Tales from the Borderlands was a quality game. The set pieces were brilliant and the characters were magnetically charismatic. It highlighted the exact strengths a narrative-driven experience needed to succeed and, crucially, established the tone needed to satisfy existing Borderlands fans as well as newcomers. This new sequel is devoid …
There are few philosophical thought experiments that have captured popular imagination quite like the trolley problem. Originally conceived more than 50 years ago, it’s been reinterpreted and expanded upon countless times, as people explored how changing details in the basic premise could elicit different responses. In the social media age—especially …
The Kids We Were was a hard game for me to get through. Not because of any tricky puzzles or skill demands—it’s a “walking sim”, at heart—but because of something far more challenging: its raw, unflinching honesty. It’s a game that deals with some heavy themes, handled with care but …
There’s a lot going on in Life is Strange: True Colors. On one level, it’s a murder investigation with a supernatural twist thanks to a young woman’s ability to read the minds and memories of people during moments of intense emotion. On another, it’s a small-town slice of life, focused …
Button City might just be the quintessential “wholesome game”. It’s got the low-poly graphics, the cute, anthropomorphised characters, and the hyper-saturated pastel colour scheme. It’s got a simple but moving story about making friends and finding a sense of belonging, told through an assortment of quirky loveable misfits, pop culture …
Armature Studio’s Where the Heart Leads is a dense narrative game, with an apparent 600,000 words of dialogue and tons of decisions to make throughout the game. That word count is neither a positive or negative, however: it gives players the chance to craft their own story, yet drags along …
Overnight, Square Enix shared a first look at Life is Strange: True Colors in action, teasing another dose of the series’ unique approach to the narrative adventure genre (with some new twists), and introducing some of the characters you’ll meet in Haven. The scene sees Alex—who’s just moved to a …
Between the likes of Strangeland, Lost Words, and When The Past Was Around, I feel like I’ve written a lot lately about games dealing with grief—not to mention things like Adios and Olija that aren’t about grief per se, but traverse adjacent territory. And yet, no two of those games …
Essays on Empathy is so much more than just an anthology of games; it’s a candid reflection on Deconstructeam’s history and creative process. There’s no other developer quite like Deconstructeam. Even if you only look at their commercial releases, Gods Will Be Watching and The Red Strings Club show a …
Don’t Forget Me, the debut outing from The Moon Pirates, is an intriguing premise. A “new breed of puzzle game” that combines adventure game puzzles with keyword-driven exploration of people’s memories, it’s a unique take on cyberpunk and complex moral thought experiment on individuality and freedom—if one that feels a …
