Gone Home review - connecting the dots

If you have any interest in playing Gone Home, don’t read past this paragraph. Just go buy it and play it. It’s best played blind, without any pretense knowledge, and gives you an experience that can’t be replicated in movies, books, or other mediums.

It is 1:15 AM on June 7, 1995. You are Katie Greenbriar, just coming home on a dark rainy night from a year traveling through Europe. You arrive at the house, but no one is home. There is a mysterious and ominous sounding note on the door. Where is everyone?

Papers, Please review – a lesson in bureaucracy

Every day I do the same thing. I wake up and walk to work at the edge of Arstotzka, where the border has finally re-opened after six years of war with neighboring nation Kolechia. I should feel lucky. Thanks to the labor lottery, my family and I have a place to live, and I have a job to support them. It’s not a luxurious position, but I can help keep the borders safe by detaining criminals, denying foreigners with forged papers, or identifying terrorists. Glory to Arstotzka!

Cart Life reminds me why I’m cautious of indie games

I tend to enjoy big-budget games more than independent games. Polish and production value carry a lot of weight for me, and these elements often take a nosedive with independent games. The majority of independent games tend to be retro platformers with some sort of pixel-art aesthetic, trying to reminisce about the age of the Nintendo and Super Nintendo. While I understand the sense of nostalgia these games try to convey, they lose me in their simplistic design and interaction. That’s not to say I hate indie games. Games like Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Dear Esther, Limbo, and Bastion carve out their own space, standing not only as spotlight independent games, but also as great games.