Question: What do you get when you cross a need to survive with the want to be a good person? Answer: You get Papers, Please, the “dystopian document thriller” made by Lucas Pope back in 2013. Papers, Please can be easily placed amongst the ranks of games like Harvest Moon, Animal Crossing, and Euro Truck Simulator in that it’s one…
Tag: video games
12 Labors from the Past
While scrolling around the Electronic Literature Organization’s website, I came across a fairly interesting game titled “12 Labors of the Internet User” (or “Les 12 Travaux de l’Internaute,” if you’re using the original name). It’s a flash game playable on Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Opera if you’ve got it, and was put together by a team of seven people back…
One time a video game did depression right!
Warning: This post discusses themes of depression and suicide. So, here’s a thing about video games: Typically, they suck at mental illness. Nine times out of ten you pick up a game that has mental illness in it and the involvement boils down to, “Crazy people with knives try to knife you, isn’t that scary???” Frankly? No. It isn’t scary.…
Year Walking through Swedish Folklore
“In the old days man tried to catch a glimpse ofthe future in the strangest of waysthey locked themselves in dark roomsnot partaking of food and drink At the stroke of midnightthey ventured out into the night through the dark woodswhere strange creature roamed To see if they would be wealthyTo see if they would be happyTo see if they…
Neverending Nightmares: an investigation into the human psyche
There have been a plethora of novels throughout history that have explored the effects of depression and mental illness on the human psyche. The case can be made for Herman Melville’s famous protagonist, Ishmael, and his suicidal impulses that lead him on his whaling adventure upon the Pequod. However spectacular or insightful such novels can be they lack the visual…
Valiant Hearts: An Exploration Into the People of World War I
World War I was a war stuck in transition; soldiers charged with bayonets in hand under the fire of machine guns from enemy forces crammed inside the belly of eroding trenches. There were no Nazis or atomic bombs that made the lines between “good” and “evil” so easy for each side to define. It was a politician’s war and novels…
Supergaming- The Renaissance of Superhero and Comic Book Games, by Jake Black
One of the most personal and enjoyable parts of being a superhero fan, of being someone who crouches over glossy pages of cheesy dialogue, action, and capes, is imagining oneself as the hero. It’s the beauty of comic books, to be invested in these characters and live vicariously through their adventures, heartbreaks, and triumphs. I think this fantasy is what…
Never Alone: A Visual History of the Native Alaskan Iñupaiq
Never Alone is an indie-platformer game that mingles modest puzzling levels with the history and folklore of the Native Iñupaiq Eskimo, a tribe that still survives today with an estimated 361 members according to the 2010 Census. The result is an enchantingly beautiful yet, if I am honest, rudimentary platform game that will break your heart in all the best…
Animal Crossing vs Real Life
There is no more addictive game than one that makes you feel emotionally involved. Animal Crossing has been around since 2004 where it was first introduced on the GameCube console. Nintendo considers it a social simulator and communication game. The game immediately throws the player into the world. It starts with a train moving you to a new town with…
No Right Decision: An Analysis of “Spec Ops: The Line”
Of all the games that have graced the hard drive of my PC over the years (a number that I am happy to say is quite high), Spec Ops: The Line is one that impacted me most. Too often throughout the history of video games the idea of war and killing is glorified and the effects it has on those involved are…