Games criticism should be more than just review scores. On Skies of Academia, Iris recruits a party of friends to dive deep into a specific aspect of game mechanics, storytelling, or culture to gain a better understanding of how we interact with our entertainment.
Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve put one of these episodes out. Not as long as it’s been since the previous Alan Wake game, though! Over the 11 years since American Nightmare, Alan Wake has added a female protagonist and gotten a whole lot prettier (damn, same). Ashley, Molly and Luke join me to talk about the Alan Wake 2 and why we loved it.
On this follow-up episode to Final Fantasy 7, I’m joined by Luke and Zoe to talk about Final Fantasy 7 Remake, the game that a lot of JRPG fans have been waiting decades for. Though…it’s not quite the game that we were waiting for, either. For better or worse, FF7R plays around with both the gameplay and the fiction in an attempt to simultaneously meet and subvert expectations. Join us as we dig into what works, what doesn’t, and what we hope to see in future installments.
This time on the podcast, Luke and Melissa join me to analyze (and gush about) a game hasn’t gotten nearly as much attention as it deserves: 13 Sentinels. The newest game from Vanillaware, it ended up being a sleeper hit with all three of us. If you’d like to learn how this game caused us to set our fears of enduring another Dragon’s Crown aside and give it a chance, give this episode a listen!