The Impossibility of Escape | Hitman
If videogames pride themselves on providing escapism, then fantastical worlds, with little to no basis in reality, are surely an inconvenience. Before transporting…
Proc. Gen. and Pleasant Land | Sir You Are Being Hunted
Election fever had not come to Leafy Dreading. In fact, life had left it long ago. It was a perfect rustic idyll, in…
The Metal World | Horizon Zero Dawn
In the sleepy suburb of Sydenham, south-east of London, the statues of the Crystal Palace Dinosaur Park stand watch over nothing in particular.…
Cynefin | The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
While playing through The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the abstracted aesthetics and mechanics of exploration, coupled with the game’s vast…
The Empty Lot | Yakuza Zero
Kabukichō, Tokyo is routinely referred to as the city’s red-light district; a violent, debauched place that lures tourists and locals alike, though that…
Symbols and Strata | Rain World
Asian megacities have long served as the ultimate prop shops for cyberpunk: The neon-lit towers of Shanghai and the flashing Kanji logos of…
An Empty Artifice | NieR Automata
All species of life are defined by roteness: repetition and mundanity are the forces by which the cogs of human society and the…
The Exploded Encyclopedia | Everything
At the heart of Everything lies a contradiction. Though the narration dotted around this seemingly infinite universe—cherry-picked from the archive of philosopher Alan…
Anatomical Interiors | Silent Hill 3
“If you want to understand a place, ignore the boastful monuments and landmarks, and go straight to the haunted houses,” writes Colin Dickey…
