I started playing Sherlock Holmes Crimes and Punishments and thought about writing a game analysis, but after a few hours of gameplay I thought it would be more interesting if I used my observations around this game as a thread for a sort of case study on the topic of the detective/investigative game genre. In […]
Spoiler alert: This review contains massive spoilers, and comments on the game design of The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild (from now, TLOZBOTW). If you don’t want the story of the game to be spoiled, or your genuine experience playing the game to be adulterated with analysis and rationalization, stop reading now. But […]
In this article I examine from an analytical perspective, how ambiguity plays an important role in the game experience and success behind one of the best narrative driven games of the last times: Return of the Obra Dinn.
I think in general, when we’re engaging in an activity, it’s easy to identify what engages us and what doesn’t, but are we equally aware of how do those desires form exactly? What types of motivations are there? How can we leverage them? And what are the implications of each of them? In an attempt […]
With so many bad news going on in the world recently, it was difficult to get a positive balance out of the year 2020 when I tried to think about approaches for this article. But then it struck me that next year, 2021, it’s actually the 10th year anniversary of my jump into the mobile […]
Antichamber is a first person view puzzle platform game that was released in 2013 by Alexander Bruce. There are quite some things that turn this game into an elegant work of game design, but I’d like to focus on how the game mechanics are wrapped up with thematic sense allowing for a memorable experience.
I was recently lucky enough to come across a hidden gem in narrative driven puzzle games called Sexy Brutale. Here’s a small teaser: The game, developed by Cavalier Games in collaboration with Tequila Works, delights with its cheeky art style, polished UX, and a very peculiar atmosphere and sense of humor. However, it’s the narrative implementation […]
Before I tried Cuphead I was always very curious about the criticism the game always got for being extremely difficult. I couldn’t believe that the developers, who seemed to have spent quite some time and effort in building such a big thing, would just mess up with a basic principle of game design such as […]
Gris, by Nomada Studio, is a platform game with art of paralyzing beauty, and visual and design influences taken from games such as Monument Valley or Journey. The narrative doesn’t carry the weight of a heavy plot, but it rather develops some themes through cinematics, and exposing certain motifs in its gameplay, by using resources […]
I noticed the traditional theory estates that even if players lose rounds, you need to reinforce them positively, appreciating the attempt. That way they will keep on trying and not understanding loses as failure, but as part of the process. Then checking how games handle this with their end or round flows and with their UI […]