Monthly Archives: December 2014

Year Without Zombies 1: Preludes, Requiems and Chiptunes

Posted on December 31, 2014 by Sam Kabo Ashwell

Technically my year of avoiding zombie games begins tomorrow, but the part about buying games started with the Steam Christmas sale, which has been serving as a useful dry run. Already, it looks as though my instincts are kind of off, and I … Continue reading →

Posted in rpg, videogames | Tagged | 9 Comments

Long Live The Queen

Posted on December 13, 2014 by Sam Kabo Ashwell

Long Live the Queen (Hanako Games) is a  time-management, stat-training life-sim about rulership, intrigue and teenage angst. Elodie, age 14, is the crown princess of Nova; her mother’s dead, and Elodie is due to ascend the throne on her majority, at 15. … Continue reading →

Posted in review, videogames | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

The Interdependent Ludic Institute of Tlön’s GOTY List

Posted on December 12, 2014 by Sam Kabo Ashwell

10. CRY UNCLE (Illwind): Because what the world really needed was a concentration-camp MMORPG. (Yeah, it’s on Mars and the guards have plasma rifles, but even Illwind seem smugly confident that nobody really credits their fig-leaf.) At this point everyone has weighed … Continue reading →

Posted in interactive fiction, rpg, storygames, videogames | Tagged , | 11 Comments

More War Stories

Posted on December 9, 2014 by Sam Kabo Ashwell

This War of Mine is winnable. As is usual in games, there’s a few tricks to it; some of specific objectives, some of general approach. After a few more false starts, I worked out how to get through Sniper Junction, … Continue reading →

Posted in videogames | Tagged | 6 Comments

IF Comp 2014: Zest

Posted on December 7, 2014 by Sam Kabo Ashwell

Zest,  by Fear of Twine (a collective title which will in no way cause confusion with the game jam-ish thing of the same name, comprising Richard Goodness, lectronice and PaperBlurt) is a CYOA Twine piece that bills itself as a management game. … Continue reading →

Posted in cyoa, interactive fiction, review | Tagged , | 1 Comment

This War of Mine

Posted on December 5, 2014 by Sam Kabo Ashwell

Zlata has died, shot by a sniper while returning from a scavenging run. Zlata, the cheerful one, Zlata who kept everybody’s spirits up. Everybody’s messed up about it. It’s getting colder; even with the stove the temperature’s hovering around 4°C. … Continue reading →

Posted in videogames | Tagged | 1 Comment