind Scanners: Papers Please Meets 1984 – Demo Preview
While there have been some attempts to capture the brilliance of Lucas Pope’s Paper’s Please, none have innovated and scratched that pencil-pushing itch for me as much as the demo for the upcoming game Mind Scanners. In this dystopian future, you take control of a mind-altering cog in the machine, clamping down on anyone not…
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TUNIC: A Nostalgic Soulslike – Demo Preview
Featuring in this year’s Ludonaracon round-up of demos is TUNIC. It is a golden-hour lit hack and slash adventure game that combines the melancholic atmosphere and combat of Hyperlight Drifter with a warm blanket of comforting nostalgia. “Underneath the combat is a satisfying Metroidvania experience” From looking through initial screenshots and playing through the first…
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PS3 and Vita Stores “Will Continue Operations”
Sony is not closing its legacy digital stores and has promised that the Vita and PS3 Stores are not going offline any time soon. After tremendous fan and industry pressure over game preservation, President and CEO of Sony interactive, Jim Ryan, stated in a blog post: “we made the wrong decision,” in response to the…
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Shelter 3: Prepare to Cry – PC Review
Shelter 3 takes the series in a new direction, as the developer Might and Delight promised. Still, its deliberate action though impactful also exacerbates long-standing issues in the series and introduces new ones. Like its predecessors, Shelter 3 is a survival walking simulator where players must guide an animal and often their babies through a…
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Suzerain: A Stark, Realistic Depiction of a Young Democracy – PC Review
Suzerain is an interactive fiction that explores the long and treacherous road young democracies must take to evolve into a more equitable society. Though it lacks the mechanics of hardcore political simulators, it is an excellent achievement in representing democracy in games. Unlike traditional parser text adventures, Suzerain falls more in line with other TWINE…
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13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim: A fun, time-travelling, kaiju-fighting game – Review
13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim takes familiar sci-fi and anime tropes and reworks them into something new, both a homage to its creative inspirations and a statement on how media dictates culture. All the while, the game strides the line between hard science fiction, explosive mech action, and melodramatic shojo sweetness. It is by far one…
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Jenny LeClue: Detectivú Should be the Next Game You Play on Switch
Jenny LeClue: Detectivú fell under the radar for me despite positive press for this adventure game’s latest release in August on Nintendo Switch. Even without its recent 88% off sale on the Nintendo eShop, this stellar adventure game is well worth its $25 price tag. Originally kickstarted in 2014, Jenny LeClue: Detectivú is a narrative…
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Why you Should Not Buy a Next Generation Console…Yet
Microsoft and Sony’s imminent entrance to the ninth console generation has taken a backseat for many in favor of the endless doom that is 2020. But with hype building for the next generation, many have opened their wallets to shell out hundreds of dollars to purchase the Playstation 5 or Xbox Series X. But maybe,…