Rantview: Urbek
Urbek is a city-building game that separates itself from its more famous cousins by having a flat environment and a 3D-pixel style. Voxels, I suppose?...
On Endings, ♥♦♣♠, and the Neutral Arbitrer
What's this? A new post from a long-dormant newsletter? Is it possible that The Last Videogame Blog, an industry leviathan with nearly ten subscribers, has...
Can a Surreal Videogame Exist?
Dictator:You descend, admiring a mural along the wall of a manatee in a powdered wig, presiding over a fastidious courtroom. You feel the decayed limestone...
Games are a Language
Games are a language. I used to say that my greatest interests in life were like Amazon: books and games. Of course, I can’t say that anymore, since Amazon’s...
Game Analysts Do Need to Grow Up (But Not in the Way You Think)
I was tricked by Kurt Vonnegut once. One of his most famous novels, Slaugherhouse-Five, begins with a preface in which the author describes the circumstances...
The Long and Twisted Path towards a Ryu Number for Mônica
Note: today's article was previously published on my personal blag, where you can also read a version in Brazilian Portuguese. (click for bigger version)...
T R A I N S 🚂🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃
For this month, I had a very meaty article planned about the imaturity of videogame criticism when dealing with metacomentary, but I've had a very crappy...
GTAIV's BAD END
Note: I haven't been able to write a newsletter for this month, so I repurposed one that remains quite actual, in my opinion, and that was originally posted...
This One Weird Modded Speedrun Shows All That's Wrong with GTA's Game Design.
Ah, mods. For many, they're the bread and butter of PC gaming. Modders can turn a game into something completely different, be it turning a fantasy romp into...
Keyforge is Richard Garfield's Mad Science Experiment
Today, I'd like to talk about Keyforge, a physical card game. What? You appear to be under the impression that this newsletter is only about digital games,...
Already My Words Have Shaped the Industry
The effect one can have in the world is truly amazing. I've had this newsletter for about half a year, and I have six subscribers. This would lead one to...
The Two N64 Games That Drew a Forgotten Blueprint to the GTA Style Game
The year is 1998. Body Harvest has just been released for the Nintendo 64 by developers DMA Design. That game is late; it was supposed to be one of the...
Analyzing the "GTA-Likes" of the Early Naughties
In Kirby’s next game he can turn into a car. This abomination reminded me of the strange years of the GTAfication of games, a historical moment I rarely see...
I'm Bad At Videogames. That's Why I Love Roguelikes
I am bad at videogames. This is not something I am ashamed of. In fact, I pretty much believe that, if you want to be a games writer or a games journalist,...
BEHOLD... THE FUTURE OF GAMING!
Gaming is a field that's always looking towards the future. We always want to know what is just around the corner, what new ideas will be developed, how the...
Several Small Things About Yooka-Laylee I Want To Talk About
Sometimes, I can talk about a single game at lenght. Sometimes, I can talk about an aspect many games have in common, and link the way they are similar or...
Yes Spoiler: Paradise Killer and the Unbiased Investigator
There is a short story by Brazilian writer Luis Fernando Veríssimo in which he talks about a then-recent experiment in which spiders were brought to space to...
An Ode to xX_Rick420_Xx, My Most Hated Enemy, Whom I've Never Met, And Who Doesn't Know I Exist
Screen names have been changed to protect the presumably innocent. I have an archnemesis, and their name is xX_Rick420_Xx. (I'll call them Rick from this...
Rise of Industry, Tropico, Surviving Mars and the ghost of capitalism
So I’ve been playing Rise of Industry. If I was going to review it, I might describe it as a competent but hyperfocused tycoon style game. You create...