Ludica

Di cosa si è parlato questo mese Agosto-Settembre 2025: Deltarune, Mina the Hollower e tanto altro ancora.

Deltarune, Endless Legend 2, Discounty, Mina the Hollower e Consume Me sono solo alcuni dei titoli di cui si parla nella nostra nuova rassegna stampa videoludica mensile.

The artists who turned teenage obsessions into an award-winning video game To create an interactive autobiography, Consume Me's creators had to turn teenage memories into playable self-portraits.

Consume Me is a work of autobiography born out of its creator's real experiences growing up in NYC. I spent a day with the devs visiting real places that inspired the game and looking through boxes of high school memories. A chat about how to adapt reality to game. www.polygon.com/consume-me-j...

September 28th Welcome back readers. We’re two for two on this recent streak of on-time Sunday updates. I’m hoping to keep this up as I adapt my schedule to accommodate a couple of new work commitment…

This week: 21 articles on culture movements, maps, difficulty, dungeon crawlers, and much more. No Freddi Fish articles this week, sorry:

critical-distance.com/2025/09/28/s...

30 Years Later, Command & Conquer's Excellent Level Design Still Sets It Apart Thirty years later, Command & Conquer's well-laid-out levels remain tactically rewarding in a way other RTSs can learn from.

Thirty years later, Command & Conquer's well-laid-out maps remain strategically rewarding in ways that other RTSs can still learn from. Read @marcnormandin.bsky.social on C&C here:

September 21st Welcome back readers. Behold! A rare on-time-ish Sunday post! If you are as amazed by that feat as I am, what would you say are the odds we can translate that amazement into Patreon support? Eh? Eh…

This week: Literary editions, punk rock, TikTok nostalgia bait--oh, and videogames, too, we promise:

critical-distance.com/2025/09/21/s...

The eternal feedback loop of Hideo Kojima The famed game director dissects his evolving nature with his fans, technology and his new narrative era with “Death Stranding 2: On the Beach.”

Hideo Kojima and I chat about the current state of digital media and his evolving relationship with audiences as he learns to build bridges, much like the hero of Death Stranding.

www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...

September 14th Welcome back readers. If you haven’t already seen it, Kaile’s latest Patreon recap is live–we made the difficult decision to delay it so as not to compete with the release of Holl…

This week: Dev communities, pop VNs, Garfield Kart, and more:

critical-distance.com/2025/09/16/s...

KID DRACULA

KID DRACULA

August 24th Welcome back readers. Two more weeks for the Queer Games Bundle. This is one case of line-goes-up I’m always happy to see. Check out our Patreon if you like what we do and want to help us con…

This week: Sixteen new picks on Atari RPGs, spectacle and vastness, the eroticism of game overs, and more:

critical-distance.com/2025/08/25/a...

Blade Runner (1997)

Developed by Westwood Studios.

Why ‘Silksong’ Took Seven Years to Make The highly anticipated indie game has been in production for so long that it’s become an internet meme

Team Cherry told me that Hollow Knight has sold 15 million copies, making it one of the biggest indie games of all time.

What's really wild is that in February 2019, when Silksong was announced, Hollow Knight had only sold 2.8 million copies.

The full story: www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Retro Spotlight: Phantasy Star The original Phantasy Star is very much an old-school JRPG even in its more updated forms, but it remains a piece of genre history worth experiencing.

Phantasy Star is a vital RPG from the 8-bit era, and one that, thanks to its Sega Ages treatment, is worth your time today, even if you're the kind of person who shies away from this era of role-playing game. Especially if, really.

The Surreal Family Tree of a French R.P.G. The otherworldly role-playing game Off grew a cult following after it was released in 2008, influencing a generation of indie developers.

The role-playing game Off, in which players take control of an entity in a black-and-white baseball uniform who is sent on a mission to “purify the world,” had an uphill battle when it was released in 2008. It has since grown a cult following. nyti.ms/4mCINKO

Baldur's Gate II (2000)

Developed by BioWare.

The Best Video Games of 2025 (So Far) Video games have been a welcome bright spot in 2025, and these are the best so far.

This year has been a standout one in games, and these are our favorites so far.

25 Years Later, Seaman Remains an Absolute Original. Too Bad You Can't Really Play It These Days. Seaman was a cult classic in America, but it was a mainstream smash in Japan. And yet it hasn't been rereleased for any system since the PS2.

Yoot Saito's Dreamcast oddity Seaman might be infamously weird, but it was also very successful in Japan. On the 25th anniversary of its American release, @marcnormandin.bsky.social looks back and wonders why it hasn't been rereleased since the PlayStation 2. www.endlessmode.com/article/25-y...

Take My Hand - Unwinnable Peak begins with a plane crash. This is approximately how things feel in general.

"The game knows you don’t care about the mountain. You care about holding hands with your friends."

@jaymcastello.bsky.social recounts their experience playing Peak:

Time Flies, but It Sinks, Too The house fly sim Time Flies has us thinking about time--the cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems.

The house fly sim Time Flies has us thinking about time--the cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems. www.endlessmode.com/article/time...

August 10th Welcome back readers. This week I’m plugging the Queer Games Bundle again. Worth your time, worth your support. We also are always happy to have you check out our Patreon! This Week in Videog…

This week: Fifteen picks on porn censorship, BDS, Mega Drive shmups, and more:

critical-distance.com/2025/08/11/a...

Inside The Cancelled Bonk Game: How Hudson’s Ice Age Froze A Cult Mascot’s 3D Debut A new Bonk game was set to revive the TurboGrafx mascot in 2011 until it was cancelled late in development. We talk to one of its designers.

Bonk, the one-time mascot for the TurboGrafx-16 / PC Engine, starred in a 2011 revival that was never released despite basically being finished. We talk to one of Bonk: Brink of Extinction's designers about the lost Bonk game. www.endlessmode.com/article/insi...

Gangster sull’isola che non c’è Sulle connessioni tra il gangster movie e Mafia: Definitive Edition.

Che sia nei videogiochi o nei film, sembra che i gangster debbano essere rappresentati primariamente come dei grandi giocherelloni, dei moderni Peter Pan. Di Andrea Rotondaro.

August 3rd Welcome back readers. This week I’m plugging this year’s Queer Games Bundle over on Itch, which recently went live. Right now is always the best time to support queer and trans game dev…

This week: Sixteen new picks on memory, porn, representation, culture, and much more:

critical-distance.com/2025/08/04/a...

Di cosa si è parlato questo mese Luglio 2025: Grand Theft Auto III, Hauntii, Donkey Kong Bananza e tanto altro ancora.

La nostra nuova rassegna stampa videoludica mensile (che è anche una newsletter), con articoli da @superjumpmagazine.com, @endlessmode.bsky.social, @retroxp.bsky.social, @skyboxcritics.com, @bulletpointsvg.bsky.social e altri magazine ancora.

Il videogioco del mondo, intervista a Stefano Gualeni Cosa perdiamo e cosa guadagniamo quando videogiochiamo.

Attraverso semiotica, esistenzialismo e letteratura, @gua-le-ni.com‬ affronta anche le criticità del videogioco, ma al contempo prova a superare l’isolamento culturale che spesso lo circonda. Di Marco Montanaro. [dall'archivio]

July 27th Welcome back readers. We’ve got a big issue for you this week. If you appreciate our weekly/monthly/annual work keeping abreast of important and interesting critical games writing, give our P…

This week: Twenty five pieces spanning censorship, porn games, media artifacts, historical game studies, writing advice, and much more:

critical-distance.com/2025/07/28/j...

La coreografia disobbediente di Antro Gatera Studio fa coincidere l’atto di giocare con l’atto di resistere.

Il gioco di Gatera Studio sottolinea che è possibile condensare un discorso politico ed estetico in una forma agile, fruibile anche da chi non ha il tempo o l’abitudine per confrontarsi con opere di lunga durata, operando sulla soglia tra ludico e artistico. Di Riccardo Retez.

THE FIFTH ELEMENT

THE FIFTH ELEMENT

La svolta narrativa di Keita Takahashi: to a T Un’assoluta novità nella produzione dell'autore di Katamari Damacy.

to a T di @uvula.jp brilla per il gusto, il tatto, la sensibilità con cui racconta la sua storia; è allo stesso tempo divertente e poetico, come hanno saputo essere i Peanuts, Calvin & Hobbes o i film di Jacques Tati. Di @giscoli.bsky.social.

L'arte del picchiaduro Il genere sta vivendo una sorta di rinascita.

Creatività ed espressione sono concetti importanti nei picchiaduro: i giocatori si esprimono attraverso le loro azioni, mentono per attirare i nemici nelle trappole, imparano a conoscere gli avversari e cercano di anticiparne le prossime mosse. Di @mlupetti.upandpunch.red. [dall'archivio]

The childhood joy of riding a bike makes for one of the summer’s best racing games The Annapurna-published Wheel World is a minimalist counterweight to Mario Kart World

The childhood joy of riding a bike makes for one of the summer’s best racing games