Games

Is Demon’s Souls hard? The game that basically started its own subgenre (the Soulslikes) is forever trapped in a discourse about difficulty, even though it excels not at challenging us with hard-as-nails boss fights, but at building an oppressive and somber atmosphere that immerses us in a dark and dangerous world where everything seems complicated. The story takes place after …

The first time we see Elliot, he’s out in the woods looking for a simple comb an old man dropped when he was gathering herbs. He doesn’t care that it’s not a glorious job or even that the old man won’t be able to pay him much; it’s just the right thing to do. Elliot is that kind of guy. …

Divided into two distinct parts that remake the previous two games in the series and weave them into a cohesive whole, Another Code: Recollection explores our often-troubled relationship with our parents and how our memories make up who we are. 13-year-old Ashley thought her parents died when she was three. But one day, shortly before her birthday, she receives an invitation …

Vampyr excels in making its mechanics, systems, and presentation mirror its protagonist’s inner struggles. It associates vampirism with disease and corruption, immersing us in a claustrophobic, hostile city whose inhabitants are at the mercy of predators of every kind – including the main character, Dr. Jonathan Reid. The game starts with a discussion on mortality, framing dying as a blessing: …

“You got kids? Sounds rough.” Hugh Williams asks his colleague Nicholas No Last Name, who promptly replies, “Nah. I wouldn’t trade it for a thing.” Parenthood is at the core of Pragmata, a game that boasts an innovative and engaging combat system, but a narrative so sparse, shallow, and repetitive that it makes us long for the next moment our …

Indivisible is a curious mix of RPG and Metroidvania that boasts great art direction, building a colorful and vibrant fantasy world, but is unfortunately marred by some questionable design choices that take the fun out of combat and exploration. The story follows Ajna’s quest to avenge her father, who was murdered in front of her by a soldier named Dhar. …

Orange cats are Jellicle cats. I could could happily ramble about the nature of a Jellicle cat for hours, and explain how they can fly on a broomstick to places far distant or sing, in more than one key, duets by Rossini and waltzes by Strauss, or even more importantly, how Jellicle cats can, would, and do, but suffice it …

Tacoma explores an (awfully close) dystopian future, where our society is fully dominated by large corporations and is much worse because of it, by focusing on the crew of a space station in crisis. Transforming audio diaries into something new and refreshing, the title only slips up at the very end, when a single plot twist alters how we view …

“What a frightening thing is the human, a mass of gauges and dials and registers, and we can only read a few and those perhaps not accurately.” ― John Steinbeck, The Winter of Our Discontent Charlotte Maria Gray is in a cabin in the middle of nowhere at night. It’s snowing heavily outside, so she’s got to make a fire so she …

Last Stop presents three different stories set in the same city, mixing family drama with the fantastical: they are mostly well-told tales, featuring endearing characters and some neat ideas, even though they take too long to converge into a proper climax, which consequently feels rushed and underdeveloped. There are three main characters in Last Stop. We have John Smith, a …