Reading List January 2021 (Patreon)

This month, I found a ton of stuff talking about games I've covered in the far off past, everything from Squadrons to Necrobarista and Coffee Talk to — and this was the most pleasant surprise for me — one about The Gardens Between, even (which if you've never heard of, check it out)! Also featured: some extremely strong pieces about video game music that I wholeheartedly recommend you check out.

Second Opinions

Whenever I finish a review, I usually end up watching a few other reviews or other related content afterwards. Here’s some of the best stuff other people have had to say about the games I’ve been talking about lately!

Ghostrunner Review | Rise and Climb by God is a Geek: Ghostrunner (once again) reignited the debate about difficulty vs. accessibility in games when it came out, and God is a Geek, who soldiered on through an impressive number of deaths, seems like a good source of context on what Ghostrunner’s like for those stymied by hyper-intense challenges.

Monster Train Review — New Amazing Roguelite Card Game? Better Than Slay the Spire? By Insert Reviews: Insert Reviews came at Monster Train from a slightly different angle, emphasizing its place in the larger roguelike pantheon rather than just discussing its value as a deckbuilder.

Paradise Killer: A Game About Rejecting Convenience (GOTY 2020) by Pim is Online: Pim made their GOTY Paradise Killer, and in explaining why, discussed all the ways the game runs counter to standard open world design.

The Intimacy of Place by Mediocrates: Mediocrates covered The Gardens Between, a phenomenal indie I’ve covered in the past and highly recommend, and used it among other examples of how games can use their mechanics to force a sense of personal intimacy with their settings.

Thinking About Pacing (Again)

If there’s one topic I care about here at First Five, it’s game length and pacing, and I happened to come across two more articles discussing the topic: one lambasting the overstuffed, overlong nature of some open world games and another about the trials and tribulations that come with trying to 100% a title well after it’s stopped being fun.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is Too Damn Long by Luke Plunkett: Assassin’s Creed is emblematic of everything that drags down the open world experience for me: long, bloated, filled with way too many side activities, and all for the sake of putting a high playtime number on the box. Plunkett is about as exhausted with the practice as I am, and he does a wonderful job making his points.

Completing Games (and Why I Barely Do It) by Razbuten: Razbuten went into detail on how 100% completing games can be so unsatisfying — and how some games make the process far more fun.

Getting Musical

I’m also always on the hunt for videos on game music, and this month didn’t disappoint! From more information about Guitar Hero than you’d ever want to read to an interview with Supergiant’s composer, these three pieces didn’t just make a cohesive topic — they’re some of the best stuff on this entire list.

5 Tips for Writing for Orchestra by 8-bit Music Theory: 8-bit, the absolute mad lad, actually went and turned a Persona tune into a full orchestral piece — then, of course, he made a video essay discussing how he did it.

The Oral History of Guitar Hero by Blake Hester: In a novella-length article, Hester interviewed a whole host of staff from Harmonix and RedOctane to recreate the development of Guitar Hero, Rock Band, and the lineage of plastic rhythm games they briefly stood at the summit of.

How Rock Band Influenced Hades’ Soundtrack by Thomas Quillfeldt: Quillfeldt got a chance to interview Darren Korb, Hades’ composer (and voice of Zagreus), about his work on the game, covering everything from his unique genre-blending style to his musical origins and inspirations to the many interesting quirks of Hades’ development.

Everything Else

Why the Liquids in Half-Life Alyx Looks So Dang Good by Simone de Rochefort et. al.: Rochefort interviewed Matt Wilde, the man behind Half-Life Alyx’s stunning VR booze bottles, to learn how he made them. The secret? Shaders!

The Best Way to Understand the Complexity of Games is Playing Them With a Kid by Patrick Klepek: Klepek picked up Alba, the latest from the minds behind Monument Valley, and started playing it with his daughter. It’s one of his daughter’s first games, so the experience ended up illuminating.

Everything is a Visual Novel Now and it Rules by Jody MacGregor: MacGregor noted that visual novel style storytelling is getting used a lot nowadays and went down the list of recent notable examples of games (primarily indies) and how they’ve been utilizing the feature.

The Pursuit of Happiness in Coffee Talk (Feat: Game Professor) by Red Angel and Games as Lit: Red Angel and Games as Lit teamed up to talk about the themes in Coffee Talk, a game I personally enjoyed greatly, and broke the story down one character at a time.

How ‘Umurangi Generation’ Captured 2020’s Despair and Neoliberal Decay by Patrick Klepek: Klepek interviewed the maker of Umurangi Generation, focusing on how the game wears its politics on its sleeve and, in the minds of many, perfectly captured our current political moment in the process.

Saving Video Gaming’s Source Code Treasures Before It’s Too Late by Kyle Orland: Orland interviewed a small group of games preservationists about their efforts to not just file away old games for posterity, but to save a game’s actual code itself.

Marine Biologist Plays Subnautica - Gameplay Part 1 by Sea&me: Maria is a marine biologist who doesn’t play many video games, which means that her let’s play of Subnautica is filled with both fun factoids about aquatic life and unfortunate misadventures alike! In particular, it’s enjoyable to see her analysis of how well the game (and especially its ecosystem) mirrors life.

Wario Isn’t Evil, He’s Honest by Mike Sholars: Sholars wrote an ode to everyone’s second-favorite Nintendo antihero (sorry, Waluigi takes the gold) and how the themes surrounding the character’s many misadventures have evolved over the years.

Understanding Iteration in Games by PostMesmeric: PostMesmeric investigated the idea of how game franchises reiterate their core defining mechanics over time.

How Necrobarista Pushes the Visual Novel Genre Forward by Gavin Macnaughton: “When was the last time you thought about cinematography in a VN?” is this article’s subhead, and in just that one line, Macnaughton sums up so much of what makes Necrobarista great.

Star Wars Squadrons: Space Sim or Saga Savior? by Kiernan Elam: Alongside some of the usual greatist hits of Squadrons criticism seen in past reading lists, Elam honed in on the campaign’s characters and came away with a convincing argument on how they’re more worthwhile than my own review gave credit.

Open Roads is a Game About a Mom and Daughter, on the Heels of a Lot of ‘Sad Dads’ by Nicole Carpenter: Carpenter interviewed Fullbright, the studio behind Gone Home and Tacoma, to hype up their upcoming game, Open Roads.

Retro Relapse: Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior by Bantz Ferdinand: Bantz went back in time to check out Warhammer 40k: Fire Warrior, which turns out to be an exceptionally mediocre game but also a pretty entertaining one to critique.