Hob is a top-down exploration game that, despite some great art direction and its vague story, can quickly become repetitive in its design, as we are constantly executing the same extremely simple actions over and over again in different locales. The world of Hob is one in which technology and nature are both intertwined and in conflict. The first area …

This article contains spoilers (As I hope you all could surmise from the title) Let’s start with genocide. That’s the final solution Isaac Dixon, Abby’s boss and leader of the Wolves, found for the Seraphite problem: if he kills every single member of this rival faction fighting him for land, then there will be no one left to take revenge. …

The tricky thing about mysteries is that the answers to them are rarely more fascinating than the questions themselves, which can lead to a disappointing payoff if those answers are the only thing that matters to the narrative. Observation falls into this trap: it successfully builds an intriguing atmosphere of dread in its first hours, telling a story about a …

Mistborn: The Final Empire is a competent fantasy novel that offers a fascinating cast of characters and a compelling plot, which is ultimately dragged down by repetition and a deeply problematic magic system. The setting is the great city of Luthadel, the center of a feudal empire built over the constant exploitation of the poor, the peasant class called Skaa. …

Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King is a competent but ultimately safe JRPG, failing to explore the few new things it brings to the table. It’s a simple JRPG that offers a bland story that never makes up for the by-the-books gameplay of the franchise. The plot follows an unnamed hero – he serves as our male avatar …

The Great Hunt finally allows The Wheel of Time to become its own thing, breaking free from most of Tolkien’s structure that so hindered The Eye of the World. It’s a competent fantasy novel that focuses on fleshing out its world while introducing and developing elements that allow the series to stand on its own feet. As the title implies, …

“I don’t believe whoever wins or loses, or whoever loses or wins, will lose or win. Everybody’s gonna lose,” Dilma Rousseff. The Last of Us Part II is an improvement over the first game on basically every level. It’s a harrowing experience, offering a gut-wrenching story about the never-ending cycle of violence perpetrated in the name of justice that is …

This review contains spoilers. Falling is a shallow thriller that heavily relies on overused tropes and stereotypes to tell a by-the-books story of a plane being hijacked by terrorists: full of one-note characters and predictable twists, the novel is also marred by a strong reluctance to delve into its own themes. The book opens with a shocking scene full of …

This review contains spoilers. The Last of Us is a competent post-apocalyptic zombie game about a troubled, violent man making troubled, violent decisions. It may never quite manage to successfully integrate its gameplay systems into the story, which leans too heavily on the clichés of the genre, but still offers a carefully built nihilist narrative and a couple of memorable …

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest is a competent, albeit problematic conclusion to the Millenium series, written by Stieg Larsson. The book brings together the trilogy’s best features, with a narrative that is socially engaged and deeply concerned with violence against women, but also many of its worst flaws, such as useless plotlines and dialogues full of exposition. The …