Browsing: Op-Eds

In this edition of Punished Chat, we discuss our 15 favorite games of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One console generation.

Harvest Moon has given us some truly terrible bachelors over the years. But which games gave us the best, and which brought us the worst?

We Were Here is a two-player game series centered around co-operative puzzle solving. Read our retrospective to learn why the series is worth your time.

Wondering which video game subscription services are best for you? Here’s a breakdown of the pros and cons of each major platform.

From a game design perspective, God of War (2018) knocks it out of the park. Yet while the elements that make up its story are touching, the way the emotional story beats hit the player largely contradicts the actual gameplay of the experience. The end result? The whole game feels worse than the sum of its parts.

Last year, I decried the overuse of gaming terms like “metroidvania,” as often such words and phrases do little to actually describe the experience any game presents. While I understand why someone might lean on a certain vernacular when describing various works, the time has come for us to rethink how we talk about games in order to describe them in a more accurate manner. I’m not calling for the obliteration of such terms, either; I just believe we should know what we’re saying when utilizing these words.

Here are five particularly notable examples.

Monster Hunter World: Iceborne will not only entertain its audience in the immediate aftermath of its launch, but promises to keep players coming back to team up and take on any challenges thrown at them. Read on for our extended impressions.

I’m sure we’ve all been “addicted” to a game before — playing the newest gaming release into the waking hours of the morning. Maybe you’ve even taken the day (or week) off work to grind out levels or get to the end of your playthrough. Yet, while depictions of gaming addiction may seem exaggerated, the disease is not a fantasy: It is a life-ruining curse, and can also be a sign of deteriorating mental health.

Mango wins The Big House 9, and the Melee community rejoices. On Mango, Melee, and what it means to love a game that seems eternal and forever.

I would like to introduce the uninitiated to Over the Garden Wall, a cartoon miniseries for all ages that is best watched huddled comfortably around a screen, wrapped in a cozy blanket, as the slow-roasted warm tones of the changing leaves outside are lost in the darkness of night and stolen away from their trees by the cool, crisp autumn air.