Knee Deep
Knee Deep wants to put on a show. For the player, Knee Deep intended to be a performance of choice. Other than a few short puzzles, Knee Deep’s adventure is composed entirely of dialogue options spread across three diverse protagonists. It’s a plot-driven production, the nature of which is presumably under the direction of the player. Knee Deep also supports a keen framing device; it&#...[Read More]
Resident Evil 7: biohazard
Resident Evil rapidly became everything for no one. In the past two years, we’ve seen another ill-conceived multiplayer shooter, an episodically unloaded spin-off sequel, and current-gen revivals of five mainline entries. This panicky identity crisis followed Resident Evil 6, a moribund fiasco so calamitous to the Resident Evil name it was difficult to know if Capcom was even aware of its fa...[Read More]
Yakuza 0
Yakuza 0 presents an opportunity to hit the reset button on Sega’s venerable brawling simulator. A prequel to the original PlayStation 2 Yakuza and first North American Yakuza entry on PlayStation 4, Yakuza 0 sets the table for enduring protagonist Kazuma Kiryu and the mosaic plot threads that string him across six future entries. I loved—loved—Yakuza 5 last year, but its carousel of playabl...[Read More]
Yakuza 0 is a Secret Homage to Professional Wrestling
Yakuza 0—and perhaps Yakuza as a whole—is the closest a gaming has come to emulating the style and spirit of professional wrestling entertainment. Examine the premise; men are always angry at each other and the promotion plot demands they find new and inventive ways to settle their escalating differences with sanctioned combat. Yakuza 0 is professional wrestling. In the world of professional wrest...[Read More]
Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Future Tone
Hatsune Miku was created to shatter the cynical will of the world’s hardest curmudgeon. Her latest videogame interpretation, Project DIVA Future Tone, is a curated assemblage of songs and content spanning entries in arcades, on the 3DS, and across PlayStation platforms. Absent are the lifestyle options that highlighted Project Mirai and the drive for adaptation that powered successive Projec...[Read More]
Eric Layman’s Top Ten Games for 2016
These are the ten best games of 2016 (at least until someone else at DigitalChumps creates a competing list). VIRGINIA Variable State A perfect enigma is a perpetual struggle between tenable doubt and informed speculation. This is difficult to produce in any creative medium, let alone one that relies on personal interaction. Videogames almost never attempt to do this. Virginia does. The fallout co...[Read More]
Final Fantasy XV
Final Fantasy XV’s decade-long maelstrom of doubt, chaos, and suspense has somehow wrought an effective tale from the bonds of brotherhood and an engaging game from coordinated monster obliteration. It is difficult to understate the measure of confusion and turbulence Final Fantasy XV endured along its path to fruition. Announced in 2006 as Final Fantasy Versus XIII, a vaguely related compan...[Read More]
Robinson: The Journey
VR’s viability hinges on making sensible objectives integral to the wonder implicit in its format. Robinson: The Journey understands this and makes visible strides to balance astonishment and curiosity. Robinson: The Journey is one of the first PlayStation VR games I have played that really goes for it. It doesn’t seek to exploit the novelty of its format, and it immediately positions ...[Read More]
The Last Guardian
The Last Guardian is a meditation of trust and patience. The eight year wait after its 2009 unveiling is a conspicuous illustration of this thesis, but a clearer picture develops by persisting through its meticulous operation. A lingering touch of melancholy and deep suspicions of malevolence—both synonymous with ICO and Shadow of the Colossus—are now complimented by enduring senses of companions...[Read More]
Weeping Doll
Weeping Doll is a brief presentation of experiments that do not work in virtual reality.
Windlands
Windlands' swinging and soaring facilitates a manic relationship between serenity and stress.