It’s time for our year-end mega-roundup of games criticism! The purpose of this feature is to create a representative snapshot of the year, curated from the links we shared. I have been doing this for several years, and every time I have approached the task, it wasn’t until I went through our archives that I was able to bring the year and its myriad discussions into focus.

Understanding 2017 needed no such effort. The violence against truth, knowledge and wisdom intruded into our lives on a daily basis. We are a site dedicated to spreading what pieces of truth, intelligence and wisdom on the medium of games as we can gather. The powers that be in 2017 seemed to be against those ideals.

Katherine Cross perfectly illuminated the constant and continuous attacks that truth suffered throughout the year. How can one resist and keep one’s head, in an environment where one doesn’t know what information is genuine, and what sources are spammed with hatred and bile? She answers with sincerity, honestly, and through the promotion of truth, avoiding knocking down falsehoods and thereby deigning them with a sense of legitimacy.

It may not mean much in the face of the vulnerable being hurt. As I write this, Puerto Rico is still without power and its people dying, millions of children have lost their health care, families are being torn apart by an extra judicial hit squad to be rounded up without trail or recourse in detention facilities, and black men and women continue to face the stigma of guilt — to the forfeiture of their lives — for the sin of existing in the eyes of the police and the status quo enamored society at large.

In the face of all that real, physical harm being done, worrying about truth can feel so ignoble. Further, talking about video games in this tiny sphere we deal in feels even more so. Yet, this is the platform I have. It may be flicking peas in a hurricane in the grand scheme of things, but on truth I shall not bend. I dedicate the 2017 edition of This Year In Video Game Blogging in the name of truth and the spread of whatever wisdom that may be gleaned.

Critical Video Game Criticism

From examinations of Nazi killing to the lies of our own mythmaking to the reexaminations of works past, the games themselves has always been the forefront of the medium’s criticism. Whether that that lens be focused inwards to the work’s interior meaning, or directed outwards to the context of the contemporary world.

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus

Middle Earth: Shadow of War

Middle-Earth: Shadow of War is at war with itself over slavery | Polygon – Cameron Kunzelman

Cameron finds that Shadow of War wants desperately to be about something, but puts in no more effort than set dressing. It says nothing, overpowered as it is by “frictionless fun.”

Cameron finds that Shadow of War wants desperately to be about something, but puts in no more effort than set dressing. It says nothing, overpowered as it is by “frictionless fun.” The Orcs of ‘Shadow of War’ Face a Fate Worse Than Death | Waypoint – Cameron Kunzelman and Austin Walker

Austin Walker comes back to the Middle-Earth series to join Cameron Kunzelman in a discussion about fantasy slavery, loot boxes and existential horror engendered within.

Mass Effect: Andromeda

Does Mass Effect: Andromeda get past old colonial ideas? Not quite | Gamasutra – Katherine Cross

Katherine Cross finds that Andromeda attempts to challenge the legacy of colonialism only replicating “a kinder, gentler form of it.” Only in escaping its fantasy can we truly critique it.

Katherine Cross finds that Andromeda attempts to challenge the legacy of colonialism only replicating “a kinder, gentler form of it.” Only in escaping its fantasy can we truly critique it. In defense of Mass Effect: Andromeda and other messy games | Polygon – Sophia Park

Sophia Park understands that Mass Effect: Andromeda and others are messes, but takes issue with how we discuss, evaluate and ultimately dismiss them as if they had nothing to offer.

Nier: Automata

Yokoo Tarou’s Eternal Recurrence: Transhumanism in Nier: Automata | A Fun Derangement of Epitaphs – Kastel

Kastel delves into the myriad existential ideas in Nier: Automata, as the robots and androids contend with what it means to be human.

Kastel delves into the myriad existential ideas in Nier: Automata, as the robots and androids contend with what it means to be human. The Erotic Death Drive of Nier: Automata | Bullet Points Monthly – Julie Muncy

Julie Muncy centers her piece on the sexuality of the game’s characters and the symbology around it, as they cannot fully engage with the creative act, only their destructive purpose.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Breath of the Wild’s Quiet Guidance and the Lessons of the Great Plateau | Elite Review – Evan Conley

Evan Conley dissects Breath of the Wild‘s tutorial area, and how it guides the player learning how to play the game and open them up to the possibility space.

Evan Conley dissects Breath of the Wild‘s tutorial area, and how it guides the player learning how to play the game and open them up to the possibility space. Breath of the Wild: The Best Game Ever | YouTube – Cool Ghosts – Matt Lees

Matt Lees compares Breath of the Wild‘s design philosophy against other open worlds, and argues that it remembers what maps are, among other details that affect your head space.

Horizon: Zero Dawn

Due Diligence: Horizon Zero Yawn | Hawywire Magazine – Leigh Harrison

Leigh Harrison likes the game, but has trouble with its story, especially in light of the annual discussion of games needing stories – some, like this one, may be improved without.

Leigh Harrison likes the game, but has trouble with its story, especially in light of the annual discussion of games needing stories – some, like this one, may be improved without. Horizon Zero Dawn Joss Whedon and the Problem with “Strong Female Characters” | Paste Magazine – Holly Green

In the light of the public allegations against Joss Whedon, Holly Green uses Horizon Zero Dawn to say that the real strong female character is about agency, valuing them on their terms, not their ability to kick ass.

Persona 5

Persona 5 deserved better: a translator’s take on a subpar script | Polygon – Molly Lee

That title pretty much covers it. Molly Lee educates her audience about what translation is and, using a few choice examples from the game, what choices the process consists of.

That title pretty much covers it. Molly Lee educates her audience about what translation is and, using a few choice examples from the game, what choices the process consists of. Perversion Subversion – Examining Hentai Sensibility | YouTube – Extra Credits

The Extra Credits crew look at two games and see how they engage and subvert the common Japanese tropes of “perviness.” One bad example – Persona 5 – and one good example…

Yakuza 0

The Transformative Violence of Yakuza 0 | Ploughshares at Emerson College – Patrick Larose

Patrick Larose examines the violence in Yakuza 0, finding that it may not be realistic, but has an artistic purpose in conversation with a legacy of crime fiction and actual history.

Patrick Larose examines the violence in Yakuza 0, finding that it may not be realistic, but has an artistic purpose in conversation with a legacy of crime fiction and actual history. The Empty Lot – Yakuza 0 | Heterotopias Zine – Astrid Budgor

Astrid Budgor compares the plot of the game to the real life real estate boom in Japan of that era. The empty lot around which the plot centers is a synecdoche of late capitalism, and how “it demands the subjugation of human life.”

Pyre

Pyre and Responsibility | YouTube – PostMesmeric – Alex Carlson

Alex Carlson examines how Pyre‘s liberation rites create a conflict between the character’s utility to the player and the responsibility towards desires of the characters.

Alex Carlson examines how Pyre‘s liberation rites create a conflict between the character’s utility to the player and the responsibility towards desires of the characters. Making History with the Music of Pyre | YouTube – Game Score Fanfare – Mathew Dyason

Mathew Dyason looks over the subtleties of Pyre‘s dynamic score that alters its tunes and styles to fit the matches. He ends on how the ending song reflects your story.

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice

Mental Health in Video Games | YouTube – HeavyEyed – Mitch Cramer

Mitch Cramer finds Hellblade “a long-overdue understanding of psychosis and those [he] knows that suffer from it.” He positions it in the current landscape of media that examine mental illness.

Mitch Cramer finds Hellblade “a long-overdue understanding of psychosis and those [he] knows that suffer from it.” He positions it in the current landscape of media that examine mental illness. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice | YouTube – Critique Quest – Noa

Noa goes through various elements of Hellblade and how they all contribute to the narrative and experience of Senua’s journey.

Night in the Woods

Night in the Woods and Nostalgia | Paste Magazine – Dante Douglas

The nostalgia that Dante Douglas speaks of is for an image of America that has passed. The factories and mines have left, taken away by the greed of old men at the expense of the towns and people that live there.

The nostalgia that Dante Douglas speaks of is for an image of America that has passed. The factories and mines have left, taken away by the greed of old men at the expense of the towns and people that live there. Searching for Faith During a ‘Night in the Woods’ | Waypoint – Shonte Daniels

Shonte Daniel uses faith as a lens to examine the need of the characters in Night in the Woods to hold onto anything or anyone in the face of the crumbling city.

Dream Daddy

Angels in America and Log Cabin Republicans: How Dream Daddy’s Joseph Reflects Gay Conservatism | Fashionable Tinfoil accessories – Vrai Kaiser

Vrai Kaiser finds Dream Daddy‘s character Joseph not to be bad representation for gay men, but reflecting reality to a scary degree, and ultimately that representation means variety.

Vrai Kaiser finds Dream Daddy‘s character Joseph not to be bad representation for gay men, but reflecting reality to a scary degree, and ultimately that representation means variety. Dissecting The Dream Daddy Discourse | Women Write About Comics – Melissa Brinks

Melissa Brinks voices her annoyance with the language of surprise and condescension that frames the mainstream success and attention that visual novels have gained.

Tacoma

Even in the Fancy Utopia of ‘Tacoma,’ Labor Politics are Still Hell | Waypoint – Dante Douglas

Dante Douglas argues that the future of Tacoma has become almost feudalistic, and writes about the game’s explorations of labor versus capital.

Dante Douglas argues that the future of Tacoma has become almost feudalistic, and writes about the game’s explorations of labor versus capital. Tacoma Is Immersive Theater for Completionists | Outermode – Oliver Fox

Oliver Fox frames Tacoma through the lens of theater productions like Sleep No More, and examines what the virtual version affords its audience.

What Remains of Edith Finch

An Ode to the Cannery Level from What Remains of Edith Finch | YouTube – Super Bunnyhop – George Weidman

George Weidman feels that Edith Finch‘s cannery level should be inducted into the canon of great, studied levels, for its ability to make you relate to humiliating drudgery.

George Weidman feels that Edith Finch‘s cannery level should be inducted into the canon of great, studied levels, for its ability to make you relate to humiliating drudgery. The Villain of Edith Finch | YouTube – Joseph Anderson – Joseph Anderson

Joseph Anderson goes through What Remains of Edith Finch, then commits to a reading that the older generation’s family mythmaking facilitated the harm and deaths of the younger generations.

17776

17776 | SBNation – Jon Bois

Jon Bois’ speculative sci-fi, imagining a future where everyone lives forever and variants of football occupy the world’s time, all presented as only the internet can.

Jon Bois’ speculative sci-fi, imagining a future where everyone lives forever and variants of football occupy the world’s time, all presented as only the internet can. A Football Spiral Universe: What 17776 and David O’Reilly’s Everything tell us about art | ZAM – Eron Rauch

Eron Rauch sees the similarties between Jon Bois’ work and Everything through their portrayal of interconnectedness, the human need for categorization, and how that affects art.

Cuphead

Cuphead and the Racist Spectre of Fleischer Animation | Unwinnable – Yussef Cole

Yussef Cole doesn’t call Cuphead racist, but is disappointed in its appropriation of Fleischer’s cartoons with no awareness, as it “offers up a bleached white past, while pretending nothing was lost in the process.”

Yussef Cole doesn’t call Cuphead racist, but is disappointed in its appropriation of Fleischer’s cartoons with no awareness, as it “offers up a bleached white past, while pretending nothing was lost in the process.” The Physical Glass Ceiling: When The Git Gud Mentality Turns Ableist | Paste Magazine – Holly Green

Likewise, Holly Green doesn’t call Cuphead ableist, but calls out the limited viewpoint that excludes others and abuses those who may not be able to play and enjoy these games.

Other 2017 Releases

Older Games

Theory/Design Criticism

Whether focusing on the concepts of interactivity, the direction of new technologies or debates on the strengths and weakness of the medium, some criticism is more interested in concepts over singular works.

Controllers

Queering The Controller | Analog Game Studies – Miguel Sicart

Miguel Sicart examines various controller alternatives designed and created specifically to facilitate queer and erotic play through tactile engagement.

Miguel Sicart examines various controller alternatives designed and created specifically to facilitate queer and erotic play through tactile engagement. The Quest To Make A Better Video Game Controller | Kotaku – Kirk Hamilton

Kirk Hamilton looks at attempts by several manufactures to perfect the existing base design through numerous tweaks.

Interactivity

Rethinking ‘Interactivity’ | Gamasutra – Taekwan Kim

Taekwan Kim begins by explaining the common fallacy we build up regarding player agency’s relation to gameplay and interactivity. He goes on to dismantle that notion and get at the underpinning constructs as things with their own dialectical arcs.

Taekwan Kim begins by explaining the common fallacy we build up regarding player agency’s relation to gameplay and interactivity. He goes on to dismantle that notion and get at the underpinning constructs as things with their own dialectical arcs. Illusion of choice is better than choice: choices and illusions as narrative mechanics | Gamasutra – Barisbi Alborov

Barisbi Alborov understands that the feeling of agency is key and explores the question of whether that can be better achieved through actual choices or the illusion of choice.

Barisbi Alborov understands that the feeling of agency is key and explores the question of whether that can be better achieved through actual choices or the illusion of choice. Judge Not, Lest Ye Be Judged? | First Person Scholar – John S. Ehrett

John Ehrett examines League of Legend‘s community regulation systems and their shift, along with other MOBA’s, to provably less successful “Big Data” solutions to community management.

VR

Consent systems | Raph Koster’s Website – Raph Koster

In light of the rise of VR, Raph Koster details the need for systems allowing players to give or withhold consent, and the numerous still-relevant solutions he and his teams came up with decades ago.

In light of the rise of VR, Raph Koster details the need for systems allowing players to give or withhold consent, and the numerous still-relevant solutions he and his teams came up with decades ago. Virtual Atrocities | Real Life Magazine – Linda Kinstler

Linda Kinstler examines the use of VR to create environments to simulate the atrocities of the Holocaust in order to impart understanding. It also examines the moral burden of the idea, as both the gamification of atrocity and the witnessing of suffering from a detached distance.

Linda Kinstler examines the use of VR to create environments to simulate the atrocities of the Holocaust in order to impart understanding. It also examines the moral burden of the idea, as both the gamification of atrocity and the witnessing of suffering from a detached distance. “If you walk in someone else’s shoes, then you’ve taken their shoes”: empathy machines as appropriation machines | Radiator Design Blog – Robert Yang

To quote Robert Yang, “VR empathy machines are just VR Appropriation machines. They are fundamentally about mining the experiences of suffering people to enrich the self-image of VR users… or, even worse[…] to enrich the cultural appeal of VR brands?”

Design Practices

Bogost, Games and Stories

Bad At Images?

Are Videogames Bad at Images? | Medium – Zolani Stewart

Zolani Stewart asks the titular question not as an inherent quality, but one of prioritization. As a culture, video games lack visual literacy as a method of communicating ideas.

Zolani Stewart asks the titular question not as an inherent quality, but one of prioritization. As a culture, video games lack visual literacy as a method of communicating ideas. Bad Images | Medium – Midboss (Em)

Emilie Reed also sees an issue with bad images in games, and offers a recalibration: incorporating pattern into our understanding of video game aesthetics, as they are historically more important to the medium, and as important a source of beauty as the image frame. (Editor note: earlier in the year, Em worked with us on Visual Essay Jam, a proactive intervention into visual literacy in games criticism.)

Emilie Reed also sees an issue with bad images in games, and offers a recalibration: incorporating pattern into our understanding of video game aesthetics, as they are historically more important to the medium, and as important a source of beauty as the image frame. (Editor note: earlier in the year, Em worked with us on Visual Essay Jam, a proactive intervention into visual literacy in games criticism.) The Art of Nothing: A Look at Negative Space within Videogames | Medium – Amr Al-Aaser

Several months prior to Zolani’s piece, Amr Al-Aaser explained the artistic use of negative space, and argues that by using this thinking with regards to video games we can better understand them.

Industry Criticism

Video games do not exist within a vacuum. They exist within the confines of the arena that produces them. From government policies to monetization to platforms and more, it is the industry from which video games are born as they are in all their attributes.

Government Policies

Loot Boxes

Crunch

Why I worship crunch: An industry veteran tackles a controversial subject | Polygon – Walt Williams

This is an except from Walt Williams’ book Significant Zero. In it he discusses the seductive hold that overwork has on certain creative types drawn to the industry, and the damaging effects he submitted himself to rapturously.

This is an except from Walt Williams’ book Significant Zero. In it he discusses the seductive hold that overwork has on certain creative types drawn to the industry, and the damaging effects he submitted himself to rapturously. Crunch Culture Is Never Just About Individual Choice | Waypoint – Cameron Kunzelman

In response to Walt Williams’ excerpt, Cameron Kunzelman takes issue with its framing or overwork as an individual choice, in the light of its systemic implementation and exploitation by companies upon its workers.

Steam

Valve is not your friend, and Steam is not healthy for gaming | Polygon – Tim Colwill

Tim Colwill details years of action taken by Valve that pull aside the curtain to the illusion that is the “Good Guy Valve” persona that was never really earned. In the end, Valve is just like any other tech company seeking to disrupt a market.

Tim Colwill details years of action taken by Valve that pull aside the curtain to the illusion that is the “Good Guy Valve” persona that was never really earned. In the end, Valve is just like any other tech company seeking to disrupt a market. Code of Conduct | Real Life Magazine – Daniel Joseph

Platforms control the future of capitalism, Daniel Joseph explains. They expand the control of monopolies of old by enclosing the ecosystem around it, driving further activity by which they profit. This does not just affect video games, and will soon touch all aspects of life.

How the Sausage is Made

Culture Criticism

If the industry is where video games are born, the wider culture is where they live. From video streaming to exhibitions to pushing against the status quo, video games are part of the wider attitudes of where we are and where we hope to be.

Prisons

At Play In The Carceral State | Waypoint – Various

The Waypoint staff and freelancers came together for a week-long series of features “investigating the relationship between America’s cultures of incarceration and play”; from Gitmo, to surveillance states, to Dungeons & Dragons in prison, and more.

The Waypoint staff and freelancers came together for a week-long series of features “investigating the relationship between America’s cultures of incarceration and play”; from Gitmo, to surveillance states, to Dungeons & Dragons in prison, and more. IMPALING MARIO, REVERSING SONIC: Inside Pedro Paica’s Bootleg Games | Medium – ZEAL – Henrique Antero

Henrique Antero looks at the work of Pedro Paiva, a series of short games with a counterculture ethos and a bootleg sensibility. Most notable is the compilation created by his students when he was hired to give art classes to juvenile offenders. The games reflect the students’ entrapped feelings.

Twitch

YouTube

Exhibiting Games

My post “Day of the Devs” observations bout how people view/treat art games and their creators | Nathalie Lawhead – Nathalie Lawhead

Nathalie describes experiences seeing the public engage with their game at a public event – it all started off great, but became hostile when people brought their kids. Their behavior was in-line with how streamers and YouTubers talk about games.

Nathalie describes experiences seeing the public engage with their game at a public event – it all started off great, but became hostile when people brought their kids. Their behavior was in-line with how streamers and YouTubers talk about games. Exhibiting Difficult Games | Matheson Marcault – Matheson Marcault

In response to the Nathalie Lawhead piece, Matheson Marcault further explores the techniques used by festivals to open people up to the experiences offered by non-traditional games.

Gaming Scenes

Cuba: Where underground arcades, secret networks and piracy are a way of life | Polygon – Brian Crecente

Over the course of a week, Brian Crecente visited Havana to meet with professors, game-makers, journalist and players, to get a feel for the Cuban gaming culture.

Over the course of a week, Brian Crecente visited Havana to meet with professors, game-makers, journalist and players, to get a feel for the Cuban gaming culture. Why the spirit of Flash gaming must never die | Eurogamer – Edwin Evans-Thirlwell

Adobe has discontinued support for Flash, and many of those games may soon vanish. Edwin Evans-Thirlwell asserts that the technology is not as important as the “ethic of adventure, freedom and camaraderie.”

Genre

Do We Need A Soulslike Genre – Game Maker’s Toolkit | YouTube – Mark Brown – Mark Brown

With so many games taking notes from the Soulsborne games, Mark Brown explores whether or not that constitutes a genre and whether it should be named after a single title.

With so many games taking notes from the Soulsborne games, Mark Brown explores whether or not that constitutes a genre and whether it should be named after a single title. Picture in a Frame | Medium – Amr Al-Aaser

Amr Al-Aaser has some idle thoughts about how we talk about genres when they’re framed around particular titles, ala Metroidvania, and how that becomes constricting as a pass/fail evaluation on its own.

Amr Al-Aaser has some idle thoughts about how we talk about genres when they’re framed around particular titles, ala Metroidvania, and how that becomes constricting as a pass/fail evaluation on its own. A Post-Modern Ideology Delivery System | Medium – Amr Al-Aaser

Amr Al-Aaser explains that cyberpunk has become an aesthetic whose iconography is losing its meaning, and thus has been “co-opted to build capital for commercial products.” It ends up going against everything it stood for.

Fuck Complacency

Close Out

I wish everyone better luck and better lives come the new year. 2017 was hard all around. Hold on to those close to you and keep each other safe. I’m out of eloquence, so I’ll just say: rest, stay healthy and come the new year, fuck em up and fuck em up good.

The weekly roundups will resume once we’ve recovered in the second week of January. Please continue to submit any suggestions for TWIVGB to our email or @ message our Twitter account.

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From us at Critical Distance to all of you, have a Happy New Year.