I'm very happy to do something else when I'm supposed to be writing, and very happy to write when I'm supposed to be doing something else.

There's something unique at the heart of Amberspire that delivers a message about our expectations for growth and how a city builder *ought* to play. @nictringali.bsky.social @hollynielsen.bsky.social @bithellgames.bsky.social Congrats on bringing a cool, nuanced, beautiful game to life.

I wrote about Amberspire for Start Menu! A puzzle game wrapped in a city builder, it takes a different tack to the "eco-builders" genre.

Calling it now, this is going on some best of lists for the year.

Absolutely lovely piece, delivered as only Wallace can.

IGN employees deserve fair pay.

A ton of great writing this week. Thank you for featuring my piece on Battlefield 6 for @stopcar.ing! Find it here: www.stopcar.ing/a-vivisectio...

New Observing Digital Space Debris is out! Today's poem is inspired by Motorslice, titled "Break Time." Yk the drill at this point: excerpt below, full thing free at the link, share if you like it, and try to have a nice Saturday: www.patreon.com/posts/observ...

NEW ESSAY TIME @stevenstoermer.bsky.social on Battlefield 6 "[it] demures from naming names out of a dual desire. One, to present combat as an apolitical mirror image of the real world but that is vacuum-insulated from it. Two, to depict a fantasy of player agency" www.stopcar.ing/a-vivisectio...

Something about Battlefield 6 always rankled me, and I think I've discovered why it feels so hollow. It all started with the drones. @stopcar.ing gives home and hearth to my analysis. www.stopcar.ing/a-vivisectio...

Star Citizen is a real video game and this article does a good job proving it. However, the real question is "is CIG a video game company?" and the answer is no. CIG is a marketing analytics company but Roberts, as the visionary frontman on whom the marketing is built, cannot answer this. 1/3

Deleted Saves will run paid special features to help support those affected by the closure of Paste/Endless Mode. These will run outside the quarterly cadence to put money in pockets faster. Pitch me at [email protected]. Literally anything you want.

Read Issue #2 of www.deletedsaves.com

I'm honored @startmenu.bsky.social let me write so many words about Terra Invicta, a uniquely ambitious grand strategy game building off of @pavonisinteractive.bsky.social's experience with the Long War mods for XCOM. Find all my thoughts below! @hoodedhorse.bsky.social

It was a pleasure to spend some quality time with the TCR Marines and Waybackers of @overhypestudios.bsky.social new squad based tactics game, MENACE!

I already liked Blood Cultures, but wow the soundtrack they put together for this game is next level. Thanks for flagging that in this piece @henrystockdale.com

Props getting this featured on @critdistance.bsky.social !!

People really don't know just how tough it is to equip so many different musical instruments in the span of a single Game of the Year medley for The Game Awards.

On the cutting room floor of this piece: a whole other article about Klei's other game, Oxygen Not Included, and a love letter to Sunless Skies. www.deletedsaves.com/chasing-bunn...

"cleaning out Pharloom was penance for the way I treated myself."

YAY YAY I CAN FINALLY TALK ABOUT THIS So happy to be featured on @stevenstoermer.bsky.social ‘s new site Deleted Saves alongside Artemis. I wrote about my odd relationship with Cartoon Cartoon Summer Resort, an okay 2000 web browser game that I keep replaying for some reason

So happy I can finally show off my contribution to @deletedsavesmag.bsky.social I wrote about Metal Gear Solid Delta and what is lost on the sacrificial altar of remakes and high-fidelity graphics. Needless to say: I was not a fan of the Snake Eater remake.

I've started my own quarterly publication for critical essays on video games! I couldn't have done it without such fantastic writers or the masterful editor's quill of @kellymerka.bsky.social

Spindle, which I wrote about for @startmenu.bsky.social earlier this year, also fits into the "cozy spooky game" trend @emilyprice.bsky.social identifies in this excellent article about House Games.

In Duskpunk, @jamespatton.bsky.social writes with a political language whose warnings are legible in our own world, useful to anyone looking to interrogate real structures of oppression. Also, it's quite fun to play.

Paired with a trusty pig, @stevenstoermer.bsky.social takes on the role of Reaper — and rolls across the map — in Spindle, a short meditation on grief with the vibe of a classic adventure game.

IT'S BACK! The startmenu Winter Spectacular returns for 2025! - Guest Pieces from people across the industry, including: journalists, developers, PR folks, AND MORE - Game of the Year Lists - The startmenu Awards - AND OTHER BULLET POINTS! All starting December 1st on www.startmenu.co.uk

Me, trying to get my phone to do anything: TAP TAP TAP TAP Phone: what's that? My child: *gestures vaguely at phone* Phone: let me do every single function immediately!

I appreciated the unique angle @qwertyprophecy.bsky.social brought to The Dark Queen of Mortholme, and the tightness of its execution. @monstertheater.bsky.social a solid addition to your publishing repertoire.

It was my pleasure to review the excellent @staticdread.bsky.social for @startmenu.bsky.social

Becoming Saint sees you take on the role of a wanna be spiritual leader as you conquer Italy in this roguelike, real-time, tactical RPG. Will you achieve sainthood in your life or make an early trip to heaven? @stevenstoermer.bsky.social investigates. www.startmenu.co.uk/home/review-...

Rader's machine in Split Fiction is a symbol of the "frictionless cognitive offloading" of our thought processes to for-profit companies that have built a rentier economy within capitalism's aching bones. stevenstoermer.medium.com/split-fictio...

@brennanleemulligan.bsky.social's DnD campaigns contain great lessons for anyone interested in narrative design. Episode 49 of @worldsbeyondnumber.bsky.social is a masterclass in leveraging impactful, "weak" characters. Here are some reflections. stevenstoermer.medium.com/pathetic-is-...

An upcoming piece I wrote relates the game Split Fiction to generative AI based on similar insights. I'll be writing a companion piece focusing on AI out of what wound up on the cutting room floor.

Required reading for this era of games criticism.

This might be "The Critic As Artist" for games criticism. Part 2 is an incisive look at the issues plaguing games criticism today: noescapevg.com/the-spectacu...

It only took me 750 hours in Paradox's Victoria 3 to figure out why I can't stop playing it. stevenstoermer.medium.com/the-digital-... #victoria3 #paradoxinteractive #videogames #strategygames

The economy of long and short rests in Dungeons and Dragons is famously kind of broken. Can using some optional rules as limited resources help? @sherlockhulmes.bsky.social thought so in the latest High Rollers campaign, and I think he's onto something. medium.com/@stevenstoer... #dnd