A dusty, barren lunar surface. Light synths seem to struggle to find a melody as a fat, squat man in a dazzling white tuxedo—complete with top-hat—flips, bounds, and rolls in…
Session Report is a monthly series that explores the intersection of narrative and broader themes of game design by focusing on a specific tabletop (or tabletop-adjacent) game each month. This…
Nostalgia is a powerful manipulator. Whether it’s the latest Star Wars or superhero retread or yet another video game sequel, nostalgia is big business. But who exactly wants to go…
The Past, Present, and Future of Japanese Role-Playing Games Whenever I’m asked what my favorite video game is, I’m torn between Super Mario Bros. 3, Metal Gear Solid, and Final…
The Ivory Tower of Latria The Queen banished her depraved old husband from the land. He returned in strange golden garb with foul Demons in tow. They pillaged great Latria,…
Stonefang, City of Tunnels Most of the stubborn excavators who supported the soldiers of Boletaria had their souls taken. Lacking their own will, they mindlessly continue working. –Inscription, Stonefang Tunnel…
The Northern Kingdom of Boletaria King Allant the Twelfth, by channeling the power of souls, brought unprecedented prosperity to his northern kingdom of Boletaria. That is, until the colourless Deep…
“Prepare to Die” is a phrase you may have heard more often than usual recently. That’s because it’s used as a tagline for the Dark Souls series of games. The greater Souls…
As an erstwhile console gamer who now spends way too much quality time with his tablet, I don’t exactly have my Power Glove on the pulse of the modern video…
Introduction With the widespread access to smartphones, tablets and the Internet, our ways of interacting with the world have changed, and learning styles have changed alongside that. Today’s children and young…
In the first installment of Hobby Horse Anatomy, I proposed The Binding of Isaac as a kind of repository for the repressed and excised content from The Legend of Zelda…
In the previous installment of Hobby Horse Anatomy, I proposed The Binding of Isaac as a kind of repository for the repressed and excised content from The Legend of Zelda…
This is an excerpt from Baldur’s Gate II, a forthcoming publication from Boss Fight Books written by Matt Bell. Matt Bell is the author of the novels Scrapper and In the House upon the…
I have played every Legend of Zelda game, and as far as I know, Link doesn’t poop.¹ Link, the protagonist of the series, eats soup, drinks milk, and sleeps while…