Silent Hill f review: My teen angst bullshit has a body count by @stolisomancer.bsky.social "In its most action-packed moments, SHf looks like Ryuhei Kitamura tried to remake Yojimbo with a budget of whatever he could steal from a construction site." Read the latest Skybox review:

In case you were curious what my opinion is about this week's new entry in the SILENT HILL franchise, I wrote some of my thoughts down for Skybox. I think you'll be able to split the reactions to this down the middle by who likes maddening stamina-combat games and who doesn't. I don't. At all.

Game Night: Punch Every Bug You See in ‘Star Fire: Eternal Cycle’ (Minus World Article) hard-drive.net/news-games/g...

The latest episode of Skydive is about TMNT: Turtles In Time That episode (like all of 'game club' show Skydive and 'behind-the-scenes' Into The Skybox) are currently for Patreon backers only BUT you can check out our Skydive "Pre-Flight Check" for Turtles in Time on Skybox right now! Enjoy. 💟

Get ready for @madsmatic.bsky.social latest "Pie In The Skybox" comic strip, and shoutout to those who understand the final panel I see you 👀 skyboxcritics.com/2025/09/05/p...

It's Friday, so I'm back talking #indiegames at @hard-drive.net. This week, I'm covering the recent release RA RA BOOM, which feels like the '90s arcade brawler adaptation of one of the weird cartoon shows that only ran at 4 AM. Check it out:

Before my recent hospital stay, I wrote a column every week on @hard-drive.net about #indiegames. After some time off, I'm back on the site to talk about last month's HEARTWORM. Check it out:

The Breens and Wiseaus of the world offer a look into a demented psyche that creates art orthogonal to how we understand it. "so bad it's good" on-purpose movies are just exhausting cavalcades of someone you don't know poking you in the ribs and going "do you get it?! 🤣" for 81 minutes

My Hollow Knight inspired comic is in prelaunch right now. Wait til you see the first big boss. Hit that notify button and you'll be the first to see pages of interior art. www.kickstarter.com/projects/nya...

Jean-Marc Vallée was one of a kind: How structure and editing defined a career by @trudiegraham.bsky.social "When I’m struck by nature’s beauty, and feel magnetically pulled toward it, my mind mysteriously wanders to Wild — one of the greatest ‘the only way out is through’ movies." Read on:

I will never use voice controls. I am a divine being of flesh and soul. You are a machine. Do not address me as an equal. I will never address you.

AI Could Never BONUS STAGE (we had more pieces than days in the week!) AI Could Never: Journey by @wingedregent.bsky.social "Could the plagiarism machine craft an experience like Journey, one conceived as an 'act of rebellion' against the other art of its age? No." Read on:

EVO literally just happened. Sagat *just* came out. Did the costumes help, too? Probably. But you know what happens post-EVO and after new characters drop? Folks want to play fighting games. The way a lot of games press routinely ignores and/or disrespects this genre is both exhausting and insane.

AI Could Never: Where the Water Tastes Like Wine by @stolisomancer.bsky.social "It’s a game that fundamentally does not work without its sense of humanity; it’s a story about stories, and what it means to be alive at the same time as all these other people." Read on:

I went ahead and wrote about the most human video game I could think of, as part of Skybox's week-long denunciation of AI "creative" tools and all who sail under their black flag.

Theme week is go! AI Could Never: Mary Skelter by @hokutolucas.bsky.social "Mary Skelter is existentially horny, its lore so deeply tangled in throbbing, violent macabre that there’s hardly a single piece not splattered with thematic fluids. It’s awesome. And crucially, human." Read on:

It's Friday, so I'm talking #indiegames at @hard-drive.net. This week, I've been playing s.p.l.i.t., a narrative-driven horror adventure by the creator of BUCKSHOT ROULETTE. Check it out:

my cousin has a prosthetic leg below the knee, I can say it

Putting the Nintendo Community on Trial by @abrambuehner.bsky.social "We want, we rush, we rehash the same talking points ad nauseam while the content creators steering the discussion fail to wade in further than the shallows. It’s exhausting, it’s low-grade." Read on:

In a stunning moment of self reflection, a whiteboard apologized and acknowledged how dangerous its own behavior can be

I'm back at @hard-drive.net for my latest column on #indiegames. This week, I've been playing the new point-and-click adventure THE DRIFTER, and have some thoughts about it:

I'd just like to point out how weird it is that places with hundreds or even thousands of reporters — the NYT, WaPo, CBS, NBC, AP, etc. — are all getting pummeled on every major story by the dozen computerboys at Wired. To fumble the bag this consistently is, at some point, cowardice and a choice.

Game Night: Let’s Get Beaten to Death by Zombie Schoolgirls in ‘DEADCAM’ (Minus World Article) hard-drive.net/news-games/g...

If you aren't backing @skyboxcritics.bsky.social on Patreon you should fix that 💟 Between the @ashlikeadragon.bsky.social episode of Into the Skybox & the episode of Skydive we just recorded about the Marvel VS Capcom series, there is SO much good stuff coming www.patreon.com/skyboxcritics

In retrospect, one of the signs of downfall for Web3/NFT gaming was when a bunch of exhibitors at PAX West actively concealed those elements in their games. With that in mind, it is with some pleasure that I announce somebody just tried to do that with a game that features LLM-powered NPCs.

Nation of Curation #2: Avocations and Vocations by @stolisomancer.bsky.social A new wave of game recommendations from Skybox staff and contributors! Check it out: skyboxcritics.com/2025/07/08/n...

I have once again returned to Skybox, so to speak, and berated several of its contributors until they coughed up text for the semi-regular Nation of Curation column. If you're looking for some tested recommendations, here's the medicine:

I've been working through a backlog since the start of the year for my column on Hard Drive, and I'm about to see some daylight on it. If you're a publisher/developer in the #indiegames space and you've got something out soon/now that you'd like to show off, let me know.

Sometimes, you get a pitch, and the only correct response is "Hot damn. Yes. Absolutely." Pretty stoked to host @ashlikeadragon.bsky.social at Skybox today, that she trusted us with this piece, and to have been the one who edited it. It's killer.

It's Friday above all else, so I'm back at @hard-drive.net to discuss #indiegames. Today, I've got some thoughts on a 12-genre pile-up from Amsterdam called STARLESS ABYSS, in which the colour out of space comes from the dirty missile I just fired at Shub-Niggurath.

I was re-assessing how we should approach covering Microsoft and then the layoffs happened so it seemed like a good time to talk about it. The long and short of it is Skybox isn't covering Microsoft products until they're no longer abetting a genocide and we don't think you should buy their games.

I have made a second comic, and it was seen fit to be released into the wild. Behold the bonus panel at Skybox skyboxcritics.com/.../pie-in-t...

I have been so busy writing through The Trials (con crude and the destruction of my laptop) that I haven't had time to post any of my work since SGF. I can’t write any more today, so I'm going to play catchup. First up: I previewed Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound for @ign.com and it rules.

I have once again returned to talk about weird indie horror at @hard-drive.net. This week, I've been playing the Hungarian gig-economy dungeon crawler REPOSE, which means I've gotten shot repeatedly by zombie astronauts and am now passing the savings on to you. #indiegames

They're letting me start a comic column over at Skybox! I feel just like it's the old days! Oh no! Go over to the link to check out the bonus panel! Please enjoy! skyboxcritics.com/2025/06/12/p...

It's Friday, so I'm (belatedly) back at @hard-drive.net with my latest column on a recent indie game. This week, I picked up something that's been on my stack for a minute and played the Belgian murder mystery/visual novel BEST SERVED COLD. #indiegames

Here's episode 2 of Beyond the Skybox, our Patreon-exclusive podcast! In this episode @brianbarnett.bsky.social @hokutolucas.bsky.social and special guest @kriscornelisse.bsky.social talk about TMNT Tactical Takedown, the Switch 2, unhinged video game ads, and more: www.patreon.com/posts/beyond...

The first episode of our first Patreon-exclusive show, 'Beyond the Skybox,' is live! AND GUESS WHAT?! We got feedback from our backers, who said we should make this one available for free, AND WE DID! Enjoy :D

THE OUTER WORLDS 2 strikes me as funny for all the wrong reasons, the same way that MIRROR'S EDGE used to. Certain companies just don't get to publish games about the heroic struggle to depose a corporate overlord.

It's Friday, so I'm back at @hard-drive.net with my weekly column on #indiegames. This week, I ended up playing a slightly older release with GUNS OF FURY.

Brian-at-Large: We Live in a New Golden Age of Fighting Games by @brianbarnett.bsky.social "The fighting game community, just like any good fighting game protagonist, doesn’t rest on its laurels... How can it? The grind of self-improvement is all there is." Read Brian's latest right here:

Check out my column this week It's all about fighting games! And with the recent announcement of Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls, I can't be more excited about the future of the genre

One of the big reasons we started Skybox was because a lot of great games are slipping through the cracks Discoverability is terrible (outside of word of mouth) so here we are, doing what we can I hope you find something cool in here, there's a lot more to come 💟

I held down @madsmatic.bsky.social and made him draw a couple of cartoons to accompany this, the inaugural (?!) entry in a curation series on Skybox.

Thomas is a delight and so is this episode of Into The Skybox. Enjoy 🍻

Hey, you know how my voice is a whiskey-roughened warm hug that informs and delights all who hear it? Do I have good news for you. I'm on the latest episode of Skybox's BTS podcast talking about some of my pet topics.

Hey, it's me! @jofsoft.bsky.social's Pizza Bandit is a stupid fun fusion of Gears of War and Overcooked that manages to find its own unique flavor. It's an absolute blast with friends and something that should 100% be on your radar. Gotta thank @dmc-ryan.bsky.social for letting me do this one.

Into the Skybox is a podcast companion to our articles, in which @brianbarnett.bsky.social interviews writers to go behind the scenes with their work and get to know them. In the latest episode, we chat with @theswweet.bsky.social about his Katamari review. Give it a listen:

Skybox needs money to help unfuck modern games coverage, so here's the part where it opens crowdfunding. Throw them some dollars, secure in the knowledge that some fraction thereof will circle back around to me.