Five Games That Demonstrate Why 2017 Was An Amazing Year For Video Game Storytelling

This was an especially fun one to write. 2017 felt like a hallmark year for storytelling in games and I had a great time highlighting some of my personal favorites. Titles like Nier: Automata, Yakuza 0, Wolfenstein II, Doki Doki Literature Club, and Night in the Woods offered a diverse medley of ideas delivered in …

Hereditary Review: There’s No Escape From Your Lineage

Ari Aster’s directorial debut begins with the spitting image of Kubrikian precision, a methodical camera push where we inch ever closer to a meticulously crafted home in miniature. As the camera creeps forward into a single room of this diorama, the scene seamlessly blends into the actual home of the Graham family, revealing the bedroom …

Why Dragon Ball FighterZ and BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle Are A Great Introduction to Fighting Games

After many years of considering taking the dive into traditional fighting games, Dragon Ball FighterZ was finally the title that roped me in. I had sunken a huge amount of time into Super Smash Bros. Melee during college, which gave me an appreciation for the significant amount of time and energy it takes to improve …

Hits And Misses From This Year’s Sony E3 Conference

With E3 2018 in the history books, its a good time to look back at Sony's approach to the massive gaming event. Although they didn't pack quite as much firepower into their conference as Microsoft, I would say they had the second most exciting/engaging showing for me personally. I was intrigued on some level by …

BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle Review – A Well Measured Balance Between Approachability and Complexity

My unexpected deep-dive into the world of fighting games continues with ArcSys' latest BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle. I was somewhat intimidated at first due to how notorious the BlazBlue titles are for being complex, but this one very much exists in the foot-steps of Dragon Ball FighterZ. In short the systems have been simplified without …

Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon Review – A Lover Letter to Castlevania

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night was a Kickstarter phenomenon, promising the type of side-scrolling Metroidvania experience that gamers expect from Symphony of the Night director Koji Igarashi. As somewhat of an afterthought, one of the incentives for backers was a smaller spin-off game inspired by the earlier, more linear Castlevania entries. Described as a “mini-NES” game, Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon stands on its …

Solo: A Star Wars Story Review – The Epitome of Average

It’s no secret that Solo went through a somewhat disastrous production process, much beloved directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord sacked for “creative differences”. This heavy handed management of the brand, combined with a limiting premise, seemed to doom Solo from the start. The good news is that the result isn’t nearly as much of …