Mark Filipowich
‘Kyn’ Is a Straightforward Enough RPG in the Best Way Possible
Kyn is generic, but somehow it is generic in the most intriguing way that a fantasy game could be.
Brother Against Brother: The Drawing of the Sword
The game doesn't portray brothers fighting brothers. It shows pieces on a map easing into firing range of one another with the objective of causing more casualties than they suffer.
‘Herald’ Attempts the Troubled Waters of the Colonial Narrative
The “colonialism” at play is not between nations, rather it seems more interested in how it influences a man recently come of age.
‘Cosmochoria’: The Good Kind of Grind
The game fails to properly equip the player for the challenges in the game. That sounds like a criticism, but it really works in its favor.
Aeon Command
By keeping it simple, Bat Country has developed a simple, engaging, and surprisingly relaxing two-player competition to pass the time on a lunch break.
Dressing Classy in ‘League of Legends’
By regularly releasing new characters, MOBAs like League of Legends reshape expectations about how a character class must look and play.
A Cat in a Box: Procedural Storytelling in ‘Always Sometimes Monsters’
It doesn’t matter if you play the light side or the dark side. People are still compelled to behave a certain way based on their circumstances, and individuality only really matters to the individual.
‘Always Sometimes Monsters’: Always Sometimes Struggling
Nobody gets to be the hero, but everyone is important. Always Sometimes Monsters is personal, a bit meandering, crass, and occasionally more ham-fisted than it seems to realize.