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According to psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, ‘flow’ is the mental state a person reaches when they are fully immersed in a task. Commonly known as being ‘in the zone’, Csikszentmihalyi isolated nine elements that occur when ...

Sequels are often precarious endeavors. Stick too close to predecessor, failing to provide enough innovation or narrative-based consequence, and you’ll likely get labeled as an uninspired cash-in. Yet, if follow-ups are too revolutionary, and neglect ...

Japanese role-playing aficionados know that allegory is a frequent storytelling strategy. Whether it’s Hyperdimension Neptunia’s spirted take on game console competition or the Persona series’ ruminations about our inner psyches, there’s something rather potent about ...

Forts is a game built around a myriad of fiddly parts- where the game’s eponymous strongholds sway in a state of persistent peril. While that might sound like light criticism, it’s anything but. In fact, ...

For the media savvy, there’s a strong chance of familiarity with Luo Guanzhong’s fourteenth-century historical novel, Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Thanks to Koei-Tecmo’s prolific Dynasty Warriors franchise, John Woo’s 2008 film, Red Cliff, and ...

Purportedly influenced by nekomata, the feline-like yōkai present in Japanese mythology, cat-girls have a fairly extensive history. In the 1960s, manga like Hakaba no Kitarō (Kitarō of the Graveyard) began showcasing a young woman who ...

Production I.G’s 2012 crime-thriller, Psycho-Pass, was built upon a number of thematic elements that might be familiar to western audiences. Recalling the ‘pre-cognition’ motif of Minority Report, the anime transported viewers to a dystopian, futuristic ...

Gaming often progresses through diminutive steps. In 1978, Taito’s Space Invaders’ antagonists tenaciously marched across monochromatic screens. But a year later, the foes broke formation, attacking players with kamikaze-like vehemence in Namco’s Galaxian. Later, the ...

The ubiquity of game remakes is hardly surprising. After all, it’s cost-effective for publishers to either emulate yesteryear’s titles (see the release of this week’s The Disney Afternoon Collection) or port over existing code over ...

While success can stimulate bigger budgets, and a push toward larger audiences, it’s an artist’s early efforts that can be remarkably revealing. Largely, that’s the case with The Silver Case, a title designed, directed, and ...