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Growing up in the U.S., I was habitual visitor of haunted house attractions. But, after inching my way through dozens of these scare shacks, I was able to distinguish a formula. Moments of calm frequently ...

Computer-based role-playing games have automated many of the analog-based labors of traditional pen-and-paper based games. That can be a beneficial, permitting players to concentrate on elements like storyline. But streamlining also obscures many of the ...

Japanese writers are especially adept at allegory, crafting eloquent and often evocative metaphors when tackling provocative subjects like animism, environmental abuse, or war. With the release of Bad Apple Wars for the PS Vita and ...

In the shoot-‘em-up pantheon, every prodigious title has a distinguishing play mechanic. R-Type is built around a fascinating risk/reward where players can augment their offensive output by abstaining from fire, accumulating energy in their wave ...

Pugnaciousness doesn’t have to rooted in quarter-circles and z-motions. While the finger gymnastics required by the Street Fighter, Guilty Gear and BlazBlue franchises are an apt substitute for conveying martial art mastery, they’re not the ...

Amidst most of the twentieth century, the term, ‘simulacra’ typically implied inferiority. A painting based on a photograph was separated from its source material by two degrees, and subsequently would lose some of its essence ...

Adapting tabletop games into electronic media might sound like a half-baked idea. Board games are often the catalysts of magnificently contentious play sessions, bringing groups of friends together before dividing them via cutthroat competition. But ...

Since 1997, Gust has crafted eighteen entries in the acclaimed Atelier franchise. Almost all of them have focused on a young women’s journey toward self-actualization, as she grows from kind-spirited klutz to an accomplished alchemist ...

Much like artists like Peter Paul Rubens, Francisco Goya, and Édouard Manet, Senran Kagura creator Kenichirō Takaki is obsessed with the female form. But unlike the painters of yesteryear, Takaki-san’s canvas is a console connected ...

In one of Hollywood’s best meta-analyses, Scream 2 explained the difficulties of crafting a slasher film sequels. Identifying larger body counts, more elaborate and gruesome death scenes, and the apparent immortality of the franchise’s bad ...