Sayonara Lara looks so good that at this point it feels unfair to look at it as the distraction before the cobra awakens. Koide was already responsible for many of Revue Starlight's highlights, and his solo direction debut knows what to bring over (Hama graphic design!) while still feeling fresh

For our map theme week, I wrote about RPG overworlds and how their abstraction of a space let them avoid the tedium that many modern open world games suffer from. I also have something in there about Borges and the French New Wave because why not, Garretts currently on a boat, no one can stop me.

Hell Is Us has changed how I approach playing - and writing about - games. All it took was a little trust. my latest, for @endlessmode.bsky.social:

For our map theme week, I wrote about RPG overworlds and how their abstraction of a space let them avoid the tedium that many modern open world games suffer from. I also have something in there about Borges and the French New Wave because why not, Garretts currently on a boat, no one can stop me.

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

Congrats to the BDS. FREE PALESTINE.

Hey so The Summer Hikaru Died remains extremely good, it features goo monster romance so you should probably watch it.

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:

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.

Man, no one told me that the Umineko OST goes unfathomably hard:

Omg this is my second site debut today but I also interviewed the dub team for My Dress-Up Darling to talk about how internet slang made it into the english version of the show. i was THRILLED with how the conversation went so please check it out!!!

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:

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.

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

I wrote about New Panty & Stocking With Garterbelt, the thin line between "anime" and "cartoon" + why TV Parental Guidelines were a mistake for @endlessmode.bsky.social

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:

2024: 1000XResist 2023: Street Fighter 6 2022: Xenoblade Chronicles 3 2021: Guilty Gear Strive 2020: Hades 2019: Disco Elysium 2018: Yakuza 0 2017: NieR: Automata 2016: The House In Fata Morgana 2015: Undertale

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:

I wrote about Ninja Gaiden Black for its upcoming 20th anniversary, and on top of holding up in a vacuum, it made it clear just how well its formula works in this "hard games are back" era. I love FromSoft's output, but I wish more devs attempted this particular flavor of kicking your ass.

I wrote about Ninja Gaiden Black for its upcoming 20th anniversary, and on top of holding up in a vacuum, it made it clear just how well its formula works in this "hard games are back" era. I love FromSoft's output, but I wish more devs attempted this particular flavor of kicking your ass.

One of Silksong's biggest changes? A non-silent protagonist. Hornet makes players feel encouraged towards compassion for the strange, sad victims of Hollow Knight: Silksong's theocratic authorities. Read @midimyers.com's interpretation of Silksong's protagonist here:

Baby's first @endlessmode.bsky.social feature, so of course it had to be about Tatsuki Fujimoto and why an anime studio should be bold enough to finally adapt Fire Punch, the series that made him famous before Chainsaw Man. www.endlessmode.com/anime/fire-p...

While The Summer Hikaru Died Episode 10 has a bit too much table setting, it sets up for future exploration of generational sins and trauma.

Thinking about that The Thing-esque nightmare Ditto, so many questions have been raised.

I wrote about Silksong and how its punishing difficulty is at least partially there to communicate its themes of punitive religious penance. I get why being flagellated isn't everyone's bag, and there should be difficulty settings, but a game being hard is another potential lever for its narrative.

i have been having so much fun writing opinion stories for endless mode and i hope ppl like them bc a key pillar of my future career plans are "maddy writes & publishes more." check out my backlog here if you're not up to date since i went back to freelancing www.endlessmode.com/author/maddy...

for @endlessmode.bsky.social - I wrote about Ocelot and why he's in love with Snake.

Criticism is dying, for video games and all arts, and by foregoing reviews Silksong helps speed up the process, writes @gracemachine.bsky.social. www.endlessmode.com/article/silk...

*New Bloober discourse incoming* I reviewed Cronos, which pulled me in with its promising sci-fi setup, ambitious story, and very solid survival horror loop, but its ending did not land for me in the slightest. Shooting funky zombies while wearing a Giger-ass diving suit is pretty neat, though.

In case you missed the last sale, 1000xRESIST is 30% off on the US eShop and on Humble for Steam! Our sci-fi game has: 💠 matricide 💠 doomed yuri 💠 aliens 💠 a deadly pandemic 💠 so much generational trauma Hope you have a great and happy time playing our game! 🫡

Fuck Gavin Newsome actually.

This remake is such a weird thing. On the one hand, MGS3 is a game you can play on modern consoles and this new version changes little outside of its UE5 graphics and some (admittedly nice) quality of life changes. On the other, it shows how MGS3’s design has absolutely held the test of time.

Hey I played a bunch of things at Gamescom today, including several games that the internet has a very unhealthy relationship with (Silksong seems quite good by the way).

The high school romance in the popular yuri anime WataNare is as fraught and messy as queer dating is in real life, writes @mads.haus. www.endlessmode.com/anime/watana...

Mononoke The Movie: The Ashes of Rage maintains the avant-garde presentation and thematic depth that sets this mystery series apart. www.endlessmode.com/anime/monono...

In its sixth episode, The Summer Hikaru Died's nuanced introspections on spirituality, the self, and grief collided in a tense conversation. www.endlessmode.com/anime/the-su...

Abyssus is a roguelike FPS that mostly overcomes some wonky progression systems with high-speed gunslinging and extensive customization. Read @elijahgonzalez.bsky.social's review. www.endlessmode.com/video-games/...

Renako is truly one of the great thinkers of our time:

The retro horror game Heartworm understands that nothing's scarier or more slippery than our own memories, @thewillarowe.bsky.social writes. www.endlessmode.com/article/hear...

City: The Animation's fifth episode used an incredible visual gimmick to entertain, overwhelm, and convey the power of community. www.endlessmode.com/anime/city-t...

I wrote about one of my favorite anime of the year so far, Rock Is A Lady's Modesty, and how the show fundamentally understands rock music's historical role as counterculture. It's "Be Gay. Do Crimes" but with a guitar, and provides some very good screen grabs like this:

Of course somebody known as The Great Villainess is a streamer. Propaganda is crucial to winning the war in this game, and its villainess Scarlet cuts out the middle man and reaches audiences directly through her livestreams. www.endlessmode.com/article/wagi...

Evo 2025 is under way, and here are three storylines you'll want to follow, whether it's returning champions or games. www.endlessmode.com/video-games/...

Evo just kicked off at 1 PM ET today, so I wrote up a primer on some of the drama and storylines to follow throughout, including beefs, three-peat attempts, and the return of a bunch of sicko games that I'm sure will look ridiculous in the hands of top-level players (i.e., Marvel Vs. Capcom 2).

I haven't seen a lot of talk about Great Villainess: Strategy of Lily, but I've been having a great time with it. Much of that comes from its 10/10 protagonist Scarlet, who is basically an anime version of Julie d'Aubigny, swashbuckling, bisexuality and all. And it's a strategy game! A good one too.

Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is an agile 2D platformer that combines speed and excellent boss fights with an Ikaruga-styled twist. Read our review. www.endlessmode.com/video-games/...

Donkey Kong Bananza is the rare open-ended game that actually makes it fun to be a freakazoid completionist. www.endlessmode.com/video-games/...

Do people still do starter packs on this thing? Follow Endless Mode’s editors and regular contributors. go.bsky.app/TJwXBHx

I wrote about the ongoing VShojo situation, and how despite many of its talents being allegedly owed as much as a "a ferrari amount of money" as one of them put it, they still rallied to raise over $1.25 million for charity.