Cult classic card game — too bad the creator is a creep — This review was originally posted to Twitter on December 20, 2019. Initial release: May 31, 2018 Platform: PC, mobile, Nintendo Switch Developer: Weather Factory Imagine you wanted to start a cult. What would that look like? Would you be a Jimmy Buffet knockoff, or would you emulate Jim Jones? Or perhaps L. Ron Hubbard? Regardless, I don’t think it would involve a lot…

Does paying tribute to animation’s legacy also require grappling with its problematic history? — This review was originally posted to Twitter on December 17, 2019. Initial release: September 29, 2017 Platform: PC, XBox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch Developer: studioMDHR Ah, the 1930s. The golden age of animation, ushered in by the 1928 classic Steamboat Willie. But that was 95 years ago, and animation — and society at large — has changed a lot. But the “rubber hose” style…

Brr! Cute little imsim roguelike gets a cute little DLC — This review was originally posted to Twitter on December 15, 2019. Initial release: December 19, 2013 Platform: PC Developer: Minor Key Games Did you like Minor Key Games’ cute little roguelike immersive sim Eldritch, but thought it was too easy? Did you feel like something was missing from its Minecraft-aesthetic Lovecraftian horror? Do you have a burning need to punch a…

Boarding school horror in this obscure PS2 classic — This review was originally posted to Twitter on December 14, 2019. Initial release: January 19, 2006 Platform: PlayStation 2 Developer: Punchline Whoof. Strap in folks, ’cuz you’re in for one fuck of a mindbending, depressing ride in this obscure, controversial (and crazy rare) cult classic survival horror for the PlayStation 2. It’s 1930, somewhere in England. 19 year old (maybe)…

Short-form samurai simulator — Initial release: Feb 7th, 2002 Platform: PlayStation 2/PlayStation Portable Developer: Acquire Samurai and ninjas have been a fascinating part of Japan’s cultural history for decades. From Japanese chambara films of the 1960s to the abundance of ninjas in American films in the 1980s, these relics of Japan’s feudal past continue to live new lives in media. And long before games like…

There will be blood in this messy meltdown of isolated mistrust — Caution: Spoilers ahead. Initial release: December 7, 2015 Director: Quentin Tarantino Quentin Tarantino rarely does the same thing twice. While his seminal classic Pulp Fiction is arguably an evolution of the vibe he was trying to evoke with Reservoir Dogs, it’s still fundamentally its own thing with its own tricks and that unique narrative structure it’s famous for…

Immaculately crafted film with a tiresome core trope — Initial release: November 20, 2003 Director: Edward Zwick Hollywood (and indeed, film industries throughout the first world) has something of a complex relationship with foreign — and indigenous — cultures. From just plain insensitive depictions of indigenous folk as spear-throwing savages to casting white actors as inscrutable Asian stereotypes to stories of a heroic white man (and it’s…

Comic book gunslinger adaptation ain’t quite it — Initial release: June 18, 2010 Director: Jimmy Hayward Ah, Jonah Hex. One of DC Comics’ most underutilized characters, Jonah Hex was created at the beginning of an odd time for the American western. The era of John Wayne was coming to an end (1976’s The Shootist, about a dying gunslinger in the last days of the Old West…

The other famous spaghetti western — Initial release: April 6, 1966 Director: Sergio Corbucci When it comes to so-called spaghetti westerns (a term that in recent years has rightly been called out as silly,) the genre’s fame can really be traced to two Sergios, and one Akira. Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars came out in 1964 to critical acclaim; it was so similar…