Washington Post
HomepageThe game is a procession of stately, grim exclamation marks. It is visionary art.
One of the moments I knew the game had worked its voodoo on me was when I recoiled a little at my first sight of the city of Saint Denis. After spending so much time in the countryside and in small towns, I briefly identified with Arthur’s distaste for city life. Mind you, I live in Brooklyn. Need it be said that I’ve to had to stop myself from playing into the waning hours over these past weeks? My cousin told me that the game made him feel glad to be alive. I couldn’t agree more.
What sets "The Witcher 3" apart from most of the competition is its keen sense of humanity, which is calculated to be every bit as gripping as an HBO drama. At their best, the characters with whom you chat don't seem like they live in a vacuum only to impart useful information.
"Persona 5" is an absurdly imaginative game.
A high-water mark of narrative video game design
Player choice is one of the best parts of Obsidian’s new RPG, The Outer Worlds. The game’s connections to Fallout: New Vegas are undeniable and can hold it back in some instances, but it still carves a pulpy, sci-fi identity of its own.
I’ve tried to make peace with the possibility that Tetris Effect is a game I love too much.
The Return of the Obra Dinn is a stunning work of craftsmanship. Pope, who handled every aspect of its production himself, has created a work that celebrates scrutinizing details.
“Half-Life’s” ties to survival-horror shine in “Alyx.” One enemy that most who have played “Half-Life” will remember are the Barnacles — monstrosities that attach themselves to the ceiling and dangle their long, thin, dark tongues close to the ground. VR makes their presence more unnerving. A random moment I loved happened when I pulled an object toward me that a Barnacle caught then with its tongue and devoured. I moved into place underneath it while carefully avoiding its grotesque appendage and fired a few shots, killing it and causing it to spit up my item. In that moment, and several others, I felt noticeably transported to one of the most vivid science fiction worlds I’ve experienced.
Over the length of this very long game you’ll travel back and forth across the streets of Revachol, repeatedly interviewing and following up with people. If you’re not averse to reading loads of text that is often funny and given to riffing on different ideologies, it can be an easy rhythm to get into. Don’t dawdle. Go ahead, run toward the wild side.