• Jonathan Holmes, Swery, and Bread header
    Miscellaneous

    Old wounds and making sense of Swery

    “I don’t believe that the sheep you’re talking about was named after you.” That isn’t a direct quote. It’s something I remember the interpreter for Hidetaka “Swery” Suehiro (Deadly Premonition, Dark Dreams Don’t Die, The Good Life, The Missing) saying to me at dinner about a month ago. So it’s possible that I have some of the details wrong, but…

  • The Museum of Anything Goes Header
    1990s,  Review

    Review – The Museum of Anything Goes

    I’m not sure if I can adequately prepare you for how bizarre The Museum of Anything Goes is. Let me first take you back to 1995. While the operating system was superseded that year, the important thing to know about Windows 3.1 was that it wasn’t a platform for video games. At the time, most games ran natively on DOS.…

  • A Procession to Calvary header
    2020s,  Review

    Review – The Procession to Calvary

    While Four Last Things centred around sin and the joy of sinning and how great sins are, The Procession to Calvary zooms in a bit closer to focus in on a subset of wrath: murder. My favourite thing! I assume it’s the favourite thing of most gamers. Most games have us indiscriminately murder people without worrying about who’s going to…

  • No I'm Not a Human Header
    2020s,  Preview

    Preview – No, I’m Not a Human

    The whole “uncanny valley” horror antagonist is so pervasive that I nearly dismissed No, I’m Not a Human based on its Steam capsule art. Misproportioned limbs, stretched out visages; that sort of thing. But No, I’m Not a Human isn’t just streamer bait. I mean, if it is, it’s really depressing streamer bait. And not depressing as in, “Entertainment is…

  • Blood Header
    1990s,  Review

    Review – Blood: Fresh Supply

    I love Ken Silverman’s Build Engine. I toyed around with it when I was a kid, and I recall a period in early adulthood where I dove into its inner workings, as well as Silverman’s other projects. It is the perfect 2.5D engine, with the right balance of limitations and sophistication. But I only really played Duke Nukem 3D. Well,…

  • 8BitDo Retro R8 Mouse Header
    Hardware,  Review

    Hardware Review – 8BitDo Retro R8 Mouse

    I love 8BitDo’s stuff. I own a lot of stuff from them. From retro wireless controller adapters to actual wireless retro controllers, you’ll find a lot of them around my apartment. In particular, my arcade stick by them and legally distinct Genesis and SNES controllers get a tonne of use. I even had to replace the sticks on my SF30…

  • Ground of Aces Header
    2020s,  Preview

    Preview – Ground of Aces

    The cancellation (or “indefinite hiatus”) of Jumplight Odyssey absolutely bites. League of Geeks folding is a huge loss, but Jumplight Odyssey was aiming to fill a massive hole that I don’t think anyone even realized was there. It was like the good half of Super Dimension Fortress Macross adapted into a management game. And it’s never going to happen. Who…

  • The Drifter Demo Header
    2020s,  Preview

    Preview – The Drifter

    For a genre that supposedly died in the ‘90s, the point-and-click adventure genre is pretty lively. Even adjacent adventure formulas have been getting a lot of love. It’s to the point where there’s so many, and it’s such a niche genre, that I experience choice paralysis and wind up playing nothing. But I liked what The Drifter was putting down,…