Reading List (December 2021) (Patreon)

Time for the last (first?) reading list of the year, folks. Now that we’re catching up after grinding out the Descent GTDM, enjoy all the best games writing I saw around the internet this past month. Not only did this end up a fairly text-heavy list, it also features no less than three articles from Unwinnable, a fantastic magazine that unfortunately does cost money to view most of their articles. Usually, they don’t get in here as often as they should just because they usually only drop the occasional sampler of larger articles you have to pay to read, but this month saw a host of interesting articles make it past the paywall!

Second Opinions

Prepare for 1995’s Descent! By Errant Signal: Miraculously, I’m not the only one who’s talked about Descent recently. As part of his ongoing Children of DOOM series covering the biggest fps releases each year, Errant Signal covered Descent for 1995, focusing on the game’s cultural context and what both led to and resulted from it.

Bloodborne Is Genius, and Here’s Why by hbomberguy: I’m pretty sure this one is universally well-known, but it is also highly topical, not only expanding on what I brushed over in one paragraph into its own hour-and-a-half video, but also leveling much the same core argument my video arrives at, but towards Demon’s Souls instead of Descent.

End of Year Recommendations

Every year, we get inundated with amazing game recommendations as the game of the year lists roll out. Here’s some of my favorites!

The Top Ten (and a Half) Best Games of 2021 by Jacob Geller: Geller covers plenty of already well-known indies (and a few AAA games), but his list also includes not one but two VR titles and an indie you’ve almost definitely never heard of.

All I Asked From Video Games in 2021 Was to Make Me Feel Something by Patrick Klepek: Klepek went for a different approach for their top 10 list this year, instead opting to talk about the games that gave him the most lasting emotional reaction — good or bad!

Dominic’s Indie Picks of 2021 by Dominic Tarason: More than a “best of 2021” list, Tarason’s list is just a comically large pile of indie recommendations — more than I think I’ve personally managed to cover all year! No matter your tastes, you’re guaranteed to find gold here.

The Best Indie Tabletop RPGs of 2021 by Chase Carter: Ok, so that’s a bunch of video recommendations, but how about we go a little off this reading list’s beaten path and talk TTRPGs? I’d never heard of any of these, and they all sound amazing!

Cultural Issues

While all eyes are on the Acti-Blizz controversy, they weren’t the only studio that got major features highlighting their work cultures — for good or ill — this month.

The Battle for Bungie’s Soul: Inside the Studio’s Struggle for a Better Work Culture by Rebekah Valentine: Valentine went on a massive investigation talking to former and current employees at Bungie about ongoing labor issues at the company. Crunch, abuse, a dismissive HR department — plenty of the classic issues. But she also looked at the company’s ongoing struggle to try and fix them.

The Next Video Game From BioShock’s Creator Is in Development Hell by Jason Schreier: Schreier decided to catch up with what’s going on with Ken Levine’s “new” studio, Ghost Story, which has been in operation for years without even a single announced game. Unsurprisingly, it’s a sign of larger culture issues at the company largely spurred by its auteur head.

North America Has Its First Video Game Union at Vodeo Games by Nicole Carpenter: Not every industry story is overwhelmingly negative. The workers at indie studio Vodeo Games (Beast Breaker) voted to form a union, and management immediately agreed.

Women In Games: How Colleges Can Help Diversify the Industry by Laura Shoemaker: Shoemaker interviewed grads from the Ringling College of Art and Design, which boasts a 50/50 gender breakdown, about their experiences at the college and transitioning into the industry.

Flashes in the Pan

One theme that came up in articles I read this month was a longing for games that above all else left a lasting impression. Even outside of the collection here, you’ll hear it up and down this entire reading list, but these three articles specifically focused on games that left the writer underwhelmed in this regard. Even, sometimes, when the game itself was good!

The Unbearable Lightness of Deathloop by David Shimomura: For Shimomura, Deathloop was a brief blip in their memory — fun in the moment, but instantly forgettable — and spent some time interrogating why.

GRIS — Aesthetics First, Humanity Later (Or Never) by Pixel a Day: That GRIS is all visual panache and not much actual substance isn’t exactly a new critique, but Pixel a Day gives a fresh voice to the argument that focuses primarily on the game’s outdated views on the process of grieving.

Far Cry 6 Is Creatively and Morally Bankrupt by Matthew Gault: Consensus is pretty broad on the current state of the Far Cry franchise, but Gault gives an exhausted, existential voice to the mounting exhaustion the series has spent a half dozen games piling on.

Everything Else

What IS Metric Modulation?? || The Lake Theme from Pokemon Diamond and Pearl by 8-bit Music Theory: Hearing Diamond and Pearl’s Lake Theme inspired 8-bit to geek out over a dramatic but rarely used musical technique called metric modulation, one that the tune uses to great effect.

Making Fighting Games Accessible by Darkfry: Darkfry continues their hot streak talking about game difficulty by tackling fighting games, focusing on the many design decisions the phenomenal Guilty Gear Strive makes to welcome in new players.

How Accessible Were 2021’s Games? By GMTK: Mark Brown did his annual review of accessibility in AAA games, highlighting a lot of cool and unique options from indie games along the way.

This Is My Favorite Shop In The Citadel by Emma Kostopolus: Kostopolus went on a truly wild Mass Effect run where they tried as hard as possible to break its roleplaying system by making the least likable Shepard possible and see if the game would push back.

Why Can Master Chief Only Carry Two Guns? by Adam Millard: Playing through the Halo franchise got Millard thinking about the video’s titular question, which in turn got him thinking about how games limit or expand a player’s suite of actions they can take during gameplay and why.

Final Fantasy XIV’s Break From Narrative Tradition by Games As Literature: Games As Lit went back to FFXIV one more time, highlighting the way the game’s broad approach to its overarching narrative has changed compared to past titles in the franchise.

Rethinking the Post-apocalypse in Eastward by Ben Sailer: Sailer covered post-apocalyptic rpg Eastward, how the game both incorporates and plays with past tropes of the genre, and the true-to-life setting it’s all wrapped up in.

Co-op Sci-fi Game Haven Beautifully Captures Life as a Couple During Covid by Yussef Cole and Vivian Chan: Cole and Chan found themselves in a surprisingly similar setup to the one found in Game Baker’s latest, Haven: cut off from the world with pretty much nothing but themselves and nature to keep them occupied.