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Half-Life: Alyx Is Fantastic, But It’s Probably Not the Future

VR’s killer app feels like it could have been almost as good without the VR.
The Joystick Is Mightier Than the Sword

History and video games aren’t in opposition—they’re fighting on the same team.
Animal Crossing, SimCity, and the Long History of City Planning in Games

Building a paradise is never as simple as it seems.
Humor Me: How Games Leverage Other Media to Make You Laugh

Games are full of jokes, but good jokes are still a rarity.
These Super Mario Maker Level Designers Have Elevated Trolling Into an Artform

They’ve developed their own jargon and written 80-page guides, all to make you suffer in hilarious ways.
Unsafe Rooms

Horror thrives on subverting expectations, and there’s nowhere more ripe for subversion than the humble safe room.
Resident Evil 3 review

Beauty and the Beast.
Empathy for the Devil

South Korea’s Somi on making games that challenge police abuses of power.
The Death, and Future Rebirth, of
A Life Well Wasted

Robert Ashley’s standout gaming podcast has more stories to tell.
Meet the GIF Makers Who Craft Art out of Pinpoint Gameplay

In an era where hours-long gaming streams are the norm, these artisans spend their time editing together a perfect 15 seconds of pulse-pounding combat.
Super Mario Sunshine Is Nintendo at Its Most Nintendo

Even 18 years on, there’s still no purer example of the power of limitation in design.
The Messenger and the Myth of Progress

As the Xbox Series X and PS5 loom on the horizon, Sabotage Studio offers an alternative to how we think about console generations.