I can’t remember how many turn-based strategy games I’ve played in a row but these days it seems like the games that excite me the most involve commanding sprites along a grid in small, squad-sized skirmishes. Case in point, the most recent I played was The Banner Saga. In The Banner Saga, the player guides two separate caravans … Continue reading Resource Based Humanity
[Originally posted on PopMatters] Herald, developed by Dutch designers Wispfire and currently seeking funding on Kickstarter, is, in the developers’ words, “an interactive period drama about colonialism”. Herald is an adventure game, one of the few video game genres that might appropriately convey the complexities of the colonial identity. The demo, now available for potential kickstarter backers to … Continue reading Herald Attempts the Troubled Waters of the Colonial Narrative
[Originally posted on Haywire Magazine] Come 1996 I had to choose between the Sony Playstation and the Nintendo 64. I was happy with my SNES and Nintendo’s branding department had captured my nine-year old heart. Nintendo was all bright colors, magic spells and mobility. There were cloud islands in Super Mario World that would take decades … Continue reading Full Disclosure: Super Smash Bros.
About two-thirds of the way through Binary Domain, the player enters the evil Amada Corporation’s tower of evil. It’s a sleek, modern, generic company headquarters. The player walks by a bathroom and a teammate, Shindo, halts the team’s progress so he can step inside to make use of it. During this time, security attacks the rest … Continue reading A Place of Refreshment: A reading of the bathroom scene in Binary Domain
For those new to the series, plural protagonism is based on this article I wrote for PopMatters. Plural protagonism occurs in a game when there is no individual main protagonist leading a group: the group itself becomes the hero. Each individual maintains their identity while contributing to the narrative in equal measure. Moreover, they are all … Continue reading Plural Protagonism Part 9: Fire Emblem: Awakening
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