DEATHLOOP & NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139… — A pandemic post-mortem on grief, time lost, and acceptance Contains spoilers for both Deathloop & NieR Replicant Exiting the holiday reverberation of COVID-19 cases, this time has been an interesting context to think about cycles; about repetition; about time locked in stasis. …

Prey — A pandemic post-mortem on paranoia, on seeking fear to process fear Early on in the pandemic, there was a heightened paranoia about surfaces. In public, and especially in the city: the virus could be anywhere, unseen and hidden in plain sight, masquerading in the normalcy of everyday life. In…

Outer Wilds — A pandemic post-mortem on time, isolation, and cycles I n a year of work-from-home, the days bled together in endless repeat. Sleep cycles of oblivion folded into fits and bursts of work. The dance between façade and grasping for normalcy eroded with every hour of the day, until only a…

Sekiro, Historical European Martial Arts, and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order — There’s a reason the last games I wrote about in 2019 were ones I actually finished playing back in March of last year, when I completed Firewatch and Return of the Obra Dinn. And I owe 100% of that to Sekiro, for giving me a deadline to finish playing these…

the hills are alive with the thrumming glimmer of hope — I quit my job and began the end of 2019 with a two-week-long trek across Northern Colombia, with the latter week inhabiting this beautiful city of Eternal Spring. Part of a week-long series to close out 2019 A t night, Medellin’s skyline is a little different than that of the…

Steam Remote Play, Crawl, Kind Words; a Social Distancing Survival Guide — Part of a week-long series to close out 2019, but somehow got co-opted into a very 2020 topic. B y the end of 2018, among other things, I mourned the loss of consistent board game nights with friends. And yet, throughout the year that followed, I think we learned to…

images of shifting seasons flashing before my eyes — For as long as I can remember, my father always talked about this home as one of his greatest inspirations as an architect. Hidden away in an autumnal forest, I was finally able to experience the place for myself. Part of a week-long series to close out 2019 Nestled in…

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider — After the fiasco that was my inability to settle in and enjoy Dishonored 2, I made a promise to relax: to let myself enjoy the next and final(?) game in the series. And I sorta failed. Part of a week-long series to close out 2019 Note: spoiler-free for Death of the…

Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown — Part of a week-long series to close out 2019 Note: spoiler-free for Ace Combat 7 There was always a part of me that wanted to be a pilot. A recklessness that wanted to feel the air and the world rush by; absolute freedom through machine, constrained only by the limits…