We know Steam and Itch have been banning games due to pressure from payment processors. Nobody discusses them in artistic or aesthetic terms, though. @gracemachine.bsky.social on Vile: Exhumed and Girls Purgatoriem:

Keep Driving's approach to maps shows how they can be more than tools for exploration and can help ground an experience. Read @exalclaw.bsky.social's piece here:

Star Wars Visions Volume 3 got a trailer that teased its nine anthology episodes, including ones from TRIGGER, Wit Studio, and more.

While RPG overworlds arose from technical limitations, they offer solutions to open world bloat that many modern games could learn from.

By largely forgoing explicit guidance, Hell Is Us forces the player to reckon with the horrors of Hadea for themselves. @mads.haus on what the game gets right:

The website for Kickstarter project PuffPals: Island Skies has gone dark after previously raising over $2.5 million.

Keep Driving's approach to maps shows how they can be more than tools for exploration and can help ground an experience. Read @exalclaw.bsky.social's piece here:

Following pressure, Microsoft has finally shut off Israel's access to Azure cloud technology that it used to spy on Palestinians.

Weird Heroes of Public Access is a tabletop RPG that successfully delivers small-town weirdness, one UFO piloted by a ten-year-old at a time. Read @ckunzelman.bsky.social impressions here:

While games criticism will always exist in one form or another, its diminishment as a profession hurts everyone involved. @gracemachine.bsky.social on the space's decline:

Crunchyroll's new manga service is launching on October 9 for iOS and Android, followed by an October 15 release for web. It will be offered as an "add-on" to an existing paid subscription.

Knights of Guinevere's pilot sets up an intriguing sci-fi mystery based on the premise that we could all stand to hate Disney a bit more. Read @theautumnwright.bsky.social on the series' first episode:

At today's Sony State of Play, we got a trailer and release window for Insomniac's Wolverine, a release date for Saros, and more. Here's everything announced during the stream:

Thirty years later, Command & Conquer's well-laid-out maps remain strategically rewarding in ways that other RTSs can still learn from. Read @marcnormandin.bsky.social on C&C here:

Hades II is a fine, if familiar, continuation of one of the best games of the last few years. Read our review of Supergiant's latest:

The Summer Hikaru Died "Indo's Sin" was an excellent penultimate episode that captured the tragedy of generational sins. It also featured a big goo monster, which was pretty neat.

i wrote about being a cosplayer and getting over my body image issues as a Youth and how one of my favorite shows did a storyline about this sort of thing and idk that i really needed the show to do this lol

Consume Me starts off strong and has a lot of potential, but this minigame memoir doesn't quite stick the landing. Read @beewertheimer.com's review:

This morning, we got the first teaser trailer for JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run alongside the announcement of its cast.

While My Dress-Up Darling is great at portraying the realities of cosplaying, the show's weight-loss storyline gets a bit too real. @midimyers.com on the series:

Kojima Productions celebrated its ten-year anniversary with a livestream full of updates and announcements about the studio's upcoming projects. Read our wrap-up here:

While the new Skate game has been criticized for lacking a punk aesthetic, these games were never actually punk to begin with. @platanoranger.bsky.social on the series:

Blippo+ is a cool art piece by a consortium of musicians, artists, and comedians that uses our channel-changing past to tell its own story. Read @garrettmartin.bsky.social's review here:

This week at Endless Mode, we're exploring video game maps, and @thewillarowe.bsky.social kicks us off with a piece about 1000XResist's intentionally crummy map of the Orchard. While it may not be particularly useful for directions, it works as an extension of this setting and those who live there.

You should read my latest piece where I talk about DUNGEON CRAWLERS...

The DHS posted a xenophobic propaganda clip set to Pokémon's "Gotta Catch 'Em All" theme on social media, prompting fans to hope Nintendo sues them into oblivion.

Bad dad alert! Based on morality, likability, and fatherliness, we've rounded up the very best worst dads in video games.

My Dress Up Darling is one of the best anime of the year, in large part due to how its localization and dubbing draw on internet culture, writes @pokachee.bsky.social:

Somewhat unsurprisingly, Epic Games banned "thousands" of players over bad behavior following the launch of their new proximity voice chat mode, Fortnite Delulu.

In a recent interview, Trevor's voice actor, Steven Ogg, said that he isn't particularly excited about the next game in the GTA series. What is he excited about? Fyodor Dostoevsky's seminal literay novel Crime and Punishment (and who can blame him).

Silent Hill f delivered basically everything I was looking for: uncomfortable imagery, scares intertwined with its themes (in this case, the horrors of misogyny), and a banger OST from Akira Yamaoka. You'll be swinging around around a lead pipe a bit too often, but that's a small price to pay.

Silent Hill f is a frightening, symbolically dense return to form that's only slightly bogged down by its so-so action gameplay. www.endlessmode.com/video-games/...

Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle became the highest-grossing anime film of all time at the worldwide box office over the weekend and is currently sitting at $555 million.

If the Nintendo Switch 2 gets these four games, it may surpass the PS Vita's title as the ultimate handheld for blobber enthusiasts. @dialacina.com on how the system could become the de facto destination for blob-heads.

Silent Hill f is a frightening, symbolically dense return to form that's only slightly bogged down by its so-so action gameplay. www.endlessmode.com/video-games/...

What justifies a remake? Between Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter and endless translations of Homer and Shakespeare, @marcnormandin.bsky.social has found some answers.

Palestinian Voices in Games is a network that aims to help game developers in Gaza and the West Bank bring their stories to life.

New Panty & Stocking pays respects to the animation that inspired it, while demonstrating what's possible without the constraints of backward censorship laws. @mads.haus on the series:

While it's tempting to write off Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree as another Hades-clone, the game's slower tempo sets it apart. Read @diegoarguello.bsky.social on Towa here:

We got hands-on with SpeedRunners 2: King of Speed, a fast-paced platformer that has potential for both casual and competitive play---it's sort of like Mario Kart, but instead of driving a vehicle, you race as a tiny silver age superhero who loves to jump.

Wanderstar is a heartfelt, word-based RPG that wears its anime inspirations boldly while telling a wholly unique and engaging story. Read @exalclaw.bsky.social's review:

The CEOs of Steam, Discord, Reddit, and Twitch have been asked to testify in front of the U.S. Oversight Committee following Charlie Kirk's assassination.

Good news: Dan Da Dan is getting a third season. The announcement came shortly after the show's second season wrapped up yesterday.

While Eclipsium has genuinely inspired moments and a killer art style, its surrealism eventually unravels due to weak puzzles and tedium. Read @elijahgonzalez.bsky.social's review:

We know Steam and Itch have been banning games due to pressure from payment processors. Nobody discusses them in artistic or aesthetic terms, though. @gracemachine.bsky.social on Vile: Exhumed and Girls Purgatoriem:

Disco Elysium spin-off studio Dark Math Games has renamed its upcoming title to Tangerine Antarctic while turning it into a third-person RPG.

In Ruins is a tabletop game where players use cards to craft a dungeon before they're forced to make tough choices about what gets to stay.

Hollow Knight: Silksong is already off to an incredible start, having reportedly cleared 4 million sales just 2 weeks after release.

Ninja Gaiden Black turns 20 this weekend, and good news, it more than holds up as one of the best action games ever made.

What justifies a remake? Between Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter and endless translations of Homer and Shakespeare, @marcnormandin.bsky.social has found some answers.