Category Archives: Video Games

Two Recent Publications Of Mine About Games

Posted on 11/05/2018 by kunzelman

I have two newish academic publications that you might want to check out if you’re the kind of person who enjoys academic publications. The first is a piece about speculation and video game play that is published in Science Fiction Film … Continue reading →

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On The Yawning Portal at Paste

Posted on 05/09/2017 by kunzelman

Tales from the Yawning Portal rides the line between nostalgia and ease of access for new players. I can imagine sitting down with Danni, my Mages & Murderdads cohost, and replaying “The Sunless Citadel” and having as good of a … Continue reading →

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Bad Affect as Game Design, Or It Feels Good For Overwatch To Feel Bad

Posted on 04/19/2017 by kunzelman

This was originally written as a monthly essay for my Patreon. If you like it, consider chipping in $3 a month. There’s a lot of talk in game design about how to make people feel things. For the Skinner Box … Continue reading →

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Bernard De Koven on approaching death

Posted on 04/03/2017 by kunzelman

If you want to do something for me or because of me, grieving is not what I need. What I need is for you to continue your play/work however you can. Play games. Play the kind of games I like to … Continue reading →

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On Dishonored, the Inside, and the Outside

Posted on 02/01/2017 by kunzelman

This is a quick post about Dishonored, a game I wrote a lot more about back when it came out. Spoilers abound. I’m playing through Dishonored again after a very long time (so that I can play the sequel, finally), … Continue reading →

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“No One Criticized Bioshock Infinite Before!”

Posted on 09/17/2016 by kunzelman

All week long I’ve been reading tweets that have intimated that there has been some kind of sea change opinion shift in the way that Bioshock Infinite was received by audiences. The entire conversation has had a kind of “these damn hipsters” … Continue reading →

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On The Last Door: Season 2

Posted on 09/12/2016 by kunzelman

I’ve been sitting on the second season of The Last Door for some time now, and I can’t really explain why. It was less an avoidance and more of a saving, like I wanted to make sure that I was in the right … Continue reading →

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The Tragedy of The Witcher 2

Posted on 07/22/2016 by kunzelman

Spoilers for The Witcher games. I’ve been playing through The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings very slowly over the past few weeks, and during my time playing through the game I am continually struck by how the series sets you up for a long-term … Continue reading →

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Mages and Murderdads – Episode 4

Posted on 07/21/2016 by kunzelman
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On Bloodborne: The Simulation and the Surrogate

Posted on 07/18/2016 by kunzelman

I. The lore of the Soulsborne series is generally “solved” a few weeks after the release of the newest games. We end up with a vague consensus, and then there’s just the continual work of augmenting that in order to … Continue reading →

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