Please donate to help save PopMatters. We are moving to WordPress in December out of necessity and need your help.

Kris Ligman

Recent

Reviews

'White Knight Chronicles II' Is a Waste in Almost Every Sense of the Word

There is not a single original idea in White Knight Chronicles II, and of the stolen ones, few are anything to aspire to.

Games

'Rogues in Space': A Post-Mortem

Kris ran a tabletop campaign! Let's talk about it.

Games

Space and System in Culver City: A Visit to IndieCade

Beset by sculptures of alien invaders and rampaging teenage zombies, IndieCade manages to be a place of community all but forgotten in mainstream electronic gaming.

Games

The 'Ruins' at the 'End of the World': Atmospheric Ambience and Dream Space

Ruins exudes a sense not just of a mystical dream setting but also a private one.

Games

The Virtue of Virtual Patience

The Artist is Present is not much of a game, but it functions brilliantly as a comment on time and patience in media consumption.

Games

Constructing Community in 'Catherine'

Is it cheating when the game wants you to seek outside help?

Reviews

Dragon Age II: Legacy

For a story pitched as casting a shadow on the Hawke family line, the actual revelation doesn't really tarnish anyone's reputation.

Games

Moving Pixels Podcast: Misogyny, Misandry, and 'Catherine'

Settle in for an evening with Moving Pixels as we explore the dark themes and curious gameplay of Atlus's biggest release to date, Catherine.

Games

Moving Pixels Podcast: Exploring the Alien Frontier of 'Bastion'

It's high noon at the Moving Pixels blog as the podcast crew set their sights on Supergiant Games's charming Western action RPG, Bastion.

Games

'Drag Race': Games, Competition and the Failure Gambit

What can reality television teach us about self-sabotage in gameplay?

Games

Moving Pixels Podcast: Subjectivity and Interpretation in 'Child of Eden'

Butting heads and battling Skype lag, the Moving Pixels crew turn their attention to Tetsuya Mizuguchi's newest synaesthetic rail shooter and the impassioned responses that it has generated.

Reviews

'Catherine' Is Fun to Play and That's About It

The puzzle metaphor (as given) may be broken, but it's still useful for displaying the anxieties that Vincent represents on behalf of his target audience.

Games

'Bastion': Putting Character Back into Indie Arcade

Bastion is a grandiose science fantasy with a rustic twang steeped in the mythic Old West.

Games

'Catherine': A Screwfly Box Puzzle Solution

Today we look at Atlus's idiosyncratic new puzzle game about relationships, Catherine, and an unexpected parallel to be found in science fiction.

Games

Moving Pixels Podcast: Holla Back with 'Fat, Ugly or Slutty?'

This week we are joined by the admins of fatuglyorslutty.com, a blog dedicated to calling out online gaming's less savory participants.

Reviews

Record of Agarest War Zero

The "dating" system consists largely of improving scores so that your descendant will inherit better stats. I seem to recall doing something rather similar in Final Fantasy VII, only with chocobo, not human women.

Games

In 'Bastion', Narrative's Stranglehold on Life and Death Is "Jus' Foolin'" with You

Bastion's narration establishes a suitably oppressive mood that is as richly textured as the game's visuals.

Games

Wizards, Glass, and Computer Chips: What 'The Dark Tower' Can Teach Us About Gaming's Fourth Wall

A few idiosyncratic passages from the cult classic series by Stephen King may have a lot to say about ludic point-of-view.

Games

Child of Eden

Child of Eden is the sort of sublime, spiritually uplifting experience that we are lucky to get once in a generation.

Games

"That Even Death May Die": Going Back to the Black Isle with 'Planescape: Torment', Part 1

The idea of nothingness as a final reward neatly drives home for the player the grimness of Planescape: Torment's reality.

Games

Politics of Control Revisited: What Has Changed?

That the U.S. Supreme Court has sided in favor of the game industry does little if anything for gaming as a subculture.

Games

Finding 'Eden': Can Games be Spiritual Experiences?

Child of Eden's gameplay is very much in the nature of religious ritual, as much as a passion play or holy communion.

Games

Electronic Empire Expo: The First World Problem of E3

There is a far larger system of class bias at work with games, namely the one that has to be engaged in just to facilitate the existence of this article.

Features

20 Jazz Albums You Might Have Missed in 2020

Collapse Expand Features

BROWSE ALL ALBUM REVIEWS

Reviews

Collapse Expand Reviews

PM Picks

Collapse Expand Pm Picks