Author: Maija Johansson
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Ambitious Goals, Poor Narrative Design: The Town of Light Review
The Town of Light had a lot of potential, but unfortunately the end result doesn’t impress.
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Cities: Skylines Review – Being A Mayor Has Never Been So Fun
Develop your city from a humble village to a bustling metropolis in this colorful, smoothly running city simulator.
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Breathtakingly Beautiful…And Boring: Gris Review
Gris is a 2D platform-adventure with award-winning visual design, yet gameplay so lacking that it seems clear to which the developer team was focusing on more.
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Performing and Pretending for The Audience of One: Role-Playing in Single-Player Games
What are the affordances and restrictions the digital single-player role-playing games impose on the gamer? The study explores the different ways the player can use the game as a complex toy with multiple affordances to play pretend with.
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Beyond Gender Stereotypes: Narrative Video Games as a Tool for Fostering Gender Equality
Video games have started to take steps towards more inclusive representations of gender identities. A study by Dalila Forni discusses these new reconsiderations by analyzing gender representations in Horizon Zero Dawn.
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Not Your Typical Office Job: Death and Taxes Review
Who gets to decide who lives and who dies? In this 2D narrative puzzle game you play as a fresh-faced Death, merely responsible for the fate of all of humankind. Fill the paperwork, save the world. Possibilities are endless.
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See Your Partners True Colors: Play Survival Co-op With Them
Playing cooperative games with your significant other is fun, and it can also reveal things about your partner that otherwise wouldn’t surface in the daily grind.
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Inconsistency Is the Bane of Escape Rooms
Padlocks and digital clocks in escape room supposedly set in 19th-century witch’s hut? So-called escape room logic is banal and plagues many escape room companies, but there are other ways of room design.
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It’s More Than Skin-Deep: Creating Diversity in Digital and Non-Digital Games
Diversity in games requires more than player-customizable avatars. The extensive game analysis outlines five strategies for creating more inclusive characters in games.
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From Space to place: Creating Meaningful Environments in Video Games
One of Red Dead Redemption 2’s greatest achievements is the dynamic, “lived in” feel of its environment. Research highlight from Westerside and Holopainen’s article breaks down how these affective spaces are created and how they carry the narrative throughout the game. #rdr2
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Vanishing of Ethan Carter: Walking Simulator Mystery That Doesn’t Hold Your Hand
Vanishing of Ethan Carter is an indie mystery adventure with supernatural elements that doesn’t hold your hand. Instead, it lets you experience a cleverly written story at your own pace in a gorgeous world. #gamereview #walkingsimulator #vanishingofethancarter
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Call of Cthulhu Tries and Fails to Grasp the Player in Its Tentacles
Call of Cthulhu is an atmospheric adaptation from the classic RPG that serves many Lovecraftian tropes for its fans, but weak roleplaying features, and unpolished overall feel make it difficult to get immersed into this cosmic horror title. #callofcthulhu #gamereview #horror
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Not a Lot Happening When You’re Adrift at Sea: Raft Review
Raft is visually pleasing, but unless you can find inner peace and focus on collecting debris while slowly drifting at sea, it might leave you cold. The game tries to sell adventure and survival, but both fall a bit flat in the end.
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Unforeseen Incidents: point-and-click adventure with striking scenery and constant one-liners
Unforeseen incidents, a mystery adventure point-and-click game mixes the dark theme of sinister conspiracy and balances it with a colorful art style and humorous writing, proving that humor and drama combined are a treat in the hands of talented writers.