Shadow of Chernobyl is a game that is frequently at odds with itself. If it's not impressive on the basis of its ambitions alone, then it's outright apparent that it's the result of two conflicting visions: that of a game studio eschewing its trappings to push boundaries others weren't willing to, even if the developers weren't getting paid very well, and that of a game publisher that was tired of waiting. The dichotomy between these camps sullies the experience the more you play Shadow of Chernobyl. So much of it feels so haplessly thrown together that it becomes hard to know what was kept in to make the experience feel as hopeless as it ultimately is and what just so happened to have that effect. The Ranking system, for example, is a unique concept that ties into the game's early fascination with NPC interactions. I looked at it once at the start of my playthrough, one more time out of curiosity after playing the game for ten hours, and never again. But if you scratch past these layers and try to see what the developers were trying to make behind the scenes... it still feels confused. The unfortunate reality is that, by trying to be as fresh as possible, there’s a significant chance your first attempt will end up clumsy.

The biggest problem Shadow of Chernobyl faces is that its mixture of non-linear exploration and linear set-pieces rarely coalesce. Instead, the game often feels like it’s trying to be three things at once. In one hand, it’s a game about stats and MMO-lite questing/looting for the best equipment you can get with your limited inventory space. In the other, it’s a linear shooter with a high level of difficulty that occasionally goes full-corridor and will have you quicksaving every five seconds. By the feet, it’s a sci-fi-flavored mystery that tries to pull you in on the basis of its landscapes alone. The resulting mixture is a game that expects you to explore and do side-questing to understand several of its key mechanics in its opening moments while a giant arrow in the top-left corner of the screen is telling you to do anything else. Paired with how limited exploration can be, and it quickly becomes an experience that feels more distracted than it should be.

Thankfully, there are still aspects of it that hold up. Although it’s occasionally held back by grating, repetitive sound effects, and voice lines, it’s the intoxicating atmosphere and art direction that keeps the experience from falling apart. There is a damn good reason that this is what S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has become synonymous with. From the moody, blocky grays of the bar area to the ways in which the metal roofs of a couple of warehouses split apart, everything about The Zone feels authentically oppressive. Vast and typically quiet stretches of land are hardly the oases they would be in another game, as they’re often doused in hardly bright hues. Other creative decisions, such as non-diegetic music in the bar area, cause each space to feel lived in. Pair that with the convincing behavior of AI opponents, such as roaming dogs, and it’s almost never a question of if you’re safe in an area. Despite being a game full of bombastic action, its best moments are usually its quietest and most unnerving. While these short moments last, Shadow of Chernobyl remains an engrossing experience.

While they last...

It could be said that the mystery underpinning Shadow of Chernobyl’s main narrative is undermined by its nearly interminable lack of quiet time, which causes the game to outstay its welcome should you find yourself forced to grind in order to progress to more difficult areas (as I did!). And while this is true to an extent, there are far more pressing issues holding it back. One, the quest structure (both main and secondary) rarely evolves throughout. Even at its most interesting, Shadow of Chernobyl is content to have the player kill or loot, and that’s pretty much it. But most damning of all, its characterization is borderline one-dimensional, if it's there at all. I revisited Clear Sky pretty soon after I finished my playthrough of this, and immediately, it struck me as a game with more character and confidence. There are a handful of memorable faces in Shadow of Chernobyl, but it should say a lot that the one I (and many others, apparently) associate the most with this game never leaves the first room you’re in. In twenty hours of playtime, I saw one backstory, and it was only a paragraph in length. While the grand reveals are interesting and do leave some room for interpretation, by the time I reached them, I was no longer interested in finding those answers. Unfortunately, the solid atmosphere that permeates the experience can’t stop its confused and occasionally amateurish structure from wearing you down as it progresses. If you can beat Shadow of Chernobyl in under twelve hours, it’s probably worthy of four stars. But take my advice: don’t revisit it too often.

Having finally finished Shadow of Chernobyl, I can absolutely see where the insane modding scene for this series comes from. Shadow of Chernobyl feels like the coolest roughdraft ever while it’s in your hands. No other game has had me dragging bodies full of half-functioning guns so I could afford new armor. Despite the compromises and slipshod focus that went into its creation, it has all of the markings of an all-timer. I desperately want to love it again, and I kinda do? But even at its most compelling, it’s a hard sell.

I'm just hoping the new one isn't a Shadow of its former self. (had to do it)

There are some faces I will never forget, be it loved ones, some characters from audiovisual works of art that I love... or that weirdo from LCD, Please with hair growing out of their ears.

I hold the original Papers, Please in very high regards for a myriad of reasons, and its a game deserving of its own full review that I need to write sometime in the future, but for now, just know that yes, to my eyes it's fantastically designed game in both its routine based gameplay and how it makes you question to if it's worth to put your morals at the front of the actions you make in the cold walls of Arstotzka's border checkpoint even if it's at cost of your and your family's survival. It's a work that tackles a ton of really interesting themes, and many of people over here far more intelligent than I have already touched upon them, and I invite you to give the reviews on it a read.

So now the thing many of you will be wondering is a pretty understandable question:.. How the fuck to you fit all that on system that's essentially a calculator that plays Donkey Kong? Simple! You don't!

LCD, Please isn't a brand new take of a past concept made out of a desire to explore the themes of Papers, Please from a brand new perspective and limitations, it's a fun little project born as a celebration of the 10th anniversary of the original game (each day that passes I'm closer to turn into dust and crumble) , as a love letter to the LCD systems which Lucas Pope (Developer of Papers, Please ) grew up with and as a self-imposed challenged to see if he could even pull it of. This all means, of course, that LCD, Please compromises a TON, it turns the original ideas into an absurd caricature and the high score based gameplay feels... weird, in a way. It's Papers, Please at its most basic, without all the nuance that made it interesting and without the grounded setting that made its routine more impactful, and I think the best example of all of this is that Arstotzka's citizens can be an option in the pool of which immigrants can be banned from entering the state... in the Arstotzka border.

LCD, Please inevitably falls a flat when looked from a perspective akin to the one you would look at its older brother, but that's because that's just not the point of its existence. It's a dumb, almost adorable joke that feels like a genuine passion project and casual celebration of a monument of a indie game that manages to be simple fun. To be honest, the best part about it, apart from it just simply existing, was reading the log from Lucas Poper commenting on the development, you can read it right here and I can't recommend it enough, a really insightful read that made me appreciate every little design decision even more.

A toast, for another 10 years of Papers, Please, can't wait for Virtual Boy, Please in 2033!

On the surface, Alan Wake is the more conventional of the two RE4 inspired Peaks-type horror games released in 2010 (Deadly Premonition being the first true Peaks-type game), but once it gets into the weeds of its meta narrative it morphs into a decidedly unique action game story. The plot is also able to carry the relatively simple gameplay loop after it eventually becomes rote.

Said loop being: holding your flashlight until the Elite Beat Agents circles close and then hitting fire a couple of times.

Those repetitive encounters and environments are my only major knock against Alan Wake. Still, it’s got that diegetic flashlight reticle and y’all know that design element is a Conman-core situation.

One thing this game has in spades is the ever illusive thing I call soul. I always like to have the term soul in my back pocket just in case I’m too lazy to describe aesthetics. Alan Wake has a thought-out, serious story, but Remedy does a great job of not letting pretentious self-seriousness consume everything. The in-game tv shows, the radio, the manuscripts… come to think of it, this is one of the only times I’ve sought out audio logs to experience the audio logs themselves. That is some of the highest praise I can give a game’s collectibles.

Also, thinking about how Swery claims he’s never seen Twin Peaks never ceases to make me smile. As another side note, my almost 8-month-old son did NOT like this game or Condemned: Criminal Origins. “Boo hoo it’s scary” so what stop being a baby.

I must admit, I haven't been super interested to these story-driven "walking sim" games in the past few years. But this game just absolutely grabbed me. I was particularly intrigued by the so-called Atompunk aesthetics and the quality of writing shown by the trailers. Now, I'm glad to say that I'm very satisfied with it, as somebody who is not familiar at all with the source material.

For the most part, the game is very technically sound, which a lot of walking sims don't get to say. The art direction is just mesmerizing sometimes, lots of beautiful natural sceneries and retro-futuristic structures to take in (or to take pictures of. Pretty good photo mode!). The lighting in many of the environments are just spot on. The music/soundtrack doesn't stand out as much but it does its job of helping to set individual moods.

Gameplay is obviously basic, mostly involving simple exploration actions and dialogue choices. But it never got in the way, and there's barely any frustrating/uneccessary gameplay sections that usually would sour the experience on these kind of games. The minimalist UI and restrained handholding techniques achieved a good balance of giving you pointers for progression, but still maintain a high sense of immersion. I also liked the weighty-ness of the movement, it translates the feeling of being in a space suit well enough.

The story is definitely the best part. Its themes of facing insurmountable odds works out great, as the main two characters are constantly in a race to save as much of themselves (and others) as they can. The writing is solid, and the voice acting is great (especially for the main character, really loved her as a character overall). The pacing is pretty much spotless, I was scared of feeling too bored (I forgive it a bit, because you know, it's normal to feel at least a tiny bit bored exploring an empty planet by yourself) but it never got close to that point. Every new bit of story felt exciting, which are again helped by the writing and VO. Looking at the hidden trophies, there seems to be a decent amount of story branching as well. The ending I got is absolutely trippy, in a good way.

And that's it! This is a polished, well made story experience that successfully presents the most interesting parts of itself in a elegant manner. I know nothing about the novel, but this makes me want to read it, which I count as a success for the game.

Tedious, durational bliss. A reclamation of time through singular labour. The hyperconnected, hyperonline, hyperalways world of today does not allow us to take a step back and enjoy an act for its own sake, and the simplicity of counting grains of rice digitally, as in Marina Abramovic's Counting the Rice exercise forces the mind to slow down. So caught up in the act of counting, of organising, of breaking down an insurmountable task into something able to be completed that no thought intruded, no anxiety fomented. Me, and the rice. Even trying to bring stimulus into the space through music, or the spoken word brings into focus the distracting nature of the world. It did not serve to entertain or assist my task, it served to keep me from its total completion.

As Abromavic argues, "the only time we don't think, it is scientifically proven, is when we sneeze and when we orgasm," but through a slow, intentional act we can approach something close to the thoughtless state. For hours my mind was rice, and all was as it should be.

• But the moon is as full as it'll ever be, and theres even a soda fountain


Indescribable game. I cant really figure out what to write about it as the whole thing felt like it washed over me, I was so entranced. Enjoy the Diner is very bittersweet and calming. I very much like its approach to things, the way everyone speaks, reacts. How things are resolved. There is a place for anger and despair in the world but there is a distinct lack of judgement or punishment where I realize there could be. Its more focused itself on a hopeful acceptance, no one intended to be stuck in a diner set in infinite space just as no one intends to have regrets or grief, I think. But everything is taken in a quiet stride, and they manage to do as the title says...it isnt that bad of a place to be, after all, at the very least there's a soda fountain. I'm really struck by this games atmosphere and simplicity. I love its creativity and capacity for the alien and weird. Its so soothing and melancholic, a hint of silly. One of my favorites of all time, I love and cherish it very much.